I agree. Besides, I think Natasha would have torn Melody up, in my opinion. There are a lot of strong women left: Helen, Natasha, Zoey, and unfortunately, I don't count Melody as 'strong'.

He made a decision that they should chose who did the presentation at random. Maybe that was not the best way to do it although if he was unaware of Natasha's ability it wasn't that stupid. Obsessing about the method they chose to generate that random decision is pointless and demonstrates a lack of ability to see the real problem.


Except that in the real business world people do have time to think and will only in very rare circumstances (often, themselves, brought about by lack of planning), will they need to make a very quick decision.

If you want to be a barrow-boy or Del-Boy type trader, yes, you will need to make decisions on the spot. A more considered approach will get you father in any business with real potential.

Interesting. I'd rate Melody over Natasha generally, and I also think Melody contributed more on this task. Natasha didn't seem to contribute anything. In fact, the only worthwhile thing I remember from her was the advert on the pet food task. And even then she seemed to be twisting it in the boardroom. Melody had two faults: poor market research, and lack of teamwork. Lack of teamwork was arguably not a big fault on a task that emphasised individual order books. Lord Sugar has a history of firing people who do nothing over people who do stuff wrong. So I think Natasha would go over Melody. I'll be surprised if she makes the interview round.

Having recently viewed the episode, I was shocked at the nonsense that LS came up with in the boardroom.

His comment, that in the past he dealt with foreign companies(eg Taiwan) without speaking their language, was not a valid comparison. Those companies would routinely have to deal with foreign(to them) countries and so English would be a natural language to deal in. The apprentices were trying to deal with local Paris shopkeepers who would be unlikely to be selling to tourists, just local French speakers. At the time of any initial contact, it would be completely unknown whether the person could speak any English. Therefore only Melody could make the phone calls. This meant that Leon was completely shut out. She then insisted that only she be allowed to progress with the contacts, that only she could have made. Two of them were unable to make their own contacts as they were (in London?) checking out the potential products. It was not a sales team of 4, each of whom had been assigned an area, but only one person had generated possible contacts. It can't always be down to how much an individual generates in sales, as in such a short period of time, it can be more a matter of luck of finding someone who is prepared to buy a larger quantity. A view of sales over a longer period would tend to balance out the element of luck. An example of the 'luck' factor was in the 'Rubbish' task, where one team found someone who wanted to get rid of several copper tanks at the same time. How often would that be likely to happen?

If one of the guys had acted in the manner which Melody did, would their behaviour be looked upon in that favourable a manner, especially if it was directed at one of the girls?

The point is that Tom should have told her what is happening. I would have liked him to say "If you don't like it, tough. You were in France and that was your role. With that, leave your greed aside and leave me to manage the project appropriately." Melody shouldn't (have been allowed to) overrule Tom and the whole team like that.

Melody's behaviour and comments regarding the appoints that she made was complete irrelevant crap, but someone should have been speaking up. The team had allowed it to happen. I was hoping to see Leon all over the phone "Hello, do you speak English - No? Dammit. For you Melody" and on to the next one. Leon was shut out yes, but he didn't commit himself either.

Whoever did the presentation to the big buyer had the potential to get the biggest sales. It was not as if each individual got their own chance to get the big sale. Also as 2 of each team was viewing products, those 2 had less of a chance to make sales of their own. The task could only be viewed as a team effort and not what an particular individual sold. There have been occasions where a person has been unfairly criticised for doing little, when they have had no other option as a result of the task they had been assigned.

I should imagine that coming up with the possible initial contacts would require reading French, which if Melody so decided(and she did), would again shut Leon out. If Leon had asked Melody for some of those contacts, he would have probably have been accused of bullying. How could any of the others make sales when they were completely shut out, for one reason or another.

Melody hogging the appointments didn't imo affect the reason the team lost i.e. I think Melody is the best salesperson on the team. I would have criticised her for the research although Glenn is also at fault here and possibly not making enough appointments (although other Apprentice tasks have shown that they have not succeeded in getting more appointments). The Project Manager allowed this to happen. At 6pm when he hadn't had the reasearch he should have chased it up. Tom should of asked who the demographic of the research panel was.

In summary she was greedy and not managed well but that was for Tom to do.

Oh and if Tom was clever he would have put his foot down and made Melody do the LR pitch thus it would have motivated her to do the research I think she is the best a pitching.

But did he ask? Why should he care if he's accused of bullying from of all people, Melody, for asking to contribute? You can almost picture it. "Melody, can I have some numbers to call, I feel like a spare part and can't read this thing" - "No Leon, stop harassing me". That would get laughed out of the boardroom and Nick would have backed Leon for trying.

He's part of a team and needed to act more. Did you not see others driving up and down looking for shops? - Susan making a large sale purely by discovery. Susan's team were gutted towards the end of the task when they saw all those phone shops. It's much worse doing nothing than trying and not getting far.

Bigger retailers will have French people who speak English, but trying to find your own contacts in Paris will by and large have you dealing with people who either don't speak English or don't want to. What does a person on the phone care if some English person is calling them and won't speak French? The French are very reluctant to speak English and expect most people to try to speak French. There are some exceptions to that general rule but it holds true for most cases.

Under normal circumstances Melody should have been assigned the communication side of the task as she had the most skill in that area, and it should have been made clear that any work she did on that score would be shared out to everyone. If it wasn't made clear in advance and she tried to take it all for herself she should then have been told what's what.

I think Tom tries to be very fair to people and got taken advantage of. I personally see this as a great trait to have and is exactly the kind of person I would do business with. However LS had made it clear over the years that he is a far more pushy and less principled person. So it's probably right that he does prefer the Melodies of this world. Let those kinds of people all flock together and tear each other's eyes out if that's what makes them happy.

If I were to choose myself I'd have a Tom, a Leon and a Felicity in my business any day.

Sugar is warming to Melody, I think she is becoming a person who will anything to win, I admire her for that....

He will turn on her, and it will be no more than she deserves.
There's more to it than winning personally, she should have been interested in making sure her team wins but her approach was the reason they stood no chance.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't this thread need to be retitled? Can't remember Alan saying any of that to be honest.

Who is obsessing........he needs to grow a pair, paper scissors stone is a major cop out, he was PM for chrissake
He needs to do something or he's next for the chop, he can't sell and he is full of bright ideas.......after the event.

He states that "he's gonna be bigger than James Dyson" what utter tosh. Spoken by a pr*ck with an over inflated opinion of his abilities. He has been on the losing team 7 times.
His consistent lack of performance is the reason why.

You are backing a dead horse with this one my friend, Helen beats this twunt hands down.

Its not true in business. It may be true when you ask bloke in the streets of Paris the way to the bus station.

The language of global business is English. When an Italian designer wants to sell to a Japanese manufacturer, they will often speak in English, when a German engineer pitches to a Chinese developer, they speak most commonly in English.

You completely missed the point I was making. IF he decided to chose the pitcher at random, that is the thing to hit him with, not the particular method used to make the random choice.


Except that I'm not backing him. I'm very definitely backing Helen.

It just amuses me that so many people obsess about RPS when that's only incidental to the real problem.

It would be rather like someone murdering someone with some implement and everyone criticising them for their choice of weapon rather than the fact they had killed someone.

Stop calling me "Father" I've told you before Jepson.........I've no idea who he is........."it were dark round back o chip shop"

I used to work for someone who built an international business with a Market cap of £1.4billion who made decisions on the hoof and relied on gut instinct rather than lots of Market reviews, focus groups and endless management meetings.
Then again what does he know........ You seem to be the apprentice business guru, ever thought of applying?

I don't back Tom, but I totally agree with Jepson on how irrelevant it is how he decided on something that he already wanted to decide randomly anyway. It's a really poor effort at attacking him. Bright ideas after the event? Well, he consistently has put forward plans that would have won the task, or at the least, saved embarrassment, but he doesn't push them enough.

His opinion and thought processes go a miss, and we all know that he's clever in business. His weakness is lack of emotive drive. With that, you get no sales, no push, no conviction. Melody can sell sure, but she's willing to completely abandon other aspects and lie to either stand out or stab people in the back. Everything else you've said, well that's up to you. I'm with you on Helen. You sound a little passionate in your hatred on Tom there and I don't have much else to say.

I think you missed the point
He had NO CRITERIA for his decision, none, zilch nada.

But you could tell that he was Sh*t scared of doing it. The success or failure of the team is always down to the quality of the pitch to Sralans set appointments, any idiot knows it.
He is a bottler of the highest order. The three worst ways he could have decided were
Toss a coin
Draw a straw
Or paper scissors stone

What is he 12 years old ?

If he didn't want to do the pitch, why wouldn't he have said, "Natasha, I'd like you to do the pitch as I feel you'd be better at it, because X, Y and Z"?

Doing RPS gives him a 50% chance of doing it. 50% is a high risk and while Tom maybe easy for them to intimidate or influence, he isn't as stupid to not know how high 50% risk is. Move your hatred away from the RPS point because that 'point' just does not work.

Pitching is way beyond his comfort zone.
Its disappointing that you confuse a critique for hatred, but you are young....... You'll learn with to time.

It's an entertainment show and nothing more
Tom is mildly entertaining but only from a f*ckwittery perspective.
Helen is the only serious candidate Imho

Pitching was way beyond Simon Ambrose's comfort zone. It was way beyond Lee McQueen's comfort zone. They had character and messed about quite a bit. The instant Tom makes a random decision by way of RPS he becomes immature and incapable of making a serious decision? The point is too hard to nail down. I'm confusing critique? I strongly dislike Melody but I never thought about calling her any equivalent of "pr*ck" or a "twunt" (knowing what you were insinuating). You're right, he does need to grow a pair, or at least demonstrate it, but that's pretty much all. He's not the only one with that lack of drive being demonstrated. My "confusion"/opinion of your hatred to Tom only comes from your expression and concentration of aggression on him; which is quite high, so I wouldn't say I'm confused at all.

I think Melody could actually become a serious character, just like Claire Young did. Also, why do you look at my age and assume that inexperience and lack of knowledge go hand in hand and becomes a factor? My opinion has to be a certain of number of years over 22 to become relevant to you? I didn't see the need to get personal and I think that's rather naive.

tom is so likeable tho, he's just not a 'tiger' like melody

shame really that there aren't more kindly/ thoughtful people like him in business

There are, they normally run tea shops or a sub post office in ruralshire

true

just not in the city so much