I think she's had a lucky run + she has good presenting/pitching skills.

This last task shows her business acumen is almost non-existent, her clumsy attempted coup was embarrassing and her response to it in the post-mortem was quite unpleasant and crude. Her winning the rubbish task was mainly thanks to the other team (led by Zoe) not really getting the task.

She has good qualities but looks like she has been winging it till now

She's an 'executive assistant' ......... do you realise that people on £12k a year are 'executive assistants' ....... shes a glorified secretary who's winged it and thanks to everyone else looking incompetent has done well.

Her record breaking tasks were ok in the past but the truth is the car seat was a product that sold it self, so she only had to give a decent pitch to secure it and the biscuits... well Jim just lied.

Maybe if this was the old apprentice she would be a contender but she doesn't look strong after last night.

Not that surprising - she wouldn't be an executive assistant if she had business acumen- she is an excellent organiser and presenter with a eye for detail.

Based on my previous corporate experiences, I always disliked Executive Assistants & HR people. I just couldn't stand them.

As others have said great for organising, would struggle to sell water to desert nomads.

All her pitch success came from appointments sourced for them.

She might be a well oiled cog in a machine but she can't design that machine.

There's nothing special about her. The "record-breaking pitches" weren't all her, and like in previous series the items have sold for being good products, not because of some miraculous, hypnotic pitch making the businesses order hundreds of thousands of units.

She did nothing of note for the first five or so weeks, then it's suddenly mentioned that she happened to be on the winning team every time and she becomes the Business Messiah.

I was never fooled, shes just a trumped up assistant/PA who would look good with her hair down and in my bedroom.

Helen's only concern on last night's show was preserving her record of never facing Lord Sugar in The Boardroom.

I don't know if Sugar will appreciate this ruthless selfishness or see it as a quality to be admired.

Let's get this into perspective.

She saw there was a problem with the way the task was going and did something off the ceiling to try and correct that.

She didn't physically attack anyone. She didn't start to coast. She didn't sulk. She put forward an idea and when it was rejected she continued to do her best.

It's amazing the number of people who have been whining incessantly that she 'never does anything interesting' and the minute she does they slag her off for it.

If Sugar had any misgivings about the attempted takeover he would have made it very clear. As it was he was, quite rightly, more concerned with their attempting to sell to retailers.

Helen came off the Rails, this week.....but her record on the show, wasn't just a fluke....she is good.

TeamHelen...

I think part of your message is meant for someone else.

I've never whined about Helen not doing anything & I never implied that she attacked anyone.

I merely remarked on how she seemed more preoccupied about not being on the losing team to preserve her record, not necessarily to win the task & help her PM.

Yes, it was really mostly general.

I think she has good presenting and pitching skills, and had an unlucky task. It happens. You notice the 6am start, and how she got little sleep the second night? It's been like that for a month or so now. The process is designed to wear them down so they make mistakes.

In addition, this was a new kind of task. In virtually every other task on the show ever, you had to control your costs and not spend too much on product. This was the first time you could have unsold stock at the end of the day and not be penalised for it. This unexpected twist took her by surprise. And to be fair, neither Natasha or Melody seemed to get it either, and it's not clear that Susan or Tom did. Jim was the only one actively arguing for frequent restocks, and he was on a different team.

I'm mildly surprised at how much criticism she is getting for one poor task.


Helen seemed to have a pretty good understanding of that task, and made sensible bids for the two pre-arranged pitches. She knew not to charge, but also knew not to give away too much. (Zoe's team did well on the second day too.)

On the Biscuit task also, she managed her team well and they ended up with a record sale. Karren made it clear that was down to the product rather than Jim's pitching, and Asda are still praising it now (sans Harry Potter connection).


I think it's more that her contributions have been overlooked. For example, she just mentioned having the idea for the fruit salad they sold on the first task, and that she ran the factory. Most of the time she's quiet and efficient. She did get a great sale on the Paris task, and although the good product helped, we could see her pitch was excellent and Karren praised it too (where-as she criticised Jim's biscuit pitch).