I'd go with both those. A couple of months ago they had Tim Campbell on QT so sadly couldn't have him back so soon.

Dear BBC, just because the World Cup is on is no reason to book Ian Wright. Or ever. Thanks.

It was mutual. And in his Apprentice Diary Adam admitted not only to drinking a lot, but to being drunk on task-related activities, such as picking the team name. So I expect her comments were informed. And of course, she was only retaliating in kind after he brought up her private life in the boardroom, not once but twice (the first time when she wasn't there to defend herself). Adam also admitted to deliberately sabotaging his team leader. I never understood why he was so popular.


No, he was a pretty weak candidate. He got fired when was on the losing team four times in a row, two of them when he was leader. (He wasn't totally useless, and did do well on the art task.)


That's not how I remember it. Kristina first conspired with Adam to bring down Kate and Paul, and then conspired with Kate to bring down Adam. She was very duplicitous, and more effective at "doing" for other candidates. She was far worse than Kate in my opinion.


I don't recall Helene or Claire being back-stabbing. Or Lucinda, really; I do think she was manipulative though.

I'll post the link to Adam's account of things as you've mentioned it and let others decide.
http://www.thecoolmarkwebsite.co.uk/adamhosker/


As for Series 4 Claire & Alex definately screwed over Simon Smith. Claire (who knows how to sell) ruined others attempts to barter for items in Marrakesh. Helene maybe more negative in attitude than deliberate, with a shortish temper.
But Lucinda! She didn't even want the job yet spent her time winding up the others and then playing the martyr.
Clever game if all you want to do is get camera time and be a memorable z-list celeb. A passive-aggressive version of Katie but without the desire to be thought of as a 'villan'.

I'd say Simon Smith screwed himself over when he chose to lead the photo task and to be the photographer. He couldn't do both. Claire may have had a bad moments on the Marrakesh task, but I wouldn't say she was there to "up the back-stabbing quota". She was a deserving finalist, and sometimes her confidence got away with her.

I think most of the criticism of Helene stems from when she had to deal with Lucinda on the Photo task, at a time when Lucinda was very popular. Now more of us see Lucinda as being manipulative and passive-aggressive, Helene's behaviour perhaps should be re-assessed.

I'm no fan of Jenny C, but she too got labelled as evil initially for failing to handle Lucinda (especially for making her cry in the laundry task). I think Lucinda warped the entire series.

Although you may have a point re: both Simon and Lucinda, it doesn't necessarily excuse the behaviour of Claire or Helene.

Simon didn't perform well on the photography task and had probably done enough to create his own downfall but Claire and Alex still did a fair bit to undermine him at every possible opportunity. It was similar to the Rhys/Tim/Hannah situation imo. Rhys also had almost certainly screwed up enough to dig his own grave but was then pushed into it by Tim and had it quickly filled in by Hannah. Simon's incompetence as PM does not excuse Claire's (or Alex's) behaviour.

Same is true of Helene/Lucinda. Lucinda may well have played the whinging "poor me" card but from what we saw, she asked not to be put in charge of the IT section because she wasn't confident with it and Helened simply rode roughshod over that request and then proceeded to carpet Lucinda for every mistake she made. I have little doubt that Lucinda exploited her situation but we did clearly see her stating her weakness in the IT area. Why on earth Helene disregarded this is beyond me.

I agree with your remarks up to the above. Lucinda, who had had senior office roles and certainly seemed on the arty side of things too, would look to be the obvious choice, after training on that particular simple photo printing package. That she didn't want to do it, in Helene's eyes, would just confirm she trying again to duck out of pulling her weight! That she really couldn't do it just beggers belief.

I was thinking of her 'performance' in the Tissue ad task by being a deliberate waste of moaning space. Also the car hire one next, when it's deliberate waste of poor lost puppy space. So well done Alex and Lee for still winning both despite being tied to a beret and chain. I don't blame Alex for pointing out the fact that she doesn't want to win, so stop indulging her need for airtime. I'd have have shoved her head up Paul Kemsley by that point.

The original point I was making was Katie Hopkins introduced a new low. The producers saw the result and wanted more of it. So the ratio of those who had few real talents, and the publicity seekers and some softer victims were increased.

I quite agree that Lucinda made quite a career out of being the victim and yet showed herself to be pretty capable when push came to shove. Will the real Lucinda please stand up if she can still identify herself after the seemingly deliberate metamorphoses she's put herself through?

However, the photo task was one of the first ones and Lucinda did make her point quite vehemently early in the task. Maybe it was judicious editing but whether you thought someone was trying to duck responsibility or not, it seems a bit daft to give a job to someone who has plainly stated that they don't feel confident with it. Was there nobody else who would have felt more comfortable in the role?

That's not really my overall point though. I was trying to state that although certain other candidates might show themselves to be less than competent/squeaky clean, it doesn't make the behaviour of the ones mentioned more excusable. Simon may have been a bit crap but Claire was still a bit of a b*tch towards him (putting it mildly) and Lucinda may have been ducking responsibility but that didn't excuse Helene's "p*ss off and do it anyway and if you're not perfect I'll cr*p in your handbag" attitude.

I also agree with your point re: Katie Hopkins.

Except it wasn't Katie who introduced the low. It was people like Adam, Kristina and Simon. Adam, for example, happily threw a task because he knew his team leader would get fired instead of him. He used underhand tactics such discussing Katie's love-life in the boardroom, twice, despite being reprimanded for it by (then) Sir Alan. Simon finessed Andy into being team leader (with Adam as second in command), and was quite open that he was doing it, not because he thought they'd perform well, but because he wanted those two in the boardroom when they failed (and in fact Andy did get fired). Kristina conspired with Adam against Katie, kept secret from Katie what she'd done, and then conspired with Katie to oust Adam. She sold candy by putting a lollipop into the hands of a toddler, turning to the parents and saying, "That'll be £5 please."

Katie was hated mostly because she made some snide comments to camera, but her behaviour on-task was honourable (except when she retaliated in kind to some of Adam's shenanigans). She has a colourful and vivid turn of phrase, and she was given quite a harsh edit. There were times when they showed her saying something apparently nasty, and then it would cut. In one of the final episodes, on You're Fired, they showed the same clip but let it run for longer, and the extra context made it clear she wasn't being serious.

So, Katie wasn't the only "nasty piece of work". There were at least 3 others who were far nastier (but not so telegenic). More than in the following year. Candidates in previous years also had their faults. Paul in the first series was quite seriously sexist, for example.

Adam and Simon didn't get Andy fired. He went on the first task partly because Sugar unexpectedly put Andy as PM of the girls' team. The task Adam decided to 'throw' was the cheese in France. Paul (with Katie's help) did that 90% by himself/themselves. On the art task, he and Lohit shouldn't have been brought back, so that got their PM fired.
In the two tasks Adam lost. One was by the margin of £11, the other by 97p (and that was very debatable).



I'll agree Adam was not the most tactful of people. But boy did he want the job and was determined not to be bullied or cheated out. He wasn't there to start a media career.
You only have to listen to Katie from then to now to get a pretty good impression of what she considers acceptable.
Kristina also wanted to win, ruthlessly, just she fought back against Katie better than the others, gave as good as she got. Simon had the sense to stay out of the feuds and let them clear the field.

Paul Torrisi was very arrogant and him and Saira could argue about what day it was. She still picked him for her final team though. Syed was a deluded idiot, not sweet, but not genuinely nasty in order to play with others heads.

As I despise Katie more than any other candidate, I think we are going to have to agree to differ

Not sure about the other candidates that year but as this thread is about Katie Hopkins, can I reiterate she was pretty useless herself? The fact she was (is!) bolshy, unjustifiably high in self-esteem and has a knack of diverting attention away from her own failings by attacking others shouldn't in any way detract from that. Adam was a stronger (and better!) prospective employee than her any day of the week.

I didn't say they did. Adam wasn't involved, except as potential victim of Simon. Simon wanted Andy as leader and Adam as his second in command, not because he thought they'd do the best job, but so that two of the three boardroom places would be filled by people he didn't care about. When Adam and Andy went somewhere private to discuss which of them should lead, Simon was quite up-front about his conniving with the others. (Adam and Andy decided Adam should lead, but when they came back, their choice was over-ridden and Andy did it.)

Then Sir Alan swapped the team leaders around. But Simon's machinations had already happened. I think it's interesting partly because Simon went on to win despite this (and despite being relatively weak; he spent much of the series riding Tre's coat-tails), and partly because it shows Adam was unpopular with the other boys from the start. Some people claim Katie influenced them against him, but she didn't need to.


Paul made some bad choices, but Katie did virtually nothing wrong; she followed the team leaders instructions and wasn't involved in most of the big mistakes. For example, when Paul bought bulk cheese, Adam was there but Katie wasn't. By the time she found out about it, it was too late to stop. Adam could have stopped it and didn't. For that reason and others, he definitely deserved to be in the boardroom. I'd have taken Ghazal rather than Kristina, though. Katie was rightly safe; Paul could hardly blame her for following his instructions.


Yep.

I agree with what has been said about the producers wanting another bitch every year ever since they came across Katie. That woman has had a really poisonous effect on the apprentice, and on TV in general. It's just a shame that today's BBC executives are more focused on entertainment and personalities rather than intellectual stimulation.

I'm surprised she even had any crediility at all to even appear on question time. She's tried to make a career out of being nasty and bitchy on television, and unfortunately it seems to be paying off. I just hope she doesn't become the UK's Ann Coulter.

I'd also disagree about Lucinda being intended as the next Katie. She was far more suttle. She was much better at using a situation to her advantage - but she was also helped greatly by the stupidity and tactlessness of her fellow candidates. If Jenny C was manipulated by Lucinda, as she claimed, then that was Celery's own fault. She would have been easy for anyone to manipulate.

Read this thread yesterday whilst on holiday in St Ives (Cornwall) was looking in a shop window last night, looked up and Katy was stood next to me?

Looks lovely in real life and her husband looks a nice chap. Just enjoying their holiday

I wanted to mention that my nephew has just got through the first couple of rounds for the next series and could she pass on any tips?

I'm to shy and just stood there along with lots of other holiday makers........