Category: reality tv

After both teams came back with a loss, three big mouths squared off in the boardroom in The Apprentice UK Series 5 Episode 6, and Noorul came out the loser and was fired.

The teams are instructed to pack an overnight bag. They find out after packing they’re going to Manchester and Liverpool. Probably won’t need the flip flops and swimsuit.

The task is to visit 12 companies and choose two products they wish to try to sell to dealers. Everybody will be given an order book and is expected to sell, so that way three people won’t be claiming the same sale like last week.

Mona and Howard go to Empire. Ben and Yasmina go to Ignite.

Mona volunteers to lead Empire because she doesn’t trust anyone else.

Lorraine steps forward for Ignite because she wants to make people do what she wants rather than being ignored. She says she goes with a gut feeling when she gets one, but she’s slow to get ideas.

Mona’s team has made their first decision on a dog leash that allows two people to walk their dog at the same time. Lorraine considers the product embarrassing, so her team is not interested.

They opt for another pet product instead, a cat playhouse. Their second choice is a shopping bag that clips on a bicycle. Yasmina raises concerns about weight distribution, but they go with it since the inventor assures them it’s been tested.

Empire’s second product is a sleeping bag with arms and legs. Howard’s only doubt is that he doesn’t see either of the two retailers that afternoon being interested in either product. They shrug that worry off, but Margaret’s not so sure that’s wise.

The first retail destination is an independently run hardware store. Yasmina and Lorraine will make the pitch there for their team. One of the executives they meet with offers the concern already mentioned about the bicycle bag, that weight distribution will be a problem. Yasmina’s suggestion: buy two. The cat playhouse, however, does generate some interest. They ask for them to order 5-6,000, meaning they would need to sell 400 a week. They disagree that would be possible. Upon leaving, Lorraine says that was her worse pitch in 20 years.

On the other team, Mona and James are trying to line up buyers for the next day.

Debra and Howard, meanwhile, go to the hardware store to make their pitch. The exec responds that he only ever sees one person walking a dog. Their next item is the sleeping bag. They didn’t prepare an answer to how much a regular sleeping bag would cost, as compared to this £89 one. Granted, the question is way too broad, as some sleeping bags are dirt cheap, while higher end ones would be far more expensive than this item. It’s all moot since it’s not like a hardware store could actually sell most of these products anyway.

Their next stop is the Manchester branch of the Designer Home Store. Their initial reaction is they’re too stylish for the sleeping bag. Howard is unsurprised by the lack of enthusiasm from the retailers.

Lorraine and Yasmina try their luck. They do seem interested in the bike bag.

The rest of Lorraine’s team is struggling to try to put the cat playhouse together. They only have one meeting lined up for the morning. If she’s not happy with that, she should have stayed behind with her team. It’s not as if she did anything on the pitches any of them couldn’t have done.

Mona and James hit one of their appointments, a camping store, to sell the sleeping bag. They start him off at a minimum order of 24 for £49.95. He’d like a better deal. Mona works with him to sell 45 for £48.

Lorraine stays in Manchester with Yasmina, while her other team heads off to the other side. Lorraine does not appear to be having any luck on the phones, a task she considered to be so easy, but Ben, Kate, and Philip have managed to book a meeting with the biggest pet retailer in the UK for her. Yasmina suggests that they both do the pitch, but Lorraine wants to take all the credit (but probably not all the blame). Because she’s the project manager, Yasmina’s out. The reason: she’s her boss.

On the other team, Debra and Howard are on their way to the headquarters of the very same pet superstore. They sell about 60 different types of leads, but they’ve never thought of this before. They would be interested in a trial on a regional basis at 50 of their 220 stores with 4 per store, which works out to a sale of 200.

The other half of Lorraine’s team is meeting with a cycle superstore for their bike bag. The guy they’re talking to points out another flaw: it will interfere with pedaling the bike. Philip agrees to ride the bike through the store to prove it will work. He’s still not interested.

Lorraine is heading for her pet meeting, and she’s talking about selling 20,000 units. She thinks big. Way too big. Didn’t she learn her lesson from the guy who told her that her 400 units per week sale was way too aggressive? They’re willing to do a test of 50 units. When Lorraine calls her other team to report her failure at selling at the meeting they booked for her, she turns it around to get upset at them for struggling to sell as well. She just hopes it’s not Kate’s beauty that’s causing them distractions, so she’s apparently letting her jealousy motivate her here.

Mona and James have sold some more dog leads to a local store in Manchester.

Debra has set up a meeting, and she insists on doing the pitch so she will get credit for the sale, unconcerned that Howard still doesn’t have any sales. She admits they’re working as a team, but she still wants the credit. She does, however, finally hand over their one phone so he can start making some calls. This meeting nets a sale of 10 units.

Lorraine goes to make another pitch. The pet store owner is not interested. It’s just a cardboard box. Now that the day’s almost over, Lorraine realizes this was a poor product choice. Shouldn’t her instinct have told her that long before now?

The other half of her team is attempting to sell a cat playhouse to a city center department store, hoping to make at least one sale for the task. No luck.

Mona’s team was reasonably happy with her performance, and she found them to be cooperative.

Both of their appointments that Sir Alan set up bought nothing. They are not overly surprised.

Lorraine mostly gets support from Yasmina, but not so much from the rest of the team. Kate says it lacked some structure.

They got orders for both items from Sir Alan’s retailers.

Empire’s total sales, all made on day two, were £4,501.

Ignite’s total sales were £1,302, despite having sold to the retailers.

Empire’s strategy was very clearly a winning one, despite Sir Alan having given them a hard time for ignoring the retailers. For their reward, they get a helicopter ride over London at sunset.

Ben, Kate, and Philip sold nothing. Lorraine sold the most, though that was mostly because she gave herself the pitch for the retailers and because the other half of the team made an appointment with the pet superstore for her.

Lorraine blames lack of urgency on the subteam for their performance.

Sir Alan questions Lorraine about the quantities she was attempting to sell, which were ridiculous.

Philip says that, if he and Kate were at the Pets At Home meeting, they would have sold more than 50 units. A chimp would have sold more for that matter.

Lorraine again brings up the lack of urgency, and says they sabotaged her so she would go in the boardroom and be sent home.

Philip and Kate will go back to the boardroom with Lorraine.

According to Philip’s application, his worst qualities are stubborn, arrogant, cocky, and a control freak.

Kate believes she’s performed consistently throughout the previous tasks, and she’s right. Unless she sticks her foot in her mouth, she’s safe.

Lorraine blames Philip and Kate’s friendship for their lack of sales. Oh, and their lack of urgency.

Philip has been fired because he won’t fit into the organization due to his attitude. Should have fired both of them, but Lorraine lives to see another day. She’s earned herself a new enemy in Kate, though, having brought up her friendship with Philip in a desperate attempt to not be sent home.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Apprentice UK Series 5 Episode 8.

Kimberly’s excuse that she only manages creative people but is not actually creative herself did not fly with Sir Alan, as she was fired in The Apprentice UK Series 5 Episode 5.

The task is to sell items, some old and some new. They’re warned to not take everything at face value.

Kate goes over to Ignite, while Noorul goes over to Empire. Empire got the bad end of that trade.

Sir Alan appoints Philip to lead Ignite and Ben to lead Empire.

Sir Alan says that he doesn’t expect them to sell all 10 items, but he does want them to sell the ones they do sell for the right price. There are some valuable items among the junk. This is quite the contrast with the typical task on this show, which is to sell as much as possible.

Ben believes he can be great under situations such as heavy gunfire or explosions going off around him. He probably won’t find any of that here.

Philip starts off by trying to get past the fighting with Lorraine from last week. With that said, it’s time for him to start going after her. He doesn’t want her to waste time on that rug. Would this be the £200 rug that was pointed out as one of the gems at the top of the task?

Ben takes 7 items and gives the other half of his team just 3. You could try trusting them a bit more.

Philip splits his items equally, dividing between antiques and more contemporary items.

Philip, Lorraine, and Mona first head off to sell the skeleton because he believes the skeleton has the highest value. The antique shopkeepers tell them it’s just too new.

Ben, Noorul, and Debra start off with the books. The place they take them should be able to sort out the valuable items from the junk, but they can’t be rushed. Since they’ve got to cram so much into the day, they may not have the time to spend doing this. After a couple of valuations, Ben decides to leave.

Philip’s still hung up on the skeleton. At the suggestion of the shopkeepers, they will go to the college. Lorraine still wants to focus on the rug, and Philip still doesn’t want to listen to her.

As for Ben, he’s tired of wasting time with valuations, so he’s just going to sell. They get £100 for their books.

Perhaps if Philip goes to a pub, he can find some doctors having a lunch time drink. Somehow, they actually find someone to buy it for £160, some random guy who wanted one his whole life.

Howard has sold the riding boots for the other half of Philip’s team. Kate’s also selling some small value items.

Yasmina and James have sold their Frank Lampard poster for £40 to a retailer. Their next item is jellied eels. The fishmonger talks them down from £50 to 30.

Philip still thinks the Indian rug is garbage, so he takes it to an east end street market. Margaret calls this one of the most stupid activities they have yet engaged in. They don’t have any luck.

Ben’s team is attempting to unload the skeleton. Noorul has set up a meeting. He’s checked the value is over £150. The guy they have a meeting with is a student. The best he can do is £50. Ben agrees to sell it for £60.

Yasmina and James try to unload their rug, and they’re told to not waste their time in that area because the value is too high for anybody to buy it.

Philip will be going door to door with his rug.

Ben’s struggling to find any takers for the commode. He calls for reinforcements. Perhaps if he’d planned better, he wouldn’t have 5 items left to sell while the other half of his team has just one remaining. Debra is irritated with Yasmina and James, who would rather focus on selling the rug.

They will be heading to Greenwich Market to see what they can get rid of, apparently as cheaply as possible. Ben wants to sell all the shoes for £1, including the vintage shoes worth over £100.

With half an hour left, Philip decides to go into another pub, this time with a rug.

Yasmina and James, likewise, are still lugging around their rug. At least they realize the value of the rug, more than Philip does anyway. They sell it for £55.

Philip sells his rug to someone on the street for £50. Lorraine thought the rug and the shoes were worth the most. Philip asks why she’s bringing it up now, as if she hasn’t been bringing it up all day long.

Ben’s team thought he was a good team leader. He says it was probably the hardest task they’ve come up against, and he’s exhausted and stressed.

Philip’s team also supports him, even Lorraine.

This task will be judged on what they sold the items for, as compared with what they were worth. Rather than just trying to unload them at any price, they’d have been better off simply not selling some of them.

Ignite made a profit of £96 on the items they sold for more than their value, but they undersold two items and ended up with a net loss of £34.

Empire made a profit of £78 on some items, but they had a loss of £242 on the rest, for a net loss of £169.

Despite the fact that they had a loss, Ignite still won because they had less of a loss. Sir Alan wants Philip to have less of a thick head going forward, and perhaps actually listen to someone else for a change.

Ignite gets a reward of truffle tasting and wine. Philip thanks Lorraine for putting up with him for another day.

Sir Alan asks Empire why they didn’t make an effort at finding the gems. They stare at him without speaking.

Nick says that the skeleton probably wouldn’t have sold at all until Ben stepped in and closed the deal. Noorul steps in and tries to take credit. Yeah, credit for the item that caused them to lose half of what they lost. Let it go, dude. You don’t want credit for this.

Debra blames the poor split of items. Yasmina jumps in to defend herself, even though Debra seems to be blaming her project manager. Speaking of taking credit, Debra would like credit for the bulk of the sales from her team. Not content with arguing with Ben, she begins arguing with Nick as well, until Sir Alan tells her not to speak to him like that.

Ben will be bringing Noorul and James back with him. Uh… why James? He’s changed his mind and has decided to bring back Debra instead.

Margaret says that it was the bike and the skeleton that let them down.

Noorul, after much arguing, finally gets to his complaint about the failure of the task. It was the poor split of the items, which Debra also brought up.

Then it’s time for Ben to get into another shouting match, this time with Debra.

Noorul is still taking credit for the rug. He also takes credit for the bike. So basically both the items that Margaret blames for them losing the task.

Debra calls Ben a poor project manager.

Ben would like Noorul fired because he’s sat on the fence throughout the competition. Noorul doesn’t let him get out a complete thought. Could this guy please just shut up already? At least it looks like Debra’s safe because the other two are digging their own graves.

Because Sir Alan doesn’t know what Noorul’s been doing there, he has been fired. As for Debra, if she talks back to Nick like that again, she should not bother coming back.

Stay tuned to dingoRUE for another recap of The Apprentice UK Series 5 Episode 7.