Children's Book The Apprentice

£250,000. It's an acorn which we want grown into a great oak tree.

Lord Sugar is 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 aspiring entrepreneurs.

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

I'm demanding the answers and 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 fighting for.

You are such a manipulator! I can see straight through you.

18 candidates...

Hang on, ooh!

Pedestrians, out of the way!

We'll be explosive!

..12 tough weeks...

-I really don't know what to do.

-I messed up a bit.

Oh, my God!

..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'm sending you to the London Pet Show.

Pick the right products and sell them.

-For excitable puppy David...

-Wow!

That struck me right away as soon as you walked in.

I was like, "Wow, bam!" Right there.

..balloon sales soared.

Make sure we serve everybody here. Take these orders down.

A dogged Richard...

Chocolate brown? Go on, then.

..cashed in.

You're making my day!

-On Team Cat...

-This is Santos.

He's been having a bit of a play with this today.

..Project Manager Scott...

This is 635.

..got the cream.

-If you get something like this, you'll not find it anywhere else.

-Sold!

-But his cat-napping sales force...

-Excuse me.

-..let him down...

I can't tempt you with a buy now deliver later? Are you sure?

..landing them all in trouble with the top dog.

You couldn't sell a bone to Battersea Dogs Home at the moment, from what I have heard.

The claws were out for Selina.

He's not very happy with you.

You weren't as involved or interested and didn't do as many sales as you should've.

But it was Ruth who ran out of lives.

You've got to get rid of the people who can't pay.

-What do you want me to say to them? Go away?

-Yeah. Bottom line, yeah, got no money, sod off.

She became the fourth casualty of the boardroom.

Ruth, you're fired.

Now 14 remain to fight for the chance to become...

Lord Sugar's business partner.

6am.

PHONE RINGS

Hello, Charleine speaking.

'Lord Sugar would like you to meet him at St James's Square.

'The cars will be leaving in 30 minutes.'

Everyone wake up, the car's leaving in 30 minutes.

-Wake up.

-Oh, God. Do you ever get woken up and look around and think,

this isn't worth it?

Cos I really feel like that right now.

Wakey-wakey, rise and shine, boys.

-Do I need deodorant?

-No. Yeah.

I've got a feeling, April, that

this task is going to be something like creating something.

I'd enjoy something like that.

-We need to get a first win for Connexus.

-God, yeah, definitely.

-I'm not being diplomatic any more.

-No.

If somebody is not suitable or not pulling their weight or

they step up and they are inappropriate, they will be told.

St James's Square,

home to historic literary institution, The London Library.

-Good morning.

-Good morning, Lord Sugar.

Welcome to The London library,

it's also known as the writers' library.

Rudyard Kipling, Agatha Christie,

Charles Dickens used this place to research their books.

I know some of you feel you are great wordsmiths

and it may come in handy in this particular task

because I want you to create a children's book

for three to five-year-olds.

The books will be printed overnight and you are going

to produce an audio book to go with it.

Tomorrow you're going to sell them to professional retailers.

The team that sells the most will win the task.

Obviously, in the losing team, at least one of you will be fired.

Now, I'm going to balance the teams up a bit.

I'm going to ask Sam to join Connexus.

Maybe a useful asset for the team considering his academic

background and perhaps this could be the time for you to show

your true talents, Sam.

Good luck, off you go.

Today, teams must channel their inner child...

-This looks fun.

-..and produce a kids' book

and, tomorrow, sell as many copies as they can.

But first, both teams need leaders.

I would absolutely love to be project manager.

This is just everything I want to do.

I love language. I have a degree in English literature.

I think language and communication is key to existence.

Project Manager in place...

-The next thing to decide on is a main plot.

-..get creative.

Although you have an overarching plot, you need to combine things.

A story dies without a good plot.

Obviously there is this theory

about Aristotle thinking plot is the most important thing.

I don't know how much you can relate a tragedy in with children's literature!

What I want to do is come up with a moral story, including creatures

or an overcoming-the-monster story

that included a bit of a moral, or an adventure story.

The adventure story one I'm slightly confused on.

Down the hall, throwing her hat in the ring...

I'd like to put myself forward as project manager for this.

I have got children.

..hairdresser, Charleine.

I read books all the time to my children.

I'm not going to say I have the best vocabulary or best English skills.

People might laugh when they see Charleine with a storybook.

Being a mum, I have an understanding of what I think might work.

It's about creating a really fun book.

For instance, with dinosaurs loves underpants,

the storyline of that was like party pooper wee-wee,

and he was happy that he'd...

So it can be really childish but it's got a punchline.

I think everyone wants you to be PM at the moment, Charleine.

Thank you very much, Team.

Next, create a bestselling story.

Something I thought, do you know,

children at the age of three, they have like a comforter or a blanket

or something and it is letting go of that comforter and the worries of

letting go of that comforter to get them ready to go to school.

It needs to be an adventure.

It is a massive adventure in children's lives.

I've got an idea to put forward, if that's all right.

It was Buzz's quest for honey, so like a bumblebee's first flight.

Then it goes off to collect the honey

from different flowers and meets characters along the way.

Personally, I feel like the bee story could be the most adventurous.

What writing skills have you got?

My degree is in Creative Writing.

Can we do a vote?

Are we voting on the bee takes a trip to produce honey, has an

-adventure on the way, Joseph's idea, can I have hands up for that?

-Yeah.

Yep.

Still pinning down a plot...

This story is something to do with a mythical creature surrounded

by other creatures and this creature is different for some reason.

..Sam.

It kind of goes through a moral process of learning something about acceptance.

-We are going round the houses now.

-Yes, we are. I agree.

-Keep it simple. As PM, as an overall, what do you reckon?

-Erm....

Now, I... My preference is...

-What do you think?

-I like dragons.

-I like dragons! Dragons!

-Fun dragons.

-Cool, let's have a dragon.

-Maybe he sneezes a lot.

-Yeah, he sneezes.

Yeah, I like this idea.

Next door...Charleine concentrates on characters.

I really like the 'where does honey come from' story

-because it's very much like where do butterflies come from.

-Yeah.

-So just remember that one point.

-Yeah, I've got...

-He needs to go...

-Richard. I've got two minutes.

-I just need five seconds.

-Richard.

Richard! I'm going to have to stop you. Right...

The thing with Richard is he thinks he's better than everyone.

Richard, I'd like you to be sub team leader.

-So market research side?

-Yes.

OK, I would've preferred the other team but that's fine.

The reason why I have put Richard as sub-team leader is because

I know Richard's hard to control and if he didn't feel in power,

he would throw his toys out the pram and not work together in the team.

I would like David to feedback what the focus group says to me.

Cleverly, I've put David to pass the information back to me, because

I don't feel Richard would give me all the correct information.

So I've got Richard who feels he is in power,

but actually David is the one giving me the information back.

11am, the teams divide.

Half head off to create the books.

The moral is about acceptance.

Like a child who is rubbish at rugby but good at chess

-should not be ousted from school.

-Yes.

The others get the measure of the market.

I'm used to being on the really important team.

-I've never not been on the...

-This is quite important though.

No, but do you know, like, there's the whole book creation,

the design creation.

-I just think that I would be better positioned in a creative team.

-Yeah.

For the rest of the team, a West London publishers.

Buzz is going for his first solo flight.

He flies off and bumps into a ladybird.

Working on the words - April.

And then together they fly,

that's when the over-and-under and over-and-under...

Is there something at the end of each sentence so they can read along with their mum?

Then the mum reads that bit and then they say, you say that that.

I'm thinking, swishing and swirling and tumbling and turning.

Does that relate to what the bee is doing? I dunno.

Yes. All the way is like swishing

and swirling and tumbling and turning.

To go over, you can have it doing all that.

GENERAL CHATTER

A children's playgroup.

For Richard, David and Mergim...

Hello, everybody.

Hello, hello!

..a chance to find out if their bee story will fly.

The story is about a bumblebee from start to finish,

how he makes honey.

The rhythm of the book they remember.

-Is rhyming the best way to tell the story in the book?

-Yes.

Often, rhyming ones work quite well.

-Hello, can you hear me?

-Yes, it's Charlene speaking, who is that?

It's Richard, how you doing?

We wanted to give you some feedback before you made any further decisions.

Can you stop talking one second, Richard. Is David there, please?

You lead the sub-team but I was going to have David

pass all the information back to me, if that's OK.

Charleine, this is really key,

if it rhymes, it'll sell a lot more and a lot easier.

-It should be short, snappy and rhyming, OK?

-Guys, get it right.

Bye. Once there was a busy bee

who set out on his first adventure to find some honey.

-But that doesn't rhyme.

-To find a pot of honey. Does it not?

-I think it does.

-OK.

I feel like, bee, see, flee -

those words sound like they naturally rhyme.

-One syllable.

-Not honey.

On the other team, Sam's priority...

So first names, let's all think of names.

What about Snufflegruffle? Can we have Snufflebum or Snifflebottom?

Snifflebottom?

..come up with his character's name.

What about Snottle Dink?

-Snottle Dink? Yeah.

-Snottydink? Snottydink?

Snottle...

-Can we try that, please?

-Yeah, OK.

-What is your character?

-It's a mythical creature that's dragon-like

with maybe some elephant qualities.

Just need to pinpoint exactly where this story is going. Ohhhh!

Oh, my goodness. What if it's that he, he... In this colony,

he... Oh!

What if it's in this colony he is like trying on all their shoes

and their clothes and they don't fit whatever we're calling it,

Ruffle whatever, because he's not the same.

He's too big, too ugly.

So he goes away and he's really sad.

Then he stumbles upon a pair of Rufflebottom shoes.

We've got to try and translate that into something that a five-year-old

would still acknowledge.

They've been in their meeting

for a few hours but they haven't really nailed anything down.

We need to come up with a basic storyline.

Sam just wants to keep talking.

He has created utter confusion because he's not clear on what the

plot is or who the character is,

or why he's called the name he is, or what his journey is going to be.

They have to make this book tonight

and at this stage they haven't got anything to put in the book.

I think we need to start pinpointing what we want to start with.

That's what I'm trying to do.

We get an idea and change it so much

it is a completely new idea every two minutes.

-It's not this hard, I don't think.

-It would be so simple, if the rest

of them breathe fire and he breathes water - now we need to

have the clincher where it changes and he does something.

-I agree, we have time to work it out.

-Yeah.

It's like a really chirpy, playful bee.

Set on a book about honey - Charleine's team.

Do you want him to be the same size in every illustration?

Yes, the bee the same size but the beekeeper just big.

The drawing of it is perfect.

-Can I ask a quick question?

-Yes.

When a bee goes back to the hive, it's for the honeycomb, right?

-Yeah.

-Is that right?

Just wanted to check that works in terms of not lying to children.

It is a bit worrying of course,

they don't know the first thing about how honey is made.

It's a very simple way of showing how to make honey,

you can't go into the details of pollination and that.

I'm confused, can you imagine what a three-year-old is going to make of this?

Bizzie got lost after being tossed.

HE SINGS

I think for my own sake, that's a no!

A South London recording studio.

# Busy busy buzz buzz... #

As well as printed copies,

CDs of both books will be produced.

Next job for Charleine's boys - pick a catchy theme tune.

# Busy busy buzz buzz... #

THEY IMPROVISE

# Busy, buzzy bee... #

LAUGHTER AND SHOUTING

-Hi, who am I speaking to?

-Richard.

-Would you like me to pass you to David?

-Amazing, thank you.

-Have you listened to the music yet?

-We have, yes.

What have you thought sounds best?

At the moment we've whittled it down to three songs.

-Why do you think those three?

-Because we've listened to them.

Maybe we should just go with your decision then.

-Well, no, I've not listened to it, Richard.

-That's the point I was trying to make, Charleine.

What about we make the decision on this one...

-Can I speak to David please, Richard.

-Hi, Charlene,

-just trust us on this one and we'll do you proud.

-Amazing.

That's exactly what I am wanting, David.

Listen, boys, it's been nice working with you,

but I'm going to go and grab a coffee.

-See you later, mate.

-I'll be outside. See you later!

4pm - print deadline looming.

What's the update on the script from the PM team?

Waiting to record Snottydink the audio book,

Brett, Gary and Selina.

Guys, can I just ask, what do you need from me right now?

We're just waiting for the script.

I'm not going to lie, we had a bit of a hiccup.

So until we send you the script,

my idea was you can start working on the song.

I know but for us to have ideas, we need to have it written down first.

We'll use some of the same words as you have used.

We can't write a random song that has no relation.

You'll have it imminently.

-Right, 5-10 minutes?

-Yeah.

-OK, thanks a lot. Bye.

If we're receiving the script late from the other team,

we don't have any control over how long

we get to work on it, which isn't really fair.

Snottydink came across a fire, the situation was pretty dire.

He calmed his head,

thought on his toes and put out the fire with his nose.

-I love it.

-Yay! Guys, we're done.

-We're done. Finally, yeah.

-Good.

Script in hand at last.

Because we are running out of time, I'll record this,

I'll read this through, it shouldn't take too long.

I want you guys to go with the sound effects and the additional voices.

-Brett, Gary?

-Let's do it.

Achoo!

SHE SOBS

Duck!

Duuuuuuck!

What word is he trying to say?

-Duck.

-Duck.

In a Brummie accent!

Dog or duck?

-Duck.

-Duck, oh.

He came across flowers that looked rather dry.

And he looked on at the plants

moisture rife...

That line is terrible.

That line shouldn't be in a children's book.

I don't think we should be using words like rife

for three to five-year-olds, so it threw me a bit.

Sam has a degree in literature,

which is amazing and he probably knows a lot about books.

But to my knowledge,

he hasn't actually written or produced or published anything.

A word like rife, I don't think

a three to five-year-old understands the term moisture.

I felt like it was too sophisticated for the target market.

Even some parents might not use that expression.

Sam would use words that not necessarily all of us would put into a children's book.

-But we can't change it now, can we?

-I know.

# Swishing and swooping... #

5.15pm.

# Tumbling and turning... #

30 minutes of studio time left.

HE SINGS

-Just make it sound like the wind is saying it.

-OK.

-Who am I speaking to?

-It's Richard.

I want to hear David swishing and swooshing.

Just leave us to it, please!

OK. Please, Charleine, can we just let us get on with it, please?

No, can I hear David swishing and swooshing?

Swishing and swooshing

Tumbling and turning...

David, do this...

Swishing and swooshing!

Tumbling and turning!

Half an hour, 25 minutes now.

Come on, David, do that.

Swishing and swooshing!

Tumbling and turning!

-Yeah, just go with that, wrap it, man.

-Yeah. Excellent.

-Let's move on.

Please could you stop asking David to speak to you on the phone

when I'm speaking to you.

Every single time, "Can I speak to David?"

Honestly, what we're doing's really well

and just a little bit frustrating.

I think Charleine absolutely doesn't trust me.

I was basically handcuffed.

I think it's a personal issue and an insecurity issue on her behalf.

There was no ability for me to be a team leader whatsoever.

Deadline approaching. Illustrations yet to be finalised.

What are we doing about his nose colour?

I like purple, that looks good.

Is he not going to get any greener?

Can we try a shade greener, please?

Sorry, he's just a bit minty at the moment.

-No, no.

-He is minty, I agree.

The deadlines have been killer.

I'll hold my hands up, we wasted time.

We're having to rush decisions that I wish we didn't have to rush.

Why is this verse two lines long?

-I don't know. It was always like that.

-Oh. It is the only one in the whole book that's two lines.

I'm really happy with the way everything looks.

We'll go with the colours exactly as it is. Everyone happy?

-Yeah, yeah.

-Let's go. Finalise.

I do think I'll be able to sell the story book. I think it's nice and simple to read.

I'm hoping that we've nailed it

and we've beaten their Shakespeare on the other side.

-Ohhh! Brilliant.

-Do you like it?

Yeah. Have we got every page done? You are a genuine princess.

If I'm honest, I haven't lived up to

the expectation I have of myself as project manager.

I'm trying my hardest. I really am.

-Thank you so much.

-I'm done. Heart attack.

-Thank you.

Proofs delivered, printing begins.

Tomorrow - pitch for a fairy tale ending.

8am.

For each team, 300 books and a chance to check out their finished product.

-Are you excited?

-Wow!

-Oh, wow!

-I love it!

"Swishing and swooshing, tumbling and turning.

"Will little Bizzie ever make his honey?"

Ohhh! Wow!

Oh, my God!

Look at his little face!

I'm really proud of what everyone's done.

Today, the teams will hit the streets in search of sales,

as well as pitching to clients laid on by Lord Sugar.

The pitch needs to be very fun, enthusiastic.

What are you going to be doing? Are you going to be pitching?

Yes, I'm going to be pitching.

You're definitely going to do the pitch, are you sure?

-I'm doing the pitch, yeah.

-The thing is, OK.

-Yeah.

I don't think Charleine should pitch.

She actually gets really flustered.

She gets nervous and then she can't...decide what to say,

so she stumbles on her words.

I pitch all the time. I won the contract for the biggest fast-food

retailer for the Olympics, OK?

You don't have to choose yourself.

I, I am going with it.

I wouldn't say that English is my strongest point,

however, I don't think I'm that bad of a speaker.

I want to prove to people that I can do something out of my comfort zone.

Right, myself, Joseph and David are going to go and do the pitch

and I'll send the rest of you to do the selling.

Richard, I'm going to keep yourself today as sub-team leader,

definitely a full hundred percent faith in you leading this one.

-So are you going to allow me to lead it today?

-Yeah, definitely.

Time to divide up the Snottydink's sales team.

Initial thoughts for breaking the teams up were, as such, I wanted

Natalie and myself to do the pitch to the national book retailer

because Natalie has experience with this particular book retailer.

SHE COUGHS

I'm just concerned that if I stand up there to do a pitch,

and go croaky or cough, I'll look ridiculous.

Originally, I was going to pitch to one of the retailers

because I've worked with them before in a previous job.

I've looked after their account. I spent time working in their store,

but it's probably not a good idea for me to pitch in case

I have a coughing fit or completely lose my voice in the middle.

-So would you prefer to sell to trades?

-I think I'd feel more comfortable doing that.

-So Brett, Scott and Natalie. You're going to trade. Perfect.

-OK.

9am.

Teams head off.

Preparing the sales pitch for Snottydink...

We want to talk firstly about the singing...and it's rhyming...

..Sam.

Younger children can have an aural appreciation...

Once you finish what you're doing,

-then I just finish off with the pricing?

-Yes, absolutely.

We think it's important to be educated morally, AND in a literal sense, but also to have fun.

Gathering feedback at a playgroup...

Hello, you guys all right?

..the rest of the team.

All right, is everybody ready?

We're going to play the audio book. We're going to go from the start.

'He looked in the cupboard for a quell to his sneezing.

'He was coughing and shaking, so hot and then freezing.

'As he looked on at the plants moisture rife,

'One huge sneeze gave them a new lease of life.'

There are some words in here, such as "quell",

-which for the younger readers...

-Yeah.

..they're not going to understand what they mean.

Words like "ado" and "rife" and "moisture rife",

I didn't even understand what that meant myself.

Foyles - world-famous bookstore with over 200,000 titles

on four miles of shelving,

a chance to clinch a high-volume sale for Snottydink.

We're about to go into the pitch. I just wanted to get

some quick feedback from you from the focus group.

Some of them thought the writing was quite poor,

but they mentioned some of the words were too complex for the children.

OK. Erm...

Just sell it as a product that is a great book for the children

to learn as they get older to read.

-Hi.

-Hello, my name is Sam.

-Nice to meet you. Jasper.

-Louise.

So Snottydink is a children's book

aimed at the three-to-five age range.

Some of the words are slightly sophisticated,

but we need to have one or two words that the children won't

understand because otherwise a book doesn't help with learning.

I'm impressed by the visuals inside.

-Yes.

-I like the rhyming.

-I think that works. You have to cross different markets.

-Absolutely.

The kids and the parents, reading it over and over.

We wanted to create something that was universal.

How would you feel about potentially taking 150 units off us

at £4.20 per unit?

Obviously, if you wanted to take less than that,

50 copies would be £3.50 per unit.

We'd like to take the 50 from you.

'In terms of Selina's negotiation,'

there wasn't any negotiation.

It was straightaway 50 units at that price.

I think we could have got 100 out of them, yeah.

I know, but if someone asks for 65 copies

and we have to times 65 by £3.90, for example.

-That's what I'm saying, I'm not amazing at mental arithmetic.

-Right.

Well, this is, I suppose, why we establish the prices in advance.

On the way to their first appointment,

Charleine, Joseph and David.

What I will say is key, Charleine, is if you don't capture them within

-the first ten seconds...

-I will do.

-..they'll switch off.

-I will do.

On Piccadilly, Europe's largest bookshop,

Waterstones' flagship store.

Stepping forward, project manager Charleine.

The storybook is based on an adventure story.

The storyline we came along with Joseph, we had a great girl

with us that managed to put the words in...in into contents for us.

We're just going to read you through the storybook.

"Swishing and swooshing, tumbling and turning,

"will little Bizzie ever make his honey?"

I think that it could come across as a bit cringey.

I feel it is quite confused, some of the rhyming does get in the way,

so I don't think I would be happy stocking it in our stores.

-OK, well, thank you very much for your feedback.

-Cheers.

-Bye-bye.

Considering Charleine wrote a large part of the book, she stumbled.

It was a little embarrassing.

She just didn't really engage with the audience

and I think that was her downfall to a certain extent.

Really disappointing, isn't it?

-Let's learn from it.

-We can do this. We have to do it.

The rest of the team...

-Can you guys dance, yeah?

-Buzz, buzz, buzz!

..at a kid-friendly cafe, test out Bizzie Bee.

Yay! Well done.

If I can have first impressions.

I think it looks like it might have been produced by kids at school.

It looks a little bit more like the books for my eight-month-old.

With the focus group unconvinced, Mergim is undefeated.

Madam, is there anything I could do to convince you to buy

-a few of my books?

-I'll buy three for a tenner.

There you go.

First sale to the cafe owner.

-All right, thank you.

-Cheers now. Bye-bye.

Mate, that was a cheeky little deal. Well done.

East London.

Nat, we're on the way to yours now.

In - bang, bang - this is what we do, this is our book.

Pushing Snottydink to independent shops - Scott, Brett...and Natalie.

Hello.

What do you look for when you buy a book for here?

Erm, I guess good sellers, really.

We haven't got anything that's currently popular,

but we've got Snottydink.

So do you get many parents in here who bring their children in?

We think it could be applicable to quite a wide age group.

We wouldn't sell that many, to be honest.

It's a limited edition. You're not going to get this anywhere else.

You're the only person around this area who's going to have probably

the best children's book, I don't know, on the market right now.

I think it ties in with everything that you've got here, the age group.

-It's also a great book for anyone over that age.

-OK, we can take ten.

That's great. Thank you.

'I wanted to sell all of them in one go,'

but it has kind of opened my eyes up to...

It's going to be a lot of small units

sold to independent bookstores.

Natalie was a little bit subdued and I didn't feel confident with

her pitch, so it was actually a little bit tougher than I thought.

Piccadilly - where Bizzie Bee failed to sell. Up next, Snottydink.

I think you've done well.

I like how it looks quite strong and visually eye-catching.

-15 copies at £3.85.

-Thanks ever so much for your time today.

Pitch over, still to shift, 265 copies.

-I want to sell every copy.

-Yeah.

-Yeah.

-I really want to.

-Yeah.

Because everyone loves the book. There's seven of us in this team.

-I think it's doable.

-Yeah.

-Mm-hm.

Still to make a sale...

Hi. Pleasure to meet you. I'm Charleine.

..last chance to sell in bulk for Charleine, David and Joseph.

The storybook is about an insect, the book teaches children about

their enthusiasm and encouragement and passion

to get to their end goal.

So, it ticks a lot of boxes, it's bright, it's colourful.

We're thinking we would like to go for 25 of the book.

OK, we'll be happy to do a deal with 25 books. That will be £3.50.

Is there any way we could push you higher on the quantities?

I really, really think that 50 would be a better number to work with.

I think 25 is our final number.

'The pitch was a bit of a mess.

'David was weak when it came to negotiations.'

I think you've got to keep trying, be as cheeky as possible.

I don't like hearing the word "no" in anything in life.

-We've got a lot of products to shift.

-Yeah, I know.

And that's one of our main retailers gone.

Hi, it's Charleine speaking. We haven't been...

Well, we've done all right, we sold only 25.

-25?

-Yeah.

'It's not good enough.'

The other team needs to sell more. Charleine should have listened to me

when I said that I was a really good pitch

and I've got a proven track record,

so I should have been there, winning this task for us.

Hackney, East London.

Working out discounts for Snottydink...

Recommended retail price will be £6.99.

..Brett.

If you buy under nine or up to nine, it's £4.89 per unit.

Natalie, write down the stem points

cos they are crucial in negotiations.

Another chance to make a sale...

Hi, it's lovely to meet you.

..for Natalie.

So, it's called Snottydink.

He's an elephant-dragon hybrid.

The retail price will be 6.99,

so we'd be looking at you making a £2.10 profit on each book.

OK, I deal in percentages, what's the percentage?

-What do you want to know?

-My discount percentage,

which allows me to determine my profit margin.

-OK. Let me have a think.

-Nat, do you want to carry on with it?

-Yeah.

-I'm fine with that. Erm...

-I... Sorry, sorry, absolutely, carry on.

Do you know what, guys?

I'm going to stop you here. I don't think this is for Hackney.

I feel really confident if you just take two, you will sell both

and make a profit, so you've got nothing to lose.

-I'm digging in my heels, I'm sorry.

-You don't think it would suit you?

-That's a shame.

-Thank you so much for your time. Cheers.

Well, that was a waste of time.

A waste of time.

Natalie was supposed to lead the pitch, but she did a terrible job.

She didn't engage with the customer. She didn't know the figures.

Frankly, it was a disaster.

So, bus.

With all his big pitches over...

We have three and a half hours left and 85 books to sell.

..Sam heads to specialist book haven, Charing Cross.

Round this area, it is a slight risk.

If you take that side, I'll take this side.

Oh, so many bookstores!

I have never handled in this shop a book with a CD or a DVD.

-We don't handle new books in here.

-No, it is very rare.

I mean, it's a different kind of rare, but it is limited edition.

-For our clients, I think it's the other end of the spectrum.

-OK.

That went well(!)

One hour left to sell.

-I can go £3.80.

-12 at £3.80. OK.

-Thank you.

The final push.

-It's 20 units for

-£4. Yes.

-Brilliant. Fantastic.

-Good luck.

-Have a lovely day.

-Thank you. £3.75.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

10 books for £44.

Yeah.

20 minutes left.

Pedestrians, out of the way.

For both teams, last chance of a sale.

Rainforest Cafe just there, guys.

Right, let's do this.

So I think this is a brilliant thing to bring in, really suit your shop.

-The cost for yourself would be £4.20.

-It's a nice little book.

-What can you do me on the price?

-If we're able to go over 100 units,

we'd be able to bring it down to £3.

Do we have a deal?

-Deal.

-Deal. We have a deal.

SHE SQUEALS

We're under severe time constraint.

How do you feel about taking a larger quantity from us?

As time runs out, prices tumble.

-So I'd be giving you £1.75 a copy?

-Mm-hm.

-Um, but if we do that, I'll take the lot.

-ALL: Yay!

This will be the best purchase you've made all year.

It's like giving birth to a child

and someone offering you £2 for it.

I've never given birth, obviously, so...

Selling your baby for £2, God, what a heartless mother I am.

-We sold out.

-Yes, we sold out.

Not at the best price, but we sold out.

Tonight, takings will be totalled.

Tomorrow in the boardroom, the final chapter.

You can go through to the boardroom now.

-Good morning.

-ALL: Good morning, Lord Sugar.

Well, this process, of course, is not a children's story.

One of you will not be living happily ever after

by the time we're finished today.

Now, Connexus, Sam, you're renowned as being a wordsmith,

so I made a very strong suggestion

that you might wish to consider being the project manager.

So I was waiting for you to come out of your Hungry Caterpillar thing

-and turning into a butterfly.

-I had a fantastic team.

I really enjoyed managing them and creating together.

-We've got this name, Snottydink. Is that right?

-Yeah, that's correct.

I heard from Karren that you were agonising for hours over this.

Yes, that's correct, Lord Sugar,

because I think that all good stories have good plot

but maybe some...a moral focus or something like that

and I thought that was important to get in there.

You did over-intellectualise it and at times I felt

I was watching you try to write the sequel to King Lear.

Yes, and I've apologised to my team for that.

I take full responsibility for that.

Not decisive, is that what you're saying? You find it hard

-to make a decision?

-No, I wouldn't say I'm not decisive.

I take a long time to come to a decision but once I've made one...

You see, in business, timelines can kill you if you don't stick to them.

Admittedly, it didn't fall into place as quickly

as I had anticipated. We basically wanted this idea of acceptance

coming through as the moral, so we wanted a character...

Initially the first thing I said was...

-I can see why he took three hours.

-Yeah.

I've got a note here from Karren that the main character is a monster

that lives a life of isolation until society learns to live with it.

Sounds like the biography of Piers Morgan.

I've got words in this book like "dire", "quell" and "ado".

What three-to-five-year-olds know what those words are?

Some of the more typical nursery rhymes

have slightly more advanced language in them than some of the books

on present-day shelves for three-to-five-year-olds.

What did you read when you were three to five years old -

War And Peace?

So let's swing into day two.

In the independent retailer, there was...

Sam and Selina did most of the talking.

So I pitched to the independent retailer.

They seemed to be really on board

-with the product. They bought 50.

-Good.

I understand, Natalie, that you had a little problem with

-one of the pitches.

-Yeah, it didn't go very well.

-I'll be the first to admit that.

-SHE COUGHS

- Couldn't have been any worse. - OK.

-Why is that, then? Nerves or what?

-I was feeling terrible all day.

That's why I didn't go with Sam to do the pitches.

I didn't think it was appropriate for me to be stood there, pitching,

while I was coughing, spluttering, sneezing.

-It was a bit better throughout the day.

-Mmm.

Right, now, Versatile. Charleine, I understand you're the PM.

Yes, Lord Sugar.

I seen this as a task that needed a lot of different elements to it

-and I really wanted to try and bring everything together.

-OK.

Joseph, you thought of the bee.

Basically, it was a bee along a journey

that met a couple of characters,

went through a few different scenarios

and then finally at the end made the honey.

"The Bizzie Bee was swishing and swooshing, tumbling and turning..."

-Yeah?

-Swishing and swooshing, tumbling and turning.

Lucky it wasn't an adult book

cos it sounds like it's pissed, actually.

Erm, you, Charleine, you made Richard the sub-team leader,

but yet when you wanted to communicate with the sub-team

you wanted to speak to David most of the time.

I knew by having him as sub-team leader that...

Did you just make him the sub-team leader because you know

his character - just to shut him up and keep him quiet,

give him a title or what?

-Yeah, I...

-Yeah?

-Kind of, Lord Sugar.

I thought that by putting him as sub-team leader,

he would feel that he's got control.

I think he works better when he is a leader and wants to achieve more,

whereas if he's just left as part of the team,

I think that there would be hold-ups.

I would tell Charleine what she wanted to know

and then she would ask to speak to David, and David would

-repeat exactly...

-What is it about you that you seem to, um,

alienate people? Is it because it's all about Richard?

You want to do everything yourself?

No, I don't think so. I don't think that I get on with everybody,

but that's business, that's life.

He was a fantastic sub-team leader. I know some people might be shocked

about me mentioning this,

but I really did enjoy working under Richard.

RICHARD CHUCKLES

Mergim made an absolute blinder. He actually sold to the focus group.

Where you had the focus group... You got a deal there, did you?

It was brilliant. Really, really good.

Very opportunistic, that was good

to take advantage of the situation that you were in, yeah.

Now, I understand that, Charleine,

you went to the first national retailer...yeah?

-Yes.

-And according to Claude, it didn't go too well.

You misread who you were selling to.

You had, perhaps,

the wrong team presenting to those hard-nosed buyers.

And I heard it was pretty poor.

Pretty poor to such an extent that they didn't give you any orders.

-Right?

-No, Lord Sugar, they didn't want to buy any books.

You may have a disagreement or dislike of someone like Richard,

but I think one thing he has done is demonstrated in the past few weeks

that he can sell, and you needed to take your strongest pitcher

to the most professional people that you were pitching to,

and you didn't. Bad management decision that, I think.

You went to the other very large retailer. You didn't do very well.

As soon as they came up with the 25, David started to negotiate price,

so it's very hard to then turn it round and get them to take

more of the quantity. But I tried and tried and tried...

But they still only got 25. It's not a lot, is it?

For a big retailer of that size.

OK, well, I think it's time to see how many of these books we sold.

Claude, let's hear how Versatile got on, shall we?

Versatile sold...

210 books.

The total sales were £690...

and 10 pence.

And, Karren...Connexus...

Snottydink...

sold 205 books.

Total sales...

..£587...

and 25 pence.

So, Versatile, you've won by £102.

There's got to be a story there somewhere.

-CLAUDE:

-It's worth saying, Alan,

that Charleine pulled it round at the end,

and she sold some 125 books.

Well done, seems that it was an 11th-hour win.

You'll be delighted to know that I'm sending you to a library...

LAUGHTER

Oh, Lord Sugar...

Don't look too disappointed... It's a private members' club

where the award-winning magician Ben Hanlin is going to conjure up

some fun for you. Enjoy it. They might make...

Mergim disappear...

LAUGHTER

And I'll see you on the next task, OK?

ALL: Thank you, Lord Sugar.

LAUGHTER

Well...Sam...it's simply down to numbers.

We'll discuss it in greater detail shortly,

and as you know, at least one of you will be leaving

the process today. OK? Off you go.

ALL: Thank you, Lord Sugar.

After you, Gary, don't worry.

This is a blank deck of cards. Charleine...

write your name. Nice and big on there.

Do you know, I am absolutely ecstatic to have won this project.

Me and Richard are totally fine, and we're just grateful to have

achieved the task, be on the winning side, and I know that.

We've got...Charleine's card...

Put it into the middle.

It'll stay there till you do this...

ALL: No!

Charleine, I believe, was actually a poor project manager in this task.

It was more luck than judgment that won the day today.

-Well done to us...

-ALL: Cheers.

-To Versatile...

-Good luck with the rest of the tasks.

-Thank you very much.

Firstly...

a massive sorry...

I guess, guess we have to talk about...

this task. And we have to go through it...with a fine comb.

We had a good product. Erm... It's obviously...

It must come down to sales.

Sam - he's quite good at getting all flappy when it's not going his way.

I don't think there was that much strategy, there wasn't much talk

about what sales we should do.

Natalie knows where I'm going to go with this.

She hindered. She knows that was coming. I'm not going to beat

-around the bush. If we didn't...

-Natalie was ill.

Natalie failed to sell. We can't have somebody weakening the team.

The sniffles and the cold doesn't wash with me.

With the other team - they made £100 more than us...

I wish we'd just sold more.

I don't feel like, personally, I've made any monumental mistakes...

which should lead me to be fired.

PHONE RINGS

Can you send the candidates in, please?

-Yes, Lord Sugar.

-Thank you.

You can go through to the boardroom now.

Well, Sam, you sold 205.

The other team sold 210.

And you lost by over £100.

I think...there are things that potentially could have gone better.

The sub-team came back, ultimately, with 93 books unsold.

Had we sold those even at the low price

that we'd sold our 80 books at, we would have won.

It's quite easy to blame the sub-team. I tell you something now,

they would not take any more than what we sold them,

and I can tell you that as a salesman - I could not get them

-to take any more.

-And I appreciate how hard you guys worked to sell...

I've got to find someone who's leaving today.

I need to understand who is responsible.

The key to this is selling, isn't it?

Natalie went into our pitch and fluffed it.

Maybe if I had gone in or Brett would have, we would have made the sales.

So this is one of the shops that you messed up in when you didn't

-do a pitch properly there, yeah.

-Yeah, that's right.

-Yeah?

-That's correct.

-What actually went wrong there?

Rather than this very quick, "Yeah, that's right," explanations -

if you wish to remain in the process, I'd like you to elaborate

a little bit more on what was wrong on the day there.

Apart from telling me you had the sniffles.

Yeah, of course. I think, personally, that it fell down

when we started talking about finances - that's when it started

-to go wrong.

-So, you went into the shop and you didn't know

-what prices to offer?

-Brett said he was in charge of the finances...

-Which I did.

-..and had been looking after them.

And I was a bit shocked he didn't have that answer.

I supplied you with that information and you went in there with it.

Completely disagree... You didn't have the information...

You're a liar.

-Yes, I did.

-You're outright lying.

-You can look at my notebook.

I sat in the back of that car and worked out the unit price,

our profit margin, and how much the vendor would get if they were

to have bought that category of units.

This task is all about the amount of sales both teams have made.

Now, Selina, the national retailer -

you only sold 50.

You did reduce from 150 to 50 very quickly, Selina.

You're right, Karren, I did. And judging by the reaction of shock

at 150, the next tier down was 100, and then 50.

To be fair, we didn't go in at 100.

If you're so smart and you know that it's key to have a negotiation

-strategy on each...

-But everyone needs to be able to negotiate.

Of course they do, and I did negotiate,

and I negotiated the other.... But I have to point out,

-I didn't understand the whole pricing structure.

-We did write them down...

You handed me a scrap of paper...

When you're on a task here...they are your numbers also, you own them.

Now, Sam, you were in Charing Cross - it's notorious for books.

But you never had a cat in hell's chance of selling to them

because they don't sell kids' books.

We managed... Look...

The final result is that my sub-team...

We managed to sell all of our stock.

Unfortunately, we did sell them at a very low price.

I led that pitch, Lord Sugar. It was definitely an act of desperation.

It certainly wasn't strategy to go into the final retailer

-and sell for that price.

-It was kind of like he knew he had you

over a barrel, you mean, is that what you're saying?

-I think so, yeah.

-Sam, it seems to me that...

your logistics and understanding of business is a little bit weak.

-I disagree...

-I know you disagree, I don't expect you to agree with me.

Sam, who are you bringing back into this boardroom?

HE SIGHS

Here you are again. This is his trait. His complete trait.

You spent three hours deciding on what bloody name

you're going to name this thing, and now you are wanting to

-pontificate again.

-It's difficult to pinpoint it, I think...

To a spec... To a spec... I can think of, potentially,

-one person...

-That's a start, who's that?

I have to say that...for me

the sub-team sales was a large part of this,

and as the weakest seller in the sub-team,

-I have to bring Natalie back.

-Right. And the other person...

Er...

I don't know. I'm struggling. I'm genuinely struggling.

Somebody else has got to come back into this boardroom.

OK, I-I will say Nat and...

Erm...(Brett.)

-Who?

-Brett and Nat.

-Me.

All right. Go back to the house, the rest of you, OK.

I'm going to ask you to step away for a while.

I'll see you three back in this boardroom...shortly, OK?

SAM SIGHS

Sam is a highly intelligent young man.

-Is he a businessman?

-He just takes so long to reach a decision.

It's a big failing.

Natalie, on the other hand - her answers are very short.

Simple yes-no answers is not good enough.

With Sam - he thinks too much. And she doesn't think about anything.

-Her sales' technique was dreadful.

-And then they've got Brett in here.

And Brett - he pokes his nose into everything, doesn't he, Brett?

I'll have to wait and see why Sam's bringing him back in here.

Can you send the candidates in, please?

Sam, I'm sure Brett would like to hear your reasons for bringing

-him in here.

-Of course. The reason this task failed is because

the sub-team were not able to sell out of their stock.

Now, Brett was sub-team leader. He was in charge of logistics

-for the sub-team.

-However...

-Hold on, I haven't finished, Brett.

-Right, fair enough.

-Had the sub-team sold out at the same price

that we sold for, we would have won the task. That's the reason

I've brought Brett in.

-Can I answer that back?

-Yeah.

-You failed to sort out

your logistics cos you stayed in one area,

which didn't have any outlets specifically designed

for our book. I sold in every single shop we went to,

other than Natalie's. And the only reason we never sold in Natalie's

is because she was worried Karren was there.

I... I shit you not, Karren was there

and she absolutely got her arse in her hands that Karren was there,

-and she faltered.

-Brett, I think that the way you've come in here

-and attacked me and said personal things...

-Factual.

-..shows what kind of person you are, really.

-Factual.

I will not base anything on lies. You all know that about me.

OK. I was nervous that you were there, Karren. And I really

wanted to prove myself to you, that I am a worthy

business partner to Lord Sugar.

And I did mess it up.

He says that the 80 units you had left over...

-Yeah.

-Given that you could have sold them,

now, what kind of customers were you dealing with?

Independent shop owners, Lord Sugar.

-And the maximum that they were buying at a time was what?

-Five to ten.

Why do you think you could sell 80 to one of these people?

Cos we managed to do it. If we managed to do it,

-you could have done it.

-We couldn't have.

-Why?

Because that would have meant we would have to have found 11

separate locations on top of the ones we already had.

Lord Sugar, can I respond to what Brett said, please?

-We had done everything we could.

-Brett, ever heard the expression,

-"Been a bridesmaid many times, but never the bride"?

-Yep.

How many times have you been the sub-team leader?

-Three times, Lord Sugar.

-Three times. Is there a reason for that?

Genuinely, don't know. At the end of the day I've got...

You don't know why people haven't accepted you as the project...

People don't like the fact that I am concise,

-and I'm direct.

-Who would you fire today?

Who's responsible for the failure of this task?

I would, I would fire Natalie straightaway.

Natalie... Your own CV here... where you say,

"I'm naturally good at sales. Good at speaking in front of people.

-"And good at interviews."

-Yup.

-But... These are your words.

-Yeah, I, I...

And yesterday, you were unnaturally poor at sales,

terrible at speaking in front of people.

And...you know,

it goes completely against what you claim you're good at.

Now, Sam, tell me why I shouldn't fire you today.

OK, well, I did a good job as project manager.

I wasn't perfect, I made mistakes. But I had a happy team

and I made some good decisions.

Most of that product that you see there. I contributed to.

We had retailers throughout London telling us it was a good product.

Obviously it's not the best children's book in the world,

we made it in a day. But I put all my passion

and energy into that. I am working incredibly hard in every task

to prove that I am a credible businessperson.

Right, listen, I don't want to hear any more.

Sam, you talk about some of the good things that you've done

in the task, but you went to the wrong shops.

You then panicked in the end, and sold stuff in a sale.

And...you know, I have to say that you are totally responsible

for that, as far as I'm concerned.

Brett, you've got a lot to say for yourself.

You state, generally, you're a very honest fellow,

and you get a bit upset when people don't tell the truth.

-That's correct.

-Yeah. I also said I don't want to hear any more.

-Sorry.

-My feeling tells me...that...

there's a little bit more time left in you...

-and that you should remain in this process.

-Thank you.

Natalie, the sales on this wasn't that great.

You've been very quiet in the past five weeks.

I think there's a certain sense of immaturity about you,

because of the experience that you have in business

and I'm looking for a...

a business partner. But when it comes to immaturity in business,

Sam, I'd also have to say that this was a disastrous result,

as far as I'm concerned, considering such a lot of good work

went into the book.

Sam, you seem a very nice chap,

a highly educated fellow, but I'm looking at you the person...

-Absolutely.

-..I'm looking at your indecisiveness

and so I'm struggling...

But, Natalie, your pitch was terrible.

I'm not sure you think before you speak.

You just haven't shown me enough. On this particular occasion...

-you're fired.

-Thank you.

You know, we're fifth week in...and...

You can see I'm struggling here, Sam.

Yeah, I am really, really struggling here.

I'm telling you right now...

right...that if you don't start showing me more business acumen...

you won't be lasting too much longer here.

I'm going to let you stay.

All right. OK.

-Thank you very much.

-Thank you, guys.

-Thank you.

-After you.

-Cheers.

Natalie, I'm so sorry.

I knew that if I was in a team with Brett and Scott,

that whatever happened, it would be those two against me.

I definitely think Brett wriggled off the hook,

and I think he'll be fired very soon. If you listen to the way he speaks,

it's quite clear that he's not very intelligent

and doesn't know much about business.

First of all, I'm just going to raise a toast to myself...

CHEERING AND WHOOPING

Do you think Brett's going to come back?

Because I was quite shocked that Brett was taken in...when I just heard that...

I think Brett's definitely coming back...

CHEERING

My God!

I was so worried about you.

It was in his face. He wanted to get rid of two people today.

He really, really wanted to get rid of two people.

So I do feel like it's a real complement that both...

to both of us that we're still here.

Big competition.

And the bar is rising.

Now, 13 candidates remain.

Lord Sugar's search for his next business partner...

continues.

Next time...

I want you to set up your own handyman business.

Brush up...

No messing about, no stopping, no toilet breaks. Literally hitting it.

-I need help with the bush, there's too much bush.

-Voila!

..wash down... SHE GROWLS

Oh, no, all over the board over there, you see.

-You're kidding.

-Get this shit gone.

And in the boardroom...

Forget about all that joking and messing about.

I'm going to do something very unusual here...

..hammer time.

I'm sick and tired of this...

You're fired.