The 16 contestants were divided into gender teams of men and women. The eight women chose to name their team, Venture, a suggestion provided by Hossaini.
Their challenge was to use £250 to buy and then sell fruits and vegetables for a profit. Hossaini was elected project manager and led her team to victory through the sale of fruit pots and vegetable pasta. Team Venture was able to turn a profit of £592, or £160 more than the men.
This is the seventh year of the series in Britain. Lord Sugar has the David Trump role in Britain and gets to fire someone each week. The first to go was Hussein’s opposite number, the chief of the male team, Edward Hunter.
By the end of the first week’s program, the two team leaders had done most of talking in their bids to convince Lord Sugar that their team was the real winner.
Hossaini’s hometown newspaper, the Birmingham Mail, thought Melody came on a tad too strong. The Mail said, “Hossaini came out of the blocks like a hare on fire…. But if she doesn’t calm down a bit, the Iranian from Walsall will be heading back up the M6 [highway from London to Birmingham] before long.”
The Mail, however, was even less impressed with the male competition. They “looked like a bunch of unshaven, greasy oiks by comparison,” it commented unflatteringly. Oik is an English slang term meaning rude and crude, somewhat like clod in American slang.
Lord Sugar was even less kind. He told team leader Hunter, “You said on your resume you were Lord Sugar’s dream. But you’ve been a bit of nightmare. You’re fired.”
Melody, 26, lives in Walsall, near Birmingham in the English Midlands.
She was praised by her teammate, Felicity, for her leadership skills. Hossaini also become the favorite of a former Apprentice star, Kate Walsh, the 2009 runner-up. Walsh wrote on Twitter, “Reading about Apprentice, finding it difficult to select potential finalists as prize is different. Sugar may be looking for different qualities. Melody sounds v impressive.”