Apprentice hopefuls in art sale bid (From Messenger Newspapers)

Apprentice hopefuls in art sale bid

2:54am Wednesday 9th May 2012 in National Entertainment News © Press Association 2013

The business brains in The Apprentice have to brush up on their selling skills when Lord Sugar challenges them to sell modern art.

The teams have to persuade sceptical artists they should be given the chance to represent them and sell their work to the public and a big-spending corporate client.

Tom Gearing grabs the chance to lead Team Phoenix after impressing the rest of the group with his art knowledge.

The 23-year-old from London tells them: "I know a bit about graffiti. I understand the art and the technicalities of how graffiti is produced, so I can tell the difference between what a good-quality graffiti piece is and what a bad-quality graffiti piece is."

But his knowledge does not help when he tries to persuade urban artist Pure Evil to give Phoenix his business and the opposition, led by architect Gabrielle Omar, get the job - leaving Tom less than happy and telling his team the artist must be "mental".

Gabrielle's team also struggle and get into trouble when they meet up with Beefeater Gin in an attempt to find an artist to represent their brand.

Their approach does not impress Karren Brady and things get worse the next day when staff from the company arrive at Gabrielle's gallery and are ignored by the team in what Brady describes as "a master class in how not to treat a corporate client".