Surely some of the candidates in the old series and this one earn more than 100k per year?

Why go on this thing only to possibly leave with your reputation in tatters when you are in the hands of the editors.

a) I would not be at all sure that they do earn that much. A lot of the entry CV's are not what they seem.

b) They don't seem to suffer that much. Employers realise that their behaviour in an unrealistically highly stressed situation dealing with activities well outside their comfort zones is unlikely to be indicative of their normal performance but is indicative of a very positive attitude to business.

Two possible reasons: 1. Narcissism 2. They want to become a 'motivational speaker' rather than work for a living.

The only candidates that would possibly imo be earning anything above even 40-50k from this year's candidates is Debra as she worked in a FTSE sales department and said she was one of the top sales people. she would have got a hefty bonus in a FTSE company.

Yasmina owns a restaurant, so her salary would probably be based on how well her restaurant is doing? I don't know if it is a good restaurant.

James, as an accountant, would possibly be on around £40k. Philip, Kim and Paula are consultants or sales based people, so their salary is hard to determine, but should be okay if they sale well or work for reputable firms.

Kate - am unsure what she does? Is she a license manager or a license and business development manager. As one would probably earn commission and one not.

The others are probably almost certainly on £30k or less. I'd imagine Kate is too.

The highest earners in real life are probably Debra, then James. It's hard to tell as salaries can vary so much. But I doubt any of them would be £50k plus.

There is a bit of an earning barrier around the £80,000 - £100,000 mark where you need to decide what you want to do. You can keep going happily with your extremely good salary or you can try to transcend the next level which is usually a big leap, to get there generally means running your own successful business or getting on the board of directors at a top company. Might involve getting an MBA but will certainly involve risk.

Going on the apprentice could give exposure leading to better opportunities and getting the job at Amstrad can lead to you making that jump (as demonstrated by the winner from series one who seems to be carving out a niche as a businessman)

That's why I think they do it anyway.

I doubt that any of them are on anywhere near a £100K. I would say they are in the £30K to £50K bracket with most towards the bottome end of that

That's my thought. I have friends who are estate agents, friends who are account managers, friends who are investment bankers, friends who are salespeople. I know the accountancy industry salaries and consultancy industry salaries. And they would be really lucky to be earning over £50k. The FTSE companies can pay really well depending on who Debra worked for. But the others almost certainly will be on £30k to £50k. And I would have thought some of them even on around £25k who are younger and not long out of university.

You've answered your own question in a way. Even in the first series when the contestants were more business-focussed and less limelight-seeking, I doubt any of them were earning anything like £100k basic. Tim the winner certainly wasn't - I don't think he even earned £30k, IIRC.

Since then we've had a number of bullsh!tters and wannabe zelebs (and sometimes both: cue Katie Hopkins) who have failed to make the distinction between OTE/wishful thinking and actual salary.

it's because they want to work for Siralan, the greatest entrepreneur who ever lived, duh. He is an inspiration.

Didn't Sir Alan give as his reason for firing James Max the fact that he already earned more than the Apprentice job would pay? (It's been four years now, but that's my memory of it)

I don't know but Lucinda did last year - it was brought up at the interviews.

I remember in series 2 Paul getting the piss taken out of him basically during the interview as he `only` earned about 25K. Mind you that interview was a total horror show anyway.

He did. It made him suspicious that James was in it for the wrong reasons. Media spotlight, yadder yadder. Except the next series, he went and hired Michelle who was also earning the same money he was offering and - well - we all know how that turned out.

Yes, I was making the distinction between a guaranteed salary and OTE. Consultants make a lot but it's not guaranteed earnings and would explain why they might apply.

I don't believe any employer worth his/her salt would employ someone to a job paying less than they currently earn. Well not without being dubious of their motives, anyway.

He may have had a point! James Max is now a LBC radio presenter. He's done very nicely from being fired! He wouldn't have got his new radio career had he won the show.

Which was completely true once you saw how many media ventures he did and continues to do now.



She was given a task that would never succeed at making any money and she left, not her fault.

Well, I guess we don't know how things would have been different had James been hired. He has done well himself no doubt, but then both Saira and Ruth have equally had small media careers on the back of the show, and I don't think either of them were in it for that reason.

I guess my point is it doesn't really matter that much what they do after the show. It doesn't make SAS "reasoning" any less suspect. I was really suggesting that it seems like another "reason" dug out from the depths of illogic which SAS uses when he just wants to fire someone. The same reason that made him suspicious of James wasn't applied to Michelle or even to Katie (who was on a similar salary, and yet put through to the final at least).

And yes, Michelle was given a complete snoozefest to manage, and was certainly not surprised she left.

Wasn't Rocky fired partly because he was earning more than £100K through his sandwich shops?

I doubt it. I think he was fired because he botched the task.