YOU’RE FIRED
No Sugar-coated exit for Felipe
A businessman’s dream of partnering Lord Alan Sugar came to an abrupt end thanks to a skeleton made of paper.
Felipe Alviar-Baquero, who founded Tiny Town children’s play area in Larkfield, was told “you’re fired” on Wednesday night’s episode of The Apprentice.
But he told the KM he will roll up his sleeves and deal with the grubbier tasks of running an indoor play centre.
The task was to negotiate the best price on a series of unusual items – one of which was an anatomical skeleton.
Desperate to spend as little as possible, Felipe found a shop selling a flatpack model for around £14. After assurances from the seller that it met Lord Sugar’s description of “fully anatomical”, the purchase was made.
In the boardroom, Lord Sugar accused Felipe’s team, Tenacity, of “having a laugh”, adding it “wasn’t a skeleton”. He fined them £310, handing victory to the Summit team, sparking a huge Twitter reaction in the Colombian’s favour.
Lord Sugar told him: “This was a kind of attempt to prove to me a tactical piece of genius, but you made too much of an error in trying to be a smart person.”
Referring to Felipe’s profession as a lawyer, he said: “Judge Sugar said it failed, the Supreme Court Judge Sugar said it failed. You’re fired.”
Felipe said: “I still maintain it met all the specifications. The description never said what materials it has to be made of. It was a risky strategy and you never know how he is going to react.”
Had he got further in the BBC1 show he would have outlined his business idea of running a chain of play centres on a community basis, providing a safe venue for those with disabilities.
During the week Felipe’s legal career sees him negotiate international project finance for banks and governments, usually for infrastructure schemes.
But at weekends he rolls his sleeves up at Tiny Town.
He said: “If a child is sick on me, I clean it up. If a toilet needs unblocking. And that is how I want to lead by example. It is a family business and it is dear to my heart. We built it from nothing.” He also claimed people now stop him and ask: “What is Felipe thinking?” based on his fondness for talking about himself in the third person.