The new format of The Apprentice makes no logical sense whatsoever.

The candidates battle it out for weeks pratting about designing logos and selling old toilet seats to tourists. It's only when they get down to the final 4 that the finalists present their buisiness pproposals... The ones Sugar is going to invest £250k in and are undoubtedly the most important part of the whole show.

We saw it last year. People do well on the weekly tasks and then stroll up with some god awful buisiness idea not worth a £10 investment. What was the point of the 10 weeks prior in thus instance? Makes no sense at all.

Its about good telly - that's all. That's the only real purpose for the tasks - and the programme.


If Lord Sugar wanted a business partner there are much easier ways to get one than a TV show.

When he employed the winner he was investing just as much in them, probably more if they were to stay in the job. He retains a half share in the £250K investment, so he is giving the winner an investment of £125K, no more than a year and a quarter of a "six figure salary", not including NI and other employment costs. No doubt he keeps the investment under tight control, not releasing the funds all at once, etc. The investment prize has the potential to net the winner much more than the job prize, but Lord Sugar gains in equal measure.

The investment prize is very similar to the Junior Apprentice prize yet no one goes on about how it ruins that format. The only reason people complain about it with the main series is because Tom Pellereau won and he was seen by some as having been chosen in advance (not that there's any evidence for this, apart from guesswork). I think he was a deserving winner from the final four last year.

The only difference it has made to The Apprentice is in having more "start up business" type tasks, but there were always some of those. The entertainment aspect of the programme is unchanged, and the final has always been down to Lord Sugar's opinion, only now the opinion of the interviewers carries some weight too, which is a good thing.

Ask Jade - she seems to be the one who has all the answers to which Barrow Boy nods his head. She makes it up as she goes along as to whether the tasks are relevant or not to the business plans. I became confused last year with Tom, but more so this series when Jade should have been fired for being an atrocious PM yet defended herself for her business plan but this week, she said it should have been the luxury product task that they were judged on. LAUGHABLE!

The new format is seriously flawed. Before when looking for an apprentice the aim of the programme was clear . Now with LS looking for a business partner it is far from clear . It says on the official site

The eventual winner of The Apprentice Series 8 will be given the opportunity to be Lord Sugar's business partner and receive an investment to the value of £250,000 founded on the basis of their idea.

So is this a New business idea the candidates have to come up with, or is he going to invest in an existing business .

Last year the only reason he went with Tom is because he already had an existing nail file business. LS said himself if he had been looking for an apprentice Helen would definitely won as she was an outstanding candidate.

It seems LS is now nothing more then a Venture Capitalist or like the Dragons Den with his interviewers going through the 4 candidates portfolios and finding the most secure that LS can invest in.

On that basis it looks like Tom and Nick are the only candidates in with a chance and the other two are only there to fill out the programme.

To bring the Apprentice back to some semblance of what it used to be all the candidates chosen should NOT be running any business . That would give them all an equal chance.

No it isn't. The main reason is that in the perception of many, the show has gone downhill at a steady rate since the format was changed - and this year it was often annoying, or a crashing disappointment, or both. People are merely trying to work out what's gone wrong.

It's obvious that a lot of attention would be paid to the most obvious difference between this series and those earlier, more popular ones. Paace's point that the show is beginning to resemble a dysfunctional version of Dragon's Den has been made a number of times here and elsewhere.

Sugar did mention this year that he has seen all their business plans, and that's why they were all selected for the show. So the assumption, presumably, is that they all have something worth investing in, and the process is to help figure out as much as possible about each candidate.

Having said that, it is number one a tv show.

I don't remember that . Do you know which episode he said that.

And why are we not allowed to know all their business plans?
I bet in the end he goes for either Tom or Nick and their existing businesses, Tom's wine or Nick's coffee.

Episode one. He says that business ideas he's not interested would have already been discarded and that they (the apprentices) are there because he's interested. It's right at the beginning when he first talks to them in the boardroom.

Not sure - it might even have been on You're Fired. But I agree its was absolutely what I thought last year - that they could get a final four all with crap business ideas. Which admittedly would make little sense, so it does make sense that they would all have some semblance of a decent idea / plan.

Edit - it was episode one apparently.

It makes very little senselooked at the other way around either - the ability to do things in tasks often/usually bears no relationship to whether that person could do whats in their business plan . Laura's not going to sell art, katie isn't going to sell cheap meatballs to Scots. Maria just needs a restaurant and a kitchen and she will nap whenever she wants to.

A big problem they have ended up with is that, in so far as they have been tested on wider business skills , the 4 left have all been guilty of the same crimes that other people went home for - no strategy, no grasp of the task purpose, inability to get on with people, silly mistakes and keeping too quiet. Thats been compunded by almost every task having been won by one team in a pretty inconvincing/error strewn way - usually because the opponent makes one bigger mistake and it counts more - or Lord Sugar says it does.

The result is a race where the finalists are there somewhat randomly, and the winner may again be decided by what they walked in with.

That was a problem with the 2011 interviews. If you were not already doing what you were offering (or in Tom's case didn't have the patent in your pocket) you were torn apart because your figures didn't add up or couldn't be proven. That argument was used against Susan who had the business but wanted to expand it at unknown cost. There's also the Zara argument that if you had entrepreneurial spirit you would have shown it by now and would have already started your own business. Lord Sugar likes that one, and its not easy to show drive and ability to do what you have not done - compared to someone who has already ticked those two boxes. Its almost self fuilfilling that the only plan that can hold up is one that involves small change to something thats already happening or something thats been developed, and comes needing a producer with detailed costings.

As tabitha said it is in episode 1 about 5 minutes 11 seconds in, and he clearly says he has seen their business plans.

As to why we dont know the plans is simple, we would see how weak/strong they were, also, it would take up time which would be lost either on the tasks or boardroom part of the programme.