The claws are fully-grown, permission for leave from school has been granted, mummy and daddies wardrobes have been raided, this can only mean one thing – ‘Young Apprentice’ is back.
Whilst most of us at the age of sixteen were sitting on commons smoking and drinking alcohol bought at the dodgy newsagents round the corner, this seemingly un-excitable group of wannabe Lord Sugars have been dreaming of luxury housing, fast cars and plotting their big entrance into the world of business.
Well, they’ve certainly been introduced to a snippet of the good life, in the form of a £15million pad in the celeb jaunt of St John’s Wood, teasing the young apprentices. But who has the skills to achieve this dream?
The ‘teenage tycoons’ span the length and breadth of the country, born from a mixture of different classes and backgrounds, but one thing is for sure, they all have the same obnoxious attitude: “No-one intimidates me because I know I am better than them.” It’s hard to believe that their exterior is anything but an act when they come out with generic ‘adult’ apprentice phrases about not focusing on making friends; “the focus is on getting to my goals” (Harry H).
Ironically, Harry nearly fell at the first hurdle and lost sight of his ‘goal’ in the first task. The youngsters had to create and brand frozen products and attempt to sell them at popular tourist attractions. Obviously many mistakes were made and the task succeeded in highlighting their fake adult exteriors.
The girls, newly named ‘Kinetic’, failed to understand measures and simple arithmetic, leading to a massive waste of resources. However, their sneaky tactic of up selling, which may have disgruntled a number of parents who quite rightly begrudged paying an extra 20p for a cone, paid off and they made a rather promising profit.
The boys on the other hand suffered a crushing defeat. The name of their pilot company ‘Atomic’ seemed inappropriately themed for holiday makers, but it was their tactics that were cringe worthy and unbearable to watch. The stupidly chosen apple and watermelon ice cream combined with Mahamed’s choice of aggressive selling techniques quite ironically sent holidaymakers running. It was becoming evidently clear who was going to get an “I’m disappointed in you” from Lord Sugar.
Following the pied piper of business into the boardroom, the little leaguers now had to await to hear their fate. Quite rightly the boys were ridiculed and Sugar pointed that daunting finger at Mahamed. As he walked out of the boardroom in his baggy suit, he bore a striking resemblance to Tom Hank’s junior self in Big, reiterating the point that they’re all kids playing in an adult world.
