was that the one with the mosque clock?

Nah, that was the Marrakesh one in Series 4. The one I was referring to was with the Plain Single Tikka and White Truffles. Liz's reaction to the defeat was one of the great Apprentice moments!

Btw, I love your username!

I remeber the one where no one knew what Nigella was

:yawn::yawn:

I'm springing to BBAddict's defence here, as I agree with him. This series has been tripe in comparison to previous ones. I can't quite put my finger on it but I feel there's a sense of going through the motions. The contestants are not much to shout about & there's been no 'watercooler' moments.

It seems unfair tonight that there are four on one team and five on the other so with only £130 difference, it should have been a draw!!!

The franchise is getting stale; most of the series(es?) since series 4 have felt really repetitive and a bit staged. Still watchable, but getting a bit dull at this point.

It's very disappointing - it seems to me that the production team are going through the motions and that the show is dull and formulaic as a result. Ironically its as if they went to a tasks warehouse and stocked up on the identical products they think worked before.

When you consider some of the characters and the backstories we'e had in the past, with unitentionally funny characters, some with pathos and entertaining goodies and baddies, the casting seems dire too. I know I'm going to sound like a complete sexist, but there isn't even any real eye-candy to at least perk things up failing all else. After Bilyana left I imagine Katie was supposed to be the show hottie, but while she's perfectly pleasant, in an aesthetic sense I find her as bland and formulaic as so much else about this series.

I don't want to bash it, because its something I look forward to every year. I hope its just a one-off bad series, but I do worry that it might be falling into the trap that many reality shows fall into - meddling mistaken for innovation, repetition instead of inspiration and overdoing the manipulation of the outcome.

All these things killed Big Brother - I hope the same things don't finish off The Apprentice.

(Oh and ditch Karen Brady - I can't stand the woman and I'm not even a West Ham fan)

I think you're right. But for me (and you can judge me for this if you want) that's why I'm not enjoying this series as much as the previous ones.

They are all actually quite capable and competent candidates. It's not the quality of the candidates, it's that there are no BIG characters that get people talking. Rightly or wrong that is what people have been used to so it's been quite weird to have a series that, by and large, has quite ordinary candidates.

I watch The Apprentice as an entertainment show and when you think of the show you think of those classic moments like the kosher chicken fiasco in Series 4 or Katie's putdowns in Series 3. This series just seems very dry in comparison.

But it's an entertainment show - IMO the idea that its primary interest lies in finding a brilliant businesperson hasn't been true for some time. If the characters are "quiet" or grey then the show isn't entertaining for most people, especially given that the tasks are somewhat boring.

When people describe the characters as dire, I donlt think they mean that in the sense of business competence (although I don't share your view that most of them come across as particularly competent) but that by and large they are a collection of human blancmanges. Watching the contestants dropping clangers is entertaining, providing it isn't done cynically for that purpose. After all, which is more entertaining - watching a Formula One race where all the drivers perform perfectly and the whole thing is a bland procession of technical expertise, or one full of mistakes, thrills and spills, spectacular crashes and Nelson Piquet lamping an incompetent driver after he's been forced off the road?


I find that strange. I personally don't understand the need to like all the candidates - there have to be some likeable ones otherwise it could get unpleasant to watch, but you need to have baddies and entertaining characters as well. It also depends why they're likeable. It's all well and good having people like Katie, who seem like decent sorts that you could go down the pub with, but my friends are decent sorts who I can go down the pub with - however I wouldn't want to spend an hour watching them on TV once a week.

Surely if you yourself admit that the cast are less memorable than those in other series that points to a problem? I don't want to see the lurid, manufactured, badly acted "characters" of the sort that Big Brother cynically resorted to after about series 5, but the nature of the show should throw up at least three or four genuinely entertaining individuals among the thousands who apply, surely?

Completely agree. I only watched series 1, 2 and 3 after series 6 and to me 1 is the best, even though the series obviously wasn't new and unfamiliar to me when I watched it. There hasn't yet been one I was as disappointed with as I am with the current series, although I haven't got around to 4 and 5 yet.

BTW, just to repeat, a particualr problem for me, which has been thrown into sharp relief by what is IMO a rather boring series, is Ms Karen Brady.

As someone said, there's a hint of sourness, a touch of hubris, or self-importance, a lack of likeability and a blandness that wasn't there with Margaret.

I can see why the fans of West Ham and Birmingham City loathe the woman.

I've never watched it from a business perspective - except perhaps for the first series when it did seem that the candidates were all genuinely desperate for the job, as opposed to later series where you suspect the James Mack types were there for the fame.

It's precisely because I want to be entertained that I'm having such problems with this series - there are no memorable characters. Tom is the most competent and appears to be the annointed winner - but Christ, is he boring to watch. He's more inscrutable than a Chinaman with a botox overdose.

I agree entirely. I think this has been one of the best series for candidates. But I suppose it depends on what you want from The Apprentice. If it's pure entertainment, this series has lacked the usual "hate figure", or the complete moron who is only there for us to ridicule. But that was becoming boring and predictable, and so obviously contrived.
The candidates in the current series appear more likeable and "normal" than usual. I welcome that, but can understand others who would prefer a few "weirdos" for entertainment value.
My gripe would be with the tasks. Nothing specific, but it just seems to me that they are doing things a little "on the cheap" this year, BBC cutbacks I suppose.

But IMO this series is poor partly because it IS contrived. You can still see the archetypes - for example Adam is the Siddiq/Baggs, Alan-Partridgesque archetype, totally unself-aware and full of hubris; Jane was being set up as the fractious, abrasive villain and so on. The problem is that they haven't cast it very well.

The last thing I want to see is lurid, overly-contrived characters of the sort that fatally torpedoed BIg Brother years ago, but with the amount of applicants and the fact that there has to be some substance to the contestants, rather than just casting wannabes, they should have been able to come up with a set of less bland, whitebread characters without turning the show into a pantomime. Even some of the "serious, calm and collected" contestant archetypes of the past, like Tim or Michelle, were more interesting, with at least some hinterland or backstory, than their contemporary version,Tom, who is virtually an android by comparison.


I don't mind likeable and normal characters, but they must have some substance, interest or depth to them - normal doesn not have to mean generic. After all, I'm not looking to spend a quiet evening down the pub with any of these people. You don't necessarily need manufactured "weirdos" either - IMO that is the fastest way to kill the show - but "nice" just doesn't cut it in terms of prime-time light entertainment.


I think the problem is that like the choice of contestants, the tasks are bland, unimaginative and are often simply lazily re-hashed versions of what we've seen before.

I agree with you. I have watched every series but this one I find my self very distracted as not much is happening and less entertaining - is it the format or contestants or the editing? Or is it that I am getting bored of teh show?

Same here. Fact that I am posting on the boards at the same time as watching sort of speaks for itself. I think they have the balance wrong between time spent on the task and time in the boardroom. Also, the tasks have really all been the same - just variations on a sales theme.

I don't mind Karen, but it seems to me that the air time for her and Nick has been cut back.

No, it's not as simple as that. Accepting a show you love has gone bad and switching off with a whimper is the actions of a cretin.

Moan, whinge, protest for all your worth, take your complaints to the highest level, maybe they'll be listened to, maybe the show you love will be restored to its former glory.

Watched every Apprentice and i have to say i'm finding this one a tough going.

The candidates all seem dull, the tasks have always had a predictable edge but this year they seem totally predictable - i haven't been surprised once.

I've found myself doing other things whilst it's on with no fear of missing anything .

I feel i'm watching out of loyalty now, this could be my last Apprentice

I've watched every single series of The Apprentice and this is without a doubt the weakest....I would say the only candidates that stand out are Adam (for the clown/comedy role) and Gabrielle for her high work ethic and likeabilty....I have a huge issue with the tasks as another poster said, they feel so stale as they all seem to be rehashed, the editing is all over the place, very choppy, Lord Sugar, Nick and Karren look subduded and so do most of the candidates, they seem to lack a certain enthusiasm....I find it quite interesting how poor this year is when Series 7 (my actual favourite series ever) was only last year and had huge ratings, and that was due to some terrific tasks (the app task, the rubbish, tasks, the cat food, Paris etc) with a fantastic range of characters and they each had quite a bit of talent and personality......people like Tom, Susan, Melody, Leon, Jim, Helen.

I disagree. I'm pissed off with the amount of negativity in general. I think the current show is fine and I'm just frustrated by the amount of ranting about they aren't happy with the show.

The highest level certainly isn't the DS forums. How about the rest of us who want to dicuss other aspects apart from how "dire the series is". Complain to the BBC, not to DS where your complaints are, more than likely going to fall on deaf ears.

Personally, I'm enjoying the series, it's not up to the level of the classics (3 & 4) as there's just not enough characters, or the ones that were there were fired too soon.

But I just hate it when people say 'if you don't like it, don't watch it'. People have every right to register their displeasure with a show if they so desire.

EastEnders absolutely disgusts me right now, that it still bears the name of a show once the best thing on the box and now reduced to utter dung. I will never be silenced in my criticism.

I'm afraid that whether you like it or not, it seems a number of people are all independently arriving at the same conclusions about what they perceive to be deep flaws in this series. This is not nit-picking about the odd problem here and there - it is clear that there is a feeling the show has lost some of its magic. Moreover these are not Apprentice knockers - like myself they are people who have always loved the show, but are alarmed in case these problems turn out to be the first signs of a Big-Brother style chasing-its-own-tail death spiral into irrelevance and eventual cancellation.

There will always be a hardcore of fans of an established show,for whom it can do no wrong, regardless of how dire it becomes. Again, Big Brother is a prime example of that. Unfortunately if it does turn out that this series is the beginning of the decline, that residual hardcore will not be enough for the BBC to continue airing it.

It's perfectly legitimate for concerned afficonados to air these concerns. After all this is a discussion forum, not a cheerleading website. If you don't like criticism of the show, then you could always take the advice of those who tell the disgruntled not to watch and avoid reading and responding to threads and posts which piss you off.

You'd find it difficult to find any conclusion that one person arrived at that someone else hadn't also arrived independantly at.