Box Design Sends Sophie Packing

Edinburgh graduate and stellar pashmina-wearer Sophie Lau’s dream of Apprentice glory was in tatters last night as she became the latest victim of Lord Sugar’s Finger of Fear, signalling her firing from the BBC show after only three episodes.

Her departure came after a disastrous performance by Team Evolve (tagline – the only thing that’s evolving is Luisa’s media profile) in the flatpack design challenge, which saw the girls sell only 187 of their TidySidey “box on wheels” in a fetching shade of “dead Marchmont mouse”.

Sophie doesn’t seem too impressed by her team’s efforts

While this resembled the sort of container serial killers keep their dismembered victims in, Team Endeavour shifted over 3000 of their Foldo-Chair table-seat hybrid, which Lord Sugar described as “one of the best products (he’d) ever seen on the show”. He was probably hypnotised by Alex’s eyebrows.

As in episode two, Sophie kept a low profile throughout the creative process, stating that she’d like to be involved with market research, as she’d “done a lot of that in (her) dissertation”. Almost a name-check for Edinburgh there!

However, given that this task was about designing and selling, it wasn’t perhaps wise for our plucky restaurateur to state “I don’t design, I don’t manufacture, I don’t sell and I don’t pitch”  – you could hear Lord Sugar’s faceless assistant dialling for a black cab as she spoke.

She’s smiling now but Sophie won’t be so pleased soon

There was a glimmer of hope for Sophie in the boardroom, when TOWIE Hag Natalie and Clown-Face Uzma ripped into each other; if you’d had a drink for every time someone screeched “STOP PASSING THE BUCK”, you’d be dead of liver failure.

By keeping quiet, Sophie clearly hoped she’d be passed over by Lord Sugar, but this proved the final straw – for her failure to fully participate, her second trip to the boardroom and, probably, her failure to smile on camera, Sophie was sent packing.

And it was curtains for Sophie

So in this series of over-large personalities, what will Sophie be remembered for? Her lack of overt bitching, calm demeanour and sensible footwear choices on the positive side, and her permanent pouting and failure to sell lucky cats in ChinaTown on the negative side.

Taxi for Lau!

Is Sophie likely to be one of the great Apprentice success stories, still memorable and quotable after the season finale, or even next week’s episode? Probably not. However, would I visit her restaurant or other business in the future? Absolutely.