The Apprentice - is every series like this?

[acrossthegardens]

This is the first series I've ever watched and every week it's not really a case of which team was better, just which was the least shit.

They are terrible?! Every week they are terrible? These can't be the best candidates available they seem clueless?! Is this a particularly bad series or is it always like this? I've not been impressed once

Amazingly the best talent we have in this country is a size 6-8 with hideously large lips. Having said that I still love watching it 🤦‍♀️ 😂.

I wonder why Reece left? He seemed different from the rest, a bit older and already had a successful business that wasn't a sweet shop.

I've been pretty upset at the fact they have taken 2 really socially awkward men in the past two seasons and then fired them.

I wonder why Reece left? He seemed different from the rest, a bit older and already had a successful business that wasn't a sweet shop.

It was all over the news - Reece kind of 'fired himself'. They have a strict no-alcohol rule all the time whilst they're in the process, but he got himself quite 'refreshed' on the plane over to Dubai and was sent straight back home. I think they deliberately glossed over it on the show.

My favourite from last season was the shopping channel one.

Oh, yes, that was marvellous - they so need to repeat that challenge! Everybody knows that the presenters tend to make it up as they go along be a little economical with the facts on those channels, but it was still so painful (in a good way!) Remember when they declared that something was definitely suitable for vegans and then they had to quickly 'clarify' that it was meat central?!

Though they drink on the 'treats'.

bah hahaha that’s how memorable they are!!

i didn’t even notice 😆

Though they drink on the 'treats'.

Yes, I suppose they do. Must just be whilst they're 'on the clock' for the tasks, then. Plus, it probably makes a bit of difference if they have a sip or the whole keg!

On the back of this thread I re-watched James and the trampoline on the shopping channel earlier. I'll try and find a link.

I am still watching but I can't really get interested in any of the candidates this time. I liked poor Joe, who seemed more genuine than most, but he got fired on a whim.

The formula has become tedious- why can't they let them contact their sub team more often? Why does the production team have to work without liaising with the marketing team etc. Why have the task finding 10 weird items using luck only, when any normal person would Google them easily in real life? After all it's only about two team competing with each other- it would be fine for them both to do a good job and one to win.

It's all based on trying to humiliate the candidates so we can laugh at them. And now the candidates are no longer notable or interesting, there's nothing much to care about. The clothes the women wear are absurd - too tight, too flash, too bright. Nowadays people dress more for comfort and practicality. Note they are given casual wear for a lot of the actual tasks.

And I'm totally distracted by the fact all the women seem to have lip filler and look like plastic dummies this year. You can't tell their personalities apart.

It all went downhill once Margaret left - she was clever and had an amazing ability to sum things up in a dry one liner. She never made it about her either whereas Karen is always going on about "as a woman in business I ...."

😂😂😂😂

The old format was better. But now I wonder what the point in the tasks is..

Also the biggest flaw in the show , that I only just thought about is the business plans. All the candidates hand in their business plans at the very beginning. So what if the person with the best business plan got voted out and Lord Sugar never had a chance to actually see it ?

The only business plans we see now are when the candidates get to the finals. But what if they’re all really and ideas?

So what the point in doing 12 weeks of tasks if it boils down to a business plan?

DH and I joke that Margaret is behind the glass partition of the boardroom with her Casio keyboard playing the incidental music 😁

I agree about the tasks where they're just putting too much into it now. Previously you'd get only one or two episodes where they would have to pitch, where the big pitches in the final felt like big deals because they hadn't done much of it for the tasks.

But now, every other week seems to involve a corporate pitch and I hate the way they force them to dress up for them sometimes! The costumes usually have virtually nothing to do with what they're pitching, it's so obvious it's just an excuse to make the candidates look awful.

As for the women... I hate their collection of bodycon dresses and who in their right mind would wear teetering heels when you just know some of these tasks they're on their feet all day? I agree that the women who've left early in in the process the past few series have been the ones who don't follow this bodycon/swishy hair/lip filler line.

Every week there are things that frustrate me about the tasks or what they're allowed to do/not do. I was the owner of a teeny tiny small business for a couple of years and what they do bears no relation to anything I did in that time. It all just feels too fake and too prescriptive now.

I can well-imagine that Alan Sugar sees their business plans long before the end. He fires who he wants because he's got a plan in mind for his final two, I reckon. There's no way he'd risk having to give his money to one of two (or even five) awful business ideas.

😂😂
This is brilliant. Thank you for sharing.

How different is that form of fly on the wall reality to what we have today? It really did just let things run without interference or comment.

Kevin was not blessed with co-ordination was he?

Purely for entertainment now. and due to the ridiculous lack of communication or technology not very entertaining. The tasks are ridiculous, identical candidates. I found previous series more enjoyable when it was for a job.

As for the women... I hate their collection of bodycon dresses and who in their right mind would wear teetering heels when you just know some of these tasks they're on their feet all day?
Anyone remember The Badger? An interesting, clever woman with character. Margaret was similar.

Yes, Ruth! She always wore trouser suits and fairly flat shoes, if I remember. Yet still memorable. I struggle to remember the names of the current lot from week to week.

Solomon (reasonable and fairly likeable candidate from a few years ago) business plan and interview with Claude was one of the best things I've ever seen!!

I know a family friend who was a contestant years ago. It's all the producers. They edit things deliberately to make them look like twerps. Yes, they probably also select contestants who will be entertaining. They edited one scene he was in and it made it look like he couldn't do basic arithmetic. This is a very smart highly educated guy. They also set up failures. For example Team A got a taxi to the place where they had to sell food in the street to passers by. Team B taxi didn't show up, they finally arrive two hours later in the afternoon when people have already eaten. Total set up

Oft, that was harsh!

I oscillate between asking, "Why have you done that to your face?" and shouting at them for being so stupid.

*How different is that form of fly on the wall reality to what we have today? It really did just let things run without interference or comment.

Kevin was not blessed with co-ordination was he?*

Glad you enjoyed it! Don't think Kevin was going to be the next Colin Bell, although that natty little jerkin might yet have caught the eye of the Rodeo at C&A sponsorship team. It's the combination of dreadful skiing, wonderful Welsh accents and 1980s bouffant hair.

Yes, makes you realise quite how low we've sunk on the reality tv front. It's not that far removed from soft porn at times. I'm no prude but reality tv contestants shouldn't have to be half-naked and practically having sex on the camera.

As for the Apprentice, Joe was one of my finalists. There's barely four vaguely plausible contestants left now. Can't wait for Claude, the lady with the blond hair and the man that looks like George Osborne to start the interrogations.

I can't remember his name now, but one of the interviewers who did a few series years ago, dapper chap, grey hair and goatee. Looked friendly, but absolutely savaged fhe contestants. I liked him.