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The Apprentice: Week Seven

The Apprentice hopeful Jenny Celerier
  • Posted at 11:06am
  • 08 May 2008
  • by PaulJones-RT

Ding-dong, the witch is dead! The wicked witch is dead! Yes, nasty, flame-haired Jenny finally had a bucket of cold water flung over her by Sir Alan (although instead of melting away like the real Wicked Witch of the West, she just took a taxi).

Throughout the series, Jenny has snipped and sniped at her own teammates (never mind her opponents) and, like many of the candidates, she was always Machiavellian in the boardroom.

But this week's task marked a new low. Jenny was at her most underhand, attempting to sabotage her opponents by bribing a shop assistant (who thankfully had more integrity than she does), then, in the boardroom, slithering from one prospective victim to the next.

Smiling doesn't really suit Jenny (she looks a bit menacing, like, say, a dragon that's just spotted a sacrificial virgin tied to a tree) but she did winch up a grin in the boardroom this week, as she announced that it was her birthday. I thought it was a nice touch that Sir Alan waited until then to fire her…

And rampaging Alan didn't stop there. Yes, this week saw a shock double firing – two Jennifers dispatched in one fell swoop. Sir Alan has warned the candidates before, "I'll fire the lot of you if I have to," and he's clearly a man of his word.

Still, I think Irish Jennifer, despite being a pretty woeful team leader, was slightly unlucky to get the finger. Michael made a natural partner to the conniving Jenny, backing up her sabotage attempt and shamelessly pandering to Sir Alan's heritage by playing the "good Jewish boy" - despite not knowing the difference between a halal and a kosher chicken.

Another candidate ripe for firing was Claire. In the past, we've seen her consistently and deliberately undermine project managers, and this week, as the candidates haggled for bargains in the market souks of Marrakesh, she made a bizarre habit of leaping in to ruin her teammates' negotiations. As beleaguered project leader Jennifer remarked, "God, you have to keep that one on a rein, don’t you?" I'll have serious respect for anyone who can manage it.

But let's not dwell on the nastiness. There was a bit of light entertainment too.

The ever urbane Raef was keen to step out in the correct attire, so it was a real shame that he hadn't packed his linen suit. It would have been wonderful to have seen him cutting a dash through the souks of Marrakesh, the outfit topped off with a panama hat - a proper colonial-style Englishman abroad.

Thankfully, Raef's fall-back plan - adopting traditional Moroccan garb so as to "blend in" - was quickly vetoed by the rest of Alpha. But Michael, for team Renaissance, came up with an even more patronising approach. He may not have been equipped to haggle with the market traders in their native French, but he went one better than the traditional Brits abroad tactic of speaking ve-ry slow-ly, and adopted a generic "foreign" accent when trying to clinch a deal.

For me, the make-up of the teams this week was interesting. It was basically the candidates with some redeeming features (Helene, Lee, Lucinda, Raef, Sara) versus those who would struggle to scrape together one between them (Alex, Claire, Michael and ginger Jenny in particular). So when Alpha won, I kind of saw it as a triumph of good over evil.

Alpha deserved it too, they'd been well organised. But they also managed to have some fun. They had all the charm and most of the looks, so it's no wonder they coaxed the best deals out of the Moroccan market traders. Even the hardest bargainer can't resist that degree of souks appeal…

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