From series one, right up until last years rather flat series, the show has been one of my TV highlights of the year.
Sadly, i have to say i think it's nolonger the unmissable tv that it once was.

The tasks have become dull and repetative.
The classic characters are not there.
Karen is nice, but she's no Margaret!

It's just become rather average imho.
A bit like Big Brother once that past it's peak era.

I agree. For me the whole idea of it being a business partnership was wrong. If this was so successful how come Mr Trump hasnt done it. As For Shuggsy saying it was because of the Stella impact thats tripe because the court case wasnt until this year and it only takes 6 months for an employment tribunal case to come to court! He changed the format long before he had wind of a court case trust me.

It would be interesting to compare the viewing figures for series 6 compared with earlier series. For me series 6 was a good one, not as good as my fave series 5. Series 8 was crap as was 7 but this series has better characters

its a different kind of show now, before it was a genuine social/business experiment. Now its just for entertainment and massage the egos of narcisstic people

It is but with any show of this type, Apprentice, Dragons Den, Secret Millionaire, Undercover Boss, they become incredibly stale because there is no real way of changing the format once it has been broadcast so in it's ninth(?) series, it's going to be stale and tired, maybe for the next series, or the one after so Sugar has done 10 series, they need to replace him and take the show back to working for them not being a business partner.

Dull? I think this has been a pretty good first two weeks! (Sixteen days, but thereabouts.) I agree that a freshen-up would be cool at some point, but I think the format still works. It's one that lives or dies on the strength of its candidates, and I think there's some truth to the idea that S8 was a little flatter than most, but I reckon S9 is one of the most interesting batches they've produced, so... eh!

Time for a little rant.

I think keeping the structure of the show the same is the thing that is saving it. You only have to look at other shows like Hell's kitchen 12 with it's "to be continued..." BS every other week to know messing around is not a good idea. I'm still narked at Apprentice US becoming all about Trump inc, and Donald using the boardroom part of the show like it's twitter to talk constantly about how he's not a racist/ anti-semite/ birther conspiracy nut. Oh and his self-reinforcement mantra "I'm a clever guy you know" (only complete idiots ever say it that often).

The thing for me that makes the apprentice great is the *apprentices*, yes it was way better when they were fighting for a job, because we knew from the start what they were there for. It's a bit annoying that it's only really at semi-final time that we now get to hear about their venture, and a few times I've been "Oh if I'd known your idea was that bad..."

*Rant over*

In fairness, one thing they're doing this series that they'd not really done before is they're telling us about the candidates' business plans before they reach interviews. We had summaries of a couple in the first boardroom, we had Lord Sugar's aides (was it Karren?) commenting on Kurt's business plan on task, and Dara now asks it every week on You're Fired. It's not a big change in format, but it's new, and it makes the process seem more relevant to the interviews, as well as lopping off the weird "Hold up, he's doing what??" moment at the start of the twelfth week.

I think this series has been great so far...................

Unfortunately, I am hooked so I have to watch when it is on. But they should rename it next year, The Big Apprentice Factor. It is becoming a talent show now.

I started watching it in series 3 and all the candidates were like proper business people, now it's just egotistical men and barbie wannabe women.

I was getting bored of The Apprentice but I'm enjoying this series. I think, though, it's because the candidates are so extreme and almost like caricatures of some previous candidates. That will work once, but they wouldn't really get away with it next year. I think a lot of people are probably having what feels like a 'last laugh' at the Apprentice and all it stood for and if they pulled the plug after this one they would go out on a high. I think they would be unwise to drag it out anymore.

I think the show took a massive blow to its credibility back in the 2011 series when Tom Pellereau, the inventor, won despite being the worst ever winner in terms of tasks won.


Alan Sugar completely ignored the tasks stats and hired him. I think the show has never recovered. You can still watch it for entertainment's sake but I can't take it seriously or believe it's a level playing field for all contestants.

I'll be amazed if this year's winner is a woman. After the Stella English 'case' I can't imagine Sugar is keen to work with another woman so I'm sure (well, guessing!) the show will be rigged to ensure a man wins.

Answer: Absolutely not.

I quite like the series so far. Fun.

I would like it more if they spent longer showing the task (perhaps 40 minutes) and then 15 mins boardroom & reward & ending, with the usual 5 minute catchup at the start.

At the mo it seems to be 5 mins recap, 25 mins task, 30 mins boardroom onwards.

I like to see them brainstorming, cocking up and having fun. I do not like to see them shouting and bitching for bloody ages.

The only exception is when they have to make an advert, and usually the only time we get to see the whole advert is when it's played in the boardroom; for that ONE episode they can have more boardroom time.

Otherwise, the way it's going, it seems that in future series we'll get 10 mins of task and the rest of bitching. And then I would turn off.

Viewing figures are climbing, suggesting they got it right with casting this year.

Last year's casting was very boring

Er - that's bollocks. Task record has naff all to do with performance as a candidate. If it did, Jason would be one of the standout performers this series. And Leah the second worst.

The numbers are correct, but the statistical analysis is beyond iffy.

I disagree. There would have been no point in Tom turning up to the final if he couldn't win due to an inferior record. Jason has the joint highest record this series. Does this make him the best candidate? Lorraine had a higher win-loss rate than Debra, Kate and Yasmina. Should she have won because of this?

The boardroom begins at the 35 minute mark every episode. It wasn't like that for the first couple of series, but certainly as long as they've been using this particular set. The boardroom sessions have been fixed at the length they were last night for well over half the show's run.

Tom winning didn't bother me, but I did feel that Helen changing her venture to the awful concierge idea had a big part in that, then changing back in the boardroom to the food chain made her look weak. However Shugs had made it clear that an inventor was right up his alley, and didn't go with Tom's proposal anyway.

Will a woman win this year? Idk, very few of the women seem credible atm and we've no idea what their venture is. I don't think Shugs is deliberately sexist or stacking the odds against women.

It's more of a talent show now than a business venture.

I mean come, the dumb bint Natalie yesterday with her "Is that a horse or a dog?". She should have been fired on the spot. I can remember when the contestants used to be professional business people. Now it's just dumb people with sordid pasts mainly.

I normally skip the UK version and just watch the US/Ozzie celebrity ones, but this year's cast got me hooked.

You can't really watch this show for the tasks as there's a very small number of really good ones - and even the creative ones rely on the teams being either insanely good or insanely bad to be worth watching.

I haven't seen it from the beginning, so I cannot really say. I moved to England in 2010 and that was the first Apprentice I saw ever, the one that Stella English won. Since then it's my fav show on TV :P I never met Margaret doing Karren's job, just in the part of the gruelling interviews... What I don't like is that it doesnt matter who was the biggest responsible for the failure of the task, if LS likes your project, he will spare you, if he doesnt he will fire you regardless of your performance on the task, thats probably why Mr Emergency Biscuit won despite the fact he lost 8 tasks out of 11 (I like him really). It's not "The Apprentice" anymore, it's the "Business Partner".

Last couple of series might have been dull and boring but this one certainly is spicy and entertaining.

Just as it should be.

In my view it addressed one of the basic problems of the UK show, which is that Lord Sugar never seemed to offer good jobs to the winners. The US version doesn't seem to have the same problem because Mr Trump's empire is bigger.

Its more interesting, but they have done something a bit dangerous with the casting. Usually, you have some smart but relatively quiet person waiting to emerge for the win, and some more making the final, as the loud mouthed and the plain foolish crash and, eventually, burn, and Lord Sugar disposes of the also rans.

This series they have cast big characters in almost all of the slots which means someone more unusual may well emerge. A loud mouth may actually turn to have merit, or someone who fits some stereotype may prove to be much more. One problem is that the dead wood may be more prominent, but more likely to be kept in by Lord Sugar because they are types he finds it difficult to fire. That means more failures on tasks and the moderately able may go early - as there's no one else to go. The bigger problem is that much of the viewing public only sees stereotypes, rejects anyone unusual, and judges irrelevant things like looks, accents, or hairstyle and make up. Thats true of every other show from Big Brother to X factor - though an Apprentice audience may have different tastes. You end up with many viewers still backing stereotypes they fall for, and never understanding why the winner won. In most shows, the viewers have their way because there's a public vote, and, on shows like later Big Brothers, they usually fail to understand the stories on offer - but here there's only one vote.

Its going to be interesting to see if they do manage to produce some show journey stories - and, if they do, how many viewers will follow them.