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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

AIBU in not believing that The Apprentice 4am wake up call telling them to be ready in 30 minutes……

121 replies

MrsMagenta · 27/01/2022 21:10

Is true?

Really!

They all look so immaculate and you’re not telling me that it only take them 30 minutes to achieve this, both sexes!

Lighthearted, no deep and meaningful debate Grin

If anyone has any insider info this would be interesting to add to the thread!

OP posts:
DrSbaitso · 28/01/2022 19:59

Doesn't he describe something as being the worst failure ever at least twice in every series?

It's not supposed to be a serious test of business acumen to find the best possible business partner. It's a TV game show with creative tasks set around a business theme. It's designed to make good TV, that's all. And it succeeds!

Blossomtoes · 28/01/2022 20:03

Like the posters saying high heels and bright bodycon dresses aren't fashionable. If they're all wearing them, they're fashionable.

If they all wore wimples would that make them fashionable? I agree the clothes make them look as if they’re preserved in the aspic of the turn of the century.

DrSbaitso · 28/01/2022 20:05

If they all wore wimples would that make them fashionable?

Yes. That's how fashion works.

Blossomtoes · 28/01/2022 20:10

@DrSbaitso

If they all wore wimples would that make them fashionable?

Yes. That's how fashion works.

But there are only six or eight of them! You don’t see random women in the street dressed like that. For something to be fashionable it has to be ubiquitous.
DrSbaitso · 28/01/2022 20:19

But there are only six or eight of them! You don’t see random women in the street dressed like that. For something to be fashionable it has to be ubiquitous.

And they are. They're not hard to find and they are an aesthetic. Not everyone likes them but if almost all the women on a high profile business themed programme are opting for the same aesthetic, it's a fashion within a particular circle. Just like ripped fishnets and candy coloured hair and DMs are also fashionable in other circles.

People are saying they're outdated but the women didn't dress like that in the early series. The fashion has changed, most likely to be distinguished as different from how it used to be.

It doesn't have to be the exact same aesthetic that you'll see in Aldi or your own modest, low key workplace. But those women aren't conferring before the show about co-ordinating their outfits. They're all choosing to dress like that because it's in style in their particular circle/subculture/whatever you want to call it. And it'll influence viewers too.

It's fashion. And personally, while I don't think it's very practical, I do think it looks great. I like the aesthetic.

Catlover77 · 28/01/2022 20:30

Bodycon dresses are not fashionable in the business world. It is very strange that most of them are not wearing trouser suits or trousers and smart/expensive blouse combo

Hoolihan · 28/01/2022 20:41

I work in the City and NO-ONE dresses like that!

winesolveseverything · 28/01/2022 20:46

@Shopaholic100

Does anyone know how they fit everything into those small cabin bags? Or do they have a huge suitcase with the rest of their belongings? I need a bigger bag when I go away for a weekend!

When they leave, they only take overnight things in the small cabin sized bag. They stay in a hotel for the night and return to the house the following day to collect the rest of their belongings (when everyone else is out on the next task).

I also read that they spend 2 days on the task, then the 3rd day is spent filming the boardroom scenes. These are obviously heavily edited to cut them down to the right time. The candidates in the winning teams get more of a break as they don't have to attend the boardroom day.
The entire show is filmed over a period of about 3 weeks.

If you do some googling of apprentice secrets, there are other little interesting facts which I can't remember just now!!
Love this show but definitely agree that is engineered for pure entertainment now!

Bagamoyo1 · 28/01/2022 20:48

@HelloFrostyMorning

Yep, it's obviously a load of crap, but it's all farcical pantomime. I haven't been watching it and I didn't watch it last year, because it's all staged and fake, and has the same ridiculous arseholes as contestants. I loathe the show now.

It needs to die and be buried at the bottom of the Atlantic, and it can take that awful Masked Singer AND Masked Dancer with it, and also Strictly Come Dancing. Strictly is a pile of steaming horseshit now. Boring as fuck, and dragged out soooooo much every week. Even Dancing On ice is quite dull now.

You seem very angry about TV!
DrSbaitso · 28/01/2022 20:50

What's "the business world"? There are lots of different businesses.

Blossomtoes · 28/01/2022 20:52

@Hoolihan

I work in the City and NO-ONE dresses like that!
Quite and that’s presumably what they’re aspiring to.
Bagamoyo1 · 28/01/2022 20:52

@DePfeffoff

When Sugar said last night that it was the worst failure ever, he wasn't right, was he? I'm sure he's had some when it's not just a question of not making money, they actually managed to lose it.
Yes I remember an ex army bloke who was the PM when they had to sell tradition English food in France. He bought really cheap fake cheddar cheese and budget sausages, which he tried to cook is tins with a tea-light. He lost money.
DrSbaitso · 28/01/2022 20:57

@Hoolihan

I work in the City and NO-ONE dresses like that!
I don't think any of them work in the City either? Their businesses are pretty wide ranging. I wouldn't have thought many people in the City would be able to take the necessary time off.

Still, when clusters of young women with some sort of shared "culture", for want of a better word, consistently go for the same aesthetic...that's fashion. One might not like it, or see it dahn the pub, but it's a fashion.

Karren Brady seems to opt for a slightly more mature and sophisticated version of it, although I've been assuming she has professional stylists to dress her for the show. She looks great too.

RobotValkyrie · 28/01/2022 21:21

Do the contestants actually pick their own clothes, or are their clothes picked for them?
TV shows like the Apprentice look very manufactured. Contestants seem to have been hand-picked for maximum drama, so I wouldn't be surprised if they were requested to go for a particular look as well. It all seems extremely fake.

Justkeeppedaling · 28/01/2022 21:23

I think the the tasks are silly. Sending them to catch fish and then fillet and prepare the fish to sell when none of them have done that before, or expecting them to develop a new product, do market research AFTER they've made the product, creating an advertising campaign and pitching to prospective buyers all over a few days is ridiculous.

WeBuiltThisBuffetOnSausageRoll · 28/01/2022 21:24

I never understood why the call receiver tells the others. Surely if it's a competition, you put the phone down quietly, go and get ready and don't tell anyone what's happening

That only works when you're down to the final few, though, surely? Before then, you have to co-operate and work professionally with the others in your team in a co-dependent synergy.

It's only once you lose and get sent back into the boardroom that you have to tear your beloved fellow team members to shreds to get them fired and save your own bottom.

Having said that, though, I suppose it could work in the early stages, before Alan has mixed up the teams. One of the girls/boys could wake the others in their same-sex bedroom and leave the others to oversleep.

Blossomtoes · 28/01/2022 21:24

It’s pretty obvious that they’re all dressed by a stylist.

londonrach · 28/01/2022 21:26

Time scale for getting ready is fine. Its easy. Do it daily...I like sleep. But think the whole thing made up anyway

MorganKitten · 28/01/2022 21:27

A lot of it is staged, the receptionist is an actress, the call times are fixed, Sir Alan get the gags fed to him and the walk out to the taxi is filmed at the start of the season and edited in when they leave.

Blossomtoes · 28/01/2022 21:30

I’m sure I read that the boardroom is on an industrial estate somewhere in Essex.

deste · 28/01/2022 21:53

Last nights task were ridiculous. You can't just fillet a fish if you have never done it before. They are set up to fail. I honestly cringe watching them.

Porfre · 28/01/2022 21:53

I love it.

Really missed it last year when it wasnt on

Fairylightsongs · 28/01/2022 22:00

@Fearnecuptea

We saw an episode recently only as we were watching something else and iPlayer randonly started playing apprentice once it has finished.

That program is hilarious. Like, absolute belly laugh hilarious. I was not expecting that.

The contestants are all ridiculous. The zoom in on frowning facial expressions, really gross OTT egos, no-one with even a smidge of self awareness, charm or warmth. The clothes (90's powersuits). "Men vs woman" teams. Crap ideas. Alan Sugars dad jokes.

Kindof think im hooked now.

Oh.cmon now, it might be many things, but belly laugh hilarious it is not, and If you find it so then you’re rather unique and stand alone.
Elaine2468 · 28/01/2022 22:02

I love them leaving in the taxis wrapped in their scarves.
Filmed in the middle of summer. Bright sunshine, shiny green trees and fields in the background. And best of all the other cars passing with windows down and drivers wearing vest tops in the heat.

DukeofEarlGrey · 28/01/2022 22:12

I think the block colour dresses and sky high heels have come full circle. They were fashionable in the City about 10-15 years ago; now there are a few women wearing them but when I see them I think, 'Oh, she's come dressed like a candidate off The Apprentice'.

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