Two businesswomen will go head-to-head in The Apprentice final in a bid to win £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar and hear the words “you’re hired”.
Recruitment company owner Scarlett Allen-Horton and artisan bakery boss Carina Lepore have been whittled down from 16 entrepreneurs in a bid to become Lord Sugar’s business partner.
During Wednesday’s final, candidates fired earlier in the series returned to help the two remaining contestants bring their business plans to life.
Allen-Horton and Lepore were summoned to London’s Sky Garden skyscraper and told they would need to produce a digital screen and a TV advert for their businesses.
They would both then pitch their ideas to Lord Sugar and 250 experts at City Hall.
Both finalists picked their teams from previous candidates and got to work.
Ready to wrap this thing up? We’re down to two candidates and they’re ready for THE FINAL – and they’ll get a little help from familiar faces. Lord Sugar’s getting ready to unveil his latest business partner! Join us from 9pm on Wednesday – @BBCOne. pic.twitter.com/f3w7pYd0Iu
— The Apprentice (@bbcapprentice) December 11, 2019
Lepore wanted a family feel for her bakery and opted for the name Lepore’s Artisan Bakehouse.
Her digital screen showed a customer raising a piece of bread to their mouths and slapping away someone else’s hand.
The tagline was “too good to share” while the business’s slogan was “the finest in family baking”.
Meanwhile, Allen-Horton and her team were working away on her recruitment business, which had the aim of “promoting female, minority and diverse talent through the ranks”.
They decided on the name Stanton Lily while the logo was the profile of a woman’s face with cogs where the brain should be.
Lord sugar’s aide Baroness Karren Brady was unimpressed with the aesthetic choices.
The next challenge for the candidates was to film TV adverts for their respective businesses.
It's the @bbcapprentice FINAL this Wednesday 9pm. If you can get to the telly a bit earlier, there's an extra programme: Why I Fired Them, starting at 8pm @BBCOne. #TheApprentice pic.twitter.com/niLWPvRsDX
— Lord Sugar (@Lord_Sugar) December 16, 2019
Lepore’s team recorded a prison-themed commercial, with the bakery’s bread being described as “worth the time”.
An impressed Lepore called it “top class”.
The candidates working for Allen-Horton’s recruitment business settled on an advert showing a woman jumping into the driving seat of an invisible car while Survivor’s Eye Of The Tiger from the Rocky films played.
Again, the watching Lady Brady was unimpressed while Allen-Horton said it was “more cheesy” than she would have liked.
Both teams asked members of the public for feedback on their work before the finalists pitched their businesses to Lord Sugar and the panel of experts.
Both women then had a showdown in the boardroom.
The Apprentice airs at 9pm on BBC One.