In an interview situation, what would you do? And Claude calling anyone that is a bit rich isn't it?

Yes it was a bit harsh!

It's all a bit pantomime. In any real interview it would be completely out of line, but this is for entertainment purposes. The interviewers have always been overly harsh.

Claude is a knob though.

I've interviewed hundreds of people and I've never said anything like that to anyone. If I was being interviewed and someone said that to me, I'd walk out.

That guy is totally over the top, year after year, and I don't respect him.

Nasty, no need to speak to an interviewee like that.

I agree, it's a bit pantomime. Also, they are trying to pick apart any flaws in the person or the business plan before they invest a whole lot of money- I guess it's akin to punishingly testing an aeroplane for stresses and flaws before you stick it up in the sky, full of people.

I was wondering if there's a specific name for this kind of confrontational interview?

edit- It's probably called 'doing a Claude', isn't it?

This. People often comment on the rudeness of candidates and completely overlook bullies like Claude in management positions. Obviously The Apprentice is partly panto and he's probably a nice bloke in real life, but such people do exist.

So insulting someone in front of millions is ok . Don't try to lesson the insult by calling it a pantomime, because its not.

I agree with the poster who said they'd walk out.

This styly of interview still unfortunately exists today. Especially in the ruthless cutthroat business of sales. These type of interviewers are dinosaurs and usually use bullying and fear tactics throughout their whole sales process.

Thank god I left that type of business behind and embarked on a new career avenue. Can't be going with these type of techniques that serve nothing more than to humiliate and blow up their own egos. It's even worse when you become the subject of such in company executive meetings. The worst part of it though is that every single person is cringing and dreading being the next person to be singled out.

Who wants to work in an environment like that?

Well, I didn't say that.

I do think it's partly pantomime yes. I also think there's an element of good cop/bad cop about it- I don't think Claude would have insulted him so roundly if he wasn't going to immediately follow it up with high praise.

I'll have to watch it again, but I think he said something like 'on paper, you look like an arrogant fool [pause] but actually your business plan is excellent' Or words to that effect.

Not sure how I would react. I have the unfortunate habit of turning the air blue in extreme circumstances..so ya.

haha...we needed a bit of the mood being lightened

I worked with a bloke once who interviewed people like Claude did. I had to stop an interview once and go outside with him and ask him to calm down.

Ricky understood the process even if you don't. The interviews are far harsher than any you would normally get in the workplace because they are in the nature of a final task. All of them know that they are intended to be harsh, they are intended to be personal, and that they just have to deal with it. What dull tv it would make if the interviews were like ordinary interviews outside, with the interviewer saying, "tell me more about this - ? What do you think your particular strengths are - ?" If you can't face the thought of interviews specifically designed to make you look like an amusing fool, it's probably best not to apply to go on The Apprentice. Those that did go on clearly knew what they were about to get and seemed pleasingly unruffled by it. I thought Ricky came over well, and no doubt he knows it and is pleased to have done so.

It is a deliberate ploy to see how the candidate reacts. Ricky just nodded and didn't explode and then Claude changed tack and praised the rest of his submission.
If Ricky had reacted badly then perhaps Claude wouldn't have backed him in the boardroom.

Those interviews would never happen in real life. They are harsh to the candidates because they want to make good television.

Never forget the editing process. If Ricky had been upset, angry and seemed intimidated that line would have never got the screen. He took it very well. Part of the reason he won perhaps?

The interview stage suffers like many other parts of The Apprentice in that we see so little of them.

Seeing as the interviews last a day, we see what, 6 or 7 minutes of each candidates 4 interviews?. So what will get through the edit is the strongest comments, whether good or bad.....

The only time the interviews genuinely annoyed me was when Lucinda completely held her own against Claude and made him look a fool, but he then trashed her afterwards in the boardroom with Lord Sugar.

I've never seen a candidate deal with Claude like she did.

The shit they wrote in their personal statements got the treatment they deserved. If you wrote bilge like that outside of the show, you would most likely not even get as far as an interview. I am aware that they may have written that or been told to write nonsense like that to get on the show; I can't imagine that most candidates would have written like that in their applications.

Moving onto Claude (who's long been one of my favourite people in the show and indeed the only reason I watched the interviews last night) - he's an arrogant fool apparently, but compared to whom? If he has that wealth of experience behind him and has had to deal with all number of cretins and buffoons over his time, should he really just sit there and suffer fools if they have presented a CV or business plan that would get laughed at in the business world? To me, he isn't at all arrogant - he has the quiet self-assuredness of a man who gets the job done, ruthlessly if necessary, and has no need to shout about his accomplishments.

Yes, to be called an 'arrogant fool' and have to justify yourself might be hard work, but there's a lot of money at stake - someone else's money, and you have to work for it.

Trust me, they happen.

Same here, I would not do business with somebody that spoke to people with no respect - even if it is for TV. Such people seem to pride themselves on being "straightforward" when in actuality it's just rudeness.

I'd probably laugh in their face and leave.

He called him that because he knew he could follow it up with a huge compliment, so it became a term of endearment.

Ricky looked like it was a badge of honour, he deliberately used the bravado to get noticed and it worked. That kind of bravado in the wrestling ring is probably considered as a kind of foreplay.......

They are not interviews in the same way as normal job interviews. Several aspects are pure TV. In the same way that not all business plans are equal. If you were solely choosing the Apprentice's on the basis of their BS, LS would never have chosen Jade's. Cold calling is the opposite of what he is looking. Being talented, she had a good chance of surviving for a fair time but on reaching the final, the other three BS would have had to be very bad indeed for her to win. However, four perfect business plans might appear dull. A few years ago, if the current remit was used, you might have had everyone choosing solar power !!!