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Episode Ten: It’s good to talk, but even better to know when to shut up!

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Melody put herself forward for the Project Manager role and tempted fate by stating, ‘It’s my time to take responsibility’. Jumping on Helen’s strategy to sell direct to the retailers, Melody failed to secure as many deals as she’d have liked, leaving her wondering, ‘How much of a good idea this is’.

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Episode Nine: Melody’s digestive drama

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Packed off to the biscuit development factory in Swansea, Melody’s first biscuit idea was a mix of corn flakes, marshmallow and dough, rolled together and sealed with a prod of the thumb. Pitching the idea as ‘Biscuits - the new pop corn’ Melody confidently gushed, ‘I think there’s a gap in the market for that’... Melody’s biscuit popcorn, or ‘Pop Scuit’, as it was lovingly named by Tom, didn’t go down well with the focus group, but when the idea of a heart, half coated in chocolate that could be shared was raised, the crowd went wild.Ìý

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Episode Eight: Grrr, tiger…

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Melody is the proud master of several languages, French being one of them, so it looked like all of her Christmases had come at once when she was posted on the Eurostar and told to do market research in Paris. Project Manager Tom told Melody to look into the brand of the major shopping outlet that they were to pitch to in order to see if the children’s car seat would be beneficial. Melody had her own ideas and headed onto the streets of Paris with Leon and his sketch of a flying teapot. During the session she deduced, ‘It’s becoming more evident that people use the metro, even families', and she advised against the car seat. She then went on to sit in traffic for hours while she attempted to get to from A to B.

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Episode Seven: Melody’s naked ambition…

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Melody seemed a little unsure of the lads’ magazine idea at first and of Natasha’s ability to manage it. Smiling through gritted teeth she remarked, ‘Recruiting a lads’ mag?’ However, it wasn’t long before Melody forgot her previous gripes and joined forces with Natasha, although Natasha’s idea that they both appear in the lads’ magazine was thrown out with a flat, ‘Let me stop you right there’.Ìý

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Episode Six: Talking trash…

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Episode Five: The pound signs…

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Based on team Venture, with Project Manager Vincent at the helm, Melody showed a slight concern when the decision to go with the brand, ‘Every Dog’ was pitched, but left the main role of objecting to Tom. Triumphantly mixing the ingredients for her dog food, she looked pleased with the result, saying, ‘We’ve made a dog’s dinner out of it’.

Melody was asked by Vincent to handle the pitch to the advertising executives, a decision that was met with much support from the other team members. She handled the pitch with total confidence, saying to Vincent, ‘It’s a pitch, it’s 20 minutes at the end of the day.’ However, she couldn’t help a teasing dig at how many times he’d been on the losing team when she joked, ‘Let’s hope we win - first one for you’.Ìý

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Episode Four: Cosmetic PurgatoryÌý

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Having lived in Birmingham, Melody knew the locations of both shopping centres very well. She advised her teamÌýLogic to go with the central location of The Bullring, despite the treatment room being three floors away from the sales stand. When Tom queried her advice she brushed off his concerns, telling him ‘it’ll be fine’.Ìý

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Episode Three: The greenhouse effect

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Melody first showed her disapproval of Gavin’s project management skills when the team spent three hours in the hotel trying to find leads. Attemping to hurry things along with a ‘Let’s go, let’s get moving’, she was met with a ‘…but go where?’ from Gavin.Ìý

Tasked with finding a top hat and a cloche, it was the latter of these two items that caused confusion. There was some discussion as to whether the mysterious catering cloche could actually be another word for a greenhouse, but Melody threw this idea out, saying that there were no dimensions included in the list, so it couldn’t be.Ìý

After a wild-goose chase to a dry cleaners and a brief tussle with Gavin over the greenhouse cloche, Melody worried that Gavin was getting too stressed and stated, ‘it’s just not good enough’. And it seemed she wasn’t the only one to have doubts. Gavin was fired and Melody escaped the boardroom for another week.Ìý
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Episode Two: Purrr-fect pitch

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After the product Ampi-App had been selected, Melody wasted no time at all in getting into the studio and recording various annoying sounds to populate it with, amongst her strongest were ‘the cat’ and the ‘whatever’. With her starring role in the making of the App under her belt, Melody went on to lead the sub-team in pitching to three groups of online professionals, but admitted herself ‘the pitch is only as good as the product’.

When Helen suggested Melody as the person most suited to lead the presentation at the gaming fair, Edna said she had looked at ‘strengths and weaknesses’ but had decided to do it herself. After winning only one of the pitches, albeit the major online magazine, Melody raised her doubts about the product once again, this time in the boardroom and admitted she wasn’t completely behind it.

However, the girls won the task and Melody added a meal to her growing list of treats given by Lord Sugar.

Melody was on winning team Venture.
App Downloads after 6 hours: just under 1000
Total downloads after 24 hrs: 10667

Episode One: Melody hits a high note…

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After claiming she was mentored by Al Gore and taught personally by the Dalai Lama, it was perhaps no surprise that Melody’s suggestion of Venture as the team name was instantly accepted by the other girls. Elected as Project Manager, Melody set about organising the manufacturing of fresh fruit pots and ‘healthy pasta’.

Splitting the team in two she headed up the buying of the fruit and the sales of the pots at Canary Wharf. A brief disaster was averted when she realised that the decision not to invest the whole of Lord Sugar’s money had left the team with not enough stock to meet demand. Instead, she headed back to the pasta team to help them with their sales.

In the boardroom she was praised by Felicity for her leadership skills and with a winning sales figure on the fruit pots she led her team to victory. She even enjoyed a toast in her honour, made by herself, of course.

Melody was on the winning team Venture. Their total profit was £592.

About Melody

Born in Iran, Melody lived in three different countries before settling in the UK. Melody who speaks five languages, helped set up a renowned UK youth organisation at the age of 13 and has won the ‘Woman of the Future’ award for her voluntary work. Global Youth Sector EntrepreneurÌýMelody has previously worked with 12 Nobel Peace Prize winners including Desmond Tutu, Dalai Lama, Shirin Ebadi and was trained on climate change by Al Gore.

Check back for weekly updates on Melody during the series ...
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