The Apprentice: Gaming, blaming, shaming – S16 ep 5

By Anna Jordan on Small Enterprise UK – Recommendation and Concepts for UK Small Companies and SMEs

Warning: spoilers forward

It’s a lie-in for the five-week-down and weary candidates as they’re awoken by a 5am name. They’re being summoned to Samsung KX in London King’s Cross.

The candidates are greeted by a gargantuan display screen and, simply after sieving the final CGI Lord Sugar out of their nightmares from the toothbrush episode, right here he’s once more – in a extra macho get-up. He performs the principle character in The Apprentice online game.

The online game trade grew quickly over the pandemic, now being valued at over £7bn. To mark this upward pattern, the candidates can be designing a brand new recreation and pitching it to trade professionals.

As Various have gained the previous two challenges, Lord Sugar has a mega switcheroo deliberate for the groups. Akshay, Sophie and Stephanie transfer to Crew Various and Aaron, Harpreet and Akeem transfer to Infinity.

The groups

Crew Various + Karren: Brittany (venture supervisor), Francesca, Akshay, Nick, Stephanie and Sophie.

Crew Infinity + Tim: Akeem (venture supervisor), Kathryn, Aaron, Amy and Harpreet.

Akeem, a lifelong gamer, has a transparent imaginative and prescient of a futuristic dystopian survival recreation. Nonetheless, he appears to fold quicker than a nasty poker hand when Aaron suggests a recreation based mostly round a wrongly-accused feminine prisoner making an attempt to make her escape.  

Nick, additionally a eager gamer, places himself ahead towards Brittany, who used to play video games as a child. In a present of arms, Brittany will get the entire votes. Although I really feel that is unfair to Nick who did win the alcohol-free problem he managed beforehand. All that mentioned, the one particular person I’m watching is Akshay, who has subtly abstained from the vote. Akshay sashays away unnoticed and unscathed as soon as once more – akin to his survival, regardless of being within the dropping staff 4 occasions and within the ultimate three thrice. Sophie says he’s ‘the person with 9 lives, plus one other 9’.

Anyway, Brittany needs to go together with a local weather change theme for the sport, the place the gamers save Arctic animals. Karren displays the room with a disapproving look. She has issues in regards to the recreation being too critical.

Akeem struggles to resolve who goes during which sub-team. ‘It’s as much as you, Akeem,’ urges Amy, within the first of some candy moments of her speaking up the not sure venture supervisor.

Kathryn and Francesca are chosen as sub staff leaders.

On a mission to save lots of land and ‘C’

Half of every staff make playable prototypes whereas the opposite half give attention to branding. Francesca and Sophie go at loggerheads over the title: Artic Saviour vs Artic Mission, with Artic Saviour successful 2-1. Francesca attracts the emblem out on her notepad and the graphic designer creates it digitally. There’s a quick fist-clenching second once they assessment the spelling. Yup, saviour is spelled accurately. The viewers’s hearts collectively drop.

With the position that know-how performs in our lives, there are occasions the place you hate your self for making an attempt to swipe up on a paper notepad and others the place you would like your paper and pen had AutoCorrect. This is without doubt one of the latter occasions.

In the meantime, Kathryn and Aaron (one other nice relationship this episode) are wracking their brains for a reputation, finally deciding on Time. Apart from being the title of a BBC jail drama already, the remainder of the staff, and Tim, don’t charge it.

Kathryn and Akshay play the principle characters of the video games. Kathryn heartily adopts the position of Amelia Stone, an MI5 agent who was wrongly accused of a criminal offense that she’s doing time for. Akshay is Sam the Scientist, a buff scientific explorer donning a slinky white cardigan, out to save lots of the animals from oil spills.

Within the shopper suggestions, the individuals who play Time just like the idea however really feel the gameplay itself is boring. The gameplay does have a greater reception in Artic Saviour however practically each gamer feedback on that misspelling.  

Glitchy pitches

Each groups look as in the event that they’ve raided the BBC’s wardrobe division for the pitches, kitted out in orange jumpsuits, scientist clobber and a penguin costume.

A declaration of ‘I’m harmless!’ by Kathryn as Amelia Stone kicks off Crew Infinity’s pitch, although it seems to fall flat among the many three gaming specialists. Akeem sells them his dream, but it surely falters part-way by way of when Harpreet can’t bear in mind what to say and Akeem begins strolling off-stage with out inviting questions from the panel.

Crew Various pitch extra confidently, however as soon as it’s opened to the ground, you recognize what the primary remark goes to be. To layer it on extra thickly, the identical knowledgeable factors out that there aren’t any penguins within the Arctic. Ooft.        

The ultimate boss

Again within the boardroom, Lord Sugar interrupts the candidates to make his personal jokes and calls out Harpreet’s pitching stumbles within the model of Anne Robinson internet hosting The Weakest Hyperlink. Thus far, so typical.

However this time there’s one thing completely different – the groups are attacking one another. Brittany begins by saying that they wished to go for one thing that hadn’t been finished earlier than and goes full pelt into the opposite staff, saying that jail video games had been finished hundreds of occasions.

Bringing the room underneath management, Lord Sugar addresses the clanger that almost everybody else has addressed. By this level, Francesca responds to the Arctic misspelling questions with the grimace of somebody who’s been instructed they’ve spinach of their tooth for the seventieth time that day and may’t do something about it.

So, who acquired the largest funding? Listed here are these important stats.

Crew Infinity: £60,000 funding for additional improvement of Time

Crew Various: £0 funding for Artic Savior as the sport was too easy

Infinity immerse themselves in a life-sized recreation of Monopoly as their prize, cashing in a joint ‘Get Out of Jail Free’ card for a job nicely finished.

Lord Sugar brings the dropping candidates again in to the boardroom, saying, ‘On this course of, you’re creatures prone to extinction’, similar to the creatures in Artic Savior. And on this recreation – sorry, ‘course of’ – Brittany brings again Francesca and Sophie to make up the ultimate three.

Sugar quotes Francesca’s distant relative, William Wordsworth, earlier than he sends her out the door.

Ah, but it surely doesn’t finish there this week. An enormous sigh of aid from the candidates is blunted by a shock doorbell ring. In fact, it’s a go to from Lord Sugar to dish out the subsequent job. The candidates should organise experiences in Wales. The catch is that purchasers can ask for his or her a refund if the expertise is poor, which may have a detrimental impact on these ultimate gross sales tallies. Be part of us once more subsequent week for our take.

Watch the entire episode on BBC iPlayer

Meet up with the remainder of the collection

The Apprentice: Hardly a cruise for the candidates – collection 16 episode 1 assessment

The Apprentice: Oops, they did it once more – S16, ep 2

The Apprentice: Shaken and stirred with loads of zingers – S16, ep 3

The Apprentice: For goodness’ hake – S16, ep 4

The put up The Apprentice: Gaming, blaming, shaming – S16 ep 5 appeared first on Small Enterprise UK.