In times of economic turmoil, one man stands firm.
He is about to take a punt
on a brand-new partnership.
Fighting it out for his funding...
..18 aspiring tycoons.
I'm the business equivalent of a diamond.
I can sparkle and light up a room,
but if you're not careful, I could cut you.
I am an emperor, a true leader, a country is not enough,
a continent is not enough. I am after the world.
My business acumen would be like a bouncing puppy.
I've got loads of infectious, giddy enthusiasm
and I'm going to make loads of money.
There for the taking, a quarter million pound investment.
All I've ever been interested in
is having as much money and as much power as I can.
Behind my boyish good looks is a very shrewd businessman,
I've never been fired in my life
and it's not going to start happening now.
Ahead, a battle like no other.
I think the other candidates might underestimate me,
but more fool them. I'm an ex-world karate champion
and I'm really not afraid of a fight.
I definitely don't shy away from conflict.
Make no mistake about it, I'm here to win.
The sheer energy that I am going to bring is going to
mimic that of a nuclear explosion.
Once I lock myself in on the target,
they do not stand a chance.
Laying his cash on the line...
..the boss.
I'm not here to make any friends,
I'm here to find a business partner -
that's all I'm interested in.
A self-made success...
..Lord Sugar has built an empire worth over ã1 billion.
This is not just about the £250,000,
this is about a company we form together.
So, I need to see who's got a good business brain.
Right, run. Come on!
But to secure his support...
Action.
- Oh, my God. - ..a punishing selection process.
- Go, go, run, run, run. - I stood back and watched, and just watched what was going on.
If I was project manager, I would be trying to motivate my team.
That's not cool. That's not cool.
Not one of you geniuses ran this thing properly.
18 candidates...
Listen to me, please stop talking, please, for the love of God.
You're coming across a bit thick.
..12 testing weeks...
- ALL: - Yay!
Sold.
That's a massive, massive win. A landslide victory.
..one life-changing opportunity...
Your best hope for 250 grand is to buy yourself a scratchcard.
..it's down to business with The Apprentice.
You're fired. You're fired.
You are a loose cannon.
You're fired.
Midday.
The boardroom.
Handing in business plans...
..18 potential partners.
PHONE RINGS
'Yes, Lord Sugar.'
Could you send the candidates in, please?
You can go through to the boardroom now.
Well, good morning, ladies and gentlemen.
Welcome to the boardroom.
Now, one in four entrepreneurs who start businesses...
..fail in the first 24 months.
Now, in this process,
I have invested, already, £1.25 million in five businesses...
..and they haven't failed.
And the reason they haven't failed is
because they are being mentored by me.
Now, the tasks that I've got planned
over the coming weeks will test your business acumen.
I need to see who's got a good business brain.
That's all I am interested in.
And the winner gets a £250,000 investment,
and it will change someone's life...
forever.
And you are going to learn more about yourself throughout the
course of this process.
I promise you that. And, sometimes,
some people can't stand the heat and they complain and they moan.
If you want to moan, you can send me an e-mail at
LordSugar@idontcare.com.
You need to work with your colleagues.
You might not like each other, you might dislike each other,
the process is not personal, it's business.
Now, I've got all these CVs here.
And, Karthik, is that the correct pronunciation?
Karthik, Lord Sugar, yes.
And you like to be known as the Big K, is that right?
The Big K for friends and fans but you can call me K.
- If you like. - I might be calling you something else, actually.
Yeah. Alana.
Yes, hi, Lord Sugar.
I manufacture cakes for food festivals,
country shows, stuff like that.
You react badly to being shouted at.
- Yeah. - Well, you'll need some earplugs here, I can tell you.
- Oliver, hello, Oliver. - Good morning, Lord Sugar.
You run a sausage business.
- I do indeed. - Cumberland sausages.
- Exactly. - I like Cumberland sausages, I have to say.
JD. Now one of your statements says that you have got...
"gumption and balls".
- Indeed. - Sounds like some of the contents
of Ollie's sausages, actually.
- Jessica. - Hello!
- What do you do? - I am an operations director
for a digital marketing company and I've got a clothing brand.
- Who else was digital marketing here? - There are a lot of
digital marketers here, aren't there? Tough competition!
You're very excited, aren't you?
I am, yeah. I'm really nervous.
Take a breath.
- Courtney. You've got a business already. - Yeah.
Novelty gifts, toys. I also design the products, too.
I'm just at the stage where I'm looking for an investor
and I want that person to be you.
You model yourself on Leonardo DiCaprio, yeah?
- I wouldn't say that. - It didn't end well for him in Titanic, did it?
Yeah. Hopefully this process will go better for me.
Well, we'll see. Who would say they're good at maths here?
- I'm OK with it. - Well, you see 18 people here,
and we are here for 12 weeks.
And that tells you
there are going to be occasions when more than one person is going.
And I don't care how many it can be.
I really don't care. I am very flexible.
And it is a very, very competitive situation,
you can compare this to being on a life-support machine
and one of your colleagues here pulling the plug out
just to charge their mobile phone up.
That's how competitive it will get.
Here's the first task.
I am going to send you to two lock-up garages and in there
there is a load of antiques, collectables,
there are some diamonds in the middle of it.
There's some great stuff in there.
There's some stuff which could be a load of toot.
And you will be selling that stuff to individuals,
members of the public, and to the trade.
Here's the point. It is your job to suss out
what's valuable and what's not valuable.
Don't rush out like lunatics, selling it too quickly.
Think about where your value is.
Do your homework. It's what you've actually sold is what we will count
as far as the money is concerned.
The teams, it's going to be boys versus girls,
and Karren will be following the boys.
She'll be reporting back to me, she doesn't miss a trick.
I try not to, Alan.
And Claude will be following the girls.
You won't get too many smiles from me,
but it's important that you focus on the job at hand.
OK, so, you're going to have a very, very early start in the morning.
- Off you go, and I will see you in the boardroom in a couple of days' time. - Thank you, Lord Sugar.
Before battle begins...
Hi, guys. I'm Becks.
- Paul. - Paul, nice to meet you.
..a chance to rate their rivals.
I am an art director. I design magazines.
I've won two awards for designer of the year.
Basically, I am king of the truth bomb.
That means that I'm going to tell you how it is,
whether you like it or not and I am going to be direct.
That's crucial in business.
The boys will be fighting to be... who's going to be alpha male.
They will all want to shine.
- I am king! - Yeah, definitely.
And I think the girls will work together really, really well.
- What do you think about the chicks? - LAUGHTER
Do you think they will beat us? Do you think they will beat us?
I don't think you should underestimate anyone.
Women get emotionally involved, whereas guys,
even if we have a fight, for example, or a disagreement,
we can forget about it and move on.
I going to be the prime minister of the UK one day, but before then, I'm going to be a billionaire.
I graduated in India first class,
I don't walk the path that others walk.
My way is a separate superhighway.
Rivals rated...
Who knows about antiques?
- No. - No. - ..time to talk task.
I love a good car boot, though.
I like a good car boot, yeah. It's about
creating an emotion for the customers.
If you see a little bric-a-brac cup.
"Imagine drinking out of that cup. Your wine is going to taste delicious."
'People say I'm like the female version of Jim Carrey.'
I believe it's because I am quite animated with my face
and a bit crazy with my hands.
'A lot of people underestimate me and then I pull out the big guns'
and I always tend to get my way.
North London.
And this is a classy place!
For the next 12 weeks...
Oh!
..home...
This is actually bigger than my living room.
..and headquarters.
Aha, that is what I'm talking about!
This is what I wanted!
Nice.
Whoa!
Probably be buying one of these by next year!
This is going to be the winning bedroom, with the winning team!
CHEERING
I love you.
First on the agenda...
I don't know how everyone feels about this one. Assassin.
- No. - No.
..the new teams need names.
I quite like the idea of Upper Echelon.
- Upper Echelon? - Which means high level, high standard.
I like Alpha, Team Alpha.
- It's just a bit butch and male. - Too boring.
- Yeah. It's, like, cliche. Very cliche. - What about Titans?
Titans, as in Titans of industry, leaders of men.
That's what we are, gentlemen.
- I actually like Titans. - I like Titans.
- I'll go with that. - So, Team Titans?
Yeah, yeah, OK.
Great, fantastic.
Titans we are.
Titans!
What about Limitless?
No, not Limitless!
LAUGHTER
In my head I had Team Click, because when you talk about
people getting on, they click.
So, it has positive connotations and also, in terms of online,
you click here to buy now or you click here to find out more.
It would be a bit kind of girl band,
- you're a bit like... - Really? - Yeah.
- OK. - Yeah, I actually thought of Nebula.
Nebula might sound a little bit like a disease.
It's an interstellar collection of gas and dust and,
it's basically where stars like us are born.
- Nebula. - I really like that name, actually.
- Team Nebula? - Yeah, Team Nebula.
- I think we've got a team name, guys! - Nebula.
Names agreed...
Is there any volunteers that feels like they want to jump in on this one?
..next, pick project managers.
I have a few friends in the industry
who have their own antiques shop.
It doesn't need to be an antique expert.
I started as a street market boy.
So, literally, closing the deals, negotiating.
- I am a career project manager, that's what I do. - You're a project manager, in your day-to-day job?
I can manage, yeah. Pricing, deadlines, stakeholder management, priorities.
I think you should find who knows the antique business.
I've managed a few teams and I can multitask.
And I've spent quite a bit of time watching Bargain Hunt!
- You've got the passion for this particular thing, I think. - I'm happy for you to do it.
Is everybody happy with Paul?
First project manager, congratulations, project manager Paul.
I've got no problems stepping up
and being a project manager on any of the tasks.
The way to fend off your strongest rivals
is to not let them see you coming.
I'm going to sit there and pull the strings and do what I need to do to get through.
Next door...
So, does anyone actually want to be PM?
..no takers.
Well, let's ask if anyone has experience in this.
- Experience in antiques. - In antiques.
I own two childrenswear shops.
- I've got no experience. - I've done car-boot sales.
I would be quite comfortable with doing
all the car-boot sale sort of stuff.
But, whereas, choosing antique products?
I've not got the foggiest clue.
So, I've had a mortgage company for ten years.
Used to managing teams.
- Selling. - I do think, Michelle,
if you feel you're happy organising us all and saying,
"Right, you need to be there, there, there..."
If no-one else wants to put themselves forward,
then I'll be happy to do it.
I'm the strongest candidate out of all of the girls.
They were just hoping and praying
that someone's going to put their hand up.
By me ending up being project manager,
I think that just shows that they all think I'm a threat.
Tomorrow, teams must cash in on collectables.
Keep things nice and simple.
- Yeah. - £5, £10, £20.
While Michelle aims to maximise sales...
Just get these sales through quickly,
we cannot go in with a too high pricing structure.
..on the boys' team...
We can't just flog this stuff cheap, because the idea is to make profit.
..Sofiane pushes for premium prices.
Obviously, in the market, you're talking to the public.
They're not experts.
What we do is, when we hit there, we go high.
Then you negotiate, cos that's key.
I heard you say that you started on the market.
I definitely want you to head up the market team.
Yeah.
I do market stalls every weekend, so I'm more than happy to do
the sub-team leading of the market.
That side of it I know like the back of my hand.
- So, you know, like, market trade? - Yeah. I'm a market trader.
I think that's decided.
Team talks over, tomorrow, down to work.
3am.
ALARM BEEPS
Oh, no.
I'm usually getting in, this time of night, not getting up.
You snooze, you lose.
- Look at that! - We don't wear bloody ties in IT, man,
we walk in with flip-flops and a Hawaiian shirt.
I think we're going to smash it. Game face!
Today, half of each team will peddle to the public...
We're out there selling, so we engage people, we smile -
it's about selling yourself.
We've got to be very smart.
..while the rest seek out sales with specialist dealers.
When we get to the lock-up,
I just want to make sure we're not too excitable, that we do...
- Have you met me? - ..we do spend five minutes
just calm, having a quick look.
If I find some diamonds, they're going straight down my bra!
LAUGHTER
South-west London.
Oh, wow!
- For both teams... - I think that could be crystal.
..a garage full of goods.
I just want to check the labels, to make sure that
we don't have any vintage Chanel or something.
From valuable vases...
So, do you think they're worth something?
- ..to pricey pottery. - There's a pair of them.
You've got a nice pair of jugs, there!
First job...
Don't think that any of this is sort of high-end stuff.
..decide what to shift from market stalls...
Now, if 94 means the year, then I don't think it's worth anything.
..and what to sell to trade.
- Is that marble? - Yeah.
Oh! Don't do that to me, Jessica!
"What's wrong with her?!"
No way is antiques collectables of any sort in my comfort zone.
But where my strengths lies,
definitely management, organising the team,
making sure that we sell hard, we sell fast,
make the most amount of money.
- There's a tray what them toys are on... - Yeah. - ..lift it out and
- put the other toys underneath and then take the trunk out. - OK.
We're just going to have to wing it.
Strategies just need to be mobile, so you can adapt to the situations,
as they present themselves. So, I've no plan.
I'm just going to go forward and run with this on my toes.
6am.
In Wimbledon, both teams have stalls until midday...
Could you just get the clothes and start putting them on that rack?
..at one of the capital's largest car boots.
- These are probably quite special. - Yes. - Beautiful vases.
Priority for the boys...
Would you like a bag?
Oh, it's attractive, it's a nice-looking piece.
..ask advice from the experts.
This is a very good piece, that's got to be worth something.
My strategy today is very simple, pricing up high.
I don't want them to just let go with stuff for nothing,
because, obviously, I'm accountable for that when I go back to that boardroom.
Yeah, but this is real leather. This is worth easily 200 quid.
No, I know, but...
Hiya, you all right? Anything taking your fancy, yet?
On the other team...
For the full set, less than £10 per chair.
- 15. - We got a deal? - ..still to unpack stock...
Oh, all right, I'll let you do seven!
18. Sold to the lovely man.
..a spate of early sales.
- How about if we did 35? - Let's go... Yeah, OK, 35.
They haven't got a clue about value.
They've just put things out.
The first number that came into their head, that's the price they sell at.
What would you give for it, then?
- 20. - Deal.
It's an absolutely abysmal performance,
in terms of looking at those things that could be valuable.
They've completely bypassed that.
Hi!
Selling a pair of vases...
You definitely interested in these?
..salon owner, Natalie.
- 15 quid. - 15, that's a deal.
- We got a deal? - Yeah, got a deal. Thank you very much, gentlemen.
I think I'm doing well, but I think we're obviously
undervaluing what the items are really worth.
I don't think there's a pricing strategy.
It's just kind of a guesswork.
But, hey-ho, we've got money in the pot and we done the job.
Mid-morning.
Hello, gentlemen, you all look like members of the Mafia.
To separate trash from treasure...
This is not an antique, is it?
No, shall we put that over to one side?
..for both teams, a chance to get an expert's opinion...
We've got some silver, some vintage toys here and here.
..on the value of their goods.
This is, um, Parian ware from the 19th-century.
- I suspect you might get £150 for it. - OK, that's gold dust.
Why don't you try on that one?
- How much? - How much for them? Five to ten pounds.
Right, OK.
It is critical that we get the valuation of all the items that
I've chosen to take to the traders.
I just want to make sure that we're getting
the most amount of time with the expert.
We're just handing everything to you.
Plenty more to go through.
In Chelsea...
This is a sexy bit of kit, this will sell, yeah.
..priority for Paul's boys...
So, what sort of price range are we looking with this?
- 150. - Plus? - 150 plus. - ..a speedy scan through stock.
I think this is very hipster, east London, Shoreditch.
I reckon you should be asking 300 quid for it.
300 quid for that? Perfect.
Back at the boot sale...
It has got a really good back on it, still.
..same piece...
- 18 and you've got a deal. - ..different price.
- 17? - 17.50.
I'm being a tough woman, here, every penny counts.
- I'll buy it for 17.50. - Deal?
I got 17.50 for it. I was optimistic,
I started at 20 and she was, like, "15."
I was, like, "No, mate, you're going to pay little bit more for this."
I mean, let's be frank, it was vile.
17.50, cash in the bank, she loved it.
Don't be shy! Come give me a hug!
Is it OK with you if I give her a hug?
Yeah. Yeah, go on.
On the boys' stall...
Hi, good morning. Please, take a look. We've got lots of glass and ceramics.
..sticking to Sofiane's prices...
120. Bear with me one moment.
..for business owner Courtney a potential sale.
- He wants 150 and I'm telling him it's far too low. - Yeah, it is too low for us.
160 would be the best.
180. And what I'll do, also, for you,
I could wrap it up all in bubble wrap.
- 170. - 175. - OK.
The strategy is working and actually they've sold an item for £175 which
is, frankly, impressive.
- Don't drop that. - Yeah, go on, mate. - I'll wrap it.
Dulwich.
I think these are potentially where we're going to make some money.
While Michelle's girls continue their homework...
I suspect £30-£50 each.
..in well-heeled Chelsea...
We've got the option to just go to the end of the road.
..Paul's boys try pushing a drinks trolley...
- Good afternoon. - ..at high-end antique stores.
We thought we'd come to you in regards to a beautiful tray we have,
which we think you may be interested in.
Right, for me, personally, I'm more of a specialist into antiques
from the 18th century upwards.
Won't really be for me at the end of the day.
It's a contemporary trolley. I think it has a lot of potential.
From the sort of '60s era.
I mean, it's not for me really.
I'm a bit worried in regards to Paul,
because I do think there was just a little bit of a lack of leadership.
- Is that something of interest? - No, definitely not. Too low-brow.
What we do needs to have some sort of plan. Whether we change it or not, there has to be some plan.
Sam, you've been really quiet.
I'm just taking it all in because I feel like a plan should have been put in place a bit earlier.
Antiques furniture is...
- There's not a demand. - You've just said that the antiques market was
bottoming out, you could have said that early on.
No, what I'm saying is you don't want to go too top end.
At this point, I'm feeling a little bit under pressure
and what I would like is to feel like I'm getting supported.
Just got to trust that the decision I make is going to be the right decision.
12pm.
Catch!
Still at the valuer's, Michelle's girls.
Who do you think we could sell this to?
Who would be our potential customer for this?
I think there are probably more dealers in the Portobello area.
But to go to Portobello purposely for this type of piece, isn't it?
Yeah, Portobello's got a real wealth of dealers,
so I would go there first.
- Yeah. - Be prepared to haggle, I suppose. - OK.
It's all very well getting some valuations, getting some pricing.
The difficulty is that they've spent
an awfully long time here doing that.
Thank you for your time, Ian. It's been a pleasure.
I've enjoyed this, I've learned something new.
But the key to this is getting profit,
and they have left themselves
precious little time to actually go out and sell.
Next, work out where to sell.
Girls, I know Ian is obviously the expert,
and he suggested that we go to Portobello.
I'm really not happy driving to Portobello.
We've got a limited amount of time.
This task is all about selling.
I do know that there are specialist stores in Camden,
but we've just got to move fast.
- Yup. - OK. - We need to move really fast.
- Let's go to Camden. - Let's go. - Let's go.
While the trade team head north with their stock...
PHONE RINGS
Hi, Alana, it's Michelle.
..also working out where to pitch up, Alana's sub-team.
We need to make a decision on which market we're going to go to next.
Definitely should go with Portobello. All the shops are, like,
antique furniture shops.
Listen, we're all selling to the public here and we can smash it.
I'm going with Camden.
My gut feeling right from the start was Camden.
I'm not going to be happy if I don't go with my gut,
so Camden it is,
and now we're on our way to Camden to make sure we're
close to you girls.
Sweet! Happy days. All right, then. We'll see you in a bit.
Destination decided.
Oh, hi, is this Merchant Antiques?
But first a diversion to a nearby dealer.
We've got some really lovely tea sets,
we've got some really nice antique things.
Tell you what, let me come and see you for ten minutes and see what you think.
'That's not a million miles away.'
Yay! We'll see you shortly, then.
Searching for a sale...
Create some space around the leather chair.
Ollie's going to jump on and start polishing it.
- Have we got the polish? - It's in the box. - It's in the box. There it is.
..project manager Paul with sausage supremo Oliver.
Go on. I said to you, "Get them clean." You said yes.
Polish! Spray, wipe, spray.
At the moment, obviously, we are listening to Paul's instructions.
As I say, he is the project manager.
No, do the leather first, because,
obviously, the more polish the better.
Ollie, if you just hold it and spray like misty.
That's it, that's it.
See, I thought I was possibly being put to the back of the line
- by project manager Paul. - Right, do the front.
Right, try and do it as good as you can.
That's pretty good, guys, I think.
However, I'm very worthy of this task and, you know,
I want to sell, sell, sell.
- They're very much in style now... - Yeah, they are. - The La-Z-Boy,
lazy chairs, I've actually got a sofa myself.
Yeah, I like this, I like that.
The coffee table trolley, I'm not sure about, to be honest with you.
Just sort of starting price?
I'd be thinking about 200, 250. 300 for the set.
Is that...is that a deal?
- Yeah, that's a deal on that. - Brilliant.
Well done. And if you could...
- Cash? - I haven't got the authority to give you the cash today.
I'll have to speak to head office.
- OK. - And obviously, we'll get back to you on that.
I'm afraid not. If you can't get the cash today, the item's not sold.
- Any way...? - There's not, I'm afraid. - Really unfortunate.
- Could you do a cheque? - I'll check, I can check. - Cheque? - No, no.
- Sorry, sorry. OK. You can't do... - Thank you very much.
Thanks very much indeed anyway.
- Have a good day. - Thank you. Good luck.
They should have asked him, do you have the authority? Do you have the money?
Can you execute a sale?
Cos this would have saved them at least half an hour to an hour of their time.
We've just got to keep going. Let's just make sure from now on
- every person we go to, we know they have got authorisation to do the sale. - Yeah. - Simple as.
- Yeah. - Simple as.
Back in Wimbledon...
Can I interest you in some glassware, ceramics?
A little whisky glass?
..sales slow as stalls pack up for the day.
It feels like it's dead now. It's died down a lot.
- PHONE RINGS - Hi, Paul.
- Yeah, how are you doing? - Good, good. Quickly, Paul.
It's important to know where we're going next.
Portobello is the world's largest antique market.
- Yup. - You can flog your stuff very high.
It's about pricing up.
Portobello is the place to do that.
- Yup. Cheers. Bye-bye. - Bye.
3pm. Marylebone.
Right, we're here. Where's the van with the stuff in?
His instruction was to go to Camden.
No-one thought to... No-one thought to call him?
The plan was to come to Camden market and start selling to traders.
Somehow, along the journey, they decided to make a pit stop.
Hi, we're at Church Street. Where are you?
- 'I'm in Camden. Yeah.' - OK.
All our stuff's in Camden.
Unfortunately, they didn't tell the van driver,
who had all the collectables in the van. A case of a complete disaster.
- What time is it now? - We're running out of time.
Do you know what I mean? And we're still another half an hour away.
- 40 minutes. Are we still 40 minutes away? - Yeah.
Go, go, go, go.
- Already at Camden Market... - Come on, baby.
..Alana's half of the girls.
- Three for a pound. - Deal.
New location...
- £12? - Yes? You love it?
..same low prices.
Ten each. So, yeah?
Sold!
In terms of our pricing, are we going to go dropping?
If someone offers lower, do we lower? What do you think we do?
I think we should stick at what we've just
written down, but be very happy to take lower offers.
What is lower? Like, is it three pounds lower?
What should we do as a, like, bargain?
What's our bargain?
70%. Knock 25% off to begin with.
- 25% off. - Listen, go to 50% if you absolutely have to.
- Go to 50 if we can. Right. - No, not if you can, if you have to!
No, no, I know.
Out of the team, I would say that I think Rebecca is cause for...
It's not my style of selling.
Out of all of us, she's probably struggling the most.
- I can do it for nine. - No! - Why? I can see your face.
Look at this!
Well, this has got to stop.
Portobello Road.
Set one table there and one table there.
Arriving at the world's largest antiques market...
SHATTERING
Argh! Broken something.
..Sofiane's sales squad.
- £35. It is great, I want you to have it. - Like, 15?
No, no way, mate.
We need to go up in prices, OK?
Start high, then go down, yeah?
They're holding their prices, they're sticking firm.
The problem is if they don't get out there and sell the items,
it doesn't matter what the value is,
they're not going to raise any money.
20 is too low. Yeah.
PHONE RINGS
Guys, how are you doing?
Yeah, not bad. Where are you and what's going on?
We actually concluded a sale and then the guy turned out not to...
I don't need to know all the details,
but you are on your way here, right?
Just let me explain. Sofiane, just let me explain.
- Go on, go on. - That's kind of put us back so what we're going to do
is come to you and put everything together and I think when
there's more of us on the floor, will be able to get rid of.
- OK. So I'll see you shortly. - See you soon. Bye.
- It looks cool. I'm not just saying that, it genuinely looks cool. - 4pm.
- How much is it? - 25, I think. - Hey, we're nearly empty.
Finally in Camden...
This is heavy but I'm all right with it.
..and still to make a sale...
Right, run, come on!
..priority for Michelle's girls...
OK, listen, what does your stall look like?
Have you got umbrellas or have you got a wooden stall?
..off-load some stock on their sub-team.
When you walk into the stables,
- do you go left or do you go right? - I don't know...
I don't know where we are.
OK, right. Girls, listen, we are outside
the two huge titanium statues.
- Where are you? Are you...? - The entrance.
- Right, calm down. Listen,
do you know where the two robots are, in the stables?
The two robots in the stables. Does anyone know where the...?
Yeah, OK. Oh, my gosh, is that what that is?
Michelle is the project manager.
However, I don't think you'd really know it from her performance.
- Girls, we're here. - Yeah! - Right. Take this, take this, take this.
- Yep, yep, yep. Yup, yup, yup. - Go.
No brainwork, no common sense, no business sense and, honestly,
Lord Sugar is going to take a very, very dim view of that.
Guys, come and see our stall, we're down there,
we sell lovely vintage things.
BELL RINGS
China and glassware, everything must go today.
Portobello.
It's quite hard to do these.
- There's the bell, the bell is ringing. - Come and have a look.
Don't be afraid. Have a nice scarf.
Some people are naturally suited to these types of environment,
but JD, Mukai, Courtney, they're all hiding back a little bit.
It's a little bit tough. I think we're kind of pressuring too much.
We need to create a buzz around the team.
At the moment, it feels like we're flogging a load of shit.
This might not be a natural environment for you.
You have to learn to adapt.
You can't hide away and hope that the task passes you by
and everyone carries you along.
Just focus on one item, hand it over to the clients,
get their interest, then bring them in, just say, "What is it you like?"
Just grab an item, get out there and sell it.
- All right, no worries. - How about some Amherst china?
Do you know this? No?
OK. All right.
5pm.
Whereabouts would we find your stores?
For the trade team...
Jessica, nice to meet you.
..first shot at a sale.
This was valued quite highly by the experts,
- so this is a 19th-century Three Marys. - And what did they say?
- 150. - No, they're looking at about 180 from the expert.
- Yeah. - I'm thinking about £75.
- Tops. - Tops? - Tops.
Can we get 85, just a tenner?
- £80, meet you halfway. - £80. - All right. - Deal.
What would you be happy to pay, Michael?
- 250 each. - 250 each, you've got a deal.
That's too cheap. They're actually Victorian, they're 1860-80.
- It's not real silver. - It's got like a 1/20. - 25.
- Come on, Michael, shake on it. - 25. Great. - Lovely.
You've just been going through this for ten minutes,
going through every piece and you've just said, "25 quid", like, come on.
- What would you have charged? - I would have got it at 50.
- When you said 25, he was, like, "Yeah." Come on. It's a bit... - Yeah.
- Come on. - Sorry, you should have mentioned it.
No, I can't really at the time.
You're right, he did bite my hand off, I'm sorry.
I knew that we probably could have got £100 and whilst I was literally
approaching the end, Jess came and said,
"You can have it for 25 quid."
I was livid. Absolutely livid.
Shall we do the dogs for 30?
I think that's deal done, thank you, Michael.
We are closing shop. £5, every single item.
5.30pm. At Portobello...
- How's it going? Give me a man hug. - ..a final push.
Offer me a price, I'll tell you if I'm ready to take it.
While project manager Paul slashes Sofiane's prices...
Give me an offer, give me an offer. What have you got?
Give me six quid for the two. Done.
Let's do it! Let's go!
..Alana's girls sell in bulk to local shops.
- 60 for everything that we've got in here. - I'll do the lot for 50.
- 55? - 52.
- £10 for the set? Got a deal. Good stuff. - Thank you very much.
- 250. - 230. - 230. Done deal.
33 and we've got a deal.
- 250. - 225 and you're there.
Do the deal. We've got minutes left.
Michael, how much will you give us for the rest of it?
- 100 quid, please! - Thank you very much.
Thank you. Enjoy.
I just love the sound of money!
6pm.
Well done, girls!
Trading over.
It was my job to remain calm.
I think if I hadn't had done that and I'd crumbled
and we didn't have any strategy at all,
I don't feel we would have sold a thing.
Guess what? We sold the lot.
Nice one!
The guys on the trade side,
not selling throughout the whole day with the time
they were given, that's worrying, but again, in terms of my sub-team,
we've done very well. Very, very well.
I'm looking forward to going back to the boardroom.
Tonight, totals will be totted up.
Tomorrow, an appraisal in the boardroom.
You can go to the boardroom now.
- Good morning. - ALL: - Good morning, Lord Sugar.
Well, this task was all about antiques and collectables
and as an auctioneer would be saying, going, going, gone,
and that's what will be happening with one of you here today
because one of you will be fired.
So, let's have a chat with the girls team here.
Name of the team?
- Nebula. - Nebula.
Nebula? So that's toxic gas in space, I think.
It's an interstellar collection of dust and clouds.
You might have well called yourself smog then.
- So, Michelle... - Yes, Lord Sugar.
..you became the project manager, is that right?
- Yes, I did, yeah. - OK.
I understand from Claude that there wasn't a kind of
rush of people wanting to do the thing, right?
- No-one wanted to put themselves forward. - Who's in your market team?
I was the leader of the market team, yeah.
Right. Because Claude reports to me that as you're unloading the stuff,
you're virtually selling straightaway.
- Yeah, it was really good. - We got swamped.
Very good, you think? Yeah?
We didn't have time to maybe make it look amazing,
but people are straight in your stuff
because they all want to get a bargain,
especially the people there early.
Before you start accepting pricing from anybody, have you said,
"Right, let's try £10 for that, 20 quid for this, 30 quid for that,
"£40 for this, £50 for that, so at least we all know what we're doing?"
I felt like when the stuff arrived, we probably did get into selling
probably almost a bit too quick
before we'd had time to actually allocate people
that were good at clothing on clothing...
As you were unloading the van, you were selling.
Now, the trade team actually went to speak to an expert, is that right?
- Yep. - We got everything out on the table,
we had some nice jugs, ceramics, we went through everything.
But then we didn't use that information when
we were given it because we didn't have time.
To an extent, we tried to use the information...
The whole point of me laying on these experts for you
was for them to give you a rough idea of what they are.
He did break it down quite well to what price range different products
were in the categories that we'd got.
Look, according to Claude, he said go to Portobello.
- He did, yeah. - He said it over and over and over again.
- Yeah. - Trishna is from London so she thought
that maybe Portobello would have been better, but, Michelle,
you went with your gut and stuck with Camden.
He didn't say that you couldn't sell it at Camden.
My strategy was to make sure that I was close to the sub-team in case,
at the end, we could all come together
and sell everything together as a job lot clearance.
Did you do any good deals on the trade?
We sold absolutely everything.
- To one dealer. - Just to one dealer?
- Just to one dealer. - You didn't go to any other trader other than him?
He might have been a lucky man, this guy.
He was indeed very lucky and I think that it got to a stage
where he knew that we were under pressure.
How do you feel that your team supported you?
I think the team were good.
They were all 100% behind every decision I made.
How do you feel, her leadership?
It would have been helpful to have, like,
a clearer pricing strategy on the day.
To be fair, Rebecca, I did clearly, at the start, say this is £5, £10,
- 15... - She did do that.
I know £5, £10, 15, but we didn't know
- at what point we could reduce... - I did.
Everyone else on your team, Rebecca, seemed to have...
Good cooperation amongst the team? Yes, yes.
Doesn't sound like it at the moment.
On the market team in particular, I think we got on very well.
- We enjoyed working together. - Let's move on now.
- Gentlemen. Paul... - Yes, Lord Sugar. - ..you are the project manager.
I heard that your main criteria was that you liked Bargain Hunt.
Erm, I said that I liked Bargain Hunt,
but they were looking for someone that had managed people,
so I just decided to volunteer for the position.
And then we got the name - Titans, is that right?
I thought that as we're all aspiring to be titans of industry one day,
I thought it could be a fitting name, Titans.
Named after Greek gods.
They're mythological Greek...
badasses.
So, Oliver, are you Porkos, the Greek God of sausages or something?
Well, let's see if we've got some titans amongst you, shall we?
So, who's in your market team?
The market team was Sof, K,
- Mukai, Courtney, and JD. - Did you do anything when you get there?
Yeah, we interacted with a couple of traders
so we was just testing the water,
how much they were selling the stuff at.
You were the sub-team leader, is that right?
That's correct. The strategy was obviously sell,
but obviously don't just give it away.
You actually turned down sales
because you couldn't get the price you thought it was worth.
Well, at the beginning, yes, we did, yeah.
- As we unloaded... - So you set out some pricing
and you were a bit more cautious
on taking any offer that's being given to you,
- is that what you're saying? - It was a bit of a struggle,
but I think we done some really good deals.
Why don't you tell Lord Sugar
about your very large sale at the car boot?
It was this garden sort of porcelain thing.
- It was a vase. - I went in, closed the deal, we sold it for...
I actually asked you for advice.
I didn't want to undersell our products at the first market.
It seemed like it would be our crown in the jewel really
- and I didn't want to sell it too early. - As I pulled it out the van,
because I literally hid it in the van at first because I saw it...
You hid it in the van, yeah?
Yeah, I didn't want anyone to just sell it for £10.
- I think you sold it for £175. - 175, yep.
Do you know how much my lot bought that for?
No idea, I'm not an expert.
I heard a valuation of about £70 or something.
- Closer to seven. - £7? - Yeah.
- Wow. - So we did.
I've had the feedback from Karren that JD and Mukai
and, to a certain extent, Courtney, you looked like three lost lambs.
No, I believe, as a team, we worked well.
I think my sales approach was different to people like Sofiane.
Let the customer come and have a look at the product
and then once they've shown that small bit of interest,
- I then made that sale. - Hm. All right.
Now, let's talk about the trade team.
So our plan was to take all of our items and get them valued.
He valued the items.
There were two dealers at the top of the road.
Unfortunately, the goods that we had were considered a little lowbrow
- for those dealers. - You were in Chelsea, weren't you?
We were, we were indeed. So the plan was to stay sort of north London,
north-west London. We had booked in some visits to some dealers.
Unfortunately, one of them was unsuccessful.
You sold him quite a lot of stuff.
We did. We sold him £360 worth of goods.
The problem is, Alan, he didn't have any money.
It wasn't a legit sale, so...
- We shook hands, we signed receipts and then we said... - Unfortunate.
It was kind of awkward.
But he looked at it as you were unloading it and he said,
"Ooh, that's very nice."
- We polished it up. - Yeah, we polished it up. - "That's very nice."
Did you not get a feeling when that was going on
that this was going too good?
I did say I felt...
A little bit at the front. I mean, he took an instant interest.
But you never asked him, "Are you the owner of the shop
"and do you have the authority to purchase these items," did you?
- That is correct. - Yeah. - That is correct.
It was a lot of wasted time.
All right. Well, let's find out about the money now.
Karren, perhaps you'll let me know how much your trade team took.
Well, the Titans' trade team,
they took £371.
- And, Claude? - Well, Nebula, as far as the trade team goes,
they took £540
and the market team sold £419,
making a total of £959.
Karren, so how did your market team do?
Better.
£1,057.10,
making a total of £1,428.10.
Well done, lads. Very well done for the first task.
Having found value in vintage collectables,
I've arranged special vintage dance lessons for you.
Swing Patrol is a renowned dance troupe
who is going to teach you the world-famous Lindy Hop.
Enjoy yourselves. Off you go.
- Thank you. - Thank you, Lord Sugar.
Well, ladies, first task.
Headless chickens comes to mind.
We will go into it in a lot more detail shortly
and at least one of you will be fired.
Off you go.
MUSIC: Sing, Sing, Sing by Benny Goodman
- Hey! - THEY CHEER
Yeah, great win, first week.
Price the item, go high, negotiate, go for the handshake,
take the money. It's very simple, it's not rocket science.
I'm not a Del Boy from the East End,
but I like selling at markets.
I did not want to leave with a whole lot of clobber
in the back of that van.
I was the project manager, I stood up for that,
and then I put the right people in the right positions.
I knew that Sof was always going to be my second
and in charge of the market team. Whether people like him, I like him,
it doesn't matter - we had to win the task.
But I don't think there was enough from your side.
I did say to you, Alana,
I wanted a clear pricing structure of the stall.
Michelle is trying to put all the blame on the market team
and I think she should be very, very careful doing that,
because it can't possibly be our fault entirely.
For you guys to do 400 quid from the morning
up until the evening and the market and the car boot,
and we sold within two hours more than that...
- It was less than that. - It was less than an hour and a half.
Something went wrong on your side, I'm sorry.
Alana put herself up for sub-team leader, but she wasn't, like,
a strong-enough personality
to manage the four girls that she had to manage.
We said, right... We had a list of everything, hang on a second.
- Michelle, let me talk! - No, let me just finish,
I haven't finished talking. So in my opinion,
you've sold loads of stuff like headless chickens,
two quid, three quid, whatever,
and not kept enough back for the market stall,
which, in my opinion, is where you would get more money for the items.
The boardroom is just straight down to business.
You know, I'm not there to make friends,
I'm there to fight my corner.
I do not feel that I should be fired.
PHONE RINGS
Could you send the candidates in, please?
Right. It appears to me that I was talking to a brick wall.
I thought I made it perfectly clear.
The important thing about this is to identify what you have there
and to establish some kind of pricing policy
in order to know what you can go and sell it for,
and according to Claude, you just made it up as you went along.
Well, we didn't price our items correctly and actually
I believe that that blame lies with the project manager.
It sort of trickled down through the team and, yes,
Alana should have probably paid more attention, but ultimately,
it should have come a bit more from the project manager.
Michelle, what have you got to say?
My sub-team, I felt they were experienced enough for the girls
to be able to set that pricing structure themselves.
The night before, we had the discussion
about the pricing strategy, when we discussed that
everything should be £5, £10, two for whatever...
- No, it wasn't just £5, £10... - Hold on.
Hold on, here's the first bit that I don't understand.
Where are you getting your pricing from?
I think there was a sense of urgency around the market team,
especially there was a lack of discipline and leadership
and it was sort of fend for yourself and hope for the best.
You came to me at a number of points in the day and said
- you were doing really well. - Yeah, and I said to you,
- when I sold the chairs... - Don't turn round and go, there was a lack of...
You were the one that volunteered to be sub-team leader.
You were like, "I'm really good at markets"
and when I sold the five chairs,
I said, "Right, they've offered £40, is that OK?" You said, "Yeah."
It was a fire sale right from the first item to the last item.
They couldn't wait to get rid of it
at whatever price to whoever actually approached them.
I didn't, like, sell a lot because I wasn't going to give it away,
so I did see a few potential items.
Who sold those green vases?
- Me. - You did and you sold them for...?
- £15. - £15.
Do you know how much they were valued for?
- No. - 300.
- Sorry. - The goods were so cheap,
the shoppers couldn't have been arrested for looting.
Rebecca, you're not so guilty because you hardly sold anything,
so you couldn't even give it away.
I think I spent a lot of time trying to get people to the stall as well,
so I was kind of going out there, talking to people,
getting them to come over, have a look at our vintage pieces.
Vintage? I think I've aged another ten years listening to this story,
- quite frankly. - Yeah.
We've focused quite a bit on this market team.
Let's talk about this trade team.
We decided to go to the valuer
to get the correct pricing of the items.
We did individually take all the boxes out and we got, like,
a lot of information on each product.
Just for your reference, the boys, they left their location at 10:45.
- We were there way too long. - And then you went on a fool's errand with the
thought of going to see a dealer somewhere, wherever it was...
- Yup. - Yeah. - ..and your stock wasn't even there
- because your truck had gone off to... - The market.
- ..the market? - Yeah.
So wasted more time.
- Yup. - We got to Camden at about four.
The idea of the trade team is to take your wares
and sell them to trade dealers,
but it appears that you only found one person.
- Yes. - Yes. We got down there,
emptied the stuff and then everyone just tried to sell.
No, that's a bit incorrect.
- So firstly... - When we got the stuff out,
everyone was trying to sell, I tried to sell those...
Michael was interested in looking at most of the stuff.
Please can I finish? I tried to sell the items
for the full price of what the valuer had said
and everyone undermined me.
We've got one man, that's all we've got.
We've got one trader. The trade team...
Here's the point, whatever you're supposed to have learned and gleaned
from the expert in Dulwich went out the window.
Yeah, completely, because they didn't...
I was the only one that tried to use the knowledge
- that I'd got on each of the items. - Trishna...
I'm sorry but I'm just going to say what I think and I do think
- I grasped what the task was. - How do you think you grasped it?
Because I understood that we had to know the value of the antiques.
- Sorry? - We had to understand what the value of the antiques were.
Did you grasp the fact that you were wasting time down in Dulwich?
Did you grasp the fact that you went on a wild-goose chase somewhere
and the truck was going somewhere else? Did you grasp all of that?
I knew we were taking too long with everything.
- The time... - I thought you were stressing too much, Trish.
Look, ladies, I'm struggling here,
to be honest with you, and disappointed.
I think the blame lays with Michelle
because I think if we'd had more strategy given to us,
then I think we could have put that into our team and I think
also there was definitely a lack of sales.
The sub-team all made it really clear to me
that they were experienced at selling at markets,
- experienced at selling at car boots. - I definitely didn't say that.
OK.
Michelle, you was the project manager.
Can you tell me which two people
you're bringing back into this boardroom?
I'm going to be bringing back Alana
and Rebecca.
- OK. - How am I possibly responsible for the loss of the task?
We'll talk about that later.
Ladies, go back to the house. You three people wait here.
Thank you.
I'm going to have a chat with these two
and at least one of you will be fired, OK? Off you go.
Michelle, project manager.
I think she's quite an astute businesswoman.
She was the leader in name only and I don't think she told the team
what was expected of them, and if she did, they didn't listen.
So what do you make of this Rebecca?
She only sold 25 quid's worth of stuff.
Didn't contribute too much.
I couldn't see any skill in her at all.
And then we've got Alana.
I mean, for a woman who runs her own business,
she must have skills in negotiation,
she must have skills in pricing,
but I didn't see any evidence of that.
I mean, it was whatever the customer would pay, that was the price.
PHONE RINGS
- Yes, Lord Sugar. - Yeah, can you send the three of them in, please?
Michelle, you've chosen to bring Rebecca and Alana back in here.
Rebecca wants to know why.
Ultimately, this was a selling task and the most amount of money wins.
The task was not all about selling.
The task was about finding key gems and pieces in a batch.
I didn't sell but the task wasn't about selling.
You didn't find any key pieces and hardly sold anything.
One of the reasons I didn't want... When I was at the car boot,
I actually held off selling quite a lot of pieces because of the fact
I didn't feel like I knew exactly
- what the actual pricing strategy was. - You didn't communicate that...
- From who though? - You, you're the project manager!
Yeah, you're piping up now, Rebecca...
£5, £10 and £15 is not a price strategy.
I didn't see you piping up.
I said, "Are you girls confident in pricing?"
And the answer was yes.
This isn't my role.
You're looking there to your right.
No, to be fair, any of us...
You sold £25 all day!
- LORD SUGAR: - Excuse me, Rebecca, Rebecca,
- I just want you to answer a simple question to me. - Sorry.
Why did you only sell 20-odd pounds of the stuff?
I was holding back on wanting to sell really nice items
- because I wasn't sure what was happening... - I was there, Rebecca.
I don't think that went through your head.
I think if anybody had offered you a price, you would have sold it.
Lord Sugar, I hold my hands up, in this task, this is not what I do.
I can build relationships with people.
I didn't sell as much as I wanted to sell, but I did have good ideas.
OK, Michelle, why did you bring Alana back in?
There was a lack of organisation and a lack of leadership.
I absolutely don't think I'm responsible
for the failure of this task. Absolutely not. I think
I was one of the top sellers, maybe the second-best seller.
I think the failure of the task lies with Michelle.
I am not sitting here saying that
the trade team was perfect in any way.
You didn't do anything on the trade team.
You went and got valuation of your products,
- you took no notice of it and you sold to one sole trader. - No, we...
And you wasted loads and loads of time.
What notice did you take?
The porcelain statue was valued at 150.
We got 80 for it.
The tea set was valued at 80-100 and we got £70 for it.
I think if you've got something that's valued at £100,
you don't say to the guy, "We've had it valued at £100,
"how much will you give us?" He might have valued it at £300,
but you gave the game away and then sold again at fire-sale prices.
We didn't get anything communicated from you to our team,
any structure whatsoever.
You just called us to say, like, how are you getting on?
- You didn't... - No, I didn't.
Did you give us guidance in terms of pricing strategy for the day?
You keep banging on, Rebecca, about pricing strategy.
Why didn't you sort out the pricing strategy yourself?
Do you know what? You're right.
I should have stood up more, I should have shouted more.
- Yes. - I should have said more but I didn't.
I didn't, Lord Sugar, and I will never make that mistake again.
- And I did clearly state... - Michelle, did you communicate
- with this sub-team at all during the course of the day? - Yes, I did, yeah.
First question I would ask - have you got your pricing sorted out?
Did you ask those questions?
- I... - To Alana?
- I left the pricing... - Did she ask you those questions?
No, she asked me on the phone, "How are you getting on?"
I'm not here to babysit anyone
and to sort of say, "Right, you've got to sell this for X amount."
You're absolutely correct, I didn't say...
Well, I'm sorry to disagree with you.
When you took on the role as project manager,
you are there to actually phone and say, "Lord Sugar said find the gems.
"Don't have a fire sale and think about time."
I felt that I did, so I think...
Well, clearly not. I mean, they were selling things...
The fact that the sub-team didn't listen to me was not my issue.
- I was clear. - So you thought there was a plan,
but the two people who were in your team
- don't feel like there was a plan. - And you didn't...
This is why I've brought you back into the boardroom.
Because we didn't feel there was a plan?
- Everybody else on the team knew... - They all felt there was a plan?
- Yup. - Because one of them happened to sell a little bit more than me
- and that's why... - That's not why they said that.
I don't mess around, Rebecca. I am so straight-talking.
You think you were actually really clear in all of this?
- Absolutely. - In terms of interpreting what Lord Sugar said,
you felt like you were really clear and you told your team?
If you are unclear you should have asked me, "Michelle,
- "I'm a little bit unsure." - I should have been stronger.
- Yeah, you should. - Lord Sugar,
I am brilliant to work with and I can lead a team.
I'm definitely not...
ready to go.
I just want to be here, to show and prove to you...
I'm sure you don't feel you're ready to go.
How can you say you can lead a team if you didn't say anything to us?
- Ladies... - You were leading our team. - Excuse me. Excuse me.
I think I've heard enough.
I'm going to summarise.
Rebecca, you make a lot of claims about being this great businesswoman
and yet you've demonstrated nothing to me in this particular task.
Alana...
you was in charge of the market team and the pricing was
completely, well, overlooked.
Michelle, you claim to be a businesswoman
and I do see you responsible
for not laying down the rules to your team.
But you, Rebecca, I just don't know whether you are
- the wrong type of candidate for this process. - Please, Lord Sugar...
- Excuse me, can you please be quiet for the moment? - I'm sorry.
Michelle, it's very easy for the finger to be pointed at you
as the project manager, but having said that,
I do think that there's a lot of stuff that you're responsible for.
Michelle, you're fired.
Thank you very much for the opportunity.
At the moment, Rebecca, you are, like, floating, as dead wood does.
But it's a very, very early stage in the process,
so I'm going to let you stay.
- Thank you, Lord Sugar. - And the same with Alana.
Go back to the house and I'll see you on the next task, OK?
Well done.
Lord Sugar fired the wrong person.
I think Rebecca should have gone instead of me.
She is out of her depth in this process.
I don't think it will be too long before she does get fired.
When you're PM, whoever is your sub-team manager,
you need total belief that when you give them autonomy,
they can deliver and I had that.
The money that you beat us on was, like, two of your items.
If we hadn't got that, yeah, it could have been...
THEY CHEER
So, what with it like to be in the firing line?
He basically made us all fight for our lives.
Yeah, he did. I felt completely hard done by, like,
I was not responsible for the failure of that task.
You don't realise quite how much you want it, I think,
until you're in that moment.
Now 17 candidates remain.
The search for Lord Sugar's next business partner has begun.
Next time...
I want you to come up with an advertising campaign for jeans.
..fast fashion.
- Aw, he's gone all shy. - Oh, this looks fierce!
Coming apart...
I'm sorry.
..at the seams.
She completely collapsed under the pressure.
- I'm overruling you. - Please!
And in the boardroom...
I feel so angry!
..a dressing-down.
What has it got to do with jeans?
I can't put up with loose cannons.
You're fired.