Sometimes I have to wonder at how good or bad Lord Sugars memory is. Don't get me wrong, I have never had a problem with Melody in previous episodes, I have always thought her one of the stronger candidates and still do.

I'm not going to rant about her performance tonight, but what I will say is how much of a hypocrite LAS can be. He said tonight about Melody, "she's a tiger" and "will stand on anybody who gets in her way" and that's what he liked about her. Yet I see Jim doing essentially the same thing. He will do anything to win, he can talk himself very well out of certain situations in the boardroom (something which Melody done similarily tonight) and yet Lord Sugar seems to want his head on a platter but is full of praise for Melody.

He complains that Jim always tries to save himself and never takes resposibility for his actions (which, yes, a lot of the time he does) but I didn't see Melody taking responsibility for not researching the company they were pitching to, or admitting to the fact that the general opinion of her "market research" was more mixed than she led Tom to believe.

I just hate the way Jim gets persecuted every time he opens his mouth by Lord Sugar yet Melody is showered with roses, when they're both essentially doing the same thing: Doing anything to win

The fundamental difference is that when Jim was in the boardroom he performed abysmally on the task.

Sugar admired Melody for being pro-active, having the balls to sell the products. Sugar looked at Leon and Tom and thought "what a bunch of drips!" Melody would look good compared to them even if she is very ruthless.

As for Jim, I think Sugar thinks he's a bit of a bullsh*tter but he's seen potential in him. I don't think Sugar sees Melody as a bullsh*tter. That's the impression I've got.

I thought he saw Jim as manipulative....

I think that the difference with Jim is when he was in the boardroom on a couple of ocassions he has talked people out of bringing him in in the final 3 and Sir Alan has been annoyed that he has influenced others in doing this! Whereas Sir Alan finds Melody ruthless in wanting to win and clever in her selling abilities I think that he sees Jim as sly and manipulative and not so clever and there is a difference!

I think that Meldoy might be more unlikeable than Jim, because Jim has got the gift of the gab, but Melody is definitely more intelligent and very clever!

But there is something that I do like about Melody, even though I cannot put my finger on it! She is definitely one of the best there!

He was using Melody as a stick with which to beat the others. He's used Jim in the same way; it was part of why Vince was fired. He's quite capable of turning on Melody next time.

Melody is trying to win. Jim is trying to save his neck!

I think Melody performed abysmally on this task.
- asking 4 people at a metro station can't really be classed as market research
- she blatantly lied about the '4 person market research' conclusions (i.e. people liked the car seat thing more than the teapot lamp)
- she was meant to make appointments for the team (not just for herself)
- she failed to do a task set by the PM (ie research La Redoute) and then lied about it in the boardroom

I do think that Leon was right to go last night, because he didn't really contribute anything to the task, but I think that, if Tom had bought back Natasha and Melody, Melody should have gone.

The difference between Melody and Jim is that he always tries to get one over. She does not. When she saw a chance to take over from Leon and Tom, she went for it - this is why LAS found it acceptable, not for hypocrisy

I think that Jim's style is very different to Melody's. They might have both got their own way in previous episodes but there isn't much similarity between them otherwise. In the course of Jim's PM episode he was giving asides in the interview segments about how he can control people - when he dealt with them as a group he went around each for an opinion but managed to manipulate the responses.

Melody just steamed ahead - that scene with Tom where he gives her all the pitches, that is brutal. There is no real technique behind it (I imagine Jim sees himself as Derren Brown style operator) she just demanded it.

Jim looks to get the assent of the group before pushing on, forms personal relationships with the team, and then cuts them down in the boardroom. I think Melody is more focused on what she wants and making it happen with less thought about the manner in which it is done. I'd say that sense that Jim is methodically manipulating people, whereas Melody does it as a means to an end and doesnt put much thought into it - makes him less appealing to LS.

Another way of putting is that Melody would push a tree over, whereas Jim would work small cuts around it until it could be tipped it over.

Melody actually lost he task for them, Tom failed to prevent it.

That sums it up perfectly.

Jim is a genius, she isn't. The big difference. Alan Sugar sees Jim as a threat in general. Go jim. FGAU.

As Socha says, your post sums it up perfectly.

nope, tom couldn't have sold it even if he'd had it

neither he nor natasha have helen's patter

Hilarious that you actually think a company is going to p.$$ 200k up the wall because the saleswoman had a nice patter.

God you are so naive.

No, Sugar was right in saying that the task was won and lost by product choice. Helen's patter was just icing on the cake.

From his performance I'd say Tom would have gone for an order of 10 car seats like he did the lamps. I know Tom claimed he wanted Melody & Leon to research the client and this was lacking (though we never actually saw what they did report back). But it should have been obvious from the offices and the fact that five people were sat opposite them that this was no tin-pot little company.

We just don't know how this works.

If I was the producer I would ask each buying company that agreed to take part in the programme to decide how many of the product they would buy and multiply that by a factor derived from a score of their opinion of the pitcher's presentation.

So they would effectively score product choice and sales performance.

In reality, these pitches would really only be for the chance to sell the company your product. It's like pitching to be put on the short list for consideration for supplying a new product as no large company is going to take on something new without considerable research and planning on their own part.

Spot on, if Tom had put his foot down about the child seat his team would have won. He could have got a few brownie points with LS by making Melody share her appointments out. I look forward to seeing how they interact next time. If LS had seen the way Melody had lied about her market research he would, surely have fired her. But then LS knows that for entertainment value we all now want to see her get her comeuppance. I hope she makes it to the interview stage and gets torn to bits. (no real malice intended, honestly).

Well im assuming that the rather large office and the 5 people werent located in some back alley in the middle of nowhere either which should have given them a clue.

It was unforgivable of Tom not to have harrassed Melody about why she hadn't done any research.

de ja vue?

For some tasks, there isn't a real product and they aren't real orders. On this task, I think they are. I believe the phone lady with the web site really did order 1,500 units of the spider thing. She wasn't someone who'd made a prior agreement with the production crew to judge a game with arbitrary rules. She bought on how much money she thought she could make from the product.

The same is probably true for the big pitch the production set up. It's not just the candidates pitching on their own. They are backed by a vendor and I think they are trusting that the production team have done due diligence on the product and its vendor.

I also think the pitch makes a different. Certainly in that case, she would have bought 1,000 rather than 1,500 if Susan hadn't pushed her. I also think the big company would have bought fewer units if Helen had not come back with a compelling reply when they told her it was too expensive. People can be persuaded, and gut instinct has a role; those guys are employed to exercise their judgement.


Helen did exceptionally well. I can't say Tom would have equalled her. However, I do think in the real world he could be an effective pitcher. Normally he would research the product and the buyer, and he'd have all the facts and figures the buyer would be interested in. He'd understand the product and make a compelling case. His style is different, but he has a boyish enthusiasm which can be charming.

It didn't happen here because on this task he was out of his depth.

Anyway, that's what I'd like to think, although I admit his performance in the series has been more promise than delivery.

You may be right. It's hard to tell for certain. I just cannot imagine a company like LR not getting a sample and taking it to pieces to check it out. I checked on their web site and they are not selling it now - if that means anything.

It's not an area of business of which I have personal experience but from what I've heard from a friend who works for a large retailer there is a lot of background work that has to be undertaken before a product is approved.


I agree with all this. But I think Tom's only problem is lack of time. He's a proper businessman in that he thinks, researches and plans. That's his modis operandi and it's hard for anyone who works like that to succeed on TA.

Oh yeah he's really planned, organised & professional. How did it go......... Scissors, paper, stone.

He's pedestrian and lacks dynamism. Whilst he's scratching his head wondering what to do.........someone else has already done it.
A typical un-streetwise chinless wonder