Fired 'The Apprentice' candidate Sophie Lau admits she would never even consider using her team’s failed product herself - “not in a million years.”
Both teams were charged with devising and selling a flat-pack idea, but while the boys’ team Endeavour ploughed ahead with their ‘Foldo’ - a table that turned into a chair - the girls’ team Evolve were left floundering with their ‘TidySidey’, a portable storage unit, tray and stool.
The girls were left floundering after their 'TidySidey' failed to sell, something that doesn't surprise Sophie
“Everything about it was ridiculous,” agrees restaurateur Sophie now. “The design, the colour as well, it would have been better in wood. I clung on to hope the day before, hoping for a miracle, but by the second morning, I just knew...“
Sophie’s fears were well-founded. While the boys shifted an impressive 3,216 units, the girls were left trailing with only 74 units, leaving Sophie, Natalie and Uzma in the firing line.
“It was hard,” reflects Sophie. “Uzma’s the creative one, and Natalie runs her own fashion business, so on paper it would have been wrong for me to interfere. But in hindsight, my 14-year-old sister could have done better than that.”
Sophie was left in charge of market research, a task she says was doomed from the start.
“The kind of market research they wanted, was just that everybody loved and wanted their product,” she says. “Once they didn't hear that from me, they stopped listening.”
Lord Sugar told her, “I think market research is a way of not being responsible for selling, not being responsible for the design of the product, not being responsible for manufacturing. I think you’re hiding a little bit.”
Sophie is happy she left "with my dignity intact - I didn't mess up big time"
Sophie has no regrets about taking part in the show, however, nor hard feelings towards Lord Sugar.
“He thinks I play it safe. I'm quiet. I'm okay with that. I didn't screw up big time. I believe I kept my dignity and class. I wasn't ever going to really mess up.”
So who’s Sophie’s tip to win the series now she’s gone?
“I'm going to go with Francesca, I think she's a bit underrated. She's a nice person, down to earth, a proper human being with a great business plan.
“And I'd love a girl to win, after the disasters of the past few weeks.”
Who do YOU think still has it to win it? These are the candidates: