Paris The Apprentice

This is not a job. I'm not looking for bloody salespeople,

I'm looking for someone who's got a brain to start a business with me.

'Heading to London, 16 of Britain's entrepreneurial elite,

'keen to start a company.'

I'm going to inject £250,000 into a business. Your business. And you're going to run it.

'On offer, a 50/50 partnership with the nation's toughest investor.'

If you sit in the office for three hours and do nothing, or three weeks or three months,

I ain't going to be a very happy bunny.

'Passionate about new money-spinning ventures,

'Lord Sugar's on the hunt for a winning business partner.'

If you see someone else that you think is superior to you, you might as well go home.

-Come on, come on!

-Yay!

-We're not...

'It's a deal worth fighting for.'

-Absolute storming!

-We might have just got thrashed.

-'16 candidates.'

-Are you not understanding me?

-I don't think you understand me.

I am not having that at all!

-'12 tough weeks.'

-I didn't even take a penny off!

'One life-changing opportunity.'

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

-'Previously on The Apprentice...'

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

I'm the editor of Covered Magazine.

'Team leader Natasha was mad about the boys.'

We feature in our lads' magazine "How do you blow your load?"

'While her team tried to rein her in.'

-Are we pitching this as raising the tone of lads' magazines?

-Not particularly, no.

-'Aiming at the golden oldies...'

-The old boot or the old soak

-or the old...

-Why don't we call it Coffin Dodger?

'..Jim's young guns fired a blank.'

-I present to you Hip Replacement.

-I think I'd be laughed out of the room.

'And when it came to flogging ad space...'

We're selling it to you based on the prices listed.

-No negotiation on that?

-They are our rate card prices.

-'..he wouldn't budge.'

-To be fair...

-We're not looking for fair.

-'In the boardroom...'

-They wanted to buy every page.

-'..Natasha stole the headlines.'

-That's a very, very good deal.

-'Jim went from leader...'

-Have you come across him as a bit of a control freak?

-Yes.

-You are what I'd call a passive-aggressive.

-'..to assassin.'

Who's responsible for the failure of this task? The meek little mouse, Susan, followed closely by Glenn

-and not too far behind by Zoe.

-'The mouse roared.'

I have had my own business. That is something that these two can't say.

'But for Glenn, the cross word.'

I have never yet come across an engineer that can turn his hands to business. You're fired.

'Glenn became the eighth casualty of the boardroom.

'Now eight remain to fight for the chance to become

'Lord Sugar's business partner.'

PHONE RINGS Hello?

"Lord Sugar would like to meet you at St Pancras International.

"Please pack an overnight bag and bring your passport. The cars will be with you in 30 minutes."

-Guys, St Pancras International.

-You reckon we're going away?

-Do you think?

Eurostar. Very nice.

-Paris, Brussels? What do you think?

-Shit.

-Who hasn't been project manager?

-ALL: Tom.

-Has anyone else not been project manager yet?

-No, it's just you, Tom.

Ohh.

-Who speaks French?

-I speak a little bit.

Petit pois.

I used to be able to speak six languages. I taught myself Italian, as well.

French.

Obviously, when we do work at UN level, you use a lot of languages.

But I run a global business, so I'm looking forward to seeing what this is about.

'St Pancras International.

'Gateway to continental Europe.'

-Good morning.

-ALL: Good morning, Lord Sugar.

OK, I hope you've got your passports with you cos we're off to Paris.

What you're going to be doing is representing some rather unique British products

which you have got to sell to French retailers.

To get you started, I've laid on an appointment with a leading home shopping brand in France.

Apart from that, you're on your own. You've got to find your own customers.

Before you choose the products, you need to know the market,

so half your team is heading to Paris right now.

-Tom, you know what I'm going to say to you now. You're the team leader.

-Thank you.

I'm going to balance the teams out a little bit. Helen, move over to Venture.

Sort it out amongst yourselves, who's going to be the team leader.

Here's one more thing. Each of you has got an order book.

So I don't want to hear any excuses from anybody. Every one of you has got to sell something.

OK, the next train leaves in 30 minutes, so I'd hurry up if I was you.

I don't want any new business of mine restricted to the UK market alone.

So that's why I've sent this lot over to Paris, to see how they can perform

out of their comfort zone in a foreign country.

'For Venture, the first job - pick a project manager.'

I would like to put myself forward as PM because in my business, I do a lot of product selection.

I know absolutely nothing about France. I've never even been there.

I don't even know any French people.

I can't speak a word of French apart from bonjour.

Don't know French foods. I know nothing.

-Are you guys all happy for me to be project manager?

-100 percent behind you.

-Fantastic.

-I'm thinking you and Leon go to France.

-I'm really bewildered at this one.

-Unfortunately, I didn't take French. I don't know any. Hopefully they speak English.

-OK.

-See you guys later.

-See you soon.

-Oh, wow!

-Bye!

'To research the market, half the teams head to Paris.'

I'm looking forward to breakfast!

'While project managers stay behind to choose the products.

'On offer to the teams, ten British designs

-'not on sale in France.'

-Ooh!

-'Ranging from a 2 Euro toy...'

-Are you supposed to catch it?

-I don't get it.

-This is really lame.

-'..to an electric bike, retailing at 1,700 Euros.'

-I think it's quite appealing.

Zoe, I'm trying to find products that are going to be sellable to the mass market because I want volume.

-Oh!

-Ah!

-A beanbag couch that you can shake to reveal a hidden bed.

-I love it!

Oh, so you shake all the beans in it.

-I'm pretty much kid-size, so...

-There you go. Kiddie Susie!

-What's it like?

-It's all right. Quite comfy.

-I'm impressed with that.

-I really like this.

It's 325 Euros.

-Nah.

-Yeah, let's move on.

-Right, OK, so, pop-up postcards.

-This has got the seeds inside.

It transforms into a bite-size cress allotment. First impression, it's quite sweet.

-I don't like it. What do you think?

-No.

-No.

-The next one is this spider thing.

A flexible gadget grip and display podium.

-That's quite cool. I like this.

-Tell me, would you pay 18 Euros for it?

This is a very expensive product but I do like it. It is innovative.

A teapot light? Very kind of British.

-140 Euros. Authentic British design. I think that's a good option.

-I don't like it.

Susan rushed into the room, looked at all the products,

immediately said, "No, no, no, no, no, yes, yes."

And that was incredibly decisive

but actually she's very immature.

Are the French eco-friendly? Do the French go camping?

Are the French very fond of their children?

If that makes sense... I honestly know nothing about the French or their culture.

You do not have to have been to France to answer the question,

"Do the French like their children?" I mean, that really is beyond stupid.

Do a lot of people drive in France?

-I've never seen this before.

-'Finally, a booster seat for kids.'

I need to grow.

-'That folds into a backpack.'

-That's all right.

-That's actually quite cool.

-So you can pack your kid off for a lift,

and by the way, there's no excuses, friends, parents,

-cos they've got their own booster seat.

-I quite like this.

Yeah, yeah. The baby seat I think is a great product.

I've never seen it. I think it'll work well.

I think there's a massive market for it in Paris. I like it.

'Midday. One hour from Paris.'

There are two products that we really like. One is a child booster car seat

and the other one is a child chair-bed which is essentially a beanbag.

-OK.

-She wants us to do market research.

-So we should call some shops that sell children's products.

-Yeah.

-"Bonjour."

-Oh, bonjour.

Erm, er...

Oh, I've forgotten. Sorry, Jim.

HE SPEAKS FRENCH

"Erm, yes, may I help you?"

-PHONE RINGS

-Hi, it's Melody.

-Hi there. We're going to let you know what we think we're going to choose as our products.

-Yep.

-Pop-up postcards.

-Oh, like a 3D one?

-OK, yeah.

-The teapot light.

-Very British, yeah.

We've got the car seat rucksack.

I don't know whether a rucksack would be something that would appeal to the mass market.

Secondly, why would anybody want to carry the car seat in a rucksack anyway?

Why wouldn't they leave it in the car?

As Tom describes the products to Melody, she's crossing them off.

"I don't think that's good, I don't like that." She hasn't seen them!

I don't know whether I personally would see common sense in that.

We're now looking for you guys to do some market research,

-completely independent of your own personal thoughts, OK? Look forward to speaking to you soon. Cool.

-OK.

They've not chosen the right things for Paris.

-This isn't Manchester.

-Exactly.

So maybe we should give them a call back and tell then we're going to Paris, not a car-boot sale.

Yeah, or up north or something.

-Morning.

-Morning. How are you?

'Before the teams finalise which two products to sell,

'a chance to quiz the makers.'

-Hot water in the top, squeeze.

-Oh, wow.

And out comes a lovely stream of dark espresso. And there we have it.

It's been in the market around five years. We've been growing very slowly and organically.

-Organic growth is another word for not done very well, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-THEY LAUGH

You have a very nice bone china shade which gives a very nice, warm, translucent light.

-In terms of the recommended retail, it's 140 Euros.

-That's correct.

-We're not selling discounts, we're selling a quality product that isn't expensive in the market.

-Right.

'Next for Susan's team, the universal travel grip.'

One of the most popular uses for it is with smart phones.

You can dock a smart phone in the car. You literally just bend it around like this.

-Yeah.

-I love the idea of hanging it on the vents of the car.

-Yeah.

-Exactly.

-Definitely.

-I love the product.

-I love the margin. THEY LAUGH

'Travel grip booked.'

This card transforms into a mini living garden.

-Oh, wow!

-We pitch it as being an affordable greeting card and gift combined.

-Mm-hm.

-And a food source.

-Exactly.

-HE LAUGHS

-Thanks.

-Pop-up, for me, is the best. We've got the best margin.

'Cress cards chosen.

'For both teams, one choice left.'

-We're really happy with the product. We've sold about 20,000 units since launch.

-Wow.

-Really, really love that product.

-I really want that product.

-'But only one team can take it to France.'

-We have over 36 awards for our products.

Really? I was very interested to see this product cos I have actually worked in the baby industry.

-Oh, OK.

-So it'll be good to work on this one.

I think you can probably tell that I like that.

My only worry is whether or not it's suitable for the meeting Lord Sugar's arranged for us.

'1pm.

'Paris.'

I can't believe we're in France!

-Hi, guys. How's it going?

-One of the things I'd love to find out

is more about the pitch we're seeing tomorrow.

-Did you get that?

-Yeah.

It's just, I'd like to specifically know

if the child's rucksack and car seat is something that the pitch tomorrow would purchase or not.

-And you prefer that over the teapot?

-Yes. Thank you very much, Melody.

-I don't know. Let's just ask people, between those two, which do you think is a better idea?

-Fine.

Hello.

THEY LAUGH

He says he doesn't like it.

He says it's not nice.

He said that the whole thing was a good idea.

Although I still wonder why anyone would carry the car seat in a bag.

She said that it's OK.

This is so impressive, that you can just speak to them and understand them.

Out of the two products, which do you think is best? Which do you like the most?

-The one that you can put this in the bag.

-I agree.

-Hi, Jim, it's Susan here.

-We're confident on the rucksack-cum-car-seat.

-They like the sound of that.

-Are we decided, then?

-The rucksack.

-And the universal travel grip.

-The car seat, I think it's becoming really evident that more people use metro, even families.

-This is great!

It's first-hand research. You can't even fudge the figures.

We've got some findings for you. This is quite interesting.

People thought that the car seat may not be a good idea for the mass market

because they don't use cars very much.

Right. What did they think of the teapot?

-They thought that that was a better idea.

-Tom, I think that we should go with that.

From what our market research is saying, teapot is probably the best option.

-OK. What I'm going to say is three of the team are much more passionate in the teapot and selling it.

-Yep.

And I think I would be a fool to counteract three people and force something on you guys to sell,

-even though I think the rucksack is a great product and a good price.

-Brilliant.

-So we're going to go for the teapot lamp and the pop-up postcards.

-OK. We've got a train to catch.

'Products picked, now in Paris, find customers for tomorrow.'

Allo. Allo. Parlez-vous anglais, non?

-"I can try."

-Oh, excellent. We have two products. They are very popular in the United Kingdom.

-OK.

We could call tomorrow, demain, at 12 noon.

-"Oui, d'accord."

-OK. And thank you for speaking English.

-THEY LAUGH

-Next!

-"Er, yes."

-Yes? OK, good.

-We have a product that you are absolutely going to love.

-"OK."

Amazing.

Melody has just got six appointments.

I'm not doing anything, which is a shame.

I can't be productive if I can't speak the language.

What we have is, the product arrives tomorrow.

I haven't contributed to this task today. I just... I can't speak French.

-We'll be there tomorrow after two o'clock.

-"OK."

-Another?

-Yay!

-Wow! You filled the day!

-Ohh. What a fantastic job, Melody. Well done.

-I know, really good!

-'8pm. In from London, the other half of the teams.'

-J'adore Paris.

-It's amazing, isn't it?

-'And a first chance to show off the products.'

-Hey, guys!

-Hey, Zoe!

-Hi!

-Hey, Susie!

-Yay!

-Hey!

-Meet our products!

-Bang. Susie's little boost.

-THEY LAUGH

-I fit perfectly! Look at that!

So I've written yours out quickly, which appointments you have tomorrow.

-I'll run you through both days.

-This is exactly what I wanted, guys.

OK. There we go.

THEY LAUGH

-There you go!

-That's expensive, isn't it?

-I did not picture that!

-THEY LAUGH

-So...

-Wait, is this fine bone china?

-It is indeed.

-It looks like plastic.

My first impression was, "Oh, my God, is that it for 140 Euros?"

Erm, it doesn't look like fine bone china.

I'm sure it is, but it looks like plastic. It looks cheap.

OK, right.

Leon and Melody were very adamant it was all about the lamp. I'm a bit disappointed with their reaction,

laughing at it, but it's got some good selling points and we'll see how it goes tomorrow.

'8am.'

-We have four appointments today.

-Yep.

We've got three calls to make as soon as we get in the car.

'With pitches divvied up the night before, Susan's team sets off to sell.

'Holding his team at the hotel, project manager Tom.'

What I'm saying is that we each individually have to sell.

We each have our own individual books.

-And I want to try and make it as fair as possible.

-You're saying the appointments I spent time

and effort making yesterday you're going to take away from me.

Correct. What I'm saying, Melody, is this is a team game.

I just think that it is quite unfair for me to have made appointments

-and for you to say...

-The big picture is that the team wins.

-Natasha...

-I just want you to calm down a little bit.

-I'm speaking calmly.

I'm more than willing to make these appointments for you.

However, the ones that I've made, I'm going to sell.

-Er...

-OK?

-OK.

-Yeah?

-Yes.

'In a classy home-decor boutique, Zoe and Jim.'

-Bonjour.

-Ca va? Parlez-vous anglais?

-Little.

So the first product is a rucksack. So you carry it for the child.

-But also, in the car, it acts as a booster seat.

-Ah, yes.

Phenomenal popular dans United Kingdom.

You don't like?

The second product, it's called the Universal Travel Grip.

-For the camera.

-Yeah.

Could you sell this type of small, petit, item?

-No, I cannot sell this.

-OK.

So much traffic. 'On the road for the other team,

'Leon and Melody.'

Yesterday when we asked people whether the car seat was a good idea,

they said, "No, not many people have cars, most people use metro."

-So where does all the traffic come from?

-Yeah, that's very good.

This is pretty cool.

'First appointment, an offbeat design store.'

Look at their lamps. Very similar.

-Hello!

-Bonjour!

-Bonjour.

-Melody, enchante.

-Enchante. You speak perfect French. Hello. How are you?

-I'm Leon.

-Nice to meet you.

-I know that our product is perfect for you.

-Let's see that.

Now that I've seen that it's exactly right up your street.

The Brits love to drink tea, so what we've done is use that notion

to create a light which is very similar to what you have in your shops. We'll show it to you.

-This is a light.

-OK.

-So what it is, it's fine bone china, so it's very contemporary,

-but actually quite classic at the same time.

-This product has great potential.

I love the classicness of it.

I love this kind of Alice In Wonderland thing.

Let's move on a first order on this one. We'll take a first order of 50.

-50 x 65 for 3,250 Euros.

-Yeah.

SHE LAUGHS

I wasn't sure about the teapot, but I can now see there really is the market for it in Paris.

'For the rest of the team, Lord Sugar's fixed appointment.'

We're almost at this pitch. Let's focus on this pitch.

'One of the most famous brands in France, La Redoute.'

We need to decide who is going to lead this pitch. Do you want to flip a coin?

-Happy to.

-Let's flip a coin. What do you want? Sunny side up or down?

-Paper, scissors, stone.

-OK, yeah, good.

-The first beat, yeah?

-Yeah.

-Right.

-One, two, three.

-Ohh! So you're doing the first one.

'Waiting, some of the most powerful buyers in France.'

-Bonjour.

-Bonjour.

-Parlez-vous anglais?

-ALL: Yes.

-Tres bien.

Erm, yes.

OK, I present to you...our teapot.

It's actually made from bone china,

which is traditionally used in England

for tea and scones and English dinner parties.

And it's the type of thing where I think you'd walk into somebody's home and you'd say,

"Goodness me, that's fantastic!" It's really unique so we feel that it would be a fashion icon.

-We'd like to know the minimum order quantity.

-The minimum order quantity is very reasonable.

We think, for yourselves, we are very keen to start a relationship,

so we would consider as low as ten units.

La Redoute is one of the most formidable commercial organisations in France.

Ten units for La Redoute? Ludicrous!

You told us you studied the French market and La Redoute especially,

so you talked about ten pieces?

So you know the turnover we are doing?

We actually see it as being high volume, so we can start from 50 units

-and that is a very good starting point for yourselves.

-Please make us an offer we can't refuse.

Natasha's done a brilliant job presenting.

Fabulous.

It's annoying that Melody didn't talk to anyone about this company.

You would've thought it's like saying to someone, "Have you heard of Tesco?"

The first one is the Universal Travel Grip.

The quality is very good.

That's cool. That's very interesting.

'On the other team, sales.'

We always do a trial first, so we always make a small quantity order and try it.

-'But numbers are low.'

-Can you sign just here, please?

'Heading for La Redoute, Helen and project manager Susan.'

Hi, Jim. Just checking on how you guys are doing.

We sold 100 units of the Universal Spider.

OK. And they weren't interested in the children's backpack?

Not at all. Totally not applicable to them.

OK. We need to get a few more sales going.

Bonjour.

'Pitching their British backpack booster seat, Helen.'

We know your catalogue, we know your website.

I've actually ordered from your catalogue before, so I was really excited to come and pitch to you

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

The selling price is, for the French market, a little bit too high.

OK. Erm, I personally think it's a very comfortable seat.

It's really embarrassing, but because I'm so small, I can fit in it! It's very comfortable and safe.

-It's a fantastic product.

-What I would say, as well, about the price issue

is that, with the modern woman, we're all so busy, we'll pay anything for convenience.

I know your target audience is women and so I do think the price is a reasonable one

considering how much convenience it gives you. You can say, "We are the first to bring this to France,

"we care about you as our customers, we care about your children's safety, we know how busy you are

-"and this is a great, convenient product for you."

-Thank you.

'Any orders will be revealed in the boardroom.'

Bonjour.

'Second of Melody's appointments, a quirky home store.'

Un, deux, trois.

-So, lumiere.

-Porcelain?

Oui. Fine bone china.

'Another teapot sale for Melody.'

-This is the post jardin. Would you like me to order you some?

-Yeah, I think so.

-Lovely.

'And a postcard order for Leon.'

Every appointment we've been to has been well suited to our product.

-They're great products. They really seem to work in Paris.

-Whoo! I'm so excited.

PHONE RINGS

'Shut out of Melody's appointments, Natasha and Tom try fixing their own.'

-"Bonjour."

-Bonjour, madame.

Parlez-vous anglais, s'il vous plait?

-"Non."

-Er, OK. Erm...

Er...

OK.

-Bonjour. Parlez-vous anglais?

-"Non."

-Non?

-"Non."

-Non. D'accord. Er...

Erm... Oh, goodness.

OK, monsieur. Merci beaucoup.

Bon holiday. HE LAUGHS

Ciao, monsieur. Au revoir.

'In a jam and late, Leon and Melody.'

We have to be realistic, with the traffic and everything,

that we can't go to everything.

-Hello?

-Listen, really important. We've made you an appointment. A really good appointment.

-Who is the contact?

-Erm, I forgot to get a name for her, actually. Apologies for that.

-Right.

-Anyway, we've got a busy day. We'll get going cos we're running late.

-OK.

-Come on, Melody.

-OK, right. Brilliant. Let's go.

Yesterday, we did the products and the others arranged eight appointments.

And we are stuck with, sort of, one of them.

'3pm. On Susan's team, a push for sales.'

I honestly think that it would look fantastic just sitting on your shelves and...

-I think they're great products, but they're not for us.

-OK. Thank you very much.

-Bye.

That was the completely wrong shop for either product. Irrelevant.

-Is ten your maximum? Just so I don't pressure you.

-Ten is my maximum to start with.

Hi. How are you guys doing?

We're pushing treacle up a hill. We're having difficulties.

Keep your eyes peeled for kids' stores or mobile phone stores that our products could be stocked in

because we need to go to the right shops.

I love the way she teaches your grandma to suck eggs.

-Wow!

-Oh, wowwy!

'An interior design showroom.'

-Would you like to take a seat?

-Thank you.

-In your own office.

-'Booked by Melody for Tom and Natasha.'

-It's an idea.

-It's not a concept.

-OK.

-This is a decorative postcard.

-Here you have a concept.

'Natasha's first order of the day.

-'1,015 Euros.'

-Fantastic.

-That was good, wasn't it?

-Well done.

'Last appointment for Melody and Leon.'

I can't be selling cress all day long, so I'm going to try and sell the teapot, OK?

Technically, I could've been selling both the products at every appointment

-but I wanted to give you sell opportunity.

-That's very kind of you!

-No, I totally understand.

-You're not in charge of the teapot.

-Absolutely.

OK, why don't you take the sale that I made, sell the teapots and do us proud?

-Bonjour.

-Bonjour!

-Teapot.

-This is a teapot light.

-Very interesting.

-Bone china. Have a look.

-Very, very funny. Oui, j'aime beaucoup, huh?

-Yes.

-Oui, oui, oui.

-OK, cool. So 35 teapot lamps, 2,240.

'Next, Melody pitches in with the postcards.

-Comme ca.

-Then you send it by the post?

-Exactement.

So what I would like to do is sell you this at a very good price but at a big quantity.

So I can do 1,000 for 3.80.

-This is the best here.

-OK, sir. A total of 3,800 Euros.

-Yes.

-Merci beaucoup, monsieur.

-Merci beaucoup.

-You're good, aren't you?

-Yay!

-1,000 postcards!

-That is unbelievable.

-Eyes peeled.

-You look to the left, I'll look to the right.

'Appointments over.

'But still time left to hunt for sales.'

-So we're looking for gadget shops, mobile phone.

-Kids' shops.

-Cycling.

-Oh, Reflex Phone.

-OK, yep, yep. That'll be a good one.

-Bonjour.

-'A small shop but with a big online store.'

I notice you sell a lot of phones and lots of really funky accessories.

What you're missing, I think, is a fantastic universal grip.

I'll show you. You can fit your phone in like this.

-Bend this over. And you can hook it on the vents of your car, like this.

-OK.

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

And it has already sold 10,000 pieces on just the internet.

-Good.

-It's a very, very good price.

No-one else stocks this at the moment.

-You want to do a contract?

-Yeah. How many pieces are you after?

About, er, 1,000.

1,000 pieces at 7.80. Can I tempt you with any more than that?

Because we have another price bracket to go down at 7.50 Euros.

-OK, we'll do that.

-We'll do that? So 1,500 pieces at 7.50 Euros.

-OK.

THEY SQUEAL

-'Into Susan's order book...'

-Oh, my God.

'..a sale worth over 11,000 Euros.'

I've got Euro signs in my eyeballs now.

-THEY LAUGH

-I want more money!

Guys, we just sold 1,500 of the universal grips.

-What type of shop was it?

-It was a mobile phone shop.

-OK, we'll find a mobile phone shop.

-Let's go.

That's what we should've done all day, mobile phone shops.

'30 minutes to go.'

Come on, mobile phone places.

-Keep looking. Keep looking for the shops.

-I am.

Let's just go!

Erm, mobile phone shop?

-What's that?

-Mobile phone?

-Do you know where there's a mobile phone shop?

-Mobile phone?

-Independent?

-Hi, Tom, how are you?

-Erm...

-Erm, all right.

-Have you managed to get any sales?

-We've had a lot of difficulties.

Time is completely against us. I'm personally conscious that I actually haven't made an independent sale.

We can do it, we can do it. Let's go! Last chance.

-Erm, cartes postales.

-Carte postales.

-From Grande-Bretagne. Er...

-Not for me.

-OK.

-Au revoir.

'It's over.

'There's a train to catch.'

-I'm so happy.

-HE LAUGHS

I should move to Paris and do business here!

Oh, there's an independent mobile phone shop there.

There's another phone shop.

Three. Four.

-Phonesville.

-Dammit!

-Oh, my God.

-'Next stop, the boardroom.'

PHONE RINGS

You can go through to the boardroom now.

-Good afternoon.

-ALL: Good afternoon, Lord Sugar.

OK, so, Venture.

-Susan?

-Yep.

-You were the team leader.

-Yes, I put myself forward again.

-Did she manage the team well, people?

-Yeah.

She made a bold move to become PM.

I'm asking whether she was a good PM, that's all.

Yeah, well, I didn't see a lot of her as a team leader

but she led from the front on day two in terms of sales.

-OK. Right. So you ended up with the rucksack and the grip.

-And the universal grip.

The reasons were because they were both practical products.

-I didn't want a product that was too niche.

-During that process, you asked some odd questions.

-OK.

-Like, "Do the French love their children?" and "Do the French drive?"

-The reason I asked those questions is because...

-What?

-As in, like, because I've never been to France...

-I don't think you need to go to France to know the answers.

I didn't mean it as in, like, a super-naive question, asking, "Does anyone love their children?"

What I meant was, do the French focus on products for their children

-or would they rather other products, like electronics?

-Perhaps you should've worded it in that way.

-OK.

-OK. Tom, I made you the team leader.

-You did indeed.

So how do you think you were led by your team leader here?

I'm not being rude to Tom, but it felt like Melody was kind of running the show

-and she's set up the appointments for both teams.

-You felt she became the team leader?

-Yeah.

I think what Leon's saying, and I agree, is that we didn't feel much of a presence of a project manager.

I felt, at certain stages, that Melody was doing what she wanted to do.

Did anybody have any favourite products that they wanted to...

I liked the rucksack booster seat.

Our market research found that, in Paris, a lot of people use metro

-and families...

-What, the train?

-Yeah, public transport.

Every time I see pictures of the "Champs-Elysees"

-all I see is a traffic jam at the top.

-Yep, lots of traffic in Paris.

But what the market research told us, and that I can't argue with, people said that in Paris,

people use public transport. About four different people said that.

-And also, my common sense...

-That was your reason for not going with the rucksack?

-Market research told us that, actually, it might not be a good product.

-OK.

I arranged a meeting with one of the biggest retailers in France,

I used to do a tremendous amount of business with these people.

-Who spoke to them?

-Myself and Natasha went to the pitch.

-You pitched, yeah?

-Yes. We decided on the way, we flipped a coin to decide who would give the pitch.

-That seemed the fairest way of doing it.

-Flipped a coin?

-Effectively.

Hm. Let's get down to some numbers.

Nick, shall we concentrate first of all on sales made to the smaller retailers?

Yes. Logic sold strongly

-and they brought in sales of 11,705 Euros.

-Oh, right.

-And same question, Karren, for Venture.

-That's pretty good.

But not as good as Venture, who brought in 14,699.

OK. And now to the big retailer.

While I'm with you, Karren, Venture, how did they get on with their pitching to the big guy?

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.

That's a total of well over £200,000. That's a brilliant result.

-It's all on what, the rucksack?

-Yeah.

-That backpack?

-Yeah.

Very, very good. Now, Nick.

As they say in Europe, nil points. Nothing.

-No orders from La Redoute at all?

-No.

This is not just a loss, this is an annihilation.

I'm going to need to get to the bottom of who's responsible. OK.

Venture, erm, a record for this boardroom, ladies and gentlemen. Very, very good indeed.

So I'm going to send you off for a treat, cos one of my favourite pastimes is flying aeroplanes,

so I've laid on some flying lessons for you, OK?

So I hope you don't mind heights.

-Off you go and I'll see you on the next task.

-Thank you, Lord Sugar.

Oh, my God!

The objective is to handle the controls

and at the end of the flight, you'll be landing the aeroplane.

-Brilliant.

-Wow!

-Climb aboard.

Clear prop!

Oh, my God! Wow! This is amazing!

-SHE SCREAMS

-Wow!

It's you, you're flying, you're in control, and it's just brilliant.

I worked out, with my big deal this week, I could've bought Lord Sugar two of these planes.

Ease back, back, back, back.

Ooh! Wahh!

SHE LAUGHS

-HE CLAPS

-That was a proper crash landing!

Oh, my God!

Basically, we lost by 214,000, I believe solely for the booster rucksacks.

I felt that I wanted to go for the rucksack

-and I was conscious, if I'd forced the product on the three of you...

-It could've backfired.

..you would've been like, "I can't be bothered to sell this".

I know Tom's going to bring on, "Oh, I said the car seats were a fantastic idea".

Well, Tom, my job was to give you market research and I gave you market research.

You, as project manager, made the ultimate decision. You've made the wrong one.

Do not place blame on me.

I'm obviously feeling vulnerable. Zero sales in the book doesn't look good.

However, Lord Sugar says he's not looking for a salesperson, he's looking for a business partner

and so whilst I'm on paper looking bad, I'm feeling pretty confident.

PHONE RINGS

You can go through to the boardroom now.

OK, well, who wants to start off by telling me why they think this thing failed?

Lord Sugar, if I may, we got annihilated by 200,000 Euros,

but fundamentally, we lost because of one order,

-a very, very big order.

-That's not true at all, because even on the independent sales,

-they beat you.

-You lost on that.

-Yes.

-What point are you making?

-I was the only one who saw that the rucksack would be a powerful seller.

You're the team leader, you didn't put your foot down and take it.

Sometimes your instinct, your gut feeling, you should go with it.

-Yes, I should've gone for the rucksack and gone against everybody else...

-So this is your fault...

One of the major reasons I went for that was a lack of information about the major pitch,

because we didn't know enough about the major retailer to be able to choose and select the products.

So you asked someone to research who they are and what they do.

Yes. I'd expected that people who have reached this level

-would follow that advice and do it...

-We did follow your advice. You didn't strongly ask that at all.

-I did very strongly...

-At 12:50, Tom called you

and said, "I want you to research La Redoute."

-Yeah.

-It was a very specific request.

-That was my question.

-Yeah.

I can speak personally, what I contributed on that day

-in terms of what he asked me to do.

-Hold it there.

Did you research La Redoute or not?

-That is my question.

-Other than the information we were given...

-No.

-No, OK.

You specifically asked me to do market research, ask people in the venue that we were at,

-not just myself, chip in, Leon, if you will...

-Yeah.

-Yeah, Leon, chip in if you will.

-I will, I'd like to.

I spoke to them in French, I completely understood what they said, I relayed that to Leon.

-The project manager makes the decision...

-Yeah, OK, OK. Leon.

-It's more of...

-You're sitting here quietly, letting her do all the talking.

Erm, you're making it easy for me, because there's the door

and that's where you could be out very, very quickly, so you better speak up now.

OK, thank you, Lord Sugar. Melody was doing all the talking there

because she was doing all the talking in France. She was speaking French, which I cannot speak.

I illustrated a graphic, if you like, I drew a picture of a teapot with a light,

I drew a picture of a child with a rucksack, sitting on it in a car.

That was kind of my contribution.

-But you could've gone to Montmartre if you wanted to do art.

-No, no, we...

-If I may.

-Hold on, Tom, cos this is a momentous moment cos Leon is talking, so shut up.

I mean, it was quite difficult, cos I heard Melody speaking in French the entire time

-and I can't speak French.

-Yeah, I've heard that. I've got that.

-So ultimately...

-I was going to come back to you and say that the majority of these people spoke English.

-Yes. And that's something I missed straight away.

-You missed that.

-I did.

So listen, Tom, the product you chose was a teapot with a light in.

-Yep.

-And this massive retailer has a very, very big portfolio of products,

including lighting, I might add.

-There was discussions about quantity and you mentioned that they could buy as little as ten.

-Correct.

-Ten?

These people buy thousands of things. Yeah?

I was surprised when Tom decided to take himself and Natasha to the pitch

because Leon and I, if I'm not mistaken, have a better sales record than Tom and Natasha.

We were able to sell about 150 teapot lights

on the appointments that we made, and that was in small boutiques.

Melody, you wanted to pitch at all those shops where you made the appointments

so it was a little bit of a greedy one.

I do understand what you're saying, and yes, I did think, "I've worked hard to get those appointments".

-However, I gave one...

-How many did you dish out to other people?

-One.

-It was one.

-No.

-You gave us one, and in the end, Natasha sold over 1,000 Euros.

-It's a team effort.

-Absolutely.

-Jim made appointments for Venture, but he made them for everybody.

Absolutely. Absolutely. I did understand it's a team effort,

which is why I let Leon in on the sales.

-You let him?

-I know. It does feel like...

-He asked...

-I had to ask.

-And I said yes.

-Hm

OK, Tom, who are you bringing back in this boardroom with you?

Leon, cos I don't think he's made a massive contribution in this task,

and Melody, as well, cos I don't think she was asking the right kind of questions in France.

You shouldn't have given me that direction. I sold 8,000 Euros. How much did you sell, Tom?

-That is irrelevant.

-It is relevant.

-Very relevant.

-The most important thing...

-It is relevant.

-That's your decision?

-Yes.

I tell you what, you are very lucky, young lady. You are very lucky.

-Because what I've seen...

-She made one sale.

-Yeah, OK.

This is what the man said. You go back to the house.

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

The thing about Tom is, people actually like him.

-I like him.

-But Melody, she pushes too far.

I can see that about Melody. I can see it.

-She brought home the bacon, so don't let's pretend she was a failure. She wasn't.

-Yeah.

I have to say, though, other than drawing a picture of a teapot, what on earth did Leon do?

I think he's a bit dazzled by Melody on this task.

I think it's about time that both Leon and Tom actually stood up for themselves

and started being a bit more manly, if I can put it that way.

Well, I'll get them back in and I'll decide on which one of them is going to be leaving.

-PHONE RINGS

-Hello?

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

-Lord Sugar will see you now.

We've established that the rucksack that converts into a car seat

was the winning product here

-and that you, Melody, said, "No, we shouldn't go for that" from the market research.

-Yes.

From the market research, it was clear that it was a no to that.

-Actually, you weren't keen on the rucksack. You never were.

-No.

Absolutely, Nick, that's right.

Common sense was telling me, "Why would anybody want to put a car seat into a bag, anyway?"

-However...

-You got that wrong, because it was a great product.

-Yeah, absolutely.

-Do you know anything about products, Melody?

-I'm not in product development, no.

-While I'm on you,

I'm reading your resume here

and I see that you've got a tremendous amount of awards, OK?

-Volunteer Of The Year Award.

-Yes.

-Woman Of The Future Award.

-Yes.

-Outstanding Asian Woman Achievement Award.

-Yes, that's right.

-OK, good. Well, it's very nice to have all these awards.

Can you tell me what it is you do to get them?

I've been in the youth sector. Improving the lives of children and young people

-has been the bottom line of what I've been doing.

-Very credible.

-Thank you. And last year,

I set up my own business single-handedly with no capital.

-What is that business?

-It's a consultancy business, a global consultancy business

to improve mostly young people's skills so that they're able to initiate...

-Is this a for-profit business?

-Yes.

I'm thinking of the end goal of this thing, where I end up appointing one of you as my 50/50 partner.

And I don't want to set up another government.

-I want to know where the business is.

-Sure, absolutely.

-The business that I am proposing to yourself is a very profit-driven business.

-Good.

We'll get round to that if you get the chance to, maybe. Let's see if you get beyond this boardroom.

-Sure.

-Leon, all I've heard from you today is you're hiding behind this, "I don't speak French".

Let me remind you that I started my business back when I was 18 years old

and my suppliers were Japanese, Chinese and Koreans.

And I can tell you, I still don't speak any of those languages.

But I had to communicate with them in order to buy stuff off of them and get stuff made.

Yeah, that was an oversight from my end.

I took a backseat, but I don't want to say backseat because I was on the ground selling and I did sell.

And I remember you saying at the beginning, you'll be judging on merit by the books, as well,

-so in terms of who made the most sales...

-She did.

-Yep, she absolutely did.

-She kept them for herself.

-Well, yeah, she...

-No-one else was doing anything, so it looked like I was hogging it,

-but other people could make calls, Tom and Natasha made one...

-I don't care if you was hogging it

because it shows that you've got some kind of aggression about you cos you want to win.

I'm trying to show you, I know you said you're not hearing from me,

but I'm trying to show you rather than tell you. Then I look over to Tom and I think,

-"I haven't heard him sell anything".

-On this task, my biggest frustration was that

the people I asked to do certain things which were very important didn't do them.

I felt like I had one person who didn't listen, wanted to make sure her arse was completely covered.

-That's not true.

-And I had someone who didn't do anything. I don't just want to talk about this task.

I want you to understand, this is the first time I've been in the boardroom

-and it's not because I've won every task.

-No, that's for sure.

-That's for sure.

I've shown on every single task why I create value for my team.

Tom, I'm sorry, I think you're making excuses.

-You have strengths but you have weaknesses.

-Melody is brilliant at talking...

The numbers speak for themselves. This isn't just me saying it.

You went to a pitch and sold nothing. You carried on and sold nothing.

In terms of the sales, on my side, we split the ones...

No, you have no sales.

-And the ones that I went to see...

-No sales.

-I had no sales, indeed. Correct.

-Why?

-Because he can't sell.

-Natasha gave the pitch to the major retailer.

I didn't make that part of the pitch.

-When we started...

-Tom, can I ask, did you take the appointment seriously?

Because I heard you say that you flipped a coin to decide who was going to give this pitch.

-On this pitch...

-Did you flip a coin?

-We did an equivalent.

-What did you do?

-Erm, we played paper, scissors, stone to decide.

-What?

-That was the fairest way of deciding who should give the pitch.

-Natasha...

-Paper, scissors, stone? What is this? Are we in the school yard here or what?

Tom, I wanted to give you a chance, because you're alleged to have invented things and sold them

into great distribution in the past, which is right up my alley. But at the moment,

there's a great big hole in the ground that you're falling in here, really. Yeah?

-I'm one of the few people who has run their own business for the last five years.

-Tell me about it.

Get some confidence back into it. What have you done?

I've created my own product completely from an idea and brought them to market,

I've done all the patenting for that, all the branding,

I've been out to China to source the manufacturing, I've created a brand and a product,

I sold 35,000 to the first distributor in the UK. It was a first start.

You reckon you're like a mini Dyson, then, do you?

I believe that I have the potential to be far greater than Dyson and other British inventors.

All right, listen, Melody, you hijacked the process,

I think, in this particular case,

but you did a lot of selling. I like your hunger

for bulldozing your way through and taking the lion's share of the negotiation.

And if these two people allowed you to do that, then good luck to you.

I'm going to let you stay. And I've now got a dilemma as to which one of you two is going.

Leon, I don't know what you were doing on this task, to be perfectly frank.

All I've heard from you was you couldn't speak French and you left everything to Melody.

And Tom, you know, the choosing of the product was wrong.

That's what I'm disappointed with.

You should've stuck with your guns because there was only four of you in this team,

enough for you to actually say, "I don't care, I should stick to my instinct."

And for that reason, Tom,

here we are eight weeks down the road and I'm struggling,

quite frankly, to see how you can stay in this process.

Right.

Sheerly from gut instinct,

I think I've made my mind up.

Leon, you're fired.

Thank you for an amazing opportunity, Lord Sugar.

You might think I'm nuts for letting him stay in this thing.

I'm letting you stay, Tom, because you have made products, you have sold to retailers before,

but there isn't much tolerance left for going wrong, OK?

Take a leaf out of her book, cos she's a tiger.

She's fighting to win and I don't know whether you are. Back to the house, the pair of you.

She is ruthless. She'll walk over and tread over anybody.

She'll eat them up and spit them out for her breakfast. That's what I like about her.

I think she put the boys to shame today.

I am really upset that he chose me.

I really saw myself getting to the finals and actually working with Lord Sugar.

I'm everything I think he's looking for, so if he's failed to spot that, then it's his loss.

-What were his sales figures like?

-Melody sold 8,000.

She'll have saved her bacon because of so many sales.

However, Melody only organised appointments for herself.

-That's a bit cheeky, isn't it?

-Yeah.

-It's not in the team spirit at all.

-This is it.

-Hello!

-Hi.

Tom!

He said, "Melody, I see that you've done a lot of high-profile things"

and then he read out each award I won and he said, "That's commendable".

Congratulations. Eight in a row!

-You've put yourself firmly on the radar with that pitch.

-Thank you.

THEY LAUGH Madam wonderful!

'In the fight for Lord Sugar's quarter-million-pound investment,

'seven candidates remain.

'Next time...'

I want you to create a new brand of biscuit.

-'..it's crunch time.'

-Something's gone wrong and you need an emergency biscuit.

Biscuits - the new popcorn.

'But who will crumble?'

-Any time is treat time.

-They're not dogs.

I have got no other option, unless you've come up with a great idea.

-We end on a big "Mmm".

-OK, but not so cheesy.

Something fundamentally wrong here. You're fired.

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