Over the next twelve weeks, I shall be giving my two cents worth on the show and the candidates. Reply if you want - it's just a bit of fun.


Week 1:

Didn't think the boys would win judging by how they never moved beyond the 30 cars they landed at the start (and only washed 18). The Howard vs Philip angle turned out to be a red herring, but Philip turned out to be a bit of a prat. His accent hides a lot of the rubbish he mutters, such as:

Howard: At what point did you decide to clean the interiors?
(A few voices are shouting out over each other, amidst which Philip can be heard)
Philip: Err... err... it was a good auction. You do what you could.

Even funnier was Rocky's remark which was heard:

Rocky: The lad's (the car lot manager) like Adolf Hitler. He's a bit picky.

The girls were a shambles and no-one really stepped up with a good performance. Debra was lucky not to get fired. Mona was VERY lucky not to get fired. Sugar was really, really harsh on Anita as the one thing he blamed her for (the spending of too much money) he could have blamed them all for. That said, Anita did come across a bit dopey and I don't think anyone saw her as someone who could win it. Best to put her out of her (evident) misery early on.
Debra actually seems like a capable girl, but for some reason she has a need to become overly agressive and nasty which won't win her many fans. I don't think Mona will be too popular a candidate over the series either.


Apprentice Table:

Howard: Not a stunning performance, but he never panicked and made the right decision to abandon his shoe-shine stand to rescue the other sub-team, when he could have easily left them stranded.

Majid: Looks to be the joker of the group. Might not win it, but I think he could be there for a while.

Yasmina: More of a leader than Mona. Not that that is saying much.

Rocky: Wanted to get on with things, and shut Philip up early on, when Philip was about to let loose with his jokes in the car.

Lorraine: Had some sense to realise that her team had spent too much.

Paula: Didn't see enough of her.

Kimberley: Didn't see enough of her.

Ben: Didn't really do anything right or wrong.

James: His face and voice make him seem really thick. But apparently he's a child chess champion. And his Arthur Scargill line was actually quite funny.

Debra: During the task, she looked organised and willing. During the boardroom, we saw a glimpse of her nasty side.

Noorul: All we saw from him was that he was a bit up himself.

Mona: Her own sub team was organised and doing well, but let her other sub team sink and was happy to do so. Not a good performance.

Kate: Seemed quite chatty and critical - until Mona silenced her for not putting herself forward for leadership. Didn't seem as chatty after that.

Philip: A prat. Didn't like Howard taking charge and was concerned more about making him look stupid than helping the team.

A very good, balanced write up. I agree with most of your comments.

Do you think so? Could you explain to me why?

He said the three of them made £60 or £70 in an hour from shining shoes. They had 8 hours, so had a potential £480 from that. Their total was only £347. So it seemed to me that the shoes were more lucrutive than the cars, and Sir Alan seemed to agree. Part of the problem is that by switching to the cars, they lost at least half an hour travel time, plus more time figuring out what was going on and then they had another learning curve figuring out how to wash cars to the required standard.

He had a point that cleaning interiors took too long, and he did tell them in advance not to agree to that. However, by the time he found out they'd disobeyed him it was too late. His turning up in person didn't change it. It just meant they had all their eggs in one basket.

you're absolutely right, brangdon. i was thinking more along the lines of Howard not wanting to mess up the other sub-teams contract - if they only cleaned one car in about two hours, they were never gonna get all 30 done (even with all seven of them, they only got 18 done) - maybe Howard thought that they HAD to get all 30 or they weren't getting paid at all. I guess he overreacted a bit and should have guessed that the shoe shining would have made more money - but who's to say that business would not have slowed down, especially with people rushing for their trains - who's going to have time to get their shoes shined? i guess we'll never know.

Week 2:

Rocky, arguably the most successful canditate prior to the series, got the boot in week two and can count himself quite unlucky. Yes, he was in charge of what was described a mess and made a loss, but Sugar needs to sometimes look past mistakes (even big ones) and give people a second chance if they are otherwise capable. Obviously, if there is no-one else to fire, then there is little choice, but I'm sure there were more worthy candidates worthy of firing today. Rocky had shown courage and still tried his best to lead the team, while Philip and James showed nothing but negativity. And Nick Hewer confirmed what we all thought about Noorul - the guy does f*** all.

The task was totally and utterly doomed to fail after Philip's negotiation for the contract. Hearing that he needs to deal for around £60 a head, he opens negotiations at £65. His desperation then just dominates the air as he continues to drop the price further and further until it is at 25% of what it was supposed to be. All this without consulting his team-mates in the same room or his project manager. From a purely business sense, Philip lost the task for the whole team and then criticised almost every aspect of his team's venture.

James is just car crash TV. He is this year's Michael Sophocles. He hasn't shown one redeeming quality business-wise and looks to be a bit of a trouble-causer (albeit an unintentional one). I would like to see him as a team leader though, as he is going to come out of it either a genius or a disaster.


There still isn't a stand out favourite at this point. There are candidates I like, but not really for business reasons, although Yasmina did well in keeping profits as priority and leading her team well. That said, her speaking manner left a lot to be desired and she was incredibly stingy with the ingredients and the food.

Apprentice Table:

Howard: He reminds me a bit of Adam in series 3. Has done fairly well in both tasks in key roles, but you get the feeling that other candidates see him as a threat and will soon be undermining him.

Yasmina: Admirible leadership, but 'm not a fan of the way she does things.

Majid: We haven't been shown anything other than that he has a sense of humour.

Ben: Aside from slating James, not really been at the forefront.

Lorraine: Is seen and heard during tasks, then disappers without making an impact.

Paula: Another background character.

Kimberley: How many times can I say "we haven't really seen enough of this person to form an opinion"?

Mona: Didn't turn out to be the trouble-causer I thought she might be this week, but then I doubt anyone was going to argue with Yasmina today.

Debra: Not as central a character as last week.

James: Just a helpless man-child. Not a question of if but when he'll get fired.

Noorul: Not anything really apart from boardroom fodder.

Kate: Any time a blonde woman feels the need to say, "I'm not just a dumb blonde", you can rest assured that she is indeed a dumb blonde. Kate's pitch today showed two things: 1- Her mouth has more life than her brain, because 2 - her brain didn't compute what her mouth had said until five seconds later.

Philip: Demoted from prat to pillock. Just useless. If it wasn't for his ability to talk the talk, he'd probably be homeless.

Once again, you're comments are pretty spot on. I fear for Yasmina's restaurant now after this was televised. I mean, would anyone actually go there knowing they'll be lucky to get half a spoon of Asda basics sauce on their jacket potato?

Week 3:

This was perhaps one of the strangest weeks in Apprentice history. No-one came out of it looking fantastic, nor did anyone come out looking a prize-fool. And on top of that, I've found myself disagreeing to practically everything that was said about this week - from Alan Sugar's firing of Majid to pretty much everything said on You're Fired.
If this was the first time I had ever watched the Apprentice, I'd probably never watch it again.

Let's start with Ignite (aka mainly girls' team with Debra as PM).
Lorraine was given what is now The Apprentice poisoned chalice of 'The Pitcher'. We saw her go through her routine and despite no words of encouragement from her team (and most importantly PM Debra), she eventually pulled through. When quizzed in the boardroom, Philip heroically defended her. While I am glad someone did this, I have to say that Philip, nice guy he may have portrayed, has been far too shifty in the first two weeks for me to suddenly say today: "Hey, you know, I was wrong about that Philip!". Now, he might have been a victim of editing earlier, but I saw no good in the bloke in the first two weeks and it'll take me at least just as long to completely turn my opinion of him 180 degrees.
Paula has spent three weeks doing sod all now and a woman's attractiveness will eventually wear off unless there's a personality there too. Noorul did about 5% more today than previous weeks, but then he was at the centre of "Racegate" which is an entirely separate issue and you can read my thoughts here:

http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/forums/s...1#post31814401

If you skipped the link then essentially I found Yasmina to be thick, Mona making things worse and Debra as the one person who showed some common sense yet some people (Trevor Nelson for one) accusing her of having 'suspicious motives'. Yes, because standing up to something which could be seen as racist puts you on the PC brigade. It is "PC-gone-mad" gone mad.

As for Empire (mainly boys led by James 'Sophocles' McQuillan).

I agreed with Margaret that James was actually quite a decent project manager. He wasn't a control freak, he remained calm and trused his teammates. His only mistake was to misplace that trust. But generally, James was almost in his element as PM and I was partially wrong in my opinion last week that he was Sophocles Mk.II (but I was also about 20% right that his leadership skills made him look like genius. It would have been more had the team come up with a better idea.)

I am not sure about Ben. His enthusiasm steamrollered the team into believing his product's hype, but I would be a liar if said I wasn't also convinced that his product was better. In terms of what the product did, it offered more than Ignite's product, but aesthetically, it didn't look great and that is where the sales part of the task failed and ultimately where Ben failed. If I had hired someone to do what Ben did (conceive and design a product) and it was panned, I'd fire him. But then any one of the team could have stepped in with another idea, it wasn't totally down to Ben alone that he was responsible for making the product. Now what is up for debate is whether Ben's enthusiasm for his product demanded that they follow him or did the team all equally believe that this would be a success. Judging by what James and Howard said, then Ben was so pumped up about his product that all criticism was swept under the carpet.
Having said all that however, I'd still consider Ben's performance today as deserving of a non-firing, as he did do his all for the team.

Somewhere between Ben's over-enthusiasm and James reluctance to rein in said over-enthusiasm lies the reason for Empire's defeat and it is pretty hard to blame one of them over the other, especially as other aspects of both their contibutions were good.

So it was down to Howard, Kate, Maj and Kim and truthfully none of them were deserving of a firing either. Howard was blamed for not having other ideas - that was Ben's fault for putting the kibosh on any brainstorming once his own idea had been formed. Kate's pitching was once again less than spectacular - Ben was one of the other chief pitchers (complete with demonstrations) and Kim and Maj were there to support the design process - led by Ben

Okay, so everything here is all points back to Ben. But as much as I despise his arrogance and behaviour, I am still not comfortable in saying that he was the one who should have gone.

So who? Was Sugar right to fire Maj? Kim, Kate and Howard did equally little but as Maj said - you cannot be given a small role and be expected to shine. There is not enough room for everyone to be given a key role each week. Maj was unlucky and if he had fought his corner a bit, then who knows what would have happened?

If I was Sugar, I would not have fired anyone this week, but made Maj and Ben leaders next week. That would have been the only fair solution.

But it was a very tough one this week.


Apprentice Table:

Howard: He's at the top by default really. Doing the least wrong will get you far this year.

Lorraine: I like her. Don't think she'll win though.

Debra: Not completely my cup of tea, but she does make sense when she talks, even if she come across as rude.

Kimberley: Still not seen enough of her, but judging by next week's previews, I believe this will change.

James: Is probably just one more cock-up from getting fired, but he was not as bad as last week.

Paula: At the risk of seeming retarded unless she does something.

Ben: Was certainly at the forefront today, but didn't cover himself in glory.

Mona: Stated the whole "racegate" issue and then thought she ended it by being "okay with it" as if she was the resident racism-minister.

Yasmina: Shows more and more of her ugly side each week. I'd love to put her in her place.

Philip: Promoted from pillock back up to prat. Wasn't as sensational as claimed by some, but he at least improved on the last two weeks of utter toss.

Kate: An unusually quiet week for Old Side-Mouth. Still didn't help her team with her average pitch. But maybe that was more to do with the dodgy design of the product.

Noorul: Still an eagerly waiting piece of boardroom fodder. Contrast to Howard and Lorraine who like Noorul, have done nothing wrong, but if Noorul wins, I'll eat my keyboard.

Agreed with your comments about 'Ethnic Minority Sports Club'-gate, and agree with pretty much all you said here. Debra did a pretty good job, so did James. Ben mucked up, but stuck his neck on the line for the task. Ben and Maj were the most vocal about ignoring James advice of 'keeping it simple', therefore Maj was marginally more to blame than Howard, Kate & Kim. Maj hasn't done much on any task so was no great loss, but perhaps a little unlucky.

Week 4:

I really enjoyed this week's task. It was an interesting challenge that you never knew who would come out on top of with some of the peripheral figures finally getting a look in.
I think we can now see most of the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates. These next few weeks are usually the best part of The Apprentice.

Ignite had arguably the stronger team and a good leader in Paula who actually turned out to be one of the better PM's in organising and motivating the team. They had a good product, sold well and in the right areas and looked a happy team. However, that one error meant that they were doomed to fail. I have to say that this raises a point - if, before they started selling, they knew how much they had spent (and therefore knew the figure to break even), why didn't they up the prices higher than double at the start? I know Paula said she hoped to break even and then had to rely on Empire to mess it up, but it still feels a bit negative.

Empire still had quite a decent team but were led by a buffoon. I wanted Noorul to succeed and prove people wrong but the guy was just out of his depth. For some reason though, his team still showed him respect but I suspect that this was out of politeness rather than admiration - especially judging by what Howard had to say to camera during their reward meal. I can't see Noorul surviving for too much longer.

The boardroom was just as good as the task. The blame totally lay with Paula, Yasmina and Ben with James, Debra and Kate having done no wrong.
Gut instinct said Paula would go, but when Sugar got the message that it was Paula who drove the project with her creativity and enthusiasm, I thought she would get a second life.
I didn't think Yasmina would go either as her mistakes were all overseen by Paula and she had been one of the stronger candidates until then. Again, I thought that Sugar would give her a second life based on this.
Before the boardroom, I thought Ben would be safe as he didn't make the costing mistake, however... when Sugar pointed out that he should have stepped in to help and Ben's constant self-praising despite having not done much more than sell (so did the others), he was well in the running and for a brief moment, I thought he'd had it.

Ben getting fired would have made my day, but thinking about it, he'd still be the same proud berk claiming how he's still better than everyone, yada, yada and it'd be nothing more than a hollow victory. I'd much rather see him get humbled by realising he was no good himself and having to admit it (in the same way as Kevin last year). That'd make my year!

I'm no fan of Yasmina either, but like Ben, I wanna see her humiliated too before she is fired. Having said that, I find her much more likeable when she doesn't have one of her power trips as shown in week 2 and partially weeks 1 and 3. I'd definitely like her more if she mellowed out and showed a bit of respect to others.

So that leaves Paula. As much as I liked her, I'd be lying if I thought she was a real contender. Maybe she could have been and shown it in the future, but someone who made a big error like she did doesn't really have anywhere to hide. At least she went with dignity and left on a good note.



Apprentice Table

Howard - Some don't consider him a contender to win the job, but as far as I'm concerned, he's been one of the better performers with good contributions in key roles and above all, a likeable fellow - all attributes to suggest that Sugar will fire him!

James - OK, I admit it. He is not Sophocles Mk.II. In fact, I hope he does well. At the very least I want him to outlast Ben.

Lorraine - Another person I want to succeed, but does she have the self-confidence?

Debra - The first time I saw her, I didn't like her at all. But I am starting to now. She doesn't shy away from work and isn't afraid to speak her mind. If only she could do it without looking like a common thug.

Kimberley - Seeing just bits and pieces of her each week and I still haven't made up my mind about her. But anyone who calls Philip a ******** gets my vote.

Yasmina - Has the potential to get quite far in this, but Sugar's marked her cards so will have to tread carefully. These are good times to slip into the background.


Kate - Another capabale candidate. I just can't STAND the way she talks!! It makes me wanna grab a brick and smash her teeth in.

Mona - Now here's someone who has slipped into the background with consummate ease. Her lack of notable contributions most likely mean she'll get the boot at her next appearance.

Ben - Ben the Berk has everyone itching for Sugar to fire him. He's setting himself up for a very embarassing and watchable fall.

Philip - Back to pillock again. Gets ants in his pants the second things don't start to go his way.

Noorul - Arguably the most useless and forgettable candidate in Apprentice history. But he's still there and can change the tide...

Week 4:

I really enjoyed this week's task. It was an interesting challenge that you never knew who would come out on top of with some of the peripheral figures finally getting a look in.
I think we can now see most of the strengths and weaknesses of the candidates. These next few weeks are usually the best part of The Apprentice.

Ignite had arguably the stronger team and a good leader in Paula who actually turned out to be one of the better PM's in organising and motivating the team. They had a good product, sold well and in the right areas and looked a happy team. However, that one error meant that they were doomed to fail. I have to say that this raises a point - if, before they started selling, they knew how much they had spent (and therefore knew the figure to break even), why didn't they up the prices higher than double at the start? I know Paula said she hoped to break even and then had to rely on Empire to mess it up, but it still feels a bit negative.

Empire still had quite a decent team but were led by a buffoon. I wanted Noorul to succeed and prove people wrong but the guy was just out of his depth. For some reason though, his team still showed him respect but I suspect that this was out of politeness rather than admiration - especially judging by what Howard had to say to camera during their reward meal. I can't see Noorul surviving for too much longer.

The boardroom was just as good as the task. The blame totally lay with Paula, Yasmina and Ben with James, Debra and Kate having done no wrong.
Gut instinct said Paula would go, but when Sugar got the message that it was Paula who drove the project with her creativity and enthusiasm, I thought she would get a second life.
I didn't think Yasmina would go either as her mistakes were all overseen by Paula and she had been one of the stronger candidates until then. Again, I thought that Sugar would give her a second life based on this.
Before the boardroom, I thought Ben would be safe as he didn't make the costing mistake, however... when Sugar pointed out that he should have stepped in to help and Ben's constant self-praising despite having not done much more than sell (so did the others), he was well in the running and for a brief moment, I thought he'd had it.

Ben getting fired would have made my day, but thinking about it, he'd still be the same proud berk claiming how he's still better than everyone, yada, yada and it'd be nothing more than a hollow victory. I'd much rather see him get humbled by realising he was no good himself and having to admit it (in the same way as Kevin last year). That'd make my year!

I'm no fan of Yasmina either, but like Ben, I wanna see her humiliated too before she is fired. Having said that, I find her much more likeable when she doesn't have one of her power trips as shown in week 2 and partially weeks 1 and 3. I'd definitely like her more if she mellowed out and showed a bit of respect to others.

So that leaves Paula. As much as I liked her, I'd be lying if I thought she was a real contender. Maybe she could have been and shown it in the future, but someone who made a big error like she did doesn't really have anywhere to hide. At least she went with dignity and left on a good note.



Apprentice Table

Howard - Some don't consider him a contender to win the job, but as far as I'm concerned, he's been one of the better performers with good contributions in key roles and above all, a likeable fellow - all attributes to suggest that Sugar will fire him!

James - OK, I admit it. He is not Sophocles Mk.II. In fact, I hope he does well. At the very least I want him to outlast Ben.

Lorraine - Another person I want to succeed, but does she have the self-confidence?

Debra - The first time I saw her, I didn't like her at all. But I am starting to now. She doesn't shy away from work and isn't afraid to speak her mind. If only she could do it without looking like a common thug.

Kimberley - Seeing just bits and pieces of her each week and I still haven't made up my mind about her. But anyone who calls Philip a ******** gets my vote.

Yasmina - Has the potential to get quite far in this, but Sugar's marked her cards so will have to tread carefully. These are good times to slip into the background.


Kate - Another capabale candidate. I just can't STAND the way she talks!! It makes me wanna grab a brick and smash her teeth in.

Mona - Now here's someone who has slipped into the background with consummate ease. Her lack of notable contributions most likely mean she'll get the boot at her next appearance.

Ben - Ben the Berk has everyone itching for Sugar to fire him. He's setting himself up for a very embarassing and watchable fall.



Noorul - Arguably the most useless and forgettable candidate in Apprentice history. But he's still there and can change the tide...Philip - Back to pillock again. Gets ants in his pants the second things don't start to go his way.

Week 5:

Another excellent episode. The series is really in its stride now with all the characters, emotions and sub-plots. There doesn't seem to be an outstanding candidate though, but I do think we've gathered which ones are in with a fair shout.

It was a no-brainer this week and Ignite (Kate's team) were by far the runaway winners and this was made obvious well before the task was over. It was no surprise as they had a really strong team, who benefitted from Kate's management, Ben's less selfish performance and good contributions across the board. They had a great theme and it was executed well with a decent TV ad and imaginitive box.

Empire on the other hand were absolutely sh*te. All it would have taken was for someone to tell Philip that his idea was embarrasing and that he should shut up and then maybe they would have been back on track. I'm glad people are seeing him in the same light I saw him in way back in week 1.
He's totally unprofessional, has his head buried up his backside and really and truly deserves to get thrown in front of a train. I cannot begin to describe how much I loathe the guy. He is beyond redemption. If he behaved like that in front of me, I would end him.

Kimberley's fate was sealed when she allowed Philip and his Pants Man idea to continue to develop, but I can imagine her getting worn down bit by bit until the only way to shut him up was to let him have it his way. The only person standing up to all this madness was Lorraine, who rightly continued to oppose the idea. I would not want to be associated with such cr*p so I can't blame her for thinking the same. Howard and Kimberley both tried to stop the bickering but would have done much more good in backing up Lorraine. Surely, they all must have seen how bad the idea was? Mona didn't help the mood of the camp either by refusing to take constructive criticism from a tired Kimberley and then delivering the most pointless presentation ever in the most smug manner possible. Why is it that people who believe their own hype manage to do so well on this show? The one good aspect of their campaign was the TV ad which was as clear as it possibly could have got considering the content. Oh, and the funniest part of the show - when Noorul was putting on his costume, he was spouting his intention to help Kim as much as he could when not in the suit and how his amateur photography skills would get used only for Kim to come in and send him into the garage and tell him to wait there for the whole day in silence. So bloody funny.

The boardroom was quite dramatic again. I noticed how Philip tried to weasle into Kim's good books by defiantly stating how good a leader she was, just so he would avoid Sugar's wrath.
Philip should have gone. He forced himself onto is team who were too nice and bulldozed them all for the sake of his pathetic pants man idea. He stopped them from coming up with something decent and just threw tantrums until he got his own way. Why Sugar and Nick Hewer ignored this, I don't know.



Apprentice Table

James - Is really improving after the near-disaster of weeks 2 and 3. But can he keep it all together?

Howard - Still moving along steadily, but is perceived to be just coasting along in the background. Maybe needs another go at PM.

Debra - Didn't have much to do this week, but another win does her no harm.

Lorraine - Quite rightly stood up to the nonsense but was vilified. Utter nonsense.

Yasmina - Slowly blending into the background as she now should, but still making minor contributions here and there.

Kate - Her best performance so far, but can she take things a step further?

Ben - Has he learned his lesson? I don't think so yet, but showed that he is a good candidate as long as the boardroom is not within sight.

Mona - I found her out last week. When will Sugar?

Noorul - Just a matter of time now.

Philip - An irredeemable p*nis. Hated him at the beginning. Hate him even more now.

Week 5:

Another excellent episode. The series is really in its stride now with all the characters, emotions and sub-plots. There doesn't seem to be an outstanding candidate though, but I do think we've gathered which ones are in with a fair shout.

It was a no-brainer this week and Ignite (Kate's team) were by far the runaway winners and this was made obvious well before the task was over. It was no surprise as they had a really strong team, who benefitted from Kate's management, Ben's less selfish performance and good contributions across the board. They had a great theme and it was executed well with a decent TV ad and imaginitive box.

Empire on the other hand were absolutely sh*te. All it would have taken was for someone to tell Philip that his idea was embarrasing and that he should shut up and then maybe they would have been back on track. I'm glad people are seeing him in the same light I saw him in way back in week 1.
He's totally unprofessional, has his head buried up his backside and really and truly deserves to get thrown in front of a train. I cannot begin to describe how much I loathe the guy. He is beyond redemption. If he behaved like that in front of me, I would end him.

Kimberley's fate was sealed when she allowed Philip and his Pants Man idea to continue to develop, but I can imagine her getting worn down bit by bit until the only way to shut him up was to let him have it his way. The only person standing up to all this madness was Lorraine, who rightly continued to oppose the idea. I would not want to be associated with such cr*p so I can't blame her for thinking the same. Howard and Kimberley both tried to stop the bickering but would have done much more good in backing up Lorraine. Surely, they all must have seen how bad the idea was? Mona didn't help the mood of the camp either by refusing to take constructive criticism from a tired Kimberley and then delivering the most pointless presentation ever in the most smug manner possible. Why is it that people who believe their own hype manage to do so well on this show? The one good aspect of their campaign was the TV ad which was as clear as it possibly could have got considering the content. Oh, and the funniest part of the show - when Noorul was putting on his costume, he was spouting his intention to help Kim as much as he could when not in the suit and how his amateur photography skills would get used only for Kim to come in and send him into the garage and tell him to wait there for the whole day in silence. So bloody funny.

The boardroom was quite dramatic again. I noticed how Philip tried to weasle into Kim's good books by defiantly stating how good a leader she was, just so he would avoid Sugar's wrath.
Philip should have gone. He forced himself onto is team who were too nice and bulldozed them all for the sake of his pathetic pants man idea. He stopped them from coming up with something decent and just threw tantrums until he got his own way. Why Sugar and Nick Hewer ignored this, I don't know.



Apprentice Table

James - Is really improving after the near-disaster of weeks 2 and 3. But can he keep it all together?

Howard - Still moving along steadily, but is perceived to be just coasting along in the background. Maybe needs another go at PM.

Debra - Didn't have much to do this week, but another win does her no harm.

Lorraine - Quite rightly stood up to the nonsense but was vilified. Utter nonsense.

Yasmina - Slowly blending into the background as she now should, but still making minor contributions here and there.

Kate - Her best performance so far, but can she take things a step further?

Ben - Has he learned his lesson? I don't think so yet, but showed that he is a good candidate as long as the boardroom is not within sight.

Mona - I found her out last week. When will Sugar?

Noorul - Just a matter of time now.

Philip - An irredeemable p*nis. Hated him at the beginning. Hate him even more now.
_____________________________________________________________________

Philip is indeed an irredeemable penis. Perfect description of him!

I pretty much disagree about Lorraine versus Philip. Philip actually has 3 ideas that we see:[list][*]Cereal killer.[*]"It's so natural you'll feel naked, but with pants."[*]Super-hero.[/list]Admittedly all bad ideas, but each is better than the one before. What strikes me is that the first two ideas did get knocked back, and he accepted that and worked harder and came back with something better.

Lorraine, on the other hand, had only one idea: multiple mister-men-like characters. There are two problems with this. The first is that having four characters isn't actually a solution, it's making the problem four times harder. They hardly had time for one decent character, never mind four. Secondly, the client brief specifically asks for a single character.

However, despite these basic flaws Lorraine keeps pushing her idea, never gives up and never comes up with anything else. At one point we hear her say, "I know we can't have multiple characters... let's have multiple characters jumping out of a bowl". Even when the task is over and they are in the boardroom, she still doesn't get it, and pitches her multiple characters idea to Sir Alan. Who rips her to shreds.

Given that, I'm astonished when you say the team should have backed Lorraine. If they had done so, and ignored the client brief, they'd all have been ripped to shreds.

Philip's ideas weren't great, but they were the only ones available. Nooral and Mona contributed nothing. Had Lorraine not wasted so much time with her negativity, they could have used it to produce a decent box.

That the editors were inclined to show us.

To me that came across as being unbearably embarrassed at having to insult her audience's intelligence by having to make a presentation putting over that that load of pants was something viable.

Agreed about the editing of Nooral and Mona. Although if more ideas were put forward, it's hard to see why (a) the edit wouldn't show that, (b) it didn't get mentioned in the boardroom (especially by Lorraine), (c) why Kimberly wouldn't pick them.

I think Mona is simply useless. The pants idea did make some kind of sense, and if it's hard to see then she needed to work harder to get the idea across. Instead she spent her time telling them what the product's ingredients were, when the product is something they had given to her, not something she'd invented. And telling them what colour the box was. I've not seen anything good from Mona in the entire series, and I've seen lots that's bad.

When I said, the team should have backed Lorraine, I meant should have backed her up in dismissing Philip's idea. A bad idea without an alternative is still a bad idea, but one thing this team did not do (mainly Philip and Lorraine) was encourage each other and come up with something decent. Look at how the other team's idea progressed - it took at least three changes before they came up with the final idea.
If Lorraine's idea was modified a bit, it would have been far more suitable for kids than the pants idea which was beyond hopeless. But both Lorraine and Philip were busy trying to get one over on the other rather than help out and Philip's childish attitude was far worse as he seemed determined to supress anyone who might have had another idea.

I didn't see Philip trying to squash anyone's idea except Lorraine's. And she equally tried to squash his idea. And both were justified, in that both were bad ideas (but her's was worse).

And I think either might have been the germ of a better idea given a more positive atmosphere. Philip's basic idea of using humour was OK, and there might have been an angle on the pants that would have worked (Jenny Eclair suggested a few). It's harder to see how Lorraine's approach might have worked, but I agree Phil's negativity didn't help.

Given that they were both equally bad in that regard, Philip's attitude was better because he at least took on-board criticism and used it to improve his ideas. He also put more energy into it, with the dance and the song. His problems seem to be (a) not being endlessly patient with fools; (b) having too much enthusiasm.

c) Being a bully.

d) being a dick.


And (a) should be: Not being at all patient with anybody.

I don't think he's a bully because I don't think he's ever attempted to use intimidation as a tactic. The "bully" word is thrown around too freely on reality TV nowadays. Having a passionate argument with someone isn't bullying them, and Lorraine and Kimberly aren't weak, delicate flowers. When he criticises, he's usually right.

"Being a dick" tends to happen after long hours of frustration. The whole Apprentice series is designed put bring out the worst in people.

I agree about the use of the word 'bully'. It isn't ideal - really an 'intimidating assertiveness' is better but I think people generally understand what is meant by it in these contexts. And such assertiveness can be de facto bullying for some people.

I also agree about the whole 'long hours' thing but find it amusing that people will write demolitions of candidates based on them being tetchy late in the day without any allowance for tiredness but use it as an excuse for their own favourites.

While I don't regard Lorraine as one of the top candidates (I merely like the fact she has some humilty unlike some of the other arrogant idiots we have seen in series past and is somewhat of an underdog), I cannot see anything good about Philip. He's arrogant, overbearing and frankly is an unlikeable person from what I have seen. From a business perpective, he is unprofessional (shouting at his teammates until he gets his way), way too negative about anything that he hasn't suggested, has no idea how to negotiate (week 2) and despite all his self-praising, has only made one contribution to a winning performance in five weeks.

I know this one's a bit late, but....

Week 6:

This one had the potential to be a really good business task and perhaps would have been had Sugar not moved the goalposts right at the end. I've read a few posts about how Sugar mislead the teams and I concur with the belief that originally the idea was to sell whatever they had for whatever they could (and to maximise their totals by spotting the 'gems' and making the most of them). Then for some reason in the boardroom, Sugar felt it necessary to tell them that he was now judging them on profit.
Before this point, there was no indication that 'most profit' was where this was headed and it looked like a last-minute decision. Also, I have to add, selling high-value items that don't seem high-value for a PROFIT is nigh-on impossible.

For example, who would pay MORE than £200 for that rug?
The only people who would know that it is an expensive rug will also know that its value is around £200 and not much more so they are not likely to pay £250 for it.
So where was the profit going to be made on such items? The only way to win this task would have been to identify the gems and lock them in a box so that no loss would be incurred. And is that any example to set for good business?

Anyway...
If there were any remaining doubts to how much of a c*ck Philip is, the last task would surely have swept them aside. To dismiss Lorraine's constant suggestions that the rug was quite valubale were one thing, but to then say at the end that she made no such suggestion was an incredible demonstration of this foul character and proof that he is more weasel than man.

As for Ben, well I felt a bit sorry for him and surprisingly I don't hate the guy as much as I hated him in week 4. Which is ironic because he was less to blame back then than he was for the failure of this task. The reason for this is because he was a bit more humble and not as big headed. Yes, he was most to blame this week and would have had no complaints if he got fired, but I think now, having learned his lesson he can concentrate on his business skills rather than being a d*ck.

Another thing I noticed this week was what a berk Nick was for not giving Debra credit for the book sale. I watched it back and it went something like this:

Ben introduces himself and Debra starts to talk business.
The buyer indicates that he is looking to buy for £80 - £100 and sell for more.
Debra offers to sell the book for £100 and the buyer says yes.
Ben offers his hand to seal the deal.

Now, if you add that it was Debra who arranged the meeting, who did more?
What the hell was Nick on about?
Anybody would have felt like Debra if Nick cut them out like that.

Noorul was someone who must have applied for another show but somehow ended up on this one. He wasn't a disaster, but he didn't once show a good business mind. He just did what he was told to and kept out of the way. We all knew he was a goner after he "lead" his team to victory.

No-one stood out for me in this task at all and I still don't think there is an outstanding candiadate. Roll on week 7.

Apprentice Table

James - I think as the wheat gets separated from the chaff, James is getting seen as quite a capable candidate. But the potential for disaster still remains.

Howard - Definitely needs another shot at PM to prove himself. It may be the making or breaking of him or....... it may not.

Kate - One good week followed by a normal week is a recipe for Apprentice success.

Yasmina - Doing okay so far.

Debra - Even though she was right to feel aggreived about Nick, she still could have argued in a better way.

Lorraine - Proved herself right again, but aside from making correct predictions, what else can she do?

Ben - Has the pressure got to him or will he recover his mojo?

Mona - The last remaining wallflower.

Philip - Getting worse and worse.

I'm glad yet another person appreciates this. Obviously we don't know what the team's paper brief said but from a programme POV it was a monumental cock-up because WE didn't know.

And actually, it is we who are the most important people in this because we are the paymasters.

Whatever the cock-up it could have at least have been dealt with in the narration rather than leaving us still not knowing exactly what the terms were.


My suspicion is that the items were valued at well below thier true value. That would mean that the teams still needed to get good valuations but left them with room to make a profit.

The only item that I can talk of from experience is the rug which was described as 'Indian' and certainly appeared to be that style. Having bought such rugs and carpets both here and in India I would say that £200 would be extremely cheap for a rug of that size unless it was very badly made. (Unless they saw me coming. )