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Best first casualty? |
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#1 |
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Join Date: Oct 2012
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Best first casualty?
I thought this could be quite an interesting discussion... who would you choose to work with, purely out of people who have been fired first? Here is a reminder, just in case:
Series 1: Adenike Ogundoyin Series 2: Ben Stanberry Series 3: Andy Jackson Series 4: Nicholas de Lacy-Brown Series 5: Anita Shah Junior Apprentice Series 1: Jordan De Courcy Series 6: Dan Harris Series 7: Edward Hunter Young Apprentice Series 2: Mahamed Awale Series 8: Bilyana Apostolova Young Apprentice Series 3: Max Grodecki I myself would probably choose Andy Jackson, as he seemed reasonably confident and had some integrity. I also thought that Bilyana came across as quite bright, Jordan was better than he was made out to be, and Ben and Anita could have done better throughout the series. |
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#2 |
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Join Date: Apr 2013
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Nicholas De Double-Barrel was a caricature of a toff. He gave the impression that he really didn't want to be there. I was glad to see him fired. Andy was just incredibly overzealous. He literally thumped his chest and banged on the table when they spent those few hours choosing a PM for the first task. I could not be in the same room as someone like that; too much testosterone. Dan had the same problem, but at least it sort of suited him, being a Bruce Willis lookalike.
I liked Ben. Ben iirc seemed like a really nice bloke. I think he only lost the task because the girls sold a load of half rotten fruit that they'd got for free by cavorting with the market traders. |
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#3 |
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Join Date: Nov 2011
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Ed Hunter hands down. He was absolutely hilarious!
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#4 |
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Quote:
I liked Ben. Ben iirc seemed like a really nice bloke. I think he only lost the task because the girls sold a load of half rotten fruit that they'd got for free by cavorting with the market traders.
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Ed Hunter hands down. He was absolutely hilarious!
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#5 |
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Join Date: Nov 2011
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I agree, Ben did come across as a nice bloke.
Just for entertainment value though? I was talking more about who you'd actually want to work with. I would never want to work with Edward. Though I wouldn't choose to work with her, competency-wise, I think that Bilyana is the best there. However her personality would make it difficult to work with her, in my view. |
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#6 |
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My problem with Nick is that I can't stand anyone who reinforces the class divide between people. I refuse to categorise myself, and I get on with people from any and all backgrounds. I see everyone purely as people, and I think the world would be much better if we all did that. I appreciate that that doesn't really make a difference to the tasks, but it changes the way I feel about people.
I actually think that Jordan was better than he was made out to be. When I first watched Junior Apprentice, I hated him, but re-watching it, he has come across as better than I remembered him, and I actually think Rhys should have been fired on the first task. I think Jordan's biggest mistake was being too confident in his own abilities. He thought he was the greatest, so put himself forward as PM straight away, and it took a while for him to get his bearings, probably because he was a little intimidated by the situation - as many would be. Even his team admitted that by the end of the day, his leadership skills had improved considerably, and had he stayed in I think he could have done okay in the process. No one seemed to have a problem with him when he came back to help on the final task. |
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#7 |
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Join Date: Jul 2003
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Don't think we ever learnt enough about Bilyana- her CV suggested real ability - coming to a new country, and doing well enough to get herself, on merit, into a big investment bank, if I recall. We didn't ever find out much about what she did, or at what level though. Still I think it looked very good as a CV compared to Tom who was portrayed late on as a triumph for nepotism . At that stage though Lord Sugar had Stella working for him after winning the last series and he may just not have wanted a banker again. He still came up with pretty shallow reasons for firiing her, basically because she couldn't read him, and he often just doesn't tolerate differences of style. or look for ability beyond them
Mahamed was terrible , but unlucky as others with very similar capabilities and task results were allowed to stay on well past the date at which their lack of substance was obvious - possibly for TV value? |
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#8 |
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Quote:
Don't think we ever learnt enough about Bilyana- her CV suggested real ability - coming to a new country, and doing well enough to get herself, on merit, into a big investment bank, if I recall. We didn't ever find out much about what she did, or at what level though. Still I think it looked very good as a CV compared to Tom who was portrayed late on as a triumph for nepotism . At that stage though Lord Sugar had Stella working for him after winning the last series and he may just not have wanted a banker again. He still came up with pretty shallow reasons for firiing her, basically because she couldn't read him, and he often just doesn't tolerate differences of style. or look for ability beyond them
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#9 |
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Join Date: Jun 2004
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Looking through the list, I think the only one who was a serious proposition was Bilyana. Had she known when to shut up, she'd have survived - Sugar was clearly on the point of firing Katie - and who knows what she might have done in later tasks, as she actually seemed quite capable.
I think Anita Shah shouldn't really have been fired first, but she clearly wasn't going to last long. |
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#10 |
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Anita seemed very overwraught with the whole thing but her credentials suggested she could be something special.
Axing Bilyana in the first Boadroom session was nonsensical too- she wasn't even the worst candidate that week! |
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#11 |
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He does tolerate differences of style, as proven by his selection of Zara - she was very different to him, but he liked her. Bilyana would have been safe had she actually listened to what he was saying, but he demands respect and she wasn't giving him that by frequently interrupting him. She was pretty good on the task, it was just her boardroom attitude that led to her downfall.
Bilyana is a clasic case of cultural differences . There are others - particularly with some of the asian candidates - who are written off for being too quiet, or being too talkative or aggressive. In Bilyana's case, she can't read him, can't evaluate how much danger she is in, and can't argue in a way he can understand, and take on board. He just doesn't step beyond that, and ask the question he should be asking - which is how capable is this person? Her CV suggests she is , and a wiser, more tolerant, person would have bothered to find out. |
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#12 |
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Join Date: Apr 2013
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Maybe if Bilyana had stayed I'd actually remember something from the last series. Also it made me giggle how all the candidates called her Billy Anna.
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#13 |
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Maybe if Bilyana had stayed I'd actually remember something from the last series. Also it made me giggle how all the candidates called her Billy Anna.
![]() *The girls coming up with the ridiculous 'splash guard' idea, and Jane asking for the retailer to buy one million units. *Duane claiming that their condiment was delicious, before coughing uncontrollably. *Sterling being beaten by Phoenix on the fitness club task, despite Phoenix's ideas and video being so much better. *Katie selling meatballs in a pizza outfit. *Azhar's repeated use of the word 'strategy'. *Adam thinking that he needed to choreograph a wine advert. *The judges looking very impressed by the Grandeur wine campaign, until they saw the dreadful advert... *Claude actually saying something nice to someone in an interview! |
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#14 |
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Join Date: Jun 2004
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Did you not find Series 8 very memorable? I think a lot of people have that problem; I remember a lot of things from it though. Here are some reminders:
*The girls coming up with the ridiculous 'splash guard' idea, and Jane asking for the retailer to buy one million units. *Duane claiming that their condiment was delicious, before coughing uncontrollably. *Sterling being beaten by Phoenix on the fitness club task, despite Phoenix's ideas and video being so much better. *Katie selling meatballs in a pizza outfit. *Azhar's repeated use of the word 'strategy'. *Adam thinking that he needed to choreograph a wine advert. *The judges looking very impressed by the Grandeur wine campaign, until they saw the dreadful advert... *Claude actually saying something nice to someone in an interview! Laura's exercise video (boy, can I remember that!) Adam being a patronising sexist knob (which it occurs to me is a tad hypocritical of me given my comment above; still, let it stand) Adam thinking corned beef was classy food Adam lecturing everyone on how to handle glasses Gabrielle literally laughing in Stephen's face when he proposed the name Chink for sparkling English wine Tom and Adam getting drunk Tom and Ricky pumping each other for hours (according to Nick Hewer anyway) Jade's drunken jellies |
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#15 |
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Laura's exercise video (boy, can I remember that!)
Adam being a patronising sexist knob (which it occurs to me is a tad hypocritical of me given my comment above; still, let it stand) |
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#16 |
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It's not sexist to imply that you found someone particularly attractive in a video. After all, women say that about men all the time, and no one calls them sexist.
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#17 |
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It just occurred to me after I'd posted that it might invite such a comment, so I decided to point it out before anyone else could
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#18 |
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Join Date: Sep 2008
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Bearing in mind I've only watched since Series 6 so have a limited list to choose from, I'd go with Bilyana.
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#19 |
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Bilyana at a push but reckon she could annoy the other workers.
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#20 |
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Definitely Bilyana for me, can't believe she was fired first in a series of such weak candidates
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#21 |
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Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: The United Kingdom
Posts: 8,407
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Bilyana, for sure. It's a shame she was fired over Katie. I remember that very brief period in series 8 where it seemed like Katie could actually become a contender. Then task 6 happened.
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