James really is good value isn’t he? Interesting fact – James is the only one to remain in the same team, Empire, from the beginning. Episode 10 out of twelve – 9 apprentices gone, 6 remaining. This year’s last proper task was to be a return to a classic, and coincidentally a perfect introduction for the candidates to their next career following the show.
The (Classic) Task: It’s the QVC task (or Ideal Home actually, who are the 2nd largest home shopping channel). Here, as ever, the teams must select several items from the Ideal Home inventory, and sell them live on air, over a 30 minute slot each. To kick off, and it nearly did kick off, Debra and Yasmina had a tug of war over the PM role, while James gallantly held their coats. Yasmina won, but Debra ain’t bovvered. At ignite, Lorraine and Kate quickly, and suspiciously allowed Howard to take the helm. At this stage in the game, tactics are vital, and frankly being the PM gives you the chance to shine, and sideline others.
Let’s not get into the products, as it was the usual “load of old toot”, and actually didn’t rival the depths plumbed on previous outings with the wolf jackets and mini trampolines. Essentially Howard went for the more expensive and difficult to shift items, and Yasmina selected cheaper (yes cheap) products. Whilst Howard wasn’t as terrible as the others, Debra was a revelation, which of course translated to sales. The key here, was that she persuasively sold items, which accurately targeted the customer base, and gave them the perfect encouragement to make a purchase. The live sales stats with these shopping channels are brilliant, and can be fed in realtime to presenters, whilst on air. All this makes presenting on a shopping channel a little like trying to play drums, whilst commentating on the European Cup game, and doing your maths homework.
Results: Empire sold £1,541, and Ignite sold £1,376. The reward for the winning team of James Debra and Yasmina was a day spent onboard with an aerial acrobatics flight team. Perhaps that made up for James’ missing the race car reward previously.
The Boardroom: No need to choose who to bring back; Howard, Lorraine and Kate were all given a grilling, and asked to justify their place in the next round. At this point, Kate seemed safe, so it would fall to the other two. Personally, I thought that Howard gave a good account, and that Lorraine had been riding her luck for a while now. However, her luck held, and Howard was counted out in the tenth round. Howard, you’re fired!
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