The Apprentice week four: Alex talks himself into a firing – and four other talking points

Candidates hit the world's biggest expo with extremely mixed results

(BBC)

It was a muscle-heavy episode of The Apprentice this week as the remaining candidates’ sales skills were put to the test at the world's biggest bodybuilding expo.

While last week’s instalment saw Frank Brooks fired after an intense boardroom showdown with Tom Bunday and Jasmine Kundra this week saw IT analyst Alex Finn on the receiving end of Lord Sugar’s wrath having failed to sell a single item during the task.

Elsewhere, super salesman Kayode was furious at being side-lined by his Project Manager while several candidates dodged boardroom bullets.

Below are the five biggest talking points.

Kayode side-lined

With everybody quick to heap the praise on professional speaker Kayode’s selling skills, it seemed a certainty that Collaborative’s Project Manager Sarah Ann Magson would put him front and centre when Lord Sugar moved him over to their team. Not quite. “I think even Ray Charles could see I was frustrated by the decision made by Sarah,” Kayode would say in pithy piece to camera. “This task is about selling the high-end products – you best believe if they don’t sell every single thing there, it’s going to be a very joyful ‘I told you so’.”

Rick dodges a bullet

It wasn’t a good week for Rick who, like Alex, failed to sell a single item. As such, he spent the entire episode sat in an unplugged sauna with potential buyers, unable to seal the deal. Fortunately for quality controller Rick, he was on the winning team meaning he escaped unscathed. However, in the opinion of this week’s fired candidate, the former escort needs to step up his game if he’s to remain in the process for much longer.

Kurran needs a sleep

For someone who has been a prevalent force in the first few tasks, Kurran Pooni’s energy took a hit this week. Despite fracturing his shoulder, the part-time extra was put on the massage team and spent the majority of the bodybuilding expo sullenly walking around in a sling. His lack of enthusiasm was noticed by Jackie Fast and even Lord Sugar himself who chided him in the boardroom. “I think Lord he’s going to walk through that door and fire me,” he later quipped back at the house.

Sian arrives

Some contestants bide their time on The Apprentice before making themselves known, and it seems like this is exactly the route travelled by Sian Gabbidon – until now, that is. This week saw Sian head up Typhoon’s sub-team, leading Khadija and Camilla, fresh from her Project Manager win last week. Unhappy with her decision to opt for the spray tans, Sabrina brought Sian back into the boardroom where the “silent assassin” (Lord Sugar’s words) emerged as a force to be reckoned with backed up by Karren: “I watched her closely and I like her.” Sian is certainly one to watch.

Alex talks himself into a firing

“I don’t believe Alex was culpable for the failure of this task,” Lord Sugar could be seen telling his trusty aides Karren and claude while mulling over his decision before the final boardroom showdown. Five minutes later, the 21-year-old IT analyst would be sent packing. Why? Because his reasoning for failing to sell a single item was that he was in the wrong place at the wrong time. Lord sugar didn’t like that. “You were in the smack bang right place,” he said, incredulous. “You were in the exhibition that specialises for bodybuilders with bodybuilding equipment – I couldn’t have set it up better for you!”