12 April 2012 by Mike
Former runner-up Claire Young reveals her thoughts on
episode four of The Apprentice and chooses her hero and
villain.
The candidates were lucky enough to start last night's episode
with a morning off playing table tennis. We never had any
free time and worked back to back. I wonder if Lord Sugar is
starting to soften in his ageing years?
Anyway, after a short while The Apprentice hotline rang to summon
the candidates and rest assured the mass grooming commenced. Azhar
strutted his model looks and impressive pecs around like a giant
peacock and Laura, 'I'm so beautiful' had an epic battle with the
hair strengtheners.
This week's challenge was to select stock and run a second-hand
shop on Brick Lane with a £1,000 starting budget. Tom, (Will Young
lookalike), leads Phoenix and Laura headed up the other team.
Laura has been nicknamed the 'Samantha Brick of The Apprentice'
after moaning how life is tough being so attractive whilst
successful. Oh please, go find yourself some modesty. She has
compared herself to mega successful entrepreneur Michelle Mone and
even had the cheek to try and steal my nickname, The Rottweiler.
Hands off!
Tom's team worked on a lean budget with the PM being strict on
cost control. The result was low stock levels and a minimalist
looking shop. On the other end of the scale Laura's team bought
over 200 pieces of stock and attempted to convert some of their
rubbish into 'shabby chic'. There is plenty of profit to be made in
pre-owned goods, however, a thin line between
retro/vintage/junk/second-hand and just pure rubbish!
Scores on the doors and Tom lead his team to victory with £1,063
profit to Laura's £783. It all came down to cost control and the
losing team blew their budget.
Jane, Laura and Gabrielle or 'the screeching geese', as I call
them, (sorry the ladies), entered the boardroom. Gabrielle fought
her corner to stay and did a good job. I like her, calm and
assertive. Laura is ruffled and not as articulate as I thought she
would be. Yet her passion lets her stay another week. Jane gets the
big finger from Lord Sugar for her aggressive sales technique that
literally sent customers running for the hills.
Hero
Gabrielle for speaking up, remaining calm and defending herself
in the boardroom battle
Villain
Laura as PM had no idea of her cost control, boom, you go
bust!