Lord Sugar mentioned at the start that he has seen their business plans, which was an interesting comment because last season I think many of us believed one finalist had a product and business idea already prepared where as the other finalist came up with an idea just or the final.

Normally he just talks about CVs.

So are we to assume they've all submitted a business plan?

And if so.. it would appear to make a bit of a mockery of the process as surely Lord Sugar has already decided which couple of the ideas are most likely to work?

Then again this show always has been 'for TV'. So carry on.

Im pretty sure this is the same as last season.
They all had business plans from day 1 last year.

Hrm I didn't get that impression in the final.. it was as if she came up with the idea over night where as the winner had been working on his product for months. Plus part of the final was that they submitted the plan to Lord Sugar. But he has already mentioned looking at their plans in Episode 1... so something is different this time around.

He also said he liked all of their business plans. So, he wouldn't have picked them if he didn't like the business plans. So not as suspicious as last year, imo.

Last series Lord Sugar would have seen Tom's CV and what he had done in the past. Tom was a lovely bloke but such a failure in the tasks. No way would he have made the final if Lord Sugar hadn't seen his CV. Lord S didn't choose any of the business plans presented in the final. He chose Tom from the very beginning based on the what he'd seen on his CV i.e. his invention and success in the US.

So the last series didn't do what it 'said on the tin'. This series he has made it clear he has seen and likes all the business proposals. So we will have to wait and see what happens.

The switch to 'investment' from 'job' seemed to catch some of last years contestants out - esp. Helen. I assume this year they will be well prepared.
What did make it a mockery though, was it became clear that Sugar was actually interested in Tom's existing nail file product, not the back friendly chair business plan he submitted for the final.

Which means no matter what the others did, Tom was aways going to win.

And yet Tom was only chosen for the final boardroom once.

You can put in a strong showing without winning loads of tasks. Chris Bates managed it. Ruth Badger managed it. Harry Maxwell impressed Lord Sugar despite a 100% 7/7 loss record... this shouldn't really be new news.

When you've got eight other voices pulling every task in umpteen different directions, your on-paper record stops meaning a lot. Especially Tom, who was constantly dragged down by his teammates - most notably inasmuch as he'd have had a flawless record as project manager if Melody hadn't straight-up lied to him about the market research and talked him out of the winning product.

The reverse can be true, too. Lucinda Ledgerwood had the best record of any candidate ever (at the time), including a loss as PM where everyone praised her ability. And then she was the only candidate to be fired at the interviews. The numbers have never been as important as table-makers tend to think they are. They're trivia. It's not a maths game.

I can see what you're saying but I still think all along Lord Sugar wanted Tom's invention.

Agreed; it's a bit more upfront to say that he's seen their business plans.

The change from the prize being a job to being an investment does change the dynamic though. Whilst he said he liked all their business plans he will no doubt be favouring some over others, which could prove interesting for him if the person with a favoured plan looks like being fired at some point.

Absolutely right. Helen had been so good and then she had a plan for a business that was never going to work being labour intensive and for which there was no demand, AND that was a service product when Sir Alan is all about actual goods. Helen's plan would never have got her into the game. Maybe Billyanna's was so awful that's why he fired her because I thought her going was pretty unjust.

Mentioning he has seen the business plans already makes more sense than pretending they drafted them at the last minute, like last year. However if he'd have seen Helen's "plan" in advance how would she have got in to the competition, let alone to the final?

As for the "Tom was always going to win" theory, no doubt Sugar also felt Susan's cosmetics business was a potential winner. People forget Tom performed well in most tasks despite losing, and frequently identified the problems during them but was overruled or ignored.

Clearly it's one thing to write a good business plan but quite another to show you have the ability to carry it out. That's what the tasks are all about. So it's certainly not a pre-ordained result as some imagine. After all in the previous set up he'd have seen all their CVs and so would have a good idea who would be the best.

Didn't Helen originally have a bakery business plan, but then she changed it to the concierge thing at the last minute?

Maybe he's seen all the biz plans, but doesn't know by wich person they were submitted?

Haha that would be a great twist!
My impression last year was that LS already knew their business plans but the 'overnight' drama thing of them working on their plans was them putting the figures on them, specifics etc.to submit as a firm proposition. So he would have known about the nail file from Toms CV but maybe only had a one-line explanation of his chair proposal.

Having said that, if he knew about them last year I have no idea why he would have taken Jim to the final as he practically dismissed his proposal out of hand iirc.

*shoots own theory in foot*

Probably because her employer, Greggs THE BAKER, took amiss about giving her leave of absence from her job so that she could develop a bakery business with Sir Alan!

Mine too. And I think that although the candidates knew about the change before filming began, it was still relatively late. Some of them probably applied before they knew. This time they've known a year in advance so should be much better prepared.


I doubt he cares that much. As long as they aren't totally bonkers and impractical, I think the person matters more than the idea, and Lord Sugar doesn't need to care whether it makes £5m or £50m.

It's not his losses, but the fact that he was generally useless.

Couldn't agree more.


I also very much agree with this part of your post.


I think there's a very good chance of that too.


It does indeed, totally. I think last series the change in emphasis was fudged deliberately so as not to totally undermine the premise of the show. Now this series we're getting more of the truth, presumably because we've now been halfway 'prepared' for it

It's just an entertainment show to me now, any last pretence of it being anything more than that has not only gone out the window, it's taken the window, the wall, and most of the carpet with it, and flown off to the moon!!

I don't believe in this process any more. Lord Sugar says he has seen the business proposals. Does he also know who submitted which proposal?

"The process" is still to find the best business person. They could have a brilliant plan but no practical idea how to implement it. Or they could turn out to be impossible to work with. He's investing in the person's skills, not the initial idea they have.

I don't think it matters whether Sugar knows who wrote which plan. It would probably be obvious from their CVs anyway. Basically all the contenders have to have a credible business plan at the start, then prove they have business sense in the tasks.

Tom would have been out near the beginning without his product design and business plan idea which was obviously streets ahead of everyone elses last year.

The whole concept of the show has now changed. Sugar is not going to offer a job to anyone again. Its now a bit like Dragons Den with tasks.

I hope that it is a bit more even this year and that the business ideas are good. They should have a show where they are all pitching their ideas and going through the figures with Sugar rather than the CV scrutiny show which is rather less relevant now.

The final last year was them being grilled over their business plans. It's what caught Jedi Jim out because of his pandering to Sugar in using the "AMS" brand name in his pitch.

That sounds really sensible. But none of last year's finalists had a good enough business plan because Lord Sugar ditched the lot of them and went for a previous invention/business idea of Tom's. Tom hardly shone in the tasks. So where's the logic in that? I'm not sure what Lord Sugar wants anymore. He moves the goalposts so often.

The CV scrutiny was less relevant when, a few years ago the interviewer checked out someone's (Lee?) CV. They had lied but still won!