Young Apprentice: Don't Sweat the Concept or you could be Canned

This was a creative commercial task where the teams were greeted at Wembley by a spectral Lord Sugar on the massive screen. The task was to design, market and pitch a new deodorant aimed at the youth market. Harry M led Gbemi, James and Lizzie in the task and he started off as he meant to go on. He failed to learn the lesson of James who led his team very well. James parked his ego and reached out to the others in his team Harry M could he watched and learned.

Zara led the other team, she sees herself as a film maker and was happy to leave design to the others. Having a poor street dancer swivel sweatily while she did her Sofia Copolla allowed them to get the film made. Sadly on the other team Harry M confused being decisive with being dictatorial and the antler locking between James and Harry M resembled Blairdrummond safari park in the rutting season. They were also a bit too pleased with their advert which was without storyboard or structure.

The boys had the hilarious concept of having a girl geek spray herself with vanity as it was called to attract fit guys. Given that both Harry M and James have looks which can best be described as country casual and James could have been houked out of a potato field, their geek girl thing was a bit of wish fulfilllment.

Whilst the boys got their girl geek filming in the can, Gbemi and Lizzie were off designing the can. Sadly it ended up making the old Brut packaging of the seventies look like the work of Philippe Starck. Gbemi ended up taking the fall which was sad as we started to see more of her good side. I see issues of class and confidence at work here. Harry M has been on the losing side five times and is incapable of working with others and isn't that great... he should have gone. But Gbemi’s lack of confidence and polish done it for her. The other team's product 'RAW' wasn’t  that great but the decision of the experts and Lord Sugar was final.

Mentoring issues here would be that Harry M needs to learn and that just having a posh voice and determined tone doesn't make you right, and Gbemi needs to discuss her ideas more and communicate better with others. She was pretty dogmatic herself on the design task but as I keep saying they are all so achingly young. I think James came over over well though he was a bit Jekyll and Hyde, with his bull at the gate/butter wouldn’t melt approach to Harry M. Zara needs to focus on the less glamorous stuff now and again or she could look like a limelight hugger. Still tipping Harry H, don't really see anyone with his stature or skilfulness and “can't believe he is only 16!” said my inner Meldrew!

Now I am getting a bit worried with the firing of Gbemi that we have ended up with a lot of privileged kids all of whom have super-confidence and connections. Though some may have struggled now and again, head girl Hayley, fabulous Zara, Ulster grammar boy James, the diversity of background is being washed out of the process. Lizzie has a Liverpool accent but that’s about it. I think Gbemi deserved to stay and Harry M should have gone but once again that supercilious confidence of the public schooled coupled with their connections shows up and with the age discount gets you far in life. But the kids like Mohammed, Ben and Gbemi need to learn that presentation and confidence counts for a lot and that’s the one sure thing in this process as lord Sugar likes to call it.