I agree he did well, but then he spoke some German.

As for talking slowly and clearly, or as some said "as if they are children", I actually agree with Mr Sugar.

If you don't speak the language, you just have to that if you want to be understood, because luckily some of the Germans spoke a bit of English.

Much better than Laura's- speak at 100mph- approach which wasn't understood at all. Personally, if I only spoke a bit of another language, I'd went the speaker to speak slowly and clearly.

'If I'm selling I'll speak to you in English, but if I'm buying, denn muessen sie Deutsch sprechen.'

- Helmut Kohl, from a speech given by the then German Chancellor. For some reason I've always remembered that line of his reported on the news in the 90's

Or the Alan Sugar way (interview from Sunday Times 2006)

' Hewer remembers the time that Sugar sent a fax to a video-recorder manufacturer in China. “Brilliantly funny,” he says. “They had the office rolling around. ‘Dear Mr Ching Chang Chong, we received your video. It is shit.’ All spelt out in bold. In capital letters. Every sentence a few words long. There was no fear of Mr Ching Chang Chong misunderstanding exactly what he was saying. His use of language is very explicit, but he has this real ability to communicate.” '

Kohl is quite right. You want me to buy your stuff? Speak to me in a language I understand - that could be a case of wine. I want you to buy MY stuff? I'd better get that phrase book.

The alert button is just too tempting for some.

The Mods arent to blame, in general they react to people reporting stuff. If you write to them and request a reply they will tell you.
I had a ban lifted when i explained the sequence of events and showed them other relevant posts.
Anyway.... you seem jolly decent to me love. so have some popcorn and watch the fun

"so have some popcorn and watch the fun"
you mean CRISPS

I hate the whole racism arguement. If someone called me a stupid bitch woman or something surely that's offensive, because women were oppressed for years, and there's still an attitude that men are better than women.

I've been in a takeaway late at night when a girl asked jokingly for free food, and they shouted we don't serve ugly white trash bitches. She replied I'm not white trash you p*** and the police were called for racism.


The whole thing really annoys me and people being sooo quick to scream racism drives me mad. Don't get me wrong, I hate racism, and I HATE bullying with a passion.

if you use the word white or black in an aggressive and 'racist' way you can be arrested by the police for public disorder (racial aggrevation). It's no different somebody being called a white bitch to being called a black bastard. Although, in practice, I'd love to see the stats at how many white people are arrested as opposed to blacks - all in the name of EQUALITY of course. My reckoning would be that the former would quadruple the latter.

He was also saying 'do you speak Manager' when he thought he was saying 'can I speak to the manager'. That's why they all stood there looking bemused. Christopher had the better idea with his 'sprechen Sie Englisch' opening gambit. Stuart sounded like the English policeman in 'Allo 'Allo - he of 'Good Moaning' fame.

I was very impressed by Stuart this week. Tried to speak the language. Also realised Laura was speaking too fast, and tried to calm her down when the other two pinched the appointment. Far and away the best on that team this week.

I don't understand why "spy in the cab" Nick needed to report back that he was tired. He probably was.

And finally a half-decent reward for winning.

they both should have been done for racism,not sure how you can have sympathy for the women unelss you have same views as her?....

He did keep saying "wunderbar" which was annoying! lol

He did not try to speak the language. He looked up a few words and phrases to make an impression, then looked annoyingly smug and kept shtum after having uttered them.

I thought he managed to make both himself look stupid as well as the people he was talking to. Almost everyone in Germany speaks English and I bet most of the business people do.

It would have been a nice gesture if he intended it to be a nice gesture, but he only did it to make himself look clever and boast about it in the boardroom.

Because she was the only one arrested for racism. Like you say, both should have been. But no, the police weren't interested in the slightest she was responding to a derrogatory racist term they used to label her.

I always get the feeling there's more to stories when racism is involved.

I've been accused of racism at work. If you heard that you'd think badly of me. But if you know the actual story-I didn't give a refund to a foreign customer who wasn't entitled to it, in the same way I wouldn't to a white British person, then it's not so bad.

He boasted to Joanna that he'd been to Germany many times before, and clearly had picked up nothing. He half-inched a few phrases from a guidebook, got them wrong, and then resorted to "Sprechen Sie English?" - exactly the same approach that Christopher and Jamie took. Oddly, Joanna, who didn't do any of this pointless faffing around, seemed to get better results than any of them.

When the outcome sounds as bad as Officer Crabtree and the grammar is worse, it would be better not to try...........

We dont know who got the nine interviews and I believe strongly it was Stuart and that is the hardest part of the task