i just figure at the start,,he has a good idea of who he wants to invest in,so he can just get rid of anyone but them before hand,even if they end up in the board room multiple times.

There have been hints of this and, personally, last series, where he made several dodgy firings at the start, I think that it was the case.

No, the producers tell him who to lose...for ratings purposes.

Alan and the producers probably pick the winner right from the start and then after that, it's the biggest divas and male divas that get kept on because people will talk about them more and create more of a buzz.

Yes I'd imagine so.

But probably in an order which the producers feel may make the best television along the way.

IT would be cool if he couldnt see their projects until the very end of the show. It would be like gambling but at least the firings would be genuine.

oops

Except no one can predict which 3 will end up in the boardroom every week .

As this bunch are the worst ever assembled for the Apprentice I believe they were chosen mainly for entertainment purposes.

Remember that thousands of people applied so the ones we get to see on telly should all have plausible business plans, and what Lord Sugar is doing is firing the ones he does not think can implement their plans.

I preferred it when it was just to be his Apprentice rather than this business plan element.

What happened to the inventor chap from a couple of years back - was he an apprentice or a business partner? I seem to remember them bringing out a curved nail file or something..?

Not sure if it matters. The show may pay more than the money required for the prize. He just needs something that isn't silly or toxic at the end - one decent proposal is all he needs to keep.

Series 1 of the new format it looked very much like he was heading to only one winner as one of the weakest contenders won - although Lord Sugar didn't have that many chances to get rid of him. He ended up with only one other decent proposal from Susan, that needed more work, and even ignored the actual proposal from Tom because he wanted the nail file.

Series 2 was stranger as he ended up with one proposal he dismissed as a bad idea, two he couldn't touch because of their negative associations, and one rather dull one he took.

Every series so far he's probably had better proposals from one of the people he sent home - but he may just not have been interested in the fields they were in.

This series he's already sent home people who seem to have reasonably solid, non controversial, proposals based on their CVs, and kept people who look more likely to lose his money. There's very few left who are displaying any business skill or substance.

Its now more like another form of Dragon's Den, except on there the investors have to make up their minds within minutes .

The business plan and having an existing business is now more important then finding an (Apprentice) someone to invest in .

Lord Sugar donates his programme fee to Great Ormond Street Hospital. His home is festooned with GOSH cat calendars.


Remember that this was the series that switched the prize from employee to business partner halfway through, which may be why the proposals were half-baked (and why Helen produced two).


The business may have been dull but the business plan was described by Claude as one of the best he'd ever seen even outside of The Apprentice.

Out of three contestants in front of him it's not going to be difficult to get rid of at least two of them that he has no future plans for.
I don't understand why you see a problem there.
It doesn't matter which three because he can always save the one who he believes has the best business plan of the three.

I agree. That's why I doubt very much that Kurt will win.
Because I simply can't see Alan Sugar getting into the milkshake business.
Unless there's some new twist to the idea, I just can't see it happening.

I think he leans more towards novel inventions of gadgets or something with a technological aspect to it.

I've seen the nail file in Boots. It has a picture of the inventor on the box. Tom I think it was. Not sure how well the nail fie's doing though.

remember a couple of years back,when some guy had some idea about an airport shop flight time check thingy?

he was told it was a great idea,i wonder if anyone knows if he implemented it....

Figures would be good but I doubt it is a best seller. It's more of a novelty item you would see at the £ shop or something similar.

I do not know the sales figures but it is unlikely to make anyone spectacularly rich because the profit cannot be more than £5 (since it is sold for less than a fiver) and it is not the sort of thing you'd buy on a weekly basis. That said, it must be a steady seller to be stocked by the big high street shops.

But as nail files go, it's a jolly good one.

This is Boots we are talking about and they are known for making stupid mistakes: e.g. the Jamie Oliver range of food which does not sell well, and the Indeed Lab items which were supposed to make them loads of money and just don't really sell at all hence constantly being on promotion.

What did the voluptious Ricky Martin attempt to sell last year? I simply cannot remember.

That may not be Kurt's biggest problem. His undoing might be having gone against PM Neil's direction to buy other produce. Lord Sugar might fear going into business with a man who cannot be relied upon.

Probably what happens is that they get enough idiots with a business plan thats worth some sort of interest as the really great idea's won't touch LS with a barge pole so he's left with the grade c business plans aka those of where i work now, but there may be a few nuggets possibly and even trying to select the best candidates over the weeks could fail as the pitch could be perfect but LS don't fancy working with a right tosser

It is not just Boots, though. Sainsbury's sold me mine, iirc, and according to the stylefile.com web site, it is in Tesco and Debenhams too.


Something to do with scientific staff recruitment?

He could, but I don't see any reason to think he actually does. However, I would expect that better candidates would have better business plans. And that a good business plan wouldn't make up for being a poor candidate.