APPRENTICE: GAZALL

It was quite cringe-making this week watching both teams mess around with the dark art of harnassing and packaging urban 'cool'.

Well that's what I spent the first half of this week's show thinking. Then gradually during the second half it, after they'd had the Ad agency pros make their pronouncements, it occured to me that deciding whether someone has got a bit of branding right, depends a helluva lot on how confident we are in the person/people doing it.

With the apprentices, we know they're not Advertising Creatives, so we fully expect that what they'd churn out what would be - in Tre's parlance - BollocksShit. Whereas, in the hands of some hugely expensive agency, we assume what they churn out is doing the right job...even, and this is the important bit, even...if we don't get it.

It's something to do with that naieve trust we have in the expert.

So with that thought in mind, I thought they're JAM and STREET campaigns were actually not that bad, particularly given they only had 2 days in which to do it. I've got to ask myself what exactly have those hugely expensive agencies done for Reebok, Adidas, Nike? You know, other than hire in VERY expensive sports/pop icons (Beckham, Magic, Cent, Snoop etc etc) and film them with grainy film stock? Hmmm?

Anyway, back on topic. I think the right team won, and yes, I think Gazall was a weak team leader, and ripe to go.

Tonight though, for me, the star of the show, was Katie. (Yes Simon was an inspiration, and did indeed, to my utter surprise, sound very, very black) It does seem that everyone's out for Katie, calling her a snake in the grass et al....but sod it, she seems to be the only apprentice who can really give Sir Alan a run for his money in the boardroom. I'm going to stick my neck out now, and predict she will be a finalist.

That bee-atch Katie....the ho' got sole.