I am a huge fan of the Apprentice and for the first year have enjoyed reading and posting in this forum.The only thing that I think detracts from it is the (for want of a better word) bitchiness towards both Leah and Luisa.

I appreciate that the 2 finalists may not have been everyone's choice but from the beginning I couldn't help but notice that there have been negative comments directed towards these 2 that seem, way over the top and out of place considering what the Apprentice is all about. It almost seemed like some FMs were waiting for any excuse to jump on them and criticise. Luisa bore the brunt early on, but in more recent times I've also seen a load of comments about Leah. Many of the comments are not about their ability, they are more being bitchy about their physical appearance.

Why is this?

I see the jealous/ jellus(!) argument thrown around on other forums fairly casually, and I don't believe this to be the reason, but would be interested to hear what would compel someone sat at home to reach for the keyboard just to slag off Leah's lips, or Luisa's plastic boobs etc..

Personally I don't think the vast majority of women that post in this forum are jealous, but there's definitely something afoot re females on tv who fit the perceived stereotype of attractive. They seem to draw a quite disproportionate level of negative attention, and have a far smaller margin for error than others.

Come on people, this isn't the TOWIE or BB forum. For me, it lets the Apprentice forum down. It's one of the better ones IMO for having a decent debate about the show we all love to watch!

Would be interested to hear sensible thoughts as to why this is.

I think this apprentice forum has been pretty busy this year.

However a lot of the reality tv rules for women created by big brother viewers seem to have found their way in here sadly.

I have never seen so much Luisa out, fake, vile, bully, game player etc branded out in here before.

Standard BB phrases that usually mean little in real word but get bandied about at reality tv women far too easily

Basically people who post a lot in forums have somewhat empty lives (they will of course say different, but they would... you can't argue with the fact that if people had better things to do with their time than post on an Internet forum then they would be doing it). Anyway because their own lives are not as rewarding as they would like they seek solace in putting down those who they perceive to be getting (unfairly they feel) more out of life than them. It's simple psychology that is repeated over and over every day on forums such as these, Facebook, Twitter etc. etc.

Luisa made herself very dislikable in the early episodes which was why many posters took an immediate turn against her. I don't think Leah got hugely negative comments at the start but she came across quite badly on one particular episode about 5 weeks in and, as the pool of contestants was beginning to dwindle she came in for some negative attention. But she's also received a lot of positive comments on here as well.

Whilst I understand how Luisa may have rubbed some people up the wrong way, so many of the comments seem to be about her looks, not her personality or how she comes across (although there are plenty of those also).

To me, there is a smaller margin of error for women who are generally accepted (in society's terms anyway) as being good looking. As soon as they say or do something wrong, many seem to relish jumping on the opportunity to stick the boot in, and from there on in, their card is marked.

As soon as the first opportunity came where Leah didn't come across well to some (Dunbai task) there seemed to be an outpouring of negativity, almost as if this was the moment certain posters were waiting for. Ok, I appreciate the above sounds slightly melodramatic but hopefully people get the point I'm making.

The fact that the comments towards these 2 are often more concerned with their physical attributes as opposed to being a constructive critique of their business acumen, is pretty revealing.

I agree a lot of the comments were about her looks and some were inappropriate, but Luisa herself did bring her appearance into it as well talking about how people couldn't believe someone who 'looked like her' could have business acumen etc etc.

I don't think Leah's looks received much negative comment apart from her lips and many people who made those comments did so because her business plan is centred around plastic surgery.

But yes, you're always going to get posters who are more interested in commenting on the female candidates' appearance than their performance. There are shallow people everywhere!

Couldn't you say the same about all the comments about Alex being ugly and weird, Jordan being mocked for his height and I've even seen people say that Neil should be fired just for having a neck beard and glasses? There are plenty of unkind comments on the looks of all the contestants. I'm not defending comments on the looks of anyone, really I'm not. But there seem to be some commentators on here that think men criticising men is only reasonable but women criticising women is unacceptable bitchiness.

I will hold my hand up and say I've called Luisa fake and vain on this forum. I think she has been in several tasks. So has Jordan.

Personally I've found Luisa objectionable throughout. She certainly wouldn't survive two weeks working in someone else's company - but then that's not what they're trying to set up here. She has shown good business instincts throughout and usually made the right calls, and the fact that she has three 'live' businesses demonstrates that she has a track record as an entrepreneur. Much though I dlislike her, she is a strong candidate and 100% deserving of a place in the final.

Leah, too. She is business-naive but very smart, and the way she rattled off the details of her business plan shows she had thought it through carefully. I also thought she did well defending herself under questioning - assertive without ever losing her temper.

Who will win? It all depends on Sugar's attitude to risk. Despite what he said in the boardroom, he has previously shown himself to be quite a cautious investor, in particular when it comes to anything that might damage his reputation. (Remember, this was one of his biggest concerns with Tom Gearing's plan last year.) On that basis, although it's the less exciting proposition, I expect Luisa to win.

It's not really about who has the 'better' plan at this point. It's all about the investor's attitude to risk, what types of business they're comfortable with (Sugar is notoriously a 'products' man, not a service one) and so on. What's better for one investor is not necessarily better for another.

A venture capitalist, who is more geared towards high risk/high return, would almost certainly find Leah's business more attractive, not least because there is an obvious exit down the road in terms of selling her business to someone else.

If it seemed to be a level playing field then fair enough. My main bug bear with this place (not exclusive to the Apprentice Forum, which is actually a hell of a lot better than some of the others!!) are the double standards I see.

I not sad enough to go back and count the posts re the physical attributes on each contestant but I'd be fairly confident to place a wager that the negative comments about Luisa's looks probably exceed the number of negative comments about the physical appearance of Alex and Neil and Jordan combined.

I just think it's a shame to see this come across into the Apprentice forum which to me always seemed rather more adult than the likes of the showbiz forum for example. Now that place is scary!

Yup, agree.

I don't particularly like the finalists of the show, but some of the threads here against the finalists ARE OTT, almost to the extreme.

Firstly I should say I am a fan of your Apprentice blogs. I've read a couple and I always find them to be pretty spot on and astute yet amusing at the same time!

Yes I take all your points. Despite my posts, I am no massive fan of Luisa and how she comes across- I am trying to play Devil's Advocate that's all. I knew she would be hated on here even before episode 1 and at times has done herself no favours I agree. With Leah, it was inevitable that as soon as she was perceived to slip up (Dubai) she'd be jumped on.

I have no psychic powers and cannot predict the future but it's always pretty obvious to me which candidates are going to get some OTT negative comments which has nothing to do with their personality or business ability.

It's the motivation behind these posts that I find the most interesting!

Thanks. It's always interesting to read other people's views as long as they're open-minded enough to have a discussion rather than a shouting match. The thing that amuses me is how little we really know about what goes on with the candidates and tasks - we see maybe 30 minutes of task per episode from hours upon hours of footage - and yet we're always so sure about our opinions. Which is silly. Because obviously I'm always right ...

What irritates me about comments made about Luisa in particular, is for the first few episodes she was accused of being a bully and overpowering. She was then told by Lord Sugar that she needed to change to be in with a chance, and she managed to tone herself down and adapt to this advice, and now she's being labelled a game-player, as if that's a bad thing.

I agree, most of the criticism has been OTT. I'm not a massive fan of Luisa, or I should say, the Luisa that has come across on the show. She might be completely different in real-life. But I can see that she is clearly a good businesswoman and has been successful in everything she's done.

The lips comments about Leah annoy me, you don't need to know her to see that it's blatantly obvious she hasn't had any work done. Just watch the 'Final Five' special back and you can see from her photos that she's been the same since school! If people are still persisting with such bitchy comments when there's readily available evidence that disproves them, the only conclusion I can come to is that some people are jealous of her combination of attractiveness, intelligence and success, and feel a need to put her down because of that.

The stuff about their looks is pretty horrible, and it's even worse that it seems to come mainly from female members. Guys are actually far more easy going when it comes to looks than women seem to be about each other.

I don't think any candidate on the show has ever got all positive comments on internet forums. It's standard for all candidates to get criticism so this is nothing new.

Look at it this way, if Leah and Luisa were quite plain looking (which is a bit subjective) but let's say most people thought they were plain, I guarantee people would post comments about their looks. Anyway, it's not such a big deal if people do criticize them. If you go on a show like The Apprentice you got to expect criticism.

If I had the courage to go on the show (!) I would expect people to mock me. I'm sure I would get grief as would anyone else on Digital Spy having the courage or confidence to apply and appear on the show. I think it's a given that wannabe Apprentice winners get criticism. Let's be brutally honest - the main point of the show is to ridicule the candidates. We all know that, right?!

Yup agreed and it definitely does seem to be more female posters that post the negative stuff about the looks.


Yes it's standard for almost anyone on tv or in the public eye to be commented on or criticised- as you say, this is normal. What I'm more interested in is why there always seem to be a disproportionate number of negative posts directed at young women who seem to fit the perceived 'attractive' stereotype.

If there were an even number of comments for all candidates re their physical appearance across the board then there would be no issue. I've lost count of the number of comments I've read about Leah's 'trout pout lips' or 'botoxed face that looks far older than her years' for example.

This isn't a hard and fast rule but I can't help but notice these trends across a number of different DS forums. I had hoped the Apprentice one would be different.

I am fascinated by psychology, social dynamics, how the mind works and how people think and act etc. (this is probably partly why I love the Apprentice!).This is also why I am so interested in finding out what the motivation is behind the posters who make these comments.

What I want to know is where did the 'Jordan is a Dwarf' thread go? Must have turned pretty bad to be removed. Men get the bad comments just the same as women.

I don't think the comments are particularly harsh. Leah is a average candidate (and backseat driver) with a dodgy business plan.

Luisa is an awful candidate whose only talent is whining and sabotaging other people. There's a lot of questions about whether she actually owns her cupcake shop and the less said about the offscreen stuff the better.

The fact that she is in the F4, let alone the presumptive winner, damages both the credibility of the show and LS.

Actually criticizing someone's appearance when this is a business show is actually majorly OTT.



WHAT? How is it dodgy? Just because it's facial asethics? Do you realize how much profit you can make from it?


Really? She sold like crazy, in the Caravan task she absolutely blew everyone else's sales out of the water (all of her sales combined eclipsed the whole of the other team's combined). She also realized that the bike had potential to sell well and pushed for it to be sold. Oh My Pow was brilliantly branded and Karen attributed that success to Luisa. In the last task where Luisa was PM, she took all the criticism of antagonizing people and being rude, toned it down and changed completely. She was wonderfully attentive, had a pleasant attitude and was really bubbly. She and Fran have always had their differences but even Fran admitted that Luisa had improved.

She's proved herself to be a strong leader (especially in Week 10 - if you cannot agree to this, then you're most likely blinded by some silly form of hatred). She's been really creative and innovative as evidenced by her branding of Oh My Pow! She can sell really well! She can be a team player when she wants to be...she can an incredibly sweet person too when she wants to be. I don't think there's anything wrong with her. Again, this is a show about business, put personalities aside!


Who did she sabotage? Francesca and Jason seem to spring to mind, but then again Francesca was alienating clients and tbh she was the reason that the team lost that task in Week 6. Luisa seemed to be doing all she could to save that task - in fact she's the only person in her team to have shown anything positive that week. Jason was terrible as PM, not being able to complete the website in that 3-4 hour window, being so indecisive. How could she not get annoyed? And then even Fran admitted that if Luisa hadn't taken over, it would have been a complete disaster!


Right...and why should we believe this when it hasn't been highlighted on the show? Not to mention does that mean why should automatically discredit the success of her two other companies?


How? She's been a brilliant candidate. This only shows you have next to no idea of what business skills are. Luisa has demonstrated the most and actually has changed the most and become a less aggravating, menacing person and more of a team player. She's shown more of her that nice bubbly side of her which we used to only see glimpses of earlier in the process. She can actually adapt to criticism and try to improve.

fireemblemcraze- the voice of reason.

Why all the negative comments? This is DS and that's what it's like on here.

Because they're two half-decent looking females with brains and mouths. That's enough to get hated by the viewers.

I think anyone, man or woman, who trowels on the amount of face paint that these women wear, is fair game for comments on their looks. I don't think I've ever seen such a bunch of vain people, and I hate the way they're always tossing their heads and hair - I don't know why, but it drives me nuts.

That is such a baseless, misogynist stereotype.