I'm always baffled by The Apprentice in that viewers seem to take it deadly seriously.

This forum demonstrates it - many viewers/posters are horrified by how useless/hillarious the contestants are. Of course they're terrible, they've been picked because they're awful....

Time and time and again I hear people complain, stating: "How are these the best business people in country!?"...they're not. It's a TV show...

Why do we think it is that The Apprentice seems not to have the same connotations as other TV shows? Why do viewers honestly think The Apprentice is anything but a reality TV GAME show?

Wow, couldn't disagree with you any more

It is reality in the sense we get to see them performing tasks, but it is not a true reality show in that we don't really get to know or see them outside of doing their tasks or in the board room, other than brief snippets of them getting dressed, then relaxing.

And it's a job you get at the end, or in this case, a business owner - that is very very real, but to call it a game show really demeans the spirit of the show itself

This show has been popular with many, particularly those who don't get into the shows like Big Brother or the jungle shows, and tends to carry an older viewing crowd.

I wish The Apprentice could be more like Junior Apprentice - I think it is much more sensible. Is that just because younger people take it all more seriously, or is it planned and edited in a different way - I wonder?

I also completely disagree. I think the audition process for Apprentice is designed especially to try and weed out the TV wannabe's, and does focus a lot more on what the candidates have achieved in their carears or businessess.

It's for that very reason that when they do cock up so royally, that it is so entertaining. The only thing that makes it "T.V" and not real, is that in the real world you wouldn't be lumped with a bunch of strangers doing things you have absolutely no experience of, (like making soup, or buying fruit and veg at Covent Garden,) at the drop of a top hat (pardon the pun.) You would also have access to the internet, which would have made this weeks task a million times easier, and more realistic, but not nearly so entertaining.

Yes, it's entertainment, but it is also very real to most of the candidates.

i agree and disagree

i think that it would be naive to think that tv bosses wouldn't try and bring in some entertainment from the tv wannabe's. after all it is a TV SHOW. other than that i think that it does hold more credibility than other reality tv shows

Really? IMO the contestants have been getting more and more Big Brother-esque every series.

I just think to actually believe that The Apprentice is a serious show about finding the best business person is like thinking Come Dine With Me is a genuine show to find the best dinner host....

IMO the tasks are very similar to 'team building' exercises, popular with many large companies.

The idea is not actually to achieve some hypothetical task, which is always very artificial, but merely to discover how people perform - how they relate to others on a stressful task - who is the natural leader.

Individuals are very different, and this program does sort people out; and it's fun for us onlookers to watch that happening.

I don't see much difference between the two. They both do daft things . Can you expand on why you think its more sensible?

Whilst you and I may understand this, there is a very good reason why a lot of people think they are the best business people in the country. The programme explicitly says they are.

Here are two direct quotes from the first two episodes: "It's the business deal of the decade. To fight for it, Britain's entrepreneurial elite head for London." "Heading to London, 16 of Britain's entrepreneurial elite keen to start a company."

Given that the voiceover man tells a complete lie, this confuses people. Some may say it's not lying, it's make-believe television. Whatever your feelings about this, the fact remains that the things we are told and shown are simply not true.

I will end with a quote from Nick Hewer himself in his interview with the Guardian recently: "Are the apprentices the smartest, most brilliant people in the whole world?...No. The joy of The Apprentice is that the bloke on a squashy sofa in Rotherham with a can of Stella can quite correctly say he could do better. If you want the most brilliant business apprentices in the world, go to Insead or Harvard or Seattle."

It's a sham, but an entertaining one. Well it used to be, now it's getting a bit samey. I doubt that Alan Sugar ever wanted or needed any apprentices in his life, it's just a vehicle to promote himself and his business.

Sorry, maybe I should have said the contestants in the junior one seem on the whole to have much more common sense. Just wonder if that is really the case and the juniors take it more seriously, or if the "adult" one is edited to bring out more of the stupidity in everyone?

Love this post - I agree with pretty much everything you've said And thanks for the link to The Guardian article.

I know that the show itself perpetuates that these are 'the business elite', but I still get a little annoyed when the majority of people I know actually buy it. I think it actually damages business in a way to have these 'Big Brother wannabes' (of which there seems to be becoming more each season) presented as being 'the best'.

I personally have heard people comment on how all Management university graduates must be useless because of some of the contestants on this show

The junior show started with far fewer candidates. It was like dropping into the grownups show half way through - ie when most of the out-and-out muppets have been given the finger of doom by Lord Sid. So perhaps the comedy candidates just weren't recruited for JA?
Though you may have a point in the editors being kinder to the kids.

Lord Sid

(*does dirty laugh*)

No, I think they pick the best of those that apply. They do have some other criteria, mostly geared towards making the candidates diverse so we can compare different styles. They like to have equal numbers of men and women, for example. They like a mix of academics and self-taught. They like to have some young ones and some experienced ones. But I don't think they'd pick someone purely because they are awful.


It's not just the editing. Often the tasks are designed to make them fail. They put a lot of stress on the candidates in other ways, too. For example, sleep deprivation: you'll notice the phone call that starts a task is often at some stupid hour, like 6am; they often work late at night (with hours of travel times making them later) and then get up early the next day again. The tasks are filmed back to back so they only get one day off a week. And then they aren't allowed much contact with their loved ones, so they don't have the normal emotional support. They are stuck with the other candidates, who are competitors not friends.

I expect Junior puts less pressure on the candidates because they are younger, and it's a shorter show.

Another issue, which fired PMs have been pointing out, is that being leader is harder in the show because you don't have control over salaries or firing, like the boss in a real business would. The PM doesn't have much real power.

A good post

Some people even think the boardroom is real - it's a studio set & Lord S's secretary is an actress.

You even get the "fly under the radar and hope not to get noticed" style that used to be employed by some BB housemates.

I am of course talking about Melody, on last week's show, after being called back to the boardroom, she did not utter one word, just a couple shots of her... with nothing to say... nothing to contribute

Lord Sugar should look for the 'quiet' ones, and if they haven't pitched up and shown what they are capable of, within three weeks... guess what.... you're fired !!

Theres a couple of wild cards thrown in for lolz like the accountant who had no clue how to manage and the eccentric inventor, but the others are all successful in their chosen fields.

Of course they wont be the best as the best would be taking big pay cuts if they win.

The board room actually lasts for hours - if Melody really sat there saying nothing for hours Lord Sid and his acolytes would certainly have noticed.
Just like in Big Brother you have to remember its edited - we only see what the producers want us to.

Getting a bit bored of all the boardroom arguing. We have seen it all before now.

I sincerely hope these are not the best business people in the country... The best of the best would not need to go on the show in the first place, so thankfully, there must be better out there.