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00:00Previously on The Apprentice...
00:13I'd like you to create your own healthy snacks and then pitch to retailers.
00:19Charlene's superfood bars came with added confusion...
00:23Babu, erm, the boo bar, bar?
00:25The bar, bub.
00:26..and ended up hard to swallow.
00:29Do you like it? No.
00:31The other team plumped for crisps...
00:33I'm seeing the front of a packet is a massive V
00:36and it's basically just vegetables.
00:38..but Brett's veggies...
00:40I think I need to put a little bit more olive oil.
00:42It's not mad science.
00:44..saw their chances slip away...
00:46I struggled to open the bag because of the amount of oil on my fingers.
00:49..in the boardroom...
00:50They didn't place any orders, Alan.
00:52They also didn't place any orders.
00:55No orders also?
00:56..a dead heat...
00:58That's never happened before. You're both lost.
01:00..Charlene faltered...
01:02Do you want to take five minutes and go outside?
01:05..Richard pleaded not guilty...
01:08I didn't know the process of cooking.
01:10You did know it was dehydrated? You did know it was raw?
01:13Tricky-dicky.
01:14..and for Brett...
01:16So what have you done in the ten weeks?
01:18Being in the bottom three, three times.
01:20..it was crunch time.
01:22I'm going to have to let you go from the process and say you're fired.
01:25Thank you for everything, it's been amazing.
01:27..he became the 13th casualty of the boardroom.
01:31Now five remain to fight for the chance
01:34to become Lord Sugar's business partner.
01:46One week till Lord Sugar's final.
01:49PHONE RINGS
01:52Phone!
01:54Hello?
01:55Lord Sugar would like you to meet him in the city at 8am tomorrow.
01:59Make sure you don't forget your business plan.
02:02Um...
02:04Yeah, that's what it's all about now, isn't it?
02:06What business plan?
02:09Joseph!
02:10What?
02:14For the final five, 24 hours to knock their plans into shape.
02:19Beauty salon, package four.
02:21Beauty salon, package four. Five times hair salon.
02:241.25 year two turnover.
02:27Lord Sugar would be happy with that.
02:30Former corporate business manager Gary Poulton...
02:34Competitor analysis, logistics.
02:36..has six years' experience at the UK's biggest retailer.
02:40I have been labelled as this corporate guy,
02:43this corporate Gary, corporate G.
02:45Market growing by over 3%.
02:47I need to demonstrate to Lord Sugar
02:49I am more than Mr Corporate, I am this entrepreneur.
02:52Perfect.
02:5475,000.
02:56At 25, plumbing firm owner Joseph Valente is the youngest survivor.
03:02I don't have a great deal of experience in regards to interviews.
03:06Sales...
03:08What's wrong with me?
03:10I think a number of times throughout this process
03:12I've been out of my comfort zone.
03:14Come on, Joe, you can do this.
03:15But I've come a long way from that 14-year-old boy
03:18that got expelled at school.
03:20Revenue for the US dating market, 2.2 billion.
03:23Business masters student Varna Koutsimitis
03:26is a social media entrepreneur with two internet businesses.
03:31I'm confident in my business plan because this is a passion for me.
03:34I've worked in the dating industry, I've done the relevant research.
03:38Number of online dating businesses, 3,800.
03:42It's crazy.
03:43I know that I can execute it properly.
03:47After last week's loss, hair salon owner Charlene Wayne has a lot to prove.
03:53Being in that boardroom on the last task really got to me.
03:57The defining feature that differentiates Mayers is low cost.
04:01The last time I had an interview was 15 years ago when I joined the Navy,
04:05so I am nervous because I realise that I stutter at times,
04:10but I know I can do it.
04:13Holding the best record in the process, winning eight out of ten tasks,
04:18marketing agency director Richard Woods.
04:22I've been project manager twice.
04:24The first task was the best advertising product
04:26that Lost Trigger has seen in a long time,
04:28and the second we sold £4.2 million worth of property.
04:31They were the two standout tasks, I think, in the whole process.
04:35Net profit, six, one, eight, four, three.
04:38He's got a unique concept and a business plan that's really cutting edge.
04:42It would be crazy to pass by Richard Woods.
04:526am.
04:56Morning, Richard. How are you feeling?
04:58Massively comfortable.
05:00I'm going to win. I'm going to win.
05:03You're so annoying, honestly.
05:05See you later.
05:06See you.
05:09The most task.
05:11I think it's time, guys.
05:12Yeah?
05:13You're going to lose it, mate.
05:15I want a fresh look, smart and professional.
05:18Say goodbye to the beautiful face.
05:26Ah!
05:28It looks so different.
05:30Don't throw it back.
05:31No, you like it.
05:32Yeah, don't throw it back.
05:39BELL RINGS
05:52At the heart of the city, the Leadenhall Building.
05:59Let's do this.
06:09MUSIC CONTINUES
06:20Good morning.
06:21Good morning, Lord Sugar.
06:23I've already invested a million pounds with previous winners.
06:28I'm about to invest another £250,000.
06:33Today, you are going to present your business plans
06:37to four of my advisers.
06:40And I look forward to seeing you in the boardroom
06:43where I will be deciding which of you will be going through
06:47to the very final task.
06:50Well, now hand your business plans to Karen and Claude.
06:54Waiting upstairs, four of Lord Sugar's toughest taskmasters.
07:00Publishing pioneer Mike Souter
07:03has a gift for getting at the truth behind the headline.
07:07So you and your brother own an online marketing firm.
07:10It says on your company's home page that Yomp Marketing
07:13is Surrey's number one digital marketing agency.
07:16Yes.
07:17Is that an award that you've won?
07:19I'm part of a business networking breakfast group.
07:21That's had a poll of which was the best marketing agency
07:24within that networking group.
07:26So from a chat around breakfast...
07:29It's not good enough.
07:31..people, you're the number one marketing agency.
07:33It's not good enough. Yeah, that's my mistake.
07:35That just appears like more than just a sloppy mistake.
07:38It appears to me to be misleading.
07:40Exposing the people behind the plans,
07:43managing director of a billion-pound media company,
07:47and managing director of a billion-pound media agency,
07:50Claudine Collins.
07:52Why does Lord Sugar call you Valentino?
07:54Because my surname's Valente, the Italian,
07:57and then I'm a bit of a romancer.
07:59Are you?
08:01I like to think so.
08:06Lord Sugar's new recruit, no-nonsense Linda Plant,
08:10owner of an international interior design company,
08:14will test who's tough enough to get to the top.
08:17In task ten, Charlene, didn't you leave the boardroom in tears?
08:21The thought of failure...
08:23Reduced you to tears?
08:25It did.
08:26But how are you going to behave,
08:28running a multi-million-pound organisation?
08:31Going to cry.
08:33And finally, returning to rake through the business plans,
08:36Lord Sugar's right-hand man, Claude Littner.
08:40So do you want me to give you a little bit of background
08:42about why I know there's an opportunity?
08:44Because obviously that's going to be your first question.
08:46Why don't you let me ask the first question rather than predicting it?
08:54It's going to be a long day.
08:56This is the most important day of the process.
08:58I feel confident, though.
09:01Good luck, Gary.
09:03So Gary's obviously been in the corporate world for a number of years.
09:06He hasn't got any experience in running businesses.
09:09I think he's going to struggle.
09:12But wouldn't you trust him with your business?
09:14Oh, he's good. There's no two ways about it.
09:17But we're all good. That's the point.
09:19Let's look at your CV.
09:21You held a number of roles at the UK's largest retailer.
09:25You say you were responsible for a property spend of £1 billion.
09:30That's correct, just over, yes.
09:32It was the largest property development programme
09:34for that business ever in history,
09:36and I don't think it will be repeated again.
09:39It's kind of hard to believe that somebody with your experience
09:43would be in charge of such a budget.
09:46Are you guilty of embroidering the truth a little?
09:50Absolutely not. I'd say it's one of my key achievements in my business world.
09:53Your references have said you didn't actually oversee budgets.
09:57I mean, you could say the CEO of the company
10:00was ultimately accountable for that budget,
10:02but in terms of the day-to-day managing, the responsibility was mine.
10:06On your application, it says you led over 600 people...
10:09Yes.
10:10..to deliver this enormous property development programme.
10:13Is that true?
10:14Absolutely. So in terms of leading...
10:16You were 600 people's boss.
10:18No, I wasn't their manager, but in terms of leading,
10:21600 people danced to the tune of my development programme.
10:24Your reference said that when you left,
10:26you were only in charge of three people.
10:29So what happened to the other 597?
10:32I was actually taken out of the corporate machine
10:34and actually led a small, isolated, special team,
10:38so I went from managing...
10:40Well, not managing, leading these 600 people
10:42to actually physically line managing just two or three people.
10:51I will be a worldwide hairdressing brand.
10:54Yes.
10:56I will top Tony and Guy.
10:58Very big statements.
11:00Explain your business plan.
11:02It will be a training academy in London
11:04with a fully working salon at the side
11:07and then franchising out from there.
11:09What is your USP?
11:11I'm very big with wedding hair.
11:13Have you done any international shows?
11:15Been down in the South West.
11:17But even if you're in the South West,
11:19an international hair competition would be good for building your brand.
11:23So have you done any of those?
11:25No, nothing international.
11:27I mean, look, I know you got an award
11:30from the local newspaper.
11:33It's good, but it's not enough.
11:35No.
11:36You haven't got a brand.
11:38You haven't even won a hairdressing competition.
11:40You know, you're going from one small provincial salon
11:43to open an academy.
11:45I mean, who's going to know your name?
11:50I'm a long way off of, obviously, where I want to be.
11:53I will absolutely work my socks off.
11:55I would absolutely sacrifice everything...
11:57Think you are... I think you are motivated.
12:00I think you're driven.
12:02But that's not what we're talking about here.
12:04We're talking about, are you capable?
12:06Can you meet those aspirations?
12:08I'm... I'm not convinced.
12:12I'm not convinced.
12:16She is brutal.
12:18I can see it on your face, seeing you just got torn apart.
12:21Jeez!
12:22She is like, who do you think you are?
12:24What, you say you're going to be this?
12:26You say you're going to be that? Don't be so stupid.
12:28And then you go to say, but I can.
12:30And she's like, no, you can't. Don't be so silly.
12:32You wait till you're in that room.
12:34You'll be sweating from every single finger.
12:38See you.
12:40Joseph has a lot of confidence.
12:42You can even see it in his walk.
12:44He's so passionate about his business,
12:46he's almost itching for this opportunity
12:48to get it across to Lord Sugar's advisors.
12:50Come on, Jo, you can do this.
12:57So, you read Lord Sugar's book a few years ago
13:00and you say you didn't sleep for weeks.
13:03Yeah. Is that right? It's right.
13:05What it did for me was gave me the inspiration to start my business.
13:08I thought, hang on a minute, all I need to do is get my own van,
13:11make a sign, get a name, start the business so I can do it myself.
13:14And then within a couple of days, I was ready to go.
13:16Well, that's either a very sincere tribute to the power of his words
13:20or it's the most blatant attempt to butter him up that I've ever heard.
13:25Yeah.
13:26I've actually got a copy of his book,
13:29so maybe a little test here.
13:33Farna, your business plan. Tell me what it is.
13:36OK. An online dating app that focuses on the gamification of dating.
13:41How would it work?
13:42You'd be matched with someone and you'd be playing the game with them.
13:45How am I matched with them?
13:46You're going to be matched based on age, location, obviously gender.
13:49What kind of games would we play?
13:51We could do brain teasers, for example.
13:53We can do, like, a flying game where we're...
13:55Pretending to fly.
13:57Yes.
14:01How old was Lord Sugar when he founded Amstrad?
14:0719. Yeah, very good.
14:09What was the first commodity he bought and sold?
14:12Car aerials.
14:14Absolutely spot on.
14:16As you play more games with this person, their picture becomes visible.
14:20Clear. Yeah.
14:21So, basically, in the beginning, the picture would be a little bit blurred,
14:24so you'd be able to see a silhouette,
14:25but then your features will become clear as you play more games.
14:28You'll be able to see who the potential date is.
14:30I tell you what I'm struggling with, right,
14:32is that it takes you right to the end of the day to actually see that person.
14:36I think, after wasting my time finding someone who's very nice
14:40but totally not my type at all,
14:42I'd get fed up and I'd leave.
14:45And who was his first employee?
14:47His first employee... Was it his father?
14:50Yeah, it was. Very good. Not Claude Littner.
14:59Project X, a fully managed and implemented business growth campaign
15:03that starts with a focused base camp
15:06to remove the clouds from the client's business growth mountain
15:11so they clearly see the summit they're aiming for.
15:14This is what differentiates us from other marketing agencies out there.
15:18This four-step process, so it's strategised with you, implemented for you.
15:23Right. Yeah. I'm the wiser.
15:27It's like a bad 1980s marketing book. It's mumbo-jumbo.
15:32Particularly with someone like Lord Sugar,
15:34who likes it straight, honest, direct.
15:37You can't be evasive with him.
15:39I mean, look, the thing is, Richard,
15:41I've been observing you over a long period now.
15:43You're not without ability.
15:45It's just the way you've gone about things
15:47just leads me to believe that you're not straight.
15:50You've got, like, a little agenda.
15:52I'm just so competitive and my focus, I think,
15:55has been very much on making the team win the task.
15:59You have saved the day on a number of occasions
16:01but I can't shake that feeling off.
16:04You've been a bit slippery and a bit political.
16:07Let's get into the detail of the business plan.
16:10Your business aims to sell franchises to gas plumbers nationwide
16:14who want to trade under your brand.
16:17Yeah, to sell the winning formula that I've built my business on.
16:21So, in terms of costs, you charge a fee at the beginning,
16:24you charge a fee at the end,
16:26you charge a fee at the end,
16:28you charge a fee at the end,
16:30you charge a fee at the end,
16:32you charge a fee at the end,
16:34and, of course, you charge a fee at the beginning,
16:37which is how much?
16:38£25,000.
16:40£25,000 and then 10% of the monthly turnover of every business.
16:45How much turnover did your business have in the last year?
16:49Around £370,000.
16:52So how much would you have had to pay yourself
16:54if you'd been under this franchise?
16:59£65,000.
17:00And how much profit did you make last year?
17:03£160,000.
17:06So if you'd been your own franchisee,
17:08you'd have made a loss of £5,000 in the year.
17:12You've created something where the costs are simply too high
17:16for the franchisee to bear.
17:18Right. OK, well, we can look at that, then.
17:20It's the element that, at the moment,
17:23holds this under the waterline.
17:25This is a business plan that is sinking on its numbers.
17:34DOORBELL RINGS
17:44So, Charlene, you say that your salon brings in
17:47£150,000 turnover per annum. Yes.
17:50But the thing is, having one salon
17:53is quite different to having a franchise.
17:56You talk about a training academy,
17:59but there again you leave me with no clue
18:02as to whether this actually makes money.
18:04Because Lord Sugar wants profit.
18:06Training academies are a massive earner.
18:09How do you know that?
18:11With the successful ones.
18:13For instance, a make-up tattoo course,
18:15if you've only got ten people on your course
18:17and the course is five days, that's £50,000 in five days.
18:20£50,000. Very nice if you can get it. Can you get it?
18:23I will need to make sure that I market myself.
18:25I know I will absolutely work my socks off
18:28to be an icon where people will want to come to.
18:30I'm sure that you will work your socks off.
18:32You put 100% into everything you do. Yes.
18:35But doesn't it make more sense from an investment point of view
18:38to say, I've got one salon, do you know what I'm going to do?
18:41I'm going to build on that salon and I'm going to get another salon.
18:44Then I'm running two salons.
18:46I'm here because I don't want to do a low-key business anymore.
18:48I want to be big.
18:50I want to do an absolute massive business
18:52with a great financial turnover
18:54and I want to be very, very successful.
18:56Look, Charlene, aren't you just leaping forward with a dream?
18:59It's all a great big wish list.
19:01Thanks a lot. Thank you very much, Claude.
19:04I am this small salon.
19:06I just need to make them understand that I can make it work.
19:13Have fun. Let's do this.
19:17Richard being the one that obviously woke up this morning saying,
19:20I'm a winner, I'm a winner, I'm a winner.
19:22I think what Richard's got to make sure is that confidence
19:25doesn't be portrayed as arrogance.
19:29Hi there.
19:31Project X sounds very intriguing.
19:35It's an outsourced marketing department that grows small businesses.
19:39There's a lot of marketing agencies out there
19:41and therefore having this unique four-step business growth concept
19:44of climbing up a mountain allows me to articulate
19:47why we're different to other people.
19:49So is that what this is there to represent?
19:53And so this concept here is unique?
19:56This concept is unique.
19:58It's not unique at all, though, Richard, is it?
20:00Because you've already posted this on social media before.
20:07What you're suggesting here, what you're trying to sell to Lord Sugar
20:10as being a completely unique approach, isn't.
20:13It's something which has the branding from your current company.
20:19This is a positive thing because this product has been tested
20:24and has got track record to be able to work forward.
20:27Richard, Richard, it's not original, it's not unique.
20:30This is from the marketing company that you own 50-50 with your brother.
20:34You've been rumbled.
20:36There's absolutely no rumbling.
20:38I know Lord Sugar has called you Tricky Dicky in the boardroom
20:42and I'm beginning to get a sense of why.
20:45That's a very strange name to have given me.
20:53So I wonder how Tricky Dicky got on.
20:55I'm sure he'll tell us he's doing very well.
20:58I reckon Richard would actually say the truth if he had a rocky ride.
21:04He won't show weakness.
21:05I don't think he'd want to lose face in front of us, do you?
21:08Richard! How are you?
21:12Out of ten. Eleven out of ten.
21:15Nailed it.
21:17Wait, so they didn't go through your business plan?
21:19Yeah, of course. They went through the business plan stuff, so that was all fine.
21:22Was that all good, yeah? Yeah.
21:25Joseph. Yes?
21:27You've said about yourself, I'm the definition of success.
21:31Are you serious?
21:32I'm not yet, but I think I will be one day.
21:35You say you work seven days a week and survive on three hours sleep a night.
21:39You've got to sacrifice these years.
21:41There's no way the people that become major successful didn't.
21:44But I don't think there's anything wrong with living like that
21:46because I've got to tell you, I enjoy it so much.
21:49I love sitting in my office and spending time and developing new ideas
21:52and thinking of new things and making more money.
21:55But when will you be able to say, I've been successful?
21:59I don't know when I'll be able to say that because I'm not going to stop
22:02until I get Lord Sugar a large return on his investment.
22:06No matter what, I'm not going to stop until I get it.
22:08Believe me, I believe you.
22:11I just want the world and everything in it.
22:14Thank you very much. Thank you very much for your time.
22:17Please tell Lord Sugar I'm the right person to be his business partner.
22:21I might, I might not. Thank you very much.
22:27Afternoon.
22:29Gary. Nice to meet you.
22:34Your business plan, Celebration Disco,
22:37the new global entertaining business. Yes.
22:40Just for me to understand, it's a mobile disco, right?
22:44As it stands at the moment, yeah.
22:46Very, very successful, predominantly in the West Midlands,
22:48but... What do you charge for...?
22:50An average event is around £350.
22:53How many gigs a week are you doing?
22:55We're looking at doing 2,000 a year.
22:57We're only scratching the surface of the UK.
22:59I really want to tackle events and entertainment globally.
23:02How are you going to do that?
23:04I mean, at the moment, you're just a mobile disco, aren't you?
23:07You're far from a global event planner.
23:10How are you going to bring something new or different to an event?
23:14I mean, an event's an event, but we use the latest in the technology,
23:17so whether it be virtual presentations, the latest lighting...
23:20But lighting, I mean, it's nothing special, is it?
23:23Everybody has lighting.
23:25I totally get your point, and obviously, in my mind,
23:27I can see it as clear as day.
23:29It's going to revolutionise the market,
23:31it's going to turn events and entertainment into experiences.
23:34I don't think it is.
23:36It's called Playdate.
23:38I think it's kind of a cute play on words, don't you think?
23:41It gives you the understanding in the name of what the app will do.
23:46You'll be able to play games and date simultaneously.
23:49OK.
23:51Have you used online dating before? I have not.
23:53OK. So the good news is that I've decided to target it at quality men.
23:57You get the good quality men there, and that will attract the women.
24:00Afternoon. Gary. Hi.
24:05I'm struggling to understand at all what the technology bit is in this.
24:09My product is to bring the events and entertainment to life
24:12and make it an experience for consumers.
24:14You like to use the word innovative and multi-channel.
24:17Right, you've lost me, sorry.
24:19What's the interactive parties and virtual locations?
24:22So the interactive parties are getting people from remote locations
24:27to be there in person.
24:29People are doing wedding speeches from Australia
24:31and they almost feel like they're in a room.
24:33We actually have in-app services where people can time the best date
24:37and have a bit of interaction in-app.
24:39It's something quirky, it's something new.
24:41I cannot see anything else in the industry that exists at the moment.
24:44Maybe cos there isn't a necessity for it.
24:47Mm.
24:51Thought-provoking, if nothing less.
24:53So your start-up costs, actually developing the app, are £140,000.
24:58Yes.
25:00And then you're burning £32,000 every month.
25:04At what point do you go out of business?
25:06At what point do you go out of business if you haven't booked any revenues?
25:09Six months, but I know that in my projections
25:12I'm already making profit in six months.
25:14Dating apps like the one that you're proposing
25:18take years to book any revenue, isn't that right?
25:22Not necessarily, because people are used to paying for online dating
25:25and people are open to pay.
25:27Do you know how long it took for the world's biggest dating app
25:30to book a single dollar of revenue?
25:33Yes, one year. Two years.
25:36It took two years for them to create any revenue at all.
25:40I don't think it would be so difficult...
25:42Even if you did this within one year,
25:44the cost burn on this business is so great that you would be out of business.
25:48But I don't think that it's completely ludicrous.
26:01Oh, my God, that was so hard.
26:04I was running to the elevator, I was like, get me off this floor.
26:08There was a certain point where my blood was boiling,
26:11but I kept it cool. All good.
26:15Last one of the day, you can do this, Joe.
26:24Are you really Joseph?
26:26Am I really Joseph? Yes.
26:29The new and improved Joseph.
26:31I'm ready for business.
26:33What do you reckon? Hopefully.
26:35So basically, Claude, the business is a plumbing and heating franchise
26:38of my existing business.
26:40You've got some very significant competition.
26:42Large, large companies who are doing franchises.
26:45They've got nationwide reputations, budgets.
26:48You are a very small player. No-one knows you. Yeah.
26:51And I worry, I genuinely worry,
26:53whether the franchise model at this point in time makes sense.
26:57I'd just like to say, please don't be worried.
26:59I feel very, very confident.
27:01I understand that sometimes, you know, don't run before you can walk,
27:04but, Claude, if I hadn't have ran before I could walk,
27:07then I wouldn't be here right now.
27:09A small business is very hard to run.
27:11And if I can do that, why can't I, you know, become a very big businessman?
27:15Well, if you think a small business is hard to run,
27:17let me tell you, a big business doesn't get any easier.
27:20Yeah. I think you're barking up the wrong tree,
27:23because the move to having a franchise is a completely different skill set,
27:27a completely different model. Yeah.
27:29I mean, I take all your feedback on board, Claude.
27:32I feel that there is a lot of ways that this business plan can adapt.
27:36I can tweak it slightly.
27:38If there's a different way I can go around it, then I'm happy to look at that.
27:41But I think the core concept is that if Lord Sugar invests in me,
27:45he will not lose his money. He will make a profit.
27:52Project X. Yes.
27:54I haven't got a bloody clue what it's about.
27:57I thought it was mountain climbing, base camp...
28:00Yes. ..unlock the gold mine.
28:02Yes. The trailblazer...
28:04Yeah, what is a trailblazer?
28:06A trailblazer is a...
28:08Isn't it someone who does something first?
28:10Yes, exactly.
28:12You haven't done anything first, have you, Richard?
28:14This four-step... Ever.
28:18Well, um...
28:20I know you did well in the tasks,
28:22but in your current business,
28:25last year it made £17,000.
28:27Yes, that's correct.
28:29In your business plan, you stated that this company with Lord Sugar
28:32is going to be worth £3 million by year three.
28:35Why should Lord Sugar believe that, you know, if you've made £17,000,
28:39that with the new business you're going to make £3 million?
28:43I mean, is it bullshit?
28:46I think it's bullshit.
28:48I don't think it's bullshit.
28:50I think that with this sort of investment,
28:52I'll be able to quickly scale this operation up.
28:55I don't believe it.
28:57I don't think the things...
28:59Your past performance, it doesn't give me any confidence
29:02in your future growth.
29:06I produced a business plan here that, to be honest with you,
29:10has a lot of waffle in it.
29:12Well, I think you're the type of guy that feels
29:14you can write a lot of bullshit and no-one will see the truth underneath.
29:18That's what I think you've done here.
29:20I think I'm...
29:22I think I'm agreeing with you.
29:36Oh!
29:39I've thrown it away.
29:42Oh, my God.
29:49It's just stupid, just absolute pretentious crap
29:53that I come out of my mouth sometimes.
30:03Now, look, he got beaten.
30:05Look at that.
30:07Wow.
30:08Oh, my God.
30:10No way!
30:12What did they say?
30:14Oh, I was torn apart.
30:16I was torn apart.
30:18Quite right as well.
30:20Do you wish you could go back and speak to her
30:22and tell her a few more things?
30:24There's nothing more to be said.
30:26There's nothing more to be said.
30:29Maybe ask her out for dinner.
30:31That's about all I've got.
30:33Oh, dear.
30:35I want my mum.
30:38Your projections are wildly optimistic.
30:41After 12 months, suddenly, instead of 50,000 members,
30:44the number of people you've got jumps phenomenally
30:47to 400,000 a month.
30:49That's the way that these apps tend to work.
30:51You usually do see a big increase.
30:53Unless you don't.
30:54Unless you don't, of course.
30:55Unless, in fact, you don't.
30:56I mean, if you've got something that works,
30:58it might be that hockey stick,
30:59but if it doesn't, if it takes longer,
31:01you need to be mindful of the fact
31:02that you're going to run out of money.
31:04Yes, the numbers are optimistic,
31:05but you probably won't see another business plan
31:07that's projecting to make £7 million profit
31:10after three years.
31:11This is a space that's exploding right now.
31:14There is room for a gamification of dating.
31:17I know that I can be a really successful hairdresser.
31:20I want to see our brand, our logo, absolutely everywhere,
31:23and I want to make sure that every franchise,
31:25every salon that does open is successful.
31:27Where does your drive and determination
31:29and motivation come from?
31:31The truth why I got into hairdressing,
31:34I lost a child, and I was in a very bad place.
31:37For me now, with the salon
31:39and trying to make it as successful as possible,
31:41I know that life can be over within a drop of a hat,
31:45and I want my children to have absolutely everything.
31:48I want them to know that they can be as successful
31:50as what they want to be,
31:51and they can do absolutely anything in life,
31:53and I'm going to be the mum that does that for them.
31:58I'm really upset with myself
32:00for doing exactly the opposite
32:02to what's got me here today,
32:04which is keeping things simple, being honest, being myself.
32:07I was the leading candidate in wins coming into this process,
32:10and I've gone and thrown it all away.
32:12Do you still truly believe in your concept,
32:14in your business plan?
32:16I believe that if the wind blew on it
32:19and knocked off all the leaves,
32:20what's left underneath is a really good, simple idea,
32:23which is basically work with small businesses
32:26and use their whole marketing budget
32:28and make sure that that's accountable against their growth.
32:31That's the simple concept.
32:32What I've done is I've overcomplicated it,
32:35and I wouldn't blame Lord Sugar for not investing in it.
32:44One tough interview would have been enough,
32:46to be honest with you,
32:47but to have four back-to-back at that level of grilling
32:51put a lot of things into perspective
32:53to make me realise
32:54that there may be certain things that I want to slightly tweak.
32:58You've just got to hope that they've bought into your passion.
33:02It all comes down to tomorrow.
33:15I'm not going to lie, the interviews were absolutely brutal,
33:19but I've got to go in there, fight my corner,
33:22and I will keep fighting till the very end.
33:25I think it was difficult for people to buy into me on first impressions.
33:29There's still a lot of convincing to do,
33:31but I'm not going to go down without a fight.
33:34I believe I impressed the interviewers.
33:37However, my concept's a risk,
33:39and I know it's going to be a risk for Lord Sugar,
33:41but hopefully he sees beyond that.
33:43I completely understand the feedback that I got on my business plan,
33:47but I would say that I still have 100% faith in my idea,
33:50and I still really want to pursue it.
33:52I've never experienced anything like that in my life.
33:55Today's the first boardroom that I'm really worried to go into.
33:59I've been ripped to shreds,
34:01and I've got a lot of work to do today if I'm going to survive.
34:18Well, good morning.
34:19Welcome to this very important part of the process.
34:22And we welcome Linda to my boardroom for the first time.
34:26Linda and I go back well over 20 years,
34:29and I know she's a very, very shrewd business lady.
34:32Do you want to start me off with Charlene, Linda?
34:35I think Charlene is a fighter.
34:37She's got stamina, and she would work really hard.
34:41But her expectations are probably beyond her ability.
34:46What is her expectation?
34:48She wants to start a hairdressing academy franchise.
34:54The next Tony and Guy, for example.
34:56Been going since the old Queen died.
34:58They opened their first shop in 1963.
35:02It wasn't until 25 years later that they actually franchised.
35:06Claude has actually been following these people around
35:09for the last 10 weeks. What's your view?
35:11The thing is, she has been a fantastic candidate
35:14in terms of her selling ability and her drive,
35:16and she's got one salon in Plymouth, 12 employees,
35:19and I think she can replicate that over a number of salons.
35:22Going beyond that might be problematic.
35:24She will not give up. She's got determination.
35:27Well, she might have to give up,
35:28because for her to grow as big as Tony and Guy,
35:30I mean, it's like expecting Claude to grow an afro.
35:33LAUGHTER
35:34All right, let's move on, then, to Gary.
35:37Gary's very fond of exaggerating his importance.
35:40He was absolutely insistent that he'd had a billion-pound budget,
35:44that he'd had a team of 600 people.
35:46Him personally?
35:47Yeah. His interpretation of managing 600 people
35:50is very, very different to mine.
35:52Hmm. What about his business idea?
35:55It shows him running something like 2,000 events in his first year
36:00and charging around about £300...
36:02£300? ..on average for each...
36:04What are you going to get for £300?
36:06That sounds like an event for the Piers Morgan fan club.
36:09They're about two people, turn up.
36:12When he spoke to me, his USP was an app.
36:15If you're in Australia and you want to be part of a party
36:19that's happening in London, the app will allow you to do that.
36:23You're not physically there, but you're joining in.
36:25No, you're not physically there.
36:26So, if you forgot your anniversary, you could say,
36:28sorry, darling, I'm afraid we're a virtual party.
36:30Yeah, yeah.
36:31Party planners are normally quite fun people, aren't they?
36:34I mean, he's very corporate.
36:35I can't imagine him turning up and throwing a few tunes.
36:38No, neither can I.
36:40OK, now, Joseph.
36:42Joseph wants your investment to create a gas-plumbing brand
36:46and then take that out and franchise it.
36:49It's based on the business that he has already started from scratch?
36:53The franchise idea, again, is a bit like the Charlene thing.
36:57It's a non-starter.
36:59He realises that he's very ambitious
37:01and he's quite happy to temper his ideas
37:04into something that could perhaps be a slower burn,
37:06but he's got a way to go to get there.
37:08He's incredibly driven.
37:10He absolutely loves what he does.
37:13But take the property task.
37:14He went off dealing with the high-end stuff
37:17and, really, he was a fish out of water.
37:20He's rough round the edges,
37:21but he's not a fish out of water in the plumbing business.
37:25OK, so we've got Vanna.
37:27She wants to start a dating app.
37:30I'm not sure if that's going to make me cupid or stupid.
37:34It's a marketplace that is booming at the moment
37:37and I think that she's an incredibly clever girl.
37:40We've seen that throughout the task.
37:42I think she could possibly make it work.
37:44The concept is you are matched up with someone
37:47but you don't see who that person is
37:49and you play games with them.
37:52Right.
37:53Then, finally, at the end of the day, their picture becomes revealed.
37:57So you go through all of this palaver and then, in the end,
38:00you get shown the picture of the person
38:02and, at that point, you go,
38:04My God, what a bleep nugboat.
38:06You go... Yeah.
38:08How far does her money go?
38:09Because building websites and apps and gaming sounds...
38:12Therein lies the problem
38:14because I think that the £250,000 investment
38:17would go very, very quickly.
38:19Within six months, she'd blow the money.
38:21You mustn't forget that the leading app for dating in the world
38:25has 50 million users.
38:27The idea of gamification is also really smart.
38:31These are the two hottest areas in mobile apps
38:34and she's put them together.
38:36If she gets it right, it could be absolutely enormous.
38:40Let's talk about Richard.
38:42Well, I think that, throughout all the tasks,
38:44he wants to keep it simple
38:45and yet, when you look at this document, I couldn't understand it.
38:48I think he was beaten by the time he got to me.
38:51Really? Yeah.
38:52But, ultimately, the idea in an outsourced marketing department
38:56is not a bad idea, Alan.
38:58And he's quite a bright individual.
39:00He does know about marketing.
39:02I mean, the advertising task this year was one of the best we've seen.
39:05Yeah.
39:06What I find worrying is that he is involved, currently,
39:10in a digital marketing business.
39:12Doesn't that mean it's a competing business?
39:15What he tried to say was, these are separate businesses
39:18and the business that I'm proposing to Lord Sugar, it's different.
39:22Unfortunately, though, within the business plan, there's a graphic.
39:26Well, this is a graphic that his previous marketing company
39:29produced, so the idea that what he's trying to present here to you, Alan,
39:33is something that's completely new, it's false.
39:37Thank you very much indeed for your input.
39:39It's been very, very helpful and I'll see you soon.
39:42Thanks a lot. Thank you.
39:52PHONE RINGS
39:54Yes, Lord Sugar?
39:55Can you send the five candidates in, please?
39:57Yes, Lord Sugar. You can go through to the boardroom now.
40:12Anybody want to volunteer to talk to me, first of all?
40:15I will. OK, Vahna.
40:17Your business idea is a dating application, yeah?
40:23Yes, it focuses on making dating fun
40:26using these games. Right.
40:28Games that range from psychometric tests to brain puzzles to brain teasers
40:33and it will use science to match people.
40:36Here's my issue. The business that you are proposing,
40:39and I'm only going historically with dating websites,
40:42have multi-million pound investments to even get off the ground.
40:47How are you going to do it with £250,000?
40:50You know, if you tell me that it's impossible,
40:52I will just tell you that I disagree with you wholeheartedly
40:55and that £250,000 can take us a long way.
40:58According to him, it would take you about six months.
41:01Would it go through the money?
41:03In the six months, I hope to be generating enough revenue
41:06to cover the costs of the project.
41:08The most popular dating application at the moment, Tinder,
41:13it's taken them two years to generate a bit of revenue now.
41:17Yes, but there is room for this.
41:19I'm telling you, this is a trend that is here to stay.
41:23Gary. Yes, Orchard?
41:25You left your big retailer, yeah? Yes.
41:28Where you claimed that you led a team of 600 people.
41:31Absolutely right.
41:32They gave me a budget of £1 billion and said,
41:34make it happen. Simple as that. Really? Yep.
41:37And you were the boss, were you?
41:38Any kind of money had to get signed off over the value of £3 million.
41:41I used to have to get it authorised.
41:43You could sign off yourself personally under £3 million?
41:46Up to £1 million myself, personally.
41:48I've had a lot of dealings with that organisation.
41:51I find it a big claim, Gary.
41:53It was absolutely one of my greatest achievements in business.
41:56Now, your concept is events, right?
42:00Yes. Yes, Orchard. OK.
42:02How big can this business get?
42:04I'm looking to be global, I'm looking to be national. Global?
42:07Yeah. What is a virtual party? I'm not with you.
42:09A virtual party is when you can actually beam people in.
42:12You have them there. Holograms?
42:14Yeah, it's like virtual meetings in the corporate world.
42:16Skype, isn't it? It's a bit better than Skype.
42:19I don't get it. Sorry, I don't get it.
42:22OK, Richard, your plan is focused on base camp strategies,
42:28sessions to remove the cloud from our clients' business growth mountain.
42:32So I'm confused.
42:34You're not out there selling crampons, for example, are you?
42:37I'm so disappointed.
42:39I've shown my credibility of marketing in this process,
42:42but I've submitted a completely... a piece of gobbledygook.
42:46Have you removed the clouds around your head at the moment?
42:49I have. So, to put it simply,
42:51the new business will manage the whole marketing budget
42:54for a small business,
42:56and that will generate the sales that it needs to grow.
42:59OK, I've got it. But let's get down to facts here.
43:02The current marketing business that you have with your brother
43:06sounds to me exactly the same as what you're proposing here.
43:10No, what we're proposing here
43:13is to be able to manage complete marketing budgets.
43:16The company that I currently have is just a website development company.
43:19Can I just interrupt? Frankly, what you put down as the company
43:22that you've got currently, this Yonk Marketing,
43:24it's a full-service digital marketing agency.
43:26It builds brands, engages, connects, moves audiences.
43:29It's exactly, I mean, almost word for word,
43:32the same as your business plan.
43:34I don't see them as being the same businesses.
43:37They just happen to be described the same way.
43:40And I think you're being a bit evasive at the moment, Richard.
43:44Now, Charlene, your work ethic is tremendous.
43:48We all agree on that.
43:50You've got a hairdressing salon. Yes, Lord Sugar.
43:53And you want to have a franchise. Yes.
43:56To start with, I would want to open a training academy
44:00with a salon attached to it.
44:02I say very respectfully that in order to start off a franchising chain...
44:07You've got to be big in a big city. Never mind a big city.
44:10I mean, it's got to be big, period.
44:12I'm not going to say that tomorrow I'm going to open
44:15and I'm just going to be this big, massive chain.
44:18You know, it's going to take time.
44:20So I would move to London.
44:22They charge phenomenal prices compared to us down in Plymouth.
44:25Charlene, you can't just bowl up in High Street London
44:28and open up a shop and say,
44:30hello, Charlene's here, and people are going to come into your salon.
44:33Charlene, the difficulty that you have is competition. Yes.
44:37You come to London and you'll be swallowed up. Maybe.
44:40Yeah, no.
44:42Why don't you just carry on in Plymouth? That seems like a good area.
44:45You're known there, you develop your business in Plymouth.
44:47I do understand that and that's why I would work absolutely my socks off
44:50to promote myself.
44:52I've got no qualms in the fact that you would work your socks off.
44:55When you start a business... That I've already seen.
44:58But, Charlene...
45:01..I do admire your drive,
45:04your inspiration and your hard work and efforts.
45:08And it's very hard for me at this stage
45:11to kind of suppress that enthusiasm,
45:14but I don't believe that I can go into business with you at this time.
45:19I think you should take advice from Claude
45:22and pursue those additional branches down there.
45:26So, it is with regret, Charlene, that you're fired.
45:31Thank you, Lord Sugar. Thank you, Karen. Thank you, Claude.
45:34Good luck to whoever goes through with your best.
45:37Thank you. Bye.
45:39Thank you very much, Lord Sugar.
45:41MUSIC PLAYS
45:53Joseph, I see you've gone from looking like Boise,
45:57a second-hand car dealer, to a rather credible-looking young man.
46:01Good. Now, in order for your company to become a nationwide brand,
46:06you'd have to invest a lot of money
46:08and a lot of years would have to be spent to do that.
46:12So, the franchise thing is out the window.
46:15I've got a contingency plan
46:17and what my idea would be is to expand it out to the local areas.
46:22We have some places very close that I can tap into very quickly.
46:26I have some relations with some nationwide property management companies
46:29and they're constantly asking me,
46:31Joe, can you take Northampton? Joe, can you take Cambridge area?
46:35Why? Because you've only got...?
46:37Yeah, because I only have X amount of engineers
46:39and I don't have enough money to fund...
46:41Who's engineers that you have? How many have you got?
46:44At the moment, we have three.
46:46You've got to show me a path as to how this can get big.
46:49So, basically, first, I just wouldn't say it's small.
46:51In the second year, I managed to make £60,000.
46:54You know, profit. I think that's good in the second year.
46:56Obviously, it's going to grow massively.
46:58I made a hell of a lot of mistakes and wasted a lot of money on crappy vans.
47:01So, how much money do you think we can make, then?
47:03I've got two weeks before I come in.
47:05I've just got a £25,000 contract that will last for two months.
47:08You know, there's a hell of a lot of money to be made in plumbing.
47:10It's a service that's never going to disappear.
47:12OK, look...
47:16..Joseph, you've done some great things, really, at your age.
47:21It's just that...
47:24..that it worries me that it is a small-time thing.
47:28Richard...
47:30..in this process, you were in the winning team eight times.
47:33As the project manager, you won.
47:36Twice.
47:38But you've got a business already that I believe is a conflict.
47:52Gary...
47:54You take great pride in being a corporate fellow,
47:57but I think your business plan is flawed.
48:02I don't understand it at all.
48:06I can't go into business with you, and you're fired.
48:09Thank you, Lord Chairman, for the opportunity.
48:11And I genuinely wish everyone so well in their future ventures.
48:14Thanks ever so much. Thank you.
48:24HE SIGHS
48:30And so there are three.
48:32And this is such an important decision for me
48:36that I think I'm going to take the opportunity
48:39of consulting with Claude and Karen.
48:42So step outside and I'll call you back in shortly.
48:54HE SIGHS
48:57Richard has done very well in the past weeks.
49:00He's taken control of a lot of the tasks.
49:03He's project manager officially twice,
49:05but he was actually orchestrating things from the back.
49:08The trouble with Richard is he had a genuine opportunity
49:11to be straight with you about his business competing or not.
49:14He somehow fudged it again.
49:16And then there's Joseph, a young man, a real hard worker.
49:20He's very straightforward.
49:22He talks language that I can understand.
49:25It's whether he's too young.
49:27You know, he's still got some naivety about him.
49:31Vahna, highly intelligent,
49:33but this type of business that she wants to get into is massive.
49:37It needs massive amounts of money injected into it,
49:40although she says, no, we can do it.
49:42It's a typical huge hockey stick.
49:44You have to have an act of faith of whether you're going to go on that journey
49:47or whether she's going to burn.
49:49All right.
49:53Can you send the three of them in, please?
49:55Yes, Lord Sugar.
49:57Lord Sugar will see you now.
50:14Vahna, I need convincing from you that I'm going to be making some money.
50:18I understand that it's a risk,
50:20but this is the market that's growing.
50:2225% of marriages in the UK meet online.
50:25What about our divorces, then?
50:28I'm not sure about the divorce rate,
50:30but I want to ease your qualms a little bit.
50:33I've experience in this industry.
50:35I understand how an app is built.
50:37I understand how to pitch.
50:39And I understand how to sell a product.
50:41So I have a passion for this,
50:43and I can bring this to fruition.
50:47And if it don't work?
50:49I mean, in every business you're investing in,
50:51in the plumbing business, in the marketing business,
50:53in every business there's a chance that it doesn't work.
50:58Joseph, remember on the property task,
51:01where you jumped in to become the project manager,
51:03it was a fish out of water.
51:05In being able to deal with this kind of high-level stuff.
51:08So I think in my own business I'm a lot more confident
51:10to be able to sell it, sell myself, sell what we do.
51:13When you're growing a business,
51:15it's really important that you can move in different circles.
51:18And I think I can move in different circles.
51:20I think that I've took that lesson on board
51:22and I can 100% get a large client base.
51:25I think I've already done that. I've only been going for two years.
51:28Imagine what I can do in ten years.
51:30There is a trait that plumbers have,
51:32and that their estimates are too high.
51:35Are you estimating too highly here to me?
51:38Not at all.
51:40If I can make £60,000 in two years with no help at all,
51:44learning everything myself,
51:46I've learnt the core lessons.
51:48Now it's just all about moving forward.
51:50I've got a great base for us to build on, there's no doubt.
51:53Richard, I'm going into business with somebody
51:55who's going to give 100% to the new business
51:58that we are going to form, OK?
52:00And we have explained your existing business
52:03and proposed one is exactly the same.
52:05I'm not going into business with anybody
52:07that's got some other deal on the side.
52:10Now, does the old business amalgamate in yes or no?
52:15No, because I can't offer that,
52:18because my brother's a 50% shareholder in that business.
52:22Right, OK, so are you going to give your 50% to your brother?
52:25I've 100% agreed with my brother
52:27that my full-time focus will be on the new business.
52:30I've just asked you a question, you're not answering it.
52:33Are you going to give your other 50% to your brother?
52:36I came into this process saying that I would keep that
52:40and be a silent partner, because I set up the business.
52:43Did you just have a straightforward answer?
52:46No.
52:47No what?
52:49I wasn't going to hand over those shares.
52:52Well, that's the first time you've been straight with us here, really,
52:55so that's an improvement.
52:56So, conflict of interest between the two businesses, possibly, then.
53:02Right, well, two of you are going to go through to the final.
53:07It's very difficult...
53:10..because we've got three very credible people
53:12that have battled their way through the process.
53:20Varna, I worry this £250,000 is like a spit in the ocean, really,
53:26in order for this to be successful.
53:30Joseph, my concern is whether you are mature enough yet,
53:35whether you're here too early for me.
53:40But you're a business that I can understand,
53:44and I also understand that you're very, very determined.
53:50So I'm going to tell you right now, Joseph,
53:54that you are going to be in the final.
53:57Thank you very much.
54:00I won't let you down, I'm going to make you a lot of money.
54:02Well, you've got to win, first of all.
54:04But you're in the final.
54:07I have got a problem here,
54:09between two very, very intelligent people.
54:13Can I alleviate one concern for you, Lord Sugar?
54:16I want to commit myself 100%
54:18and willing to give up all shareholdings and just go 100%.
54:21OK, I mean, that's just one element of it.
54:25Richard, you've done extremely well in the process.
54:30So you've obviously got something there.
54:32Varna, in order for your business plan, idea to work,
54:38it has got to be so drop-dead brilliant
54:41that it's going to capture the imagination of users
54:44at a very early stage.
54:48I'm a gambler.
54:52Richard, you've been a very, very good candidate here,
54:57but I've decided I'm going to take a gamble.
55:00I've decided I'm going to take a gamble
55:02by allowing Varna into the final.
55:05So, Richard, you're fired.
55:08Thank you very much. Thank you, Karen.
55:10Thank you, Claude. Thank you very much.
55:13Good luck, boys.
55:31Very well done, the pair of you.
55:33You're in the final, and I'll be contacting you
55:36in a couple of days' time,
55:38letting you know what it's all about, OK?
55:41Off you go, back to the house. Thank you.
56:01Throughout this process,
56:02I've been the most successful candidate in terms of tasks,
56:05and I just really wanted to see that I have a talent for business,
56:09and if he invested in me,
56:10I could have ironed out those problems in the business plan,
56:14and I'm gutted that I haven't got that opportunity.
56:18Yes, this is the greatest day of my life.
56:20Well done, Varna. Great job. So happy.
56:23I'm shell-shocked.
56:24Head-to-head, Varna, me and you.
56:26Well, it won't be, like, a physical fight,
56:28but it will be a definite fight.
56:31Now, just two candidates remain.
56:34Lord Sugar's search for his next business partner...