She certainly deserve to go - the blonde did. Did sweet FA (although I know it is merclessly edited).

It just bafled me how the boys won with their crap merchandise The girls designs were so good.

I think that the girls who went to the zoo pretty much wasted their time - iirc at the end of the day the girls had about a third of their product unsold so their profit was hit by spending on kit they didn't sell and not actually getting enough revinue.
I'd agree the girls product was miles better but it just goes to show having a superior product isn't a guarantee of success

I did say that it was not the intention. Can't do more than that. It was so plain that Katie was about to be fired, but Bilyana just couldn't button it, forcing a late rethink from Sugar.

She did. She said as much in the taxi; that she owed Bilyana a drink. I'm glad Katie got another chance and I hope the near-miss wakes her up a bit.


I doubt that would have been allowed. Usually they have to stay in two sub-groups, because there aren't enough cameramen to cover them if they split up further. You'll see this in most episodes.


Lord Sugar often makes an early example of someone like Katie who seems to be hiding.

And for the same reason, he rarely fires the PM unless they either get it very wrong, or were only PM because they were forced. That helped Gabrielle here. Also, she was smart enough to see Lord Sugar's interest in Katie and brought her back into the boardroom. She listened - something Bilyana was unable to do.

Apart from that Gabrielle would seem to be a poor PM to lead her team to a loss. They had a good artist, and they had someone who understood the technology, two advantages the other team lacked. (Admittedly the artist didn't matter much because each team was supplied with hired talent.)

Nick's team chose to sell tat to tourists, which was a winning choice. Gabrielle's team chose to sell children's things, which I think was intrinsically weaker. Parents do spend money on their children, but they also have a strong sense of value for money; it's hard to rip them off. Foreign tourists are more likely to spend big, as being in London is a special event for them, and they aren't so used to the money.

I think this early wake up call will be good for Katie. She knows that it's impossible to hide now... we could see her potentially grow as a confident candidate as the series progresses.

We have a field of idiots instead

Probably because it was being compared to the boys red blob, honestly putting a union jack on a bear? My five year old nephew could fart out a better idea then that.

I can't believe the boys won, I would rather have the bubonic plague then one of those bags

Anyone who's been to the zoo will know that road, it seems to go on forever. The way she strode down it with no shops in sight but still insisted it wasn't far was hilarious. But what puzzled me was why didn't they use the car which took them to the zoo?

Shame she self-destructed like she did, she seemed to be a potential finalist material.

True, but I was just pointing out that the other two made mistakes which might have made them lose the task.



Actually it was Jade and (our) Nick who gave the assist to this.



Totally true, this was a bit snowed under for me. Who was responsible for the strategy, as that was the main failure.

I really wanted the boys to lose and none of the girls to go but, out of the final boardroom, I think Katie should have gone.

Purely because the Gabrielle and Bilyana have potential to make better TV.

That's exactly what I was thinking but far too embarrassed to say so Having said that there was a legitimate reason for Katie to go, hiding, it was just a pity Bilyana imploded.

Did the girls mess up by not getting the figures sorted in the beginning? I seem to remember the boys taking ages over this whereas the girls seemed to glide over this. If so perhaps it was fair Bilyana went as wasn't she a figures person?

Monkseal´s blog on the first episode:

http://monkseal.wordpress.com/2012/0...e-1/#more-5326

Would be interesting to see how many PMs have been fired over the series - I thought it was quite often hence the relunctance to be PM especially in the first week.

Thanks for posting the link SH.

Another entertaining read from Monkseal.......

does the phrase "sub-team" exist anywhere else outside of the apprentice?

also, it really winds me up how they repeatedly refer to the shows as "this process"

every. single. year.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Team

"... Large teams can divide into sub-teams ..."


I suppose if Sugar, and others, used a different phrase other than "this process", they would also use it repeatedly, and, therefore, you would get just as annoyed with any alternative phrase, anyway.

The losing PM gets fired 50% of the time. It's the same percentage for the first task as any other task, so there's no special danger in being PM at the start.

If 50% is higher than my "rarely", it's because so often the PM does really, really badly, to the point where Lord Sugar doesn't have much choice. You notice this time, Katie, Gabrielle and Bilyana all asked to be made PM next time in lieu of being fired this time? That often happens and it often leads to the PM being one of the worst candidates available, ie someone who should have been fired the previous task.