Interviews The Apprentice

£250,000.

It's an acorn which we want grown into a great oak tree.

Lord Sugar's on the hunt for a brand-new business partner.

If you think this process is tough, it's just got a whole lot tougher.

Over the next 12 weeks, you are out of your comfort zone.

Ready to fight for his funding, 18 inspiring entrepreneurs.

Supply and demand, that's what this is about.

I'm demanding the answers, you better bloody well supply them.

On the table, a quarter million pound investment.

And a 50/50 partnership with Britain's toughest backer.

You haven't used any of your skills, any of your knowledge.

Mistake on that, mistake on this, straight in the bin.

-Hey, Rich, come on!

-Let's go, mate.

It's a deal worth battling for.

I sold the most yesterday.

-You did yesterday, but this morning you didn't.

-Whatever.

-18 candidates...

-Hang on. Ooh!

Common sense prevails.

We're going to be...explosive!

-..12 testing weeks...

-I really don't know what to do.

I messed up a bit, didn't I?

..one life-changing opportunity.

You're fired. You're fired.

This is a bad call on strategy.

You're fired.

Previously on The Apprentice...

I'd like you to create your own healthy snacks.

And then pitch to retailers.

..Charleine's superfood bars came with added confusion...

Ba-boo? The Boo-Ba Bar?

The Baobab?

..and ended up... SHE CHOKES

..hard to swallow.

-Do you like it?

-No.

The other team plumped for crisps.

I'm seeing the front of a packet with a massive V.

It's basically just vegetables.

But Brett's veggies...

I think I need to put a little bit more olive oil.

It's not mad science!

..saw their chances slip away.

I struggled to open the bag because of the amount of oil my fingers.

In the boardroom...

They didn't place any orders, Alan.

They also didn't place any orders.

No orders also?

..a dead heat.

That's ever happened before. You both lost.

Charleine faltered.

You want to take five minutes and go outside.

Richard pleaded not guilty.

I didn't know the process of cooking.

-You DID know it was dehydrated. You DID know it was raw.

-Tricky Dicky.

And for Brett...

So what have you done in the ten weeks then?

Been in the bottom three, three times.

..it was crunch time.

I'm going to have to let you go from the process and say you're fired.

Thank you for everything, it's been amazing.

He became the 13th casualty of the boardroom.

Now, five remain to fight for the chance to become

Lord Sugar's business partner.

One week till Lord Sugar's final.

PHONE RINGS

The phone!

Hello?

'Lord Sugar would like you to meet him in the city at 8am tomorrow.

'Make sure you don't forget your business plans.'

Ahhh...

This is what it's all about now, isn't it?

What business plan?!

Joseph?

What?

For the final five, 24 hours to knock their plans into shape.

Beauty salon package for five times hair salon set-up...

1.25 year two turnover...

Lord Sugar would be happy with that.

Former corporate business manager Gary Poulton...

Competitor analysis, logistics...

..has six years' experience and the UK's biggest retailer.

I have been labelled as this corporate guy,

this Corporate Gary, Corporate G.

..market grown by over 3%...

I need to demonstrate to Lord Sugar I am more than just Mr Corporate,

I am this entrepreneur.

Perfect.

75,000...

At 25, plumbing firm owner Joseph Valente is the youngest survivor.

I don't have a great deal of experience in regards to interviews.

..sales figures...

What's wrong with me?

I think a number of times throughout this process

I've been out my comfort zone.

Come on, Joe, you can do this!

But I've come a long way from that 14-year-old boy

that got expelled at school.

Revenue of the US dating market, 2.2 billion...

Business masters student, Vana Koutsomitis,

is a social media entrepreneur with two internet businesses.

I'm confident in my business plan because this is a passion for me.

I've worked in the dating industry, I've done the relevant research.

..number of online dating businesses, 3,800.

It's crazy.

I know that I can execute it properly.

After last week's loss,

hair salon owner Charleine Wain has a lot to prove.

Being in that boardroom on the last task really got to me.

..the defining feature that differentiates me is low-cost...

The last time I had an interview was 15 years ago when I joined the Navy.

So I am nervous, because I realise that I stutter at times.

But I know I can do it.

Holding the best record in the process,

winning eight out of ten tasks,

marketing agency director, Richard Woods.

I've been project manager twice.

The first task was the best advertising product that

Lord Sugar has seen in a long time.

And the second, we sold £4.2 million worth of property.

They were the two standout tasks, I think, in the whole process.

..net profits - 61,843.

I've got a unique concept

and a business plan that's really cutting edge.

He'd be crazy to pass by Richard Woods.

6am.

-KNOCKING

-Morning, Richard! How are you feeling?

Massively confident.

I'm going to win.

-CHANTS:

-I'm going to win! I'm going to win!

-You're so annoying, honestly!

-HE LAUGHS

-See you later!

-See you.

The moustache.

-I think it's time, guys.

-Yeah?

Going to lose it, mate.

I want a fresh look, smart and professional.

-Say goodbye to the beautiful face!

-GARY LAUGHS

ELECTRIC RAZOR WHIRS

Aah!

You look so different!

-Don't grow it back, mate.

-Good. I'm glad you like it.

Yeah, don't grow it back.

At the heart of the City, the Leadenhall Building.

Let's do this.

-Good morning.

-ALL:

-Good morning, Lord Sugar.

I've already invested a million pounds with previous winners.

I'm about to invest another £250,000.

So today, you are going to present your business plans

to four of my advisers.

And I look forward to seeing you in the boardroom,

where I will be deciding which of you will be going through

to the very final task.

You will now hand your business plans to Karren and Claude.

Waiting upstairs, four of Lord Sugar's toughest taskmasters.

Publishing pioneer Mike Soutar

has a gift for getting at the truth behind the headline.

So you and your brother own an online marketing firm.

It says on your company's home page that YOMP Marketing

-is Surrey's number one digital marketing agency.

-Yes.

Is that an award that you've won?

I'm part of a business network and breakfast group

that had a poll of which was the best marketing agency

within that networking group.

-So from a chat around a breakfast table...

-It's not good enough.

..you're the number one marketing agency?

It's not good enough, yeah, that's my mistake.

That just appears like more than just a sloppy mistake,

it appears to me to be misleading.

Exposing the people behind the plans,

managing director of a billion-pound media agency, Claudine Collins.

Why does Lord Sugar call you Valentino?

Cos my surname's Valente, the Italian,

and I'm a bit of a romancer.

Are you?

I like to think so.

Hmm.

Lord Sugar's new recruit, no-nonsense Linda Plant,

owner of an international interior design company,

here to test who's tough enough to get to the top.

In task ten, Charleine, didn't you leave the boardroom in tears?

The thought of failure...

-Reduced you to tears?

-It did.

But how are you going to behave

running a multi-million-pound organisation?

Going to cry?

And finally, returning to rake through the business plans,

Lord Sugar's right-hand man, Claude Littner.

So do you want me to give you a little bit

of background about why I know there's an opportunity?

Because obviously that's going to be your first question.

Why don't you let me ask the first question rather than predicting it?

It's going to be a long day.

This is the most important day of the process.

I'm feeling confident, though.

-VANA CHUCKLES

-Good luck, Gary!

So, Gary's obviously been in the corporate world

for a number of years.

He hasn't got any experience in running businesses.

I think he's going to struggle.

-VANA:

-But wouldn't you trust him with your business?

Oh, he's good, there's no two ways about it.

But we're all good, that's the point.

Let's look at your CV.

-You held a number of roles at the UK's largest retailer.

-Yeah.

You say you were responsible for a property spend of £1 billion.

That's correct, just over, yes.

It was the largest property development programme

for that business ever in history,

and I don't think it will be repeated again.

It's kind of hard to believe that somebody

with your experience would be in charge of such a budget.

Are... Are you guilty of embroidering the truth a little?

Absolutely not.

I'd say it's one of my key achievements in the business world.

-Your references have said you didn't actually oversee budgets.

-I mean...

You could say the CEO of the company

was ultimately accountable for that budget,

but in terms of the day-to-day managing,

the responsibility was mine.

-On your application, it says you led over 600 people...

-Yes.

..to deliver this enormous property development programme.

-Is that true?

-Absolutely, so in terms of leading...

You were 600 people's boss?

No, I wasn't their manager, but in terms of leading,

600 people danced to the tune of my development programme.

Your reference said that when you left,

you were only in charge of three people.

So what happened to the other 597?

I was actually taken out of the corporate machine,

and actually led a small, isolated special team,

so I went from managing...

Well, not managing, leading these 600 people,

to actually physically line managing just two or three people.

-LINDA:

-"I will be a worldwide hairdressing brand."

-Yes.

"I will top Toni & Guy."

Very big statements.

Explain your business plan.

It would be a training academy in London with, um...

a fully working salon at the side, and then franchising out from that.

What is your USP?

I am very big with wedding hair.

Have you done any international shows?

Been down in the south-west...

-But even if you're in the south-west...

-Yes...

..an international hair competition would be good

for building your brand.

So have you done any of those?

No, nothing international.

I mean, look, I know you've got an award from the local newspaper.

-It's good, but it's not enough.

-No.

You haven't got a brand,

you haven't even won a hairdressing competition.

You know, you're going from one small, provincial salon

to opening an academy.

I mean, who's going to know your name?

I'm a long way off of... obviously, where I want to be.

I will absolutely work my socks off.

I would absolutely sacrifice everything...

I think you are... I think you are motivated, I think you're driven,

but that's not what we're talking about here.

We're talking about - are you capable?

Can you meet those aspirations?

I'm...

I'm not convinced.

"I'm not convinced." Yeah.

-She is brutal!

-I can see it on your face!

-Really?

-You just got torn apart.

-Jeez!

She is like, "Who do you think you are?

"What, you say you're going to be this,

"you say you're going to be that? Don't be so stupid!"

Then you go to say, "But I can!"

and she's like, "No, you can't, don't be so silly!"

You wait till you're in that room,

you'll be sweating from every single finger.

VANA LAUGHS

See you.

Joseph has a lot of confidence. You can even see it in his walk.

He's so passionate about his business,

he's almost itching for this opportunity

to get it across to Lord Sugar's advisers.

Come on, Joe, you can do this.

LIFT DINGS

So, you read Lord Sugar's book a few years ago,

-and you say you didn't sleep for weeks.

-Yeah.

-Is that right?

-It's right.

What it did for me was gave me the inspiration to start my business.

I thought, "Hang on a minute, all I need to do is get my own van,

"make a sign, get a name, start a business, and I can do it myself."

And then within a couple of days, I was ready to go.

Well, that's either a very sincere tribute to the power of his words,

or...it's the most blatant attempt

-to butter him up but I have ever heard.

-Yeah.

I've actually got a copy of his book.

So maybe a little test here.

-CLAUDINE:

-Vana, your business plan. Tell me what it is.

OK, an online dating app

that focuses on the gamification of dating.

How would it work?

You'd be matched with someone and you'd play a game with them.

How am I matched with them?

You're going to be matched based on age, location, obviously gender...

What kind of games would we play?

We could do brainteasers, for example,

we can do, like, a flying game, where we are...

Pretending to fly?

Yes.

How old was Lord Sugar when he founded Amstrad?

-19?

-Yeah, very good.

What was the first commodity he bought and sold?

-Car aerials.

-Absolutely spot on.

As you play more games with this person,

-their picture becomes visible...

-Clear.

-Yeah.

So basically, in the beginning, the picture will be a little blurred,

so you'll be able to see a silhouette,

then your features will become clear as you play more games.

-You'll be able to see who the potential date is.

-I...

I'll tell you what I'm struggling with, right...

It's that it takes you right to the end of the day

to actually see that person.

I think after wasting my time finding someone who's very nice,

but totally not my type at all, I'd get fed up and I'd leave.

And who was his first employee?

His first employee...

Um... Was it his father?

Yeah, it was. Very good.

Not Claude Littner!

JOSEPH LAUGHS

"Project X.

"A fully managed and implemented business growth campaign

"that starts with a focused base camp

"to remove the clouds from the client's business growth mountain...

"..so they clearly see the summit they're aiming for."

This is what differentiates us from other marketing agencies out there,

this four-step process strategized with you, implemented for you.

(God.)

Yeah. I...

I'm none the wiser.

It's like a bad 1980s marketing book.

It's mumbo jumbo.

Particularly with someone like Lord Sugar, who likes it straight,

honest, direct - you can't be evasive with him.

I mean, look, the thing is, Richard,

I've been observing you over a long period now.

You're not without ability.

It's just the way you've gone about things

just leads me to believe that you're not...

You're not straight, you've got, like, a little agenda.

-RICHARD SIGHS

-I'm just so competitive,

and my focus, I think,

has been very much on making the team win the task.

You HAVE saved the day on a number of occasions,

but I can't shake that feeling off

that you've been a bit slippery and a bit political.

-MIKE:

-Let's get into the detail of the business plan.

Your business aims to sell franchises

to gas plumbers nationwide

who want to trade under your brand.

Yeah, to sell the winning formula that I built my business on.

So, in terms of costs,

-you charge a fee at the beginning which is how much?

-25,000.

-£25,000, and then 10% of the monthly turnover of every business.

-Yeah.

How much turnover did your business have in the last year?

Around 370,000.

So how much would you have had to pay yourself

if you'd been under this franchise?

Um...

-65,000.

-And how much profit did you make last year?

-I made 60,000.

So if you'd been your own franchisee,

you'd have made a loss of £5,000 in the year.

You've created something where the costs are simply too high

for the franchisee to bear.

Yeah. Right. OK, well, we can look at that, then.

It's the element that, at the moment,

holds this under the water line.

-Yeah.

-This is a business plan that is sinking on its numbers.

-SHE SIGHS

-Come on!

-CLAUDE:

-So, Charleine,

you say that your salon brings in £150,000 turnover per annum.

-Yes.

-But the thing is,

having one salon is quite different to having a franchise.

You talk about a training academy, but there again,

you leave me with no clue as to whether this actually makes money.

-Yes.

-Cos Lord Sugar wants...

-Wants profit.

Training academies are a massive earner.

-How do you know that?

-With...

With the successful ones.

For instance, a make-up tattoo course,

if you've only got ten people on your course

and the course is five days, that's 50 grand in five days.

£50,000, very nice if you can get it. Can you get it?

I would need to make sure that I market myself.

I know I will absolutely work my socks off to be an icon

where people will want to come to.

I'm sure that you will work your socks off.

-You put 100% into everything you do.

-Yes.

But doesn't it make more sense from an investment point of view to say,

"I've got one salon, do you know what I'm going to do?

"I'm going to build on that salon, and I'm going to get another salon,

"then I'm running two salons..."

I'm here because I don't want to do a low-key business any more,

I want to be big, I want to do an absolute, massive business

with a great financial turnover, and I want to be very, very successful.

Look, Charleine, aren't you just leaping forward with a dream?

It's all a great big wish list.

Thanks a lot.

Thank you very much, Claude.

'I am this small salon.'

But I just need to make them understand that I can make it work.

-Let's do this.

-Good luck.

Richard being the one that obviously woke up this morning saying,

"I'm a winner, I'm a winner, I'm a winner!"

I feel like Richard's got to make sure that confidence

doesn't get portrayed as arrogance.

Hi there.

Project X.

Sounds very intriguing.

It's an outsourced marketing department

that grows small businesses.

There's a lot of marketing agencies out there,

and therefore having this unique four-step business growth concept

of climbing up a mountain allows me to articulate

why we're different to other people.

-So is that what this...

-Yes.

-..is there to represent?

And so this concept here is unique?

This concept is unique...

It's not unique at all, though, Richard, is it?

Because you've already posted this on social media before.

What you're suggesting here, what you're trying to sell

to Lord Sugar as being a completely unique approach, isn't.

It's something which has the branding of your current company..?

This is a positive thing, because this product has been tested,

and has got a track record we can work forward, and then that...

Richard, Richard. It's not original, it's not unique.

This is from the marketing company

that you own 50/50 with your brother.

-You've been rumbled.

-I...

There's absolutely no rumbling. I...

I know Lord Sugar has called you Tricky Dicky in the boardroom,

and I'm beginning to get a sense of why.

That's a...very strange name to have given me, and the...

-HE SIGHS

-I...

HE SIGHS

So I wonder how Tricky Dicky got on?

-GARY:

-I'm sure he'll tell us he's done very well.

-CHARLEINE:

-Do you reckon Richard would actually say the truth

if he'd had a rocky ride?

He won't show weakness.

I don't think he'd want to lose face in front of us, do you?

-Richard...

-VANA:

-Dicky, how are you?

THEY LAUGH

-Out of 10?

-11 out of 10!

THEY LAUGH

-I nailed it!

-THEY LAUGH

Wait, so they didn't go through your business plan?

Yeah, of course, they went through the business plan stuff,

-so that was all fine. Um...

-Was that all good, yeah?

-Yeah.

-Joseph...

-Yes?

You've said about yourself, "I'm the definition of success."

-Are you serious?

-I'm not yet, but I think I will be one day.

You say you work seven days a week

and survive on three hours' sleep a night.

You've got to sacrifice these years.

There's no way that people that become major successful didn't.

But I don't think there's anything wrong

with living like that, because...

-I've got to tell you, I enjoy it so much.

-Mm.

I love sitting in my office

and spending time and developing new ideas

and thinking of new things, and making more money.

But when will you be able to say, "I've been successful"?

I don't know when I'll be able to say that,

because I'm not going to stop

until I get Lord Sugar a large return on his investment.

-No matter what, I'm not going to stop until I...

-Yeah, I...

Believe me, I believe you.

-I just want the world and everything in it.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you very much for your time.

-Thank you.

Please tell Lord Sugar I'm the right person to be his business partner!

SHE LAUGHS

-I might, I might not!

-Thank you very much.

-GARY:

-Afternoon.

Gary.

Nice to meet you.

Your business plan, Celebration Disco,

-the new global entertaining business.

-Yes.

Just for me to understand, it's a mobile disco, right?

As it stands at the moment, yeah,

very, very successful predominantly in the West Midlands, but...

-What do you charge for...?

-An average event is around £350.

-How many gigs a week are you doing?

-Er...

We're looking at doing 2,000 a year.

We're only scratching the surface in the UK.

I really want to tackle events and entertainment globally.

How are you going to do that?

I mean, at the moment, you're just a mobile disco, aren't you?

-You're far from a global event planner.

-Yes.

How are you going to bring something new or different to an event?

I mean, an event's an event, but we use the latest in technology,

so whether it be virtual presentation, the latest lighting...

-But lighting, I mean....

-Yeah.

..it's nothing special, is it? Everybody has lighting.

I totally get your point,

and obviously in my mind, I can see it as clear as day.

It's going to revolutionise the market,

it's going to turn events and entertainment into experiences.

I don't think it is.

-MIKE:

-It's called Playdate.

I think it's kind of a cute play on words, don't you think?

It gives you the understanding, in the name, of what the app will do.

-You will be able to play games and date simultaneously.

-OK.

-Have you used online dating before?

-I have not.

-OK.

So, the good news is that I've decided to target it at quality men.

You get the good quality men there, and that will attract the women.

-Afternoon. Gary.

-Hi.

I'm struggling to understand at all what the technology bit is in this.

The product is to bring the events and entertainment to life

and make it an experience for consumers.

I like to use the words "innovative" and "multi-channel"...

Right, you've lost me, sorry.

-What's the interactive parties in virtual locations?

-Um...

So the interactive parties are getting people from remote locations

to be there in person.

People doing wedding speeches from Australia,

and they almost feel like they're in the room.

We actually have in-app services where people can time

the best man speech and have a bit of interaction in that.

It's something quirky, something new, I can't see anything else

-in the industry like this that exists at the moment.

-SHE SIGHS

Maybe cos there isn't a necessity for it.

Mm.

Thought-provoking, if nothing less.

So, your start-up costs, actually developing the app, are £140,000.

-Yes.

-And then you're burning £32,000 every month.

At what point do you go out of business

-if you haven't booked any revenue?

-Six months.

But I know that in my projections,

I'm already making profit in six months.

Dating apps, like the one that you're proposing,

take years to book any revenue. Isn't that right?

Not necessarily,

because people are used to paying for online dating,

and people are open to paying.

Do you know how long it took for the world's biggest dating app

to book a single dollar of revenue?

-Yes, one year.

-Two years.

It took two years for them to create any revenue at all.

Well, I don't think it will be so difficult...

Even if you did this within one year,

the cost burn on this business

is so great that you would be out of business.

But I don't think that it's completely ludicrous.

SHE SIGHS

Oh, my God, that was so hard!

I was, like, running to the elevator, I was like,

"Get me off this floor!"

-JOSEPH LAUGHS

-There was a certain point where my blood was, like, boiling,

but I kept it cool.

All good.

Last one of the day, you can do this, Joe.

HE SIGHS

-Are you really Joseph?

-Am I really Joseph? Yes.

Oh! The new and improved Joseph.

-I'm ready for business.

-You reckon?

Hopefully.

So, basically, Claude, the business

is a plumbing and heating franchise of my existing business.

You've got some very significant competition,

large, large companies who are doing franchises.

They've got nationwide reputations, budgets...

-You are a very small player. No-one knows you.

-Yeah.

And I worry, I genuinely worry,

whether the franchise model at this point in time makes sense.

I'd just like to say, please don't be worried.

I feel very, very confident, and I do understand that sometimes,

-you know, don't run before you can walk, but...

-Right.

Claude, if I hadn't have run before I could walk,

then I wouldn't be here right now.

A small business is very hard to run,

and if I can do that, why can't I...

you know, become a very big businessman?

Well, if you think a small business is hard to run,

-let me tell you, a big business doesn't get any easier.

-Yeah.

I think you're barking up the wrong tree,

because the move to having a franchise

is a completely different skill set, a completely different model.

Yeah.

I mean, I take all your feedback on board, Claude.

I feel that there is a lot of ways that this business plan can adapt.

I can tweak it slightly, if there's a different way I can go around it,

then I'm happy to look at that, but I think the core concept is there.

If Lord Sugar invests in me, he will not lose his money,

he will make a profit.

Project X.

Yes.

I haven't got a bloody clue what it's about.

-I thought it was mountain climbing. "Base camp."

-Yes.

-"Unlock the gold mine."

-Yes.

-The trailblazing... Yeah, the, um...

-Yeah, what is a trailblazer?

-A...

-I'm sorry?

-A trailblazer is a...

-Is it someone who does something first?

-Yes. Exactly.

You haven't done anything first, have you, Richard?

-This four-step...

-Ever.

Well... Um...

I know you did well in the tasks.

But in your current business, last year, it made 17,000.

Yes, that's correct.

In your business plan, you stated that this company with Lord Sugar

is going to be worth three million by year three.

Why should Lord Sugar believe that, you know, if you've made 17 grand,

that with the new business, you're going to make three million?

I mean...

Is it bullshit?

I think it's bullshit.

I don't think it's bullshit.

I think that with this sort of investment,

I'll be able to quickly scale this corporation up. My current...

I don't believe it.

I don't think the fees...

Your past performance, it doesn't give me

any confidence in your future growth.

I've...

produced a business plan here that, to be honest with you,

has a lot of waffle in it.

Well, I think you're the type of guy that feels you can write

a lot of bullshit and no-one'll see the truth underneath.

-That's what I think you've done here.

-I...

I think I'm...

I think I'm agreeing with you.

Thank you.

Aaaargh!

I've thrown it away.

It's just stupid, just...

absolute pretentious crap that I let come out of my mouth sometimes.

Oh, look, he got beaten!

THEY LAUGH

Look at that!

-Well?

-Oh, my God!

-No way!

-THEY LAUGH

What did they say?

Oh, I was torn apart, I was torn apart.

Quite right, as well.

Do you wish you could go back and speak to her

and tell her a few more things?

There's nothing more to be said!

THEY LAUGH

There's nothing more to be said.

-HE SIGHS

-Maybe ask her out for some dinner, that's about all I've got!

Oh, dear!

I want my mum!

Your projections are wildly optimistic.

After 12 months, suddenly, instead of 50,000 members,

the number of people you've got

jumps phenomenally to 400,000 a month.

That's the way that these apps tend to work.

-You usually do see a big increase...

-Unless you don't.

Unless you don't, of course. Unless, in fact, you don't.

If you've got something that works,

it might be that hockey stick, but if it doesn't, if it takes longer,

you need to be mindful of the fact

-that you're going to run out of money.

-Yes.

The numbers are optimistic,

but you probably won't see another business plan

that's projecting to make £7 million profit after three years.

This is a space that's exploding right now.

There is room for gamification of dating.

I know that I can be a really successful hairdresser.

I want to see our brand, our logo, absolutely everywhere,

and I want to make sure that every franchise,

every salon that does open, is successful.

Where does your drive and determination

and motivation come from?

The truth, why I got into hairdressing, I lost a child,

and I was in a very bad place.

For me, now, with the salon

and trying to make it as successful as possible,

I know that life can be over within a drop of a hat,

and I want my children to have absolutely everything,

and I want them to know that they can be as successful

as what they want to be,

and they can do absolutely anything in life,

and I'm going to be the mum that does that for them.

I'm really upset with myself for...

doing exactly the opposite to what's got me here today,

which is keeping things simple, being honest, being myself.

I was the leading candidate in wins coming into this process,

and I'm just... I've gone and thrown it all away.

Do you still truly believe in your concept, in your business plan?

I believe that if the wind blew on it

and knocked off all the leaves,

what's left underneath is a really good, simple idea,

which is basically work with small businesses,

and use their whole marketing budget,

and make sure that's accountable against their growth.

That's the simple concept.

What I've done is I've overcomplicated it,

and I wouldn't blame Lord Sugar for not investing in it.

One tough interview would have been enough, to be honest with you,

but to have four back-to-back at that level of grilling...

Put a lot of things into perspective,

to make me realise there may be certain things

that I want to slightly tweak.

You've just got to hope that they've bought into your passion.

All comes down to tomorrow!

'I'm not going to lie, the interviews were absolutely brutal.

'But I've got to go in there, fight my corner,

'and I will keep fighting till the very end.'

'I think it was difficult for people to buy into me on first impressions.

'There's still a lot of convincing to do,

'but I'm not going to go down without a fight.'

'I believe I impressed the interviewers.

'However, my concept's a risk, and I know it's going to be

'a risk for Lord Sugar, but hopefully he sees beyond that.'

'I completely understand the feedback

'that I got on my business plan, but I would say that

'I still have 100% faith in my idea,

'and I still really want to pursue it.'

'I've never experienced anything like that in my life.

'Today is the first boardroom that I'm really worried to go into.

'I've been ripped to shreds, and I've got a lot of work to do today

'if I'm going to survive.'

Well, good morning. Welcome to this very important part of the process.

And we welcome Linda to my boardroom for the first time.

Linda and I go back well over 20 years,

and I know she's a very, very shrewd business lady.

Do you want to start me off with Charleine, Linda?

I think Charleine is a fighter.

She's got stamina, and she would work really hard.

But her expectations are probably beyond her ability.

What is her expectation?

She wants to start a hairdressing academy, franchise...

The next Toni & Guy, for example?

They've been going since the old Queen died.

-They opened their first shop in 1963.

-Yeah.

-It wasn't until 25 years later...

-Right...

..that they actually franchised.

Claude has actually been following these people around

for the last ten weeks. What's your view?

The thing is, she has been a fantastic candidate

in terms of her selling ability

and her drive, and she's got one salon in Plymouth, 12 employees,

and I think she can replicate that over a number of salons.

Going beyond that might be problematic.

She will not give up. She's got determination...

Well, she might have to give up,

because for her to grow as big as Toni & Guy, I mean, it's like...

expecting Claude to grow an afro.

THEY LAUGH

All right, let's move on, then, to Gary.

Gary's very fond of exaggerating his importance.

He was absolutely insistent that he'd had a billion-pound budget,

-that he'd had a team of 600 people...

-Him personally?

-Yeah.

His interpretation of managing 600 people is very,

very different to mine.

Mm. What about his business idea?

It shows him running something like 2,000 events in his first year

-and charging around about £300...

-£300?

-..average for each...

What's he going to get for 300 quid?

That sounds like an event for the Piers Morgan fan club.

-THEY LAUGH

-Where about two people turn up!

When he spoke to me, his USP was an app.

If you're in Australia and you want to be part of a party

that's happening in London, the app will allow you to do that.

You're not physically there but you're joining in?

You're not physically there.

So if you forgot your anniversary, you could say, "Sorry, darling,

"I'm going to throw you a virtual party."

-Yeah!

-Party planners are normally quite fun people, aren't they?

I mean, he's very corporate.

I can't imagine him turning up and throwing a few tunes.

No, neither can I!

OK, now, Joseph.

Joseph wants your investment to create a gas plumbing brand,

and then take that out and franchise it.

It's based on the business that he has already started from scratch.

The franchise idea, again, is a bit like Charleine's thing,

it's a non-starter.

He realises that he's very ambitious, and he's quite happy

to temper his ideas into something that could perhaps be a slower burn.

-But he's got a way to go to get there.

-He's incredibly driven.

He absolutely loves what he does.

But take the property task.

He ran off dealing with the high-end stuff,

and really, he was a fish out of water.

He's rough round the edges,

but he's not a fish out of water in the plumbing business.

OK, so we've got Vana.

She wants to start a dating app.

I'm not sure if that's going to make me Cupid or stupid!

THEY LAUGH

It's a marketplace that is booming at the moment, and I think that

she's an incredibly clever girl.

We've seen that throughout the tasks.

I think she could possibly make it work.

The concept is, you are matched up with someone,

but you don't see who that person is, and you play games with them...

-Right...

-..then finally at the end of the day,

their picture becomes revealed.

So you go through all of this palaver,

and then in the end, you get shown a picture of the person,

and at that point, you go...

"My God, what a bleedin' ugbo!"

THEY LAUGH

-Yeah.

-How far does her money go?

Cos building websites and apps and gaming sounds...

Therein lies the problem, because I think that the £250,000

investment would go very, very quickly.

Within six months, she'd blow the money.

But you mustn't forget that the leading app

for dating in the world has 50 million users.

The idea of gamification is also really smart,

these are the two hottest areas in mobile apps,

and she's put them together.

If she gets it right, it could be absolutely enormous.

Let's talk about Richard.

Well I think throughout all the tasks, he wants to keep it simple,

and yet, when you look at this document, I couldn't understand it.

-I think he was beaten by the time he got to me.

-Really?

-Yeah.

But ultimately,

the idea, an outsourced marketing department, is not a bad idea, Alan.

-And he's quite a bright individual.

-He does know about marketing.

I mean, the advertising task this year was one of the best we've seen.

-Yeah.

-What I find worrying is that he is involved currently

in a digital marketing business.

Doesn't that mean he's got...? It's a competing business?

What he tried to say was, "These are separate businesses,

"and the business I'm proposing to Lord Sugar is different."

Unfortunately, though, within the business plan, there's a graphic.

Well, this is a graphic that his previous marketing company

produced, so the idea that what he's trying to present here to you, Alan,

is something that's completely new...

It's false.

Thank you very much indeed for your input, it's been very,

very helpful, and I'll see you soon.

-Thanks a lot.

-Thank you.

PHONE RINGS

Yes, Lord Sugar.

-Can you send the five candidates in, please?

-Yes, Lord Sugar.

You can go through to the boardroom now.

-Anybody want to volunteer to talk to me first of all?

-I will.

-OK, Vana.

-Your business idea is a dating...

-App.

-..application, yeah?

-Yes, it focuses on making dating fun using these games.

-Right.

Games that range from psychometric tests

to brain puzzles to brain-teasers,

and it will use science to match people.

Here's my issue.

The business that you are proposing,

and I'm only going historically with dating websites,

have multi-million pound investments to even get off the ground.

How are you going to do it with £250,000?

You know, if you tell me that it's impossible,

I will just tell you that I disagree with you wholeheartedly,

and that £250,000 can take us a long way. I...

According to him, it'd take you about six months.

Well, to go through the money.

In the six months, I hope to be generating enough revenue

to cover the costs of the project.

The most popular dating application at the moment, Tinder -

it's taken them two years to generate a bit of revenue now.

Yes, but there is room for this, I'm telling you.

-This is a trend that is here to stay.

-Hmm.

-Gary.

-Yes, Lord Sugar.

-Um...

-You left your big retailer, yeah?

-Yes.

Where you claim that you led a team of 600 people.

Absolutely right. They gave me a budget of £1 billion and said,

-"Make it happen." Simple as that.

-Really?

-Yeah.

-And you were the boss, were you?

-Any, kind of, er...

money that had to get signed off

over the value of £3 million, I used to have to get it authorised.

-So you could sign off yourself personally under £3 million.

-Um...

Up to £1 million myself personally.

I've had a lot of dealings with that organisation,

and I find it a big claim, Gary.

That was... It was absolutely

one of my greatest achievements in business.

-Now, your concept is events, right?

-Yes, Lord Sugar.

-OK.

-That doesn't exist...

-How big can this business get?

-Um...

I'm looking to be global,

-I'm looking to be national.

-Global?

-Yeah.

What is a virtual party? I'm not with you.

A virtual party is when you can actually beam people in.

-You have them there...

-Holograms?

-It's like virtual meetings in the corporate world.

-I've heard of...

That's Skype, isn't it?

-Er... It's a bit better than Skype.

-Don't get it. Sorry.

-It's...

-I don't get it.

OK, Richard.

Your plan is focused on base camp strategy sessions

to remove the cloud from our client's business growth mountain.

So I'm confused, you're not out there selling crampons,

for example, are you?

I'm... I'm so disappointed.

I've shown my credibility with marketing in this process,

but I've submitted a completely...

A piece of gobbledygook.

Have you removed the clouds around your head at the moment?

I have, so...

To put it simply,

the new business will manage the whole marketing budget

for a small business,

and that will generate the sales that it needs to grow.

OK, I've got it. But let's get down to facts here.

The current marketing business that you have with your brother

sounds to me exactly the same as what you're proposing here.

No, the...

What we're proposing here

is to be able to manage complete marketing budgets.

The company that I currently have is just a website development company.

Can I just interrupt?

Frankly, what you put down as the company

that you've got currently, this YOMP Marketing -

"It's a full-service digital marketing agency.

"It builds brands, engages, connects, moves audiences..."

It's exactly...

I mean, almost word for word, the same as your business plan.

I don't see them as being the same businesses. Um... I don't...

They just happen to be described in the same way?

I think you're being a bit evasive at the moment, Richard.

Now, Charleine. Your work ethic is tremendous, we all agree on that.

-You've got a hairdressing salon.

-Yes, Lord Sugar.

And you want to have a franchise.

Yes, to start with,

I would want to open a training academy with a salon attached to it.

I say very respectfully

that in order to start off a franchising chain...

You've got to be big in a big city.

-Well, never mind a big city, you've just got to be big, period.

-Yeah.

And I'm not going to say that tomorrow I'm going to open

and I'm just going to be this big massive chain, you know,

it's going to take time.

So I would move to London.

They charge phenomenal prices compared to,

obviously, us down in Plymouth...

But, Charleine, you can't just bowl up in high street London

and open up a shop and say, "Hello, Charleine's here,"

and people are going to come into your salon.

Charleine, the difficulty that you have is competition.

-Yes.

-You come to London, and you'll be swallowed up.

Maybe.

Yeah, no.

Why don't you just carry on in Plymouth?

That seems like a good area.

You're known there, you develop your business in Plymouth.

I do understand that, and that's why I would work

absolutely my socks off to promote myself, to...

I've got no qualms in the fact that you would work your socks off.

-When you start...

-That...

That I have already seen. But, Charleine...

..I do admire your drive, your...

inspiration, and your hard work and efforts.

And it's very hard for me at this stage to,

kind of suppress that enthusiasm, but...

I don't believe that I can go into business with you at this time.

I think you should take advice from Claude

and pursue those additional branches down there.

So, it is with regret, Charleine, that...

you're fired.

Thank you, Lord Sugar, thank you, Karren, thank you, Claude.

Good luck to whoever goes through. I wish you all the best. Thank you.

-Bye.

-Thank you very much, Lord Sugar.

Joseph, I see you've gone from looking like Boycie,

a second-hand car dealer, to a rather credible-looking young man.

Good.

Now, in order for your company to become a nationwide brand,

a lot of money and a lot of years would have to be spent to do that.

So the franchise thing is out of the window.

I've got a contingency plan,

and what my idea would be, is to expand it out to the local areas.

We have some places very close that I can tap into very quickly.

I have some relations

with some nationwide property management companies,

and they're constantly asking me,

"Joe, can you take Northampton?

"Joe, can you take the Cambridge area, can you take this?"

And at the moment I have to say no, cos I can't...

Why, cos you've only got...?

Yeah, cos I only have X amount of engineers,

and I don't have enough money to fund...

These engineers that you have, how many have you got?

Um... At the moment we have three.

You've got to show me a path as to how this can get big.

So, basically, firstly, I just wouldn't say it's small.

-In the second year I managed to make £60,000.

-Mm-hmm.

You know, profit. I think that's good in the second year.

Obviously it's going to grow massively.

I made a hell of a lot of mistakes

and wasted a lot of money on crappy vans...

So how much money do you think we can make, then?

Two weeks before I came in,

I just got a £25,000 contract that will last for two months.

There's a hell of a lot of money to be made in plumbing.

-It's a service that's never going to disappear.

-OK, look...

Joseph...

You've done some great things, really, at your age.

It's just that...

..that it worries me that it is a small-time thing.

Um... Richard...

In this process, you were in the winning team eight times.

As the project manager, you won twice.

But you've got a business already that I believe is a conflict.

HE SIGHS

Gary...

You take great pride in being a corporate fellow.

But I think your business plan is flawed.

I don't understand it at all.

I can't go into business with you.

You're fired.

Thank you, Lord Sugar, for the opportunity,

and I genuinely wish everyone so well in their future ventures.

Thanks ever so much. Thank you.

RICHARD SIGHS

And so there are three.

And this is such an important decision for me

that I think I'm going to take the opportunity

of consulting with Claude and Karren.

So step outside, and I'll call you back in shortly.

Thank you.

RICHARD SIGHS

Richard's done very well in the past weeks.

He's taken control of a lot of the tasks.

He was project manager officially twice,

but he was actually orchestrating things from the back.

The trouble with Richard is, he had a genuine opportunity

to be straight with you about his business competing or not.

He somehow fudged it again.

And then there's Joseph, a young man, a real hard worker.

He's very straightforward, he talks language that I can understand.

It's whether he is too young.

You know, he has still got some naivete about him.

Vana, highly intelligent.

But this type of business that she wants to get into is massive,

it needs massive amounts of money injected into it,

although she says, "No, we can do it."

It's a typical huge hockey stick,

you have to have an act of faith whether you're going to

go on that journey or whether she's going to burn.

All right.

PHONE RINGS

-Can you send the three of them in, please?

-Yes, Lord Sugar.

Lord Sugar will see you now.

Vana, I need convincing from you

that I'm going to be making some money.

I understand that it's a risk, but this is a market that's growing.

25% of marriages in the UK meet online.

-That is a fact.

-What about divorces, then?

-SHE LAUGHS

-I'm not sure about the divorce rate, but...

-Mm.

-I want to ease your qualms a little bit.

I have experience in this industry.

I understand how an app is built, I understand how to pitch,

and I understand how to sell a product, so...

I have a passion for this, and I can bring this to fruition.

Mm-hmm.

-And if it don't work?

-I mean...

In every business you're investing in, in the plumbing business,

in the marketing business,

-in every business, there's a chance that it doesn't work.

-Mm.

Um... Joseph,

remember on the property task,

where you jumped in to become the project manager,

you was a fish out of water

in being able to deal with this, kind of, high-level stuff.

So, I think in my own business, I'm a lot more confident

to be able to sell it, sell myself, sell what we do.

When you're growing a business,

it's really important that you can move in different circles.

Yeah, and I think I can move in different circles.

I think that I've took that lesson on board,

and I can 100% get a large client base.

I think I've already done that, I've only been going for two years.

Imagine what I can do in ten years.

There is a trait that plumbers have

in that their estimates are too high.

Are you estimating too highly here to me?

Not at all.

If I can make £60,000 in two years with no help at all,

-learning everything myself...

-Mm-hmm...

I've learnt the core lessons,

and now it's just all about moving forward,

-I've got a great base for us to build on.

-Right.

-There's no doubt...

Richard, I'm going into business with somebody

who's going to give 100% to the new business

that we are going to form, OK?

And we have explained, your existing business

and the proposed one is exactly the same.

I'm not going to business with anybody

that's got some other deal on the side.

Now, does the old business amalgamate in, yes or no?

No, because I can't offer that,

because my brother's a 50% shareholder in that business.

Right, OK, so are you going to give your 50% to your brother?

I am 100% agreed with my brother that my full-time focus

would be on the new business...

I just asked you a question, you're not answering it.

Are you going to give your other 50% to your brother?

I came into this process saying...

Um...that I would keep that and be a silent partner,

cos I set up the business...

Can I just have a straightforward answer?

No.

-No what?

-I wasn't going to hand over those shares.

Well, that's the first time you've been straight with us here,

really, so that's an improvement.

So, conflict of interest between the two businesses, possibly, then.

Right, well...

Two of you are going to go through to the final.

It's very difficult...

..because we've got three very credible people

that have battled their way through the process.

Vana, I worry this £250,000

is like a spit in the ocean, really, in order for this to be successful.

Um... Joseph, my concern is whether you are mature enough yet,

whether you're here too early for me.

Um...

But you're a business that I can understand,

and I also understand that you're very, very determined.

And so I'm going to tell you right now, Joseph,

that you...

are going to be in the final.

Thank you very much.

I won't let you down, I'm going to make you a lot of money.

Well, you've got to win first of all.

But you're in the final.

I have got a problem here between two very, very intelligent people.

Can I alleviate one concern for you, Lord Sugar?

I want to commit myself 100%.

I'm willing to give up all shareholdings and just go 100%.

OK, I mean, that's just one element of it.

Richard...

You've done extremely well in the process.

So you've obviously got something there.

Vana, in order for your business plan idea to work,

it has got to be so drop-dead brilliant

that it's going to capture the imagination of users

at a very early stage.

I'm a gambler.

Richard...

You've been a very, very good candidate here,

but I've decided I'm going to take a gamble

by allowing Vana into the final.

So Richard,

you're fired.

Thank you very much.

Thank you, Karren, thank you, Claude, thank you, Lord Sugar.

Good luck, guys.

Ahem...

HE SIGHS

Very well done, the pair of you. You're in the final,

and I'll be contacting you in a couple of days' time,

letting you know what it's all about, OK?

-Off you go, back to the house.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

Throughout this process I've been the most successful candidate

in terms of tasks, and I just really want him to see

that I have a talent for business, and if he invested in me,

I could have ironed out those problems in the business plan.

And I'm gutted that I haven't got that opportunity.

-Yes, this is the greatest day of my life!

-I don't believe it!

-Well done, Vana.

-Great job!

-So happy!

-I am... I'm shellshocked.

-Can't believe it! Head-to-head final, me and you.

-Yeah!

-Fighting it out to the death for the 250 grand.

-VANA LAUGHS

-Do or die!

-Well, I know it won't be, like, a physical fight,

but it will be a definite fight.

Now just two candidates remain.

Lord Sugar's search for his next business partner is nearly over.

-Next time...

-For your final task,

I want you to launch your businesses.

-# This is the night... #

-..broken hearts...

You look like a freak.

..versus broken boilers.

-The fire's not working!

-STIFFLY:

-Neither is the bath!

Cut! "Nei-ther is the bath!"

-Wow!

-It's head-to-head...

Do yourself proud.

Gaming and dating.

..in the battle for Lord Sugar's quarter million pound investment.

You are going to be my business partner.