The man with the sober vision
APPRENTICE NICK IS LEADING A PROJECT TO MAKE A NON-ALCOHOLIC DRINK
THE greatest comedy-that’snot-a-comedy of all time continues as the apprentices try to impress tough taskmaster Lord Sugar.
Once we’ve witnessed the usual bed hair and speeddressing, the candidates are black-cabbed to the Mercato Metropolitano food court in Mayfair.
It’s a former church turned foodie temple, offering artisan food and drink from around the world.
Lord Sugar, right, reveals they will be creating and branding a new nonalcoholic drink, before hosting a launch event where they will be pitching and selling to leading retailers.
It’s another opportunity for some classic car-crash moments as the arrogant business hopefuls display a glorious lack of common sense. First there is a series highlight as Lord Sugar mixes up the teams so they can no longer be ‘boys’ and ‘girls’ and have to think of team names.
Someone actually suggests Megatron, while another starts babbling about crystals, before they settle on Infinity and Diverse, just like so many teams before them.
Finance manager Nick is in charge of Diverse, turning instantly into a dictator as he forces his ‘vision’ to replicate vodka, lime and soda.
“Do we want a USP?” suggests a team member. “No, I’ve got a vision,” he says.
Meanwhile the other team comes up with Crafted and Spiced, but a fruity late addition isn’t to everyone’s taste.
At their events, both teams pour on the charm with their retailers, but with drinks proving somewhat hard to swallow, sales are a struggle.
It’s all head-in-hands telly – but that’s what makes it so good.