Apprentice....worst series ever?

[raltheraffe]

It may be just me but I think the standard of the candidates has been by far the lowest in the whole 10 years. Soloman, Roisin and the Machiavellian Mark seem quite good, but the others act like total prats.

What is worse, Felipe, a credible candidate was fired by LS for no apparent reason!

[lanbro]

I enjoy them all being taken down a peg or two, the arrogance is astounding! Not sure how some of them even make it on, entertainment factor I imagine. As with any long running series, the type of person it attracts changes ad time goes on. Enjoying it even so!

[Whowouldfardelsbear]

What wound me up was firing Katie because her business wasn't suitable for his investment. What a load of crap. Surely that is exactly the sort of thing that the people selecting the candidates look for before even putting them forward.

I do realise that like all reality TV this is edited and scripted to fit the producers' remit, but even so . . .I thought she was by far one of the better all-rounders.

[ThatCandyDontCrushItself]

Agreed. This season sucked!

That said...I still wouldn't miss an episode

[lanbro]

I think Bianca could be the dark horse, starting to value her input. Glad Sanjay went, Daniel is amusing, Mark is up his own arse but like Roisin and Solomon

[lanbro]

And totally agree that at this stage their business idea is the worst reason to be fired!

[raltheraffe]

I cannot believe anyone would even apply for it. As a small business owner people say I should go on it. No chance! Not only do they film tasks one after the other so you have to survive on 3 hours sleep, they edit the footage to make candidates look as stupid as possible. Why would ANYONE apply? Beats me.

I still miss Sarah, she should have been kept in just for comedy value. Loved the way she was sniffy with Dara on YF when he joked around with her.

[Icimoi]

I think one of the problems this year is that the tasks have been very samey: essentially it's think up a product - whether it's puddings, tourist trips, soft drinks or whatever - put together some sort of packaging/marketing bumf, maybe put together an ad for it, and try to sell it to the public or pitch it to retailers and businesses. It's all totally artificial, because we all know that the reality is that you'd never start or run a business that way, the pitches to retailers are obviously false because you never see the products in the shops, and the sales to the public are heavily driven by the fact that there are a load of cameras around and Nick or Karen lurking in the background. Oh, and the candidates never pay attention to market research.

The other thing is that they're so aggressive. Previously they generally at least tried to work as a team until they lost, this time round they seem desperate to start stabbing each other in the back before the tasks even start.

[Icimoi]

And yes, the whole skeleton thing was ridiculous. It came over as Sugar being petulant because he'd been outsmarted, and the penalties they levied bore no relationship to the price of the goods in question but just happened to take Felipe's team to just over the total paid out by the other team.

Yes also to the excuse of using people's business ideas as a reason for chucking them out. I really hope that if they ever do another series they vet the business plans properly so that if they are impractical the candidate either isn't taken on or is told to think again; and in any event they need to tell Sugar that he is never to use that as a reason ever again.

[Panzee]

I think the business plan idea is flawed in this format for this very reason.

[Chennai]

I agree about the business plan thing. The problem (or one of them!) with the programme concept is that it's no longer a job interview but vying to be a business partner. Surely Sugar or the production team will have chosen the favoured business idea from the start if they have any sense. The rest is just filler.

It seems to me that people are chosen so they'll make good telly rather than for any business acumen. That's reasonable up to a point - it's entertainment after all - but the whole thing feels so fixed and the editing so obviously a set-up that it's stopped being interesting.

I'm with Felipe on the skeleton. That pack makes a 3-D paper skeleton and I don't see that a paper skeleton is any less valid than a plastic one. Sugar looked really stupid in the boardroom edit.

[raltheraffe]

Icimoi that is exactly how I saw it. LS was outsmarted by someone and threw his toys out the pram.