Hey everyone! here's my review to Week 7 of The Apprentice!
At the beginning of the episode we found out that the candidates were going to St Pauls as announced by Sohail. Dani and Victoria both said that they wanted to shine as project manager, and Dani said that she didn't want to waste an outfit on not being the project manager. The final 10 candidates gathered at St Paul's Cathedral and their task was to create a children's lunchbox designed for 6 to 8 year olds, along with an app to promote healthy eating. Team Apex was Megan, Mark. Marnie and Simba (led by Dani) with Team Infinity as Rochelle, Bradley, Marnie and Avi (led by Sohail). In Team Infinity Sohail said that he had worked within martial arts and was therefore always around young people, with Marnie saying that she had a lot of design experience. For the other team, Dani said that she would like to take the reigns on the task, and she had an idea of a secret garden with a caterpillar called munch who was eating his lunch. Victoria quickly said that it didn't sound like the idea works, and it was more preschool vibes. Sohail asked his team for ideas, with Marnie coming up with a treasure chest idea, and Sohail saying that he did have a similar idea. Marnie added onto her idea saying that at every stage, there would be different fruits that appeared to show something healthy. Dani chose Simba as the sub team leader for her team.
Marnie explained to Sohail that she wanted to be on the branding and logo team with her previous experience, with Sohail saying that he wanted her to be on the app team. Sohail made Rochelle the sub team leader along with Marnie and Avi who went to design the app for the product. Rochelle explained to her group that she didn't think they were in the right groups. During the discussions, the three of them were discussing different ideas and Marnie said that they didn't need to copy and paste a certain element, taking control of the idea rather than letting Rochelle control the team. Rochelle said that they might need the colour purple to make the app more interactive, and said that she felt like Marnie struggled at not being the sub team leader. On the other team, Victoria, Simba and Megan were all discussing the app idea, with Victoria saying that the caterpillar needed to look as human as possible, with items such as shoes, a watch and a backwards cap which would appeal more to the older children. Simba noticed that the caterpillar was naked, and they added a pair of shorts onto him. Dani and Mark sat down with James from Isobel Creative Agency to discuss their idea for the lunchbox. Mark suggested using the colour white, but Dani said that it was a very boring colour, and said either a yellow or a green. She also asked for a bite mark to be indented into the side of the lunchbox. Bradley and Sohail were designing the treasure chest lunchbox for their team, and Sohail chose to use a dark brown as the main colour for the lunchbox. After Bradley suggested to use a wood coloured brown pattern on the design, Sohail dismissed his other ideas, and said that the design looked different and unique. Baroness Brady added that maybe they should have let Marnie come to the design team, as it felt like two men in suits created something that was really boring looking.
Marnie, Rochelle and Avi came up with a concept for their app, which would include questions about healthy eating which would earn the children keys. Rochelle suggested a question could be what is a calorie, with Marnie saying 'a form of measurement'. Megan said to her sub team that they needed to have a colour coded garden with things including health, water, egennry, Simba thought of the different images they could use and Vicoria suggested a scoreboard. Megan also came up with a tagline of 'one step closer to reaching your full potential'. Marnie and Rochelle were trying to decide an underwater background theme to use for their app, with Avi saying that they had the whole of the animation to do, and they realised that they didn't add any music to their app either. Sohail said to Bradley that he decided to go with the name Platinum Pirate Adventures as the name of his lunchbox, with Bradley suggesting other names including pirate fresh or treasure fresh. He said that his ideas were not listened to and the name doesn't match what they have set out to do. Dani also went ahead to create fruits with different letters and colours as part of their game, adding that it was plain and simple and they didn't want to overcomplicate it. Simba did a rap for their animation, with the line '5 a day keeps the doctor away', and we saw Marnia directing Avi with some instructions for their animation. Rochelle added that they needed to get the video recorded as soon as possible. Victoria explained to Dani that if they were pitching to 2-3 year olds then the idea would work, but it wasn't for the older kids. She said that she needed to point this out now before the client feedback, and Dani said it would only be for the children's sandwiches, but the most important feedback will be from the clients.
Rochelle told Bradley and Sohail that even she struggled with saying the brand name, adding that they should have used the word lunchbox. Marnie also said that she was angry that she wasn't on the design team. Mark said that he liked Simba's rap. Megan explained that for their app, Larry would get bigger every time a level was passed, and the better the reward the children would win. Bradley said that when he teseted out the caterpillar game, nothing happened, with Marnie saying that the treasure chest didnt open, and Rochelle adding that there was no music and that the app was boring. It was Sohail and Bradley who did the pitch for the first brand, with Marnie, Rochelle and Avi doing the consumer reasearch. Marnie explained that they hope the boys would go into the pitch with confidence, otherwise the negative energy will hover around the entire team. It was Megan Victoria and Simba to do their pitch first, and Victoria started by saying that it would be a positive influence for young people whilst eating their lunch, but she struggled to get some of her words out. The clients didn't seem impressed by the rap, and Simba said that by using this lunchbox, you would be as happy as Larry. One of the negative comments was whether a 7 year old would play the game, with Victoria backing the idea and saying that it appeals to the older children. They also said that it was an awkward shape for the lunchbox which Megan was able to defend by saying that square sandwiches have been done many times before, and maybe their design would inspire familirties to create different shaped sandwiches into the lunchbox.
For the second pitch it was Sohail and Bradley. Sohail said that this was a prototype idea and they would include things such as a handle and a logo for Pip the pirate. One of the clients asked where the leaderboard was going to show up, with Bradley saying that it was in progress at the moment. They questioned whether Sohail and Bradley were making up facts and ideas on the spot, and they said that the box is very brown with no incentive to buy the product. Sohail said that there was no other colour for a treasure chest apart from brown, and after the pitch Bradley asked him how he thought it went. With the client feedback, Mark and Dani were told that the game was worse than the rapping, the best part was when it was over, and the lunchbox was very childish. For Pip the pirate, the feedback included that it wasn't the best game, only 1 child would have asked their parents to buy the lunchbox, the colour brown is boring, the title sounds like a themepark and nobody liked the logo. Avi said that they should use the 1/9 stat as 11% who would want to get the lunchbox from their parents, and Sohail said that he was choosing Marnie to do the pitch with him. Avi jumped in to say that fter his success in pitches before, he should be in there, but Sohail wanted Marnie and didn't change his mind. For the second client, Victoria and Simba were told that the design shouted pre school, and that the human like features were a bit scary. Dani said that they could transfer the Larry from the logo onto the app which might showcase the brand a little bit better. Sohail, Marnie and Bradley were told that their product didn't relate to healthy eating, and Marnie admitted that 1/9 children would want to get their product. Rochelle noticed that they were talking over eachother and Avi shouted 'Nooooo' when Marnie used the numbers instead of the percentage from their feedback session.
Marnie said that Sohail should take accountability of the task, with Megan saying that if they lose, Dani would be responsible as their product wasn't aimed at the right demographic. In the boardroom, Dani said that she wanted to find a problem and make a solution for it, adding that she did let Mark have an input on this task. Victoria said that their idea was a little bit pre school. Simba did a tutorial for their game and showed Lord Sugar the app. Victoria said that she struggled in her pitch to the first retailer, adding that it was the first time she has done something like this. For Team infinity, Sohail said that the name of his product was Platinum Pirtate Adventures with Lord Sugar saying that PPA sounded like a brand of face wipes. Sohail said that he chose the colour brown otherwise the product wouldn't look like a treasure chest. Rochelle explained that they tried to make a fun game, with Avi saying that the pirate had a smile on his face. Rochelle explained that she wanted to add sound effects and music and that the game didn't have a conclusion. She also said that if she wasn't keeping an eye on the time, they wouldn't even have an app. Lord Sugar said to Sohail that he was describing a lot of features of their lunchbox that hadn't even been delivered, with a lot of prototypes. For the first client, Team Infinity received no orders as the product and branding were not liked, but for Team Apex, the retailer wanted to do a test order of 1,000 lunchboxes. With the online brand, Team Apex got another 500 orders, taking their total to 1,500, but Team Infinity had lots of negative feedback and therefore received no orders again.
Dani, Mark, Victoria, Simba and Megan were off to a science themed afternoon tea as their winning treat. Dani said that she was happy to win as project manager, and Megan said that if there were any spares, they could take it home in their lunchbox. Victoria said that if they had a better lunchbox, they could have had even more orders. Sohail asked his team why the app was not finished, and Rochelle said that even though her and Marnie agreed with some features, they were running out of time. Sohail said that he wanted the word pirate in the branding, with Bradley sading that they were making a lunchbox not a cartoon, and Bradley said that Sohail had a weak concept for the idea. Sohail explained that the execution of the product was not great, and Bradley explained to Lord Sugar that he had suggested to add a wood grain to the box, but everything he suggested wasn't added. He also said that the game was not fun and there was no conclusion. Marnie explained that the failure of the task was down to poor time management, not due to disruption, and Rcgelle said that they spent a lot of time looking at images of an underwater scene.
Sohail said that himself, Bradley and Marnie did the speech, but it was weak. Avi mentioned that he wanted to put himself forward for the speech to explain the 1/9 statistic, and Bradley said that the unfinished product is why they lost the task. Sohail decided to bring in Bradley and Marnie, and that meant that Avi and Rochelle survived another week from the boardroom. Lord Sugar, Tim and Baroness Brady explained that Sohail put people in the wrong teams, and he said he stood by his product even when there were no orders, Bradley was thinking about things after they happened, with heinsight being wonderful thing, but he didn't add value to the task. They said that Marnie made the mistake about being too honest with the market research. Sohail explained that he brought Marnie into the boardroom due to disruption when it was supposed to be Rochelle's responsibility to make the app, and Marnie said that without him being there he is just following other people's words. Sohai;l said that Bradley was sitting there quietly and not helping with the task. lord Sugar asked Bradley if his one idea was DEA 'Don't expect anything', and Bradley replied by saying that the project manager needed to take responsibility. Marnie said that the strategic planning of people was bad from the outset. Lord Sugar said that Sohail is a good talker, but they created a poor product, Marnie was disruptive and Bradley was saying all of the things that they could have done. It was Sohail that was fired, with lord Sugar saying that Bradley needing to start performing otherwise he would be out. Sohail explained that this was one of the hardest fights but he will win one soon. Rochelle said that she thought it would be a double firing and Avi said that either Bradley or Sohail would be on their way. We had the final 9 candidates battling it out to become Lord Sugar's next business partner!
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