I can't believe how weak willed Tom was, I would have had Melody in tears (but that will probably come as no surprise to some of you who have me down as mysogynis (why is that so hard to spell?)

Anyway back to my point, she stated that SHE set up the appointments so she should go to them, and Tom and Natasha should find their own.

I wouldnt have let her get away with this in a million years.

In fact I would have said ...... well WE found the products, the details of which we won't share with you MELODY, so good luck with whatever it is you find to sell.

Its ridiculous Tom let her get away with this ...... Tom and Natasha didnt have the opportunity to set up appointments as they were in London sourcing the products, even if you include the time on the train to set up appointments, its still far less time than Melody had. So no way would I have let her try that on.

No offensive, but Tom and Natasha were crap at the meetings they actually went too.

Even if you hate her, Melody gave 100% to the task, and sold the most of her team, and probably more than Zoe and Jim. She picked the best places to go to with the objects they had, and sold the projects.

Natasha and Tom on the other side were pathetic in their pitches. Plus they had all day to get appointments for themselves, if they didnt moan that they didnt have any and actaully went a got some, they might of been okay.

But that has nothing to do with my argument.

The fact Tom and Natasha are rubbish at something is neither here nor there. The fact of the matter is Tom and Natasha had far less time to set up meetings, were not under the same pressure as Tom and Natasha to source the right product ...... so why should she be given a head start. Thats like me running the London Marathon, but getting to start a few miles up the road.

p.s Tom and Natasha didnt have all DAY. Or did you miss the bit about product selection? It was on at the start, just after the meeting at the train station scene.

Melody gave them a few of the meetings she got. At the end of the day this is not a team game, its showing your the best business person, and you have to be ruthless in this process.

From my memory (been up all night so cant recall), didnt Melody tell them her and leon were keeping the meetings on the end of day 1, when Natasha and thingy come. They had all the next morning to makes meetings for the afternoon

Again with the exaggeration ...... they didnt give them a FEW ..... lets get the facts straight. They gave them 1 and why? Because they couldnt make that meeting, it was nothing to do with the goodness of their heart. They would never have even given them that if they hadnt been held up in traffic.

Also again youve missed my point, so I'm not going to go through it with you again after this. Saying Tom and Natasha had all morning to set up meetings for the afternoon is hardly fair when Melody had ALL day to set up meetings and with Leon a passenger it meant she alone had all day to set up meetings, while Tom and Natasha had far less time AND had to split any meetings they found amongst themselves since they didnt get a 'Leon' who was along for the ride.

Please if you reply, at least tell me you get this point, otherwise we can't progress any further with the debate.

You are completely correct Aussie Dave...see my separate post last night under the "Tom is Weak" thread. He should have told her that she may have had the sales appts but he had the products and she therefore had nothing to sell.

A classic example of the sales team assuming they are the be-all-and-end-all of the business and that they in some way "own" the customer.

He should have told her where to get off.

Yes, yes, of course you would.

Natasha was really quiet in the Paris task. She was not really like "natasha" that we normally saw from the previous episodes.

You are quite right OP - Melody was doing a job for the team, as they all were. Tom should have made it clear to her that they would share out the appointments that she had secured. I'm sure she would still have had the ability to hang on to the plum ones for herself. She's playing a dangerous game by not being in any way a team player - AS will not take her on in a million years.

I would let Melody crawl over me and back. Hang on, whats the thread about again?

I think Lord S threw Tom a lifeline by firing Leon instead of him last night because he really didn't want to let him go just now. As much as some of us love Tom he didn't really assert himself as PM so ordinarily he would've probably been fired.

He lives to fight another week! Hurrah!

You're not allowed to hit your fellow team members.

She was very quiet throughout this week, unlike when she had plenty to say in previous weeks

Next week - 'Hopscotch: This time it's personal'.

She gave Tom and Natasha ONE of the meetings she arranged - and only because she realised she didn't have time to get to it with all the traffic( made up of the cars Parisians don't use according to her) - and when they got there - the products weren't the sort of thing the shop sold anyway.

The brief for the Paris team was to set up meetings for everyone (as Jim and Helen did for Venture) as the other half of the team was busy dealing with product selection and didn't get to Paris until the evening. The reason Venture won - was that they worked as a TEAM - not a one man band. Even with Leon she was only letting him have the low value postcard sales - and didn't seem happy when he asked if he could do the lamps for a change.

Granted Venture had the best product to sell (but I don't think Logic would have done as well with it as they were useless at pitching.

Either way - Melody and her "I know best!" attitude lost them the task. Nick's comments about the way she was dismissing the suggestions Tom was making out of hand should be noted. She did everything she could to undermine his leadership, ignored instructions and refused to share the pitches. Had the others gone in more prepared to La Redoute (Tom had specifically asked them to research the company) they might have done better on their pitch, and in fact had she actually mentioned La Redoute to Leon - he would have known as he said on YF that he had actually worked for them....

Arrogant condescending moo!

Hang on a mo.

Tom was the PM. He allowed Melody to keep the apointments for herself. More fool him as far as I'm concerned.

As for the lack of research on La Redoute, again, Tom as PM was in a position to make sure that they didn't go in there without the research at hand.

I have to agree with you here. The actual fault lay with Tom who should have told exactly where she could stick some of these jobs she wasnt sharing .... if I was team leader there would have been no debate. She either shared or she would not be allowed any of the prototypes to take with her (lets see how many sales you can make from a drawing on a piece of paper) and I would have told her that I would be raising her beligerance and refusal to be a team member in the boardroom.

I would have also reminded her that while she was busy making appointments, both myself (if I was Tom) and Natasha were choosing products for HER pitches so she would have something to sell. So therefore up to the point where all team members were in Paris, anything achieved to that date should have been a group effort and shared equally.

Look at the start of the task where Tom was dreading being PM. Well too bad, so sad ....... Tom only survived because apart from bringing a sun lounger, Leon couldnt have been more laid back if he tried.

The abiding image I have of Tom on that task was of him running his fingers through his hair in that "oh b*llocks, I've lost the plot and it's all too much" kind of way.

Oh aussie_dave .... I agree with you

Melody is a real arrogant piece, but unfortunately Tom was useless and allowed her to take over. He seems to want to hide in the background and be correct after the event. His reluctance to step up is quite shocking. How will he ever run his own business if he is frightened of putting himself out there ?

Having said that, Melody will have been set up for a fall by LordSiralan. Greediness arrogance and a poor relationship with the truth will get her nowhere fast.

Dropping the phone with clumsy nervousness while saying everything is fine made me laugh.

Bon holiday !

He is about as useful as an ashtray on a motorbike.