The Apprentice episode 2: David Alden is fired as the boys' comic proves marginally more atrocious
The Apprentice week 2 (10 October) saw the contestants tasked with creating their own comic books, Lord Sugar pointing out that they're a billion dollar industry.
Unfortunately, the challenge turned out to be an embarrassment for pretty much all involved. Both the boys and the girls' teams completely missing the target market of eight to 12-year-olds, creating comics that would struggle to keep a four-year-old's attention.
After debating a number of banal, alliterative names for superheroes, the boys settled on "Benji from the Beyond". It wasn't the most original or nuanced story, Benji managing to save the world with one zap of his blaster.
The girls, meanwhile, dreamed up "MC Gogo", a red blob with legs and rainbow hair designed to teach children rudimentary French. They forgot to actually include any French words though, which was soon picked up on by the retailers they pitched to.
And yet, somehow, the girls – led by Khadija – managed to secure more orders than the boys and were sent off to a climbing wall, while the boys huddled around styrofoam cups of lukewarm tea down the caf'.
Project manager Frank chose to bring Kurran and David back into the boardroom, all of whom received a thorough grilling by Lord Sugar.
Frank was criticised for Benji's bland concept, but it was David who got the boot, having bragged about his fantasy fiction writing on his CV only to turn in that sub-par comic.
"I had so much more to give," he lamented on the cab ride home.
It was a fun task idea this week, but episode 2 was short of any particularly fiery or funny moments.
The few talking points there were:
- To the boys' chagrin, a child picks up on the lack of diversity in their comic
- David infuriates his teammates by talking up the negative aspects of their comic in a retailer pitch
- Lord Sugar likens Khadija to Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong un
- Khadija then sensationally claims to not know who the North Korean leader is
If you want to read how it went down moment-by-moment, please find what was our live coverage below:
Hello and welcome to The Independent's Apprentice live-blog, following along with all the latest action as Lord Sugar attempts to find his new business partner.
We're an hour out. The challenge in Malta was big last week, but when will The Apprentice go full Top Gear? I want to see businessmen fired out of cannons, goddamnit.
I would also like to see more current business tasks. How many memes is too many memes for your company's social pages? What charity initiative that has no relation to your product will you spearhead?
I've been meaning to masochistically watch back one of the Trump seasons of The Apprentice US. For now, this will have to do: the President of the United States, ladies and gentlemen...
Maybe The Apprentice season 38 will be to take over from Lord Sugar, and in the final week contestants have to battle him to the death in melee weapons-only combat.
The boys have become obsessed with alliteration, currently trying to choose between the equally terrible superhero names 'Cosmic Chris' and 'Benji from the Beyond'.
So in the boys' comic the hero zaps the villain dead in one shot and the world is saved. In what season did the contestants stop having any discernible talent?
I wish that small child had highlighted the lack of diversity in 'Benji' sooner, as I would have loved to have seen the boys try and write a Strong Female Character.
As ever, Sugar was joined by aides Karren Brady and Claude Littner this week. You can find out more about the 2018 candidates by flicking through the gallery below:
Last week we spoke to fired contestant Sarah about her time on the show: “[Lord Sugar] definitely made the wrong choice. I put 100 per cent effort into the task. I got two items.
“They said that I was disruptive, but at the end of the day without the items we would have failed even more than we did. He definitely made the wrong decision and I shouldn’t have gone.”
She also backed Sabrina and Kayode to win the fourteenth series.
The Apprentice airs every Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One.
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