The fair question:

"Is this car booster seat/backpack a good product?"

The usual answer:

"Yes"

The conclusion:

"Sell the product!"

-----------------------

The unfair question:

"Do more people in Paris use the car or metro?"

The usual answer:

"Metro"

The stupid and manipulative conclusion:

"Nobody wants a car booster seat in Paris"

I can't believe this wasn't brought up in the boardroom, it was a shockingly manipulative bit of research by Melody.

Where was she doing the research? Because to me it looked like it was in a metro station I may be wrong.

And also she lied, the translation to one answer said 'very good' and she turned to Leon and said 'She thinks it's ok' and shrugged!

It was stupid. They showed her ask about 5 people whether they thought the light was a good idea or the booster seat come back pack. They thought the booster seat was better clearly.
Melody was not convinced even with the overwhelming evidence so changed her questions to suit her opinion. She bullied her way through the whole task.
Also Tom asked her to do research on the french department store and she didn't, she got it completely wrong.

Even better was her reaction when she actually saw the teapot light she'd pushed for. She must have realised then she'd backed a loser.

Is the fairest question (not the best mind!) not "what do you think of the product" - if you asked "do you think this is a bad product?" it would be seeking a negative answer just as "do you think this is a good product" looks for a positive.

Who taught her this approach? Was it:
1. Al Gore,
2. Desmond Tutu, or
3. The Dalai Lama?

As there is something of the "Sound of one hand clapping" about it I suspect 3.

In fairness to her, the light was something incredibly British, and as we all know the French adore anything to do with us... don't they? :S

'French is easy to speak, difficult to understand'.

With that one sentence she had Leon wrapped around her finger.

I am really wondering how stupid Melody actually was on this task to do with the research?.

As Nick wasnt there, I believe she deliberately put the kybosh on it to screw Tom up.

She wasn't stupid at all; she was incredibly manipulative, taking advantage of Leon's lack of French (and his laziness, to be honest).

As you say, had Nick - a French speaker - been there, she wouldn't have got away with it. Even if he'd have said nothing at the time (the eyebrows would have come into play though), he'd have brought it up in the boardroom.

If Nick couldn't be there in person, couldn't he have just sent his eyebrows to stand in for him?

I think she said the opposite.

And if she did she's partly right because if the French speak simply you can understand them with fairly poor French whereas it's hard to get across anything other than the basics.

This is why I find it odd that when a team splits like this, there isnt someone to take the place of Nick or Karren.

Surely an "understudy" for those two wouldnt go amiss, as several times, it seems that when they are not around the more "outspoken" characters get away with near murder.

Melody killed her teams chances of victory, and for all of Sugars liking her "fire" she would be a liability to a business with the "me me" attitude she displayed.

I can see that if Melody does get her comeuppance come interview time, Sugar will do what he did with Baggsy and suddenly "realise" that he was being lied to.

I don't think it's quite the same situation.

In Bagg's case he regretted firing whomever he did in place of Baggs.

In this case Leon had proved to be such a waste of space that I doubt he'd hold his departure against Melody.

True it isnt.

But I really hope that Melody does get her marching orders, and that Sugar realises that her much vaunted "fire" so beloved by Sugar doesnt excuse her lying through her teeth at any opportunity.

Baggs was saved at the expense of Liz - who had been widely expected to be in the final with Stella, so quite a shocker.
When alls said and done theres no way Melody should have gone over Leon, and, imho, she should have stayed over Tom too. I do think she has blotted her copybook now and I doubt she'll make it beyond interviews.
Pretty please she does make interviews though - I can't wait for Claude to probe her on her illustrious tutors like The Dalai Lama and St Francis of Assisi

That's exactly what I said while I was watching it!

No doubt, and I'm sure they would have done a splendid job. If his eyebrows were unavailable, I'm sure his pursed lips could have been understudy.

If I were a member of the camera crew, I would be sorely tempted to dob Melody in.

I always suspected that Sralan - or at least Nick and Karren - had a quick look through the film footage prior to taking them into the boardroom. If they don't, perhaps they should!

I totally agree that Leon was hopeless, and quite rightly was fired, and Tom only survived due to how poor Leon was.

The problem though is that for all Toms weakness, the true loser of the task was Melody. Her so called "research" was such a sham, it only leads to 2 things, either she was so lazy she just couldnt be arsed to look into La Redoute, or she thought it was an ideal way of cocking the task up without laying the blame on her shoulders (if the 2nd choice it worked a charm) and getting one of the others fired.

This is terrible to admit, but every series I seem to really dislike a candidate, but this time I have 2 that really get my goat in Melody and Zoe.

Knowing my less than stellar record in picking finalists and winners, those two will walk the rest of the show....

Excellent.....

Your post gave me a real laugh......

The problem is having a 'quick' look.

There will probably be > 100 hours of video per task. (2 cameras x 4 sub teams x 2 days x 12 hours - set up time) and the one, telling, moment could be a couple of seconds anywhere in that.

Yes, I think you're right. Perhaps they either need to look at the footage in more depth (if indeed they look at it at all), or have extra "Nick"s and "Karren"s to split off and report back on what the sub-teams are up to.

It was not market research it was asking some people a loaded question about a product they have not seen and as such was meaningless.

This should have been brought up and the fact that Melody repeatedly paraded this charade as market research tells you all you need know about her and her bogus company.

Well if you noticed they came back from Paris in the evening after their day of selling (or trying to sell!) - but when they went into the boardroom they all said "Good Afternoon Lord Sugar.... so LS Nick and Karren would have had the time thein the morning to go through the rushes or be briefed about what happened when Nick and Karren weren't around.