Thats been a problem for years. Chair too high for most humans, chocolates inedible , food tasteless = problems that can be fixed. Chocolates tasty but too expensive, biscuits taste nasty, label wrong, spelling wrong = fatal error.

I think the right team won because the skull and word deadly were a massive, obvious, dangerous mistake and rendered their product unsaleable. What you want the task to do is to sort the silly from the reasonably competent. That task showed Alex as being out of his depth, and Myles as lacking marketing sense.

In this case, the task also seemed set up to suggest that taste didn't matter. Usually they go to a chef who supervises their choice, and either does the work for them or watches over production. This time the choice was made by different people to those cooking the final product, eating specimens cooked by someone else We never know if it would have worked as well as it seemed to when a chef gave them the specimen meals, and the people cooking it had never tasted what it should taste like. Francesca made the cardinal error of masterchef failures by not continually tasting her food to get the spicing right, but there was no way to know whether she was producing what Neil and Luisa had decided on, or for a non chef to find a better version. .

Poppity Ping

I think that that is a problem with a lot of ready meals though. I don't eat ready meals generally; I find that taste is a huge problem with them.

Popty Ping is one of the phrases for Microwave in Welsh, more of a slang term.

MicroDon was the original term.

I am a mum and I think Deadly Dinners was a great concept. I've no idea why the supermarkets thought it was so bad.

You've got it the wrong way round. Lord Sugar is not looking for the ideal business plan to run himself. Rather, he is looking for the best person to run their own business plan to produce a return on his quarter of a million quid.

If you bear that question in mind, the firings seem less random.

Same here.

It was certainly better than Oh My Pow. It was a shame Myles was so stuck on his idea of the packaging and appeared to squash everything Alex suggested, such as putting vegetables in the graphics. That might have lightened the packaging up a bit, it was very dark in all senses of the word. He seemed determined to drive it through exactly as he envisaged it with no compromise at all.

Lol.

I'm a mum and wouldn't ever dream of buying rubbish for my children.
The skull was a massive no-no from me.

To be fair, my mum never bought ready meals. To some people, it wouldn't matter what the packaging looked like or what was in it, as ready meals are just not some people's thing (me included).

I have no problem with ready-meals and do buy them when pushed for time and to keep in the freezer for emergencies,
I'd never ever buy (no matter the level of kids' pressure) a product with skulls on it.
What sensible parent would?

Yep, as I said on another thread I don't buy ready meals for my kids... But that is the only reason I wouldn't buy Deadly Dinners, nothing to do with the packaging.

I'd buy my kids a carton of juice or a packet of raisins with a skull on the packaging because my kids love pirates and would have a skull & crossbones on everything if it was up to them.

I don't get why people are so opposed to having a skull on packaging.

What's wrong with a product with skulls on it?

Are you talking any product here (toys, clothing included) or just food/drink products?

The name 'Deadly Dinner(s)' on the packaging would put me off even more than the skull.

Maybe I've got a wild imagination, but I don't like any hint of death about my food.

Welcome to the real world, it's all about sales! Supermarkets spend fortunes researching purchasing habits and what makes you put somthing in your trolly. On this task it was all about the branding and Alex's team did everything wrong! When considering a ready meal all your natural impulses would have been signaling away from the "deadly dinner" meaning you probably wouldn't even read it's title. Neil's team didn't win, but Alex's team deffently lost, and ultimately the right man was fired.

Monster Munch doesn't have monsters in it. Penguin bars don't contain raw sea birds. Deadly Dinners clearly wouldn't really be deadly or remotely dangerous.

I agree with this.

How would you feel about Dogsmuck Pie? Pus Burgers?

They aren't actual ingredients you know...but somehow i'm disinclined

And yet the ready-meal producer on You're Fired said the taste was the most important thing, not the branding. Sure a flashy pack might get you to buy something, but if it tasted terrible you would just remember that pack as something to avoid.

I agree neither team actually won, but Neil's team produced the worst food and IMO had a worse brand. Assuming the decision was correct (which I don't agree with) Myles should have been fired as the person responsible for losing.

Neither because I'm vegetarian. But I guess I'd go for Pow Wow. The packaging and the food looked way more appealing.

When it comes to ready meals I don't think people really go by quality or taste, if they did they would cook their own meals from raw ingredients. Obviously you wouldn't want somthing that tastes bad, but I don't think anyone would buy a ready meal because it tastes so good!

I would have loved to see Louisa go in the other team, but IMO they were the right team to "win". I agree with LAS's decision to fire Alex, we're getting to the crunch time, remember the winner is going to run a business that LAS is putting £250,000 into. As much as you may like Alex, would you trust him with £250,000?

Yes Miles lost the task, but he had a pretty good track record before that. Unlike a lot of the others he admitted that he did bad this task and took responsibility rather than trying to shift the blame to someone else. He should learn from this and focus on his business plan.

This is a tough one for me....deep down I wanted Alex to win as it was his 1st time as PM....to be honest, I would have tried Pow wow one!! As I wouldnt have an idea that the product is bland beforehand and I dont normally read the labelling, plus I would be buying it for myself......this is where I would go....unfoirtunately!!:sleep::yawn:

I don't think the voncept works at all. Carribean food tends to be sweet and spicy and Thai food is just spicy. I can't imagine anything sweet going with thai noodles for example. The idea was fatally flawed IMO. Kids meals were better, but the packaging let them down

I have to say when the parents at the market research started complaining about the packaging I just thought they were a shower of idiots. I can see the problem with the skull to an extent, but do poisons now even still have that symbol?

Some parents might be concerned that their kids would associate a skull ( often used to symbolise deadly poisoness chemicals ) with something edible