There's no way of (Sir) Sugaring the truth as it's about to come out in the interview..The Apprentice Thread:the interview thread

[Allthingspretty]

No can will be left unopened
No stone will be left unturned
As Mulder would say the truth is out there

So come on in!

It's nothing like an English grad writing a best selling novel! For a start, the English grad's training has cost a fraction of the price of the doctor - £260,000 to get someone through medical school.

I obviously don't understand Luisa's idea- I buy baking stuff online all the time. Why will her company be better than the one I use now?

Well, from what they were saying - and everyone seemed to agree it was a goodman with evidence and figures that stacked up - wholesale suppliers aren't one-stop-shops and are quite inefficient. It sounds as though she already does retail supply via the web - maybe you even buy from her, and uses suppliers in her physical shop - but she has become frustrated over the situation with wholesalers and has decided to sort the situation herself. It looks like she wants to manufacture and wholesale across the complete baking goods range - bit like Dr Oetker I suppose but focussed on baking and better. One of the key issues with smething like that is getting the brand known - as Margaret said, it's about getting into the supermarkets (with unknown businesses they often either prove impossible to break into or they ask for uneconomic percentages. They wouldn't do that to sugar probably, not least because one of the reasons they make it difficult for people to break into supplying them is they don't want to be left flapping and the involvement of sugar would be a guarantee against that).

I think Luisa will be alright anyway now though, I think she will get her backing whether or not she wins. Possibly even from Sugar (after all, he went into business with Susan Ma as well as Tom Pellereux and both businesses seem to be doing ok).

Sorry, good plan. Bloody autocorrect.

One of the things I like about Luisa's plan is that although there would likely be a web component, it's not an online business. It's a physical, manufacturing business. Sugar understands that. There are ready made business partners for the wholesale and the retail aspects - wholesale, all the small bakeries (which are legion) retail, the supermarkets, the specialist shops and the individuals via the web. Se can do all sorts of fluffy cross promotional stuff for the brand - cookbooks, baking tins, i dunno - aprons, etc, and having been on the show, that gives her the publicity boost that will get the cross promotional stuff noticed. Look at Paul Hollywod's book, for example. Being on Telly is a great springboard for stuff like that. But at the end of the day her core business is physical product and that's good, and solid, and it's clearly a great plan - nobody was vile to her at all, really.

I still don't understand why someone would spend years training to be a Doctor, just to end up sticking Botox into ageing faces.

"Tell me, Dr Leah, what first attracted you to the multi million pound aesthetic medicine business?"

Money, love. Leah appears to be one calculating person. Even Mitch in Dallas didnt set out to do placcy surgery, he was railroaded into it by the Ewings so that he could provide Lucy with the lifestyle she expected. It looks like this was always Leah's goal. Although I imagine not going to one of the more prestigious/London based medical schools was a bit of a setback.

I'm getting increasingly dubious about Leah's plan.

AS (has anyone else noticed that Karren and Nick have started calling him 'Alan' this season, or am I wrong they always addressed him as 'Sir Alan' before?) gave Luisa a hard time about whether, with three other businesses, she would be able to give 100% to their venture. Why hasn't he asked Leah how on earth she is planning to combine the kind of hours junior medics work with giving any time at all to their Botox business? Or are we to understand she's planning to give up her NHS job? But surely she can't be fully qualified yet...?

I think she said she had paid to train privately in 'aesthetic surgery, presumably while working as a junior doctor'. Is there a hint that she's not happy with the massive workload and hours of being a regular doctor, and wants an easier way to make pots of cash?

Leaving aside entirely the extreme dubiousness of what someone else said about the added pressure put on an insecure teenager who wants to change her looks completely and shows up to a lunchtime slot to find a medic who looks like a model in the treatment room...

I think everyone is unduly impressed by her being a doctor, and no one really asked her any awkward questions.

She's fully qualified now, I think. And she is planning to give it up, she said so. Once she finishes the rotation she's doing now.

It's not aesthetic surgery she is trained in, that takes years and years and you have to be a proper surgeon first, I think. It's aesthetic medicine. Which takes a few hours and involves showing the person how to inject stuff. But, I think (I may be wrong) the law says there has to be a medical doctor around just in case of emergencies. So if the person doing the injecting is also a medical doctor that cuts costs right away. The injecting can be done in some branches of boots. Leah is also peddling other skin rejuvenating 'techniques' - probably snake oil.

Claude asked her about the money aspect and her figures, from what we saw, appeared to be spot on. Claude didnt care about the ethics. Margaret and the other woman clearly did, questioned her in the interviews but then didn't bring it up with sugar. Disappointing.

Leah is a former model, and if you saw the final five programme the other day - her mum and sister both look like they are not strangers to aesthetic procedures either. :(

If you were Suralan I reckon you'd go with Leah. Ethics aside (and I do have massive issues with this field of cosmetic enhancement) she told Clod she was staring at GBP180 profit on each jab.

Tidy.

I have friends who have done exactly what Leah has done. During their FY years (I would guess she's finishing F2 in August which leaves her qualified as a junior doctor but unspecialised) they did a weekend of learning to do Botox. They now do home visits in the evenings for fillers etc. Profitable little sideline.

Just been googling Luisa's husband. Oliver Zissman. Founded Total Fitness FFS!!!

Russians, that makes sense, thanks. I did mean 'aesthetic medicine' rather than surgery, though it makes me want to do a million air quotes.

It still sits oddly with me, though, for someone to devote so much time and energy to medical training, make it all the way through, and then give it all up for this dubious cosmetic nonsense. I don't idealise doctors, who are humans like the rest of us, but there's something a bit depressing about the idea of someone treating trauma patients in A and E, while her mind is on how to make massive money out of Botox and facial peels.

I used to roll my eyes at Luisa's continual emphasis on people going on about her looks meaning they didn't take her seriously, but now it seems Leah is equally obsessed with her own admittedly pretty looks. The bit about lying about her dress size is a depressingly bimboid thing to say. Grr.

Arabella, I get it totally as a sideline, but I imagine people usually do it beside their substantial medical work, rather than quit to do it...?

I wonder whether she can't get the specialism she wants, or something? Back when I knew medical students, I seem to remember dermatology was very popular and difficult to get into.

I found it all rather intense and gripping! Weirdly, the only truly emotional moment was the ex-footballer talking about his father. The post-interview silence spoke volumes.

Am disappointed with the two final viable businesses, the questionable morality of botox clinics OTOH and the personality of Luisa (clever but cunning - maybe you have to be) OTOH. So don't care too much who wins now.

I don't understand what is wrong with someone who has trained in a "caring" profession wanting to make money. Why is it ok for neck beard to peddle his bereavement as evidence of his integrity but not ok for a doc to profit from her training?

I don't think the UK reimburses the Indian government for the training costs of all the doctors who come here.

I wouldn't have these treatments done anyway, but for anyone who does, I hope the £180 profit per jab makes them think. It is profiteering from people's insecurity in a big way.

I was also surprised that no-one picked up Leah's willingness to immediately reel off a list of all the 'enhancements' she could perform on her interviewer. That would seem a bit off putting - I was expecting at least a perfunctory 'Well, it's what the individual is comfortable with but if you really wanted it, I would suggest maybe...' I agree with Shrugged that they have all seemed in awe of her status as a doctor and have not been as analytical and critical about her and her plans as they could have been.

Yeah, doctors in general train hard, work hard, and care about people. But they're not all saints, and they don't work for free. And they're allowed to be ambitious for monetary success as well. I think Leah's idea is better than the Botox parties which have been around for a while now. Has she pencilled Lord S in for some complimentary work?

What is Luisa proposing that's different from, say, Lakeland?

TSS although perhaps not the most sensible thing to say on national telly. Watch the prices tumble now. They will.

Luisa positively revels in other people's discomfort, doesn't she? BOF said. I noticed that too.

Sugar being left with dancing, cupcakes and botox as Popple said, also makes it less interesting for me, but no doubt I will tune in for the final ....

chub If we leave aside the fact that many people don't think it's OK for neck beard to peddle his bereavement - and I'm one of them - the difference is, the tax payer paid for a massive chunk of Leah's training. The tax payer has apparently given very little to neck beard (I don't think he went to uni, for example). Also, while estate agents are of dubious status ethics wise they are infinitely preferable to people peddling snake oil and pushing others to look like ridiculous barbie dolls.

Chub don't you mean the other way round? Lots of Indian doctors train in the UK and return to practise in India so the Indian govt should reimburse the UK, not the reverse!

ARealDame Yes, she enjoys saying how terrible everything is and then getting people to agree, or bringing them down. Not an appealing trait.