what were your opinions on last years female candidates?

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  • george.millmangeorge.millman Posts: 8,628
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    I agree with everything you've said... Rebecca's firing is actually probably up there with Miriam and Liz actually I think.

    You can add Shazia there!

    There have been numerous ridiculously unfair firings over the years, but I don't think that any of them have ever quite reached the heights of Miriam level again.
  • george.millmangeorge.millman Posts: 8,628
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    Thought I'd re-open this so we can talk about this year's girls, and how they compared the previous years'.

    Here are my thoughts (in alphabetical order):

    Bianca - I'm honestly surprised that she's still there, but in all fairness to her she seems to be a fairly solid performer. I don't think she will win as the edit has focussed more on her mistakes and she doesn't appear to have had any really shining moments (which doesn't mean there have been none, but they've been left out or glossed over). My opinion of her is a lot higher than it was a few weeks ago though, and she seems like a genuinely nice person.

    Ella Jade - She was my original favourite to win, and I was disappointed that she went so early. She didn't do that well on that task, but I thought her impressive previous performance should have earned her another chance, especially as regardless of what Lord Sugar might think, that task had very few similarities to her business plan. From her background, accent and manner of speaking, she was apparently from quite a privileged upbringing, and I think she was possibly a victim of culture prejudice unfortunately.

    Jemma - I liked her, think that she could have gone further and probably would have done had she not been in the 20-candidate gimmick series.

    Katie - Was one of my favourites to win, but I can understand the reasons for her being fired, though I do not fully agree with them. Personally I think she seems quite pleasant, although not shy of turning against people in the boardroom.

    Lauren - Another one who didn't get far enough. I found it hard to make up my mind about her, and would have liked to at least see how she fared as Project Manager.

    Lindsay - Bit off more than she could chew, and was out of her depth.

    Nurun - I really liked her personally, but she was never going to win, just because she wasn't really the type that Lord Sugar looks for. Outside of the process, she seems to be extremely successful professionally and personally (she works numerous jobs, is a mum to a few children and is also a carer for her elderly parents) and I'm sure she'll do well in her own way, but she and Lord Sugar were never going to be compatible. She wasn't quite cut-throat enough.

    Pamela - I found her hard to warm to. In fairness she seemed to get on with the other candidates and had the knack to carry a team, but her actual decisions didn't seem great. Her Relationship Guru game was appalling. On a more positive note, she seemed lovely on You're Fired!

    Roisin - I really like her, and I think she has a good chance of winning if her business plan is any good. Having said that, a concern that I do have about her is that being Irish, blonde and tenaciously quiet and competent, she is possibly a bit too similar to last year's Leah to be awarded the win. There are often people cast who have similarities to previous winners, but they don't usually go on to win themselves.

    Sarah - I honestly think there is a case for Sarah to be considered the weakest candidate of all time. In the past, appalling performers have tended to go out on the one and only task that they have been appalling on, which is what they are remembered for. Those that don't usually at least get the saving grace of an episode or two where they are barely seen at all. I struggle to remember a candidate who was so consistently shown to be a poor performer on every single task as Sarah was. Even in her least prominent episode (Task 2) she was specifically singled out by Karren in the boardroom for not doing very much. This could just be the edit, but then again it might not be. She is one of the few candidates who I thought came across on You're Fired! as being pretty much the same as they did in the programme.

    Other people's thoughts?
  • Cats_EyesCats_Eyes Posts: 20,291
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    Why particularly the female ones - I am just curious ?

    Plus last year is History.

    So, more to the point what about the current ones - and the male ones - for a bit of balance.
  • george.millmangeorge.millman Posts: 8,628
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    Cats_Eyes wrote: »
    Why particularly the female ones - I am just curious ?

    Plus last year is History.

    So, more to the point what about the current ones - and the male ones - for a bit of balance.

    I think it's because Tom, the original poster, thought that the 2012 female candidates were particularly weak - I personally disagree, as I thought that Jade, Gabrielle, Jenna and Katie all had a lot going for them, and possibly a couple of the others did as well. But anyway, that's what the thread was set up for. Then last year it was bumped to compare the women from Series 9 with the women in Series 8, so I thought people may be interested in discussing the women from this year as well, as they were for the past two years. But if someone wanted to set up a thread with discussion on the male candidates, from this series or from past years, I would of course take part in it.
  • Cats_EyesCats_Eyes Posts: 20,291
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    I think it's because Tom, the original poster, thought that the 2012 female candidates were particularly weak - I personally disagree, as I thought that Jade, Gabrielle, Jenna and Katie all had a lot going for them, and possibly a couple of the others did as well. But anyway, that's what the thread was set up for. Then last year it was bumped to compare the women from Series 9 with the women in Series 8, so I thought people may be interested in discussing the women from this year as well, as they were for the past two years. But if someone wanted to set up a thread with discussion on the male candidates, from this series or from past years, I would of course take part in it.

    I have to say that, from a personal point of view, I have always thought that in almost all the series - the females come across better in general and the women who have won deserved their win far more than some of the male winners but, as I said, that is just my own opinion.
  • hownwbrowncowhownwbrowncow Posts: 6,188
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    Ok I think I'll do this:

    Bianca - I think she is very reasonable and quite creative. I also thought she was a pretty good PM, and has done some pretty good pitches. However, those two errors in the middle of the series were pretty bad, particularly the Week 6 one. However, everyone makes mistakes. I think she is quite strong.

    Ella Jade - I thought she was quite creative, good at sales and good at pitching in the first 3 eps. However in Week 4 she was a pretty bad manager and let them run with a terrible idea. She was strong in the first three weeks, but had to take a lot of responsibilty for the failure of her team in Week 4. I am sure we've had candidates like her in the past, who are good until they are PM, and spontaneously combust when they are.
  • george.millmangeorge.millman Posts: 8,628
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    Cats_Eyes wrote: »
    I have to say that, from a personal point of view, I have always thought that in almost all the series - the females come across better in general and the women who have won deserved their win far more than some of the male winners but, as I said, that is just my own opinion.

    I don't necessarily agree with that, but I have opinions on who I think should have won each of the series, and in most instances that person happens to be a woman. I think I have about three men out of twelve.
  • george.millmangeorge.millman Posts: 8,628
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    Ok I think I'll do this:

    Bianca - I think she is very reasonable and quite creative. I also thought she was a pretty good PM, and has done some pretty good pitches. However, those two errors in the middle of the series were pretty bad, particularly the Week 6 one. However, everyone makes mistakes. I think she is quite strong.

    Ella Jade - I thought she was quite creative, good at sales and good at pitching in the first 3 eps. However in Week 4 she was a pretty bad manager and let them run with a terrible idea. She was strong in the first three weeks, but had to take a lot of responsibilty for the failure of her team in Week 4. I am sure we've had candidates like her in the past, who are good until they are PM, and spontaneously combust when they are.

    What about the others?
  • hownwbrowncowhownwbrowncow Posts: 6,188
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    What about the others?

    I'll do them now:

    Jemma - I really liked Jemma as a person. However she simply didn't contribute enough. I don't think she sold anything on Week 1, and in Week 2 she didn't lead any of the pitches, nor did she have much creative input, if any. In Week 3, we don't really know. Week 4 she came up with the name, and in Week 5 she did those terrible tours. LS had no choice but to get rid of her at that point.

    Katie - I think she was a good PM, and quite good at sales at negotiation, but she hasn't displayed much creativity. I also don't like her as a person - she thew many under the bus - Sarah, Daniel, Lauren spring to mind.

    Lauren - I really wish we'd seen Lauren as a PM. I think she could have gone further, and Week 7 was one of those occasions, were no one really deserved to get fired. Although she came across well, I do struggle to remember any moments when she shined bar leading the tours.

    Lindsay - Just didn't do anything. LS had no choice but to let her go in Week 3.

    Nurun - I quite liked her as a person, but she wasn't a very good manager in Week 2. Her team came up with a bad product, and she had little authority and fluffed a pitch. She truggled to sell in Week 3 where she should have excelled and I do think it was right for Lord Sugar to fire her in Week 3.

    Pamela - Very negative. She was always bitching, particularly about Daniel. She was very UTR in Weeks 1-3. In Week 4 she was a good director. In Week 5 all she did was undermine Daniel. In Week 6 she was a pretty poor manager - that product was dire! :o

    Roisin - Strongest female I think. She was a good sub-team leader in Week 1 bar the money issue. In Week 3 she was a good manager bar the lack of pricing structure. In Week 4 she was very good in those videos. In Week 6 she came up with winning product GeoKnow and sold well, and sold well also in Week 8. In Week 9 she was a good negotiatior. In Week 10, she was good on branding, as well as leading good pitches.

    Sarah - Really bad, but brilliantly entertaining! She will go down as one of the most memorable candidates of all-time! She was so deluded about her management in Week 1.
  • george.millmangeorge.millman Posts: 8,628
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    I'll do them now:

    Jemma - I really liked Jemma as a person. However she simply didn't contribute enough. I don't think she sold anything on Week 1, and in Week 2 she didn't lead any of the pitches, nor did she have much creative input, if any. In Week 3, we don't really know. Week 4 she came up with the name, and in Week 5 she did those terrible tours. LS had no choice but to get rid of her at that point.

    Katie - I think she was a good PM, and quite good at sales at negotiation, but she hasn't displayed much creativity. I also don't like her as a person - she thew many under the bus - Sarah, Daniel, Lauren spring to mind.

    Lauren - I really wish we'd seen Lauren as a PM. I think she could have gone further, and Week 7 was one of those occasions, were no one really deserved to get fired. Although she came across well, I do struggle to remember any moments when she shined bar leading the tours.

    Lindsay - Just didn't do anything. LS had no choice but to let her go in Week 3.

    Nurun - I quite liked her as a person, but she wasn't a very good manager in Week 2. Her team came up with a bad product, and she had little authority and fluffed a pitch. She truggled to sell in Week 3 where she should have excelled and I do think it was right for Lord Sugar to fire her in Week 3.

    Pamela - Very negative. She was always bitching, particularly about Daniel. She was very UTR in Weeks 1-3. In Week 4 she was a good director. In Week 5 all she did was undermine Daniel. In Week 6 she was a pretty poor manager - that product was dire! :o

    Roisin - Strongest female I think. She was a good sub-team leader in Week 1 bar the money issue. In Week 3 she was a good manager bar the lack of pricing structure. In Week 4 she was very good in those videos. In Week 6 she came up with winning product GeoKnow and sold well, and sold well also in Week 8. In Week 9 she was a good negotiatior. In Week 10, she was good on branding, as well as leading good pitches.

    Sarah - Really bad, but brilliantly entertaining! She will go down as one of the most memorable candidates of all-time! She was so deluded about her management in Week 1.

    Do you agree with my idea that Sarah was arguably the weakest candidate of all time? I don't remember anyone else consistently performing so poorly before. Other memorably poor candidates usually were memorable for messing up one specific task which they were fired at the end of, had the odd moment of good selling or something or at the very least had an episode that they scarcely appeared in. Sarah had nothing like that, she was shown to be a bad performer every single week until she was fired.

    I also think one thing that makes Sarah such an awesome character is that she had a very calm and professional demeanour. She was articulate, could string a sentence together well without stumbling and when I first saw her in the opening boardroom (I hadn't watched any of the audition videos) I thought she had a chance of being a decent contender on this series. That was soon shattered, of course! I have known someone who is quite similar to Sarah actually - talks very well and comes across as quite confident and together, but underneath it all is completely hopeless.
  • djfunnymandjfunnyman Posts: 12,518
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    I disagree (though it has been a while since I watched it.) Azhar's strongest weeks (Weeks 2 and 5) he still arguably did badly on. When he was Project Manager, like with Noorul and Melissa before him, and Stephen and Andrew after him, they won in spite of his leadership, not because of it, and he was heavily criticised during the treat. Duane was more responsible for the win. As for Week 5, they won by a sheer fluke. Everyone thought that the other team should have won, and Azhar's video was much worse than Laura's.

    I thought that in the first six weeks, while Adam was pretty bad and did a terrible job as PM, he still had enthusiasm and tried to get involved with doing constructive things, which in my opinion put him ahead of Azhar - though only marginally, I agree. If I had been Lord Sugar, I would have fired Azhar over Adam and Katie, or done a double firing and got rid of both of them, but there is no way I'd let Azhar get past that week.

    If nobody's said so already, Daniel in this series also fits into that category

    I need to rewatch series 8. From what I remember, Phoneix got very lucky in Week 5 and I think Azhar should have been fired if they lost. A lot of the criticism of Jade is uncalled for, Jade and Gabrielle were the only particularly good female candidates that series if I recall correctly

    The last two series's have had very equal men and women candidates. In series 7 the men were poor while the women were very strong, and series 8 was the complete opposite
  • george.millmangeorge.millman Posts: 8,628
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    djfunnyman wrote: »
    If nobody's said so already, Daniel in this series also fits into that category

    I need to rewatch series 8. From what I remember, Phoneix got very lucky in Week 5 and I think Azhar should have been fired if they lost. A lot of the criticism of Jade is uncalled for, Jade and Gabrielle were the only particularly good female candidates that series if I recall correctly

    The last two series's have had very equal men and women candidates. In series 7 the men were poor while the women were very strong, and series 8 was the complete opposite

    Jade is, in my opinion, one of the most underrated candidates of all time. She had one very poor week - the first time she was Project Manager - and came close to being fired on that occasion, but on every other task she was one of the strongest candidates. I don't understand why people remember one weak task over and above ten strong ones.

    Of course, in the early weeks she wasn't featured that much in the edit, just as can be said for many candidates, but she was still a decent performer, every task bar one.
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