Twelve weeks ago, 16 candidates started this competition selling lunch to the business people of London.
Since then they’ve designed a mobile app, sold other people’s rubbish and furnished the Savoy hotel. They’ve sold beauty treatments to shoppers, British inventions to France and wholesale products around London. They’ve created their own dog food, free premium magazines, fast food chains and luxury biscuits.
Twelve have been fired, leaving four candidates to pitch their own business ideas to Lord Sugar. Only four interviewers stood between the winning candidate and the £250,000 needed to start up their business.
The first candidate for up for evaluation was Tom. He seemed use to the pressure after already having to explain his failings to Lord Sugar eight times in eleven tasks.
His idea was an office chair that would relieve back strain, saving businesses millions in sick payments every year. The plan sounds simple. Well, it would have if Tom had mentioned the word ‘chair’ anywhere in his plan.
After being known as the ‘human calculator’ throughout the series, he seemed shocked when the interviewers picked out miscalculations and errors in his plans. ‘Hindsight Tom’ then tried using the other skill he’s been famed for to apologise for his mistakes.
But the grilling got more personal than correcting a few wrong sums. After looking at his CV, one interviewer asked if he thought his career was floundering. His references showed no support either, saying he wasn’t “a starter finisher”.
Next up was Helen, the closest to perfect candidate Lord Sugar has ever had. Her business idea was a service that she believed would “help the nation get back on their feet”.
The business would help people living busier working lives by completing the dull tasks they might not have time to do. Booking a dentist appointment or a table at a restaurant were her examples of how the business would “help the nation get back on their feet”.
All of the interviewers wondered why anybody would want to use her service. One seemed to uncover a vital flaw in her plan. Why would anybody pay her to ‘help’ them when it would be as quick to do the tasks themselves?
Another struggled to see how her business was unique and how it would function when she had no contacts to ring.
The interviewers all complemented her stand out performance in the tasks, but Margret questioned if she was brilliant or just lucky. Another interviewer was concerned how work conscious she was, asking her to tell a joke to show she had a human side.
After a long think, she came up with one. “A fish is swimming along and he swims straight into something and goes, oh dam!”
Moving on.
Despite his Irish charm earning much of his success this series, Jim’s personality seemed to irritate the interviewers.
Whatever question was asked of him, his first response was always in the form of a cliché. He was out to prove that he wasn’t a one trick pony.
When Margaret asked him to describe himself without clichés, he said he was “exactly what it says on the tin”. She helped him with a new way of describing himself, calling him “a bit of an ass”.
When they finally got past his personality, they found how just how necessary Lord Sugar was to his idea. He planned to make a business out of teaching business advice, inspiring school kids to become future Alan Sugars. He had even named his company Amsmart, using the AMS that is famous to Lord Sugar’s Amstrad brand.
One interviewer described Jim as slippery, as he wanted to talk about anything else but his lack of market research. Another just thought that he was trying to hide a strong smell of crap with his charm and clichés.
In the end it seemed that nobody had more belief that his business would strive than a confident Jim himself.
The final contestant to face the disapproving glances of the interviewers was Susan. The girl who began the process as quiet as a mouse roared more like a lion while describing her business plan.
In one interview, she was asked to describe her business quickly whilst imagining herself in an elevator. As she waffled on about her business, the bored interviewer looked like he wished he’d taken the stairs.
Her idea was simply an expansion of the beauty business she’s been working on since she was young. The interviewers applauded her entrepreneurial spirit, but questioned her business knowhow. They saw a big jump between selling at a market stall to aspiring to make £1 million profit in her first year. A jump they thought Bambi couldn’t gallop across.
The legality of her past business ventures came under scrutiny too. Margaret was concerned how she’d managed to employ staff whilst avoiding paying any tax or national insurance. Another questioned if she had followed all the right procedures when testing her products.
In the end her proposal ended up smelling fishy rather than the attractive fragrances she planned to sell.
After much deliberation between Lord Sugar, Nick, Karen and the interviewers, the four finalists were invited back into the boardroom. Lord Sugar worked his way along the table, giving every candidate his honest verdict on their business plans.
First up for scrutiny was Tom. Lord Sugar said that his business had “legs in offering a chair” but was going to be “wasting time talking to companies”. He admired his skills as an inventor, which enough to save him for now.
Next was Jim. Lord Sugar found it hard to decide if he’d shown “great salesmanship” or was just “concerned in his own personal gain”. Nick described his whole business plan as a “seduction letter” that Jim thought Lord Sugar would find irresistible.
Despite how much Jim’s plan had stroked his ego, Lord Sugar was concerned about him using his image. Jim then said he imagined the business to start with as “non profitable”. Lord Sugar liked that idea even less. The opportunity was no longer Jims to win and he was first to be fired.
Next along the line was Helen. Lord Sugar said he couldn’t express his disappointment in her business plan. She said her idea was overly optimistic if she thought she could turn this into a business.
After her plan failed to impress, she seemed to respond in the same way as the fish in her joke. Had she just messed up one of the biggest opportunities of her life? Oh dam!
Lord Sugar acknowledged she was a hard worker and had been hugely successful during this process, so she was safe for now.
The final candidate up for scrutiny was Susan. Lord Sugar said he “knew the roadmap” her business would take. He also thought she didn’t understand how much it would cost to professionalise her business.
Despite his interest in her product, Susan was the second to be fired. As she left the boardroom, he said that we’d be hearing big things from her one day.
But Susan’s day wouldn’t be today as the competition was either Tom’s or Helen’s to win. They left the room for one last time while Nick, Karen and Lord Sugar discussed who should win.
Helen and Tom entered the boardroom for the final time. At the soonest possibility, Helen offered up a second business plan after her first was so disappointing. Based on her experience in the food industry, she suggested chain of bakeries to specialise in homemade cakes and bread.
In explaining his final decision, Lord Sugar said that Helen shone through exceptionally throughout the last 12 weeks. But he believed Tom that had the experience of making and selling products. He said Tom’s idea needed tweaking but that was what business is all about.
Despite losing more tasks than anybody in the history of the show, Tom had won the task that counted. He wasn’t Lord Sugar’s new Apprentice; he was his equal partner in their brand new business venture.
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