Until last night, I was a WAGs Boutique virgin, and like most "first times" I was left wondering what all the hype was about. Not that I had expected groundbreaking things from a reality show (moan!) based on the wives and girlfriends of football players, most of whom I'd never even heard of (where was Colleen?) and their attempts to battle each other out via rival clothing boutiques. But then again, never do they claim it to be otherwise. After all, what else can you expect to see from a girl versus girl competition involving minor celebrities and fashion other than bitching, crying, bitching and more crying? Nevertheless, it did provide some insight into what you may never have seen before, and that is the true marketing power of a reality star, no matter what they are selling or for how much.
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It was episode four and the two boutiques, or teams, Bows and the aptly named Better Half, were set the challenge to choose designers to stock their stores. The team which made the most profit won the challenge. Better Half's manager for the week, Jadene, selects Charlotte and Heather for the challenge and the girls eventually decide on some designer necklaces after Heather manages to score a deal of 40 per cent off. While negotiating for Bows, Nicola and Michaela settle on a range of individually designed bags that were first turned away by Better Half.
As the race to sell the most begins, we are initally led to believe that Bows will win hands down as they continue to draw queues of people to the shop for their Great Ormond Street charity hoodies and t-shirts. Better Half appear to feel threatened and organise a champagne reception to launch their jewellery collection, which ultimately fails when the girls rock up an hour late, good one! Meanwhile, the Bows girls star in a Daily Star bikini shoot to promote their bags and hire a bikini model to stand in the window of their shop which sees their stock sell out in one day. After a series of arguments, involving Jadene calling Cassie a "kiss and tell" for selling her story to the tabloids regarding her split with Michael Essien, we finally get to hear who wins.
It couldn't have been scripted better: Better Half are announced the winners with a total profit of £3,186. Bows' total earnings amount to £906. Not really a great surprise considering Bows had a limited amount of bags to sell as opposed to Better Half's large amount of jewellery which was priced fairly high. But they wouldn't be WAGs if someone didn't finish the show with a dummy spit, and the results sees Bow Nicola, accuse Better Half's mentor Lyn Gardener of unfair play, insinuating her close friendship with the jewellery designer helped her team to win. Lyn bites back saying that Nicola always "gets her tits out", to which Nicola replies calling Lyn "mutton dressed up as f***ing lamb". Classy! But at least it's all for charity, right?