# Apprentice UK 2011



## micmclo (30 Jun 2011)

We have no Apprentice thread though we had one for the last season where well deserved abuse and ridicule was thrown at Stuart Baggs and his field of ponies

Anyone watching? Got a favorite?

Zero to hero Helen. Invisible the first five weeks and now a star, 1.6 million and over 200k in sales last two weeks. Does the job without the bitching. A personal assistant like Stella last year.
Hero to zero Jim. The man talks such waffle and tries to charm he'll be an MLA for Tyrone. He also likes to argue, he'll be First Minister in Stormont in no time.
Do you like Natasha yeah? What do you think yeah? She is doing ok yeah. 
Poor Susie, she's smart and seems to grasp the concept of the task quickly but seems to get shouted down
As does Michael Sheen double Tom. 
Or do you like ruthless Melody who lied about market research two weeks in a row and would walk over you while cutting your throat 

Anyone watching?
Well this site and Brendan does have a business angle.


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## Sunny (30 Jun 2011)

I thought the role play during the pitch last night was straight out the David Brent school of business. How on earth could anyone think that was a good idea!

It's good entertainment but I think the editing of the show has a lot to do with that.


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## Shawady (30 Jun 2011)

Yeah, the role play last night was weird. How could anyone experienced in pitching use that approach.

I thought one of the earlier tasks when they had to apply beauty products to customers was good. The scene when Jim was called up to massage a guy was class - He had this deranged look on his face when he came into the room.

It's good entertainment but the prize is also great for a young entrepreneur.


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## Sunny (30 Jun 2011)

Shawady said:


> It's good entertainment but the prize is also great for a young entrepreneur.


 
Not sure. It's like when someone wins the X-factor and wins a £1m recording contract and everyones goes wow. 9 out of 10 of them are dumped by the label after 6mths. I have a feeling that this could be similar. £250k of seed capital is great but I can't imagine Alan Sugar losing sleep if the project doesn't go anywhere. He probably gets a multiple of that for doing the Apprentice.


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## Vanilla (30 Jun 2011)

Love Helen, hate Natascha.


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## Mpsox (30 Jun 2011)

Personally, if I was Sugar, I'd take Tom to come up with the idea and Helen to bring them to fruition. She seems this year's sensible candidate, although it'll be interesting to see what comes out of the woodwork at the interview stage. Melody's voice does my head in, it can't be natural.

I enjoy Daire O'Brian's show afterwards on BBC 2, given the serious amount of BS that comes out from the candidates, nice to see someone really taken the mickey out of them.


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## micmclo (30 Jun 2011)

I'd love to see Melody do the interviews

See if she can back up her claims that she worked and trained with Al Gore, Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama


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## Shawady (30 Jun 2011)

The interviews are usually good. It will be intersting to see what their business ideas are.

Speaking of TV shows this week, has anyone been watching that show on channel 4, Four Rooms? It's like a cross between Dragons Den and the Antique Roadshow.


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## Sunny (30 Jun 2011)

Shawady said:


> Speaking of TV shows this week, has anyone been watching that show on channel 4, Four Rooms? It's like a cross between Dragons Den and the Antique Roadshow.


 
Yeah, it is a great idea. I love when the greed takes over!


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## liaconn (30 Jun 2011)

I am delighted that Zoe is finally gone. She is a nasty piece of work.
I think Susan is a brilliant business woman but seemed to get off on the wrong foot with some of the other candidates who now dismiss everything she says. Sir Alan seems to be impressed though and effectively warned Zoe last night not to bring her into the boardroom

Does anyone else thing the 'You're Fired' programme has been really dumbed down? The candidates have all got a makeover and have obviously been trained by PR experts on what to say. It's just not the same anymore.


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## RMCF (30 Jun 2011)

This show stopped being a serious competition after the 1st couple of series, where the candidates actually appeared relatively smart.

I do genuinely believe that they are now picked for entertainment reasons, and the editing of course helps make them all look stupid/bitchy/arrogant etc.

Nearing its sell-by date methinks.


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## Shawady (18 Jul 2011)

I find the programme entertaining but have to say what was the point this year.
I suspected halfway throught that Tom had some sort of invention that AS wanted to get his hands on. He did not perform well in many of the tasks. Helen on the other hand did well throughout the show but had a poor business plan.
The whole show seemed long winded if it was going to come down to the business plans at the end of the day.


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## Sunny (18 Jul 2011)

Shawady said:


> I find the programme entertaining but have to say what was the point this year.
> I suspected halfway throught that Tom had some sort of invention that AS wanted to get his hands on. He did not perform well in many of the tasks. Helen on the other hand did well throughout the show but had a poor business plan.
> The whole show seemed long winded if it was going to come down to the business plans at the end of the day.


 
Yeah it was obvious that Alan Sugar wanted the nail file business that he had already set up and managed to get in to Walmart.


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## micmclo (18 Jul 2011)

So what was the point of the series?

The person who wins a miserable three tasks beats a great winner and who sold around 240k worth of sales in Paris and 1.6 million of biscuits to Asda

You could have held these interviews in Week 1 and be done with it

I prefer the old finale and it was always good to see the old contestants back to help out.


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## Shawady (18 Jul 2011)

These were my thoughts also.
The business plans themselves were pretty disappointing. I've seen better ideas on Dragons Den and they find out if they get an investment pretty quickly.
In the end, it sounded like AS was not even going to pursue the chair idea but was going to get Tom to go back to the nail file thing.


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## liaconn (18 Jul 2011)

Very lack lustre final episode. I think Susan had the most entrepreneurial spirit and would like her to have won. I never really took to Helen for some reason, but thought it unfair that she lost out because they didn't like her business plan but Tom won even though AS chucked his business plan and went with an earlier idea.


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## micmclo (18 Jul 2011)

The best Apprentice didn't win, the best Dragons Den contestant won


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## Marion (18 Jul 2011)

I watched Dara O Briain's programme afterwards and AS said that he would be interested in getting some form of business going with Susan because it seemed to complement Tom's ideas.

Marion


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