Tom-tastic! Apprentice Series 7 The Final

Ladies and Gentlemen we have a winner!


The mad professor Tom Pellereau is the man Lord Sugar has backed to the tune of £250,000 after the final episode of The Apprentice. A worthy winner in many respects, a certainly fortunate to be under the new Apprentice prize of a joint business venture as opposed to a job within Lord Sugars portfolio of companies. If we’d been working to rules of previous series the likelihood is that Tom would’ve struggled to make it through the auditions let alone the first few weeks. His quirky style, mad inventor personality and action-man eyes always presented him as a potential loose cannon, but dig below that and Tom was always a candidate who stood out for Lord Sugar.

It is under the old rules that this year’s second place candidate, Helen Louise Milligan would’ve walked it. After a quiet opening few weeks Helen smashed her way to the top of the leaderboard and her structured planning and calculated organisation meant she stayed there right to the end. She played the perfect game in this series, and that perhaps is her biggest failing. There is a sense with Helen that she performs best within a structured environment, and as all new business owners will testify, a new start up is not the place to need rigid processes and procedures to perform at your best. Certainly in my experience, the ability to function within organised chaos would be closer to the mark. Helen you felt all along lacked a certain something despite her impressive showing, and it was crucial to Lord Sugar in the final reckoning. He was willing Helen to produce a stunning business idea, or even just a credible one, you felt if she had then even with the reservations she’d have been a shoe in. Not that she was the only one without a credible business plan.

The range of plans/businesses was revealed and disappointing was probably the easiest way to round them up. They ranged from Susan’s Skincare company to Jim’s e-learning entrepreneurial skills for schools.

Taking them individually, Susan’s plan involved the huge potential skincare market if she got it right, but with associated costs that would eat up the investment before it had time to breathe. Jim’s e-learning idea, cheekily branded AMsmart in line with Lord Sugars existing businesses, already exists and was in essence an idea non-profit business hastily given commercial figures. Helen disappointingly presented the equivalent of a virtual PA service that somehow was supposed to get the country back on its feet. Even winner Tom’s plan of ergonomic chairs and associated products was seriously flawed. Hugely disappointing all round and rightly all were pulled to pieces by what must be one of the most scary interview panels outside of the Den. In fact you got the feeling at one point that Lord Sugar was going to end the interviews and send all four over to the Dragons Den studio for a grilling in a BBC cross-show promotion.

Tom’s victory was down to two main attributes. He’s quite obviously a guy that Lord Sugar feels on a personal level he could work with. As I pointed out in a previous article, Sugar made most of his fortune in partnership with guys like Tom, and that was obviously a big draw for him, he knows how to handle this type of character. Secondly, Tom is a one-man ideas factory, it may take him 20 different ideas, but somewhere along the line Tom is going to hit on another massive idea and Lord Sugar wants to be there when it does. With his already established, but somewhat off-track, ‘Curved Nail file’ Sugar has a readymade product to start recouping his investment.

And so The Apprentice finishes for another series, we’ve had the usual mix of inflated egos, tears, tantrums and Top Hats. Only a few months until Junior Apprentice starts, and if that is anything like last year, those candidates will once again be putting their senior counterparts to shame.

Though certainly not this country’s entrepreneurial elite, this year’s batch of Apprentice candidates have made some great TV and been responsible (sometimes inadvertently) for some essential business lessons. We are left with the vision of a white coated Tom giggling away in a high-tech lab somewhere reaching for an emergency biscuit whilst creating the world’s first time machine using parts from a nodding dog, a top hat, nail file and travel clock. It’d be fun to be there don’t you think?

Dragons Den; Inspirational business show or Takeshi's Castle in suits?

The new series of Dragon's Den flew back onto our screens and brought the usual mix of the wierd, the misguided and the tearful.  But how do we view Dragon's Den?  Is it an inspirational business show or is it just another ritual humiliation show in sharp suits (in most cases without the crash helmets...most cases!).

Dragon's Den actually originated in Japan, the land of Takeshi's Castle, a show who's format set the bar for more recent shows such as Wipeout.  It was first broadcast there in 2001 under the name Money Tigers, but first broacast in the UK in January 2005.  It is the UK format that has spread across the rest of the world.

But now entering it's 8th series, has the Dragon's Den programme changed, not in format or style, but in the minds of those viewing the programme?  Now we know the likes of Peter Jones, Duncan Bannatyne and Theo Paphitis, not just on screen but by the plethora of books, sites, blogs and programmes has the 'inspirational' story gone.  There were times in the last series when each of the characters lived up to their charactures...brilliantly spoofed by Harry Enfield and Paul Whitehouse.

There was a time when the Peter, Duncan, Theo, Deborah and James (et al) by their mere prescence and associated backstory would generate the kind of inspirational feelings that made the dream of running a successful business a reality.  Even those entering the den sparked the 'I could do that' feel, yet there were times in the first episode of the new series that you got the impression that 'good for TV' had taken over.  It almost lifted a veil.

The dragons, because of what they've achieved will alway be an inspiration as individuals, that isn't in question.  What is though is this, does the format create inspirational feelings to go out and start a business?  Sadly as a long time fan of the show I fear not. 

What we are left with is ritual humiliation on a par with watching Japanese gameshow contestants being pummelled by massive padded swings.  Sometimes it is eye-wateringly hilarious, and other times a strong feeling of pity just pervades everything.  A few forgotten numbers here or there and that's all that is required for the humiliation to begin.  Big Brother is ending because we've tired of watching people putting themselves up for similar humiliation, so is it time for a change in format or even putting the dragons back in their respective castles?

There was an exception to this general feeling that has been gathering momentum over the last few episodes.  Kirsty Henshaw gave a great demonstration on just how to inspire anyone to start a business.  Taking 2 (and a half) jobs to pursue her dream, fantastic.  A real inspiration, especially to women of all ages, much more so than any WAG or TV star.  But, Kirsty's fantastic success was slightly tinged with a fear for me, that we are about to embark on a Dragons Den series with more 'journey's' and weepy stories than inspirational stories.  Kirsty and her story was the perfect balance, and perhaps began to restore some of the balance between inspiration and humiliation!