Sara – Hard Sell
Posted on 17 May 2008 by Halima Khatun

Adrian Chiles, the presenter of The Apprentice - You’re Fired once said, ‘It happens every year… another brummie comes on, and I think they’ll make it to the end, but they never do.’ The same could be said for the Desi representatives on the high brow reality show.
Series one introduced the unstoppable (and unsilence-able) Saira Khan, the feisty, fearless corporate eagle who made it to the final. Saira’s since applied her business acumen to the commercial world of TV, proving she certainly knows where the money is.
Series two revealed Syed Ahmed, the Bengali boy who had selling power in spades. However, his Achilles heel was his argumentative nature, taking on Sir Alan in many boardroom showdowns. After being fired, Syed became more famous for his fling with Michelle Dewberry, the eventual Series winner.
Then who could forget Tre Azam, the quick-witted, street smart contestant in Series three. Tre won more tasks than any other contestant; however, he was fired in the penultimate week due to a few ‘tall tales’ on his CV. Many would argue that Tre should have been the Apprentice, as his commercial acumen far outweighed any flaws in his Curriculum Vitae. And when he met the InsideDesi team, Tre showed us another side to his hot-tempered TV persona, that of a laid-back family man.
So as this year’s Apprentice unfolded, I waited and watched to see who could top Tre’s one-liners and larger-than-life personality. But I have to say, as the weeks went by, and the contestants got bitchier, I was disappointed with the Desi talent on the show.
Shazia was out in week two, after being the victim of Jenny ‘the snake’s’ cunning game plan. There was little opportunity for her personality to shine through. So we were left with Sara Dhada, a 25-year-old International Car Trader/qualified barrister from Leicester.
At first, Sara showed fight. Numerous clips showed her slating other team members, (which is of course, the main reason for us tuning in). She even won a task as project manager, by bringing Bollywood to the traditional British pub. Sara did us proud by decking her team-mates out in traditional saris, and simultaneously made us cringe by hiring quite possibly the worst male dancer.
However, Sara’s winning streak seemed to run out of steam when she was made a scapegoat after the greeting card task. My heart went out to her when she was rather viciously bullied by an over-zealous Lee, but part of me thought, ’stand up for yourself woman!’ unfortunately, she morphed into submissive Sara, taking the verbal assault with quiet dignity, reminiscent of Shilpa Shetty in the Big Brother house.
Sara seemed to undergo various transformations during her time on The Apprentice. She went from feisty Sara, to subdued Sara. Her most recent guise was the one that cost her place in the rat-race - Sara hard-sell.
We all know that a good salesperson never takes no for an answer. However, hard selling doesn’t work in every situation, and a bridal show is a definite no-no. Sara’s incessant, pushy sales tactics made for almost uncomfortable viewing. Sure, she had a tough job selling £600 wedding cakes at the NEC, but a more softly-softly approach may have yielded a better result.
Sara’s approach ‘if you like the taste, then what’s the problem,’ didn’t go down too well with prospective brides, who seemed increasingly uneasy. It’s not like buying a packet of crisps, where if it tastes nice you might as well buy it. And with Sara’s inability to justify herself in the boardroom, the end was inevitable.
So another year, another Desi doesn’t get to be the Apprentice. Sir Alan did make the right decision; I just wish he’d sent Michael packing too.
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Tags : apprentice
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- UK AMAS 2008: The Results
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(3 votes. Average: 4.67 out of 5)
May 17th, 2008 at 7:53 pm
I thought Raef was Asian?
May 17th, 2008 at 10:26 pm
@Stretch,
I believe Raef is Anglo-Portuguese. From what I searchedonline, Raef’s mother is English and his father is Portuguese.
May 17th, 2008 at 11:08 pm
She wasnt good enough to win. Tre should have won last year. not that many good desi’s this year.
May 18th, 2008 at 1:22 am
She should have won. It’s the faults of the cakes. I think she may have copied the hard sell tactics from the guy she was paired with. It’s not her fault.
May 18th, 2008 at 7:16 pm
I personally feel sara has exceptional business skill. She’s proven herself on many tasks, but she just didnt stick up for herself, she let slime ball micheal blame her for his mistakes. However, i just wana see who they start picking on now.
May 18th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
I think Sara possibly lost her emotional confidence after she realized there were major personality clashes between her and her opponents.
It’s easier said then done (because we’ve all been in situations where the other person would look better with our hands around their necks) but she should have stood up for herself and reveled the Sara we all enjoyed watching in the earlier series.
I’ve also noticed a large majority of the people in the show are predominantly from a sales background, so imagine a cage full of over hungry lions, you’re going to have to expect casualties, so if you cant stand the heat, you know where you can go…..(the kitchen sweetheart, the kitchen)!.
I’m rooting for Raef Bjayou, I think that guy is amazingly talented and has all the characteristics and balls needed to take on “SIRALAN” head on!
May 18th, 2008 at 7:36 pm
I forgot to mention, I liked the build in the article, very well thought out
: )
May 18th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
sarah, didnt really have anything that made her stood out, other then being the fittest girl in there.
May 18th, 2008 at 10:39 pm
I doubt it Sara could have won, but i dont think she deserved 2 go out this week. Micheal should have gone out last week tho, with all da ‘kosher’ bizniz (being Jewish he shud have known wot kosher woz) also, hes got away on more then one occasion. He defo shud go out nxt week or dat Helene woman who woz totally ‘lost’ this week!
May 18th, 2008 at 10:47 pm
Sara did not have the winner spark.There is no clear winner at the moment. Stick Tre back in there, liven it all up! hahaha
May 25th, 2008 at 10:45 pm
SO beautiful.
May 31st, 2008 at 9:53 pm
she was a lamb 2 the slaughter
she never had enough in her 2 win
she was too quiet even whn she did manage 2 voice her opinion she was overlooked
her sales pitch was terrible, u wud nt buy anythin frm her
the cakes were nt the ideal thing 2 sell bt tht was a group idea
overall…….Sara?…….pretty face but thts about it
instantly 4gtable!
November 13th, 2008 at 3:05 am
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