The Apprentice

Child's Play

In the second episode of The Apprentice the boys didn't tell the girls the phone call had come through and cheekily left them in bed. They had just 20 minutes to leave the house when they finally woke up. The two teams, boys v girls, had two days to research, design, make and present a new children's toy. The girls chose Lindsay as their team leader she was determined to choose a toy she had invented. Secret Signals were cards for children to make semaphore signals. She even imposed it on the rest after both the team and a group of children had voted it down. Raj was chosen as Impact project manager as he had some experince in this field. First Forte wasted a lot of time on another toy, a robot, that may well have won if Lindsay had not enforced her preference on the others. The boys developed an electronic game. Both teams presented their games to senior executives at a games company who recommended the boys' game should win.

Shop till you drop

Two girls had been fired in the first two weeks. "We're too good for them," boasted Raj. But Sir Alan Sugar had decided to reorganize the teams for the third week. "Matthew, I'm gonna make you the team leader," he boomed. Matthew looked gobsmacked. Adele was also chosen as a Team leader by Sir Alan Matthew, Raj, Paul and James were joined by Saira and Rachel for team Impact.Adele, Miranda and Miriam were joined by Ben, Sebastian and Tim for team First Forte.Their task: to buy a range of products including a diamond, a bottle of champagne, jellied eels, a bowler hat, a Freeview box, a dental check-up - and get back to the boardroom by 5.30pm. Adele gave each team member a job description. Miranda was not pleased to be appointed Adele's PA and ordered to take notes of meetings. James knew exactly where to buy a bottle of Bollinger 96 Grande Ann�e. He took the team off to the expensive Lea and Sandeman wine merchants in the Fulham Road - and paid �49 for a bottle.

The Harrods' sales

Sir Alan had arranged with Mohammed Al-Fayed for the teams to test their retailing skills in Harrods. Both teams were given £600 seed money to spend as they will. Marigay McKee from Harrods told the teams it was very important to smile. Matthew glowered. Tim was leader for First Forte James was Project Manager for Impact this week. Impact started off badly: Matthew tripped up, Paul miscalculated the percentage of Harrods own-brand goods and the sales area was empty. Impact and First Forte had to chose between 2 areas 1 or 2. First Forte tryed to get Impact seed money for return of first choice but First Forte was stupid enough and still got first choice Number 2. First Forte started to hire a Face painter, demonstraters and a panoist in order to attract consumers while Impact had nothing. Then Paul had the idea of dressing up as Rosie the Bear - and he enchanted the kids and the tills started ringing.

Art with a capital F

Miriam was the last woman standing in First Forte. Four of the original seven women in the team had been fired and two had transferred to Impact. In week five Miriam's team included team leader Sebastian, Ben, Tim and new recruit James. In the undefeated Impact were team leader Rachel, Saira, Paul, Matthew and Raj. This week the teams visited seven modern artists and had to choose which one they would represent selling their work at a gallery one evening. Matthew admitted: ""I wouldn't recognize a Damian Hirst if one fell on me."" James charmed Rob and Nick Carter when he visited them and their light-inspired work. Both Impact and First Forte wanted to represent their work in the gallery. So the Carters had to decide who they wanted to represent them - and they chose First Forte. Impact represented Lucy Bennett, their second choice. Paul went out on the streets to invite guest to the gallery. ""No entendemos nada. Hablamos español,"" said one lady.

Advertising executives

All the candiates were called and had to get on the Bus with they side advert saying the ""Apprentice"", they had to go upstairs where they recieved a phone call from Sir Alan Sugar who couldnt be there he described their next task. The teams had to develop a TV and press ads for the Amstrad JB 1000 - a 10 CD changer. Paul was Project Manager for Impact and Miriam was Project Manager for First Forte they are both Project Managers for the first time. Both teams had a quick meeting with Alan Sugar son had a meeting with them. Impact was down to only four contestants: Paul, Raj, Saira and Rachel. Raj didn't think much of Paul's management. ""He's all over the place,"" he told Saira. ""I ain't got a clue what's going on."" Paul directed a TV ad featuring a mum and her spotty kid. The kid couldn't act which lead Paul to spend the majoirty of time delevoping the TV ad neglecting the Press campaign. Paul sent Saira and Rachel off to work on the press campaign.