This week, the remaining candidates were set the task of creating their own gin to then pitch to three potential buyers.
After Lord Sugar mixed the teams up, Titans’ representatives became project manager, Grainne along with Trishna and Frances and Team Nebula consisted of project manager, Courtney, with Alana and Jessica.
The teams opted for a different and perhaps opposing approach to their gin – Titans went for a spicier taste, whereas Nebula selected a more fruity infusion.
Whilst Alana went off to make the raspberry and pink pepper gin, Jessica and Courtney were left to brand the product. ‘Giin’ is what they came up with and how on earth is that supposed to represent the fact that you drink gin with your friends? The concept that Courtney concocted was nowhere near his other brighter ideas in which he has shared in other tasks – typical for the time he is project manager.
Meanwhile, Frances was in charge of the branding for team Titans, supposedly placing a map showing India on the bottle label behind the ‘Colony Gin’ name, however actually showing Africa, not India. How embarrassing for Frances that she had to call Grainne and Trishna 19 times and they still were yet to pick up the phone. Whilst they were ‘testing’ the gin, perhaps a bit too much, Frances was frantically stressing about what to place on the label in reference to the ingredients. In the end, she obviously had to improvise but Trishna only had the audacity to reflect a foul mood for the lack of ingredients on the bottle, which was half her fault!
Once the pitches began, Alana and Courtney were up first with not the best of starts to say the least. Courtney failed to place together their easel and quite clumsily mumbled his words to present his ‘unique’ giin. Although, Courtney seems like a genuine and friendly character, his pitching could not reflect anything more contrasting – boring, disengaging and monotone.
Pitching to the same potential buyer, Frances and Trishna seemed slightly more promising in terms of confidence with the pitching however, Trishna’s attempt at setting up the pitch whilst Frances was talking wasn’t subtle at all. Whether it was nerves or not, I don’t know, but she did not stop dropping items which was extremely off putting. Nevertheless, the potential buyer actually seemed to like the product in general, but the team lied about the ‘natural orange peel’ colouring of the gin, which is actually a food colouring additive.
Courtney once again attempted to lead the next pitch for team Nebula – what a wrong move. It’s clear he always thinks he is better at pitching than he is, otherwise he wouldn’t constantly put himself forward for it. Although Courtney and Alana slammed Jessica for her waffling in the pitch, she’s actually the only one who tends to keep buyers engaged with true personality.
It was clear for team Titans that the buyers at the second pitch were not keen at all and who would be on an orange gin? Trying to be unique sometimes isn’t worth the effort, for it can easily come across unappealing as a result – which was the case here. Trying to tackle their questioning on the colour, Frances stated their flexibility in that they could change the orange colour if the buyers wished, bu then Trishna contradicts the comment by stating how they would not change the colour as it is what makes them different – slightly misguiding and totally off putting through a lack of consistency.
The third pitch for both teams seemed to appear to go averagely, maybe Grainne’s team slightly worse due to the confusion on the colour and name of the gin, for the negative connotations that ‘Colony’ mirrors.
At the end of the day, it was all about the orders that determined the winning team and team Nebula absolutely smashed it.
Whilst Courtney, Jessica and Alana flew off on a helicopter ride, Grainne, Trishna and Frances bickered in the grotty cafe.
There was no true direction for blame, they all seemed to pick at one another but Trishna was happy to sit and state her innocence.
Once returning to the boardroom, it was clear that a lack of communication within the group was likely the main reason for the failure of the task.
Trishna was reluctant to believe her faults and always had something to say to defend herself. All that defending wasn’t worth it as Lord Sugar pointed the finger at Trishna and she was officially fired.
After Lord Sugar recently accidentally revealed the winner of this series, I now know the candidate who becomes victorious, but I will not spoil it and reveal the result. However, this does mean that I will not be guessing the fate of the remaining candidates, but I am excited to see the last few weeks unroll.
Next week are the interviews – the best part of the series. Tune in next Thursday at 9pm to be thoroughly entertained, where candidates’ business plans are inevitably going to experience a gruelling.
