The Apprentice Asia

Get ready for sharp suits and even sharper claws.

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[Recap] It's fishy business in this first episode of The Apprentice Asia!

In order to put contestants’ sales skills to the test, teams were sent to a wet market to sell fish. The goal? Simple. To make a profit. Contestants were divided by gender. The men named their team "The Mavericks", and the women chose the name "Apex".

 

Too much testosterone, too little strategy
Chaos ruled the men's team. All the guys tried to take charge - leaving project manager Hendy standing by looking dazed and confused.

After much talking over one another, they decided to scout out market prices first before starting sales. But that didn’t stop self-proclaimed "sales ninja" Hanzo from pulling in customers even before prices were set. Other teammates followed suit and started selling fish too - at massive losses.

Frenchman Alex even pretended to be a French chef in order to attract customers - a move that Tony later denounced as unethical.

By the time a rather spaced-out Hendy finally applied a 30% margin to the wholesale price at Jonathan’s urging, it was too late. The damage had been done.

 

One big mistake
Apex, on the other hand, were doing a spectacular job. Prices were set clear-headedly, sales were brisk, and the girls were showing remarkable teamwork.

Alas, project manager Nik had labeled one tray of pricey prawns incorrectly - incurring a loss of over 300 Ringgit on that tray alone.

 

The last big push
In a last desperate attempt to sell all their fish, both teams went out onto the streets to solicit sales from nearby food outlets.

Apex persisted in keeping their margins high and, putting their female charms to full use, sold all their fish at a good price.

The Mavericks did the reverse - in desperation, they sold their fish at giveaway prices.

 

The result
Apex made a loss of 186 Ringgit. But luckily for them, the Mavericks made an even bigger loss of 654 Ringgit - a whopping 40% loss. As Tony put it, Apex won only because the Mavericks were "appalling".

 

Bizarre boardroom moves
Thrown under the bus by his team, Hendy was picked out to be in the elimination room. As part of the show’s format, Hendy had to pick out 2 other team members to face elimination as well.

In possibly the strangest move ever in the history of The Apprentice, Hendy picked his two strongest teammates - Alex and Nash. His reason? "These two guys have the skill", and therefore they should shoulder some of the blame for the failure of the day. He refused to name weak team members.

Between the three of them, the choice was obvious. Hendy was sent packing.