As much as I'm enjoying the series, there was a bit of a sour note in the boardroom this week for me.

It came when Jade started referring to her intended business plan, and how much it would earn the Lordster.

Did this have any impact on LawSurAlan and her last minute survival from a firing?
Should the candidates be able to use their plans in this way at all?

It used to be them selling themselves as a worthwhile employee, but that is no longer the case, so should the tasks remain as there are?

Personally, I'm still very unclear as to how much of a view LawSurAlan gets of the plans prior to the series, and what influence it may have on his views.

Also, if I remember rightly, wasn't Tom's plan last year changed at the last moment to fit in with the Lordster's suggestion? Which makes the whole thing a bit of a farce...

I know this has been discussed in other threads, but it's not really bothered me until Jade started using it as a bargaining tool in this weeks show.

What do other people think?

Have we actually been told whether he sees them or not?

There's too much explaining away of decisions people don't like by referring to business plans. If any of the firings of Karen, Shazia, Miriam, Liz Locke, Simon Smith, Naomi Whatserface, Sara, Raef or Howard or Whoever St.Victim had happened in this series it would have been written off as being because of a faulty "business plan" on their half.

In fact I doubt the business plans really matter that much - Tom's certainly didn't, because it's never happened and never will. What he won for was something business and background related on his CV that caught Lordalan's eye extraneous to the whole process of the show. This was also true for Michelle (started her own succesful business, earnt loads of money, overcame a difficult upbringing), Simon (was already in property, a self-starter, Oxbridge educated, high IQ), Yasmina (started her own succesful business and was entrepreneurial), and Stella (overcame a tough childhood to get a well-paid job with a top company) at the very least. Tom just forced the issue into peoples minds because he was really crap at the show, whereas every other winner that won partly for outside factors was at least above-average at it.

All fair points, but I wasn't really bothered if Jade went or not TBH.
All my faves went weeks ago ...

My only real concern was that she tried to use the supposed brilliance of her plan as a "bargaining chip", and that didn't seem acceptable or appropriate to me.
Maybe it's the case of a "slap-on-the-wrist" for those candidates that do that, or is this now seen as a viable ... wait-for-it ... strategy!!

I think the problem is that they have to keep even basic details of the business plans "under wraps" for television purposes so they can have a dramatic/comedic reveal of what they are in the final episode. If they were allowed to discuss their business plan like a normal person would then it'd feel less shifty I think. It always sounds a bit like they're teasing him with it without putting all their cards on the table, when really (as he said in episode 1) he already knows full well what it is, and Jade was just reaching around desperately in her bag for anything to say to make herself look enthusiastic.

I agree completely. Too many FMs blame the prize change and say Tom only won because of that having not done well in the tasks. But the tasks are an elimination procedure. who is best each week is immaterial, it's who is worst, and Tom never was.

Is the prize really that different? Before it was a six figure salary job (or non-job) with Sugar (or more accurately at one of his enterprises). Now it's a £250K investment from him, and no doubt he's careful how he releases the funds. You won't be able to draw much salary to begin with. The business plan itself may not be that important if he sees a spark of genuine enterprise in one of the finalists.

It's always been a showcase for the candidates, like Katie Hopkins who clearly had no interest in the job prize when it came down to the final two.

Yup he said it in the first episode.

LS did say at the start that he had seen their business plans.

The person with the seemingly best business plan at the start might come across as a total numpty. The opposite can happen like last year, the best overall performer had a naff business plan and so came second.

Therefore I reckon he has picked a top 5 out of the business plans and is watching them to see how those candidates get on.

I think its impact was negative. He shut her down because it wasn't what that boardroom was supposed to be about. It didn't tell him anything new because he'd already evaluated all the plans; applicants with poor plans were rejected before they got to this stage.


I think saying "I'd be a great apprentice/employee" is as bad as saying they have a great plan. It's the same thing.

I also think they are wrong to say they'll work hard, they're creative or whatever. Anything abstract is wrong. I think they are supposed to point to concrete achievements they have made during the process.


Helen changed her plan at the last minute. That may have cost her the win. Her original plan was related to her background in baking, so was probably more viable.

This is most likely IMO!

Also Tom was not awful! Every week we saw him make suggestions that were ignored, every week we found if the others had listened there was a strong chance they'd have won.

I agree with a pp who said that Tom was never the worst. It's a good point! Hence why there isn't a prize or accolade for being the best that week! LS isn't necessarily looking for the best one, but rather the one who doesn't make mistakes and who makes the right call.

The only thing Tom was guilty of was not asserting himself enough, which he said he'd learned from the show, so one could argue he had the ideas, the plan, the business knowledge and the experience and feedback from the show gave him the confidence and ability to speak out making him the perfect candidate to invest in.

Overall though, now that LS investing in a business it makes sense that the focus will go from great salespeople to people with more of a creative edge. Maybe the tasks should reflect this more and we should have more designing and pitching tasks and less selling selling selling tasks. (although i love the selling ones) Gabrielle for example would be out by now if he was offering a job. The creatives rarely made it to the interview stage under the old system.