The Apprentice
BBC One, Wednesdays, 9.00pm
It’s the last hurdle before next week’s semi-final interview stage and things are heating up nicely. In fact, they get a bit too heated tonight, with two separate pairs of candidates squaring up and nearly coming to blows.
The teams’ task is to set up London tour companies, selling sightseeing walks and open-top bus rides. Jamie Lester (right) ends up leading a Ghosts and Ghouls excursion with, let’s say, a flexible approach to facts. “The Thames is the second biggest river in London,” he announces. “And Big Ben’s clock face is 20 diameters in width.” Cut to a busload of baffled tourists and head-shaking from Nick Hewer.
Stella English’s Cockney-themed jaunt has its hiccups too. She can’t find jellied eels, fails to identify some Banksy graffiti and whizzes right past Downing Street, airily informing her confused customers, “Never mind, we can pop in another time.” Once again, though, the big bluster merchant is Stuart “The Brand” Baggs, whose boasts include: “I’m not a one-trick pony, I’m not a 10-trick pony, I’m a whole field of ponies – and they’re literally all running towards this job.”
There’s the usual carnival of incompetence: one team cancel a tour because they’ve sold no tickets, pricing strategies prove non-existent and after one candidate “negotiates” away 20 per cent of their takings, another attempts to renege on the deal. And that’s all before the turf wars commence. The big surprise, though, is still to come in the boardroom.
