So it took me a whole week to watch episode 2 as it was my first week back in front of clients and I wasn’t really in the mood. However, finally watching episode 2 reminded me that each episode has been pure comedy and we all need laughter in our lives.
So in this episode, an electronic Lord Sugar dressed as a suited tooth fairy asked the teams to create a toothbrush for children aged 6-8 years old plus an accompanying app educating them on how to brush.
Now what struck me throughout this episode was what seemed to be an underlying prejudice towards Shama, a candidate who has built a successful nursery business.
Repeatedly Shama explained her expertise with children and education, putting herself forward to lead or to go where she deemed her strength to be. Repeatedly she was ignored with no one even suggesting that since two people had put themselves forward – Francesca was voted in to be PM – maybe Shama could lead the sub team.
What we watched is exactly what goes on in the workplace to women of colour who are marginalised, ignored and silenced because they don’t ‘fit’. It doesn’t surprise me that she has chosen to quit according to the press “for health reasons” as the stress of the show took its toll. However, I suspect an honest, uncensored conversation would reveal a different story…
What I took away from this episode included:
For the second week in a row, the boys came up with a design that literally looked like s**t. There is not one creative amongst them whatsoever.
Men obviously lose all sense of perspective when they work solely with their own gender which explains the state of the wider world. They went from a gender neutral product to one exclusively for boys with no real tangible reason except they couldn’t figure out how to make a gender neutral character. Personally I would have picked a unisex name i.e Regan and a gender neutral character: a bear for example.
Women can be just as alienating if you’re not covered in make up and non-Muslim and I could never speak enough on that.
These challenges are pretty hard! I would have no idea how to create a story to appeal to kids and it was weird that the audience market research took place after the product had been designed. I suppose doing it the other way would have been more likely to produce stronger, influenced results.
I cringed when Project Manager Aaron effectively shut down a buyer from Superdrug when asked if he would change the colours of his product from brown to an alternative colour. It was a flat no. I’m not sure why Aaron thought wants are exclusively brown and he did as he recognised the mistake at the time but I think arrogance led that discussion.
I don’t know how the candidates that end up in the boardroom are able to look at each other once the get back to the house. Without any hesitation the loudest ones are extremely quick to throw each other under the bus.
In the end to the right candidate go? Yes. The change in audience was too fundamental a change to ignore and as Karen said to juxtapose a brown toothbrush with the name Wiffy the Wizard and for it not to cross anyone’s mind that this is an automatic fail is beyond me and the person who left was responsible on both counts.
Onwards to episode 3!
