I wondered if the orders for the tasks really go ahead or are they just an exercise? Does anyone know?

They've never been real orders historically.
Though its possible that Morrisons could really like the idea and commission flavoured popcorn - it'd make sense having just had an hours free advert on the BBC for it

No. I imagine the cost of producing a few thousand would be prohibitive. The stores are just told to treat it as if it was a normal meeting when it really isn't.

No. It's all hypothetical. I imagine the stores would want a lot more information on the products if they were ever actually going to place an order on something.

Plus of course in a real world situation they would never get near the buying team in the first place.

How about when they're trying to sell real products though?

I imagine they are followed through as the products already exist.

It doesn't seem real if it isn't real. Like WWE Apprentice.

I was living in a bubble that the orders were actually real.

They can't possibly be. Who would carry on producing them if they proved popular? Plus the costs of doing a small run without a promise of future orders would be prohibitive.

But dont all ideas start this way?

I would imagine that when they are just pitching someone else's product then all they are, are glorified salespeople. So if the supermarket wants 10,000 lamps at the price the manufacturer has told them they can go down to, then they can fulfil the order.

Yes they do. But there is no promise of future orders, are the BBC just supposed to foot the bill for it?