"Lucinda is nitpicking the most minor details.
It's like a woodpecker on your head."
It's like a woodpecker on your head."
-- Lee
We're entering the final stretch. The teams are called to a breaker's yard, where Sir Alan provides them with a choice of supercars to rent out. Michael becomes team leader for Renaissance, with Helene and Claire. Lee takes charge of Alpha, with Lucinda and Alex. Ladies and gentlemen: start your engines!
Each team can only choose 2 cars to rent (with fixed rates), and Lee decides on a high-risk strategy by opting for the expensive Zonda ("that's wharrum talkin' abaaht!") and an Aston Martin. Michael, who admits he's exhausted after so many tasks and boardroom confrontations, decides on a mid-range selection – which includes a Ferrari.
Both Michael and Lucinda have zero knowledge and interest in cars, so both spend the task floundering. Michael decides to separate himself from team-mates Helene and Claire (probably so he can catch 40 winks in peace), and makes the bizarre decision to try and rent his Ferrari on a street in Notting Hill and next to a fruit n' veg stall at a market! True, they were situated in well-heeled areas of London, but clearly nobody passing by had the big bucks to spare on a few hours in a sports car.
Lucinda was practically ostracized by team-mates Lee and Alex, who parked their Zonda outside a focal point for City high-fliers, catching plenty of rich young men on their lunch break. Still, the Zonda cost £2,750 a day to hire out, so it took an incredibly long time for anyone to bite. Lee decided he needed the two best salesmen on the Zonda (as a single sale could potentially win them the task), meaning Lucinda was left to try and sell the Aston Martin alone – which wasn't a good idea, as she kept referring to it as a Zonda to passers-by!
Claire and Helene were doing well as a pair, although all of the sales were coming from Claire. For a well-priced £67 an hour, they were racking up dozens of rentals, but would it be enough to beat Renaissance – who finally found a fat cat willing to rent the Zonda for nearly 3 grand? They've got their work cut out...
Michael's having a bad day; unable to find anyone willing to rent his red Ferrari, despite honing in on one potential customer and, in pure Sophocles style, badgering him incessantly about "regretting it" if he doesn't grab this opportunity. But he just came across as desperate and aggressive with his hard-sell technique – honed by a job in faceless telesales.
Eventually, both teams had to leave their chosen selling locations and converge outside Canary Wharf that evening. The selling continues apace, but Lucinda just wants to shadow Lee to pick up tips on how to sell cars – and having a beret-wearing shadow clearly irritated Lee. Lucinda soon takes the hint and falls back on her own technique – managing to sell an hour in the Aston Martin for £65. Too little, too late.
The task is over. In the boardroom, Sir Alan reveals the winners and losers. Despite some harsh comments to Lucinda, who does herself no favours by twittering on about how unfair the task was on her, her team comfortably won with an amazing £11,815 in fees. It seems that, like Raef's gamble on expensive wedding dresses awhile back, Lee's likeminded gamble paid off here, too. They're sent off for a wine-tasting evening as a reward.
Michael, Helene and Claire are brought back into the boardroom to face judgement. Once again, Michael does his little-boy-lost routine, while absorbing all of Sir Alan's comments and then firing them back at him. Claire is obviously safe, as she was the big seller for the team, so it comes down to Michael (a boardroom regular) and Helene. The latter comes in for particular scorn, as Sir Alan can't understand what Helene's brought to proceedings these past 10 tasks. He's also not sure her corporate background is a good foundation for working in his company, but she protests that she gave up her cushy job to participate in the show and desperately wants to be the next apprentice.
Maybe Sir Alan was genuinely conflicted between Helene and Michael, or maybe the show was running short because the challenge this week wasn't as developed, but Sir Alan ummm'd and aaaah'd for a very, very, veeeery long time. He even sent the candidates outside, discussed the situation with Nick and Margaret, before calling them back in again. But, eventually, despite having nothing positive to say about Helene, he decided to fire Michael. While I'm no fan of Michael (who deserved to go last week instead of Raef), I have to agree he had more potential and spark than Helene – who, along with Alex, has spent half the show lurking in the shadows.
So, with Michael finally gone, how are the remaining candidates shaping up?
Alex: He did well in this task, but a Zonda sort of sells itself if you have the available cash and desire to take it for a spin, doesn't it? I'll admit he's performed better in recent weeks, but I still say he's a pretty bland and mediocre salesman at heart.
Claire: Very impressive in this task. It was just a shame she didn't have a Zonda to sell. You can't fault her ability to sell things. I can never really warm to her, as she's a bit arrogant and irritating in her confidence and tendency to motormouth, but I wouldn't argue about her being in the final.
Helene: I really can't work out why she wasn't fired. She clung to Claire's coat-tails here and didn't sell a thing herself! Hopefully she'll be made team leader next week and get fired. Nothing about her sticks out in your mind.
Lee: Still full of brashness and barrow-boy bravado (his "that's what I'm talking about!" catchphrase even returned), and he did an okay job at selling. But, even though Lucinda was a bit irritating, his treatment of her and rationale for making her work alone wasn't very good. I suspect he'll be booted out soon, but we'll see.
Lucinda: After a spurt of greatness a few weeks back, she's been frustratingly wet about everything recently. I think she's a good leader to work for, but struggles on her own – especially if she's out of her comfort zone. It's lucky her team won, as otherwise she would have definitely been fired this week.
27 May 2008
BBC1, 9.00 pm
