Young Apprentice 2011 Week 3: Lord Sugar fires Hannah Richards

Hannah RichardsHannah Richards became the third candidate to be fired by Lord Sugar in this series of the Young Apprentice.

The candidates had been tasked with making a profit by arranging flowers, and it was a task that the boys looked very uncomfortable in tackling. So it was just as well that Lord Sugar mixed the teams for this task. He appointed Hannah as project manager of Team Atomic and Lizzie as PM for team Kinetic.

After a day of learning to display flowers and debrief of costs from a professional floweriest, the teams were left to their own devises to pitch and work out their margins in a bid to win the task.

In the boardroom, it was revealed that Team Atomic, made a total sale of £858.25 with total costs of £407.29, so a total profit of £450.96
Team Kinetic, made a total sale of £912.10 with total costs of £448.58, so a total profit of £463.52

With Team Kinetic winning the task by only £12.56, they went off for their treat of a luxury, chocolate themed, three course meal at Fortnum and Masons.

Team Atomic were left with their heads in their hands as they reflected on their narrow defeat before heading to the Café to discuss why they didn’t make enough money.

Back in the boardroom Lord Sugar pointed out that if they had won the hotel deal they’d have won the task and the team agrees it was a contributing factor, as well as the decision on pricing.

Hannah decided to bring back Zara and Harry M to the boardroom to which Harry M responded, “Hannah just to clarify, me and Zara brought in the lion’s share of profit”, but Hannah refused to change her mind.
Once they had departed and returned to the boardroom, Hannah explained that she has brought Zara back for not listening to her as Project Manager and Harry M because he’s not a team player.

During the discussion Lord Sugar then addressed Harry M’s issue with being a team player, telling him, “last week I was a bit concerned about this.” Hannah then dug the knife in to Harry M, stating, “obviously everybody has their flaws but that’s something so fundamental, not just in business but in life, which you can’t go through being so self-cantered.”

But Harry M hit back, telling Hannah, “You’ve brought in the two people that made the most profit so if anyone missed the whole concept that the task was about profit, surely it’s you for bringing us two back.”

Lord Sugar then delivered his final decision. Telling Zara, “I don’t know what you’re doing here to be honest, I really don’t. So I’m telling you right now you’re staying,” he announced that it was a tossup between the two remaining candidates. Finally he informed Harry M, “on reflection I have to say, your salesmanship and your last sale has saved you”. Lord Sugar then turned to Hannah, “with regret Hannah, and possibly because, in my opinion, you brought the wrong people back, I have to say to you that You’re Fired.”

As she is driven away Hannah said: “I’m proud that I got this far yet a little bit disappointed I didn’t go further but I know I walk away from this knowing a lot more than I did when I came. It’s given me a foundation to build on for the future.”

Back at the house the remaining candidates all agree that they hope that Hannah will survive the boardroom. When Zara and Harry M return there are shocked faces all round, and an upset Lewis storms out of the room.