It is essential that a Sales Exec knows about costings. At the most basic level you have to know how much the product you are selling costs so that you don't sell it for a loss.

But wasn't the argument for allocating costings to Ben that he was a Stockbroker?

Only the honey chunk is the same. The surrounding soap smells completely different - Lush uses Ylang Ylang andGeranium and the Apprentice Soap used Citrus oils. Plus the above soap is manufactured in a massive long bar that you cut slices off to sell and the apprentice soaps were individually made. So not quite so similar!

Sorry - Lush Nerd lol

The programme is not about letting people trip up, watching them make mistakes and see how bad they feel in the boardroom when they realise they messed up.

It's also about how people handle mistakes, whether they are able to think fast, change strategies, etc...

Often enough you hear them say in the boardroom: I've learnt from my mistakes, I take on board what you say, I'll do it differently next time.
This time they had the opportunity to do that ON the show itself...

Nick didn't actually help them. If he were going to actually advise them he would have had to have told them before they produced it. He merely pointed out their mistake, as none of the manufacturing team realised or were going to, hence the rest of the team would never have known until they were in the boardroom. They would have had no chance as a team to try to make amends. Its a shame they didn't up the price, but people may not have bought it.

Let's be honest- none of them have a clue.
If the real business world was like that, the uk would be worse than what is it now!!!

It's all for the entertainment factor

Very True!!

The other thing to remember is that the tasks they are given rarely bear relation to real business. Take Yasmina's previous successful Team Leader stint - in the real world she'd have tanked because there would have been no repeat bookings because of her Asda Smart Price food, but in Apprentice-Land she was deemed 'excellent'

The actual point is, the viewer would have realised all along there was no chance of one team actually winning, unless they edited it out .. and they couldn't edit it out because it was the main thing that affected the end result.

Besides, it made for a nice twist in the episode. Perhaps it would have been better if Alan Sugar had read out in the boardroom the results had the team used the cheaper oil and let them think they'd won .. and then said BUT instead of x you actually bought the more expensive x, meaning you made a loss. However its not really the BBC's thing to mislead contestants or viewers.

Nick should have kept his mouth shut.

He's there to assess, not assist.

He's a trainee stockbroker though, which roughly equates to making the tea and going out and buying sandwiches for the real traders and being alowed to watch what they do. If he's really lucky he'll be allowed to take notes for them when they trade in the afternoon and are too drunk to see what they are doing.

No doubt part of the reason for his employers hiring him as a trainee would be his background and education. However, surely they'd expect some level of numeracy or the potential to have a good financial head?

It's far from the first time that N or M have stepped in and pointed out errors, and the fact that you may not have seen it more often could simply be down to the way in which the program is editted.

Points noted, but the principle of encapsulated honey in a soap bar is what i was trying to highlight.

I don't believe he's even a trainee anymore, the firm seemingly fired him for keeping it from them until the very last moment. The word is, his colleagues were all glad to see the back of him.

That figures!

He would have taken the action he did under advisement from the production company.

No point whatsoever in blaming him.

[quote=GerriP;31954641]Very True!!

The other thing to remember is that the tasks they are given rarely bear relation to real business. Take Yasmina's previous successful Team Leader stint - in the real world she'd have tanked because there would have been no repeat bookings because of her Asda Smart Price food, but in Apprentice-Land she was deemed 'excellent'[/QUOTE

Worse than that, in the real world the city firm would have sent them packing the minute they saw the so-called canapes and blinis and sent a runner to M&S for sandwich platters and the lunch people with added hair in the salad would be calling the lawyers not paying for it! There is no way Yasmina would have made a profit even as a one off.

Presumably both teams are provided with the factory bill before they leave so they can determine the selling price, the production company probably thought it would be better/funnier if Nick broke the news to them as them reading piece of paper doesn't make great TV.


That was classic - 1 chicken per pizza.

No.

His comments "leading them up the mistake path" were brilliant, and the highlight of last nights show.