Loved seeing him looking so smug when Brett talked him up and then seconds later squirming when Lord Sugar started laying into him. He seemed genuinely shocked that he was getting taken to task. That said I still think he is probably the smoothest operator in this years series.
Richard - the most unlikeable candidate ever?
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I feel sorry for Richard because he just has a smug face, there's nothing he can do it about it, he was born with it, bu whenever he smiles, he will look 'smug', even when he isn't being smug.
I agree about the 'unfortunate' smug face - he can't really help that.
He is (IMO) competent and confident, I haven't found him to be tricky or overbearing - why is it a bad thing to be confident and self assured? Especially if it can be backed up with results.
He hasn't always got it right but he's been close - LS, Karen and Nick have all been pretty scathing about him - I can't really understand why.
He is (IMO) competent and confident, I haven't found him to be tricky or overbearing - why is it a bad thing to be confident and self assured? Especially if it can be backed up with results.
He hasn't always got it right but he's been close - LS, Karen and Nick have all been pretty scathing about him - I can't really understand why.
Yeah - LAS, because he has nothing tangibly negative to lay at Richard's door has dreamed up this 'tricky dicky' persona for Richard, that he is slippery...how has he been slippery in any way? Then he contradicted himself later and said Richard had taken the lead on most tasks.
He is the stand-out candidate as far as I can see, but Sugar will hire Charleine over him for ratings.
He is the stand-out candidate as far as I can see, but Sugar will hire Charleine over him for ratings.
Originally Posted by Penny Crayon:
“I agree about the 'unfortunate' smug face - he can't really help that.
He is (IMO) competent and confident, I haven't found him to be tricky or overbearing - why is it a bad thing to be confident and self assured? Especially if it can be backed up with results.
He hasn't always got it right but he's been close - LS, Karen and Nick have all been pretty scathing about him - I can't really understand why.”
“I agree about the 'unfortunate' smug face - he can't really help that.
He is (IMO) competent and confident, I haven't found him to be tricky or overbearing - why is it a bad thing to be confident and self assured? Especially if it can be backed up with results.
He hasn't always got it right but he's been close - LS, Karen and Nick have all been pretty scathing about him - I can't really understand why.”
Originally Posted by The Rhydler:
“Yeah - LAS, because he has nothing tangibly negative to lay at Richard's door has dreamed up this 'tricky dicky' persona for Richard, that he is slippery...how has he been slippery in any way? Then he contradicted himself later and said Richard had taken the lead on most tasks.
He is the stand-out candidate as far as I can see, but Sugar will hire Charleine over him for ratings.”
“Yeah - LAS, because he has nothing tangibly negative to lay at Richard's door has dreamed up this 'tricky dicky' persona for Richard, that he is slippery...how has he been slippery in any way? Then he contradicted himself later and said Richard had taken the lead on most tasks.
He is the stand-out candidate as far as I can see, but Sugar will hire Charleine over him for ratings.”
Haven't read through the whole thread, but I agree with these two points of view. I can see why people wouldn't like Richard, but I think he's easily the most credible candidate in the process. If I had £250k to invest in one of these 5 remaining candidates it would definitely be him. It all depends on business plans now, Richard's line of work is too similar to last year's winner so will need to see what his actual business plan is.
Originally Posted by Merida:
“Haven't read through the whole thread, but I agree with these two points of view. I can see why people wouldn't like Richard, but I think he's easily the most credible candidate in the process. If I had £250k to invest in one of these 5 remaining candidates it would definitely be him. It all depends on business plans now, Richard's line of work is too similar to last year's winner so will need to see what his actual business plan is.”
“Haven't read through the whole thread, but I agree with these two points of view. I can see why people wouldn't like Richard, but I think he's easily the most credible candidate in the process. If I had £250k to invest in one of these 5 remaining candidates it would definitely be him. It all depends on business plans now, Richard's line of work is too similar to last year's winner so will need to see what his actual business plan is.”
I agree that Richard is the most credible.
His line of work is different to Mark though. Mark's a sales man selling SEO Marketing Services. He likely only has very basic knowledge of SEO Marketing. Expertise in sales.
Richard's expertise is in Marketing and not just SEO.
Originally Posted by Merida:
“Haven't read through the whole thread, but I agree with these two points of view. I can see why people wouldn't like Richard, but I think he's easily the most credible candidate in the process. If I had £250k to invest in one of these 5 remaining candidates it would definitely be him. It all depends on business plans now, Richard's line of work is too similar to last year's winner so will need to see what his actual business plan is.”
“Haven't read through the whole thread, but I agree with these two points of view. I can see why people wouldn't like Richard, but I think he's easily the most credible candidate in the process. If I had £250k to invest in one of these 5 remaining candidates it would definitely be him. It all depends on business plans now, Richard's line of work is too similar to last year's winner so will need to see what his actual business plan is.”
Totally agree, Richard is very smug but definitely the best candidate for me!
Originally Posted by The Rhydler:
“Yeah - LAS, because he has nothing tangibly negative to lay at Richard's door has dreamed up this 'tricky dicky' persona for Richard, that he is slippery...how has he been slippery in any way? Then he contradicted himself later and said Richard had taken the lead on most tasks.
He is the stand-out candidate as far as I can see, but Sugar will hire Charleine over him for ratings.”
“Yeah - LAS, because he has nothing tangibly negative to lay at Richard's door has dreamed up this 'tricky dicky' persona for Richard, that he is slippery...how has he been slippery in any way? Then he contradicted himself later and said Richard had taken the lead on most tasks.
He is the stand-out candidate as far as I can see, but Sugar will hire Charleine over him for ratings.”
I found AS's "tricky Dicky" to be really obnoxious and uncalled for. Frankly, I think Sugar and Brady are showing themselves to be thoroughly unpleasant, bullying types, with Littner, who was already infamous for his nasty superiority, actually looking comparatively mild in comparison. I have not enjoyed the way the candidates have been treated during this series. It used to be my favourite programme, but if the tone continues thus, they'll be losing me as a viewer.
It's a game show, and Richard is smart enough to be playing the game, and is being accused of cleverly positioning himself in places where he'll be seen as instrumental to winning the task, while setting up a stool pigeon who'll take the bullet if they lose. I don't think this is really a fair assessment, because in certain tasks he put his neck on the block and would certainly have been fired if the other team had won. (Hence his look of overwhelming relief, wrongly interpreted as "smug", when they won the events task).
Richard has remained in the process due to his ability, not due to wriggling out of responsibility for anything. In fact, in the last task, when the marketing campaign was seen as a problem, he did not in any way try to pin the blame on others.. He could have easily said that the communications regarding the product were not precise or detailed enough, but he didn't. He was criticised for "owning" his campaign, and the only reason he wasn't fired is that Brett refused to hand Sugar the ammunition,.
Given that Sugar is always influenced by £££, there's a possibility that he's taken a fancy to one of the other candidates' business plans, and given that Richard is such a strong candidate, he is looking for any opportunity to clear the way for his preferred candidate to win, hence his frustration at being unable to pin anything onto him. Who knows. It's getting too nasty for me though.
I'm liking Richard more and more. I see him as stable, strong and professional. I'd be on his super sub-team any time.
Originally Posted by Clackers:
“He gets fired this week after his business plan doesn't add up (like Neil from last year).”
“He gets fired this week after his business plan doesn't add up (like Neil from last year).”
That was 2013. It was also the year of the worst business plan ever from Jordan
Originally Posted by Flora_McDonald:
“I found AS's "tricky Dicky" to be really obnoxious and uncalled for. Frankly, I think Sugar and Brady are showing themselves to be thoroughly unpleasant, bullying types, with Littner, who was already infamous for his nasty superiority, actually looking comparatively mild in comparison. I have not enjoyed the way the candidates have been treated during this series. It used to be my favourite programme, but if the tone continues thus, they'll be losing me as a viewer.
It's a game show, and Richard is smart enough to be playing the game, and is being accused of cleverly positioning himself in places where he'll be seen as instrumental to winning the task, while setting up a stool pigeon who'll take the bullet if they lose. I don't think this is really a fair assessment, because in certain tasks he put his neck on the block and would certainly have been fired if the other team had won. (Hence his look of overwhelming relief, wrongly interpreted as "smug", when they won the events task).
Richard has remained in the process due to his ability, not due to wriggling out of responsibility for anything. In fact, in the last task, when the marketing campaign was seen as a problem, he did not in any way try to pin the blame on others.. He could have easily said that the communications regarding the product were not precise or detailed enough, but he didn't. He was criticised for "owning" his campaign, and the only reason he wasn't fired is that Brett refused to hand Sugar the ammunition,.
Given that Sugar is always influenced by £££, there's a possibility that he's taken a fancy to one of the other candidates' business plans, and given that Richard is such a strong candidate, he is looking for any opportunity to clear the way for his preferred candidate to win, hence his frustration at being unable to pin anything onto him. Who knows. It's getting too nasty for me though.”
“I found AS's "tricky Dicky" to be really obnoxious and uncalled for. Frankly, I think Sugar and Brady are showing themselves to be thoroughly unpleasant, bullying types, with Littner, who was already infamous for his nasty superiority, actually looking comparatively mild in comparison. I have not enjoyed the way the candidates have been treated during this series. It used to be my favourite programme, but if the tone continues thus, they'll be losing me as a viewer.
It's a game show, and Richard is smart enough to be playing the game, and is being accused of cleverly positioning himself in places where he'll be seen as instrumental to winning the task, while setting up a stool pigeon who'll take the bullet if they lose. I don't think this is really a fair assessment, because in certain tasks he put his neck on the block and would certainly have been fired if the other team had won. (Hence his look of overwhelming relief, wrongly interpreted as "smug", when they won the events task).
Richard has remained in the process due to his ability, not due to wriggling out of responsibility for anything. In fact, in the last task, when the marketing campaign was seen as a problem, he did not in any way try to pin the blame on others.. He could have easily said that the communications regarding the product were not precise or detailed enough, but he didn't. He was criticised for "owning" his campaign, and the only reason he wasn't fired is that Brett refused to hand Sugar the ammunition,.
Given that Sugar is always influenced by £££, there's a possibility that he's taken a fancy to one of the other candidates' business plans, and given that Richard is such a strong candidate, he is looking for any opportunity to clear the way for his preferred candidate to win, hence his frustration at being unable to pin anything onto him. Who knows. It's getting too nasty for me though.”
I think Sugar was way too hard on Richard but there's also an element of this being his first and only time in the boardroom following a task, so Sugar unloaded all in one go and we were given more of a look at it in the broadcast edit.
Originally Posted by Clackers:
“He gets fired this week after his business plan doesn't add up (like Neil from last year).”
“He gets fired this week after his business plan doesn't add up (like Neil from last year).”
Is this a spoiler?
Originally Posted by The Rhydler:
“Is this a spoiler?”
“Is this a spoiler?”
Heh, is it possible to answer this without creating another spoiler by implication? *keeps mouth shut*
It would be surprising if the business plan does not add up: we know from The Final Five that Richard's father is an experienced businessman who has run listed companies, so he should be able to proofread his son's business plan. Whether Lord Sugar thinks Richard can execute the plan (and do so better than the other candidates) is another matter.
Edit: having said that, Linkedin is misspelled on the web site Richard designed for his father.
Edit: having said that, Linkedin is misspelled on the web site Richard designed for his father.
Originally Posted by Super_Furry:
“You could say that it's a guess.”
“You could say that it's a guess.”
Yeah, but because people know I've seen the episode, anything I say will be interpreted as saying something one way or the other ...
It will now you've said that you've seen the episode.
Maybe there should be a spoiler thread.
Oh, wait a minute - THERE IS.
Maybe there should be a spoiler thread.
Oh, wait a minute - THERE IS.
Originally Posted by Clackers:
“ r).”
“ r).”
Thee is a spoiler thread for putting things like that in, i'm annoyed
Shame about the numptys who ruined it for everyone else here.
Anyway back on topic. I actually felt for Richard tonight. Probably the only one judging by the episode thread and the reactions from the others in my own household, but he got absolutely nuked and you could tell he genuinely believed he was onto something and just couldn't quite express what he was trying to get across and when he realised that what he'd put down on paper just made him out to be a manipulative liar he was crushed. Poor guy, would've made a much better finalist than Joseph had he made his business plan more clear to understand and not have so many unneccessary complications.
Anyway back on topic. I actually felt for Richard tonight. Probably the only one judging by the episode thread and the reactions from the others in my own household, but he got absolutely nuked and you could tell he genuinely believed he was onto something and just couldn't quite express what he was trying to get across and when he realised that what he'd put down on paper just made him out to be a manipulative liar he was crushed. Poor guy, would've made a much better finalist than Joseph had he made his business plan more clear to understand and not have so many unneccessary complications.
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