Apprentice night!!!

[BaroqinAroundTheChristmasTree]

who's joining me tonight???

i find stuart adorable.

Laura has had her teeth done? Anyone else notice on you've been fired?

celtic - I know what you mean. Have to say after today (and last week a bit too) I'm coming round to him. He is profoundly annoying in his business bigging himself up speak but he's not really offensive/nasty iykwim.

Stuart is a walking disaster, arrogant and oblivious of other people. A bull in a china shop. No way will Sir Alan make the mistake of employing him

i give you... simon, lord of the trampette.

Jamie is the best of the remaining contenders

The interviews stage is always good - that really weeds 'em out.

yes interview stage is very revealing

i think stella came out stronger than expected - the boardroom isn't her forte.

remember last year kate was v strong contender then basically got fucked as 'too good to be true' by that interview stage? very unfair crit, i thought. (although her ch5 career disappointing since...)

i wonder. i think she's getting a hard time because she's competition and isn't interested in having fun along the way particularly.

Stella & Jo make a good team though - and JO is very strong on selling/buying even if a bit single-track on creative tasks.

Onestepforward

ChippingIn Wed 01-Dec-10 22:11:06
She looks so different tonight - other than her colour, what do you think it is? It seems to be her jaw/teeth?

I think the others don't like Stella because she comes across as a bit cold, officious, corporate and wooden.

agree there claig. You need some personality really as well don't you. I mean imagine working with someone who was shit hot at their job, and dead serious about it.......but never lightened up when out of the office.

yes, there are so many factors involved, and teh main one is people skills. I don't think that Stuart has them and that will be his downfall. I think the person with the best people skills left is Jamie. He is also good at sales and business and can lead because he gets on with people. In contrast, Stuart's leadership was disastrous, because he couldn't get the team on his side, because he doesn't care enough about other's opinions and feelings.

"The boys should have had a HUGE fine for not getting everything!"

They did it was £511 half of their expenses.

Am also coming round to Stuart a bit. didn't like Liz taking it out of the boardroom and doing the 'bully stare' on Stella. Agree with whoever said she's trying to get the boys on side.

Jo is from DHs home town (Melton Mowbray) where she has become a local heroine (well, not much happens there ). We went to school with her older sister. I don't know if she's still in though as they keep the candidates hidden no matter what apparently.

claig Stuart was a disaster as pM though - his team won it for him (Jo in a sales task - unstoppable! Stella ran a smooth back room too.)

agre EdgarAllenSnow, Stuart was a disaster as PM, because he doesn't care much about other people, he is too arrogant. Jo was very good in that sales task, and Stella was good and methodical in the back room. However, I don't think that Stella will win, because she doesn't have that business acumen that Sir Alan wants. That is the reason he got rid of Christpher Farrell. Farrell got on well with everybody and worked hard, but he didn't have that extra spark of business genius. I think Stella is similar. She is a good team leader and can handle people well and is very methodical, but already others think she is cold and corporate and she didn't have the business skills of negotiation, unlike Laura, she was afraid of appearing rude to clients and accepted whatever price a client suggested.

I have caught up on iplayer with last week's Hamburg episode, and I was impressed by Stuart's confidence and intelligence in trying to speak German to the clients. This showed very good people understanding, confidence and business skills. But I still think he has so many other gaps in his people management skills that he will make too many enemies and that will be his downfall.

agree.

i thought his attitude in the speaking German task was great.

Stella works for a Japanese bank - that's pretty impressive. the japanese firm my bro worked for has already fired his replacement (he left two months ago) and was extremely misogynist - she must never make a mistake...

I really want Stella to win, I think she's been the most consistently good so far.

That was really childish of Liz, and so far she's barely stood out.

Next weeks challenge looks like it'll be interesting, are we going to see a fight??

I thought Liz was a bit too perfect to be true...now we have seen her true colours. Watch out Stella, it'll be Night of the Long Knives if you ever end up in the same board-room again.

Gets us girls a bad name, that kind of thing