On this episode, we see the introduction and a recap of last weeks show.
Back at the house the candidates are waiting to see who will come back from the boardroom.
Saira and Miranda walk in and get a big hug from Miriam and Adele.
Tim says he knows that the girls worked just as hard as the boys and because of that he took home a bottle of champagne from the boys treat for the girls to enjoy.
The candidates have an early start. At 6:30am the phone rings.
They need to be in Berkeley Square by 8am to meet with Sir Alan.
The cars will be there to pick them up in 45 minutes and are leaving at 7:15am sharp.
Tim tells the boys to get ready as quietly as possible.
He mentions how last week, the girls took most of the food out of the cupboards.
If it wasn’t for Matthew getting some scraps, the boys would have been left with nothing.
Tim then says they need to have a competitive edge and the boys need to get ready first to leave at 7:15am sharp, and to not tell the girls until the last minute.
Tim says it’s a game isn’t it?
James says that he thinks they will have to wake the girls up, but at least they get the use the hot water first.
Miriam asks Tim if the phone had rang and Tim says yes it had.
Miriam then asks Tim what is going on and he tells her to wait 2 seconds.
Miriam becomes suspicious and asks the boys what is going on from behind a closed door.
We then see Paul and Matthew in the kitchen.
Paul says that the boys had a feeling it would be an early start so they all wanted to be ready in case the phone rang.
He also adds that the girls are late risers.
Paul says to Matthew that it will be the undoing of the girls team.
Miriam asks Tim again if they have to be somewhere and he tells her again to give him 2 seconds.
Miriam bangs on the door again and says Tim! again.
Cut back to Paul and Matthew in the kitchen again.
Someone off camera asks Paul if he thinks it’s ungentlemanly by not waking the girls up and Paul says no definitely not, it would have been the same even if it was a team of men.
Matthew adds it’s not personal, it’s business.
At 6:55am, Tim wakes Rachel and Saira.
He tells them that they have to be at Berkeley Square at 8am and that the vans are leaving at 7.15am.
They’re not vans though are they? They’re cars.
Rachel looks at the clock and sees that they only have 20 minutes to get ready.
Miriam says she thinks it’s a little bit odd how they didn’t let the girls know what was going on.
She adds that she thinks the boys are probably scared of the girls as a team so any advantage they can get they will take.
Saira asks the boys what to wear and they tell her to wear business wear.
We then cut to Saira running around like a madwoman telling the other candidates that the cars are outside and they need to go right now.
The candidates get in the cars and head for a briefing by Sir Alan.
They are heading to a luxury car showroom in Mayfair.
Sir Alan addresses the candidates and mentions how last week, the task was all about sales.
He says that what he is looking for in his apprentice is a broad portfolio of skills.
Sir Alan continues by saying that when people ask him, what is his favourite part of business, he says it is innovating and designing a product.
Sir Alan shows the candidates the luxury cars and mentions how a lot of design and engineering goes in to making a luxury car.
He tells the candidates that todays task is designing and innovating a product and let’s them know that they are creating a product for children.
Sir Alan also tells them that if they make decent toy, the kids will love it, but if the toy is awful, then they won’t.
He tells the candidates that this task is about understanding the customer needs.
He tells the teams that they will need to choose a project manager and that Nick and Margaret will be following and observing the teams.
He adds that as usual someone is going to get fired.
The candidates head off to a toy design company.
They’ll get expert advice, but they will have to come up with original ideas and they only have 2 days to do it.
In the car, James says on the off chance that we can’t come up with something new and unique, we may have to take an old idea and put a new spin on it.
The boys agree and Matthew says that they should play to their strengths.
As they are all men, Matthew suggests that they should make a toy for boys.
The girls are in the car, Rachel and Miranda are drinking juices from a carton.
They have already chosen their project manager, Lindsay Bogaard.
Former radio presenter and a shell communications manager.
Lindsay says she thinks she has a good chance at becoming Sir Alan’s apprentice because she is not afraid to take risks.
She also says she has a lot of experience that gives her a level head in business.
She adds that there’s a fine line between taking risks and having a level head.
She says that she likes to be direct.
She wouldn’t go out of her way to create an argument, but she would confront somebody if they needed to be confronted in whatever way she feels is appropriate.
Lindsay says to her teammates that she thinks it would be a good idea to split the girls team into 2.
One half would be a business team which would get research, look at pricing and tries to figure out where the market has been going.
The other half would be a creative team, who would be behaving like children all day.
The boys are still discussing potential toys they could create and they mention Slime.
James mentions how Slime could work as a child could put it in their pocket and have it on them at all times.
Tim adds that boys are very competitive so there needs to be a challenge so that the boys can say mine is better than yours.
James suggests different colours.
At 10am both teams arrive at toy company Vivid Imaginations.
Tomorrow afternoon the boys and girls must present their ideas to the company boss.
Emma Sherski, the Marketing Director of Vivid Imaginations, explains to the candidates that they will be looking after them for the next 2 days.
She adds, they will be taking their toy prototypes off of them tomorrow at 4pm.
The candidates will then have to present in their offices to a panel of experts.
Here the teams will have access to:
- focus groups
- toy makers
- and thousands of toys
Emma tells the girls that they should have a number of brainstorm ideas and facilities and she mentions that they have a list of contacts also that can use if they want to.
Lindsay doesn’t let Emma go and asks her if she can ask her some questions before she leaves (which is a question)
Emma agrees.
Miranda asks when designers are designing a new toy, do they tend to stick with an adaptation of a classic toy or do they come up with something completely original?
Emma replies by saying it’s a bit of both in the toy industry, but ideally you are looking for innovation.
The boys are still looking for a project manager.
Everyone decides that Raj should be the project manager.
Raj says they’ve got the focus group at 12pm.
We find out a few facts about Raj Dhonota
- He is a law graduate
- He is a bankrupt
- He is a bit of an optimist
Raj says he truly believes he will become a millionaire but he adds money isn’t important to him.
He says obviously you need wealth and becoming a millionaire gives you a certain status.
Building businesses that are successful and innovative is where Raj will make his mark.
Saira, Adele and Miranda, the “business team” have been sent shopping to a toy shop for ideas, while Lindsay, Ruth and Miriam, the “creative team” brainstorm.
They ask themselves where do they want to be at 12:45pm because that’s when the business team are coming back.
They decide that they need to have a shortlist of 5 or 6 fantastic ideas that the business team can critique.
Miriam comes up with an idea for a toy that is modular and that can connect with someone elses toy.
Lindsay takes that idea and comes up with an idea about badges.
Ruth comes up with an idea about bouncing. (This is the same candidate who was bouncing on the bed in the last episode.)
Lindsay asks what did people used to do before text messaging?
They used to have flags.
They talk about Semaphore.
Miriam tells Lindsay that they need to come back to the fun factor and craze and Semaphore might not be the best choice.
Lindsay thinks it’s a fantastic idea.
Miriam asks Lindsay ok, but how can we make it into the latest craze?
Miriam tells Lindsay that the flag signalling is called Semaphore so Lindsay asks Miriam if they could call it Semaphore.
The boys agree the deadline for the concept is 3:30pm
Both teams only have 5 hours to come up with their killer concept.
James says that 5 to 9 year old boys don’t like girls and 5 to 9 year old girls don’t like boys so they are choosing one sex.
Paul says that they are being too general and something that a 5 year old might like is going to be completely different to something a 9 year old might like.
Tim says so they are targeting 8 to 9 year old boys to which Raj agrees.
Matthew doesn’t agree and says that Tim is jumping the gun.
Everyone in the boys team starts talking and it looks like Raj cannot control the team and appears a bit out of his depth.
The girls “Business Team” which consists of Adele, Miranda and Saira look in a toy shop at existing toys for inspiriation.
They have a look around and then say they’ve got 45 minutes to get to Woolworths next. (Presumably Woolworths was still in business when this show was broadcast!)
15:20
The girls phone in their findings to Lindsay which is something you can trade, something magnetic, something puzzly that appeals to boys and girls and something under £10.
They boys have finally made their decision and have gone with a modern electronic trading card game similar to Top Trumps.
James says that they are taking an old idea and reinventing it. He adds that the idea of trading cards has been around a long time and all kids love it.
Saira, Adele and Miranda return from shopping and are eager to hear the ideas the creative team have come up with.
Rachel, Lindsay and Miriam let them know their ideas.
Rachel Groves tells them about a construction type of toy and the basic component is shaped like a plug it has 3 prongs and can become part of a chain.
The idea is you plug it into the mains but the outcome depends on the configuration of the toy.
Things the toy could do:
- A lightbulb could flash
- A fart noise could come out
- A sort of Bing!
Lindsay then tells the girls the next idea which is the flag communication idea, Semaphore. (Honestly, she’s REALLY pushing the semaphore idea.)
It’s targeted at children aged 5 to 9 who really want to text message but are unable to.
There would be 10 plastic things with symbols on and could potentially look like flags or just have a dot on.
Then on the back of them you could write what the message means.
Lindsay goes on to say that if both children know what the piece of plastic means, one of the children could potentially hold it up in a playground for the other one and both children would know what it means, even if other people do not know.
Adele asks Lindsay what it is called again and Lindsay gladly tells her it’s called Semaphore.
Saira, Adele, and Miranda didn’t seem too excited about that option.
It then goes back to Rachel who tells them about an idea for a robot wars style toy.
It would start off as a robot building kit, and the fun would come from building it, similar to meccano or lego.
Then you would pit it against other robots in a robot wars style theme and pieces of the robot would fall off.
Saira tells them that she really likes the Robot idea.
Lindsay, in the hope that someone picks her Semaphore idea, asks Saira to pick another idea so that they can pitch two ideas.
Saira says the construction plug would be her other choice.
Lindsay then looks really upset.
Miranda said her favourite toy from all of the ideas was the construction plug and if she had to choose another one, it would be the robot.
Adele says she would go with the plug idea or the robot idea.
Saira says that robots are modern and the next century so it’s quite apt.
Lindsay tells them that the robot got all of the votes, the plug got all of the votes and the semaphore got 1 vote. (Lindsay)
With 3 ideas chosen, the girls go to see one of Vivid’s experts.
Nick says they came up with about 9 clever concepts, which was probably too many, but he did think that some of the ideas were extraordinary.
He said the winner appeared to be a 3 pin plug which is something that children are told not to play with!
Rachel asks the expert if it be dangerous to have live electricity running through a child’s toy, to which the expert replies, yes it would.
Miriam asks the expert if it would pass safety standards and the expert says no, it would not.
They then scrap the idea of the 3 pin plug toy.
The robot idea is now the clear favourite.
A focus group has been arranged so the teams can get inside the heads of their target audience.
It’s a local group of cub scouts and brownies.
James asks some of the cub scouts what is the toy they want the most and if they could have any toy in the world, what would it be?
One of the children says a bouncy castle.
James asks the children what their favourite colour is, and it looks like blue is the top choice.
The boys bribe the children with sweets.
One of the cub scouts says to Miranda that he would like it if it was a police robot.
The robot idea is a hit with the children, but Lindsay is still hooked on her semaphore idea.
Lindsay tells Miriam and Rachel in the car that she needs to sell the Semaphore idea to the other girls in First Forte because it will be cheap to make.
Lindsay calls the business team of Saira, Miranda and Adele and asks them to summarise what they learned from the focus group.
Miranda tells Lindsay that all of the children loved the Robot idea.
Lindsay gives Miranda a patronising Wow!
Miranda tells Lindsay that she came up with ideas for costumes and accessories that the children could lend or swap with each other.
Lindsay explains to Miranda that Rachel had given her some feedback that she didn’t communicate the Semaphore idea very well to her. (She’s still pushing the semaphore idea!)
Lindsay says to Miranda that she would like the opportunity to pitch Semaphore again.
Miranda shares her gripes with the others in the car.
She says to them what she finds disheartening is that they have just done a 30-minute focus group with the children, talking about robots and explosions and getting good feedback, and now none of that is relevant.
Adele says the robot idea was the most popular and Miranda adds the Semaphore idea was never even brought up.
Lindsay has decided to do both the robot idea and the Semaphore idea.
With 2 toys, Lindsay is doubling the workload and running the risk of alienating half of her team.
Saira says she thinks the design agency is going to waste time on a product she doesn’t think will work at all.
She thinks they could be spending the time creating a really good product that they can present at the end of the day.
Lindsay asks the design agency if they can do 2 products and they agree.
She then starts with the Semaphore (surprise, surprise) because she says she has that prepared.
She tells the design team that they thought it could be called Secret Signals. (I’m pretty sure only Lindsay has come up with this name)
The boys arrive at the design agency and the design agency asks them what they expect to get out of the meeting.
Margaret says that the boys may be a little bit behind and what they’ve come up with is a mixture of what quite a few of them thought of and that is good because it shows they’re working as a team.
Margaret was pleased that at one point, Paul said to another candidate that their idea was better than his, which is good because Paul is the kind of person who likes his own ideas.
She also adds that maybe they should have spoken to someone at Vivid beforehand.
They could have asked:
- What is in the market?
- What could they make for x pounds?
The boys didn’t talk to someone beforehand and Margaret says she isn’t sure if that was the right strategy, but we will find out.
With the ideas delivered, it’s back to the house for both teams.
Tim and James are asleep in the car going back to the house.
It’s been a long day, but it’s not over yet.
Lindsay calls a meeting to repitch her Semaphore idea.
She says that she’s not totally hooked on Semaphore (you could have fooled me), she just wants to make sure that they have 2 options.
Adele says that the secret signal idea is an awful idea because it’s cryptic and she doesn’t believe it’s the winning formula to sell mass volume.
Lindsay has a meeting with the girls and says in business terms, she thinks the day has gone really well.
She says that she is pleased and one of the reasons is because she is so focused on the task, she is finding the leadership and management styles that she is using are coming together.
Lindsay adds that she is seeing her behaviour in a better light than she had in the past.
Adele says to Lindsay, if she had of known how enthusiastic the creative team were about Semaphore, then maybe the business team could have done the research more effectively.
Miranda agrees and says that Semaphore didn’t really fit any of the criteria.
When Lindsay recognises that the girls didn’t like the Semaphore idea, she suggests maybe stopping the meeting there as it’s getting late and tells the girls that they have crystalized the options.
26:00 ish
Elsewhere in the house, the boys are coming up with a name for their product.
One of the boys team suggests the name Switchbase.
Tim likes the name Switchbase and asks Matthew to stop reading a book while the team is trying to come up with a name.
Matthew says he has been here too many times.
Raj tells Matthew that they’ve all been here too many times but they all need to work together.
Matthew says he will just go along with everyone else.
Raj tells Matthew that he doesn’t expect team members to be reading a book.
Raj pulls Matthew off to one side and gives him a telling-off and says that he needs to be paying attention.
As the pitch is due tomorrow, the model makers work through the night.
The boys need a handset for their electronic trading game.
The girls need a model robot and for Lindsays Semaphore/Secret Signals game, a box of cards.
The following morning the boys leave the house 8 hours before they must pitch their idea to the experts.
The girls are running late.
James says to the boys, Imagine the makeup the girls must pile on.
Paul says they need it and says that an attractive woman doesn’t need makeup.
Tim says he agrees with Paul.
Paul mentions that his wife never wears makeup.
He adds that if he had met her and she was caked in makeup, she would have missed the opportunity with him.
Ben replies by saying she must be gutted.
The boys all laugh and James gives Ben a high five.
Lindsay has sent half of her team straight to the model makers to collect their prototypes and get on with their presentations.
Designworks have finished both of the girls teams toys.
They should the robot first which is the team favourite.
The girls are really happy with the prototype of the robot.
The design team then show the girls the secret signals game.
The girls still have to choose which one they are going to go with.
Saira says she thinks the robot is the strongest product and Adele agrees.
Adele asks Miriam what does she think?
Miriam says she wanted to stay Neutral until Lindsay made a decision, because she didn’t want to commit to one product only for Lindsay to change her mind and go with another one.
Saira gives the other half of the team a call and asks if she can ask Lindsay a few questions.
Saira tells Lindsay that they are going to start with the presentations.
Saira says that they want to present the best product.
She then asks Lindsay, does she want them to do a presentation for both of the products or just one?
Lindsay says she wants them to do a presentation for both products because they haven’t got enough data yet so they need to keep their options open.
Saira says to Lindsay, just to clarify, you want us to do a presentation for BOTH products?
Lindsay replies with yes definitely and adds that she knows they all have personal opinions but asks for the team to put their personal opinions aside.
Adele replies by saying she thinks there aren’t any personal opinions and tries to get her point across.
Lindsay just talks over her and says she’s too busy to listen.
Lindsay just says do 2 presentations so that they are keeping their options open.
The boys have only got one prototype and they all seem happy with it.
They get expert help for how to pitch it.
The expert tells the boys that they need to communicate the concept when pitching to get the message across.
The designers have made some visuals for the boys to show along with the prototype.
The girls still have 2 options, the robot and the semaphore game so they go back to the focus group to find out which one is the most popular with the children.
Robot: 7/10
Secret Signals: 5/10
Lindsay says that people have already got robots so she asks Miriam and Rachel are they going to take a risk and adds that she likes taking risks.
Miriam tells Lindsay that it’s her call as she is the project manager.
Her call is to ignore the focus group’s vote and her own team and press on with both products.
Rachel tells Lindsay that she thinks both products are brilliant and it doesn’t matter which one they go with.
It puts pressure on the other girls who have to prepare two pitches.
Adele and Saira are arguing while trying to write the presentations.
With less than an hour to go, Lindsay decides it’s time to choose the toy they are going to go with.
She says they will all vote and have 100 points in total and then give each toy a points score.
So for example it might be 80 points for the robot and 20 for secret signals, or it might be 70 -30 or 50-50.
Lindsay wants the team to write it on a piece of paper then hand it to her so she can count the votes.
Most of the team vote 80-20 in favour of the robot.
Lindsay says the scores are:
Secret Signals 260/600
Robot 340/600
So clearly the robot is the favourite, but Lindsay says that as a team they are split, she wants to make the casting vote as project manager.
Lindsay tells the girls that she wants to go with Secret Signals and believes that people already have robots.
She thinks Sir Alan wants the next best thing.
She then asks the girls who wants to present Secret Signals?
Lindsay says that most products that are pitched at crazes will fail.
She says that Secret Signals might not work, but she thinks it has a better chance of being a craze than the robot idea.
Saira says she feels disappointed about the decision and adds that she thought the robot was a brilliant idea.
Saira continues by saying the feedback she was getting for the robot idea was positive and the body language from the people who were producing it was also very positive.
Lindsay says she is confident that the product the girls team have got (Secret Signals/Semaphore) is great.
She says she has no idea what the boys have come up with and she would be surprised if they beat the girls.
Saira says she will give the presentation for Secret Signals 100% anyway because she wants her team to win.
Saira also says that she thinks her enthusiasm and professionalism will come across when she is presenting.
She says she will take her personal feelings out of it, because it’s not about being personal, it’s about the team winning.
It’s 4:00pm and Emma Sherski, the managing director of Vivid Imaginations comes in and tells the girls it’s time.
Emma tells the girls she must collect the prototypes and any presentation material.
Another staff member at Vivid tells the boys team that it is 4:00pm and that they must stop now.
It’s time for the pitch.
Each team gets 15 minutes to sell its idea to the toy company bosses and they will then advise Sir Alan who they think should win.
The girls team start and Lindsay enters and greets the company bosses.
Saira and Miriam then enter the room.
It then shows the boys team entering the room.
For the boys, James, Ben and Sebastian represent the team and they also greet the bosses.
James then tells the bosses about the toy they have produced.
He tells them it is a trading game with a twist called Switchbase.
James adds that Switchbase, is an interactive device that communicates with other similar devices allowing trading and gaming in an exciting new format.
Saira then gives her pitch to the company bosses.
The bosses look very bored.
James tells the bosses that the toy sounds risky but the concept is tried and tested and has worked time after time.
One of the bosses asks the boys, what sort of profit margin retailers can expect to make on the cards.
Someone says 40%.
Miriam explains Secret Signals to the bosses.
The company bosses call Sir Alan and he answers their call from his car phone. Fancy!
Sir Alan wants to know which one was better.
The bosses tell Sir Alan that the boys team did a fantastic job with their toy and mention it was really good.
They also tell Sir Alan that the girls toy was weak and that they wouldn’t buy it. (Surprise, surprise)
He mentions that kids these days are more into mobile phones and electronic messaging and maybe in the 1960’s it would have worked.
Alan says he will look at both toys and then make the ultimate decision.
Both teams head back to the boardroom.
All 13 candidates wait in the reception area.
Lindsay says to the girls, that if they don’t win, she’ll eat her hat.
Frances from Reception tells them that they can go into the boardroom.
All the candidates enter the boardroom.
Sir Alan enters and says that he told them he was the one who makes the decisions, but he will give them a chance to pitch their ideas to him.
He starts with the ladies and Lindsay explains the concept of Secret Signals.
Sir Alan says it sounds a bit boring.
He then talks to the boys team and James explains what their toy does.
Alan is unsure if the boys came up with the idea themselves and then pulls out a couple of similar toys, that he bought from the shop earlier.
Raj says he wasn’t aware of those products and the idea came about in the cars from thinking about toys that already existed but were really successful and they all thought of top trumps.
Sir Alan says that he is going to give the boys the benefit of the doubt.
Sir Alan adds that the boys toy is an enhancement of something that is already in the market rather than a completely original and unique idea.
Sir Alan tells the candidates that he has a very long conversation with Nick Austin, the founder of Vivid Imaginations.
What Nick Austin doesn’t know about toys isn’t worth knowing.
Sir Alan says that his instinct is that he will have to go with what he says and that means the boys have won!
He tells the girls that they haven’t won and he finds their toy boring and he also lets them know that the toy company also found their toy boring.
As usual the winning team gets a treat and this time the boys are being sent off to a country home and they are going to do some clay pigeon shooting.
Sir Alan tells the ladies that they are going to go off, then come back and then one of them is going to get fired.
The candidates leave the boardroom.
The boys are seen arriving at the country house and then indulging in clay pigeon shooting.
The girls are seen going to Addis Cafe.
They all have a cup of tea.
Lindsay says that she thinks everyone has done a really good job.
She adds that she is pleased that everyone backed her and stuck together as a team.
She then thanks everyone for their support.
The girls team all come back to the reception area with their suitcases.
They get called into the boardroom and Sir Alan tells them that the boys have kicked their arse, twice.
He adds that it is disappointing.
Sir Alan says to the ladies that he is going to leave the floor open and says they know what the outcome is going to be.
He asks Rachel who she thinks let the side down and Rachel says it’s a difficult decision to make.
Rachel says that she feels like the team were pleased with the product they developed and thought they worked well as a team.
Sir Alan tells Rachel that he wants to know what she thinks went wrong.
Rachel replies by saying the ultimate decision to go with secret signals toy, which was 1 of 2 choices, was left until the last minute and that was Lindsays choice.
Sir Alan asks Rachel how she voted and Rachel says that she voted for the other prototype.
Sir Alan reaches under his desk and brings up the robot prototype.
He mentions that Adele wanted to go with the Robot prototype and how she thought the secret signals game sucked, then asked her what did she do.
Adele says she asked for a private word with Lindsay because she had involved herself in the presentation stages.
Because Lindsay went for Secret Signals instead of the Robot, Adele said she couldn’t take part in the presentation.
Sir Alan asks Lindsay if she detected any disinterest in helping the group from Adele.
Lindsay replies by saying she didn’t see Adele do much at all.
Sir Alan says to Miriam that she is being very quiet.
Miriam replied by saying Lindsay had asked her to pitch the product and Miriam adds that she had her personal opinions but she had to have an open mind to be able to pitch either one.
Miriam adds that Lindsay only decided 20 minutes before the presentation.
Sir Alan asks Miriam which one she voted for and she replies saying she had to remain very split.
Sir Alan replies by saying so does that mean 50 50 then?
Miriam says it does.
Sir Alan talks to Lindsay and says he isn’t hearing good vibes and says the other 2 ladies (Miriam and Adele) are being very polite, but they are pointing the finger at Lindsay.
Sir Alan says to Lindsay that at the 11th hour (last minute), when a decision was to be made and even when she saw the result, she decided to go with Secret Signals.
Lindsay says that is right.
Sir Alan asks her what she thinks now.
Lindsay says that she doesn’t think that her main source of data was their own personal opinions and the team were becoming confused.
She added that she was led to believe that she should trust the focus group.
Miriam adds in that the focus group preferred the Robot.
Lindsay says she doesn’t have the figures with her, but the team decided on the way back.
Adele says that the team didn’t decide, it was Lindsay who chose to go with Secret Signals.
Sir Alan tells Lindsay she has to choose who she is bringing back into the boardroom.
Lindsay says she’s clutching at straws, but she will bring back Adele and Miriam.
Sir Alan sends the other ladies back to the house and asks Lindsay, Adele and Miriam to wait outside in the reception area and he will call them back in when he is ready.
Sir Alan discusses the candidates with Nick and Margaret.
He tells them that the candidates on the girls team are being awfully polite.
Sir Alan tells Nick and Margaret that the girls will have to give him a good reason because he’s not sure about any of them.
He continues by saying Miriam can talk very well.
He says that Miriam talking is like a drone and he doesn’t know what she is saying.
Margaret says to Sir Alan that it didn’t make sense for Miriam to say she didn’t favour either side and says that she must’ve had one that she preferred.
Nick informs Sir Alan that he has heard more from Adele now than since she started.
Margaret adds that she doesn’t know what Adele did.
Sir Alan says it’s what she didn’t do. She abstained.
Margaret says it’s difficult because Adele felt very passionate about the Robot and they need to consider if that was why she didn’t help with Secret Signals.
Margaret says she isn’t sure about Miriam. She adds that Miriam did do the presentation, but it wasn’t that great.
Sir Alan says he has a picture in his mind and he is going to give them a last chance.
Sir Alan says he will call them back and get it over and done with.
He calls Frances and she tells the candidates they can go back into the boardroom.
Sir Alan asks Lindsay what she meant when she said she was clutching at straws when choosing the two candidates to bring back in to the boardroom.
Sir Alan says he doesn’t understand that point and asks Lindsay what she means.
Lindsay replies by saying she couldn’t find a serious fault with any of her team members and adds that she thought the whole team did quite well.
Sir Alan replies by saying what did you do, toss a coin?
Lindsay says no.
Sir Alan says well there must be a reason then.
Lindsay says she perceived strengths coming from those around her but adds that Adele wasn’t actually around her so that was unfair but that was why she chose Adele.
Sir Alan then asks why she chose Miriam.
Lindsay answers by saying Miriam didn’t do the research to contribute to the presentation and because a lot of the team are good at selling, someone else could have done it.
Miriam asks Sir Alan if she can interject and Sir Alan just shoots her down and tells Miriam that she will have her time.
Sir Alan asks Lindsay who she thinks should be fired and Lindsay says Adele, because she believes Adeles contribution wasn’t as strong as other team members.
Sir Alan asks Miriam if she wants to talk.
Miriam starts by saying in terms of her being dispensable, which is what Lindsay said, she is quite shocked by that as she was the only one who could have pitched either product.
Miriam also tells Sir Alan that Saira wanted to step out of the whole presentation because she didn’t believe in it and Miriam says she had to ask her to be a contributing factor to that.
Miriam continues by telling Sir Alan that Lindsay couldn’t have presented because she couldn’t even sell her idea to her teammates.
She tells Sir Alan that everyone said how apologetic Lindsay was and how they all wished Lindsay would present the idea with some sort of passion as it was her idea.
Sir Alan asks Miriam if what she is saying is that she had to prepare a presentation for 2 products and Miriam says, yes that is correct.
He then asks Miriam when did you know which one you were going with and Miriam replies by saying 20 minutes before the pitch.
He then asks Miriam who she thinks should be fired and Miriam responds by saying Lindsay, without any shadow of a doubt.
Sir Alan then turns to Adele and asks her what she thinks.
Adele says that all the way through, Secret Signals had no mileage whatsoever in her mind.
She adds what was also a problem for her was the research and development wasn’t consistent and wasn’t used.
Sir Alan asks Adele if she is saying that she had no heart in the product but remained professional and Adele says yes that’s correct.
He asks Adele who she thinks should be fired.
Adele says without a shadow of a doubt, it should be Lindsay, because she didn’t listen to her team.
Sir Alan says to Lindsay that he’s not liking what he is hearing and the other two ladies are pointing the finger at her.
He asks Lindsay to convince him why she shouldn’t be fired this week.
Lindsays responds by saying she shouldn’t be fired because she went through the process of undertaking the task in the most logical and organised way she could.
She adds that they delivered something that she believed in and that was the best she could do.
Sir Alan summarises and says to Adele that she didn’t like the product but she was stuck and he will give her the benefit of the doubt.
Sir Alan suggests to Adele that maybe she should put herself forward as a team leader.
Adele says that she will take that on board.
Sir Alan addresses Miriam and says that she has told him that she gave her heart and soul in the presentation.
Sir Alan tells her he wasn’t happy with the 50/50 thing and says that is weak.
He adds that it’s ok to give your best because you’ve been instructed to give your best, but he is disappointed that Miriam hasn’t told him which product she preferred,
Sir Alan says to Lindsay that she made the biggest error.
She had the opportunity in her grasp and she had heard from her team who all said the Robot toy was better yet she chose to ignore it.
Sir Alan tells Lindsay she’s fired.
He says to Nick and Margaret correct me if I’m wrong but I told them to go out and create a toy, not 2 toys.
Sir Alan adds that the whole team said it was Lindsay who made that decision to make 2 toys and he has no problem with Lindsay going.
Lindsay said she engineered the boardroom to get Adele fired because she believed she was the weakest.
She adds that she chose Miriam because she believed she was strong and would therefore remain in the process.
Lindsay said that she thought that would give Sir Alan no choice but to fire Adele.
She says that her values are about making a decision and then sticking to it even if it’s the wrong decision.
Lindsay adds that if you’re an employer and you hire someone, you can’t sack them if they make a wrong decision because you would have invested so much money into that person.
She says that you would be better off keeping them because they will have learnt something and be a better employee after that.
Lindsay says she doesn’t share Sir Alans values but he has every right to make his own judgement.
1 job… now only 12 candidates remain… Sir Alans search for his apprentice continues…