Ordinary Gweilo

Some tasks on The Apprentice just scream out ‘product placement’.  It’s almost as if the producers are willing to organize any old task as long as it suits their sponsors.

Hence we had the weirdest task so far – the teams were asked to select an unsigned singer, write a song with him and then record a demo.  Both would be played on XM Cafe, which is apparently an alternative rock channel (one of a mere 150 channels available on subscription from XM Radio).  Did I mention that it is on XM Radio?  Oh, I did.

Simple and straightforward task.  Three steps

1. Find an artist who would be at home on XM Cafe
2. Write a song that would fit with the format of XM Cafe
3. Record the song in a style that would fit with XM Cafe

Nothing else to worry about.  No surprise that Team Excel over-thought the task and decided that they would "challenge" the audience by finding an R&B artist.  No surprise that the audience and the executives didn’t really want to be challenged. 

Capital Edge seemed to be more aware of what was required, and had the sense to remind the artist and the producer that they didn’t want any of that funny jazz sound thanks very much.  They won.  Clay was fired for being the most irritating contestant left.