“Michael we hardly knew you” was the opening line from Dara o’briain on this week’s BBC ‘Apprentice: You’re Fired’.  Despite only selling 53 units of sauce, the cockney said he didn’t fight his corner well enough & blamed Ricky as the real culprit. “Not at all out of my depth” in reply to Lord Sugar’s review. Michael always seemed towards the back; “I didn’t really know what you were doing”- Sugar noted.

Levi Roots, ‘Reggae Reggae Sauce’ entrepreneur was on the panel and claimed the marketing was bad- using the incorrect spelling on their sauce bottle as an example. “It needed a brand strategy, and to have a sweet pepper on the front was wrong” given this was a spicy not sweet sauce  - Levi’s offered his expertise.

Jenny Eclair (comedian) said Michael was “not much cop- I don’t think you were enjoying yourself…” and joked about “Getting the taste right might have been a good idea.”. The third panelist, was Lord sugar’s trusted advisor Claude Litte who’s known for his grilling interviews during the final selection of the apprentice. “Everything was wrong, struggle to find anything done right” reviewed Claude.

A video look back poked fun at the sweating Michael during the first meet with Alan sugar in the boardroom, he protested he was coming down with the flu.. to which Jenny Eclair (comedian) was ‘relieved to know’ as she had suspected this. Michael agreed he was nervous but- ‘not that nervous’.

Levi considered whether Michael was playing the “stay in the background game” but noticed he still stayed subdued in the boardroom, and didn’t pipe up even then which eventually led to his firing. Michales background is in selling designer kitchen and bedroom furniture. Following this ‘background check’ by Dara, Claude gave a positive “you’re clearly a nice guy” but…”I think you’ve got to be tough, I didn’t get a sense of toughness from you. I think you would have felt Lord Sugar unbearable”. Michael agreed he indeed didn’t fight enough and “should have been stronger”.

Ricky was critiqued again for his (lack of?) management in kitchen given the consistency of sauce failed terribly. But was this all Ricky’s fault?- they are ‘teams’ after all. Ricky overplayed his hand according to Claude. Jeni claims the “boys show off, don’t they?- untill they have to explain something that went wrong.”.

Kate took the leap to be Project manager this episode after her grilling by Lord Suger last week. Apprentice: ‘You’re fired’ highlighted Adams taking credit for the making of the sauce. (despite the terrible consistency) and his . Levi “finds him very annoying” but did not explain why.

Finally, Sugar reviewed Michael as a bad subteam leader for “not selling anything”. The general consensus was Michael was out of his depth and some of the contestants noted he was ‘forgotten on occasions’ as he did go into the background quite easily. “I just didn’t fight my corner”. Michael’s business does oversee 6 different teams of fitters and we at Yorkshire Badges wish him every success for his future endeavours.

Levi Roots becomes friend of Yorkshire, gives business advise.

Levi Roots, when asked about his own diversifying sauce business, reiterated the importance of branding- “I don’t think it’s because of the sauce it’s the sense of the strong branding”. This is consistent with Levi Root’s speech last year where Yorkshire Badges presented Levi with the Yorkshire Rose badge to promote Yorkshire Charities. Reggae Reggae sauce future is bright Levi announced “we have an upcoming partnership coming up with a leading chicken supplier”. He joked: “ I’ve spent a lot of money in that shop over the years”.

Claude after a few video shorts of him grilling past contestants gave some sound advice: “If Sugar gives you a job to do; be straight & honest he forgives mistakes. But not lying or cheating”. Nicks overview of the sauce emphasized the shock spice of the sauce  ”It was a deadly combination!” said Nick.   A taster of the sauce was handed out to panelists including the audience. “Balisimo” (spelt incorrectly) was tried first The audience including Dara gave a ‘winced face’ which said it all. The ‘pineapple fusion’ chutney was next- “you go an a bit of a journey with that one don’t you? Dara exclaimed”. It went to audiences vote- the chutney won the audience’s vote.

There are 13 candidates left in the competition- Tom (last years winner was present) – looking at his past moments (such as his wobbling eyes- side to side) and Toms “emergency biscuit” – idea which was a lead balloon during market research. His acclaimed curved nail file is still in production and a new ‘emergency nail file’ has now been launched. It’s now one of the biggest selling beauty accessories in a well-known beauty store chain. Tom noted he should have had more “Belief in his ideas” and a stronger ability to “Follow things through”. Tom’s future aims include to “become the dyson of the beauty industry”.

Levi agreed Sugar was right to fire Michael, as did Jeni. Claude concluded Katie was the ‘one that got away’ saying it was premature to get rid of Michael. As always it went to audience vote- roughly 60% voted fired. Michael did not go empty-handed, of course, and was given a hanky to wipe off the sweat caused from the stress of business.

If you wish to learn more about Yorkshire Badges, or Levi’s past involvement with us please see here to learn more. Comment below whether you believe Michael was ready to go…