The Apprentice episode 2: David Alden is fired as the boys' comic proves marginally more atrocious

The candidates were tasked with designing a new comic by Lord Sugar

The apprentice 2018: Sarah is the first to be fired

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.

Here were the biggest talking points:

The boys dream up the least interesting superhero imaginable

After debating a number of banal, alliterative names for superheroes, the boys settled on "Benji from the Beyond". It wasn't exactly the most original or nuanced story, Benji managing to save the world with one zap of his blaster.

Benji had a diversity problem

And it wasn't spotted by one of the businessmen but a school child in their focus group.

The girls decide their protagonist will teach kids French, only none of them speak it

They dreamed up "MC Gogo", a red blob with legs and rainbow hair who visits the Eiffel Tower. From the moment a contestant wrote "bonjoir" (sic) on the storyboard, however, it was clear their French wasn't up to eight-year-old scratch. The retailers they pitched to were quick to pull them up on this.

Khadija has never heard of Kim Jong un

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'.

Khadija was hailed by Lord Sugar as ruling with the iron fist of a Vladimir Putin or a Kim Jong un. She later confessed however that she didn't know who the latter was.

Fantasy writer David didn't have the storytelling chops

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. Don't expect to see his novels on the shelves anytime soon. Nevertheless, "I had so much more to give," he insisted on the cab ride home.

If you want to read how it went down moment-by-moment, please find what was our live coverage below:

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.

[10 October 2018 14:15 · j.shepherd]

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.

[10 October 2018 14:15 · j.shepherd]

First up, make sure you're all caught up with the series by checking out last week's live-blog below. 

[10 October 2018 15:33 · j.shepherd]

You can also read our interview with Claude from just before the new series aired.

[10 October 2018 20:01 · Christopher Hooton]

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.

[10 October 2018 20:15 · Christopher Hooton]

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?

[10 October 2018 20:29 · Christopher Hooton]

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...

[10 October 2018 20:42 · Christopher Hooton]

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.

[10 October 2018 20:52 · Christopher Hooton]

Right, we're 10 minutes away. That is if I make it through the high drama of DIY SOS.

[10 October 2018 21:06 · Christopher Hooton]

So this week is comic week! I'm sure Stan Lee is glued to the screen somewhere.

[10 October 2018 21:08 · Christopher Hooton]

Teams have two days to create a comic for eight to 12-year-olds. Shouldn't be too hard for them to get into the mindset of that target market..