Should the skeleton have counted?

12 of 12

wonkeydonkey

07-12-2014

Originally Posted by nattoyaki:
“'Human skeletons' tend to come already assembled, it's more a case of disassembling them!

But no, if I ordered (a contract) a skeleton I wouldn't expect it to come assembled unless specified by me or the seller, quite the opposite - I'd expect self-assembly.”

Originally Posted by Diabolus:
“100% categorically YES the skeleton should have been accepted.

Ridiculous imo that Sugar dismissed what was actually quite an astute move.”

But again, I think you are thinking like lawyers looking for a loophole, and not like Apprentice contestants trying to please the extremely literal and inflexible Lord Sugar. I might be wrong, but I can't think of any prior occasion when LS has said, "I never thought of interpreting my task that way, but it's so clever! Well done!"

BMLisa

07-12-2014

Originally Posted by wonkeydonkey:
“But again, I think you are thinking like lawyers looking for a loophole, and not like Apprentice contestants trying to please the extremely literal and inflexible Lord Sugar. I might be wrong, but I can't think of any prior occasion when LS has said, "I never thought of interpreting my task that way, but it's so clever! Well done!"”

Exactly,

Also I can't think of any business situation where if the spec wasn't explicit enough you'd go with your most dubious interpretation.

No! You'd buy what you knew absolutely would fulfill requirements or you'd check.

As they couldn't check it was a gamble that didn't pay off.

I thought it was really genius of them, and I'd have loved it if LS had said brilliant! But conversely I can see why he didn't consider it correct.

Whichever way it fell it would be understandable for me.

nattoyaki

08-12-2014

Originally Posted by wonkeydonkey:
“But again, I think you are thinking like lawyers looking for a loophole, and not like Apprentice contestants trying to please the extremely literal and inflexible Lord Sugar. I might be wrong, but I can't think of any prior occasion when LS has said, "I never thought of interpreting my task that way, but it's so clever! Well done!"”

Bib - ditto lol

Good attempt to put (twisted imo) words into Sugar's mouth, but I can think of numerous times he's congratulated teams on exceeding his expectations when it suited his whim (a la 'the rope') or thinking (no pun intended!) outside the box.

Diabolus

08-12-2014

I totally take your point, and yes they should have been more considered when it comes to Sugar and his inflexibility as you say. For me it is more to do with Big Al and his ego than possibly rewarding bit of creative thinking, and a calculated gamble on what is just a game show, not a serious business task.

When you look at the 'calibre' of some of the contestants, not just this year but in others, and their their inability to use their brains effectively, I thought it was a huge shame that Felipe paid the price for using a bit of initiative.

He's no Pants Man or Baggs the Brand with his 'field of ponies', but he'll be rightly remembered for skeletongate!

billykubrick

10-12-2014

Originally Posted by gemma-the-husky:
“they don't say, but it wouldn't have surprised me if the producers don't refund everything.

in those cases, LS should apply a quality assessment and fine teams for poor quality work. I expect people are really embarrassed when they see themselves on telly buying the rubbish that these teams provide

it doesn't matter. This last task has shown me that the program has final lost all integrity. The BBC should exercise some editorial control. This has potentially cost Felipe a £250K investment. I have complained to the BBC anyway.

With regard to the sink, Mark's took pains to pick a sound sink. The other lot purchased a poor quality sink without comment. That sink would have been Ok to serve as a plant trough in a garden, but not in a house.

LS rigged the penalties just to do exactly what he wanted. His assistants and the BBC stood by supinely. The follow up show didn't even have the decency to build and compare the paper skeleton with the plastic one.

It's a big shame that the four of them didn't have the courage to stand together and refuse to accept the decision. No sackings, or we all walk.”

This is quite a fair point. I did think they might have, but judging by the pictures on the box it looked quite decent. Instead they went for laughs by showing the rather dog eared packaging.
Nevertheless Lord Sugar was correct in not accepting it. Now, had it been fully assembled I believe it would have been accepted, and it would certainly look unfair if it hadn't, but the time taken to assemble it may well have been a problem.
I am sure the show has specific rules in the small print and I expect one would be that Lord Sugar has the right to fire anyone for any reason, or words to that effect!

cosmicsoup

11-12-2014

I switched off after skeletongate. It's not the apprentice like it used to be. He might as well just say at the start that

"you lot have no hope of winning but I'm going to string you along as it makes great tv".

I honestly do not care for it anymore. You'd think he'd want someone who thinks outside the box as he did when setting up his own business.

12 of 12