Irish Apprentice Watch – Week 6 – The one with Marcel Marceau

Review by Ian Walsh.

We are now halfway through this ‘gruelling’ 12 week job interview. This week proved how reality shows can be really unpredictable and it threw up possibly the biggest shock so far, which really disappointed me.

The task was clearly something close to Bill’s heart, and no we are not back on Moore Street again but in the showroom of a Renault garage. The objective was but a simple one, to sell cars. But the cracks clearly began to show from the off. Mark was clearly bored off his head and it wasn’t half obvious when he showed where his bored head was :

‘‘I’d rather be selling bananas on Moore Street’’

This was a complete shock to my system, and I was concerned when I saw this attitude and thought nothing of it at first. I figured he would surely change his tune and step up to the plate, but it wasn’t to be.

Nicky was project manager for Dynamo, and had the difficult task of keeping Joanna on a tight leash. A bit of an impossible task to keep her in check it must be said. This meant Nicky left herself open to being manipulated and undermined. It wasn’t entirely Nicky’s fault but she was indecisive and couldn’t make a clear cut decision, the total opposite of Joanna.

It seems we have made the transition from the ‘long grass’ to the ‘bushes’ , where Joanna has been waiting for Nicky to be project manager. Joanna seems to be at home with nature, I wonder where will she be next. Among the flowerbeds? Who knows..

As I said last week we would all like the chance to see Sarah as project manager and this week was her chance to shine. I haven’t any real criticisms about her but at the same time I wouldn’t be going off raving about her, not yet anyway. Stuart was essentially the star man and rightly so because this was his forte. He went from zero to hero and put himself right back in contention for the ‘dream job’.

Obviously Brenda makes enough money in her bridal shop that she drives a car that doesn’t use a conventional key, as she came out with this quote while trying to start one of the Renault models:

‘‘its been so long since I used a key’’

Luckily nobody asked to be taken on a test drive, or better still she wasn’t asked to park the cars in showroom. One may suspect that it may have taken longer than Stuart’s ridiculous two hour tour de force.

Now to the boardroom where Nicky had no choice but to drag Mark and Joanna in with her. As usual Joanna played the innocent little girl act having no clue why she was there. She is someone who I could never work with. She appears to be confrontational, undermining and manipulative – traits that I can’t tolerate. Mark on the other hand was ready to go. He threw the towel in the moment the task started. This is the same guy that was Bill’s special one ever since we lay eyes on him five weeks ago. Subsequently it was an easy decision for Bill and Mark was fired.

I am on the fence regarding the decision, he did give up on that task there is no doubt about that but based on past form was it the right thing to let him go?  I liked Mark and I am sad to see him depart. I am sure a lot of people will be too, including Bill. I think from this point onwards its going to get very interesting.

Just a quick note, spotted in the Daily Mail. Monday nights episode peaked at 405,000 views, I’d like to say well done to the show and to TV3!