On the third week of The Apprentice the contestants gave to me

[dillite]

A se-e-xism maaa-ster-claaaaasss

I can't believe they thought Tommy the turtle would appeal to six-to-eight-year-olds, though. I don't have children and know nothing about the modern toy market, but even I could see Tommy was far too infantile - children of that age are adept with i-pads nowadays!

They're so clearly set up to fail now, when the first opportunity to consult a focus group is when the product has been made so it's too late

I think the producers do this so that when the feedback is not good it causes arguments which makes for good telly.

It's like Bake Off. As much as I love it, they shave off the time allowed to make massive baking masterpieces in order to create tension and angst.

They all seem very young.

Inexperienced. Ignorant (in the nicest way). Not used to working in a professional environment. Overconfident of themselves and their abilities (and opinions). Selfish and self-centred.

How would they know - or even care - what an 8 year old would like? Bloody rainbow unicorn crap!

What fucks me off about the start of Apprentice is they show you an advert of the competition with people still clearly in later challenges. So I knew Lottie wouldn't be going because she appeared in the VT on board a train/carriage. I prefer to live in the hope she'll be going without proof that she won't

Lottie is arrogent and inexperienced, but she does have a modicum of sense and is at least better than a passenger or just a critic when trying to cut through a runaway bad idea.

The first few weeks are always a bit of a bloodbath until some of the more ridiculous characters are fired or subdued with dire warnings in the boardroom. I can see Lottie getting a roasting and a chance at some point and having the sense to follow through on it. Thomas is going to get a roasting too... not sure how flexible he'll be to adjusting his manner... I can't see Ryan-Mark changing in a hurry though, and I haven't seen much business sense yet 🙈

One of my sila is having to deal with some serious family crap at the moment, and I realised that I am being her Tommy the Turtle. I’m sending her messages telling her how brave and brilliant she is, and letting her rant down at the phone at me, occasionally saying short, encouraging, motivational things.....

I dislike tom allen more and more his camp over enunciation is excruciating.

They're so clearly set up to fail now, when the first opportunity to consult a focus group is when the product has been made so it's too late

Yes, I agree, I'm sure in previous years they've done the focus group BEFORE making the product?

What I'd love to watch one rainy Saturday is a compilation of the best ever episodes of The Apprentice.
Say the top 10 since the show started back when I was at university.
I really hope they do that one day.

What I'd love to watch one rainy Saturday is a compilation of the best ever episodes of The Apprentice.

My sister had some TV box thing that had all the old series on, a couple of years ago. I persuaded her to let me watch the whole of series 4 one Sunday. Raef! Bliss!

I reckon Thomas will win. Suralan will see himself in Thomas, and will give him a chance. I think I like him the best out of all the candidates anyway.

Pmk

Agree with PP's in that I think the producers have decided to completely jettison even any pretence to seriousness wrt business nous now. Have they made that clear to all the participants though?

www.mumsnet.com/Talk/telly_addicts/3725295-There-are-9-billion-bicycles-in-the-world-But-The-Apprentice-cant-sell-even-1 tonight's thread

Anyone watching today?
Granted there were a few rtricky things but ffs between 6 of them none of them knew when WW1 started, and no one knew what a mortar board was...REALLY????

And one lot were told Toad was a distillery, but managed to ignore that information altogether.

I wouldn’t trust this lot to manage their way out of a paper bag!

And shouldn't the one who ignored the Toad suggestion and carry on regardless be one of the ones who were brought back?

And I am loving the scenes between Thomas and lottie. She clearly had her merits that others don't, but Thomas is clearly the stronger negotiator even though she may not agree with his methods. She sees herself as far superior to him because of her education / class but I think 'lord sugar' would go for someone like him over her (or her male equivalent.. what's he called? The super posh one on the other team... no endearing qualities . Michael McIntyre dude)

Ryan-Mark, @Lemonsaretheonlyfruit.

I agree with you about Lottie and Thomas - her horror when he gambled £10 on the price of the punt pole was hilarious - I can't help feeling she'd have been just as snooty about it if he'd won the coin toss and saved them a tenner! And even I know that there is an element of gambling in business - but Lottie needed Suralan to point it out to her.

If any of the candidates really were business people, they'd be running successful businesses, not taking part in a reality TV show, doing ridiculous tasks.