Thursday 30 April 2009

The Apprentice - series 5, ep 6: Time runs out for Noorul

Noorul was fired at last by Sir Alan Sugar but only after the most turbulent boardroom session in the series following Empire's failure in the bric-a-brac task.

The 33-year-old science teacher Noorul had previously escaped attention by making a minimal contribution to tasks and avoiding being brought back into the boardroom.

Only last week, Philip made the point that while he had came up with the dreadful 'Pantsman' idea, Noorul had simply hidden in a superhero costume.

But this time, Noorul was not so lucky as he took his place in Empire under Ben's leadership.

Philip, meanwhile, was chosen as team leader of Ignite and was aiming to restore his reputation after the previous disaster.

After a meeting in an auction warehouse in Chiswick, the teams were tasked with offloading the same ten items of varying values with the aim of making a profit against the market price.

The purpose of the task was to see which candidates could make accurate valuations.

But neither of the team leaders were adept at spotting the luxury.

Philip seemed particularly clueless and, once again, he clashed with Lorraine.

This time, their argument was over the value of the Indian rug which Lorraine suggested was "the gem in the pack" but which Philip rejected as cheap tat.

Lorraine was right, though, and they should have realised this when they struggled to sell the item in a street market in what was described by Margaret Mountford as "one of the most stupid activities they have yet engaged in".

She said: "I'm speechless. That rug is the most expensive item that they have. They have completely ignored its true value apart from Lorraine."

But Ignite enjoyed a bit of luck by unexpectedly selling their human skeleton to a punter in the pub for £160.

And at least Philip had organised the task so that he, Mona and Lorraine had five items while Howard and Kate had the other five.

Over at Empire, cocksure team leader Ben was attempting to sell seven items with Noorul and Debra leaving Yasmina and James with just three.

Aware of the time constraints, Ben started to sell his items without taking valuations on them first, which meant their rug was eventually sold for just £55.

Noorul also sold the human skeleton, worth at least £150, for just £60 having set up a meeting... with an impoverished student.

Nick Hewer said: "They are treating the whole thing as a sort of flog off.

"I think it's about time to start getting a grip on this, otherwise you're going to start to panic and with just cause."

Indeed, the results for both teams were damning - they had both lost money!

Ignite made an overall loss of £34, making a profit of £96 on some items and a loss of £130 on the other two.

Empire made a "thumping" net loss of £169, making a profit of £78 on some of their items and a loss of £242 on others.

Winning team leader Philip allowed himself a smile as the results, and their reward of truffle tasting, was read out.

But this was jumped on immediately by Sir Alan.

He said: "As far as you're concerned, you have won but I don't know what you're smiling about - a loss is a loss.

"Philip, I really do hope you're signing on to what I'm trying to say because your mind is like concrete to me - thoroughly mixed but set in its ways."

But, as ever, Sir Alan saved most of his ire for the losers.

He blasted Ben for failing to take valuations and for not taking splitting the items evenly in his team.

And he accused Noorul of needing Ben's help to close the deal on the skeleton.

When Yasmina accused Debra of negativity, Debra claimed she had made more sales than anyone else on the team.

But Nick Hewer responded by suggesting she, too, had been helped by Ben in selling the books.

This provoked an angry reaction from Debra, which in turn irked Sir Alan.

Sir Alan said to her: "Excuse me. You find another way of expressing yourself. Stop talking to him [Nick] like he's a second class citizen.

"You talk to me and get your points over to me. Don't talk to him in that manner. Am I clear?"

Ben brought Noorul and Debra back to the boardroom but only after he had first selected James, with whom he has a long-standing rivalry, in place of Debra in a seemingly tactical move.

When James (and Sir Alan) reacted with bemusement to his selection, Ben changed his mind to Debra who made it clear she was "well up for" a boardroom confrontation.

As it happened, Debra escaped most of the crossfire, although she was told she was "nothing special" by Sir Alan.

The action was centred mainly on project manager Ben, who was accused by Sir Alan of looking like "a defeated man" and "a broken man".

And, later, Noorul got personal with Ben and suggested he was only on the show to secure magazine deals afterwards to which Ben responded that Noorul was "a desperate man".

But Sir Alan recognised that it was Noorul who effectively cost his team the task by underselling the bike and the skeleton.

It was for this, and the fact he had been so lucky in previous weeks, that Sir Alan fired him.

Sir Alan said: "It's been a difficult decision and I take the last six weeks into account.

"Noorul, I don't know what you have been doing here and I think you have escaped the radar. You're fired."

And once Noorul had walked out the room, Sir Alan added: "I got this feeling about Noorul. I did not see much from him in the past six weeks.

"All I can say is that whoever employs him better get a receipt."

But in the cab, Noorul said: "I certainly think Sir Alan fired the wrong person. Ben is such a hot head. He lied throughout.

"The fact that I spoke against him when all five of us were in there probably was what led to my downfall."

Meanwhile, Sir Alan had left survivors Debra and Ben in no doubt that they are both on unsure ground with Ben on a last warning.

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