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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

to think the Apprentice must be extremely edited this year- Suggs' decisions seem frankly bizarre

68 replies

MrsBenadrylCrumplesnork · 18/12/2014 13:51

Just that really, I know there is already an Apprentice fred but I just needed to unleash the wrath before we all moved on to the final. Is it me or must Sugar and Nick and even lovely Karen have been watching something completely different to me? Some of their decisions and comments seem nonsensical. I mean the whole Daniel thing boggles my mind... He seems a deluded, ridiculous, irritating, misogynistic- I could go on! And yet he was given chance after chance after chance after chance? DS and DD think Alan sees a good hard working Jewish boy like himself and so pushed him through. The fact that he was fired after Roisin (sp?)infuriates me like nothing else.
Does anyone else feel the same? AIBU? I just feel like it must have been hugely edited, this series more than the previous ones, because the decisions dont seem to make sense. I need closure! And if anyone knows what Roisin is doing now, I need to know she's doing alright even though she was robbed Xmas Angry

OP posts:
KidLorneRoll · 18/12/2014 13:53

The whole show is stage managed almost to the point of being scripted and always has been. It's entertaining, but it's not in any way real.

GotToBeInItToWinIt · 18/12/2014 13:55

Yeah I know what you mean, seems worse this year than previous years. I can only imagine he's already gone through the business plans to decide which ones are viable and everything else is engineered around that. They haven't even edited it to make it look like the decisions make sense though! It's infuriating.

Suddengeekgirl · 18/12/2014 13:55

I felt bad for Katie Blush she appeared to have done nothing wrong but was fired because Sir Alun didn't like her business plan. Seems like a waste of her time TBH. Confused

spence82 · 18/12/2014 14:05

I don't like the change to the format, it was much better when the prize was a job working for sugar.

Roisin wasn't robbed though, her idea wasn't good enough. I think/hope bianca wins. Mark is a prick and there are so many company's already doing his idea

Topseyt · 18/12/2014 14:29

Very stage-managed, the whole thing. I understand that the boardroom is a mock-up rather than a real one too.

I think that Sugar knows more or less from the start who he wants to go into business with and why. It is just strung out because it makes good drama for TV. I think that is why some of the decisions seem so strange and to go against the grain of what any normal person would think.

There have been some very memorable characters over the years. Katie Hopkins for example. They were controversial amongst the public and the other candidates at the time (and KH still is), and I think that was the reason they were kept in it until near the end. It drew the viewers and helped with TV ratings. Surely that is what it is all about.

arethereanyleftatall · 18/12/2014 14:33

Beanca and rosin both wanted to take something fairly unique to mass market, with no manufacturing experience and yet this was all they focused on fir roisin and it wasn't mentioned for Beanca...?!?

allmycats · 18/12/2014 14:39

Apparently Bianca has already had a start up company which was in the
'top 100' small business start ups.
Roisin was fired IMO because as an accountant she should have been aware that the money would run out so very quickly, making her cash flow plan a work of fiction (as are most cash flow plans IMO) - she also claimed that her USP ingredient was unique o her recipe when it was already being used by another company.
Daniel I think was kept in to argue with Mark and the other guy, he seemed totally unaware of business practice.

lornathewizzard · 18/12/2014 14:45

one of Roisin's big mistake was claiming the ingredient was unique when it wasn't. Made her look like an eejit.

SoonToBeMrsB · 18/12/2014 14:46

I love Bianca, I think she's great. I can't stop staring at Mark's giant head, and his hair that seems to be thicker than carpet and starts about an inch above his eyebrows Angry

MissPenelopeLumawoo2 · 18/12/2014 14:46

I don't watch the apprentice so when I read your title I thought Suggs from Madness had joined the panel...Confused

lornathewizzard · 18/12/2014 14:46

Plus describing her product as virtually calorie and carbohydrate free made it sound horrendous to me!

JennyBlueWren · 18/12/2014 14:48

The problem is that it's not about becoming Suralan's apprentice anymore, it's about him investing in their business -so it becomes more Dragons' Den. Roisin would have made a great apprentice but her business idea was so flawed. He'd be better to start off by looking at their business plans, picking them apart and then deciding who to put through the trials.

ghostyslovesheep · 18/12/2014 14:52

I'd really like it if Suggs was in it though Grin

spence82 · 18/12/2014 14:54

Jenny I totally agree. I think if the prize was still a job at one of sugars firms shed have walked it

spence82 · 18/12/2014 15:02

She'd *

ClashCityRocker · 18/12/2014 15:02

What's the first sign of madness?

Suggs coming up your drive Grin

Sorry.

But yes, I agree. Out of the two left, I think the bloke will win because suralans businesses seem to be in computers and his will fit in with that.
I just have to keep repeating to myself 'it's only a tv show...it's only a tv show...' all the way through it.

Also, I think accountants tend to get a rough ride on the show. Alright, Roisin ballsed up the cash flow, but in general I would thought an accountant would have a good nose for the figures.

The lack of planning by the candidates seems appalling though - market research that consists of asking six people and their friends and families, not having any figures - plus, given that they know full well their cvs would be checked and double checked, why would you lie on it? Surely you would make sure the whole submission was tighter than a ducks arse?

PlumpingUpPartridge · 18/12/2014 15:03

I've tried those Konjac noodles (Roisin's competitor) and they are HORRIBLE. I mean I am basically a human dustbin and even I couldn't force them down!

I also think that any self-respecting tight company would just watch this and start, y'know, making true-to-life skin-colour tights with their already-established factories and shit. I mean, they would, right?

Ergo, it has to be Mark who wins.

ClashCityRocker · 18/12/2014 15:03

And I can't believe Roisin would make a low-carb product without coming across Dukan...she can't have done a great deal of research in general.

Apatite1 · 18/12/2014 15:45

Roisin was not robbed. Her business plan was utter shit: unrealistic, overreaching, unoriginal, very poorly market researched (6 person focus group??), and as an accountant, she should have known better that the money would be gone in no time, and you can't start up a global business on that much credit. No ones going to give it to you. Bianca to win!

Nomama · 18/12/2014 15:50

But, but, but....

Roisin did loads of market research. She asked 6 people and ALL of her family.

Bianca at least had found out which factories already make tights and could be approached to make hers... and wasn't going to go global on day 1, or run out of money of day month 2.

Mark? No, you can even do the SEO stuff yourself. Far too much competition and he's bound to stuff up the big launch speech anyway!

Nomama · 18/12/2014 15:50

But, but, but....

Roisin did loads of market research. She asked 6 strangers and ALL of her family.

Bianca at least had found out which factories already make tights and could be approached to make hers... and wasn't going to go global on day 1, or run out of money of day month 2.

Mark? No, you can even do the SEO stuff yourself. Far too much competition and he's bound to stuff up the big launch speech anyway!

Nomama · 18/12/2014 15:51

Ooh! That was clever... how did I do that?

TooExtraImmatureCheddar · 18/12/2014 16:00

I am still raging about the paper skeleton decision. It was as much a fucking skeleton as the plastic one the other team got, and it's not as though Alan Sugar actually wanted it for a reason. If he'd said go get me a skeleton for some v important real business reason which means I need a skeleton meeting these criteria and then they came back with a paper one, then yes, fire them. But when it is only on the list in the first place to look difficult and all the things the teams buy are going straight in the bin, with possibly the sole exception of the diamonds, then who fucking cares what it's made of?

And the bint sitting behind the reception desk whose sole purpose is to say 'Lord Sugar will see you now' in a sexy voice gives me the rage. Not at her - at Sir Alan/the BBC for casting women in such crappy roles.

ClashCityRocker · 18/12/2014 16:05

Yes, when I saw what they were doing, I thought he would either go one way or the other - it would either be the most inspired business decision ever, or he'd chuck it.

All the tasks are so contrived and have so little to do with actually running a business that I don't think they give a clear impression of who will or won't make a good business partner....and surely as Roisin proved, you can be a really strong candidate and then have a business plan that's a load of shoite, which makes the process a bit pointless really.

Still compulsive viewing though.

Dipankrispaneven · 18/12/2014 16:06

I think the whole thing is annoyingly inconsistent. We've had perfectly good candidates being fired when they've done nothing wrong purely because their business plan was no good: so why accept them for the programme in the first place if they were doomed from the start and wasting their time? Yet we were told last night that Solomon's business plan was appalling, so why did he last until the semi final?

It's particularly cruel in relation to someone like Roisin who left a perfectly good job to pursue her business idea which again they seemed to be saying was hopeless for Sugar; she may have done that anyway, but they've made her waste several weeks when she could have got on with pursuing her plans through other means.

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