I had some prior knowledge, but also did some research. Specifically Loreen in seeing how her single did (it chatted very well). I also looked at how the artists previous recognition was received.

Arran had done the PR part with Shadi also helping with the social media aspect. I think we covered all the major bases we could with it.

With the task, a lot of research had gone in from my end. Music isn't really my forte, so i had to research a lot of indie and lesser known artists to fit the bill we were looking for. I don't think we considered market research and i think we really should have as it would have given us a more broad view on it.

I was in charge of the promotion, minus the concert, for our team. I thought it would be a really good idea to think about which countries to target, so I searched through the Eurovision website and made a comprehensive list of the number of points that the UK has received collectively from each country in every contest since the last time that we won, which was in 1997. We used that data to help focus our campaign on certain countries, as well as countries where Hurts have a following such as Germany - which actually has not voted for us very much in the past, but we felt able to appeal to them with this act.

In addition, Roxie had asked me to look into social media, magazines and websites such as Digital Spy. I wrote quite a bit about social media and magazines (I researched and found some good music magazines that are popular in our target countries) so I think that was pretty much covered. I found websites a bit more difficult, and Roxie added a bit to my paragraph on that, but I did find a list of entertainment websites besides Digital Spy this morning, which I submitted. I can't remember if any of them were used in the final pitch.

Yes so like I said before, I had done extensive market research asking 15 members of DS questions about what aspects of the concert people enjoy, as well as asking questions about how we could possibly improve Hurts chances at doing well in Eurovision, where we have gone wrong in previous years and how they normally find out about Eurovision acts and Eurovision-related events.

These last 3 questions were particularly informative because it identified key areas which, along with findings from online research, we should focus on for our promotional campaign by identifying how we can market Hurts more efficiently, how we can improve on past failings and what are the usual mediums for finding out about everyone's entries for Eurovision. Thus I immediately said social media, European specific magazines and online European specific websites/forums would definitely be a good starting point for our advertising campaign. George then came up with a few more suggestions such as Youtube interactivity. I then said we should also promote in popular music festivals such as Rock am Ring and also conducting interviews. One of my findings from the internet is that one of the reasons behind Conchita doing so well was her likable personality which people saw from interviews so I thought that this would also be a fantastic way of marketing Hurts on European music/entertainment channels like E! and MTV Europe. I also think Hurts are incredibly likeable with down-to-earth and witty personalities so this would only benefit them. Iain also suggested more intimate venues such as bars as one person said they find crowded, huge venues a turn off. Again this would only benefit Hurts because of the type of artist that they are.

Overall I think George, Iain and I came up with a good range of ways to promote Hurts across Europe using market research and online research.

I see what you're saying in terms of sticking to what you do best, but at the end of the day the winning candidate will need to excel in all areas as evident by the final task where you will be expected to display all necessary skills yourself. From personal experience in this particular game, I had never done anything graphically design related before but I tried it in the last few tasks and was much better than I expected, so it could have possibly been the same for you. I was just slightly disappointed when you passed on doing it especially as it was asked of you...

Anyway, moving on to results.

Okay, I'll bear that in mind for future tasks.

Aptitude, on the whole I think what your produced this task was very good, I liked lots of your promotional ideas especially the ones including twitter and social media. I also think you had the right idea in terms of choosing Natalia as your artist. There were a few faults with your pitch, however, in terms of your idea not to do a proper concert for Natalia and your misinterpretation of the brief in some aspects. Also, I feel like at times you could have been more explicit in promoting Natalia as an artist for Eurovision rather than just promoting her as an artist.

Inspired, I also think you produced a good pitch, clearly lots of detail and thought had gone into it and you really did seem to thoroughly think how to improve on previous disappointing results for the UK in Eurovision. Also, whilst Hurts wouldn't have been the first act I would have picked for this task, I feel it was a good choice all in all and you justified your decision well. There were a few problems with your pitch as I have stated before, and also I feel like you could have maybe put in a bit more detail in your promotional part of the pitch considering how important a part of the task it was, I feel it was a bit more vague than I was hoping with.

I must stress that we were very impressed with both teams this task and this was by far the closest task so far, but we have made a decision and the winners of this task are..

Team Inspired.

Congratulations, on the whole I think you produced an excellent pitch in which you clearly addressed how you would assure to get a better result for the UK in Eurovision this task which was really what the task was all about. Hurts was also a brilliant choice for this task, and I could definitely imagine a performance like 'Somebody To Die For' standing out in the Eurovision finals.

Despite the few issues I mentioned, I was very impressed with what you produced this task and also with how you worked as a team. Also Roxie, from what I've heard it sounds like you did a great job as both a leader and a team member so well done for that!

You may now leave the boardroom.

Thank you, Lord Sugar!

Good luck to Arran and the rest of Aptitude.

Congratulations Roxie and Inspired.

I honestly cannot believe it...Thank you Lord Sugar for seeing potential in our act and for your kind words. I do apologize if Iain felt sidelined on that last day because as everyone knows I would hate to do that to someone so he should have said something to me and I could involved him more with the poster etc. I think he and George did a fantastic job to be honest so well deserved. Thank you again Lord Sugar!

Good luck to Aptitude - I really liked your promotional campaign and Natalia Kills as an artist so you did a great job too. Good luck to you all!

Congratss Roxie! x3 Happy for youu :*

Aptitude, I don't feel like your efforts this task were particularly bad, but obviously Inspired pipped you to the post and a loss is a loss.

What do you think went wrong?

Possibly due to the fact that we hadn't had the benefit of market research or we focused too much on selling Natalia as an artist and not as the Eurovision winner. I do think we probably should have been more organised on the first day instead of just suggesting any artist and then banding together to say why they would win the competition instead of basing it on a 'I like this song more'.

I knew that we had done a good job but this is what I was afraid of. I knew there was nothing missing, but I knew that the minor details will be the difference maker. Ultimately, it falls down to the leadership of this task. Naruto and I are just as capable as George and Iian, so it was a matter of which PM utilized their team better. Also, the minor details that we lost on also fall on the Project Manager's shoulders, be it the poster glitch, the decision to have Natalia open for Katy Perry, among other things. It was a good showing from Arran, it really was, but I'm afraid that it's come to a bunch of really strong competitors and people have to go.

Apart from the things I've already mentioned such as the poster and the concert, I think lots of it came down to the fact that reading your pitch it felt sometimes like it was more about promoting Natalia as an artist rather than promoting her as a Eurovision representative, this was most clear in the opening part of the pitch and also the part about PR in the UK which wasn't really necessary considering the UK wouldn't get to vote for her. I feel like Inspired got the heart of this task better than you, I felt like reading their pitch I really had a good idea of how they would be able to turn around the disastrous results from the UK with Hurts and I couldn't really say the same for you.

Do you have anything to say regarding this?

I agree with Naruto, there was too much focus on the song and I think that the underlying assumption that Arran based his strategy on was that the artistic integrity of the performance combined with Natalia's talent could be enough to turn this around.

This does appear to have been an issue with your team for this task, were you all completely sold on Natalia as an artist or was it mostly Arran pushing her? Would you say Arran is to blame for this over focus on the act?

I told Arran from day 1, I'm not familiar with the British music scene, but I will gladly give my opinion on any artist you put on the shortlist, and he gave me 3, and I liked Natalia best. I was clear when I said that I didn't love any of the 3, but I tolerated Natalia the most. And out of the 3 songs I listened to for Natalia, Trouble was the one I felt I could listen to again. So I just don't think that I had much knowledge to push Arran in a different direction, I just went based off what I liked the most out of what I heard and he seemed to agree. But I believe Naruto had good arguments and many suggestions which Arran disregarded and maybe if we went with them we could've won. I'm not sure, but Arran and Naruto were both focusing on a different genre. So yeah, Naruto wasn't all for Natalia, and I just preferred her over the other 2, despite saying that I'm not really a huge fan, so it does come down to Arran.

Hmm, you do both seem to be putting a lot of the blame on Arran which is understandable as he was the project manager but at the same time I don't think the loss of the task can be completely responsibly for the loss of the task, you were both there on the team as well and could have surely put more effort in to prevent him from going with some of the aspects of the pitch that lost you the task? I expect you to show that kind of initiative at this stage, even if you are not the PM.

Arran, you seem to have gone quiet, are you still here? What do you have to say regarding this?

I wasn't completely sold, as i did prefer Kyla La Grange and the song i had chosen for her. But Arran did not like it and, i feel, pushed for Natalia. Shadi had said he wasn't familiar with the music scene, but had said he liked Trouble more so Arran had chosen to go with Natalia.

I found this out when i came onto Skype as Arran had already sent me a PM saying the final decision was Kyla and a different song, only for it to be changed again so i do feel there was a sense of indecisiveness upon his part.

Moving on to you as candidates, can all three of you tell me what exactly you feel you contributed to this task, and who you would say deserves to be fired?

Arran, you're in a vulnerable position as PM here so if you're here, you definitely need to speak up.

He's not completely 100% responsible for the loss, but he has the lion's share of the responsibility. Honestly, EuroVision is a foreign concept to me, I've never seen it, I don't know what it's about, and that's because I live in Lebanon. So, I had to spend the first day just researching what it was about, and I didn't feel like I had as much knowledge as them in that regard. I don't know why the British artists have been doing so poorly, neither do I have some background knowledge on local British artists besides maybe huge stars like Adele, Amy Winehouse, Kylie, Ed Sheeran, One Direction etc which would not have helped in this task. So, instead of getting involved in an area that I knew these two gentlemen had more information about, I simply offered my opinion as a listener, and I was ready to take on any task that he had given to me. The losing points were the focus on the song, which I really do blame primarily on Arran because he was hell-bent on choosing an Artist/Song that would appeal to the mass without regards to some of the other more important criteria maybe that have led to Britain's losses. Also, the tour issue, as I mentioned before i knew that you didn't like having Natalia open for Katy, was not my idea. Naruto and I expressed discomfort at the decision, but he thought it was the best possible choice. We could not have possibly overruled the project manager. We pitched in and expressed our opinions. I also expressed any criticisms I had and offered solutions when I could, like with the performance, and the lack of social media in the PR. I really tried to cover the holes in our pitch that I knew of, but at the end of the day, our Project Manager persisted in some aspects that led to our loss (even when we tried to sound our dissatisfaction) and there were simply other mistakes that I didn't really know of because of the lack of knowledge concerning EuroVision, and I trusted my PM to know what he was doing in that regard.

I contributed the Why The Artist, Why the Song and the Performance details which i did get help from Shadi and Arran.

I feel i contributed a lot to this task as i was a main factor in the brainstorm process, which did require a lot of research from myself. Two of the artists from the three we had shortlisted were mine so it can be shown that I did give some good ideas even though they were not used. The whole team was happy with the pitches i had written and there were no major criticisms for them.

I ultimately think Arran should be fired. There was nothing majorly wrong with our pitch, therefore i feel it comes down to the small details that we did wrong and the wrong emphasis we did with the artist. I think at the end of the day, this comes down to the Project Manager for not using the time efficiently and mis-organisation of the time from Day 1.

I took on preparing the pitch for Natalia's tour with Katy Perry. I also helped Arran with aspect of PR, especially Social Media. And I had ideas for our performance that were not taken into consideration.

As for who should be fired, I would say the Project Manager because he, not only showed great indecisiveness, but also because of the lack of organization on his part, and finally, most of the mistakes that you have mentioned fall upon his shoulder and his shoulder only. Not to mention that if you want to look at our journey to get to this point, Naruto and myself have been stronger than Arran.