Here she was more ignorant than stupid, which is understandable in one so young. I'd say that Americans love cars more than the British do, and it makes sense to ask similar questions about French culture.

I suspect the sequence was included to try and make the result less of a foregone conclusion, by making Susan look stupid. It had absolutely no impact on the task. Where-as other things she did, such as assigning appointments the night before instead of wasting time in the morning (like Tom did), did make a difference.

Do the French like their children? FFS, a five year old might come up with a question like that, not an intelligent adult of voting age.

Melody was no better with her selective deafness of course.

Her age is no excuse, as has been said many times on the show. I'd expect a 21 y.o. graduate and alleged business owner to have a reasonable general kowledge about near neighbour countries. If you don't get that by age 21, when will you get it?

Some priceless quotes from Susan & Tom in this week's episode

in any other situation no would bat an eyelind about susan's comments. susan was basically enquring whether the french spend alot of money and cars.

but susan who's first language is not even english seems to be the target of editors and karen herself.

Some cultures are more child-friendly than others. The British are rather less, for example. You see pubs and other eating places advertising that children are welcome because in so many places they aren't. The way the question was phrased may have been stupid, but the thought behind it wasn't.


If you've not acquired more general knowledge by the time you are 31 than you had at 21, then you are stupid. She didn't even move to this country until 8 years ago, so she shouldn't be expected to have the same general knowledge about its neighbours as someone who has lived here for 21 years, let along longer.

The thought behind the question was completely missing. As usual with Susan she just blurted out the first thing that came into her head. She only thought about it afterwards when called into question.


Her age is not relevant, but her lack of experience is. She's an adult and she went into this knowing what it entailed. People can't keep saying she's so young. Stuart Baggs was no older but he had much more nous.

So the French are now a race then????

Susan made a minor gaffe and everyone's now claiming that she's a racist - sometimes I think that the world has gone completely bonkers!

Anyway, I think its funny that no-one criticised Melody for saying exactly the same thing after visiting France and doing some "market research" (if you define asking four people on the metro whether they regularly use the car as "research").

Big effing deal.

She said it during a brainstorming session, not to anyone important. And it was only the phrasing that was bad, not the general idea behind the question.

Seriously, there's plenty of other sticks to beat her with. Let this one go.

Race/nationality - what's the real difference when it comes to stereotyping and prejudice? If someone refused to employ a French person because they didn't like French people, how would that be any different to someone with similar feelings about black people. They'd just be prejudiced against a larger group.

I don't think anyone was accusing Susan of being racist, so it's silly to pretend they were.

A brainstorming session? That's not how I saw it. They were selecting products, evaluating not brainstorming. The phrasing she used and what she later said she meant to say were entirely different. The only reason it's not being let go is because people accept her "what I really meant" excuse at face value.

...because black people may also be French, they're two entirely different things.

My point is that prejudice and stereotyping whether by race or nationality are equally wrong. Defending national stereotyping simply because it's technically not racism is a bad argument IMO.

I thought she explained it quite well in the boardroom - I could understand what she meant, there are some cultures that are perceived by some (rightly or wrongly) to celebrate children more than others - Italy for example.

I think the people that don't like Susan, for whatever reason, just jumped on that immediately. Personally I'm quite ambivalent about her, she is clearly intelligent, gutsy but also naive. I dont think she will win but I do think LS will invest in her after the show.

And of course France...


It's nothing to do with not liking Susan, for me at least. I don't like or dislike any of them (well apart from Natasha ). We can all of us only comment on what we see on TV.

People don't all know the same stuff. You may have known all about French culture from an early age. Not everyone does, and that doesn't make them fools.

Actually it should have been: Are the French as concerned about products for children as the English.

The French are probably more family orientated than the British. In addition, with the increased use of public transport, a carseat in a backpack is probably even more useful to the French than the British.

A practical product is always more likely to sell in a mass market place than something like the teapot lampshade!!

What Country is it that dosent like their children?

Some people - those who want to take their children into pubs - would say Britain.

Although, as I pointed out previously, it's more a matter of not liking other people's children'.

I agree.

Watched it again last night - it's quite interesting to see the evolution of the quote, Susan actually said "are the French fond of their children", then when Karen reported to the camera it was "do the French like their children" and then to LS as "do the French love their children".

I don't know if ancient Spartans were fond of their children, but as state policy and with the concurrence of parents, weak male children looking unlikely to grow into strong Spartan warriors were taken to the mountain top and flung over the edge. Female children who did not match high standards did not come off much better. For sure Team Logic would not have sold many child seats in Sparta.

"Are the Spartans fond of their children?"

would have been a shrewd marketing question for time-travelling salespersons.