It would seem that attempting to prove you are smart, using your initiative and cost-saving to meet requirements and specifications are not traits Lord Alan Sugar is looking for in an Apprentice candidate.
Credit: BBC
Following a huge strop in the boardroom, the Lord showed his true colours when he was outsmarted by one of his potential future business partners, flipping the script and bending the rules of the competition so that he could send home the one man who had thought 'outside the box' - something he's blasted the candidates for NOT doing in the past - in a task we've all come to love. The go out and buy stuff cheaply task. (working title)
Whilst Sugar has claimed on Twitter that the specifications said the skeleton must be "fully assembled", it has been proven by fans of the show with screencaps of the episode that it said no such thing. All the team needed was a 'Full-Sized Anatomical Skeleton. Minimum 150cm tall.', and that's what both delivered.
Working hard for Team Tenacity, Felipe found a seller who had build-it-yourself paper skeletons that were full-sized, anatomical and came in at 180cm tall. It was the perfect plan and costing just £14, would have wiped the floor with the opposing team's offering. If Sugar hadn't thrown his toys out of his pram.
Did the Lord want real human bones? Because that's not what the other team offered, either. He had in his head an image of what was required, but didn't give enough clear instructions to the teams about exactly what that was. Similarly he said he wanted a rope of a metre length. When the team got a rope that was longer than a metre, they were penalised. In the real world of business you'd crack out a pair of scissors and take 30 seconds to cut it. Not in the boardroom.
Nick Hewer should have defended the team. He personally allowed the skeleton but when Sugar decided to add to the specifications in the boardroom he remained quiet - at least from what we saw. Not that Alan was going to be convinced otherwise.
If Lord Sugar has in his mind a group of people he already knows he'll be sending home then he should scrap the challenges and be done with it. It seems as if he's used this as an excuse to get rid of Felipe despite him not actually doing anything wrong in this task.
The decision was a wrong one, but Sugar is too proud to ever admit that. With #SkeletonGate and #JusticeForFelipe all finding prominence on Twitter following the show last night, it's clear where the majority of viewers' opinions lie.
Tagged in The Apprentice