The Final Five The Apprentice

Ten weeks ago, 16 of Britain's entrepreneurial elite came to London.

They arrived with one ambition -

to become the business partner of self-made millionaire Lord Sugar.

I'm going to inject £250,000 into a business - your business -

and you're going to run it.

Products, place, promotion, price.

Oh!

Everybody stop. We're not making any money here.

As the weeks passed, dreams were dashed.

This is all about courage, whether you've got the balls

to actually smell what is going on in business.

This is what I'm looking for.

16 became five.

I don't think I could go into business with you. You're fired.

You're fired. You're fired.

-We're absolutely nailing this.

-Helen Milligan.

I know how businesses are run. You won't need to babysit me.

-We're a lean, mean selling machine.

-Jim Eastwood.

There are participants and spectators. I'm a participant.

In order to play hard, you got to work hard.

Natasha Scribbins.

You're so far up Jim's behind, you couldn't see the wood for the trees.

Please come forward and see these wonderful prices we have today.

Thomas Pellereau.

I've created my own products from an idea and brought them to market.

-Ah, loads of lovely oils!

-And Susan Ma.

I know what it is like to have a taste of creating something you've produced yourself.

All will battle on in the hope of reaching the final.

We are back in business. We are back in business big time.

Tonight we press pause on the posing and posturing

to reveal just who are the final five.

At the start, each was convinced they were best.

'Whatever I set out to do will get done.'

I'm a professional, capable business person.

'I'm always the last person standing.'

I'm here to win.

I've got enormous self-belief, and I've never made a wrong decision

when it comes to business. When I need to get the job done,

I've a very fine-tuned switch. If I need to turn it down

I turn it down. If I need to bring it up a level, I switch it up.

'I'm an inventor. I find gaps in the market.

'I bring products to those gaps.'

For me, The Apprentice is like the Olympics for entrepreneurs,

and I intend to bring back the gold medal.

I think people will underestimate me at first.

I'm short, sweet and smiley, but, when I do business,

I mean business.

'I'm not a show pony or a one-trick pony.'

I'm definitely not a jackass or a stubborn mule.

I believe that I'm the champion thoroughbred this process requires.

But to get this far, it's been a hard fight.

Jim Eastwood.

-Hey!

-Charming...

-How you doing, ladies?

-Come to Papa.

-..dominating...

My contribution is more positive than negative. Yours is nada.

-..persuasive.

-I've never worked with you, Zoe.

-I've never worked with you, Jim.

-I'm sure you're very good.

I can lead people. I can engage others. I can take their hearts

and their minds. I'm good at making them do what I need them to do.

From the moment they met, the other candidates looked to Jim for inspiration.

We are going to make soup like we've never made soup before.

That's good hearty soup there, boys.

I picked Jim because I knew he was the man to lead the team.

-You knew he was the soup man?

-He absolutely proved me right.

-Jim, I want you in charge of the van team.

-OK.

People look to me for leadership within a team, even if I'm not PM.

In week three, it was all about negotiation,

and Jim emerged as a force to be reckoned with.

-200.

-160.

-180.

-Thanks, mate. I appreciate that.

We'll just do it for one-seven, then.

-That's an extra tenner. Good man.

-He's unbelievable.

Frankly, Jim dazzled those he was negotiating with.

You're very friendly, and I appreciate you doing it for 60.

It was impressive. It really was a master-class in negotiation.

-It's only your smile that's done it.

-Irish eyes. Can I have a hug?

But it was in the boardroom that Jim's gift of the gab got him noticed.

I positively get involved in things and put myself forward to do things.

After the boys made a mess of their mobile app,

project manager Leon picked his losers.

I'd like to bring back Alex and Jim.

But Jim wasn't going down.

There's a few fall guys. Vincent fluffed his speech,

and I had to save the day. Glenn designed the app

that turned out to be crap.

Jim has the ability to control people,

and they don't even know he's controlling them.

Jim has done a sterling job throughout.

-Do you want me to change?

-Change!

-You're the man.

-It's obvious.

-Yeah, it's obvious. OK.

Watching him in the boardroom, pulling a little string here and a little string there

and getting the outcome that he wants the outcome to be

by this sheer manipulation...

-I'm going to bring Glenn.

-You want to bring me back?

-I don't think you should.

-Listen, Glenn -

It's done and agreed. The PM's made a decision.

I highlighted who I thought made mistakes, and he's chosen you, Glenn.

Actually I've never seen anything like it before.

You were a chicken. You bottled it, mate.

I'm telling you that for free. It's amazing.

Born and brought up in Northern Ireland,

Jim was the youngest in a big family.

From an early age, he learned to assert himself.

There were six kids in the family. It was chaos,

just madness, everybody fighting for attention from our parents.

That was just a day in the life. And it was fantastic.

Jim's mum was a schoolteacher....

I was probably quite a strict taskmaster.

All of my children were encouraged to work hard in school.

They would not have been let off their homework,

or they weren't allowed days off.

..and his dad a serial entrepreneur.

We all had a pretty strong work ethic.

My father owned a restaurant, and as soon as any of us

could reach the counter, we were down there serving customers.

I recall scraping chewing gum off the front tarmac

outside a chip shop that he owned. I helped him carry bags of sticks

and bags of coal and tanks of gas,

and dropping them off at people's houses.

He'd call me "wee boy", and he'd say, "Wee boy, make sure to take no shit."

And I think that's really sage advice.

A keen sportsman, Jim always fought to come first.

He was very competitive. He showed a lot of determination

and grit and dedication, both at football and cycling.

A major upheaval at home proved to be the catalyst.

If I was to look back and think about the exact time in my life

when my parents separated and split up...

..I've probably been on a steady scale

of achievement after achievement,

so when I think about it now,

I probably did throw myself into other things, like sport,

and probably didn't deal with the feelings that I had

about that situation.

Yeah, almost directly correlated with the separation

was the fact that I started to win every cycle race possible

in all of Ireland. Certain situations shape the person you are,

and I suppose I've maybe got high expectations for myself in life

and in everything that I get involved in.

It's a single-mindedness

that has also marked out his approach to romance.

Kids used to go to the local leisure centre.

I remember being 11 or 12, and getting my mates to run over

to this pretty blonde girl with blue eyes,

and to ask her could I steal a kiss.

And, er, I remember stealing a kiss.

And then lo and behold,

16 years later, same leisure centre, I started to see her again,

on the treadmill or on an exercise bike,

and I plucked up the courage to go up and ask her out on a date.

And we've never looked back.

We got married a couple of years after that.

And behind every good man there's an even better woman.

She's quite amazing.

Every day he comes in from work and throws his arms round me.

Big hug, a wee kiss on the head,

and then he'll dance around the kitchen.

He'll dance with me, then he'll do his funny dance on his own

in the kitchen, and he'll just make me laugh.

I don't know if Jim is aware of this, but I have christened them the Posh and Becks of Cookstown.

They're always well turned out, and either of them would look well on a billboard in Times Square.

In business, Jim has risen to sales and marketing manager

for a printing company.

Jim was always going to be big in Northern Ireland.

He's great at what he does, and in his field he's great at it.

But I do believe he could work on a bigger world stage, on a bigger platform.

In life, I can certainly talk up products and services.

I think you have to, because people have to buy into them

as much as you buy into them.

Week five - by now, any opportunity for control,

and Jim would take it.

Oh, awesome. "For every day there's Everydog."

Everydog? I like it!

Jim convinced team leader Vincent to back his dog-food brand.

For every day there's Everydog.

It's brilliant.

People seem to get Jim-anised.

It's almost like he's got the ability to hypnotise them.

That's a really good one. Really like that one there, Jim.

Jim's good at convincing you this is a great idea.

"This is what you should be doing,"

rather than going through and thinking, "Oh, hang on."

But Everydog bombed,

and Jim came under attack.

Jim, you nearly leapt out your chair when I asked

whose name was the Everydog thing. "Me!"

That's an exaggeration. I came up with a name.

-Just came up with a name.

-And we ran with it.

Every single one of us ran with it.

I think it's true to say that trying to pin something on Jim

and make it stick is difficult, if not impossible.

You were there in this task, and there was a big, big flaw

in this Everydog thing.

What I don't like is when people try and talk themselves out of it.

You either take responsibility or not.

I'm not taking responsibility for the overall marketing strategy.

I think it's also true to say that he clashed with Lord Sugar

more than any other candidate ever did.

In the old days, there was always rumours about what went in

to make dog food. And I don't know what you're made of, mate.

Is it brains or bollocks?

Week seven, and another creative challenge.

Your task is to come up with a new free premium magazine.

And you're going to be team leader, Jim.

I'm leaning towards over-60s.

We can be classy rather than cheap, more intelligent.

-Why don't we call it Coffin Dodger?

-Pension Mention or something?

-We shouldn't mention pensions.

They went for a magazine for the over-60s, people like me, Lord Sugar.

-What about Golden Oldie?

-The Old Boot?

Or the Old Soak, the old...

What's a term that you'd call an old person?

Zoe's thought of a good one. Hip Replacement.

Yeah, Hip Replacement. I like that.

It's not just patronising. It's not just bad.

It's not just stupid. It is ridiculous.

At the pitch to ad buyers, Hip Replacement failed to stand up.

My heart slightly sank, and John's jaw dropped.

This does look like Viz have done a magazine for the over-60s.

His magazine trashed, Jim lost, and again faced the boss.

This is the essence of the failure of this task.

Two factors - contribution and cowardliness.

Contribution 60 percent, 25 percent, ten percent, five percent.

In the boardroom, when those big black laser eyes of Lord Sugar's

switch onto him and the heat starts getting turned up,

he'll produce two of the other candidates,

shove them in front of him...

You're marginally worse than Glenn, so I'm not picking on you.

They take the heat. Jim's safe. That's what Jim wants.

I am a scrapper, and if backed into a corner, I'll come out fighting.

You lack passion, enthusiasm, contribution, getting involved.

If I believe in something, I'll scrap as well if not better

than the next man, definitely.

-Where's your initiative? It's about this process.

-OK...

Jim, you can talk the hind legs off a donkey, OK?

But what I've forgotten about bullshit you ain't even learnt yet.

Now a marked man,

the next few tasks saw super- salesman Jim play to his strengths.

We envisage a very significant mass-market structured and strategic marketing approach,

above- and below-the-line marketing. There must be TV advertising.

Jim is a chancer and a charmer.

When he's doing a pitch like the biscuit task,

he's charming and he's talking. But at the same time,

he's offering things he could never deliver.

This gives us the opportunity to get our product endorsed

with whatever's current with kids in terms of movies.

What we would ask from you is a large initial order.

Go big or go home.

You get the BBIW award, the Biggest Bullshit in the World.

Tu achetez une umbrella?

In the reinvestment task, he was extraordinary.

Everything must go! Look, there's Big Ben!

There's the Houses of Parliament.

There's a crazy Irishman selling umbrellas.

-It was a virtuoso performance.

-I will do you a deal right here,

-right now, for 25.

-Well, I wouldn't pay 25 for it.

It's all right. You actually misheard me. I said 20.

He charmed the pants off them. Well, he didn't.

He charmed them so much they opened their purses and he helped himself to the contents.

-I'll even give you a hug and a kiss.

-THEY LAUGH

Thank you so much.

-Ahhh!

-Have a great day.

Four wins, six losses,

but so far never defeated.

Nobody would argue that Jim is not a great salesman

and a great negotiator. But is he just a salesman?

Has he got the creativity, the versatility, to lead a business?

The competition is heightening. We're down to the final five.

I really am bubbling over with ideas, passion,

and just ability. I'm big-time ready,

and I've got so much more to give.

Hi, guys! How you doing?

31-year-old Natasha Scribbins.

Good morning. This is a customer announcement.

-Headstrong...

-This is not a conversation we need to have now.

-..hard-talking...

-Please listen to me, because I do know.

..hard-working and hard to beat.

Just because it's blonde doesn't mean it doesn't look good, if that makes sense.

Natasha is absolutely full of beans.

Come to Selfridges for a massage, curl your hair!

I would liken her to a Tasmanian devil,

a ball of energy. Loads to say and do.

As the girls' team notched up wins,

Natasha talked herself to the front.

I think Ampi App is a reasonable name. I've just come up with it.

-Ampi Apps.

-Ampi Apps.

-Sounds like a plan.

Week four - the beauty task.

Natasha forged a strong friendship with project manager Felicity.

Is it my hair colour? I haven't got a mirror,

so I'm trusting you, Tash.

But when the team lost, it counted for nothing.

The two people responsible for the failure of this task

is Ellie and, due to not selling enough,

my next best would be Natasha.

I sold more than Jim.

I learned early on in this process

that, you know, you have no friends here,

and it's all about the survival of the fittest.

She had enthusiasm but there was a lack of strategy.

I really had to make a decision to do the right thing.

-Who's responsible for the failure of this task?

-Felicity.

I chose a business decision over a personal decision.

-You're fired.

-Thank you for this opportunity.

When I walked out of that boardroom, even though it was horrific,

it drove me on to the next level.

You won't see anybody for real until you get in there and they show you their true colours.

This ain't a popularly contest. It's about business.

Natasha's from Taunton, where she grew up on a council estate.

The house was really crowded when I was growing up,

and that was due to my elder sister having a baby

at a relatively young age, when she was 16,

and my mum hadn't long had my younger sister.

The house was full. She shared a bedroom.

It was just busy times, but she just got on with it.

My mum, unfortunately... They were on benefits

for pretty much most of my education.

I remember being at secondary school and getting free school meals,

and, you know, I hated it.

And also we used to have tokens for, like, school uniform.

I used to say to my mum, "I don't want you to buy my uniform."

"I'm going to go out and buy my own uniform."

So I worked pretty much from that age,

and I worked every day after school.

And actually, you know, crazy,

but I used to not take the free school meals,

and I'd actually use the money that I'd earned from my jobs

to pay for my school lunches.

A determination she carried into the classroom.

Hard work won her a scholarship to study for A levels.

On a council estate, it's leave school, get a job or get pregnant.

Tash was doing the total opposite to what everybody else was doing.

She wasn't out drinking and getting drunk and doing those things.

She just stayed in and she studied, studied, studied.

Next, a degree in international hospitality management.

Tash is the only one in our family that's actually gone to university,

so it was difficult because nobody else understood it,

and it was stressful, but we did it. Well, more so Tasha did it.

Working hard, Natasha continued her climb,

becoming a divisional manager

in the world's second-largest recruitment company.

Natasha's potential was always very high.

I think a number of us in the business recognised that potential,

that drive, and that willingness to do and maybe take on things

that other people shy away from.

Sometimes now I feel she doesn't belong here,

although she does. She lives in a different world than we do now,

with her work and her suits and her briefcases and her stiletto heels.

But to me she's my girl and she always will be.

I've done what I could for her and it's her chance now.

She can go her own way.

Week five, and it was Natasha the film director.

-Action!

-The movie, an ad for the team's pet food.

I'm terrified of dogs.

I got bitten by a dog when I was 15,

and I'm a little bit apprehensive around them.

-DOG GROWLS

-Pack it up.

-Chill out, would you?

One of them was just sat on me, looking at me and growling.

DOG SNARLS

I literally was, um... I was scared.

You're really excited. You want this new food.

It was playtime for Natasha.

She was the director, and my word, how she took that role on!

OK, guys. What I want is, I want complete silence

after I've said "action". DOGS BARK

The old saying is, "Never work with children and animals."

She had a big, bouncy dog and she did a great job.

Handled it perfectly.

For the industry experts, the ad was a hit.

THEY LAUGH

The advertising agency did say the advert was good.

But not the dog food.

Vincent, who's coming back in this boardroom?

Ellie and Natasha.

I sat in the boardroom and witnessed Vincent,

who was completely charmed by Jim,

making a decision not to take him into the boardroom.

The only one you seem to be in agreement with

for the last few weeks is Jim. Do you look up to him too much

-as a better contender than you?

-I don't think he's better,

but he is strong in certain areas.

In the firing line again, Natasha proved to Lord Sugar

she was a shrewd judge of character.

I've had first-hand experience of Jim using his charm.

I seem to be able to see that, and it doesn't work on me.

He was your right-hand man. You were so far up Jim's behind

that you couldn't see the wood for the trees.

I don't for the life of me understand

why Natasha's in this room, to be honest with you.

You know, Natasha is a really canny girl.

She saw... She was the only candidate that saw straight through Jim.

Backing Jim over Natasha turned out to be Vincent's big mistake.

Vincent, you're fired.

Natasha, you stood up, you did the work.

I'll see you on the next task, all right? Off you go.

I think Natasha has a fantastic fighting spirit.

She really has that "I will not fail" approach.

She'll get up and come back fighting harder than ever.

-Week seven.

-We're going to 65 Fleet Street.

-Media, or newsagents, or...

-I have no idea.

Can you find out and get back to me in five minutes?

The free-magazine task.

Natasha, no choice - you are team leader.

It fitted her like a glove.

I'm going to make a decision, and I'm going to go for lads' mags.

Right. So let's get moving.

I felt strongly that it was a lads' magazine and we needed to keep it that way.

Skin Zone. Maybe we could feature in this!

Let me stop you right there.

Natasha became the editor of this magazine.

Everything it stood for, she stood for.

Good morning! I'm the editor of Covered magazine.

I've made a decision on that, guys, as editor,

so I want to wrap it up, OK?

She believed in the content. She could sell it.

-Have you got your boxer shorts kind of...

-Are you ready?

Perfect!

She really believed in Covered.

We're happy with that one where she's pulling her underwear down.

Love it, love it. I want to get it across that we are a lads' magazine, and we're proud of that.

That was really good!

They liked it so much that they wanted to buy every page

in the book.

Natasha showed that she is a really ballsy person,

hugely determined, really hard-working,

absolutely passionate about winning.

Week ten, and leader again in a task

central to Lord Sugar's view of business -

buy stock, smell what sells, reinvest in more.

Natasha just fell apart.

She had great salespeople. She had Jim and Susan.

She just lost the plot.

-Stop being such an angry person.

-I'm just telling you how I feel.

-Stop embarrassing yourself.

-I'm just telling you how I feel!

-OK.

I wasn't in control that day, and I hated it.

It was probably one of the worst days for me.

This task is about reinvestment. He said it in front of all of us.

If we reinvest, we're going to be carrying too much stock.

Stay where you are, Jim. Stay where you are.

'If I've made a mistake, tell me I've made a mistake.

'I'm not going to hide away from it.'

I'll face up to anything that I've done that's wrong.

-Did you invest?

-We did, but -

-How much did you spend?

-Just over £20.

-20 quid?

-I made a decision.

-Are you having a laugh, or what?

It was a victory, but Lord Sugar wasn't impressed.

You've won, OK? But there's no balls, no guts,

no reinvestment.

Just get back to the house and I'll see you on the next task.

She didn't understand the task. She really didn't get it.

All her nerves and her energy just washed away,

and she's in trouble.

Her inner core of her personality is that determination,

and that was rocked in the boardroom last week.

I'll be really interested to see if she can come back from that.

Susan Ma - at 21, this year's youngest candidate.

Surprise!

Bright...

Try and find three locations you can get those things,

-heading east.

-..enthusiastic...

I think I speak for all of us when I say that we love it.

..and self-assured.

I have natural entrepreneurial spirit, so much drive

and so many ideas, and I'm confident my business will make millions.

She won with the girls for the first two weeks.

Cheers.

But having seven older teammates often meant she struggled to get heard.

I just thought of this. I think it's a brilliant idea.

Imagine if you've got two people standing next to each other,

and you've got, er... OK... How do I say this?

You're you and I'm me, and I say, "OK..."

So if I ask you a question, like, um...

-"Where do you think we are?"

-Susie, I'm going to stop you now.

-Let me finish.

-Susie, no.

So, in week three, the negotiation task...

I do a lot of buying in my line of business,

so I will be putting myself forward as project manager.

..Susan took control.

-Fillet Steak is done.

-Yeah.

-Organza is done.

-Top Hat is done.

-Yeah.

Felicity, we're going to do the hat shop.

You guys go now. Make sure you've got all the information. Go now!

I think she started very well,

and she's quite a little force to be reckoned with.

Her leadership clinched victory - third in a row.

It's a win! It's a win.

Susie is incredible. She's ten years younger than me,

and has had a huge amount of experience of selling things

and developing things, and I'm quite amazed with her abilities

for her age.

The only child of a single parent, Susan had to grow up quickly.

Born in China, as a toddler she lived in Shanghai.

We had no electricity, no gas, no heating at all,

and it was absolutely freezing all the time.

I remember I had a little bucket that my mum used to bathe me in

in the sort of back shed, and we had a little hole in the ground

where we would go to the toilet. And everything was so simple and so poor.

Aged seven, she moved with her mum to Australia.

I was always bullied, pretty much every day,

just for the fact that I couldn't speak any English.

I felt really, really left out because I didn't understand the culture.

I didn't understand anything that we were learning at school,

and it was a really, really tough time for me.

After five years, they were off again,

this time to Britain.

When I moved to England,

unfortunately my mum couldn't speak a word of English.

She only 12. How can she help me?

Then I realise that she can speak very good English.

I had to help my mum with regards to getting bank loans,

look through newspapers trying to find places to live,

and also I had to enrol myself in my own school.

It was a really big struggle. I don't know how we got through, but we did it in the end.

Susan juggled school work with helping on her mum's market stall.

I've been working markets since I was 13,

ever since I came to England, and it's what I'm part of.

Susie's mum worked at Greenwich Market every day,

carrying stock on public transport.

There's definitely this bond between them.

You can tell that these two have been through a lot together.

£12.

I think watching her mum go through all that as she grew up,

she took more responsibility on herself

and wanted to support her

and give her as comfortable a life as possible.

Everything she does, she does for her mum.

Three years ago, Susan set up her skin-care business.

Making money at markets, online and at trade shows,

she soon paid off her mum's mortgage.

She make the money. She gave me all. She didn't give her money one penny.

My mum is the most important person in my life.

She's so clever.

When she did the business, I'm really, really very proud of her.

Seeing what products are going to sell

and interacting directly with the customers

is exactly what I'm used to.

Week four - the beauty task.

It looked like a smooth run for Susan.

I've been selling skin-care products for three years,

so this is right up my street.

I'm more than confident that we will sell out of all these products.

I'll roll with that, then.

But pretty soon, cracks started to show.

Is it too expensive for you? Is that the problem?

I'm not selling anywhere near as much as I thought I would.

-You thought six an hour, didn't you?

-No-one has any money round here.

Everyone seems so poor.

Having put herself up as a beauty guru who understood the market,

she completely let herself down. She didn't deliver.

She didn't follow through. She hadn't thought about the process,

and at that point she lost a lot of credibility with the other candidates.

You came up with these optimistic numbers.

-You're in skin care anyway.

-This is so unfair, Zoe.

It's not unfair. You've made your bed and you've got to lie in it.

Try and recall it back and get the sales.

I don't understand why you come here and just have a go at me.

After that, her judgement was in question.

On the rubbish task, no-one took her views seriously.

I don't know what's in your head at the minute, Susie.

Whoever offers the higher amount for all these goods to the guy will get it.

We're not giving him a hundred quid.

Maybe I've got the wrong end of the stick.

But after losing both big clearance contracts,

Susan was proved right.

"I won't be using your services. The value of the furniture was high,

-so I thought I'd get something for the furniture."

-OK. No problem.

-"Bye, now."

-So you were right, Susie.

So he did want money for the furniture? So I'm not an idiot!

There is a failure somewhere, isn't there?

And that is that you cave in too fast to weightier voices.

Because sometimes I think you talk great sense,

but you don't push your point strongly enough

because you're overawed by those around you.

Susan...

I'm giving you another chance. OK?

Week seven. With the free-magazine task, it didn't get any better.

All agreeing on Hip Replacement, say "aye".

-Aye.

-OK.

-Is that an "aye", Susie?

I... No, but I'm happy to support it. No problem at all.

When Hip Replacement bombed,

it was fight back or get fired.

I was the only person who disagreed with the name.

-But you didn't -

-I didn't hear anything.

-I did.

-Your voice must have been lost.

-I did.

I definitely did not hear that. Did you hear it?

She said she didn't agree, but there was no real strength to it.

It's a whisper in the night.

That was incredibly tough for me, because I felt Jim and Glenn had stuck together to gang up on me,

feeling that I was the weakest out of the three.

Who's responsible for the failure of this task is the meek little mouse, and that's Susan.

Jim and Glenn tried to have a go at her, to destroy her, to stamp all over her.

Throughout this process, everything that I have done has been overlooked.

Out she came. Out she came fighting, and saw them off.

I feel that they look at me and they think,

"Young, naive, no experience. Let's pick on her. Let's get rid of her."

Fearless little thing. Great guts, and I admire her for that.

-I am 21, and I have had -

-Stop using your age.

-It doesn't matter.

-We're all in this process together.

When you were 21, you didn't have the initiative to do what I have.

-Fair comment. The mouse that roared.

-Because of what I've been through,

I'm a very tough person. I have learned to make sure

my voice is heard. I learn from the mistakes.

I learn from what has happened and I move on.

Paris.

-Oh!

-Oh!

Fired up, and project manager Susan stormed back.

I'm trying to find products that will be sellable

to the mass market, because I want volume.

It was perfect for me. I was very good at spotting the two products

that would sell the most...

What you're missing is a fantastic universal grip.

..and got a lot of money from it.

You can put your phone in like this,

and when you're driving, you can change the next song.

-How many pieces are you after?

-Er, 1,000?

Can I tempt you with any more than that?

-We have another price bracket to go down.

-OK, we can do that.

-We do that? So, 1,500 pieces, that's seven euros 50.

-OK.

SHE LAUGHS

She's dealt in foreign markets and that came to the fore.

She's understood volume, and she picked the right products,

and she led that team to a great victory.

I've got euro signs in my eyeballs now.

I want more money!

Susan started in business as a teenager,

and now, at 21, she's a seasoned, experienced businesswoman.

And that fact alone will be hugely attractive to Lord Sugar.

She can only now build on what she's already learned.

But there are a few problems too. She has an unhappy knack

of rubbing people up the wrong way, strangely.

You don't shut up. You keep going.

It's like a school kid going, "Can I do this? Can I do this?"

On and on and on and on and on.

And secondly, she's really got to learn

to forcibly push her arguments forward,

if she's to be a partner with Lord Sugar.

OK, ladies. Nice to meet you. I'm Helen.

Helen Milligan, stepping out.

-Cool...

-Come on. Let's go.

-..calm...

-Ladies, come on.

-..collected.

-We're not leaving the client with half the rubbish still.

And comfortable in the corporate world.

We will go with that one.

I'm experienced with managing large teams and with organising people.

Where I feel I could bring a lot to it is organising the team well.

From the start, she made her mission clear.

'My social life, my personal life don't mean anything to me.'

Work and business are my whole life. I live to work. That's all I do.

But for the first five tasks, she kept a low profile.

I hope we haven't left getting the pasta out too late.

Would you like to try our hot vegetable pasta?

-Not particularly.

-All right. OK.

-All right? No thanks.

Helen had a fairly easy ride.

She was on the winning team, but she was always scudding around

in the shrubbery, in the background, not actually doing anything too much.

Helen was a shy child.

I thought she was almost slightly too introverted,

so my job was to try and get her out of that shell a little bit more.

I did hockey, netball, violin, ballet, tap, swimming...

But she came out of her shell,

and I think that's made her slightly more rounded

than if she'd just been a studious girl.

A top girl at school, it was on to a degree.

I did law at university. I did really well at it.

I really enjoyed it. I got a 2:1.

But the legal world didn't suit her.

When I was faced with actually being a solicitor,

I didn't want to defend people that were mainly guilty,

so I went back to the only thing I knew how to do, which was waitress.

It was start work at midday, finish at 12 o'clock at night,

and then go out afterwards.

She cut loose from her academic past.

When I first met Helen, people thought she was a bit of a bimbo

just merely on appearances, because she's very pretty.

She always looked like a model. She always had the long blonde hair,

and I think that they just assumed she wouldn't be that intelligent,

especially working as a waitress, because that goes against you.

But far from it.

She's very clever, and she knows how to look after herself.

-Morning, Helen.

-Hi.

But after waiting tables, her career took off.

She moved into management, then regional management,

and was finally headhunted to become an executive

in the UK's biggest bakery chain.

Helen's role is absolutely critical.

It requires a number of qualities,

from being a great organiser, a great communicator,

a great motivator, and somebody that can really make things happen.

Helen is absolutely fantastic at doing that.

I'm one of the best employees a company could take on.

I'm extremely loyal and hard-working,

but now it's time for me to start my own business with Lord Sugar

and start reaping some success for myself.

Week six - Helen stepped out and into the rubbish task.

Lord Sugar had shifted her to a losing team.

We're absolutely nailing this. I've won the last five. I'm not losing one.

Without batting an eyelid, she took the lead.

We need to know what is it you want us to take away,

when do you want us to do it.

She made the decision to not charge for our services.

What we can offer is, we can clear away your general waste for you,

and there will be no charge for that.

I think that's not good business.

That was a risky strategy. Probably most people disagreed with me.

But I felt very strongly that that's my tactic.

I'm project manager. It's my head that's on the line.

Let's do it.

I've written down all the addresses. Take this with you.

-Brilliant. Thank you. See you later.

-We'll call you.

See you, guys!

Could she organise? Could she manage? Could she deliver?

Thank you very much.

She proved she could, and she did that with a team

that had just lost a task quite badly, so they were demotivated.

She had the skills to give them that organisation

that they were very lacking.

Helen, you've now been on a winning team six times.

You're like the lucky mascot, really.

She's grown in confidence.

Previously she's been the mouse in the corner

who whispers the very good advice to someone who then fronts it.

I think she's realising she could be the person fronting it.

Well done, and a great win for Team Logic.

Cheers!

Now into her stride,

in Paris, Helen was pitch-perfect.

We know your catalogue. We know your website.

I've ordered from your catalogue before, so I was really excited

to come and pitch to you today.

I think it would fit really well with the modern working woman.

She walked in there with the rucksack that was also a car seat,

and she delivered an absolutely perfect pitch -

so much so that she had them eating out of her hand.

With the modern woman, we're all so busy,

we'll pay anything for convenience.

I've been in business a long time, and it takes years

of practising pitches to deliver one as good as that.

You can say, "We are the first people to bring this to France."

"We care about you as our customers, about your children's safety."

"We know how busy you are, and this is a great, convenient product for you."

Thanks, I have to say, to the fantastic pitch that Helen did

of the backpack booster seat,

they've placed an order of 214,000 euros, Alan.

Wow! That's a big one.

-Very, very good.

-You did the manufacturer proud.

You represented him very well indeed. Well done.

THEY CHATTER AND LAUGH

Helen's head for business was evident early on.

I remember a time - I must have been about six or seven,

because she was a couple of years older -

and she knew how much pocket money I got, and she'd advertise a disco in her bedroom

for my whole amount of pocket money for the week,

make it sound really exciting. And I'd go into her bedroom

and she'd play her music, flash the light on and off

and have me dancing around her room,

so I knew then she'd always get what she wanted, really.

Ellie May and Josh, my niece and nephew, are a great part of my life.

They think, at the moment, that I'm away working on a new job,

and Josh has got it into his head that he thinks I'm a spy,

because he can't talk to me a lot, so he's absolutely convinced

that I'm a female James Bond.

I do miss Auntie Helen.

I might save up some pictures

and then give her them when she comes back.

In week nine, Helen aimed for the stars.

We are Venture Biscuits. My name's Helen.

Joshua would have really liked Special Star biscuits

because he likes it when you say "well done" to him.

He was a big influence on our choice of biscuits.

-Nice!

-Helen came up with the idea of Special Stars, the biscuits,

which were absolutely phenomenal, and a fantastic order.

And it was her idea, really, from start to finish.

Again, boardroom records tumbled.

Helen, you have got yourself an order for 800,000 units.

Unbelievable! I've never seen anything like that.

-That takes the biscuit.

-THEY LAUGH

I got you!

Helen, you haven't lost a task yet. I'm delighted, but what the hell...

With nine out of nine wins, Helen was flying high.

But then, in Lord Sugar's reinvestment task,

she came crashing down.

It started going wrong ten minutes after choosing our goods,

and I could feel it going further and further on a downward spiral.

Melody was team leader,

but it was Helen who came up with the wrong plan.

We were thinking, would you like to take a bulk order from us,

save you a trip to your wholesaler, save delivery costs and so forth?

Helen's strategy in the reinvestment task was completely wrong.

-Hi, Helen! How's it going?

-It's not going brilliantly.

I phoned the linen wholesaler, and they've closed at two o'clock.

Her idea was to put herself between the retailer and the wholesaler.

It didn't work. It wasn't a concept that was workable.

She either didn't understand it or didn't comprehend how to win it.

Helen tried to stop the rot with a bid for power.

Today needs really strong strategy, organisation.

Is it best if I take over as project manager?

No to that, because I'm project manager

and I want to take responsibility. That's why I put myself forward.

But the team's fate was sealed.

For the very first time, when we went into the boardroom,

and she realised the mistakes she had made, she was shocked.

Going off selling to wholesalers, to pound shops...

She was knocked off her perch a little bit.

It demolishes wins that you've had, and me thinking,

"This is the right person," and then suddenly,

the most simple principle of business, and you make a big mistake.

And actually she looked quite vulnerable.

Helen, this...retail strategy was wrong. It was totally wrong.

Helen has always been composed.

There is that side to her where she won't break at all.

I've only seen her cry a couple of times.

She's not cold-hearted or anything. She has her emotions.

But she hides them well and she's very professional.

It is with regret...

Melody, that you're fired.

Helen survived, just.

That was the most under pressure I felt.

The truth about Helen is, she's got the best record -

nine wins and one loss, and the only question mark against her

is why hasn't she set up her own business?

What has she been waiting for? And can she?

Can she actually physically go out and set up a business,

have a great idea, and drive it forward?

Thomas Pellereau.

Right! Tally ho! Tally ho.

Ladies and gentlemen, we are offering the freshest tomato soup

you will find in the area.

Mad inventor...

OK, we've got temperature on this day.

It'll tell you the temperature in London of a year ago.

..or genuine genius?

I'll do some press-ups to get a faster heart.

-Is he really doing press-ups?

-HEARTBEAT POUNDS

Tom does really think outside of the box,

or ordinary people's boxes, then, perhaps,

and he does come up with some really crazy ideas.

The first one is this concept of an emergency biscuit.

So, something's gone wrong,

and you need, like, an emergency biscuit.

You've just put the phone down, and you think, "I have to have sugar."

You rush to the cupboard and get out a biscuit.

-THEY LAUGH

-OK, lead balloon.

-Moving on...

-THEY LAUGH

We can do it. Come on, let's go!

Tom has got a lot of brainpower,

a lot of creativity and imagination.

I've definitely heard people refer to him as a crazy inventor.

-A traffic light.

-Just having traffic lights, or...

Er, yeah. I didn't really think it through much more than that.

Scrub it off.

His mind is always jumping round from one thing to another.

I think I've wanted to be an inventor since I was four.

Tom grew up in Hampshire. From an early age,

he was on the road to product design.

I always knew I wanted to make something

that would be on the shelves, that I could buy or other people could buy.

Tom was a very happy little lad.

He was an easy-going, chatty, sociable, loving little fellow.

My father had a workshop,

and he and Tom were always disappearing off down into it

to tinker away with making things.

That's going well. Yes, Tom, yes!

Got such a strong mast now.

Because of my dyslexia, I was rubbish at some things,

like I'm rubbish at languages and English,

so I was always going to be scientific and making stuff.

For me, maths, science and design technology

were just obvious choices, and I really, really enjoyed doing them.

The advantages of dyslexia are that you are much better at adapting,

and you can go underneath and over the top of a problem,

and not take the direct route but find other ways of problem-solving.

Tom's good at that.

'Dyslexia made me seem to think slightly differently.'

Ideas would come from all different places.

I had to learn to map things out. But I realised that

I could visualise some things better than other people.

In the tasks, there were two Toms...

I'm going to try and make a biscuit within a biscuit.

..the boffin...

Digestive on the outside, and a different biscuit in the middle.

..and the number-cruncher.

The treatment profit is a 96 percent margin.

Thank you. That's really good, that you worked that out.

He can give you the information that you need

that you would get from an accountant in a real-life business.

400. 390. 390 plus 350.

We call him "Tom the Notebook". Everything is jotted down.

All his calculations are there.

Actually, he's not scribbling for the hell of it.

He's scribbling to compute the issues.

So our total best case is... just under £2,000.

Brilliant. That's good, eh?

Sorry. I wasn't really paying much attention.

The devil is very often in the detail.

It can be the small little spanner that upsets the whole machine

and everything breaks down. So I've always found that working out the details is very, very important.

One problem he couldn't solve - he kept on losing.

You're home as the winners.

Well, the world woke up.

The 24-hour figure was 10,667.

Susan, it's a win. It's a win by eight quid.

Vincent and Tom, we really have to stop meeting like this.

You're like a couple of stalkers.

Tom has got to be one of the most frustrating characters we've ever had.

He has the most appalling record of losses.

And yet we know, we can recognise, that he's smart.

I'm personally getting pretty fed up of this place.

But it just doesn't seem able to push him forward.

He needs a bit more steel.

I've found this process tough, but especially the being ruthless,

especially when you're in the boardroom

and saying, "This is what they did wrong. This is what I did right."

-Tom, you've lost every single task.

-Yes, sir.

In defeat...

Lord Sugar, I thought we lacked a certain level of structure.

We weren't organised.

..his defence was always the same.

It wasn't communicated that we were making a luxury product,

and if I'd realised that, I wouldn't have selected digestive.

You know, I think I'd classify you as the hindsight man.

I see you in this boardroom, talking about all the things

that shouldn't have gone wrong, what we should and shouldn't have done.

It's like a broken record.

I got a reputation of being Mr Hindsight,

which was actually a bit unfair.

I knew we were doing things wrong, but the others wouldn't listen.

He does know what he's talking about. That's the frustrating thing.

I don't know why he can't get it over when he's in the task.

Every week we hear, "Oh, I'm learning."

"The next time it'll all be great."

I think at some point he's actually got to get it right.

Week six was make-or-break - the rubbish task.

What is valuable? Metals are valuable at the moment.

Tom got his ideas in early.

I have a feeling, if we stuck with a strategy of finding good metals,

and just stuck with those, we know how much we'd get from selling them.

-I've got the boys on board.

-I've got barbecue here!

-We can't just take that, can we?

-Not at all, no.

We've been told that people have heavy metal...

-Bicycles...

-Girders...

Our first bit of metal!

-HE GRUNTS

-Come on, come on!

Your profit was £712.

The highest moment was winning the rubbish task.

Tom, you've had your first win.

I was literally, like... HE GASPS

The emotion, the relief, the almost-collapsing-ness of it!

And I'll see you on the next task. Have a good time.

THEY WHISPER AND LAUGH

He worked out all the calculations and they really did pay off,

and that was a really important moment for Tom,

that he could prove that he could add value to a team.

Helen, is this what all the treats are like?

Yeah, but they're getting better. They get better every week.

While on the magazine task...

We need to think of a unique selling point

for our lads' magazine.

..it was goodbye, Mr Hindsight...

We could do an entrepreneurial side for people starting businesses.

..and hello, Mr Foresight.

Thinking business, and you're thinking surfing.

Can we try with the, um, working-hard hat, as well?

And another win.

That's a very, very good deal.

He's always been a tryer. He's always worked hard.

We know that, if you work hard, you'll get through.

THEY WHISPER AND LAUGH

After scoring a first in engineering masters,

and driven by the need to invent,

Tom went on the hunt for commercial opportunities.

My situation was, I didn't have much money

or contacts in certain areas.

I was, "I can't really invent a new car."

"I can't invent spaceships or golf clubs,

because I don't have the investment. Which areas can I do?"

And I ended up in nail files.

I invented the world's first curved nail file,

which means it gets a nice smooth edge.

It had never been done before. When I showed it to people, they were, "That's just obvious."

It went from something I made in the kitchen to major retailers in the UK and America.

When I first invented the product, I was very naive, very young,

and really didn't understand many aspects of business.

As a result of going through this, I've learnt a huge amount,

and it's spurred me on massively to the next one and the next.

You reckon you're a mini-Dyson, do you?

I believe I have the potential to be far greater than Dyson

and other British inventors. I can keep on coming up with ideas,

and working with someone like you, I can create something massive.

If Lord Sugar was to go into business with Tom,

he could certainly rely on Tom for all of those detailed calculations -

the money and all the rest of it. And added to that,

Tom's got one huge benefit. He can conceive and design products,

take them to market. Hugely important.

But - and it's a big butt - Tom lacks backbone.

If you nod your head any more, I'll put you on the back seat of my bloody car.

But Lord Sugar's got plenty of that.

Maybe they'll be a great complementary match.

Whilst I might be a nice guy, I'm certainly no pushover,

cos I've had to really, really fight to stay in this process.

We've got some very special offers for today only,

and there's a lot of interest in the bulldogs.

I've had to continuously prove why I'm not at fault

for the task failing, and then also proving

why I should be in this process and why I am a worthy business partner.

I know that this could change my life.

The prospect of the investment and working with Lord Sugar

is such an immense driver

to stay here and to make this happen.

Ten weeks gone,

two to go.

With victory in reach, each must push harder.

Facing them, two even tougher tests.

These candidates have done incredibly well to get this far.

A lot of bright, capable candidates have fallen by the wayside.

But there are two huge tasks ahead of them.

This is the home run.

You have to have a goal. You have to have a focus.

It's not arrogance,

but I am here to become Lord Sugar's business partner.

I believe I have got the full package,

and everything he needs to make a business successful.

'I've won nine out of ten tasks so far.

'I've done everything that's been asked from me.'

I really want this. I've worked hard to get to the position I am,

and I'm willing to give that all up to start a business with Lord Sugar.

I deserve to be Lord Sugar's business partner

because of my passion to make it happen,

my ideas, that can be commercialised and make huge profits,

and my experience in terms of making that happen.

I think that I deserve to be Lord Sugar's business partner,

more so than anyone else in this process,

because I am incredibly determined. I am so focussed,

so enthusiastic about the task in hand,

and I believe I have more common sense with regards to business

than anyone else.

I don't see anything as being unobtainable to me.

I've got an aggression, in a really positive way,

to achieve.

If you don't get in the ring and fight, you're going to get knocked down.

All five have done really well to get to this stage,

but we haven't seen their business plans yet,

and that is going to have a huge bearing on Lord Sugar's decision

about who he wants to go into business with.

Five candidates...

..one prize -

a 50/50 partnership in a brand-new business

with Lord Sugar.

-Good morning.

-Good morning, Lord Sugar.

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