Ah, the great British pastime, caravanning! Yes, the boys and girls, most of whom probably wouldn't know one end of a caravan from another are off to try to sell accessories to the camping market. When the call comes through to tell them to pack an overnight bag, no doubt visions of sunny Dubai must flash through the minds of some of them, but it's not the exotic climes of the UAE they're heading to, but the rather less exotic Birmingham, to take in the Caravan Expo and try to decide on items that they can sell at it. It's quite funny when the phone rings at 6AM and a male voice yells out "PHONE!" Not thinking of answering it yourself then, whoever you are? No way to know who it is though. Alex looks both at home and a little nervous when they meet Lord Sugar at the Tower of London --- perhaps he'll look in on his pet bats --- and the teams are fine-tuned a little more, with Neil moving to Evolve. Lord Sugar puts everyone on notice that this is a selling task, and everyone must sell: he singles out Jason for special attention. Nowhere to hide... On Endeavour Kurt makes his case for PM based on the fact that he has been on caravanning holidays, although Alex wants to have a go. Neil takes charge of Evolve, (just seems to have been accepted; didn't see any push from him to be the leader) and seems already annoyed with our Jason, being very dismissive of him. Mind you, he may have a point, as Jason reveals, to the surprise of all, that he has never been caravanning in his life, sees no point in it and indeed has never been to Birmingham. On the other team, Myles is of a similar mind, saying he hates caravanning. This is shaping up to be two committed salesteams, indeed! Looking over the smaller-priced items available to them, both Evolve and Endeavour go for a child's camping kit and an electric bike (huh?) but Evolve get both items due to their passion for the products. Also inhibitng Endeavour is Leah and Natalie's pressure to convince the vendors to allow them drop the price at the end of the exhibition, which meet with frosty refusals. Checking the high-priced range Neil and Jason decide on a collapsible camper, while Kurt and Alex go for a retro-stlye camper (we used to call those VW wagons). Neil is not impressed with Jason, which begs the question why he took him with him, if he's the PM? Kurt however is less than impressed when he hears that his sub-team have failed to get either of the items they wanted, and they now have to be happy with a chair and a boat-box. We've seen this before: It's a rooftop box which converts into a boat. Natalie thinks the boat-box is a waste of time: "It's just a piece of plastic with two oars in it", she says. Uh, what exactly does she think a rowboat is? "Oh wait!" she exclaims triumphantly. "It has a wheel!" Yeah... Alex is not happy when he's cut out of selling the big-ticket items on the basis of his age, and Myles is drafted in instead. His irritation is ignored though. Endeavour find it hard to shift their electric bikes --- not surprisingly, at just under a grand apiece --- though the kid's kits seem to be moving okay. Kurt's sales technique is described by Nick as "lackadaisical", while Myles talks caravans --- which he knows nothing about --- with people who have no intention of buying today. One guy gives the ulitmate excuse: "The wife isn't here." Well, that's that then. Jason is doing much better, to everyone's surprise. His easy-going charm and soft-sell attitude seems to be endearing him to customers. Maybe he has a future as some granny's toyboy! Natalie proves she hasn't a clue about boats: she thinks the bench is a table! A table? In a rowboat? Has this woman every been to sea? Don't bother answering that. Neil's not happy that Jason seems to be well ahead of him in sales of the campers, but it's all to the good of the team, isn't it? But whereas Evolve's campers are attracting not only attention but buyers, Endeavour's retro camper seems to be bringing in just browsers. Nobody's buying.
So Kurt hits on an idea. Let's get one of the girls over as some eyecandy. It proves to be a good decision, almost, as Leah comes very close to selling one of the retros, but she won't be happy later when she hears why she was asked over. But for now all selling is over, the expo is closed and it's time to head back to London to hear who has won the task. Lord Sugar wonders why Endeavour failed to secure either of the low-priced items they wanted, and Myles blames Leah and Natalie for their attitude towards discounts, while Kurt's idea to go for the retro camper is frowned upon by the Boss, as this would seem to him to be aimed at the wrong age bracket. He of course has to throw in the joke that Alex is not a happy camper (sigh!), but listening to Neil's logic for taking the collapsible camper he is more impressed. Neil says he liked the retro but the sales figures for the collapsible bore out the fact that it was the best seller, so Neil voted with his head rather than his heart. When figures are totalled up it's a slaughter, a bloodbath. Endeavour have not sold any of their retro campers and have made a measly grand and a half, while Evolve have raked in over thirty thousand, selling not one but three of their collapsibles. A total annihilation of the other team, and Lord Sugar has a special word of congratulations for Jason, whom he calls back in after the team have left, telling him not to look so worried: he just wants to tell him that he sold one of the collapsible campers and very well done. Jason grins sheepishly but his almost obsequious exit, close to bowing, is a laugh riot, and just makes me love this guy even more. Lord Sugar is clearly impressed with him, saying that Jason is learning from the process, while pointedly advising Kurt that he is not. It's a meeting with Sir Chris Hoy to ride bikes for the winners, while the usual bad-natured discussion takes place in the losers' cafe, Natalie and Alex both saying Kurt should go. Back in the Boardroom Kurt complains that they had the wrong high-ticket item, but Karren points out that it was him who picked it. She reminds him that Neil checked the figures and went with the best seller while Kurt, who had the same information available to him, ignored those figures. Nick then rather gleefully it seems to me drops him right in it by letting Leah know exactly why she was brought over to try to sell the retro campers. She does not look impressed. Nor, to be fair, does Karren, who frowns. Kurt ain't made no friends around this boardroom table! I think he begins to feel the noose tightening at this point. Asked who he intends to bring back, it's Alex and Natalie he goes for. Lord Sugar thinks that in the case of Natalie this might be a tactical move on Kurt's part; he knows (as does everyone in the house) that Natalie is on her last chance, so perhaps he can serve her up and save his own skin? The arguments continue when they return but Kurt is painting himself into a corner. He keeps saying that the product was the wrong one, but he did choose it, no matter how much he wants to blame Alex.
Natalie gets upset when she realises she may be the scapegoat here, and Kurt shows contempt towards her, remarking "Oh so now you start to cry and I have to back off?" Natalie seems to think that the fact that she comes from a recruitment background means she would have been better able to sell campers. What? Even Lord Sugar seems confused by the logic of this. But Kurt's fate is sealed; he says he wanted to prove something to Lord Sugar, he didn't. He sold nothing, he brought Natalie back in a tactical move, and in the end it's him who goes. And about bloody time too, say I: arrogant little twit. I'm still surprised the Big S didn't talk to him about his attitude, his lack of respect and his general demeanour, but he's gone now so we won't have to suffer that anymore. But Lord Sugar's firing finger is not out of ammunition! He's not finished yet, and it's a double firing, as he reminds Natalie that she was indeed on her last chance, and she failed to sell. Her appearance in the Boardroom this week will be her last one, and she's given her marching orders too, leaving Alex to make his lonely way back to the house, where for once, the old "Oh it's only me the other two got fired" joke is not a joke, is deadly serious, and we're down to eight. I feel a little sorry for Natalie, but she did have multiple chances and really did seem to contribute very little to any task. Still, she must have initially breathed a sigh of relief when the finger pointed at Kurt, and no doubt had a "I'll do better make me PM I'll show you what I can do" speech ready, before His Fingership dropped the bombshell upon her. Oh well, the Boardroom is an unforgiving place, and you can't keep underperforming and expect to survive. Eight potential Apprentices left. Well, I shouldn't say Apprentice, should I? The whole idea of the show has changed, but then that's not for the likes of me to question is it? Any idea who'll go next? Who will be the eventual winner? I'm sort of thinking Neil or Leah, but I wonder if Jason might not surprise us all? Interested to hear your comments, on this or any other aspect of the show. So now the real competition begins, when people stop thinking about teams and start considering how they, and they alone, can win the big prize. This is where the real blood is spilled. This is where the real sharks come out to swim, and where friendship goes out the window. It's survival of the fittest, and if someone is trying to make an ally of you you can bet they're out to eventually stab you in the back. Remember the 48th Rule of Acquisition: The bigger the smile, the sharper the knife! Do I hear the sound of blades being sharpened?