The Apprentice: Jade has a narrow escape

Apologies there was no blog last week. Ironically I was busy launching my own street food business which spookily was exactly last week’s task.

I watched the episode quite late in the week and it gave me some good ideas on what to do and more importantly, what not to do. A fascinating episode, but let’s get down to this week.

In last night’s episode, the teams were asked to ‘smell what sells’ and buy products from a wholesaler, to then sell to the public at a variety of pre-laid out stalls. This was an inspirational task, especially in the tough financial times we face today. Given the small start-up investment, the limited leg-up Lord Sugar provided, and the healthy returns at the end of the day, I felt this could be quite motivating for many potential entrepreneurs in the country.

Jade was clearly out of her depth, there was no strategy and it was no surprise that her team lost. Meanwhile, the other team focussed on a themed approach, targeting beauty products to the folks of Essex. Meanwhile Jade’s approach was scatter gun, selling a very diverse product range. Jade singled out Azhar’s petulance and to some extent she was right. Azhar came across as a moaner and seemed to struggle to get his point across. But I felt it was unfair that he got fired, considering that his concerns were all accurate. Jade should have gone instead.

In the boardroom, Azhar didn’t seem to fight his corner. Instead he came across as if he felt that Lord Sugar didn’t want him in the process, and that he didn’t want to be there either. As I have mentioned in previous blog entries, the boardroom sessions are long and very intensive in reality.

Sometimes tiredness can come across as apathy, especially around this stage in the game, where most candidates are struggling physically and emotionally. If you want to see how intense it is, try going for a week where you wake up at 4am and work till 11pm, where you are having to learn loads of new things, where you don’t have your own phone, wallet or any personal belongings and you also have to live with the people you work with, and have no outside contact with friends or family. And then imagine doing it for weeks and weeks.

I felt sorry for Azhar, and surely Jade is on her way out soon? Next week, we see the typical ‘art’ task –  one of my most dreaded from my own experience on the show.

*Check out Lohit’s latest venture at Braithwaite’s cream tea.

Did you think Jade should have been fired? Let us know below.