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Week Twelve: Who Should Have Won? |
| View Poll Results: Who Should Have Won? | |||
| Alana |
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106 | 79.70% |
| Courtney |
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27 | 20.30% |
| Voters: 133. You can't vote on this poll right now - are you signed in? | |||
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#1 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2012
Location: Wales
Posts: 1,197
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Week Twelve: Who Should Have Won?
Poll up soon.
Alana's idea was strongest for me and I felt she was the stronger candidate. Courtney could be on to something though, but I'm unsure how much life there is in the novelty gift sector. |
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#2 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: May 2012
Posts: 752
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Alana, no question of it. Courtney did better than I thought he would, but Alana was simply in a whole different league; one of the best-ever final performances, IMO.
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#3 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jan 2007
Posts: 14,185
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Neither were particularly innovative.
Alana's business is just a bog standard bakery and she didn't seem to offer anything unique, especially when admitting her 'homemade by alana' cakes would be outsourced. Courtney's novelty gift website was similarly uninspired and is just a copy of firebox, not on the high street, I want one of those, red5, etc. I'd have gone with Alana simply because of cakes. |
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#4 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 17,242
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Alana is obsessed with profit margins, Courtney actually knows about business. I think Lord Sugar made a big mistake actually. Alana will have no loyalty to him and I thought her attitude to Courtney was quite shocking, interrupting him and having a go when he was making his final plea to Lord Sugar.
You'd have to be mad to buy her bakes at £3 when she has admitted she makes them for 18p! |
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#5 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2007
Posts: 11,175
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Quote:
Alana is obsessed with profit margins, Courtney actually knows about business. I think Lord Sugar made a big mistake actually. Alana will have no loyalty to him and I thought her attitude to Courtney was quite shocking, interrupting him and having a go when he was making his final plea to Lord Sugar.
You'd have to be mad to buy her bakes at £3 when she has admitted she makes them for 18p! |
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#6 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2014
Posts: 2,764
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Quote:
Alana is obsessed with profit margins, Courtney actually knows about business. I think Lord Sugar made a big mistake actually. Alana will have no loyalty to him and I thought her attitude to Courtney was quite shocking, interrupting him and having a go when he was making his final plea to Lord Sugar.
You'd have to be mad to buy her bakes at £3 when she has admitted she makes them for 18p! |
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#7 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2014
Location: Around and about
Posts: 689
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Quote:
She only slated his business after he slagged her off first, saying she wasn't a proper business woman. That was what was disrespectful.
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#8 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Posts: 554
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Both businesses to me were very similar, neither stood out like some of the previous winners
Both have problems with scalability. Selling cakes to events and local markets is a nice small business. Turning it into something bigger is much harder, when what she does is nothing original |
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#9 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Mar 2009
Posts: 20,671
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Quote:
She only slated his business after he slagged her off first, saying she wasn't a proper business woman. That was what was disrespectful.
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#10 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Nov 2011
Posts: 2,589
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Quote:
Both businesses to me were very similar, neither stood out like some of the previous winners
Both have problems with scalability. Selling cakes to events and local markets is a nice small business. Turning it into something bigger is much harder, when what she does is nothing original There is nothing wrong with a tried and tested market. Krispy Kreme. Lola's Cupcakes etc all found a place in the market and there is no reason why Ridiculously Rich can't do the same with the right products and the right marketing. |
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#11 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2015
Location: Kingston Upon Thames
Posts: 1,862
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Alana all the way.
Both candidates put themselves firmly in markets that are already overly saturated but the key difference is Alana actually: a) has had good business acumen across most of the tasks this series b) Thanks to Oliver of all people actually perfected her brand really quickly allowing for solid brand recognition. She absolutely deserved to win and her quick spat with Courtney was deserved after he called her "a baker not a businesswoman" which was totally uncalled for. Courtney is in my mind not only the worst finalist The Apprentice has ever had but also one of the least interesting candidates ever. Even now in the final he let Jessica/Kartick do most of the work. He just seemed to coast by and while I do appreciate that brief clip of him getting coaching for his pitches to make him seem more sympathetic, it still doesn't make him any less useless, and the sympathy went out the window the minute he slated Alana, prize pillock. |
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#12 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2011
Posts: 9,497
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Alana, I've never been so happy for a contestant to win.
In my opinion Courtney is the worst contestant to EVER get to the final two (though admittedly he did better than I thought he would on the actual episode, but I'm talking overall). |
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#13 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2013
Posts: 1,193
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Alana.
I am so pleased that she won. I've been wanting her to win for weeks, but it was still a really pleasant surprise when she did! |
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#14 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2002
Location: Black Country lad in Yorkshire
Posts: 118,027
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It was clear to me that Sugar liked her
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#15 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jul 2003
Posts: 34,216
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Quote:
She only slated his business after he slagged her off first, saying she wasn't a proper business woman. That was what was disrespectful.
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#16 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2012
Posts: 900
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Courtney mentioned in the boardroom that he'd had a large order he'd had to decline because he could not afford the set-up costs. I'm surprised more was not made of that. Taken together with being stocked in Paperchase, it does suggest Courtney's designs might have a future.
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#17 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Feb 2010
Posts: 68,909
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Quote:
Alana is obsessed with profit margins, Courtney actually knows about business. I think Lord Sugar made a big mistake actually. Alana will have no loyalty to him and I thought her attitude to Courtney was quite shocking, interrupting him and having a go when he was making his final plea to Lord Sugar.
You'd have to be mad to buy her bakes at £3 when she has admitted she makes them for 18p! |
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#18 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Sep 2014
Posts: 3,981
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It could be argued that the result was contrived due to BBC losing Bake Off to CH4.
![]() Does this mean that Lord Sugar will become the next Mr Kipling?
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#19 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2007
Posts: 381
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Quote:
Poll up soon.
Alana's idea was strongest for me and I felt she was the stronger candidate. Courtney could be on to something though, but I'm unsure how much life there is in the novelty gift sector. it's the products and the method of distribution that changes |
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#20 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,763
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Courtney was only ever placed in the final so that Alana could win!
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#21 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 2,546
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Quote:
Courtney was only ever placed in the final so that Alana could win!
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#22 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Dec 2005
Posts: 4,763
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Quote:
But she would have won regardless because she had already beaten all the rest before so I don't follow that logic !
Courtney was a fairly weak candidate, so putting him up against Alana in the final gave Lord Sugar the result he wanted, and he knew this. |
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#23 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Jun 2014
Location: Yorkshire
Posts: 2,546
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Quote:
So if the final had been Alana vs Grainne do you think it would have been a closer and/or different contest to Alana vs Courtney, then?
Courtney was a fairly weak candidate, so putting him up against Alana in the final gave Lord Sugar the result he wanted, and he knew this. |
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#24 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Oct 2010
Posts: 1,786
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Always amazes me coming on here to see how few people grasp basic business principles.
Grainne, as well as being useless, didn't have anything close to an investable proposition. Nor did she have any particular skill that LS might want to "buy" even if her business was not viable. If you are an amazing designer, even if business wise you aren't great it might be worth LS buying "you". Grainne had nothing. And wasn't very bright. Alana had the only business that might become worth £250K plus.... |
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#25 |
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Forum Member
Join Date: Apr 2011
Posts: 2,841
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Quote:
Courtney is in my mind not only the worst finalist The Apprentice has ever had but also one of the least interesting candidates ever. Even now in the final he let Jessica/Kartick do most of the work. He just seemed to coast by and while I do appreciate that brief clip of him getting coaching for his pitches to make him seem more sympathetic, it still doesn't make him any less useless, and the sympathy went out the window the minute he slated Alana, prize pillock. It takes something very different to go further than that and secure external investment. I think it would be fair enough to call him a designer, not a businessman! |
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