Luisa probably is over 50... that's why she's so proud of her looks, and fake nails and fake boobs and everything

I thought last night clearly showed that there is little in the way of creativity or imagination amongst this batch of candidates. They just stereotype everyone and last night couldn't even be bothered to distinguish between 50 somethings and 70 somethings, treating them like one homongenous mass. Most 50 somethings are still working, often quite high up the career ladder; still have good social lives, go to the gym, follow fashion (but not slavishly), watch programmes like the Xfactor or Homelands, enjoy a couple of drinks etc. There is no way someone in their 50s would be enticed by a dating website called Friendship and Flowers with Joe who enjoys collecting antiques and fishing as their 'cover guy'.
In fact, a lot of 70+ people would have found Luisa et al's website and ad insulting and patronising.

What they really needed for this task was Haya to be Project Manager. A task like this, you really need someone who spends a lot of time with their grandma and knows what old people want...

Indeed. A shame Jason didn't stick to his guns.

On the subject of focus groups, it appeared from the edit that Francesca launched in and asked the group what they thought of their concept, which then led them down the "I don't like it" line.

This is totally the wrong way to conduct a focus group. You don't just launch in and ask them the big question because it's a totally leading question.

The way to approach it is to start with some gentle open questions about whether they have used such sites before, what they would be looking for, what sort of things would reassure them or put them off. Then, once you have warmed them up and established a baseline, you show them the concept and ask them to comment. (Again, open questions, not "Do you like it, then?")

The problem with launching straight in is that if you jump straight to the concept cold you will only ever get surface reactions - and, worse than that, a conversation dominated by one or two people's immediate reaction to it.

I get the sense this is what Francesca and Neil did - indeed, it's what most Apprentice teams seem to do when conducting research. Focus groups are not about jumping quickly to a yes/no answer, they're about getting to understand people's deeper motivations and preferences.

Quite. As someone who is closer to being "over 50" than "under 30", I had to laugh at how badly they misread the market. Because if I'm over 50, successful in my career and with the kind of disposable income that many over 50s have post-kids and post-mortgage, obviously what I want more than anything else is to be treated like I have one foot in the grave.

As has been pointed out by others, Jason had it exactly right when he was looking to create something fun and exciting.

I'm over 50, still got a mortgage, got a bit of disposable income but if that's how the 'youngsters' see us over 50's I'm disappointed.

Indeed. My point is that candidates (not just in this series but in previous ones too) seem to treat the over 50s like some kind of diseased community on the point of death. And yet, on average, they are the most likely to have no dependents, no mortgage and consequently much higher than average disposable income. And even where this isn't true on an individual basis, no one ever wants to think of themselves as "old" or "past it". I'm 42 but in my mind's eye I'm still 20-something (oh, if only it were true!)

It constantly amazes me how the candidates fail to grasp this simple human motivation. Older people (whether 40+, 50+ or 70+) want to think about all the things they can still do and look forward to, not whatever limitations their age may in some cases enforce on them.

I suspect that, as so often on The Apprentice, the issue is time. They may well simply not have the luxury of easing the focus group in due to time limitations.

Also, many contestants won't have had anything to do with focus groups so it's not surprising they don't know how to run them.

True, but "easing them in" need only take 5 or 10 minutes, though. The candidates have to have enough time to ensure the production team gets some useable footage, so I would imagine a few minutes of warm-up questions to get a general feel for the topic wouldn't be too stretching. I would think they're allowed at least half an hour, which is plenty.

Absolutely, most candidates won't have any experience of focus groups. That's my point exactly. For many of them, they would think that focus groups just involve sitting with some people, having a chat and validating/invalidating their concept. That can get you to the right answer, of course, but you stand a much better chance if you run the session 'properly', ask the right sort of open questions and don't rush straight in. I think a lot of candidates think they're doing a good job where in fact a professional researcher would cringe.