The Apprentice [UK] - General Discussion

[formerlyfreedom]

A place to discuss particular episodes, arcs and moments from the show. Please remember this isn't a complete catch-all topic -- check out the forum for character topics and other places for show-related talk.

[HauntedBathroom]

Bloody hell, the girls got lucky tonight. Terrible products, both of them.

[Lazlo]

Absolutely. I confess I don't get wearable technology at all.

 

I'm also surpised no one pointed out the solar panel shoulder pads are only usuable by women with short to medium hair. Even as Sarah was modelling the jacket her hair was covering the panels more often than not.

[Trick Question]

Weak start in terms of player quality.  Both teams delivered more or less rubbish in both tasks, yet the women are 2-0 since they're only mostly incompetent while the men are completely incompetent. 

 

I must say, Sugar's complaint about the players "hiding" isn't very fair.  In 10-person teams, there literally isn't enough for everyone to do on any given task...some people are bound to just fall through the cracks.  I'm having enough trouble as a viewer simply getting everyone's faces down, let alone names, abilities or personalities.  Having 20 people may give Sugar more leeway for multiple firings and create more drama, yet it makes things quite busy in the early going.  Sugar complained that Robert was dead weight, well, no kidding, in a normal season he probably doesn't even make the cast cut in the first place.

 

Lord Sugar has had no problems assigning project managers in the past, I wonder why he didn't outright tell Robert he was leading rather than simply heavily suggesting it.  Perhaps it was simply a test to see if Robert was indeed so weak that he'd decline, and Robert lived up (down?) to expectations.

[HauntedBathroom]

Again, that was a lucky win! I can't believe Tenacity won, their candles looked like earwax!!

 

So, Lindsay committed suicide, and Nurun was on Death Row from the start of the series, even though she was nominal project leader on last weeks victory.

Edited October 22, 2014 by HauntedBathroom

[Occasional Hope]

Those two both seemed completely out of their depth.  

 

Their candle did look quite classy, but they were selling it too cheaply.  The yellow one, OTOH, looked nasty, and I'm surprised they sold any at all, let alone at higher prices than the seaside one.  Maybe it smelt better than it looked.

[Lazlo]

A painful episode; I hate it when the worse team wins.

 

Maybe it's because I'm a fellow Dub but I admire Rosin for resisting the urge to strangle Lord Sugar after he mispronounced her name several hundred times.

Edited October 24, 2014 by Lazlo

[Kromm]

Even for the poor standards of this show, most of these people are epically stupid.

[Trick Question]

Daniel, Felipe, Sarah, James and Steven are all clear dead weight, so we could have at least a couple more episodes of eliminating the chaff before we get to the wheat.  Roisin and Solomon seem a bit better than those five, yet I feel confident in writing them both off at this point. 

 

Even more troubling than the number of perceivably-terrible candidates is that nobody has yet stood out as a markedly 'good' candidate.  Mark seems alright if full of himself, Pamela and Lauren seem okay in comparison since they're always rolling their eyes their teammates' awful ideas, and that's about it.  I'm not even sure a couple of the candidates have even gotten more than one talking head yet --- have we seen anything from the blonde with the glasses?

[Lazlo]

Daniel, Felipe, Sarah, James and Steven are all clear dead weight, so we could have at least a couple more episodes of eliminating the chaff before we get to the wheat.  Roisin and Solomon seem a bit better than those five, yet I feel confident in writing them both off at this point. 

 

Even more troubling than the number of perceivably-terrible candidates is that nobody has yet stood out as a markedly 'good' candidate.  Mark seems alright if full of himself, Pamela and Lauren seem okay in comparison since they're always rolling their eyes their teammates' awful ideas, and that's about it.  I'm not even sure a couple of the candidates have even gotten more than one talking head yet --- have we seen anything from the blonde with the glasses?

 

I don't know. Tom Pellereau had one of the worst performances in the history of the show, clung limpet like to the back seat until he had no choice to become PM (and then lost) and still won - and mostly on the basis of something he had already come up with, rather than his business plan. With the changed format it is more difficult to tell.

 

Even so I wouldn't entirely count Rosin out. She made a bad mistake but she also showed some promise.

[Trick Question]

This is a good point.  I still have to laugh that Sugar changed the format since he was upset that the show's winners weren't producing any long-term "Apprentices" for him....and then along comes literally the best possible Apprentice in Helen, and she loses since now the show is all about a business idea rather than actually working for Sugar.  I do wish the show had changed the tasks to somewhat reflect the new reality, though I'm not sure how you'd go about pitting one's business idea against another's.  Ah well, it's just a TV show.

 

I feel comfortable in writing off Roisin since Sugar usually doesn't go for "just" accountants or people without more business experience, he usually finds reason to eliminate them for being "just numbers people" and not creative enough.

[ApathyMonger]

I'm not sure how Lindsay even got on the show, or why she wanted to be. Had she never watched it?

 

You could probably say that about any of them though, as I don't know why anyone would want to be on a show in which every contestant is made to look like a moron.

[ApathyMonger]

Wow, a triple-firing. I don't think I've ever seen that before. Sarah's firing was kind of harsh, but the other two were definitely deserved.

[HauntedBathroom]

Bloodbath!! You're Fired's going to be interesting! I thought Nick was going to have to drag Ella Jade out of the board room.

Edited October 29, 2014 by HauntedBathroom

[Lazlo]

Wow, a triple-firing. I don't think I've ever seen that before. Sarah's firing was kind of harsh, but the other two were definitely deserved.

 

I agree.

 

Very understandable why Ella Jade wasn't on You're Fired and she has my sympathies but that meltdown in the boardroom was something else.

 

I have a grudging respect for Sarah after her appeance on YF.

[Occasional Hope]

Yes, I rather liked Sarah in YF.  A case of "Nothing became her in the show as much as her leaving".

 

Why no Ella Jade in YF?  Did she refuse to take part (such an immature lack of dignity after she was fired, maybe she threw a hissy fit and just wouldn't do it.)  Or ... could she have been reinstated?  Though I don't see why she would.

PS: I wouldn't go into business with Steven if he was the only option.  He was entertaining but I don't think I could trust him with my money.

 

And both those videos were utterly dire.  But then I only go on youtube to listen to music, or to watch cute animals, and I guess they didn't have the right personnel for anything other than lame attempts at comedy.  (It's probably illegal but they'd probably have got more hits if they'd used Solomon's OTHER video ;) )

[Kromm]

Wow, a triple-firing. I don't think I've ever seen that before. Sarah's firing was kind of harsh, but the other two were definitely deserved.

I'm trying to recall if Trump ever did a triple.  I think he might have once. 

 

And less than 4000 views with 2 videos on a channel over several days?  Someone could get that many by accident (or also get 5 views in the same period, or 50,000).  It's often totally random.

Edited October 30, 2014 by Kromm

[HauntedBathroom]

Why no Ella Jade in YF?  Did she refuse to take part (such an immature lack of dignity after she was fired, maybe she threw a hissy fit and just wouldn't do it.)  Or ... could she have been reinstated?  Though I don't see why she would.

Her father died in the last week, so she had more important things to do. On the other hand, given her begging in the board room, I wouldn't have put it past her to refuse to play.

[Lazlo]

Her father died in the last week, so she had more important things to do. On the other hand, given her begging in the board room, I wouldn't have put it past her to refuse to play.

 

That actually happened in the Irish version of the show once. In the 2009 series one candidate was fired and outright refused to set foot on YF. The host set up a cardboard cut out of her in the spot the firee would usually sit.

[doesntworkonwood]

I was just waiting for Sarah to go, from the first episode she was incredibly useless and didn't have any idea what she was doing at all.

 

Ella Jade annoyed me in this episode, I didn't really care for her much before, but she was just so wishy washy, I was glad she was fired. 

 

I think we should have got a bit more time with Steven. Not because he's good, but because he was entertaining. And I don't think they should have blamed the failure of the task on his pitch, buzzfeed were never going to advertise such a shit product anyway. 

[Kromm]

I was just waiting for Sarah to go, from the first episode she was incredibly useless and didn't have any idea what she was doing at all.

 

Ella Jade annoyed me in this episode, I didn't really care for her much before, but she was just so wishy washy, I was glad she was fired. 

 

I think we should have got a bit more time with Steven. Not because he's good, but because he was entertaining. And I don't think they should have blamed the failure of the task on his pitch, buzzfeed were never going to advertise such a shit product anyway. 

Blame Canada!

 

Well, okay. At least when it's justified.  Steven would have tested anyone's patience.

 

Then again, if you've fired all the idiots.. what's left to entertain us?

 

[Trick Question]

I'm trying to recall if Trump ever did a triple.  I think he might have once.

 

Trump did a quadruple-firing once.  The PM had the option of bringing two or three people back into the boardroom and three were chosen, leaving just one team member to go back to the house.  I remember wondering at the time who would be fired, since all four had either committed major errors in the task or had just been generally useless for weeks....and instead, Trump just fired all four.  At least Lord Sugar called the house to tell everyone what had happened; Trump just left everyone waiting up until it dawned on them all that nobody was returning.

 

Steven and Sarah did indeed appear to be useless candidates, though I have to again question the "you didn't do anything on this task" argument when (with so many people on the teams still) there simply aren't enough actual jobs to go around.  Both videos were terrible, neither team has yet to actually win a task on their own merits and I still don't know if there's a decent candidate in the bunch.  At least we finally heard Gemma's name; her lack of work became a plot point.

[limecoke]

Just realized this show was back.  Yay!!  So glad it's readily available to US viewers.  "The Hair" Trump may have invented this game but Lord Sugar shows how it should be done.  

[Occasional Hope]

James is a jerk and Daniel isn't far behind.  I'm quite liking Mark and Lauren atm.

 

I'm stunned anyone would pay £90 for a day trip, let alone one run by obvious amateurs.

[kdm07]

Ngl, I did get a good kick out of watching Daniel's BS be brought under the spotlight, with Nick's backing too! James though...what a arrogant little s**** he is and I hope both he and Daniel are gone soon.

Edited November 9, 2014 by kdm07

[Trick Question]

That shot of Karren grimly looking at the 'emergency exit' sign during James' interminable singing was pure gold.  The other great shot was the post-victory team all hugging and smiling in the boardroom lobby...except for Daniel, who just grimly got his case and didn't join in.  Cold-blooded!  And people actually patting Mark on the back instead of PM Daniel was hilarious.  Lord Sugar is going to have switch Daniel to the other team next task just to prevent a fight from breaking out.

 

I highly suspect that if James had been brought into the boardroom, he would've been the one going home.  He's your typical character type we seem to have one or two of in every Apprentice series --- the brash young hard-sell jackass who is all about 'driving a hard bargain' without an ounce of common sense.  That said, Gemma's lack of camera time has now been explained by the fact that she wasn't doing anything.

 

For tasks like this, you have to wonder if it should go beyond just pure profit to award the victory.  Say Sanjay's team had indeed made more money despite having clearly a more shoddily-run tour....shouldn't there have been some type of customer survey afterwards, and if one team had underperformed on the product, they'd have to have paid a penalty?

[Kromm]

James is a jerk and Daniel isn't far behind.  I'm quite liking Mark and Lauren atm.

 

I'm stunned anyone would pay £90 for a day trip, let alone one run by obvious amateurs.

I'm always suspicious with this show that maybe nobody actually pays for anything, but instead they are sent in acting as if they WOULD pay that under other circumstances.

[Falafel]

How did I not know this show was back for five weeks? Probably because I'm an American and I live in the U.S. But man, this show is so good. I can't disagree with Lord Sugar's firings so far, but I am disappointed he fired the funniest people on the show. Time to catch up.

 

-Steven made me laugh so hard when he was being serious. He flipped out over everything and got so sassy about it. It was amazing. What's funny is when I heard his accent, right away I wanted to root for him because I thought he was American. Turns out he was Canadian -- close enough. But man, he let his freak flag fly early and it was amazing. "I'm not throwing you under the bus. I'm being very supportive" he says in the most aggressive manner possible. Haha.

 

-Sarah was, well, dumb as a pile of rocks. But it will forever be one of the funniest moments of the show when she tried to sell the zoo buckets and toilet brushes for £250 and told them that the original price was actually £300 but she wanted to give them a deal because she loves the zoo. Hahaha.

 

-A lot of the female contestants have been disappointing this season, which bums me out as a woman. Who doesn't know what the word decadence means? You are grown adults! Sarah, Nurun and Lindsay all sort of just made me cringe. I thought Roisin showed a lot of promise and started her task strong, but then was selling everything for practically nothing and lost, which made no sense. Emma Jade drove me fucking nuts. Bianca hasn't done very much either way, but she didn't know that solar panels need to be exposed to the sun, which is pretty amazing.

 

-That said, the guys have plenty of morons in their ranks too. That guy James is perhaps not as smarmy and douchey as some of the contestants on this show in years past, but he's pretty awful. And what is with his comments that sound sort of casually misogynistic? He can't be fired soon enough and he would've been in Sanjay brought him in the firing line. I think Mark and Solomon seems like potential frontrunners, although I think Mark seems like a bit of a douche too. The rest of the guys are pretty much duds. Who actually thinks Felipe is going to win this thing? Hah, come on.

 

Tasks this season have been pretty good. A lot of them are new, instead of copies of previous tasks, which is cool.

 

-I thought the YouTube task was actually one of the harder ones this show has had. It was just as much about a good watchable idea as it was about SEO techniques. Probably where both videos missed the mark was not creating videos that BuzzFeed would want to feature. (My idea probably would've been something involving puppies.) The wearable technology design was the same problem to me -- neither team designed clothing that seemed to directly target one of the retailers they would pitch to. I'm not sure how contestants still haven't learned to focus on winning pitches and ignore the other incidental sales/views/whatever.

 

-They had a bus tour task once before and I always feel a bit bad for the people who pay their money for these tours. The losing team's tour was horrible. I was expecting Lord Sugar to force the team to refund some of the ticket fees for ending the tour early after starting late. I wonder if BBC pays the customers a stipend for appearing on camera all day? I did laugh so hard at Karen looking over at the "emergency exit, break glass" sign in quiet contemplation of jumping off the bus. Then later, she casually says "I'm just recovering from the coach journey from hell." Hahah.

Edited November 8, 2014 by Falafel

[CorgiNarnia]

I think we should have got a bit more time with Steven. Not because he's good, but because he was entertaining. And I don't think they should have blamed the failure of the task on his pitch, buzzfeed were never going to advertise such a shit product anyway. 

This has been the most disappointing firing for me. He had the funniest pre-show ridiculous comments. I was looking forward to so many more Steven moments.

[Occasional Hope]

The relationship game was utter crap.  I'm surprised they sold any copies at all - and without Mark they wouldn't have shifted many.

 

Really, Pamela couldn't be bothered to read 48 questions??  How long would it have taken here, for heaven's sake?

 

And Daniel runs a pub quiz company; surely he could have come up with some better questions.  The ones we heard were just so hamhanded and pointless and the answers so random.  If I bought it, I'd take it back.

 

The GeoKnow game wasn't at all bad; that could sell in real life as educational fun for families.  Bianca was very lucky they won.

[ApathyMonger]

The GeoKnow game wasn't at all bad; that could sell in real life as educational fun for families.  Bianca was very lucky they won.

 

Yeah, they probably needed to tighten up the rules a little, but there are far worse games out there. Especially if you look at some of the games people look for funding for on Kickstarter.

[kdm07]

LMAO! Poor Roisin having to spend the day with James. James may be an idiot but Bianca seems to lack any sort of business sense and she dodged a bullet tonight.

 

As for the other team, goodness me what a terrible performance. The board game sounded awful the minute Mark brought it up and for Pamela to blatantly ignore the market research was beyond stupid. Not surprised she was the one to go either.

 

Mark lost me this week so I'm sticking with Roisin until the end.

Edited November 13, 2014 by kdm07

[HauntedBathroom]

As for the other team, goodness me what a terrible performance. The board game sounded awful the minute Mark brought it up and for Pamela to blatantly ignore the market research was beyond stupid. Not surprised she was the one to go either.

It's not the first time. Sometimes a project manager seizes onto an idea so desperately that they refuse to hear the valid problems with it that other people bring to them. Lauren and Felipe at least seemed to commit to the idea once they had no other choice.

[Trick Question]

Roisin was the clear MVP of this task.  Her game actually seemed like a half-decent game that you'd properly find in stores.  The box, as well, was quite professionally well done.  Had it not been for Bianca's error with the Westminster exclusivity, the team could've added at least a few hundred more pounds onto their winning score.  James got lucky this week, it's clear that guy doesn't have a brain in his head.

 

How can a guy whose entire business is RUNNING PUB QUIZZES not know to write questions with non-subjective answers?

[Kromm]

I will howl with laughter if next week, when they have them come to New York, if they get Trump in as a guest.

 

Unlikely, since I think Sugar has badmouthed Trump, but it would have been pretty funny.

[Nightbaron]

Has there ever been a task in the entire history of this show, where the project manager doesn't completely ignore market research?  It seems every time they send the sub team out to gather it, they keep working on their product so that when the market says their idea sucks, they feel it's too late to change anything.  What's the point in doing market research then?

 

The Relationship Guru is in the top of the very worst products ever thought out on this franchise.  Ridiculously bad.

 

I'm glad Pamela was fired if only because when she asked Lauren to let her finish speaking in the boardroom, Lauren did.  But when Lauren asked her the same, she kept on talking over her telling her she was speaking around in circles.  Hate that.

Edited November 13, 2014 by Nightbaron

[Kromm]

Has there ever been a task in the entire history of this show, where the project manager doesn't completely ignore market research?  It seems every time they send the sub team out to gather it, they keep working on their product so that when the market says their idea sucks, they feel it's too late to change anything.  What's the point in doing market research then?

The so-called Market research is never very scientific, and would be laughed off by any real business in my opinion. I mean it's usually a single visit to a fairly arbitrarily selected group of people (who the team only THINKS is most relevant and may not be).  Real market research is months of work, over a fairly wide group of consumers, with a lot of fudge factors built in (and still is debatable in how valid it is, even then).

[Falafel]

Roisin was the clear MVP of this task.  Her game actually seemed like a half-decent game that you'd properly find in stores.

Agree that she did a great job, and when she talked about how the game was entirely her concept and execution, I was like "she's screwed." And then I saw how bad the other game turned out.

 

GeoKnow seems a little easy and I'm not sure how much replayability it has, even for kids, but the overall concept and branding was the far superior one. They should've done a geography version of Scattergories, where you have to list cities, leaders, sports teams, musicians, etc. from a randomly selected country. Then, when the game isn't being played by little kids, you could add a letter die in addition to a country die to make it more challenging. Do people in the UK know the game Scattergories? I thought of that when I saw GeoKnow and I'm convinced I'd have won the task. Hah. I think it's a brilliant idea.

 

I noticed that Mark's sales technique was not opening the game and letting people read the questions. At least that's how it looked when they edited his second sale. I think Mark does seem very competent, but it also comes across that he is doing his best to avoid direct responsibility and, as an added bonus, he loves talking shit about people behind their backs while he does it, which is obnoxious. It's one thing to backseat drive, but to do it every task and cop an attitude about it is grating.

 

With Lauren, I actually thought this for weeks about her. I remember in the wearable technology task, she seemed to have a lot of complaints about the design, but I don't recall her saying anything to the group during the task at all. Maybe I missed it. But she does seem to place blame and distance herself strategically throughout tasks, which I understand, but would be more tolerable if she contributed more -- this week, I'm not sure she did anything, really.

 

No one should let Bianca do pitches, full stop. She announced, unprompted when the group she was selling to was their last chance for sales last week. This week she offered, unprompted, exclusivity for the whole of Westminster. Honestly, if I would James I would've told her to go back and undo the sale, but I wonder if the competition has rules against that.

 

James remains a gigantic douche bag. His argument he started with Bianca served literally no purpose.

 

Has there ever been a task in the entire history of this show, where the project manager doesn't completely ignore market research?

Yes, it happens all the time. In Pamela's defense, why are they doing market research with a group of board game enthusiasts for a casual "fun" dating game that is for a mainstream market? Resisting an obvious joke about whether those guys have girlfriends and spouses, they seem to play games like Settlers of Catan and Diplomacy in marathon sessions and in tournaments. They don't play party games like Apples To Apples or Taboo with their family. The market research was totally the wrong demographic for their concept. (Although, maybe teams were given the option of who to interview and that's who Pamela chose, which would be a whole separate issue.)

 

I will howl with laughter if next week, when they have them come to New York, if they get Trump in as a guest.

I don't want that idiot anywhere near this show. The only reason the Apprentice works as a concept is because I believe Lord Sugar isn't an idiot. I can't say the same for Trump, and his blatantly sexist comments also helped turn me off to the American version (among many other reasons, both Trumped-related and not).

Edited November 15, 2014 by Falafel

[HauntedBathroom]

That advert!!!

 

But then...that branding!!! The right team lost, and (purely because Lauren didn't do much this week)the right person was fired.

[kdm07]

"Sanjay, if you listen to anything James says then you're a fool." Best line of the night.

 

If Roisin goes out before the final 5 I'll be highly disappointed.

Edited November 20, 2014 by kdm07

[Falafel]

That was a pretty cool task. It was kind of cool see the Apprentice UK-style shots of NYC and the Statue of Liberty, and the candidates just generally running around the U.S. I thought Solomon's inclusion in the ad was a bit odd -- could he not fake an American accent? Actually, nevermind -- from what we heard, none of them can do an American accent, especially James. I loved all the stereotyping about Americans in this episode -- slightly silly, but it goes both ways, I suppose.

 

The entire episode seemed to be pointing toward a Lauren firing. I was hoping it was massive misdirection, but I didn't really see how it could go any other way. Aqua Fusion clearly sucked and they were going to lose, and everyone thought Lauren sucked. Done deal. It's a fair firing, but how does Felipe stick around? For all the talk of contributing something, it seems like all he contributed was that god-awful ad and that hilarious moment where he cried in Times Square. He is the perfect case for why I'd PM the first task if I were on this show -- he can just sit back the rest of the time, it seems.

 

I thought Big Dawg was going to look like it was for dogs, to be honest, but I think Sanjay and Roisin did minimize that by doing a good job of explaining the product clearly on the label. As much as the concept seemed a bit cheesy, even in the end, I still thought they did a good job putting it together and making it into something. Team UK clearly beat Team U.S. "Don't spin your skateboard," Bianca says. Yes, don't do anything interesting, sir. I will say they deflected criticism during the pitch well. I was shocked when it turned out that guy is some sort of champion skateboarder though. Why not identify him as such? Also, maybe I'm wrong, but do Americans even use the term "boarder" for skateboarder?

 

Overall, great episode, but there are so few appealing candidates left. Really, I think Roisin is at the top for me, but I still have a hard time getting over how she ignored the profit margins when she was PM. I guess I should give her a break -- everyone screws up sometimes and she's been basically a rock star the rest of the time. Solomon is flying under the radar -- he never gets into fights and he's never on the end of any complaints. I see him at the end, even though I'm not sure he's totally wowed me even once.

 

Was that the graphic designer's cat that was just chillin' in the session with Sanjay and Roisin? Ha.

Edited November 20, 2014 by Falafel

[Kromm]

James is one of the stupidest fucks ever on this show, isn't he?

 

It doesn't matter how good he is at sales, or whatever.  If you can't even trust this idiot to sit through even a single meeting without backtalking his boss, he should be history.

[Occasional Hope]

I thought it was a bit self indulgent of Lauren and Solomon to cast themselves in the ads, since they clearly had a budget to engage actual actors/models.

 

I liked Mark a couple of weeks ago, but I'm cooling on him again now.  Also, I think they've picked up on the idea that painting someone as someone who doesn't do much is a good way to get them fired instead of the personal actually culpable.

 

Doesn't James have a conviction for something?  How did he get a visa for the US?  

[Trick Question]

It's a fair firing, but how does Felipe stick around? For all the talk of contributing something, it seems like all he contributed was that god-awful ad and that hilarious moment where he cried in Times Square. He is the perfect case for why I'd PM the first task if I were on this show -- he can just sit back the rest of the time, it seems.

 

I suspect if Felipe had brought back instead of Daniel, he would've been also fired.  It's getting to the point where I suspect Daniel's business idea is actually intriguing to Lord Sugar since there's otherwise no reason why this clown is still in the game.  I did enjoy, though, Daniel calling out Mark on this clearly pre-planned clever boardroom one-liner.

[Tony]

I feel that these teams repeatedly fall into the pitfalls of not clearly planning their products out in the first place and making sure that what they come up with is the right product for the task. Usually when they're all sitting there trying to come up with an initial idea, everyone has a brain fart. Eventually someone does chime in with something and the rest jump in with resounding support like it was the best idea ever thought up in the history of mankind. It's always something moronic, but they never realize that and just go with it like it's the only option they have instead of kicking their brains into high gear to try to come up with something else. In this series alone this has happened over and over again (both wearable technologies idiocies, the relationship game, both drink ideas, etc).

 

With that said, the healthy drink concept could have been salvageable if they executed the bottle designs/advert/pitch much better. With the name AquaFusion, I was waiting for someone (anyone at all whether it was the candidates or the audience panel) to ask what the two things they were trying to fuse were. I'd be willing to bet they just thought "fusion" was just a clever and catchy word that had no meaning. Total fail. The other team's concept for their drink wasn't any better, but they "won" because Tenacity screwed up so badly.

 

My pick for the firing would have been Filippe. Besides being responsible for that craptastic advert, he probably contributed less than Lauren for the rest of the task. He's a dead man walking imo. 

[HauntedBathroom]

I thought it was a bit self indulgent of Lauren and Solomon to cast themselves in the ads, since they clearly had a budget to engage actual actors/models.

I did wonder if maybe there was an obligation for them to do it, if it was party of the task? Not for a business reason, just for the producers to allow us to laugh at their efforts?

 

Is there a reason the British teams couldn't send first attempts for labels to the US teams for assessment? They're using smartphones to stay in touch, take a shot and send it on! I know that the teams aren't supposed to use computers and stuff, but when they're talking cross-Atlantic, it seems foolish not to use the other buttons on their phones.

 

Oh yeah, I keep thinking this is business, not entertainment.

Edited November 24, 2014 by HauntedBathroom

[Occasional Hope]

They should have picked a pet product for the agricultural show.  There are always masses of dog owners (and dogs) at those kind of shows.

 

Mark's sales ability impressed again this week.  He's a bit too manipulative for me to want to go into business with him, but the selling style is very very effective.  Felipe's inability to quash the squabbling was a flaw.

[ApathyMonger]

Not at all surprised at James going.

 

If Lord Sugar thinks Roisin has been doing nothing, I've no idea what he'll eventually say about Solomon, who I keep forgetting exists.

[Trick Question]

Hey Lord Sugar, the reason you "haven't heard much" from Roisin is that she's usually on the winning team, and when she does lose, the PM usually isn't fool enough to bring her in since she's a strong candidate.  She was less team partner with James than she was his babysitter.

[kdm07]

I didn't think I could dislike James more but this latest episode pushed me over the edge. He's despicable! I couldn't believe how everyone seems to fall for his 'Oliver Twist'/'I came from nothing act' either. Glad to see the back of him with my favourite candidate giving him the boot.

I waver on Mark but at least he owns up to his sly motives.