Gloves versus Glam — Game On!

Webs have been woven, fights have been thought — it came down to two women in the final

It was week 12 of the UK’s BBC tv series The Apprentice — the final when Marnie, the would-be boxing gym owner and Rochelle, with her ambitious plan for inclusive hair salons, went head to head.

After a rollercoaster series which started with 18 candidates, it came down to the final two. What an entertaining series it has been, with for me, quite a poor bunch of candidates producing some of the worst outcomes I’ve ever seen in any series. Too many times this series, the winning team was the one with the least worst outcome.

Having said that, we see only the edited version, we don’t see the whole experience or the true depth or breadth of any candidate. That would be impossible, each week we’d be watching an extended feature film — it’s not practical.

I still love the series for its ‘business in a box’ feel and the fact, as a small business owner, you can have an opinion on tasks because you’ve been through some of those experiences and learnings yourself — albeit on a smaller scale and not with people you don’t know.

During the series, Rochelle had impressed me after a quiet start and Marnie had driven me mad by being often bossy and not listening. Both were strong personalities throughout however it wasn’t really until the interview week that I made a call not only who would be in the final but who would win.

Throughout this series I’ve made predictions and most have been wrong. This time I was on the money.

Marnie and Rochelle had to launch their businesses with branding, ads and then present to an audience. It was all very well behaved compared with the rest of the series. Marnie had a clear vision, which she imparted clearly and, by and large, it was followed and looked good.

Rochelle was less focussed and the assets provided were less polished, it was all a bit more wishy washy. Though the atmosphere was friendly, she had the weakest team. She wants to create inclusive hair salons and training for all hair types — as a woman of colour she felt that this doesn’t exist yet. The industry experts did not agree.

The presentations went well — Marnie was introduced with a traditional boxing ring intro before a big fight, done brilliantly by Simba. Rochelle’s presentation was definitely weaker. You…