The Apprentice Series 5 – Week Three (BBC One)

Majid is Fired in the Third Outing of the Job Interview from Hell

Apr 8, 2009

James counts himself lucky again as his big mouth threatened to see him sent away from the fifth series of The Apprentice but it was "passenger" Majid Nagra who went.

Motor mouth Commercial Manager James McQuillan has advisor Margaret Mountford to thank for him still remaining in the competition according to Alan Sugar after another tempestuous week in the job interview from hell. The sometimes fiery assistant surprisingly backed him following his second week of failure. Maybe it was his impressive skipping that did it.

This week's task was the “design, market, sell” routine that is always an Apprentice favourite. Here the teams had a couple of days to create a completely original piece of home fitness or gym equipment, shoot a poster to be used as the selling point and then pitch it to experienced specialist retailers. In the mind of Sir Alan Sugar it should be as easy as falling off a log. Well, not exactly.

Concepts took too long to come up with, personalities clashed, ideas were mixed, pitches lacked vision; but as they were given a matter of hours to develop something new with little research that’s to be expected.

Ben Clarke: Wannabe Adonis and Complete Wally

Everyone has heard of the notion that sex sells – it works for clothes, cars and chocolate – however Ben went one step further by suggesting that they sell sex, meaning a machine that simulates the action. “Something that you can incorporate into actually having sex” he says without a hint of irony. It’s these moments when the viewer wonders if they haven’t accidently tuned into a Channel 4 spoof or a Dead Ringers repeat by mistake.

Ben fancies himself as a bit of an Adonis, but week two’s Olympic themed toga reception party proved otherwise when stone faced assistant Nick Hewer described the night as all “bare arms and spotty backs”. He talked up his personal appearance and knowledge of the product area but came up with a home gym all-in-one product that was too complex and unappealing. The man is a wally. He definitely won’t last until the second half.

Majid is out as Phil Saves the Day

Since the start Estate Agent Phil has only interjected with pithy remarks on how his team is going to fail but it was his idea at the eleventh hour, a compact take on the Swiss ball, which won the task for the team in episode 3 and he even stuck up for Lorraine’s speaking skills. Maybe there is something behind that smug grin after all.

Empire lost as Ignite’s product gained 10,000 exclusive orders from John Lewis, one of the three stores they pitched too. After much deliberation losing project manager James dragged in Ben and Majid. Despite James and Ben diving at each others throats it was quiet Majid, in a reflection of his input into the task, who was fired for being too much of a passenger. It’s a shame he had to go as he’s a funny guy when given the chance.

This wasn’t the best episode by a long way but had it's moments with the highlight being the bust up in the board room between Ben and James. Things should be better when they’re both gone as all they add is hot air and ego driven metaphors. Maybe take control freak Debra too. She’s way too evil and robotic, like The Terminator with a handbag.

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