I'm not a huge fan of Ruby Wax, though I have laughed at some of her stuff over the years (she has done a lot). Must admit, I did feel a bit uncomfortable with some of the things she said to Melody, but she did mellow a bit as the show went on, and Melody took it all very graciously. Like it or not, that brashness is Ruby Wax's style, so it would have been weird if she hadn't been bitchy: it's what she's paid to do. As for being a 'basket case,' she has suffered from mental illness for most of her life and has been in the Priory for it on several occasions.

Exactly.

While I'm not a great fan of Ruby Wax, I do understand that we are seeing her persona, basically an act, and not the real RW. I'm a little surprised that some can't see it, and are labelling her bitter or jealous. To not like, or appreciate her is fine, but to blindly take her words at face value is missing the point. Maybe deliberately, I don't know.

I have to say I think Ruby was right , how difficult should it be for a communications expert to communicate exactly what it is that she does

I was left after this programme still not knowing what Melody does.

I felt that Melody was very good in talking in bumber stickers but useless in communicating and I am absolutely horrified that she thinks she has anything to say to todays youth. Will they be able to understand her , I doubt it and will they feel valued and listened to , I very much doubt it.

Melody claimed to be a communications expert, communication is a 2 way street , seh seems to have missed out the part about listening all together and as for letting people know what her job is she is unable to do this.

Ruby was right to point this out and as for the person who said Melody will be more successful that Ruby, Riby has had a long and very succesful career as a comic and actor, she appear to make enough money to live in a very nice house in London and has done a lot of good work with MIND as an ambassodor for those who have mental illness. She herself suffers form bipolar disease and has spent a lot of time in and out of hospital being treated for this. Despite all this I find Ruby witty and articualte , something melody most certaily was not.

Personally, I am aware of Wax's act.

I also empathise with anyone who has had mental illness and especially requiring treatment at well known institutions. However, in my case above, taking her words at face value is exactly not my point.

Arguably, her words are not what is important. It is the added significance they take on in the context and style in which they are communicated that is the point and as many on here have picked up, Wax crossed a line.

Pithy comments, smart remarks, gentle chiding to harder sarcasm all have their place. This is what Dara is so brilliant at. But Wax's over clever lines delivered with a subtle superioirty in her voice bordered on personal interrogation and arrogant mild bullying.

'You're in communication but you're not very good at it'.

Who do you think you are Ruby, Dale Carnegie?

Seeing as you've started out by taking the gloves off, maybe we should roll up our sleeves up and peel back a few layers on you, shall we?

Jo Brand, who I've seen live twice, spends the vast percentage of her act in self deprocating style attacking herself. And as a panelis on YFd, shes has never een approached the vitriole which underpinned the way Wax spoke at the start.

Of course, I may be completely wrong in this and the view that this is the way Wax acts is correct. In real life, after the cameras are switched off, maybe she turns into a personable human being again?

I'll simplify It from my perspective right down to the comedy which is what she was paid for. If it was indeed just an act; for me, it was humourless and needs work. Try harder please, Ruby.

but in fairness to Ruby you were left in no doubt about what she thought of Melody and her bumper sticker speak/

Melody as a comunicator really must try harder!

And above all learn to listen.

These exchanges have made me ask as to what we actually expect of these candidates?

One of the reasons I watch the programme is that I worked my way up the corporate ladder at their age wearing the same suits and talking the same corporate/work b/s.

I like to watch it, maybe perversely,because I'm not in it any more. But that's another story.

I was succesful in the very large multi-national I worked in and reached senior management in international roles with all the trimmings.

But what was I like when I was 26? A complete novice with vast amounts to learn, a process stll going 30 years on.

That the panelists who are chosen becasue they are established and succesful in their fields, know more than the candidates, are likely to know better and could coach them into better performances is not at issue.

The panelists are very likely all in their 40's, if not their 50's. They've been through the hoops these young people are really just getting into.

In fact it's not the issue. But Ruby's opening salvo made it the issue. As if there was a point to prove.

What sort of fragile psyche must Wax have to score points off one of the candidates who we all know are mutton dressed up as lamb with all their self professed motivations, abilities and achievements deliberately to create effect on the show?

Give them advice. Tell them what you think. But don't attack them with smug and superior sarcasm.

Ruby Wax behaved in the early part of the programme as if she was one of SAS's henchmen in the final 4 interview process, playing the hard-woman-kick-arse-and-take-names role.

If Ruby were doing a one-to-one appraisal of Melody, maybe, she migh choose such a mangement style to shock Melody into a better self appreciaton. Although I wouldn't choose such a style, it remains one that is an option.

But on Your Fired? That's not the style and atmosphere of of the programme.

Should Melody learn to claim a bit less, talk less, listen more and empathise with others more? Absolutely.

But Ruby should cut the vitriole and stick to the style she adopted as the programme unfolded.

I don't have a problem with that in the slightest. In fact, in that role, for the remainder of the programme, where she stopped trying to be funny and just gave calmer but still astute observations, she was really good.

. Ain't that the truth!!

Sorry but those of us who have been truly shocked by Melody over the last few weeks wanted to see her cut down to size. Ruby made a good attempt at the start of the programme but then went soft. I expect this programme to deliver justice (it used to)
I for one was very disappointed and think she got off lightly on "You're Fired". I had hoped that the panel would make mincemeat of her considering her ridiculous claims and treatment of the other candidates over the last few weeks.
I think she was given an easy ride. If you're a Melody fan you are bound to disagree but this is my personal view and Heidi Stephens on the Guardian live blog agrees with me so I know I'm not alone. (also, everyone at work has been asking why was she still in it?)

I was abit uncomfortable with Ruby Wax as well last night and was suprised at the end when she said she thought Meldoy would be in the final (which I highly doubt she genuinely believed). I get the impression that she only said that after she realised the room didn't hate Melody as much as she had hoped they would (as was sensed very early on).

I don't have a problem with Ruby Wax, I prob get her humour more than that other comedian guy they had on but I found her less funny last night.

Watching Wax last night made me think about the evolution of the show, from series 1 to now. I think that YF has lost direction. With Chiles as the host I could understand the need for a comedian to carry it along (particularly in the early stages when it wasn't clear whether it would be popular). Now, with Dara there and over 5 million watching the main show, there is absolutely no need for a comedian to be on the panel, particularly not one like Ruby Wax.

If anyone is going to cut Melody down to size it should be LS or someone with experience in the retail industry.

I dont mind Ruby appearing as a talking head on a top 10 countdown show, or getting involved with a reality tv show - that's about her level, but she should be nowhere near The Apprentice. The show does not need to book people purely because they elicit strong reactions from the viewer.

I'd rather see someone with industry experience drone on for 5 minutes than Ruby Wax scavenging for laughs.





And Trevor Nelson, wtf?

What happened to her face? It looks like she's been hewn out of a rock.

I went off Melody big time, but I wouldn't have got any pleasure out of seeing the girl destroyed on You're Fired. What would that achieve? She admitted her faults said she'd learned from the experience That's all I ask of any candidate. It's only a TV show at the end of the day, and there are far worse people in the world to get angry about and want to see punished.


Good post. I'm not anti-Ruby in general, because she can be quite funny. But she didn't come across well last night. Why would she think that kids can't be interested in business? It was clear Melody wasn't talking about 5 year olds! She was speaking of young people, the type who might apply for Junior Apprentice.

I thought Ruby Wax was spot-on... Melody deserved to be taken down a peg or five.

She tore into Melody at the beginning (and rightly so) then at the end, she voted that Melody shouldn't have been fired!

I'd like to see the format changed so that we have: Dara, the candidate, an expert from the industry involved in the task (or something similar) and either Nick, Margaret, Karren, or one of the winners or runners up from the previous series.

Despite my detailed comments about Ruby Wax above,I am not a fan of Melody or a fan of anyone else for that matter.

It's not about favourites for me.

If it's not clear already, in my case, my criticisms of Ruby Wax are about how she did what she did in the opening of the programme.

As far as Melody's behaviour in the tasks, she may be a bit more assertive and single minded than many of the rest but they are all a much of a muchness to me.

In their own way, the candidates are all 'at it' either overtly or covertly the whole time; they actually have to be, as this is the fundamental nature of the show's process.

The all start out all friendly and then bob and weave their way through as the competition hots up.

It's often/usually down to a chance event as to which teams wins and exactly who is accountable for what is usually difficult to define; this is, after all, the nature of the collective decision making process.

Otherwise, why have the boardroom for the losing team? Automatically fire the PM of that team?

As far as using terms like justice as the purpose of YFd, I think this is completely inappropriate; the programme has always been a relatively light hearted review of the last episode with some moderately biting exposures of the fired candidate's foibles.

If Melody had been OTT in the tasks, then so what? Welcome to the Apprentice. And rest assured, the longer each candidate is in it, the more likelihood they'll demonstarte some bizarre behaviour, rather like Helen staying up all night worrying about her proposal to take over from Melody.

Inappropriate, control-freak behaviour which would have one effect and one effect only; to disrupt any team coheson which may have been built of day 1.

In the real world, in my corporate career, if a member of my team had come up with such a proposal, they would have been booted out before they'd finished the suggestion - not playing the game with the hierarchy is the ultimate no, no.

But on YFd, the panellists are a resource which Dara uses as he pilots the show. It's not some Kangaroo court where the candidate is made to account as if it were some legal investigation,nor, as I've explained above, a chance to start a character assasination of that losing candidate.

They are already out. It's actually more of a time to give them a break. It's over for them. But with the structure of the script, there's no way that any candidate, Melody included, who will get away without having the mick taken out of them and that's what Dara orchestrates brilliantly, but always with a warm smile and I reckon that is exactly how it should be.

Sorry tennisfan but i beg to differ with your point of view (in the nicest possible way this isn't an attackon you in any way)

Melody has spent the past 10 weeks telling us about all the influential people she has worked with (Name Droppers r' Us), and bragging to all and sundry about her Global company and all her awards.

At the end of the day - most of still have no idea exactly WHAT she does for a day job, and one of the awards she claims to have won as mentioned in the boardroom by Lord Sugar appears to have actually been won by someone else (Melody was shortlisted for it but didn't win - nor was she one of the two runners up) so it does appear she has been embellishing her CV.

Her involvement with Al Gore seems to have been attending his Climate Change seminar - and i wouldn't mind betting that her other claims to have worked with the great and good were nothing more than attending a conference where they were speakers.

We had a heads up in that interview where Nick said that she wasn't popular with the other candidates, and just after that was published - we saw the terrible edit on the French task and then the biscuit one, and finally last night where this supposedly successful businesswoman made a complete cock up of a fairly simple task because she wouldn't listen to anyone else.

Ruby also aske her a very pertinent quention which wasn't really answered - What was someone like Melody doing on a programme like The Apprentice anyway?

Melody got off very lightly compared to some of the past candidates, and deserved to be picked up on some of her claims - as it was - it looks as though Ruby was told to back off by the producers in between some of the edits ans she completely changed her tune.

I like 'you're fired' for it's up-beat-ness and we get to see the more humbler side then just the edits. Ruby just spoilt it for me, her face pulling and her crudity was uncomfortable viewing. Was not in the spirit of what is a nice format, which usually makes me lol..until last night.

But Melody did win Woman of the future award:

Woman of the future winners 2008

About half way down - and she was co-founder of UK youth parliament.

I'm not sure she really 'got off lightly compared to past candidates' - I can recall FMs gnashing their teeth at Jenny Celery and Katie Hopkins getting an 'easy' ride. But thats ok as the candidates don't owe us anything - this isn't Big Brother - we dont ring in to vote, and its too highly edited to really make a judgement on their characters.

Yes - but usually the YF panel and host pick up on some of the things the candidates have said or done during the series. - especially if they had said or done something particularly stupid or controversial on camera.

Considering some of Melody's more inane utterances and actions I was surprised that they didn't mention the role play, or the pitch hogging - or the market research discrepancies.... she gave them plenty to pick up on - and nothing was - apart from Trevor Nelson picking up on the name droppipng - and the business woman telling Melody to stop collecting awards and do some work (or words to that effect).

I can't say I'm sorry to see her go - but she didn't deserve to go last night when Natasha had made an even bigger pig's ear of the task, and its only thanks to Susan and Jim's sterling efforts that she is still there!

They are basically in the same business, and Ruby is older and more experienced, so it's quite possible she could help Melody. Have a look at http://www.rubywax.co.uk/.

Workshops also include, practical exercises to help leaders viscerally feel the difference between talking 'at' someone rather than 'with' someone. Participants learn to be more aware of how other employees, clients and partners perceive them and therefore how to present a more human face, utilising humour, curiosity, empathy, intuition and honesty.

There's a lot more, much of which could help Melody. Eg the parts about self-awareness, which she seems to lack.


I think the opposite. If they are going to have a comedian, it needs to be someone with a different role to Dara. Dara is host and needs to be neutral, or even to favour the candidate. If he attacked a candidate the way Ruby did, it would be unseemly. And unfair, because there would be no-one else to step in and stop it.


Why retail industry? Why not someone from the same industry as Melody? (Which Ruby is - see above.)

I can respect that; however I do think two comedians (or comediennes) on the same stage is bound to detract from the original purpose.

I had put retail industry because it was a retail task, in hindsight it doesn't make a lot of sense as the other tasks related to different sectors. My point was that whoever is going to cut her down should be a person with some experience in business, perhaps someone with a knowledge of whatever field the previous task was in.

You make a good point Brangdon
It would have made better sense to get someone in from the field that Melody claims to work in. We might have found out what she did then!

Melody looked absolutely stunning on You're Fired. A bit like a Greek Goddess. Hot. Hot. Hot. Who cares if Wax dissed her, it's not the end of the world. I think Melody just took it on the chin. Good on her.

I liked Melody's YF, it was old school like it used to be, with some humour but overall ess gag-heavy and the panelists raising pertinent points about all the candidates, not just Melody. I just like it better that way.