31 May 2012 by Tina
Former runner-up Claire Young shares her thoughts on
episode eleven of the Apprentice, which she says, brought us the
best board room of this series.
With five candidates and one task remaining before the final
episode, which will see one candidate securing a £250k business
investment from Lord Sugar, the pressure was on.
This week's task was to develop an affordable luxury brand. Even
though we're in a recession consumers still want to treat
themselves. For me, this was the best challenge of the series so
far and the teams picked two things that I personally love -
chocolate and beauty products.
Ricky and Tom worked together like a super power team, developing
a men's beauty range called Modern Gentleman. They are their target
audience so they knew it inside out and did a brilliant job.
Adam led Nick and Jade, producing a chocolate brand called Sweet
Thing. Despite great looking chocolates there isn't any clear
strategy, the pricing was all over the place and overall I felt
there was too much scoffing of sweets when they should be focusing
on business.
Products developed, both teams had to pitch to Lord Sugar and
industry experts. Don't under estimate how nerve-racking this is.
It really is terrifying. A time to smile and put your game face
on.
The beauty duo won the challenge and was saved from the taxi ride
home. Adam, Jade and Nick went onto have the best boardroom of the
series so far - lots of oomph and fire in their bellies. Sadly we
see nice chap market trader Adam sent home. Somehow I don't think
it's the last we'll be seeing of him. Don't underestimate the nice
guy of the series.
Hero
Jade for being the brains behind Sweet Thing and drunken
jellies. Without her they wouldn't have had a brand.
Villain
I was disappointed in Nick for not contributing more, especially
when he knows this end of the market. He was lucky not to get
fired.