Some are ambitious.
All I've ever been interested in
is having as much money and as much power as I can.
Some kick ass.
I'm an ex-world karate champion and I'm really not afraid of a fight.
- Some... - I'm an emperor.
- ..are royal? - A country's not enough, a continent is not enough.
I'm after the world.
And some...
The sheer energy I'm going to bring
is going to mimic that of a nuclear explosion.
..are a bit loopy.
11 weeks ago,
18 cannon fodder faces began an arduous quest.
The prize? £250,000.
Yes!
And a partnership with a business giant.
I'm not here to make any friends, I'm here to find a business partner.
That's all I'm interested in.
But to win...
- Right, run, come on. - ..they faced challenge after challenge.
- SMASHING - Oh, my God!
And bruising boardroom bashings.
You're coming across a bit thick.
I feel so angry.
- Whoa! - It's frustrating because... - Wait, wait.
That's a massive, landslide victory.
All the while, trying to resist the urge to throttle...
I stood back and watched and just watched what was going on.
- ..scream... - Please, for the love of God, stop talking.
Eee, eee, eee!
- ..or get drunk. - I, I keep forgetting,
I don't want, I want... but I...buh-buh...
Failed.
I'm investing a lot of money and I want the right business partner -
it's as simple as that.
You are a loose cannon.
- Tonight... - You're fired.
You're fired. You're fired.
Lord Sugar explains...
Your best hope for £250,000
is to buy yourself a scratchcard.
You're fired.
Why I Fired Them.
11 weeks ago,
the candidates got their first taste of the daunting desk of disaster.
Welcome to the boardroom.
And Lord Sugar laid it on the line.
I need to see who's got a good business brain.
That's all I'm interested in.
And the winner gets a £250,000 investment.
And it will change someone's life, forever.
This is a very, very tough process,
and in order for them to get that prize,
they're going to have to put themselves through
a lot of hard work and they've got to be very, very determined.
Week One, the task was to weed out, if you like,
the jewels in the crown of a bunch of antique items
that I provided for the candidates.
They had to assess which of the antiques were worth something
and concentrate on how they could make
the most amount of money on them.
And with such a complex task ahead,
it was vital they pick a leader with the right credentials.
I've spent quite a bit of time watching Bargain Hunt.
Ding-ding, we have a winner.
First project manager, congratulations,
to project manager Paul.
On the market team...
Glassware, whiskey glass, ceramics,
come and get some deals!
Would you just get the clothes and just start putting them on that rack?
..Sofiane had a plan.
My strategy today is pricing up high.
This is worth a lot. Easily 200 quid.
His sales squad had charm.
Come and have a look, don't be afraid.
They had charisma.
There's the bell, the bell is ringing.
They had Karthik.
- Give me a hug, go on. - MUSIC: Mr Loverman by Shabba Ranks
Is it OK with you if I give her a hug?
Nice.
Their high prices...
- That's expensive. - 170. - 175. - OK.
..saw high profits.
Thank you very much. Done.
Not to mention high spirits.
I just love the sound of money!
Leading the girls...
Keeping things nice and simple, £5, £10, £20.
..Michelle laid out what can barely be described as a very loose plan.
Just get these sales through quickly.
Following orders...
Anything taken your fancy yet?
..her sub team went for rapid sales...
- 15? - We've got a deal. - Good luck. - Cheers, have a good day.
..at rock bottom prices.
Oh, all right, I'll let you do seven.
They haven't got a clue about value.
What would you give for it, then?
- 20. - Deal.
It's an absolutely abysmal performance.
- How about if we did 35? - Yeah, OK.
As soon as someone came up and said "I'll give you £1 for that,
"£2 for this, three..." They went "Yes, yes, yes, yes."
The girls' sub team simply didn't understand the task.
£8? Deal.
Across town, Michelle took pricier items for valuation.
This is from the 19th century.
Ooh, careful with that, Jessica!
Catch! This is not an antique, is it?
- Jessica... - Ooh!
Stop it!
First task, you know, part of the thing about project management
is managing the characters.
You had some very strong characters in there, Jessica for example.
I've enjoyed this, I've learned something new.
'Very excitable and all that stuff,'
and she would have to keep them under control.
After a clear steer from the expert...
Who would be our potential customer for this?
I think there are probably more dealers in the Portobello area.
..Michelle mixed up Portobello...
- Let's go to Camden. - ..with Camden.
- Let's go. - Let's go. - Yeah, we've all done it.
One of Michelle's big mistakes was
she completely ignored experts' advice.
I mean, that is a fatal error in business.
Jessica, nice to meet you.
Now in Camden...
This was valued quite highly by the experts.
- And what did they say? - 150.
No, they're looking at about 180.
..pricing confusion...
I'm thinking about £75.
..allowed a dealer to cash in.
Because they were so desperate,
he knew that they would just have to take his offer.
- Can we get 85? - As the girls...
- £80? - £80? - Meet you halfway. - All right, deal.
..cut their losses.
In the boardroom...
Well, ladies, first task, headless chickens comes to mind.
Unsurprisingly...
- Michelle. - ..Michelle was firmly in the firing line.
I am not sitting here saying that the trade team was perfect.
You didn't do anything on the trade team.
You went and got a valuation of your products,
you took no notice of it, and you sold to one sole trader.
- Yep. - 'I always have to be conscious of the fact that it is the first task,'
she did put herself forward, she was brave to do that,
but there were so many things that went wrong.
I do think that there's a lot of stuff that you are responsible for.
Michelle, you're fired.
Thank you.
So, Week Two and the teams paid a visit to the dry cleaners from hell.
MUSIC: Fashion by Lady Gaga
- Morning. - ALL: - Good morning, Lord Sugar.
Their task? Come up with an ad campaign for jeans
made from Japanese denim.
Off you go.
'Jeans, fantastic product.'
How difficult is that to promote?
I consider myself a marketing man,
so I was really looking forward to this one.
We need brand names.
- Emojeans, I love that. - Let's write that down, yeah?
I'm sorry, I'm going to kind of veto that.
Mukai took a firm grip of his boys.
I know we want to do it democratically,
but can we just go with that?
And showed them who wears the trousers.
The brand name I think we'll go for, Day After Yesterday.
Which is, ie, today.
Meanwhile, Jessica not only wasn't wearing the trousers...
Hello! One issue is, we can't find the jeans.
What do you mean, you can't find the jeans?
- TEARFULLY: - I'm sorry, I'm so sorry.
Jessica, go outside, go and take a breath, calm yourself down.
- LORD SUGAR: - 'I mean, the girls were chaotic.'
They're supposed to be doing a photo shoot with the jeans on,
and what was missing? The jeans!
Trousers retrieved, the girls got to work on their ad.
So, Grainne, do you want to start with make-up for the models?
Everyone had a job to do.
Aleksandra, help Grainne.
- Um... - Natalie...
- Well, almost everyone. - Whatever.
- Action! - And where better to film your luxury jeans than the loo?
Beautiful.
- Perfect. - Fastest shoot ever.
In a swanky Soho edit suite, Karren was bemused.
The girls' advert doesn't work. You're filming in a toilet,
the song is Shake It Off, very unfortunate.
Ahh! Well done!
Next door...
..Mukai was losing his grip on his manpower.
I'll wait till you finish, then I'll play with the thing on my own
- and I want to see what I can come up with. - You're not going to play on your own.
You scared?
You've made your point, I've listened to you.
I want five minutes now and we'll do this after ten minutes.
- No, you're not getting five minutes. - No, I will, I'm overruling you.
I'm telling you right now, I need to speak
- and you need to listen. - You keep shouting.
No, I'm going to tell you what I want to tell you.
Karthik, please, for the love... For the love of God, stop talking.
Please, Karthik!
The following day,
Mukai was desperate to totally nail his Day Jeans presentation.
- Day denim really means... - Come on, Mukai.
The Day After Yesterday really means the fact...
Go on, Mukai.
We're talking about, we're aiming for the teen market.
- Mukai! - So, we're really... I'm really sorry,
I've just completely fluffed it.
Instead it was a day-saster.
Quality, man.
Everyone was unbelievable.
Generous, Courtney, very generous.
In a ballistic boardroom...
I'm not putting my name to either of these advertising campaigns.
They're useless.
There's no winner here.
An unprecedented failure.
I feel so angry that not one of you geniuses came through
and ran this thing properly.
Having interrogated them all of what had gone on,
it was clear to me that Natalie did nothing.
Nothing positive, nothing negative.
Literally, in my view, did nothing.
And Natalie, what do you think you did?
Well, basically I done the models' hair, I, like, cleaned up and...
Natalie needed someone to back her up.
Cleaning and hairdressing, not skills Lord Sugar's looking for.
And that wasn't Karren.
You've been a bit quiet, you've not been pushing yourself forward.
Natalie, you're fired.
Thanks, Lord Sugar.
I mean, I haven't got much time for people that hang around
and don't contribute for tasks, and as soon as I spot someone like that,
they don't normally last too long in the process.
MUSIC: Sweets For My Sweet by CJ Lewis
A week later, the boss had a tasty treat for the teams.
I want you to manufacture and sell your own range of sweets.
After a quick Sugar shuffle...
- Alana. - ..he chose project managers.
I think it's time for you to perform now.
Alana had a chequered history in the first couple of tasks,
she's kind of nervous, got choked up a little bit in the boardroom,
but I decided, OK, come on, time for you to stand up now, Alana.
- I don't know what's going on. - So, the machine seems to be broken.
Oh, no!
It seemed Alana may have bitten off more than she could chew.
We can't use this batch, it's come out too light.
Put in the bin and move on. Don't worry about it, OK?
Alana...
But after a few tears in the toilet...
We have got an hour and a half, so you need to go like the wind.
Yep.
..she whipped up her crew.
- Final push on those. - There we go, that's my work-out for the day.
And after a trip to Brighton...
I'm thinking two for six,
because we need all the sales we can get at this point.
- OK, perfect. - Go!
..they sold their stock to seaside suckers.
Do you like handmade toffee?
- I can see you eyeing them up. - Thank you so much.
One for £3.50, two for £7, would you like any?
- How much would you like to pay? - Ten, ten, ten.
It's done, it's done, it's done, it's done. Guys, that's time!
We're done.
At the end of the day, Alana pulled it together.
Her team worked with her, they worked very well together,
and I think they were appreciative of it,
and she did an all-round quite good job.
Er, LEADING the other team...
This is terrible, man.
It's all a bit of a learning curve.
..sausage supremo, Oliver.
HE GROANS
With Oliver, basically he's got a successful business
manufacturing sausages,
so he should know about manufacturing process.
- Hi. - Hi there.
- Do you have a moment? - Yes.
So we've managed to agree on a sale of the pillow candy.
- Sorry? - Is that clear? - Um...
- These are flat, Oliver. - Sorry? - These are all flat.
'I know they are, I know they are flat.'
- Sorry, guys, we're trying... - Can you please concentrate?
- Oli. - Oliver! - I'm not quite sure what his manufacturing background is,
because if his sausages are anything like his sweets, God help us!
I'm happy to go now, because I've had that phone call...
ALL TALK AT ONCE
Being chaotic isn't a good trait of being a project manager,
and certainly not a good trait for running a factory.
What should I do, Oliver?
Suck it and see!
Out on the streets, the chaos continued.
- I want to get on the cycle. - Do you want put the umbrella down?
Yes, let's put the brolly down, we don't need it.
Oliver, Oliver, there's all tables there, you're not going to get through there.
- OK. You can let go. - Oh, Oli, please slow down.
Come and buy your rock, everyone.
And bring your money!
So, in the boardroom...
Titans, total profit was £785.66.
- You've done it. - The sweet smell of success for Alana's team.
Good project manager?
I think, to be fair, he did try his best.
- You're being polite? - Yep.
But a sour taste in the mouth for Oliver.
I was trying to multitask the whole time
and I think you've just got to run with your head
in these decisions, no matter what, and...
You know, you aren't half waffling now, my friend,
- you really are waffling. - OK.
Oliver,
you're fired.
Thank you, Lord Sugar.
And for the sausage king, an OFFAL end.
PIG OINKING
From selling sweets in Brighton...
I'm sending you to one of the UK's most famous department stores.
..to luxury labels in London.
Are you happy for me to project manage this task, yeah?
Yeah, definitely.
- I'll make it easy. - Go on. - I would love to be project manager for this.
I've worked in department stores, including this one.
Project managers wanted in...
I'm going to leave the process.
But Aleksandra wanted out.
So, I'm really sorry, I'm just not enjoying it.
- Good luck. - OK.
'When I very first meet the candidates,'
I always reiterate to them that this is a very, very tough process
and that some of them might find that as the weeks go by,
they just can't hack it.
I say to them, "Look, if you can't, get out, go,"
and that's what Aleksandra did.
As Aleksandra headed off to enjoy her liberty...
For the rest, back to business.
We need to keep our heads together now.
Salesman Sofiane wasted no time in pinning down a product.
As a team altogether, where would you be comfortable?
- Scarves. - Scarves? Scarves, yeah? - Yeah.
- Scarves, OK. - Good.
On the other team...
I think we should go for scarves,
it will sell more than probably handbags.
- Quickly? - Scarves. - I'm going to go for scarves.
..a clear majority...
Scarves is a good proposition.
I believe bags, to sell, easier.
OK, well, first handbags, second scarves.
..went completely ignored.
'Grainne got swayed by Mukai.'
Instead of listening to Mukai,
she should have listened to the rest of the team.
Mukai's meddling didn't stop there...
I mean, I've got designs for, like, a three-tier kind of podium thing,
and you put the bags on there.
..as he masterminded the single most underwhelming window display of all time.
This is a New York skyline on this side,
and then this side is more resort.
I don't get it!
How would I know that's a New York skyline?
How would I know that's Majorca?
How does that represent anything at all to me?
On the other team...
The scarves are amazing.
..a practically purr-fect window display...
I wasn't actually expecting them to be like this.
Bang on, mate.
..meant silky scarves sold well.
- Please may I have that? - No problem at all.
Enjoy the rest of your time in London.
In the bag department, one person had pursed lips.
- 449.99 then. - Yeah, sold.
- CLAUDE: - Everyone was doing pretty well,
in terms of engaging with clients that actually coming through,
apart from Mukai. And after all,
he's the one who's supposed to be the bag expert.
145, can I tempt you?
Whereas Jessica...
That's just £165 altogether.
..was the cat's whiskers.
Jessica was a bit of a mess at the start of the process,
but she really excelled in this task.
That's 595 altogether.
She really started to show her true colours.
- Thank you. - That was a last-minute...
- You pulled that out the bag, didn't you? - Yeah, exactly.
And in the boardroom...
Ah, well, there you are.
..Sofiane's neckerchiefs had it all tied up.
- One team, one dream! - CHEERING
Back in the loser's loft,
Mukai had no option but to take responsibility.
I can only say that it's totally unfair
that I've been brought in today.
Oh.
Mukai is an experienced fellow,
uh...but he seemed to have an air about him of arrogance.
He was responsible for convincing them to go with handbags.
He was also responsible for producing the window display,
that only Mukai could understand.
Mukai, I don't think you have the potential
of being my business partner.
You're fired.
Thank you, Lord Sugar.
It was bye-bye to Mukai.
PHONE RINGS
With Mukai on his bike...
'Lord Sugar would like you to meet him at the Lee Valley VeloPark.'
- Right, let's go! - ..the rest of the candidates were gearing up.
And it would be a ground-breaking task.
To launch crowdfunding campaigns for cool new bike products.
Crowdfunding is a new, exciting way of raising money,
for a seed of an idea that someone might have.
So I thought it was an excellent task for our process.
Hi, I'm Lucy.
I'd like you to introduce you to the Holloway gilet.
While one team went with light-up disco...
I mean, safety clothing...
Ooh, I feel like I'm in Tron.
..the rest chose to peddle hi-tech headphones.
- Is it on, is it playing? - Yeah, that's amazing.
I wonder what they're listening to?
# The winner takes it all... #
Apt, JD, very apt.
In charge of generating noise about the gilet...
So, it needs to be eye-catching,
and something that will engage our audience.
..project manager Samuel gave it the silent treatment.
The idea I've got is that some of the cyclists have our...
- Gilets on, yeah? - And can be seen,
but one who doesn't, and the one that doesn't,
he's riding and he gets knocked down.
Samuel came up with this, um...mime.
Cyclist pretends to just ride through Waterloo Station,
riding through, riding through, and from the other side,
someone in a car driving through.
You think that makes sense or is that just stupid?
The only one that got it was him.
Then our driver, drive towards her, driving,
and you're going to get knocked over, unfortunately.
And now you guys are going to start dancing.
- CLAUDE: - Samuel may have understood what he wanted,
but I don't know what's going on. I couldn't make head nor tail of it.
Hashtag concern.
Everyone, go through run-throughs...
While Samuel mowed down pretend cyclists...
# Joyful, joyful... #
..on JD's team, it was the girls making the impact.
# Hear the ride. #
JD, can I ask you, who came up with the lyrics?
- I think Frances had the lyrics, Frances had a lot. - Yeah.
Frances and Rebecca seem to be doing all the work here.
I don't think JD really understands what a project manager is.
What would be cool is if you could do some...
JD obviously feels that he should get involved,
but it was a bit like embarrassing dad dancing.
JD being kind of like the most chilled out PM....
Focus on today, and relax, all right? Chill.
..ironically chose the most stressed out sub team leader in Paul.
Stop trying to sell them, talk natural,
stop trying to sell it, you're not at work.
- I don't think he comes across as he's selling. - He is to me.
- We can start from a close-up... - One sec, one sec.
Paul got hot under the collar.
I just need to concentrate.
One second, one second, just cut it at the end, there.
But they hit the right note with a PR stunt,
and with PR expert Rebecca filming, what could possibly go wrong?
CHEERING
Let's have a look at the video together.
Yep.
That. Yeah, that could go wrong.
I think you could have zoomed in there on people.
It was a really restricted little space.
We've got it, it does the job.
In the boardroom...
Well, Titans raised £788.
Samuel, I think you're a lucky man.
..a freewheeling success for Samuel
left Frances and Rebecca with an uphill struggle.
You two ladies have got a regular seat in this boardroom,
- haven't you? - Yes, Lord Sugar.
You've been on the losing team five times.
JD, you were the project manager, what did you actually do?
Lord Sugar, I tried to stay calm,
I tried to generally direct what was going on.
I've made mistakes, I've held my hand up for them
- but at the end of the day... - That's very commendable,
but I can't go into business with someone who makes mistakes, can I?
JD admitted that the failure of the task was down to him.
And for that reason, JD had to go.
You're fired.
And Lord Sugar had a warning.
Rebecca, every time there's an opportunity for you to excel,
you haven't.
I do excellent marketing and design.
This is a marketing exercise today, it doesn't shine through.
- Let me prove it, I haven't been project manager yet. - How many more times?
But when I am project manager, I will be on top of it.
I am going to give you one more chance.
- Thank you. - OK, off you go.
So, in Week Six, the stage was set.
I'm not going to lie, I really want to be project manager this time.
He made it clear that Rebecca's to be the PM.
I think Rebecca feels under pressure.
She hasn't really got a lot of choice.
For this task, you've got nine items to buy and one night to do it in.
Task explained...
I think the person that should be the project manager
should A, know London, and then, or be really good at negotiating.
..there was only one woman for the job.
Surely. Surely!
I'd like to be project manager if everyone's happy.
- Yes! OK, cool. - Trishna, obviously.
Rebecca kept asking for the opportunity
of being the project manager,
but yet every single time we set a task, she never put herself forward.
But with nine items to track down, Rebecca could still shine.
Hello, do you have any tagines in stock?
- 'Tagines?' - Yes, tagines.
- 'Yeah, yeah, yeah.' - Ah, brilliant.
- Do you also have any African black soap? - 'Yeah.'
Did he actually understand what you were saying?
But her shopping list got a little lost in translation.
You have a tagine pot?
- Tahini. - Tahini?
OK.
And do you have African black soap?
- Black soap? - Yeah.
Soup...
Ah, OK.
Crossed wires.
There was a complete mess up,
misunderstanding, very poor communication.
Leading the other team...
I've got experience in negotiating.
..Courtney, confident he knew the route to success.
I chose these places because they're within one, two miles
from the City of London.
He just didn't know the route to the products.
- We should be here. - Is SE2 all the way over here?
Bloody hell.
An hour and a half later,
finally at the cash-and-carry to buy their soup.
Black soap, please.
I mean, soap.
- KARREN: - Courtney's strategy was to catch specific shops
before they closed, but right now he's in danger of blowing that.
Once back in London...
Could you do it for 140?
Because we are lovely people.
..Alana charmed cigars at a steal.
- It's done. - Thank you. Thank you very much.
Smells like we're going to win this task!
- LORD SUGAR: - 'Courtney did a good job.'
A few of the team members' negotiation skills
were a little questionable,
but at the end of the day, they deserved to win the task.
THEY LAUGH AND CHEER
And after six straight losses...
You lost by well over £100.
..Rebecca was in a TAHINI bit of trouble.
You're in the losing team again.
On a losing team I have to work out who the weakest link is,
and most certainly Rebecca was the weakest link,
compounded by the fact that she had not performed very well
in prior weeks.
I've got to think about past performance.
And on that basis, I'm going to have to say...
Rebecca, you're fired.
Thank you, it's been a great experience.
Lovely to meet you, Karren and Claude.
Destined never to eat soup again.
Week Seven for the remaining shipshape candidates.
A voyage was in the offing to sell high-value items at a boat show.
Now, Frances, you haven't been on a winning team yet,
so you're going to be the project manager for Nebula.
Karthik, you're going to be the project manager of Titans.
Karthik started the way all good leaders do.
All right guys, so here we are, Team Titans.
By referring to himself in the third person.
Karthik finally gets to be PM.
Karthik was a very excitable person.
I think when he first came into the process,
he thought what you do is you shout.
I did have to deal with him in the early stage of the process,
to tell him to calm down.
Having become a kind of reformed character,
I thought it was time for Karthik to be a project manager,
let's see what he could do.
He was confident he had the necessary skills under his belt.
I am a brilliant project manager,
and one of the proofs of that is that I project managed
the conception of my baby boy.
I know the exact hotel room and the exact country.
Now, how many parents can give the gift of that information to their kids?
Hopefully, not that many.
Does anybody here have experience with boats?
No, but I think this is more about selling products to a high range,
which is what I've done for most of my career.
Does anyone else have high-end client experience?
- No? OK, great. - That must mean the big K will put Samuel...
Grainne and Courtney in charge of the high ticket items.
Samuel, you're with me, selling to the public.
..on the mid-range team.
Up on the other deck...
Please listen to each other.
Paul, I want you to be my sub team leader.
Frances had been on the losing team for six weeks.
But she's quite a shrewd girl,
so I wanted to see how well she was going to do
being the project manager on this task.
The convoy headed to the beautiful Dorset coast.
I think I'll put my trunks on!
MUSIC: The Sun Always Shines On TV by A-Ha
MUSIC STOPS
Eurgh.
Let's get set up, yeah?
Under pressure from the boss to prove herself,
Frances ran a tight ship.
- Ready? - Go on. - It's got a maximum speed of 32mph,
- which is 28 knots. - 28 knots.
- Say it back to me. - 30mph...
- 32mph. - Which is equivalent...
- No, you said 30. 28 knots... - 32mph, 28 knots max speed, OK? OK.
- Retain that information? - Yes. - Perfect.
With her hand firmly on the tiller, Frances' sales team...
That's 19.99.
..hauled in big profits.
Thank you very much. And I'll just give you your change.
Hello!
We are doing the show price for £18,950.
And when she topped up her total by selling a speedboat...
Are you happy to go ahead?
- Yeah. - OK. Congratulations!
..she hauled in her first ever win.
Do you want a tissue, Frances?
- Sorry! - Are you crying?
It's been six weeks losing.
Well done.
Back on Karthik's team...
Do I look cool?
..Courtney and Grainne floundered.
All-weather jet skis?
Oh, I'd love one, it's a bit cold for me today, though.
On big K's stall...
High five. Boom!
..while Samuel sold well...
The price is 29.99.
..he made up the prices, again.
- CLAUDE: - Samuel, not for the first time,
has decided he's going to go on a frolic of his own
and do his own thing and set his own pricing.
I'll grab your change for you now.
That's not great, because it doesn't show him to be a team player.
And Karthik...
I feel so nice, I can just reach in and change my bra.
..put comedy before commerce.
Right, I'm going to take my trousers off.
Karthik certainly wasn't acting as a project manager on that day.
He seemed to be, well, lost at sea.
What were you doing, Karthik, did you sell anything?
No, the others were.
Karthik literally had no idea how to run the team.
It was such a huge loss.
Frances' team had made over 40,000, and his team had made about 200.
Yes, I had a bad day, yes...
It's not a bad day, a diabolical day.
- The worst day. - Karthik, Karthik, I don't know where to even start.
Karthik, you're fired.
See you guys on the other side.
But Lord Sugar wasn't finished.
Samuel, on two occasions you have demonstrated a disregard
for instructions of a project manager.
- That's not true. - Samuel was a good salesman,
but it appeared to me that he wasn't very much a team player,
so regretfully I had to let him go.
Samuel, you're fired.
Thank you.
Week Eight, back on dry land.
Your task this week is all to do with running an event
at a famous London attraction.
But Dillon couldn't wait to make a splash.
Personally, I was thinking a Fantasy Island theme.
By throwing a party, at an aquarium.
Underwater fun.
- That makes sense. - That could really tie in.
A lot of elements in this task, a very tough task.
The bottom line was still sales.
I was looking for a good pricing strategy, and happy customers.
Dillon's secret weapon to get the party rocking?
# Look at this stuff.... #
Mermaids, of course!
# I'm ready to know what the people know... #
The mermaids are amazing.
# Get some answers... #
So, I'm super excited I get to be a sailor with a mermaid, I mean,
what better way to spend an evening!
Amazing!
At least he's not singing.
I'm going to be singing!
Dillon!
- ALL SING: - # When I was a lad in a fishing town
# My old man said to me
# You can spend your life, your jolly life
# Just sailing on the sea... #
On the other team, project manager Paul
was gambling on a fun night at a waxworks.
It's a casino night, you're going to get the entertainment, and...
- Canapes. - The canapes.
- We're not putting on, like, a main meal. - No.
- How much are we selling these tickets for? - Around £65.
But a lack of clear costings left the team a little confused.
I just want to run through the ticket pricing with you.
- Yeah. - 'Full ticket price will be £50.'
At what stage has he thought, right, 65, now I'm going to go down to 50?
Put in charge of ticket sales...
Prosecco on arrival. Then you go through there, as well.
..Jessica waxed lyrical about free meals.
If you could get another four people,
- we'll do them £35. Yeah? - PHONE RINGS
Hi, Paul. So, they've got the one drink on arrival,
the two canapes and the hot food, plus...
No. They've not got hot food. They've got to pay for that.
No. They've got to pay for the hot food.
They've got to pay for the hot food?!
So, on day two, Paul pulled the plug.
I'm going to switch Frances into your team.
Frances is going to be sub PM today.
I trust her. I know she's going to make the right decisions.
To be honest, I'm a bit annoyed about you taking me off sub team leader.
That's fine, but that's my decision.
- Understand that. - I'll support Frances but I am pissed off.
- LORD SUGAR: - 'Paul showed bad leadership skills in this task.'
One example was the demotion of Jessica.
I don't think he did it in a diplomatic and business-like way.
MUSIC: The Gambler by Kenny Rogers
If you just follow me.
Casino night started well.
Calling black! Calling black!
Aaaagh! Aaagh!
- We're having fun. - You're having fun.
But quickly became a food fight.
- Hot food is being served, if anyone's interested. - Free?
Not for free, unfortunately.
- Vegetarian... - Where's my hot free buffet that I was promised?
Who told you?
- One of the girls? - One of the girls, yeah. - OK.
I need you to explain what's gone on.
Everyone's saying that you told them that they were getting hot meals with their tickets.
Can I just say something?
- Just bear with me a minute, please. - Please don't shout at me.
Stop talking when I'm trying to talk. I'm trying to explain to you.
You're looking at this completely the wrong way.
You're trying to use whatever else they sell to cover it.
- That's not how you do business. - Paul, do you know how you DO do business?
Let's just go. I've got to get this organised.
And Jessica wasn't the only one Paul picked a fight with.
Her relegation, or demotion, wasn't anything to do with her performance.
- Is that it? - On the first day, no.
You expect me to believe that?
- If you don't want to believe it, don't believe it. - It sounds like a bit of a...
Take it how you want to take it.
I'm taking it as I'm taking it.
Jessica got the jitters.
I've got three children to support. I've got two businesses.
I'm willing to give it up because I want to be your business party...
I believe... Oh, God. I'm sorry. I'm getting all flappy again.
Just calm down a minute, will you?
Frances blubbed.
A lot of people would have crumbled,
- losing week after week but I've still put... - Just relax, Frances.
Just relax. OK?
And Paul lost his cool.
Sales here was the first thing that was going to win it.
Salesperson, salesperson, salesperson.
I put the three salespeople in the sales team and you criticise...
You're showing your aggression again, Paul.
And you don't want to show your aggression to me, I can assure you.
- I'm not being aggressive. - It sounds to me like you are
from where I'm sitting this side of the table.
- I can assure you, I'm not. - Yeah.
I couldn't go into business with someone like that
who can't control his emotions.
'And for that reason, he had to go.'
I think I've seen enough in the case of you,
Paul, to say that...
you're fired.
In Week Nine...
You know what, I'm having some horrible nightmares.
..bad dreams became a virtual reality.
Good morning. Welcome to the future.
- Whoa! - Look at that! - Amazing!
Their task?
Create and brand a virtual video game.
Trishna gave Courtney the chance to be creative.
I think Courtney, sub team leader for the branding side. I know you're very good at that.
But thought the name of the game...
Gordon's Lost His Badger?
..was lame.
'I don't really like it.'
Leading the rest, Sofiane put forward his plan.
It's very simple.
Dillon and Alana, you go and create the game
- and me and Grainne will go and work on the branding. - You sure? - Yeah.
But he struggled to come up with a name.
What about Shell Time? The main thing is shell.
OK. Magic Shells sounds good to me.
If I turn round to a four-year-old and say magic shells,
they know what it is.
He was supposed to be targeting 15-34 year olds.
And it is absolutely important in this task
to make sure you're directing it to your exact target audience.
Meanwhile...
So, we have pieces of shells that he has to rescue.
..Alana's ideas were drowned out.
In my opinion, that's not particularly a puzzle.
I don't know if it needs to be a traditional puzzle.
Every time I suggest something it's a bit...
No! Because he's got it in his head already. He knows what he wants.
Dylan is a very, very nice fellow
but I notice that once he gets something in his head,
you can't move it.
On day two...
Oh! Oh, I got it, I got it!
..Magic Shells was a damp squib.
So, what were your thoughts?
I thought the game was quite set for someone of a younger age.
So who would you say this game is aimed at?
- Kids. - OK.
And their pitch...
I'm going to invite my colleague Grainne to play the demonstration
and show you how this works.
..sank.
- Shall I do that now? - Yep.
I'm going to take my shoes off.
I don't want to fall.
I think it went a little bit messier than we structured it originally.
But I think they've bought into the concept.
They really liked the game.
On the other team...
We quite liked the idea of having something a bit random and obscure
that would help you stand out within the market.
And it's certainly not forgettable.
..Jessica was pitch perfect.
Hang on, Trishna. Do you like the badger now?
Yeah, I do, I do!
In the boardroom...
Nebula, you got 222 votes out of 300.
..victory for Gordon.
And his badgers.
Leaving Magic Shells all washed up.
The feedback says this is a kids' game
and the kids' game is the smallest market in virtual reality gaming.
I still think the game is very creative.
I do stand by it.
- Do you? - I do. - Well, the seven experts don't.
The creativity of the game was kind of subcontracted to Dillon,
and although Sofiane takes overall responsibility of getting it wrong,
Dillon got it wrong for him.
I don't think you have the potential of being my business partner.
- Lord Sugar... - So, it is with regret that you're fired.
Thank you, Lord Sugar. Thank you, Karren and Claude.
But it wasn't game over yet.
I don't want to sound rude here, Sofiane.
I'm trying to establish what you actually did then.
I came out with the nick... the name of the, er, Coral Kid.
'Sofiane didn't manage his team well.'
He had disregard for authority and on that basis he had to go.
Sofiane, you're fired.
Thank you, Lord Sugar.
Thanks, boss, thanks, Karren.
Week Ten was a very interesting task.
They had to come up with their own brand of gin,
and sell it to three customers that I'd laid on for them.
Who's going to manage this project best?
I feel that, out of all of us, I'm best suited to do that.
- Let's go for it then. That's fine. - You happy with that?
- Yeah, that's fine. - OK, right.
Captained by Courtney, Alana took charge of developing a drink...
Let's try putting something to make it a little bit sweeter in.
..and came up with a fruity concoction.
Do you make raspberry gin here?
We don't normally, no.
Alana was quite rightly put in what I would call
the formulation of the gin because she's got a cake business,
and so it's...not the same, but very similar.
That is nice, I think.
So Courtney did a good job there in putting her in that position.
Courtney came up with creative spelling.
So, Giin? The double i?
But then gave the dullest pitch in history.
As we are creating a new product which is fruit flavoured,
or, sorry, flu...fruit infused, I should say,
we felt that it would be a younger market...
- NARRATOR SNORES - ..that would be more acceptable
to trying a new product.
- New pitch, new plan. - Hi, I'm Jessica.
Keep Courtney quiet.
As three friends, we really wanted to create a drink
that you could literally share with your friends.
It's fruity but a little bit different.
I like a dry gin. I wouldn't want too much raspberry.
It was just enough, I think.
They produced a great product
and I think the brand name pulled it through for them.
- On the other team... - Ooof!
..Trishna decided to jazz up their gin.
What we'll do, Jeff, is try the colour of orange, please.
Right, OK.
Trishna kind of championed the idea
of colouring the gin an orange colour.
It was a fatal mistake.
It fell to Frances to come up with a classy name.
You know, literally, like, colonisation, sort of, map.
- Like, East India Trading Company, like that kind of thing. - OK.
So, she settled on...
There we go.
..Colony.
That... I really, really like that.
I actually got an A* in geography, you know.
Yes, I think it's more the history that we have an issue with here.
Meanwhile, at the distillery...
- Ooof! - SHE GIGGLES
Trishna and Grainne...
Well, they got sloshed.
What did I have to say?
Leaving Frances...
PHONE RINGS OUT
..on hold.
'This is the voice...'
- Do you know what? - I think I need these distillers at home.
THEY GIGGLE
No-one's really listening to me today
and it's actually starting to piss me off.
Not you.
- Hello. - Hi. - How are yous?
- Next day... - Good, good.
..the girls are at the top of their game.
At the minute, you've got your jupiner...your jun...jupiner...
- Juniper. - Juniper, sorry.
The colour of the liquid is somewhat different.
- Yeah. - Oh, well, at least they presented a united front.
But obviously, if you would like to place an order
and you weren't happy with the colouring,
I'm sure it is something we'd be able to speak to the distillery and take out.
We wouldn't want to take away the colour, that is what the brand is all about.
Er, spoke too soon.
In the boardroom...
Nebula secured orders worth £71,400.
Final five! Final five!
- Sorry! - Well done and I'll see you on the next task.
..trebles all round for Courtney's team.
Let's go before they change their mind!
But last orders for Grainne's girls.
The product, first of all, has got so many faults with it.
Wasn't it you, Trishna, that wanted this colour orange?
I didn't necessarily say, right, we have to go this colour,
I just suggested, shall we have a colour on the gin?
You were fixated on making that gin coloured.
- I wasn't fixated on it. - You were.
Trishna performed well up until this task but she made a fatal error
in the colour of the gin,
and one doesn't want to see silly mistakes so late in the process.
I think it was time for her to go.
Trishna, you're fired.
No problem.
Cheers!
Their hysteria of surviving...
Aaagh! We did absolutely smash it.
# 3,200 units please! #
..was short-lived.
# 70 grand in the bank! #
Thankfully.
Because...
Lucky dress!
Use a lot of deodorant today.
After ten tasks shed 13 worthy upstarts...
I am going to nail this.
..the final five were summoned to be grated
like cheese in this building.
- Good morning. - ALL: - Good morning, Lord Sugar.
Before they can get their mitts on the 250k...
My trusted advisers will probe every inch...
Oh, where's he going with this?
..of your business plans.
Ah, OK.
- I'm genuinely cacking myself now. - Urgh!
Like, a sense of anticipation of what's going to come.
MUSIC: Trouble by Stereophonics
Awaiting upstairs, four titans of business.
"Iron" Mike Soutar.
Claudine "KO" Collins.
Linda "Knuckleduster" Plant.
And the undisputed heavyweight champ, Claude Littner.
Trained like a CSI ninja hit squad...
Have a look at what you wrote here.
..they are about to uncover...
"Describe something you would do if you knew you wouldn't get caught."
..dirty secrets.
"Fart in a lift full of supermodels."
Oh, Courtney, what will Mum say?
Er...
After ten weeks of enduring the candidates' enthusiastic antics,
Claude was getting his own back.
Frankly, I'm finding it quite hard
to find anything good about your performance.
I don't know what you're doing here.
This is Claude's favourite day of the year,
this is like Christmas for Claude.
Yeah.
Quick to feel the barely-concealed contempt...
..Emerald Isle make-up artist Grainne McCoy.
I've never put a business plan together before, so...
- Is this your sole work? - This is mine. - Nobody else?
Not a sinner, no.
I didn't want anyone seeing it.
Why? They're not going to steal the idea, are they?
- You nev... - SHE LAUGHS
Her business idea, very simply...
You want to be an agency for beauty counter staff,
you want to be an agency for make-up artists,
you want to run physical and online stores...
..wasn't simple.
It was overcomplicated in the sense that there were many facets of it.
You said in here, as managing director,
you will be liaising with clients,
- training... - Yeah. - ..managing staff and doing make-up.
- Yeah. - The managing director can't be doing makeovers!
Credit to her, she was coming forward with a business plan
which she had experience in, it is the industry she's in.
- How are you? - Very well, thank you.
As such, on her visit to Claudine, things looked on the up.
You said in your business plan,
you were going to train make-up artists
- to have all the knowledge of all the brands. - Yes.
So, would you tell me the USP of, say,
that and that product?
This should be a cinch.
- This is a test. - You're a make-up artist, Grainne.
So, that is liquid blush, isn't it?
- It's not liquid. - Oh, it is a powder.
Oh, good grief.
People pay you to train them?
Yes, it'll be a worldwide certified certificate for make-up artists.
In the boardroom, unsurprisingly, things did not get any better.
- And you are qualified to teach that course? - I am half qualified...
- You're not even qualified yet? - Not certified yet.
Sounds like I might need certifying to actually invest in this thing.
'The fundamental problem was,'
she tried to cram too many facets of the beauty industry into one plan.
Grainne, it's been nice to be associated with you...
That's the reason why Grainne had to go.
It is with regret that you are fired.
Thank you so much, I really appreciate everything.
Girls, good luck, OK?
Jessica, initial impressions were...
People say I'm like the female version of Jim Carrey.
- ..a bit strange. - You can put that on the TV, too.
SHE SNORTS
Urgh!
Jessica was hoping to persuade Lord Sugar
to get into women's clothing with her.
A hard sell. So this plan needs to be darn good.
There's a few grammatical errors.
Yep!
However, the numbers all seem to add up, so...
So, tell me about the business.
It's a fashion website.
It's going to be celebrity endorsed.
Part of her business plan was to use celebrities.
So, your celebrity contacts, you're handing money over to them
and they wear one of your dresses
and they've got 3 million followers, then you'll sell lots of dresses?
Yeah.
Online fashion has got tremendous potential
so it was a very interesting concept for me.
Lord S seems interested.
- Hello, Claude. - Hope the name's appropriate.
Lust & Lies.
- Yes. - No, I don't think so.
Bloody hell.
Candidates come with very funny names for their businesses.
Lust & Lies, no, we don't want to go there.
- OK. - Are we having one?
- Yeah. - Fantastic! Whoo!
On a positive front, in most of the tasks,
Jessica turned out to be a very good candidate.
She sold well.
- Come on! - She was popular with her team-mates.
- Yes! - And she showed that she had some business acumen about her.
But no amount of acumen can prepare you for...
..the Linda!
Let's talk about the new business with Lord Sugar.
One of my advisers, Linda, of course, is an expert in fashion.
How have you planned the production?
It was Linda who pointed out to me the weaknesses in Jessica's plan.
For a jacket, you have a seamstress focusing on the arms
- and the final details... - No, you don't.
First, who's going to cut your patterns,
how many pattern cutters are you having?
A jacket is an entirely different process to producing a dress
and a T-shirt is yet another process.
I think you're dreaming.
Wow.
She ripped me to absolute shreds.
I've lost my dignity up on the 42nd floor.
Oh, my God, that was horrific.
In the boardroom of doom, Jessica put up a brave fight.
Lord Sugar, I know I would turn a profit
a lot quicker than any of the four business here. A larger profit.
She's making good profits at the moment.
But our margins would be unbelievable.
This model is tried and tested.
- I used it in my previous business. - But that business didn't work.
Um...
Jessica's business plan, when you dived into it,
I don't think she really covered all aspects of the things
that have to be done to make it work.
I do believe that you have got the personality
and you're good at sales.
Nevertheless, it's a very, very risky idea.
It didn't stack up financially
and there was far too much risk involved.
Jessica, it is with regret that you're fired.
Thank you so much, it's been absolutely incredible.
Good luck.
With Grainne and Jessica now on their way to a job-seekers' meeting,
one more gazelle had to succumb to the cheese grater pride.
- Step forward... - Good luck, Frances.
Frances Bishop.
Frances is a very, very confident young lady.
I'm not going to lie, I'm a natural at this.
- Very assertive. - If this goes badly wrong,
- I'm holding you personally responsible. - OK.
Very self-assured.
I'm really happy with myself at the moment.
- Very business-like. - Sold!
MUSIC: Don't Stop Me Now by Queen
Unfortunately, she ended up in a lot of losing teams.
I think it's going to be your winning week this week, Fran.
I hope so, even Lord Sugar feels sorry for me now.
Yes, at the seventh time of asking, she won as project manager.
And then the next week, she lost again.
Shoddy.
But under the spotlight,
she still had a passion for her children's fashion.
The second you walk into our store, it's the customer service element.
It's breast-feeding rooms, there's colouring tables,
there's a heart in this business.
She specialised in children's clothing,
end of lines and she had two shops already on the go
and claimed to be doing very well.
However, all was not what it seemed.
You've actually had three.
We had one in Nottingham,
it was just unprofitable and it just kind of cancelled itself out.
And there was another store as well?
She had another two shops that she'd closed down
which kind of put a bit of a cloud over things
as far as we were concerned.
And Claudine found something to probe.
In your application, you put,
you're really disorganised and your filing is in your handbag.
- That terrifies me. - Yeah.
Luckily, Lord Sugar doesn't care for finances.
From what I can understand, invoices and bills going into your handbag.
My bad!
I can't ignore about her business in her handbag.
That's his big thing, isn't it?
Frances, I think that your business is risky.
I think at the end of the day, my concern was scaling up.
So, I wish you the best of luck
but I'm not going to be investing in you.
And I don't think she had much control over the business.
So, Frances,
- you're fired. - Thank you.
Good luck, guys, all the best.
And so the route was complete.
I genuinely, genuinely thought I could be in that final.
But I'm not, I'm sat here instead.
But I've got such a bright, brilliant future.
Mmm...(!)
And then there were two.
Congratulations, you two.
You've battled your way through 11 weeks.
If you think what you've done so far is tough,
the final is going to be even tougher still.
We did it! Well done, Alana.
We have our finalists.
It's all smiles now but you're the one person standing in my way.
Yeah. It's investment in mind.
Muffin Maestro, Alana Spencer.
- That is so cool. - Who's been...
- Sweet! - ..on sugar...
- Happy? - Happy. - ..from an early age.
- I love sugar. - Alana started her cake business when she was 17 years old.
She came into the process very nervous
but she became a classic example
of somebody that grew and learned through the process.
You can't crack me any more.
Watch this space, guys.
And international purveyor of novelty gifts...
Looking fresh.
- Cool for cats! - Courtney Wood.
I'm a little bit jealous, if I'm being honest.
# Inspector Gadget! #
He invested all of his own personal money in this business
which he started from scratch, from his bedroom at home.
Anyone tells me to trust them, I don't trust them.
Courtney is a very shrewd lad.
I don't think there's any coincidence
that he won eight out of ten tasks.
Does my bum look big in this?
No, it's an improvement.
It's been a very tough process.
Both of them are going to have to prove to me that
their business plan is the right one for me
before I'm going to tell one of them,
"You are my business partner."
# Oh-oh
# It's the final countdown
# The final countdown
# Final countdown
# Ohhhhh
# It's the final countdown... #