Yes, I nearly got rid of the post because when I saw it I didn't look at all obvious that it was TIC.

Then I kept digging.

Oh well.

I thought Raef was one of the most entertaining candidates this year. There are so many Raef clips I can think of that make me smile. Who knows if SAS had sacked Michael instead of Raef what would have occured. I don't think Raef would have won but he would have been great in the car sales and the interviews.

I moved on straight away and found a new favorite but Raef had my heart, lol

I would have loved to see Raef in the car sales - but I still think his potential is way ahead of anything SAS can offer.

A cliche I know - but blessing in disguise springs to mind.

Oh, I don't think you can blame the team. Ultimately, the decision to split the team was Helene's as PM, however much Michael had suggested it, and the dress selection, which lost them the underwear, was also hers. Whatever criticisms can be made of Michael and Sara's selling style, it was Helene that lost them the task.

On Lucinda's team Claire suggested the split, and on Helene's team it was Michael. In both cases the project leader merely accepted the best idea the team produced. Lucinda got the better plan because Claire's idea was better than Michael's. It wasn't because Lucinda was better than Helene.

On the dress selection the point is more valid. But even there, I think it's clear that Raef made a better argument than Michael. Raef even convinced Claire, who had been championing the high-street dresses. Helene's team was hamstrung by the earlier decision. That the choice of dress lost them the underwear was more bad luck.

If the team leaders had been switched and Helene had been leading Claire, Raef and Lee, I think she'd have won. Not because of her, but because the team was so strong. It was the two finalists and Raef! All Lucinda had to do was not get in their way.

I will grant that Lucinda switched her team around when it wasn't going well, and Helene didn't, but that had no effect on the result. (And we don't know if Lucinda was following a suggestion from her team then, as well.)

I think she probably would have won. However, everybody on the team did say how well Lucinda had led the team.

I think the fact that the choice of dress lost them the underwear was [i]maybe[i] bad luck. But it was pretty obvious that the underwear woman was going to go with the team who picked the Ian Stuart dresses, whichever team that was. I don't know what would have happened if neither team had gone for Ian Stuart.

The underwear had no impact on the result because it was so low in price, so whether it was bad luck is moot really.

Which just proves you are only as good as the team you are in and the breaks you get

All luck really and a hint of that little extra, lol

I perhaps agree with most of your argument. However, If Helene was in charge of Alpha, she would have insisted to go and see the wedding dresses herself and I don't know if she would have taken Raef with her. She already had the price as a main factor and she would not have been convinced easily to go with the Ian Stuart dresses. Lucinda let people get on with their job and I thought leaving the dress choice on the hands of Claire and Raef showed great understanding that the project manager is there to use the strengths of the team.

There is a good possibility that if Helene was the PM of Alpha, she would have ended with the same dresses. I agree that if Lucinda was the PM of Renaissance, they would have definitely lost.

Good point. I had forgotten that the price factor was a big thing for Helene. On the one hand, I could see her point, but the thing is that she should have considered that the other team may well have gone for the Ian Stuart dresses (which indeed they did), and they would only have to sell one Ian Stuart dress to make more than her team made altogether.

True - I was just responding to your comment about it Even if Lucinda's team had had the cakes and been unable to sell any, for the amount that the underwear raised, the result would have been the same.