Biography: Philip Taylor

Philip Taylor, aged 29, was born and bred in County Durham. His highest qualification is a NEBS certificate in Management, and he bravely states his occupation as estate agent (others would have glided over the unpopular profession and put down "salesman"). It appears he worked for Robinsons estate agents, a family run chain of estate agents in the North East with 17 offices. A smiling Philip still features on their website.

Though the first show of the fifth series hasn't aired yet, Philip Taylor has already made the headlines. The Daily Mirror reports that he and fellow contestant Kate Walsh, 27, had a romance, which "continued long after filming had finished". A friend of his commented that "Phillip is a classic ladies' man. He's as smooth as glass with a nice North East brogue. If he hadn't got hold of Kate, he'd have pounced on one of the others."

Interestingly, he describes himself as "nice guy who people can relate to” which means he puts a premium on charm rather than on back stabbing. It will be interesting to see how far he progresses in the series. Though Sir Alan is pugnacious himself, some of the winners of the show have been charming sales people. However, Sir Alan doesn't like what he calls "funny business" - romances in the workplace - and if there is even the slightest suggestion that Philip is using his romance with Kate to get ahead, his chances will disappear.

The other bit of "interest" about Philip is that he nearly died as a toddler, when his brother bondled him with the washing and put him in the tumble dryer. His mother, not realising he was in there, started the dryer. She then realised he was missing and frantically searched the house before discovering him an hour later in the tumble dryer. he was bruised but still alive.

Update 1st April 2009: Though Philip is supposed to be a great salesman he hasn't covered himself in glory in the first two episodes. In episode 1, he negotiated to clean interiors of cars as well as exteriors, against the wishes of his team leader, and nearly cost them the task as the cars took forever to do. In episode two when negotiating to win a catering contract, he failed to ask the client what their budget was and simply slashed prices and ended up sealing the deal for a knockdown price (too low, and it cost the boys the task). But interestingly he did  not get asked into the boardroom. He may survive this series simply because he gives off an air of competance and is never made to account for his mistakes. 

Update: 8th April 2009: Philip did well in the third episode, coming up with the winning idea for gym equipment. More importantly Sir Alan thought that Philip's team had won because of his idea - which means that Philip has been noticed in a good way.

Update 22nd April 2009 Philip got hauled into the boardroom in episode five for steamrolling his team into the daft idea of trying to sell cereal with the idea of "pants" (the underwear). He only survived being sacked because of his good performance in previous weeks. The other news about Philip is that his romance with kate Walsh seems to be back on. They had split up after the series finished filming, but they are now seeing each other again, he has met her parents and is thinking of moving south to be with her.

Update 5th May 2009 According to fellow contestant Noorul Choudhury, Philip made passes at fellow contestants Debra Barr and Paula Jones, as well as a female producer, before finally striking it lucky with Kate!

Update 6th May 2009 Philip got sacked in episode seven! He had a lorn-sick episode where he was paired with Kate and didn't achieve anything and didn't perform that well in the boardroom defending himself (and tellingly, Kate didn't defend him either).