The Apprentice: Episode 5 – Bumble Bees & Snottydinks!

Another week down the line of this series of “The Apprentice” and there are still so many huge contenders…I really don’t think I could even hazard a guess at who is going to win just yet – each week new people stand out to me and seem to become the front-runner, only to seem like the underdog the following week – that’s one of the things that is brilliant about this programme – it keeps you guessing!

Come on Team Connexus! Team Versatile have won every task so far – despite members switching around from each team, it seems that if you are a member of Team Connexus, you are going to have to fight tooth and nail to stay in the process…..! I wonder if Connecxus will up their game next week, or if Versatile is just obviously the leading team name!

After watching this week’s episode I don’t really have a huge amount to say. I think both teams made mistakes, and I think the right team did win, but actually not for the reasons that were discussed on the show.
I could be wrong, and I’m not claiming to be any kind of business genius, and please, if you know the answer to this, help me understand it an comment below, but did anyone else spot what I see to be a very blatant, yet not commented on, mathematical error by Team Connexus (Snottydink)?

In the pitch to the lead buyer (I think it was Foyles) who ended up buying 50 copies, they were offered 150 copies at £4.20 each by Selina. When it was obvious they didn’t want 150 copies, they were then offered 50 copies at £3.50 each…..surely it should be the other way round, with the incentive to buy more?! Am I wrong? I’m genuinely confused as to why this wasn’t brought up in the boardroom – If Brett was in charge of the figures, that could have made all the difference to who won – am I wrong?

They later said if they were buying less than 9 books it would be £4.89….

< 9 books = £4.89 each
50 books = £3.50 each
150 books  = £4.20 each

With an RRP of over £6, you can see why the retailer bought 50 – the profit margins are significantly higher! Why would you buy 150 if you make 70p less profit per book than you would if you only bought 50?!? Less risk, more profit margin!
I suppose the lower price is appealing if they are losing the potential client interest completely, but it still doesn’t make complete sense to me! Can anyone shed any light? Or did they just make a mathematical error?

I think Charlene was a good PM, she managed Richard in the way she thought was best, fair enough, it might not have made her very popular with him but she identified the areas in which she might have trouble and created a tactic that would help her overcome it. She also came up with a concept for a story involving giving up a comfort blanket which I think would potentially have been a much better, much more educational, and sell-able plot than the bee story – but she listened to what her team wanted and was flexible.
I think she made a mistake in choosing to do the pitch herself, she even said that pitching was out of her “comfort zone”….she should have let someone else go in who could just nail it. Having said that, she smashed her final sale, selling 125 books in one go! I think she is a very strong contender for this series actually.

Sam is so sweet – and I do think he is very intelligent, however some of the decisions he made, like trying to sell children’s books to independent rare books and first edition shops might not have been his finest hour! I think he is going to need to up his game a lot over the next few weeks – In my eyes, this task has drawn attention to his weaknesses and not his strengths, which is not a good thing when working through a process like this.

I do think the right person was fired this week. Natalie was making the pitch and she didn’t have the information she needed to close a deal. Easy as that. Fair enough, that might not have been the total downfall of the task, but she was showing herself to be a weaker candidate and one who, when it says on her CV that she is good at pitching, has twice now fluffed a major pitch – first the shampoo pitch which was cringey to watch, and now this…I think it was just her time this week. Definitely the right decision.

Numbers are diminishing now – can’t wait to see it get tougher as the weeks go on!
R xx

p.s. if anyone can clear up the mathematical thing for me, my brain would be very grateful!