The Final: Interviews The Apprentice

This is not about a job any more.

This is about me investing £250,000 into a business with one of you.

Heading to London, 16 potential business partners,

all keen to kick-start a company.

Don't try and hide. We're not playing "Where's Wally?" here!

I'm not looking for Lord Lucan.

I'm looking for somebody who's going to show me

that they have the got the business acumen to be my partner.

On offer, a 50/50 deal with the nation's most demanding investor.

I put you into a little piddly little business and you made a complete mess of the figures.

Willing to bankroll new business in tough times,

Lord Sugar is on the hunt for one winning partnership.

Basic business principles went right down the drain on this thing!

You should've all known better!

-Start the car!

-It's a deal worth fighting for.

-It's the same thing again!

-No!

We have an opinion and you don't like it!

-16 candidates...

-So, basically, we've invented the bin!

LAUGHTER

-..12 tough weeks...

-Where am I going?

-Bloody hell!

-..one life-changing opportunity.

You're fired! You're fired!

This is my boardroom and, by the way, this is my money.

You're fired!

Previously on The Apprentice...

Your task is to create an affordable luxury product range.

..Tom and Ricky went for male grooming.

It's going to be too fruity for a masculine product.

..while Adam's team cooked up confectionary.

Mmm! That is good!

The tasty treats were a hit.

This is very, very nice. I could gobble it all up all day!

-But at the pitches...

-Good morning, ladies and gentlemen.

..the boys nailed the numbers...

The UK's market is 862 million right now and growing.

..while Adam faltered.

Ideal for Christmas...

er, birthdays...

or just for a girly night in.

For Ricky and Tom, the sweet smell of success.

Sterling, yours was the better business proposition.

Jade fought her way into the final.

I came up with ideas and you all said, yes, yes, yes.

So if you're such leaders in business, why would not say,

-"Actually, we'll do this"?

-Nick came under fire.

I'm still at sea as to why you didn't step in and assert some authority.

But for Adam, it was the end of the road.

When you opened your mouths, you threw it all away.

He became the 12th casualty of the boardroom.

Adam, you're fired.

Thank you, Lord Sugar.

Now, four remain to fight for the chance

to become Lord Sugar's business partner.

Oh, here we go. ..Oh? >

-NICK: Hello. Look what you've done for us! Aw!

-How you doing? Congratulations.

NICK GIGGLES

I think it's all down to our business plans, us individually.

Now we are purely on our own.

-To finalists.

-To finalists!

TELEPHONE RINGS

Hello?

Yes, it's Lord Sugar here.

Oh, hi, Lord Sugar.

In the next 48 hours, I want you to familiarise yourselves

with the business plans and, er, I'll see you

-in two days' time, OK?

-OK, brilliant. Thanks very much.

48 hours to get to know our business plans.

I've almost forgotten that it's £250,000 we're going for until now.

-It's a huge, huge life-changing moment.

-It is.

Let the best - not man, woman - the best person win.

Just two days for the final four to perfect their business plans.

With the best record, winning eight tasks and losing just three,

technology entrepreneur Nick Holzherr.

I feel great about my business plan

as an idea. I think it's a fantastic concept and it'll definitely be

a business that could make millions and millions.

I think I am a very, very strong contender.

Next, with seven wins, the youngest survivor.

23, and running a fine wine investment company

with a multi-million pound turnover, Tom Gearing.

As a project manager, I've shown clear strategy, I've taken risks, I've taken responsibility,

and this is a business plan that's an extension of what I currently do

every day, so to convince people it's a good idea will be easy for me.

I'm not worried about the other candidates. Now this is really between me and Lord Sugar.

Number three, business development manager Jade.

The last woman standing.

She's fought hard to get this far, losing six tasks, but winning five.

I think it's irrelevant that I'm the last female here.

Business is business at the end of the day.

I'm motivated, I'm really happy with my business plan.

I know it will make money

and I know that's what Lord Sugar's interested in.

Fighting all the way, recruitment manager Ricky Martin,

losing five tasks and four times in the final boardroom facing failure.

I think Lord Sugar is looking for somebody who is not only

at the top of their game, but somebody who's got so much potential.

I think he'll find my business plan has something

that'll pretty much guarantee a return of his investment.

Everything that I've done in my career,

in fact, my life to date, is resting on this final.

Today, last chance for the candidates to prove

they're the best to invest in.

I think it's always daunting getting the scrutiny of the business plan,

but I've got to put forward the best impression of myself as I can.

I think today's going to be extremely testing.

I'll be honest and say I am feeling a bit nervous. Nerves will get the best out of me.

Armed with their business plans, it's off to the City.

Millions of pounds there.

New Broad Street House.

Meeting place for the big guns in British business.

-Good morning.

-ALL: Good morning, Lord Sugar.

We're here today in the Institute of Directors.

One of you will end up being a director

in a company that I'm going to invest £250,000 in.

So, today is all about convincing me on your business ideas.

I know the area of business that you all want to go into,

but your competition doesn't.

So now, I want you to pitch to me your ideas in simple terms.

What is your business idea, Nick?

It's an online platform that will revolutionise the online grocery market.

It allows anybody to purchase ingredients for any recipe with a single click.

My online brain at the moment is ticking over already,

so I'll be interested to hear how that's going to work.

-And Tom?

-My idea is a hedge fund that allows people

to make use of fine wine as an asset class.

-Hedge fund for wines?

-Yeah, pretty much. Collective investment.

-Jade?

-Mine is to open the UK's

largest telemarketing call centre, where consumers will be

contacted, sold on as leads at a premium rate to the service provider.

-Does that exist already?

-There are some existing, but not of this volume and size.

Right.

And finally, Ricky.

I'm proposing an ethical and niche recruitment organisation

looking at areas of therapeutics, new and existing drugs on the market.

-I'm looking at consumer products, which focus...

-I beg your pardon?

-Say that again.

-An ethical and professional recruitment organisation.

I'm looking at sustainability, making sure that people's usage of the environment is reduced.

Sorry to disappoint you,

but I haven't understood a word that you've said.

-Recruitment is all about finding personnel to work for companies.

-It is.

So just cut the crap and tell me,

is it a recruitment agency for technical people?

-Yes, Lord Sugar.

-OK, that's good. That's good.

-Sorry.

Now, you're going to meet four colleagues of mine.

They will be studying your business plan

and talking to you in great detail.

And tomorrow, they're going to feed that information back to me

and, based on that information, I will be deciding which one of you

will be my business partner.

Hand over your business plans to Nick and Karren

and I'll see you tomorrow in the boardroom, OK? Off you go.

This is it, last chance. Just got to stay focused, haven't we?

HE SIGHS LOUDLY

It's huge, this. They've never met us before.

-You don't have that long to make that impression.

-No!

No pressure to any of us(!)

I want this money. I want this investment.

Personal details checked.

Business plans analysed.

Career backgrounds scrutinised.

Time to face four of Lord Sugar's toughest task masters.

-DOOR OPENS > Hi.

-How are you, Tom?

-Take a seat.

-Thank you.

Award-winning Mike Soutar, pioneer of Britain's free magazine industry.

His job today - seek out the skills to run a cutting-edge company.

-So, these are pretty serious interviews, aren't they?

-Very.

-There's a huge amount at stake, isn't there?

-Yeah, that's true.

-Would you say that you were an experienced interviewee?

-No.

I've never had an interview before, er, so this is

-my first day of...

-You've never had a job interview?

-No, I haven't.

Sharing Lord Sugar's passion for backing new business,

no-nonsense Margaret Mountford.

-Margaret, nice to meet you.

-Nice to meet you. Take a seat.

She's here to spot a candidate's strengths and weed out weaknesses.

Let's have a look at your CV,

because intelligence is one of the characteristics

on which you pride yourself, I think.

"My intelligence makes my thinking better, my decisions wiser.

"My intelligence makes people more receptive

"to the communication of my ideas."

-I think that is true.

-Modesty becomes SOME people.

Former Young Entrepreneur Of The Year, Matthew Riley.

-Nice to meet you.

-Take a seat.

-Thank you.

Having built a telecoms company worth 350 million,

he knows what it takes to get to the top.

-So, if you imagine there's £250,000 sat behind me.

-OK.

That's Lord Sugar's money and his reputation. My job is to make sure

he goes into business with someone who'll be successful,

-hence why I thought I'd say I opened your application.

-Yes.

There were just so many things in there that basically made me want to be sick.

Finally, Lord Sugar's former global trouble-shooter, Claude Littner.

-Take a seat.

-King of the killer question

and here to find pitfalls in potential partners' plans.

I have got to say that, um, I'm pretty underwhelmed

by both your CV and your business plan.

Frankly, er, it's a pretty grubby little business you're proposing.

-A grubby business?

-Well, it is, really, isn't it?

-Explain the business to me, then.

-The call centre will phone people with a very easy script.

So it's a high-volume business where you can make a lot of money

if you're putting premiums on just passing over a lead.

The large sectors that want these qualified leads

are in solar panels, mobile phones and also in debt.

But you're trying to sort of capture people who,

um, really don't want to hear from you.

In the evening, when I'm at home, I don't want cold calls

telling me about the fact I can save on my energy bill.

You've got people who perhaps have fallen into debt

and you're going to get leads, try and sell those leads on, um, it's...

It's a bit...unsavoury.

-How do you reckon Jade's will be on a scale of one to ten?

-Two.

-Three.

Two, three! RICKY LAUGHS

LAUGHTER

Looking at some of the numbers here,

you haven't provided in your business plan a cash flow.

That's pretty important. There's not a balance sheet here either.

-That's quite useful.

-Unfortunately, what's included is included.

What it shows is that you haven't really got a proper business plan. It's a fact. It's a fact.

-The other thing that I'm perplexed about...

-Yeah?

-..is that, um...

month one, you're showing a particular turnover.

-Yeah.

-That's lovely. The trouble is that you have got no costs.

-What I've done...

-You've got no costs.

How do you produce...? I'd like to know, cos this is a real money-winner! Zero overheads!

-You haven't got a telephone!

-Yeah.

The overheads have been paid for, there obviously are overheads there.

But that's... That is part of the £250,000 investment.

Oh, look, honestly, that's absurd! I've never seen anything like that.

-It's not the way to do it.

-OK.

-It isn't.

-250,000 will pay for all data, all employment, all salaries...

-How much have you got left?

-Nothing. It's £259,000.

-No, no, no!

In six months, you've blown it?! You've blown it in six months?

-RICKY: She's out.

-How did it go?

I got absolutely slaughtered!

I'd quite like a drink.

Well, here you are now in the final four, um...

classifying yourself as Thor in the Nordic Pantheon.

-Is that right?

-I did, yes.

-Um...

"Lord Sugar is already a business god, but call me Thor -

"I am the next generation who, with the backing of the Godfather of business,

-"I will take over his empire."

-It's an extremely bold statement

and the point I was trying to put across is, first of all,

to differentiate myself to other people applying in this process.

They're not all gods, you mean?

No, they're not, but what I was trying to say is that

I think Thor's somebody who is, er,

a descendant of God, descended from the heavens.

My point I was trying to put across is I'm somebody who can bring a new dimension to the marketplace.

You're a reincarnation of Lord Sugar, are you?

Not a direct reincarnation, but the elements of his career I think I've replicated.

When I read this business plan - and I read it a few times...

-Yeah.

-..it looked to me like an academic exercise.

A very good piece of work you do for an MBA or something like that.

-OK.

-It didn't look like it was a really good

piece of work for really starting a business.

-So tell me in plain English...

-Sure.

-..what the point of the business is.

Any recipe on the internet or on television, or in a recipe book,

my system would automatically allow you to purchase

all the ingredients for that recipe with a single click.

So, when you click, it would say, "Would you like to buy it from supermarket A, B or C?"

Give you all the prices for the cumulative sum of all the different ingredients in there.

It knows what combinations you buy from different websites,

so you add five different recipes from five different websites to the same shopping basket.

-It shows you best price combination of ingredients.

-Do I care?

I don't think anyone's going to be bothered.

Life is too short. Life is too short.

-I do think Nick might have a bit of an uphill struggle with his business plan.

-Quite big.

-Quite ambitious, yeah.

-Complicated.

-A big challenge.

Nick needs to be careful he's not patronising, careful he's...

-Listening.

-..exploring what they say to him.

It's not an essential. It's an irrelevance. It's irrelevant!

-I think you're not the target market.

-No, I'm not.

-The target market would say it is a useful tool.

-I wonder about that.

I struggle. I struggle to know whether that's the case.

This could become one of the big global players, I do believe that.

-It's not worth the effort.

-That's not a fair comment, I don't think.

Every household in the UK would want to use this system.

-Not just the UK, but internationally.

-Not every household.

It's a Google or a Facebook, it's got potential to be.

Dream on.

RICKY LAUGHS He looks like he's been dragged through a hedge.

He pulled you through a hedge backwards?

It's like being under fire.

It's like being in a war zone.

I've a glowing employment reference here.

-I'm going to read it to you.

-OK.

-It says, "What is very evident

"is Tom's natural ability to focus on the challenge

"and develop an approach which delivers results."

It goes on. "I do firmly believe you have

"an excellent apprentice who truly has the skill sets to deliver."

-That's pretty good stuff, isn't it?

-Yeah, I'm happy about that.

-Who do you think said that?

-Um...I'm not sure.

I'm not sure at all.

-Actually, it was your father.

-Oh, OK, yeah.

Your father is an investment banker and the wine company that you run

is also owned by your father as well as yourself.

So, how much of your business plan did your father write?

Er, he didn't write any of it.

-None of it at all?

-No.

-OK.

So it would be unfair to characterise you as a daddy's boy?

I feel so, yeah.

In this new business, you're selling wine as an investment for people

-who won't actually ever drink it.

-Yeah, yeah.

It's a very sophisticated business plan.

-I've never written anything as sophisticated as this.

-Really? It's actually all my work.

The investment strategy is what I currently use within my business.

We have 300 product clients in 21 different countries

and my father only joined the company after

we'd already posted revenues of 1.25 million.

Tonight, I'm want to make shepherd's pie, so I go onto your website,

I see the recipe, I don't care where I get the ingredients from. I just want to buy them.

In reality, Joe Bloggs likes to go to maybe a celebrity chef website,

-get one recipe from there...

-Yeah.

-..get another

-from another website, another one from website C.

-Who does that?

-You do purchase four or five recipes at once.

-Who does?

-If you look at young families,

-there are many...

-Who has time to plan out what they're going to eat?

Monday's lasagne, Tues... Who does that?

-Lots of families do that.

-Are there?

-Yes.

-I just don't see it.

They're busy, they've got two kids or something.

They want to come in, make a quick meal, get the kids bathed and to bed.

I agree it's a complex business model, but 52% of people

use online recipes, so there is a big market for it.

So your previous business partner,

we spoke to him and he said your big sort of downfall is focus.

-Did he say that?

-Yeah.

I think the key is not focus, it's about success in a business.

-If it...

-I disagree with you. It's always about focus. It's always about the detail.

I'm 100% aware that focus is something that

I need to fo... you know, focus on!

Your real name is Richard Martin.

-It is Richard, yes.

-But you call yourself Ricky Martin.

-I do, yes.

The same as the famous Latino pop star.

Why is that? Do you really like his music?

To be brutally honest, using the name Ricky Martin worked

exceptionally well in sales, people remember the name.

I'm trying to use any ability I can to get people to remember me.

You've also got other names as well. You've got Ricky Hype.

-I have.

-The Superstar Ricky Hype. The Fitness Ricky Hype.

-Why?

-Outside of business, I've got a hobby,

which is professional wrestling.

That's the character I portray in wrestling.

It all sounds a bit more show business than real business.

-Yeah.

-Do you think people take you less seriously in business

because they can't stop imagining you in a pair of Lycra pants?

You say one of the most interesting thing about you is your upbringing.

It wasn't conventional.

Being half-Swiss, I was brought up very focused on outdoor activities.

Building camps in the forest, woodworking, sewing.

So, I didn't have a TV.

So, as soon as you got a computer at 16, you became obsessed with it?

Yeah, I think not having had it made me want it more.

And when I did get one, I did spend a lot of time with it.

So, one could say obsessed - I did turn into a bit of a geek.

Probably still am a bit of a geek now.

In your application form,

you say that you're an incredible businesswoman.

Did you do any business studies at all at university or college?

When I was at university, I did graphic design,

but we did business practice within that.

But it wasn't business plan writing, it was more just dealing with

the business side when designing for people.

-Are you sure about that?

-Well, we did some business modules.

-Nothing else to tell me?

-No.

You didn't do a business A-level and get an N? For business?

-Oh, my business...!

-Oh! THAT little bit of information!

-You know what?

-For some reason, that's been taken out of my mind for now.

-Seriously?!

I was known as a BNOC - big name on campus - at university.

What's that about?

I was just trying to say that whatever area that I'm in,

I obviously try and make myself well known.

-I wondered if you were sure that N stood for name?

-HE LAUGHS

Yeah.

I'd like to examine in great detail some of the points

-you make in your business plan. You want to launch a fund...

-Yeah.

..and raise £25 million to invest in the wine industry.

£25 million is a hell of a sum to raise with a company that is

untested with a young guy who hasn't really got a long track record.

-It's a big leap, I know.

-That's my problem.

It's my chance to take what I have now and grow it. I can do it.

I've proved it over the last two years.

Why deal with you as opposed to dealing with someone more

established, who perhaps I've dealt with for 20 years?

The reason I want to do this is because I've had demand for it,

I've had people read our articles and go, do you know what?

-I want to come to you guys.

-It would appear that at the tender age of...

-How old are you?

-23.

..23. You claim on your personal statement,

I am entirely well-rounded.

-I've learned a lot of business skills...

-You may well have done,

but that doesn't mean to say you are entirely well-rounded.

I'm self-assured, confident in my abilities,

and hopefully I can take that further in life.

The problem is, you haven't got enough experience and you're 23.

-Can you raise the money? I say you can't.

-Yeah...

So, the business concept falls apart before you even start, because I don't think you can raise the money.

-I think I can sell it, I honestly do.

-I honestly think you can't.

-OK.

-You can't, because £25 million, that's a fortune.

He's out.

-God, you were in there for ages, mate.

-Was I?

-Yeah. How did it go?

-Erm... Stressful.

-Really?

-Mmm. Tough, it was tough.

It's tough.

-Out of ten?

-Two.

-Really?

-Mmm.

-You look destroyed!

I've no doubt you can do the recruitment you do every day.

I don't get whether you've got the business skills to start a business.

How will you react when the clients haven't come,

you've employed three people and they're useless and it's all going

-wrong and you've got Lord Sugar literally all over you like a Rottweiler?

-Yeah.

For me, I'm not somebody who buckles under pressure.

The entire process so far has shown that, and I do appreciate that.

You can't at the end of week say, sorry, Lord Sugar, I didn't hit my targets.

I've got the backing behind me both academically... My degree's in medical biochemistry,

my five years in recruitment is in science.

It's a great story so I can launch that company and say, this is my background.

-This what I've done. You say there's a brick wall there.

-Yep.

-As cliched as it sounds,

I feel I'll be the sledgehammer to go through it. I'm going to get to that money,

and make a success of this and I won't stop until I do that.

Explain to me your proposed business.

My proposed business will grow to be the UK's largest telemarketing

call centre and it will have a few sectors that it focuses on.

One of them will be debt help, one will be mobile phones

and one will be energy suppliers.

In your business plan, you list four different website addresses

-that you will use to gather data from.

-Yeah.

-These are valuable assets, then.

-Yeah.

These are important things. But are these websites that you...?

-I have purchased them.

-You've purchased them all.

-Yes, the websites are purchased.

-So, chooseenergysupplier.co.uk.

Just to take that one, for example. You don't own that website.

-I've checked.

-I do own four in that...out of those.

-Chooseenergysupplier.co.uk, I own.

-You own it?

-I bought it.

-I might have to buy it off you.

-OK.

The good news is, I'm an entrepreneur. Make me an offer.

Ooh!

This quarter of a million pounds, I can see it on that table.

I don't want one of you three to get it. I want that to be mine.

Am I going to get a quarter of a million pounds injected into my business?

Yes. So, I'm going to go in there fighting.

I just hope he gets as good a grilling as I did.

I'll be happy then.

Good morning.

Well, Ricky, I've been looking forward to this encounter,

because you present something of an enigma to me.

-OK.

-Let's start with your personal statement.

-OK.

Which, frankly, is probably the most crass, obnoxious,

infantile personal statement that I've had the...

Not really a pleasure - I've had the opportunity of reading.

Quite clearly,

some of the statements you've made are completely ludicrous.

-Perhaps you would like to comment on them.

-No problem at all.

You're the best business partner on the planet...

You stick by that, do you?

I think I'm an exceptionally good business partner.

-I think I'm a good potential for the future.

-Hang on a second.

The best business partner on the PLANET, OK?

How do you think Ricky's getting on?

He'll be getting an absolute battering.

You talk about your possible future business partner

and you say that you will teach an old dog new tricks.

Now, I don't really think that's the way you should be speaking about

a business partner and certainly not somebody like Lord Sugar.

And I completely agree. It's an immature statement to make

and one which I regret putting in there.

The problem is that you're an arrogant fool.

However, I read your business plan and I was quite impressed.

-Thank you.

-It was interesting, I think it was well written

and you've done very well in your career.

So, I find it a bit puzzling as to why you chose to just write

such rubbish, such nonsense in your personal statement.

When I turned up to this process, I had a lot of bravado about me.

I was happy to say these bold statements to get noticed and get myself heard,

and I'll be honest to say that throughout this process,

I've realised a lot about myself and I'm a very different person now.

Let's move on from this. The economy is not in great shape at the moment.

-It's not.

-And therefore, to me, it would seem that this is not

-a great time to start this kind of business.

-I disagree with you entirely.

Looking at all the research I put within the business plan,

the economy is showing that recruitment

is picking up substantially. On the permanent side,

the confidence in recruitment is growing.

In the private sector, over the next year, 94% of businesses will either maintain head count or increase.

The areas which I'm looking at to start with are areas where the economy isn't affected as much.

-I do believe there's a big market still there.

-OK, that sounds plausible to me.

If Lord Sugar invested £250,000 today,

what kind of return would he get at the end of year five?

Year five, we're looking at £145 million return.

So, you're saying that he would make £145 million?

It's very difficult to put an actual figure on how

we will be performing in three to five years.

But my job is to try and figure out how realistic those projections are.

So, you're saying £145 million. That's a decent return.

-Have you any qualifications in...?

-No, I don't have any qualifications.

-What experience have you got in hedge funds?

-None in hedge funds.

-But you're saying to me you're going to go and be a hedge fund.

-Yes.

-So, would you class yourself as a gambling man?

-I do take a risk from time to time.

The plan sounds like a pretty big risk to me.

Rather than thinking we'll start small and grow gradually,

you're going, bang, £25 million.

-Yeah.

-The risk profile on this business is huge.

In term of risk, this is an investment hedge fund, so there's

going to be some degree of risk, but what better reputation to have

Lord Sugar as one of the 50% stakeholders in the hedge fund manager?

I don't think anyone would question whether I could do it, if Lord Sugar backs me.

You haven't stuck at any job for very long, have you?

In not a short space of time, you've had six jobs?

Well, at the end of the day, it is, for me,

about getting experience and earning more money.

My business plan is about what I do and the contacts that I have.

You're right to plan based on something you know about.

So, I think being successful in business is about people with

common sense, people getting on with people and relationship building,

and all of that has taken me to the end of the process.

It is a very simple business model.

It's finding new people for new jobs.

If I start in one area and excel, start niche,

and this business can think big and we start going throughout the UK, throughout Europe.

That's where I think Lord Sugar can show me how to do that.

I've got to say that you actually come across as somebody who's

thought very hard about the business that you want to pursue.

So, I've created a prototype and I've integrated it into publishers, into supermarkets.

So, I've tested the model there. I now want to scale it and I need money to make it work for millions.

If I get this quarter of a million pounds investment, I can do it.

I have managed to build up the strategic links,

I have the expertise and I won't let anyone down.

-I haven't let anyone down in my life and I won't start doing it now.

-Thank you.

-OK, thanks. Cheers.

I felt quite emotional at the end of that one.

-Because it was like putting everything out there.

-Yeah.

I was almost across the table, like, please believe in me, sort of thing.

-That's all our interviews done, guys.

-All done.

-That's it.

There's no affecting it now.

I think I've got a good chance, but I don't think it's definite at all.

I don't care if some people bring out a few bad points.

Nobody's perfect. Much as I'd have said 11 weeks ago,

I'm the perfect person, whatever, nobody's perfect.

Getting this investment would be life changing.

I do have a 100% unique business plan.

It is something new, something different.

But if it works, it could be huge.

I think I'm in pole position at the moment.

Everyone who's left knows they have to be on the top of their game.

But am I being too ambitious and a bit too risky?

If Lord Sugar can look past that then I've got a very good chance of being his business partner.

I'm adamant that I am a strong enough candidate to be here in

the final and I know that the business I'm putting forward will make money.

I've always felt destined to set up my own business,

so there's no way that I'm going to be a shrinking violet.

I'm going to fight.

Well, good afternoon and welcome back to the boardroom again.

You're here to find me the right partner,

and the thing is, I'm a pensioner now and I don't want too much

hard work, I don't want to be in there, in the trenches.

So, with that in mind, Margaret, where shall we start?

OK. Start with Jade.

Basically, what she wants to do is set up a call centre and buy leads.

Her callers will follow up those leads and then

when somebody says, I'm interested, she will

pass them as a sort of qualified lead and get a payment for that.

My concern on that is, is this something anyone wants any more?

Do you want disturbing at home with countless phone calls?

-I certainly don't want to be disturbed at home.

-And I don't.

I thought one of the biggest flaws within the whole thing was when you look at her business plan,

you will see that she has bought four different web addresses.

What I found was, that one of the web addresses was still available for anyone to go and buy.

So I did.

HE LAUGHS You bought it, did you?

I thought perhaps she had a lesson to learn.

-Mmm.

-I got the idea she's a good salesperson,

but her business plan demonstrates that in month one, with no staff,

no office, no nothing, she's making a turnover of £80,000.

So, I said to her, how do you do it? How? We'd all like to do that.

She had no answer for it.

She is sticking to a business she knows a lot about

and one she's been successful in.

I asked her about why she had so many jobs in a relatively

short space of time and she showed, quite rightly, that each time

she was promoted and then she'd moved on to higher things.

She's relying on her ability to be persuasive face to face,

but when she's running a business, she'll not be doing any selling face to face.

-Claude, talk to me about Ricky?

-I'd love to talk to you about Ricky,

because his personal statement and application form is just

so ludicrous and not very respectful to yourself.

For example, apart from taking over your empire very shortly, he's also

going to teach an old dog - which I presume he means you - new tricks.

-Really? Woof, woof!

-That wasn't great.

He likened himself to the god Thor. He calls you the Godfather.

Is it now in this modern day and age -

we might learn something here, Claude - that one has to come

out with a load of waffle, rather than getting to the point?

Is it necessary in this day and age, or what?

In order for people to think they're going to pitch something credibly,

they think that they have to fill it

full of big words, and the irony is that his business plan is

probably the most simple and straightforward of everybody's.

Right! Simple, straightforward - that's what I'm looking for.

It's a recruitment business in a niche sector in which

he is really passionate about.

Before I met him, I spent a sleepless night with

excitement at how I was going to rip him apart.

However, in truth, I'm mesmerised by the guy.

I believe the real man is the one who has put forward a very good,

sensible business plan and it's very much akin to what he's been doing.

-He's the one that has changed the most through the process.

-Yeah.

I worry that he has a streak in his character that when he's

in a business situation, he is going to come out with something silly.

-Shall we move on? Let's talk about Nick.

-He is an entrepreneur.

Straight from university, he's set up three businesses.

He's obsessed with this idea that he's had this unconventional

-background, no television, outdoors a lot.

-Where was he living, a nunnery, then?!

-I think he lived in Switzerland.

-Is he a monk?!

This is a guy who's very bright,

but his business plan looks like an MBA project.

I don't know how clever it is, how worthwhile it is.

His idea is an automated website that if you put your recipe in,

it will place the order online at a supermarket, is that right?

-That's right.

-He's aiming at people who watch a cookery programme

on television, will go straight to the internet to download the recipe.

You've seen these social networking sites and things like that,

which, some of them are valued at billions.

Recipes doesn't kind of ring the bells of the NASDAQ people.

I asked him how much you would make if you invested £250,000.

He said after five years, we'd sell the company

and Lord Sugar would have £145 million.

Is that all? Oh, dear. Waste of time, isn't it, really(?)

-Yeah, it's a bit optimistic, isn't it?

-I think so.

The one thing I would say is that whenever a task is

centred around an internet site, he has excelled at that.

Yes. So, anyway, Mike, what about Tom?

Tom wants to start a fine wine investment fund.

So, big risk, but potentially very big returns.

-Does he like the prospect of being a bit of a gambler?

-I think so.

I think he's a real risk-taker. He's got a business at the moment that he started from scratch

and he's been very successful. He has lived quite a charmed existence, I'd say.

Can't be that charmed, he's a West Ham supporter!

THEY LAUGH

-How many millions does he want?

-25 million.

-And he's 23 years old?

-Yep.

He's only 23 years old, only got two years experience in this business.

-That's not a lot.

-I think it's very unfair that you say 23.

At 23, I was running a football club.

There are some very strong individuals who are young

that understand the business and can make a success.

-OK, I got it.

-Alan, you were one of them.

When you were young, you went from hi-fi, into computers, into satellite, into football.

-All risks.

-Yes. But it was all a risk of my money.

It's interesting, because when I read the business plan,

which is one of best written business plans I've ever read...

-Really?

-He was very convincing.

It has got the potential for earning a lot of money,

becoming a very big business.

But my point would be that this guy needs to

kind of tone down his ambition somewhat.

Well, as ever, that's been very interesting.

I have got to speak to these people shortly

and I'm going decide which one of them will be my business partner.

So, thanks a lot for all the input you gave me.

Thank you.

PHONE RINGS

-Can you send the four candidates in, please?

-Yes, Lord Sugar.

-Thank you.

-You can go through to the boardroom now.

Well, you had a busy day yesterday with my four advisors

and I've had a chat with them and they've given me quite a lot of insight.

Now, Jade,

this is a call centre with the sole purpose of raising leads.

There's a lot of money to be made within that sector,

if you buy the right data and sell them to the right people.

There's me with the old Lord Sugar hat on. I'm in a business which phones people up

at eight o'clock in the morning and annoys them...

-10:00.

-..and phones them on Sunday afternoon

while they're relaxing and annoys them even more,

and I'm sitting here like a dartboard, you know?

I'm thinking, yes, this is great headlines for our newspaper.

-You tell me why it's nothing to do with that.

-OK.

People have to actually tick a box to say, I will hear from third parties.

I'm legally allowed to phone it, because I'm the third party.

So, it is regulated and you can make a lot of money from it,

-and it's very simple.

-Good, that's what it says in the rule book.

I want to hear about how you go about doing it.

I know what data will work to get the highest conversion rates

when people phone it. I've worked in a call centre environment

-and I'm good at motivating.

-I don't think anyone would doubt,

having worked with you on task, that you've got plenty of enthusiasm.

But one of the things that we heard from Lord Sugar's advisors was that the business plan just fell apart.

You run out of money after six months.

Within six months' time, but within three months,

money would start coming in. It's not glamorous,

-but it does make a lot of money.

-All right, I'll move on a little.

Tom, you are proposing to put my name, my association,

and to go and ask external investors to invest up to £25 million in wine.

How are you going to convince me that's the way it should be done?

What I currently do, there's a saturation point,

and I think we're very close to that point.

-Your existing business is trading in wines.

-That's correct.

Over the last two years, I have been approached by people who want to

include fine wine investment within a self-investment pension plan.

-I've been in the property business for a few years.

-Yeah.

And I've had every fly boy on the planet come along to me

saying, I'm going to start a fund up and I want to use

your name in the fund. And suddenly, instinct said to me, no. Not really.

But fine wine is different to that.

It's all about the investment strategy, sourcing the wine, choosing the right vintages.

-But like everything in life, there's no guarantee.

-Of course.

At the moment, the Far East market is rampant.

All it just needs is one day for some analyst to stand up

and say, the Chinese are sick of wine now,

and bang goes your Chateau Monchamp, or whatever it is,

goes flying down from 200 quid a bottle, down to 50 quid

-and then you're stuck with it.

-But fine wine is a luxury good and all those companies

are expanding into Asia, and they wouldn't be doing that unless

they felt this market was robust enough in that region.

-You've got a wine business at the moment which is making a bit of money.

-Yeah.

Don't you think your business plan is trying to run before you can walk?

I would make big claims if I didn't think I could fulfil them and I wouldn't come here

-unless I've had previous enquiries that I've had to turn down.

-OK. Ricky.

Now, I understand that you're going to teach an old dog some new tricks.

I'm the old dog here, yeah? I'll get on my hind legs and listen.

You say, "Lord Sugar is getting to the later stage in his career,

"where he's going to start thinking about succession planning."

Have I got to let my kids know about your new dadda coming, or what?

If I'm very honest with you, Lord Sugar, what I've learned in

11 weeks, in business, it's actions that speak volumes, not your mouth.

-I should shut my trap a lot more.

-I had comments from people saying,

can we separate the showman from the real business man? But the one good thing going for you,

when I've cut through all your waffle, is that you want to start a recruitment agency in what

-I would call a niche market that specialises in scientific industry.

-Yes, the market is huge.

The pharmaceutical and biotechnology, and every other scientific industry in the UK,

is much larger than what I deal with now. So, I'm looking at other organisations who know me

-from my reputation, but don't deal with me...

-They know you for you reputation already?

-Yes, I've placed a number...

-You're an icon in the pharmaceutical industry?

I've placed several hundred people into professional jobs across the UK.

I've got a large list of recommendations, testaments,

based upon the experience they've had with me.

You've gone to a lot of detail in this business model.

I hope you're going to invite me along to

the fourth year's Christmas party. You've got funds in there allocated

for how much you're spending at the Christmas party.

-Yeah!

-Very forward thinking.

-But I wanted it to be as detailed as possible.

-Good.

So, Nick, this business model of yours,

which is effectively some kind of system of translating

your menus into your purchasing list at an online grocer.

-Exactly.

-That is an enormous software task,

and I think I asked myself this - why?

The amount of work and effort that's going to be involved in it.

-Where am I missing the point?

-I'm seeing two questions.

First, it achievable? And second, is it useful if you do achieve it?

It's achievable, I get that. But so's sending the man to the moon.

What are we going to get out of it at the end?

People currently go shopping for ingredients,

but what they're looking for is recipes.

-How do you know that?

-It's what I do, it's what lot of friends do.

-It's what I understood people do.

-But who could be bothered with it?

I'm thinking about, darling, get me a spaghetti carbonara tonight.

Get my programme out here and I'll go into that and order this,

and it will go off like that. It's four quid of purchasing

and this is like a trillion man-hours of software writing.

By the time I've typed it all in there, I could've gone out

to the local restaurant and picked it up myself.

My only defence for that is that I have got a fully working prototype.

I have got real publishers who have integrated this button, and it does

work on their websites and it really could become a very big player.

Nick, why should I favour you over these other people?

I think with the business plan, mine is a genuinely new idea.

Comparing it to everyone else, I don't think the ideas are that innovative.

They're ordinary businesses that will make money, but probably not a huge amount.

-Rick, you've got a smile on your face.

-I've got a smile on my face

because you think ours are quite ordinary. But your business plan might be innovative,

but you haven't got experience in that industry.

I have been running a software company for 18, 24 months, and that

is essentially what I'm proposing here, is a software business.

What happens when another great idea pops in your head

-and you haven't made any more money?

-So, Ricky, why should I choose you?

You should choose me as your business partner,

because I have extensive experience in exactly what I do.

I think I've taken the most out of yourself, Nick and Karren.

When you've told things to happen, I've made them happen.

I don't want someone who's just a bit of a yes man.

I'm going to be running this business, Lord Sugar.

I don't think you need to tell me what to do.

Four business plans and I do see

some light at the end of the tunnel in all four of them, to be frank.

I think I've got to kind of make some decisions now, really.

Tom, I've got this worrying concern that

someone of my position in society, so to speak,

cannot afford to be involved in something that goes wrong.

It's not as if everything I've done has gone right in my life.

It hasn't. Trust me, I've made lots and lots of mistakes.

But this could be a calamity with my name associated to it.

-Do you understand what I mean?

-Yes.

And Nick, you know,

I remember on one occasion that the team was asked, we need to

take someone over to the team, and they all chose you straightaway.

So, you've clearly got something there.

You've clearly got something there.

But I've just got to think about the viability of this business model of yours.

Ricky. Ricky Ratchet Jaws.

-At the end of the day, your business plan is a recruitment agency.

-It is.

You've worked for someone for a long time in the field,

you're an expert in the field. I can understand how yours can work.

Jade, I reckon you are a great sales lady.

I think I would be a good manager and motivator as well. To a tee.

-I like your enthusiasm and all that stuff.

-Thank you.

But I'm not sure whether I want to put my name to something

where perhaps I would be looked as disturbing people at home, really.

So, I'm not going to mess around here, Jade.

-I don't think that you are my business partner, to be honest.

-OK.

I have enjoyed your presence here.

-Don't give up the dream of having your own business.

-I won't.

On this occasion, I've got to say to you with regret...

..Jade, you're fired.

Thank you very much. OK. Good luck, guys.

It's a tough one, because I've got three very bright fellas here.

I think, on balance, Tom...

£25 million.

I might like to think about throttling back on your ambition.

Yep.

Ricky, I've always got this underlying worry about this

madness where you came into this process, telling me

how great you was, going to teach the old dog new tricks and all that.

You say you've learned to stop bigging yourself up.

I wonder whether you have.

I think, Nick, you're obviously a very intelligent fella.

But I told you a long time ago

when you came into this process that I ain't going to do any work here.

Yep.

And I can already feel myself getting dragged into this thing

in the sense of the enormity of this task.

What I don't really understand is where the money is, to be honest.

I ain't got it here on menus and recipes.

And for that reason, Nick, I'm going to say on this occasion that...

-..you're fired.

-Thanks for the experience.

Good luck, guys.

Well, that just leaves me with you two. Big headache here.

Big, big headache.

I could do with some of your wine, maybe, to relax.

I'd like you to step outside.

I'm going to have a final chat with Nick and Karren.

And when you come back in here,

I'm going to decide which one of you is going to be my business partner.

-Off you go.

-Thank you.

-Thank you.

These two guys actually want to be in the business that they've been in, which is very credible.

Tom's business, you're quite right, is a risky business.

If you just throttled him back on his first year ambitions,

I think his business would be electrically exciting.

Fast-moving, tremendous returns to be made.

But I have never done business with other people's money.

That is the problem.

Do you really want a pedestrian recruitment business?

Or do you want one last final hurrah?

Ricky has great credibility in the field, he's got a degree in it,

and you shouldn't rule out Ricky because he's safe.

PHONE RINGS

Lord Sugar will see you now.

Well, gentlemen, you are down to these last two.

That in itself is an amazing achievement.

I've had a chat with Nick and Karren.

I mean, Tom, it says here that in your first full year of trading

of this business of yours, you posted a turnover of £1.25 million.

-Yeah.

-Now, that's bloody good.

-Yeah.

And the thing is with this hedge fund and wine business,

-I might not mind doing it once I have a comfort feel about you.

-Yeah.

And it's not until you get down and working with somebody that

-you can say, you know what? Let's go to that next level.

-OK.

I did send out a little message to you about tailoring back your ambitions.

My target would be 25 million. But it doesn't have to be that. We can tailor that back.

If there was a proposal on the table, I'd be a fool not to listen to that.

This could be a very exciting business, this wine business, but his proposition is much simpler.

There's a man that's done it before. Already working for a firm.

All he wants to do is do what I did when I was 17 years old,

walk out of a firm that I worked for and start my own business.

-OK.

-I think that's what you want to do.

-I've always wanted my own organisation.

I have experience at one of the best places in the country,

and it's my time to set up my own and run forward a bit.

-So, when you've made your millions...

-Yes.

-..would you invest in his hedge fund?

-Not at all.

-I don't know anything about wine. It's nothing that interests me or excites me.

-Me as a person?

You as a person, I think you're fantastic. The wine industry isn't for me.

So, tell me, why should I invest with you and not him?

I'm a fantastic prospect for the future.

I'm somebody who's channelled his own career to

the point we're at, sitting opposite you now.

With me, I'm not a risk for you.

Tom, you know, do you think you're a bit of a risk-taker?

Yes, I do like to take a risk,

and if I think I'm right in something then I will back myself.

The difference between myself and Ricky is, I've been there,

I've done it in terms of setting up a company and running one,

and the risk with Ricky is that he hasn't actually been there.

He may know his field very well, but I've proven I can be successful,

it can be profitable, and I've shown I can grow my turnover year on year.

It's a very, very difficult moment for me right now.

I'll tell you where I am at.

Yours is very straightforward and I am wondering...

I'm not getting any younger, I suppose,

and I'm here to give a bit of help to somebody.

From time to time. A bit of guidance.

Yours is the simpler business.

He's known me a long time and he knows I've got

a bit of a devil in me about wanting to have a little gamble here

and there, go into something which I haven't done before.

His business, it offers that kind of bit of devilment, this wine thing.

A bit of safety over here, and there's a bit of devilment

over there, and that's really where I'm stuck at the moment.

Because, to be honest with you,

you're both credible people to invest the money in.

So, is it the devil or is it the safety?

I've got to make a decision.

And I should keep to my ethos of keeping it simple,

keeping it straightforward and so, Ricky,

you're going to be my business partner.

Ricky, you're hired.

-Fantastic, thank you very much. Thank you.

-Well done.

Thanks a lot.

Knowing that I've won this process,

I can't formulate or articulate the words to say what it means.

It's the recognition that everything that I've done has been worthwhile and it's important for me

that people see that there's more to me than first meets the eye.

Lord Sugar and I will be a powerful force to reckon with.

16 candidates, one winner.

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

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