I would say the opposite - based on past winners they should be avoiding being Project Manager for as long as possible, albeit without being too conspicuous about it. Of the previous winners only Tim and Yasmina volunteered to be PM early on. Of the other 7 Stella's hand was forced by Lordalan and none of the rest were PM before Week 5. Quite a few of them even had a stated strategy of never being PM at all unless it was absolutely unavoidable. Even if you include Young Apprentice there the ratio is 1 early first-time PM to 2 late ones.

Particularly this task I think you would have been an idiot to volunteer - it was as close to an impossible task as I've seen on the show. Robert got caught between a rock and a hard place - either disobey Lordalan's instruction or guaranteed look like an idiot in an area that's supposed to be his day job and in which he wants to establish himself as a luxury brand. Of course you have to ask why if he didn't want to look like an idiot he'd a) go on The Apprentice and b) dressed like that, but there we are.

This cast is a trainwreck. Oh my words. No immediate favourite like Neil (S9), Rick and Tom (S8), Helen and Susan (S7)...

Naming the team "Decadence"? What the hell?

The complete ignorance of putting solar panels inside the lining made that particular carful of women look like mentally subnormal.
The dufus in the anonymous prototype company who created the camera jumper overnight lost the task for the fellas : "on air" was supposed to be one of the "on air" signs in studios (oblong red on white background) , not some barbie crayon style across yer tits.
Men should have won, women should not have got one order for their awful non-working jacket with a belly heater, lapel twinklies and no feasible way of charging itself, let alone a mobile phone!
Also ... I'm waiting for the episode where Mr.Sugar pulls out a silenced pistol and offs that "too irritating to live" camp canadian-national ... who was strangely absent from all footage in episode 2 ... something's fishy behind the scenes.

In fairness, just based on clothing he could have been compared with Lucinda and she is generally regarded as a viewers' favourite. Patrick from YA3 is another one who wore very eccentric clothes, and he got a long way despite not being very rated by the viewers - I rated him personally.

Monkseal, what has happened to your blog? I was dying to see your thoughts on these guys, but you don't have any on The Apprentice this series. Please please please resurrect your Apprentice-themed blogging? I'm desperate to see you in your distinct style talking about Steven, Sarah, Bianca and the rest.

Am doing shorter blogs this year because of the clash with Strictly - first one should be up tomorrow, second one on Saturday, inspiration willing.

The fact that not one of the girls objected to having the group name as 'decadent' pretty much answers the thread title.

I've loved the first 2 episodes; great entertainment. But if you're watching the apprentice as an interested student of business, you're watching the wrong show. Well actually no, yo could learn two things:

1. How absolutely not to conduct any business practices.

2. Possibly how to become a two-bit, Del Boy-esque saleman.

Ella-Jade and Katie both expressed reservations about the team name, and besides I'd almost rather a slightly sleazy but feasibly opulent name like Decadence over some of the buzz-word garbage that's been selected in the past ("Synergy" for example or "First Forte" which I'm still not quite sure what message it's supposed to convey).

Well that would all be very well if they'd intended the name to be kind of ironic as opposed to completely miss-understanding the meaning of a simple English word.

I don't think there's anything wrong with not knowing the definition of a word, but you shouldn't use a word if you don't know its meaning. What sort of person names a team something when they don't even know what the word means? They called the team a word they didn't even know because it contained 'decade'. I think that's just foolish.

i think he saw Leah as a safer, more measured and calculable risk, for a smaller outlay in time and money, She obviously could do what was required and impressed with her command of the financial side. With Luisa , he had something less defined, with someon who wasn't going to have it as her only interest or be as controllable. She's obviously got wider saleability, and wants to do different things too - seemingly very successfully.

The result was that, once again, he avoided taking the one with the strongest basic business skills, or the biggest potential in some subset of skills - like administration or sales.

i am not that sure he makes good decisions - either with the old or new prizes.The biggest business successes are often not winners. He's mssed better apprentices, on even his own definitions, on probably half the series. The winners recently may have made him less money than others would have. I don't think we always do any better either. Our list of winners on merit , on what we saw, probably wouldn't match their actual career or financial success. You wouldn't predict from the show that some people, whose ideas were pants ,would have gone on to successful careers, or that people who said they wanted to do X ended up doing Y, or that so many good apprentice candidates would end up in banks, corporate structures, or public speaking/training or academia .

The men's idea was totally wrongheaded- probably illegal.

The girls had too many decent ideas - but did actually manage to get them into one jacket.

The females asked the right question, but not at the right time to the person who would know the answer.They ended up with the hideous version because they didn't pursue the issue. They didn't ask what other forms solar cells might take. Nor did they ask what a solar panel can see through - or indeed what light or heat at what frequency needs to penetrate to it. Nor did they ask how long it would take to do its job, and if it could be hidden at other times under something. My solar radio works fine behind a glass window covered in grime. its not at all clear what they could have disguised theirs with given more time.

Both teams seem to have been selected for their good looks more than their brains!

I'm still hopeful some of the candidates that haven't featured much might be good, like the lady that was trying to say that 3 features in one jacket was too many.

If I remember correctly though, he chose Leah not because she was the safe option, but because he wanted to take a risk with her. Her idea actually was pretty risky, but Lord Sugar just said, 'You know what? I'll take the risk.'

Good stuff!
I preferred the shorter blogs you did in the earlier years anyway - over the years they do seem to have become a little overlong

Saira Khan's take on them


http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz...ontestant.html

I like Saira and I agreed with some of what she said, but I don't like the way she slips into talking about 'today's generation'. I hate people who do that - I am one of today's generation, and I don't think I'm any less credible that anyone who has gone before. In fact, that's one of the things that I respect Lord Sugar for, that he is prepared to give people a chance and see the best in young business prospects. When I'm older, I will make a conscious effort not to complain about those younger than me simply because they are young.

Sugar is one of the best self-promoters in the business. He has worked hard for what he has got and has gone from a poor Hackney boy to wearing ermine in the House of Lords. No mean achievement. He has backed the young whilst at the same time promoting himself and by enriching himself. Good on him I say. He also does a great deal of charity work. I like him.

Surely this series/season must fall under the aegis of the BBC Comedy department? All pretence at it being related to business in any way has been completely abandoned. Dara`s post-show piss-take now seems LESS funny than all of the previous hour!

Katie Hopkins, Saira Khan, Michelle Dewberry etc have a lot to answer for.....

I actually cried laughing in the first episode. It had shades of Some Mothers Do 'Ave Em about it.

Katie, Saira, and Michelle had brains and put them to good use. imo.

And yet they`re all basically telly pundits/renta-gobs.

I don`t think anyone on this wants anything other than a meeja career anymore.

Good job Nick is still in it otherwise a large part of the watchability would go with him.

Katie is, but I wouldn't say that Saira and Michelle are.

Nick and Margaret made the show for me. I can take or leave Karren but she certainly put the boot into the girls' group.

I only watch the show occasionally for the laughter value. It cannot be taken seriously as a realistic search for a business partner/worker/whatever. For a start - anyone who is valuable to the company they already work for is not going to be released for up to 12 weeks unless they are absolute shite at their job and therefore won't be missed. If you manage your own company successfully - why the hell are you going through this ritual humiliation to (at the end of the day) just be a lackey for Alan Sugar?

I wouldn't be surprised to find out that a lot of the contestants are actually out-of-work actors.

Indeed , Saira and Michelle have been very successful and for their series had performances easily good enough to make the final. Saira had negatives and Tim fitted the Sugar initial concept of an Apprentice better. Michelle was by far the best choice for the job on offer her year, and she's been one of the most versatile since.

Katie has seemingly had less business interest and has turned into a shock media personality - but you still have to note that she did make Lord Sugar's final two - because there was no one better to get there that year.

I don't think this year was actually any different than previous years. It looked a lot like the first couple of outings last year with chaos, lost teams and shouting, and didn't even nearly hit the absurdities of Kosher chickens, a chicken per pizza, or the absurd mouthings of Baggs.

The hopeless cases remain hopeless cases - although some continue to massively hype very little. However the successful people (look at linkedin) have often been very successful. Some have been helped by being noticed for doing something well on the show. There's also a group of people who have used the show to move up in business, or move into new business areas - who probably benefited from exposure. And there's another group who have moved into new careers - like TV presenting, public speaking/mentoring/training, and becoming TV commentators. For some of those wishing to make a move somewhere else, its proved a good advertisement .For some its opened up new careers. And a few have managed to combine an ongoing business career with lots of lucrative and/or interesting jobs on the side.