So it wasnt a given that it would sell at all, but because of Helen they thought, 'Well her presentation was nice, maybe we should just blow 200k on this ......'

Fantasyland stuff.

The product sold itself .........

OK, so you are giving Susan all the credit for selecting it.

well that's what karren said in the boardroom

it was due to helen's excellent pitch

I think Melody is a complete and utter selfish b1tch, and also think that she didn't really care about whether the team won or not, as long as she looked good within the team by getting the most appointments. She assessed LS rather well in that regard, because he could hardly fire her for lack of effort or gall. On that basis my opinion is that her actions had malicious intent (to get one of the others on her team sacked). I'm not sure whether she deliberately tried to sabotage the team's efforts though. I think she was incredibly naive to think that a bone china teapot would sell better than a practical carseat. Its just a shame Tom was weak in terms of insisting they go with the car seat, or that the appointments should be shared out.

If Sugar is going to split each team in 2 or they split themselves in 2, then they need 2 more aides to follow them to stop them lying like what melody clearly did!

The 2 extra aides can report to Nick and Karen and just let Karen and Nick do the talking in thr boardroom on what they witnessed etc.

Karren was giving a slightly jaundiced view, as she wanted to prevent Susan getting credit.

It was due to Susan's product selection, Helen's pitch and whoever researched the company and realised that offering the major retailer in France ten items would not be the way to go!

Several of us have mentioned the stupidity of having Karen or Nick following one half of a team, but the other half seem to be left to their own devices.

This isnt good, as with this weeks task, it allows liars to get away with virtually anything. This weeks task with Melody being the prime (but NOT the only) example in TA.

Karren gave credit where it was due.

Zoe and Susan selected the products. Not just Susan. You are doing to Zoe what you accuse Karren of doing to Susan.

Yes.

Zoe got a very 'quiet' edit for this task but she and Susan were shown to be working together happily and cooperatively so I think Zoe should get her fair share of the credit for product selection.

Not so, as I've given Zoe full credit for her part in product selection in previous posts.

And Karren's tone in crediting Helen was so pointed and nasty it was obvious that she was principally concerned to stop Susan getting any credit.

Don`t get so uptight about a comment by a stupid lying b*tch. Does anyone believe a word that comes out of her mouth - all the so`called` awards she`s `won`. She`s been mentored by the Dalai Lama, Nelson Mandela etc. She wouldn`t know the truth it it jumped up & hit her in the face.
She really isn`t worth bothering about.
What surprised me was Sugar`s positive comment about after she left the boardroom. I can`t understand how he hasn`t seen through her.

An attractive intelligent female gets hated on now why am I not surprised? Shes ruthless which is what business is all about and thats why Sir Alan likes her. If the other guys want to let her steamroll over them then thats their mistake!

Unless she faked the pictures and website, she really did win the awards. See http://inspirengage.com/about/awards

Nope. 35 minutes task, 25 minutes boardroom. Or rather, 30 minutes task, 25 minutes boardroom, if you deduct the intro, recap and briefing. (And more like 22 minutes boardroom if you deduct the trailer, cab ride, return to the house and ending credits.)

The boardroom always tends to cut in at the 35:00 mark. It's been very precise for a few series now.



Regarding Vincent vs. Melody...

Melody: Obstructs PM through unreliable evidence, allowing her to remotely make decisions that she's got no right making. Gets away with it, and gets commended by Lord Sugar. Not to mention, rather than simply disadvantaging her own team, she forfeits an advantage to the other team.

Vincent: Is the project manager, and thereby completely eligible to make the decision he made, right or wrong. Fired by Lord Sugar, so gets acknowledged. Market research supported his thesis 2-1, rather than refuted it 4-0. Does not concede an advantage to the opponents on the basis of his research.

I kind of think of Melody's scenario and Vincent's as the opposite. I honestly think - vet or no vet - EveryDog should have won. It was effectively a tie, and they had the stronger brand, advert, poster campaign, more direct message, and better thought out. Their flaws were far smaller than Cat Size's, which ranged from nonsensical to bizarre.

Vincent got fired for a minor error that he had responsibility to make, and I don't think should've cost him the task. Melody survived a major error of judgment that she had no place making on Tom's behalf, and which did cost them the task.

Annoyed that Vincent did get fired, and annoyed that Melody didn't. Vincent should've been cruising for a strong win, Melody should've been cruising for a kick in the teeth. Didn't get my wish for either of them.

I dont hate her, but I also dont think she is very intelligent.
Neither do I consider her attractive, but that's a very subjective thing.

Thanks for posting that. I had also got the feeling that the split was different so it's good to know the facts.


I think Vincent got a rough deal all round. The edit seemed designed to make him look a bit smarmy. I was convinced almost from the word go that the cringeworthy comment about being good looking on his intro clip was the result of his being prompted to say something like that by the producers. He certainly didn't seem at all smarmy on YF and gave an entirely convincing and very creditworthy answer to the question of why he didn't take Jim back into the boardroom.

I don't know if the good looking comment was prompted by the team necessarily... I get the impression that he's genuinely a bit of a cheesy lad, and that's probably just Vincent being Vincent. The rest all hangs true, though, I completely agree - and on top of that, I'm struggling to think of anyone else who was a better leader all series. Helen's and Susan's later victories were arguably stronger victories, but I think their leadership was a bit of a mixed bag. Which makes it feel all the more unjust that he was fired on such a subjective task. After I'd spent a few weeks considering him a bit of a waste of space (at the behest of the editors), I think he turned out to be pretty stellar.

It was the fact that he presaged the 'I am reasonably good looking' comment with 'and, yes'.

That seems to me the sort of thing people say when they are being prompted into saying something they don't really want to say.

But that could just be my take on it. (Because I could never imagine myself saying anything like that no matter what I looked like.)

didn't seem that jaundiced a view to me

helen totally sold the product, all susan could do was sit in it and say how wonderful it was that she fits!

That product sold itself because it was an excellent product. Helen saying how 'we are ' contemporary women' we are 'busy women' did nothing to add to that. They'd have bought that product anyhow.

did we watch the same program? they had misgivings about the price for one thing

I take it by your answer that you have never sold to large companies, or dealt in large product quantities?.

If you had done, you would know that the FIRST thing a purchaser will pick up on is price, and that it what the La Redoute buyers did.

Also, such a "misgiving" is a clear indication of interest in the product, as the purchaser likes it, but wants to see how far they can push the price down, so a seller looks for such things during a negotiation.

But Susan had selected the product - together with Zoe - and had picked Helen as the most suitable person to do the pitch with her. So you can't credit Helen solely for the team's victory, as I feel Karren was trying to do.

Helen did not answer that question other than repeating her earlier pitch, saying again 'we are contemporary women, we are busy women' etc...

If they wanted to challenge her on that, they could have done so easily and negotiate on the price, but my feeling was that the product was so good and fitted in so well with their range of product that they would have bought it anyhow.

Helen's body language in the pitch was superb, I'm seriously trying to learn from it. Looking each person in the eye, smiling and nodding, whilst still talking positive sense and not gushing, faltering or talking rubbish.

It's very hard to get it that right.