According to 2009 Apprentice contestant, Anita Shah, the eighth episode of the season should have been called “The Melody Show,” as the 26-year-old dominated the screen with her “ruthless” and sometimes arrogant behavior.
Although she was not Project Manager, Melody took control of the task of selling British innovations to Parisians, using her fluency in French to conduct market-research and woo buyers into at least booking appointments. Nevertheless, her confidence may have been over-the-top, as she convincingly lied to her team that teapot-shaped lamps were more profitable than car seats that convert to rucksacks, a fatal mistake that was actually contrary to most of the market research she did in Paris.
Thus, Melody’s team lost and she made her first “Bottom Three” boardroom appearance with project manager Tom Pellereau and teammate Leon Doyle.
Rather than being turned off by her scheming and lack of sharing of potential client appointments with her teammates, Lord Alan Sugar (the Donald Trump of the British version) praised Melody for her ability to sell and her business sense, saying, “Take a leaf out of her book, she’s a tiger, she’s fighting to win.”
The opposite of Melody in this challenge, Leon, was fired for his limited participation, leaving two men and four women to compete for Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment prize.