Richard's business plan seemed to be exactly the same as his existing business. Which made it seem that he just wanted LS to give him £250k to expand that business, rather than set up a genuinely new company - which is surely against the spirit, if not the rules, of the show!

beautiful moment when Richard was fired. Honesty really is the best policy here.

Richard was essentially pitching his own existing business which meant that investment from Lord Sugar would be pointless

His business plan was just bs. A shame he had a bit of last year's Mark about him who also pitched a digital marketing agency I think LS is happy about his investement there. But I don't generally get all the dislike for him in this thread. He was overall a very good candidate.

People just don't like disingenuity. Richard was capable but far too smarmy and evasive. Granted, that hardly makes him a monster but it is a valid reason for dislike.

Weirdly though I felt sorry for him when he was fired.

I thought they were too hard on him in You're Fired. They could have given Charlene a crap time, all the fighting and Can I talk to David? was forgotten - and I was glad for her it was. But they could have done the same for Richard and kept the emphasis on his strengths. He's far from perfect, but he wasn't more 'tricky' than most of them imo, and he's got a lot of abilities as well.

Not the right tone for a live studio audience. Charlene wears her heart on her sleeve, her whole dream is her life. She'll cry all over the place. Richard is a big boy, he can take it.

I've not seen YF yet, but it sounds like in the absence of Selina they needed a villain and Richard got the job. He did very well in the tasks and was a clever candidate. He wasn't as nasty as Scott was IMO.


Just seen Richard's video on Youtube. He seemed pretty nice I thought. He seems to have learnt lessons from being in "the process" and realises he overdid the BS in the business plan!
Glad to see he's back in the final task next week!

Didn't something similar to this happen to a contestant in the last couple of series?
I'm sure that there was a contestant who tried to get AS to invest in his preexisting business but who was then rumbled at the interview stage.

Does anyone remember or am I imagining this?

Jordan from Series 9 right?

No I remember it too, I cant remember who either but Jordan does ring a bell somewhere Shotdown

The problem was that his brother was a partner and share-holder, and AS wouldn't get involved with a part-owned business. Richard thought that he could set up a similar business with AS and run the two businesses side by side, but that have been a conflict of interest, plus AS prefers that the candidate has a full-time commitment to the business in which he's investing. Richard wouldn't have wanted to let down his brother and he was therefore was reluctant to commit to walking away from that business. If he had presented a contingency plan instead of clinging to the possibility of involvement in two similar businesses when under pressure, I think he'd have made it to the final. By trying to avoid the issue when pushed, he dug his own grave, because no-one is going to invest their money in a business partner who tries to conceal potential difficulties or gloss over concerns.

I grew to really like him over the course of the show.. I really hope that he succeeds in pursuing his dreams. I'm going to read through his website - it's fun, fresh and full of ideas.

http://www.yompmarketing.com/about/

I see Richard has published a book on digital marketing which gets good reviews. I've scanned a few pages, and it's so helpful! It'd make a great gift for anyone running a business or charity who wants to make the most of digital technology - their website, FB and so on.. It's not a dull dry read, but interesting and involving.

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Digital-Trai.../dp/1781331693

Was indeed Jordan from series 9, Claude threw him out calling Jordan a parasite, when Jordan's Business Plan document relieved Jordan was only offering 15% of the Business not 50%, & Jordan wasn't 100% owner of the Business, more of a silent partner.

I thought last night's interviews were a bit of a hatchet job on Richard.

They need to revert the format back to competing for a job. The business plan format just doesn't work.

I've backed Richard throughout the series but was so frustrated last night and Sugar was right not to put him in the final. It's a basic issue that comes up in Dragons Den so often - having shares in a competing business/your business having other partners etc... they never get investment and neither do people who can't answer straight questions! Such a basic misjudgement on Richard's part.

Richard brought it on himself with his bullshit, & Lord Sugar is semi retired having has sold most of his Businesses so be difficult to offer jobs.

I didn't like the tone generally of this series. I think they were a bit rough on Richard as he was presenting his own unique idea whether or not he'd already had it on his FB page.. However, I agree with Merida: the issue of conflicting interests is one which AS had to take into consideration, and he'd probably have been open to a different suggestion if Richard had immediately made one, however Richard was unprepared for the way things went and couldn't salvage the situation.

I like this format of entrepreneurs, and I think it has brought in some serious contendors, and created some excellent insights into the world of business.

I disagree with those who don't rate the candidates highly. Putting together a product in an alien area and a full marketing campaign in a matter of two or three days is nothing short of miraculous. The sales tasks can be extremely impressive too.. and working with an unknown group of people isn't that easy, especially when there is competition within the team as well as being pitted against the second team. No-one is an all-rounder, and we've seen some real grafters and creative people coming into this programme since the change to the format. It's just a shame that Sugar and his cronies, particularly Karen, don't treat them with a bit more respect. I'd like to see them tackling a similar task in such a short space of time, and see how well they cope. Karen trying to shovel manure in a farmer's field, Alan Sugar ironing transfers onto a T-shirt and Claude Littner starring in a shampoo ad.

I agree. The show is now a bit too much about creating LOL moments than anything else. The reality is that we're rarely shown what the candidates do right (unless it's important to the narrative) as that's dull.

Richard may not have been the most likeable candidate ever but I would far rather work with him than Charleine or Selina because, like him or not, I think he had the best all-round skills of all this year's candidates. It's a shame he ended up being a figure of ridicule, even if he did bring this upon himself. He deserves to be remembered as this year's most 'successful' candidate - eight wins, three more than anyone else - as much as for his extreme confidences and downfall.

I agree regarding working with him - he has a very upbeat demeanour, and is very even-tempered, performing well under pressure. I find those qualities admirable.

I did not find him to be unlikeable.

You 2 agree so much that DS makes a better dating agency than Vana's playdate. Are you gonna exchange pics next?

There seems to be a mindset that if someone is successful and confident that they need to be taken down.

Generally - though not always - on tasks Richard was right.

However, a bit like Helen. he was a top task performer but failed on the business plan.

If Richard or Helen had been going for a "job" they'd have sailed through to a win.

And also - I know it's not relevant - but I find him extremely attractive.

They just couldn't trust him in the end. That graphic wasn't on his FB, it was on his company's twitter feed so there may have been intellectual copyright and all sorts of problems using that graphic in his new business.
Even after he knew they were onto him Richard kept up the evasive answers to the bitter end, he had to have the truth dragged out of him. He's dishonest and because he's young he assumes when people don't confront him on his sneakiness straight away that they are thick to realise what he's up to. You never really know where you are with a liar, I would have fired him too, he was polished rather than accomplished imo.

I hated him, liked him, then ended up hating him again. Once trust/confidence is gone there's nothing left and Sugar had to say bye bye. His grovelling to rescind his shares in his existing company was just pitiful to watch.