Whilst I appreciate your concerns, there are a couple of things I can say to assuage them.

With regards to the first concern, I'll point out that this is a game on a forum dedicated to The Apprentice which requires people to remember every single candidate in history. Think about the types of people who frequent this forum. Whilst there are some casual viewers here (and they are very welcome) I don't think that those people will be the ones who are very equipped to take part in the game anyway, as they wouldn't remember the people who were out in the early weeks several years ago. The people who take part in something like this will be people like you and I, committed viewers who have made a conscious effort to watch every episode, and probably more than once as well. If someone is as big a fan of The Apprentice as that, I would consider it reasonably likely that they would have watched Young Apprentice as well.

As for inflating the numbers - well, it does, but not by that many considering. Across the three series, there were 34 Young Apprentice candidates, which seems like a lot when I say it like that, but it's only slightly over the number of people in two series of the main show (which with a few exceptions, usually equals 32). Assuming that The Apprentice will carry on, I imagine it is reasonably likely that we will continue doing this game with increased numbers each time, so looking at it in that way, including the Young Apprentice candidates won't increase the numbers all that much.

With regards to why it would be a good idea to include them, I think that comparing them with the adults would be really interesting, and it would be intriguing to see whereabouts in the list they end up (if they're all clustered around the same place or distributed a bit more equally). I think it could alter the lists quite significantly - I myself can think of at least two who would have been in my top five had they been included last time.

Well, I've said my piece, it's up to you in the end and I won't complain if you decide not to include them! I just think that they're candidates as legitimately as those in the adult series, and the pros of including them outweigh the cons.

I'll consider it, but YA was a different show and I think it ought to have its own rankings

Only as different as Big Brother and Celebrity Big Brother, and I think they're generally talked about in the same breath.

I disagree on that. People who watch both rarely compare BB and CBB and the HM rankings for those 2 programmes are done separately.

I mean, if there was a celebrity edition of The Apprentice I wouldn't advocate including those candidates, because they will already have fans from outside of the process (of those few regular candidates who have been in the public eye outside of the show, I have tried really hard to judge them purely for their time on the show and not for anything else - otherwise Katie Hopkins would have been much lower down my list).

I think that's the difference between judging civilians and judging celebrities. The only difference with the Young Apprentice candidates, as far as I can see, is the age that they were when they took part, and even that wasn't a significant difference as they were pretty close to adulthood anyway. I think that they can easily be judged in comparison to the others in a way that celebrities can't.

Slightly off topic but I'm so pumped for the new series of the Apprentice

Same!

I've decided the vote will open next Tuesday (15th Sep), and will be open for 4 weeks until Tuesday 13th October, which I suspect will be the day of the first episode of Series 11.

Isn't it better to wait until Series 11 starts? There will be more traffic on the forum then.

I just want to have it wrapped up by the time I go on holiday. I'm sure the forum will be busy in the run up anyway!

2 days until you guys can get voting!

I've been thinking about this, and whilst you are of course welcome to run your game however you like, I think I myself will only take part if Young Apprentice is included. The reason for this is that for obvious reasons I consider Young Apprentice to be more an extension of the main show than a different show entirely, and its candidates are to me as legitimate as the candidates on the main series.

So if you'd like to include it, that's great and I look forward to taking part in it. If you'd rather not, that is of course your prerogative but it's not something that I'd like to be part of, though I wish you all the best of luck with it.

No offence, but this seems somewhat petty. The show really wasn't an extension... To not take part because of its lack of inclusion seems odd.

I would edit the above post but my network won't allow it, so I will continue in a new one.


Young Apprentice ended three years ago. The forum is about the show that is happening now, and so to refuse to take part in a game that focuses on being relevant because it doesn't include a show that has been largely forgotten now, again, seems odd.

No offence taken

I can see why it comes across as petty, but I don't really see it like that. There are some candidates that I consider to be very significant in my assessment of others, purely because of their age. As a matter of fact, my all-time favourite candidate was a Young Apprentice person. I took part in it before because I thought it would be fun despite that, but although I did have fun, I wasn't that happy with all of my choices. It didn't feel right saying that a certain person was my all-time favourite candidate when actually there was at least one person (possibly more if I counted properly) who trumped them. In addition to that, I also see it as a matter of principle, in a way.

I'm not trying to be difficult about this, I just feel that Young Apprentice is significant firstly in the way that I assess the candidates, and secondly as an extension of the show generally. Each to their own, of course.


By the same argument, I could suggest not including the first six series, as they followed a format that became defunct five years ago. As a matter of fact, the Young Apprentice format was more similar to the current one than the original format for the adult show, because the prize was a business investment. I know you're probably going to argue that the first six series were still considered to be the same show by the BBC, but I don't think that's really the point. I'd argue that the actual format of Young Apprentice had more of a bearing on the current adult show than the format of the first six series, and therefore the types of personalities it attracts becomes significant. Young Apprentice and The Apprentice from Series 7 onwards attracts people who want to go into business with Lord Sugar - whereas Series 1-6 attracted people who wanted a job. The similarities and differences between the candidates is fundamentally significant in a game like this.

I'm not actually suggesting that you pull out the first six series, merely pointing out that the differences between the candidates are probably more distinct between the early years and the later years than they are between the current batches and Young Apprentice.

I must also stress that I really don't want to fall out with you, as I enjoy talking to you. It's just that to me, when I compare series of The Apprentice, that means adult and young. The only reason it doesn't include celebrity is because they weren't full series (and also I haven't seen all of them, though I would have done were they all on YouTube).

I've tried to explain why it's important to me, I was hoping you'd see my point. If you don't, that's cool, but I personally prefer not to take part in things that prefer not to include it. On a personal level, if you're ranking something and someone has left out your favourite, it leaves a slightly sour note. Not trying to be petty.

I wouldn't want to fall out with you. I just do not wish to include Young Apprentice because it was a different show with younger candidates, and yes, they did work as hard as their adult counterparts, but I just do not see the YA candidates as a significant part of the history of the show.

Fine. Evidently this is something that we disagree on. For reasons I've explained, on a personal level I think that Young Apprentice is important enough that I always consider it as equivalent to any other past series. I've weighed up the pros and cons of taking part in this game anyway (not wanting to come across as petty vs the importance of sticking to my guns) and on balance it feels like the cons outweigh the pros. If that comes across as immature I'm sorry about that, but if the game alienates people who consider things in the way I do, that's me out of the picture, I'm afraid.

Best of luck with it

It's just that I really do think that you are a very small minority - considering the number of viewers YA got, I think a lot of people would struggle to remember the YA candidates.

Also, I think you're right George... I should postpone this so that the vote significantly overlaps with the series. I am going on holiday in late October, so will start the ranking when I get back - so the vote will open in a couple of weeks.

Well, as I said before, I think that anyone who is committed enough to remember every single candidate across the years, including those who were very low-key and were fired for not doing anything in Weeks 2 and 3 five or six years ago, will have been committed enough to watch the spin-offs as well. But let it go. Run it how you like.


Glad you've listened to me on this one, at least. It will make a significant difference to the numbers.

Personally, I think the only difference is that people like Mark and Tom would have been fired (long) before the interview rounds if it were still a job interview.

However, people like Helen, Neil, Katie (either one) and Roisin would have still fitted under the old format.

Whilst I can see your point, I also have a few YA candidates that I would rate highly (for skills or amusement), it is difficult to compare the kids with the adults in my perspective.
My opinion is also (partly) formed by that disaster of a semi-final format in Series 2 of YA.

So, I will take part in the new vote. Also to adjust some placings from the last list (will probably start working on the list in the next weeks already; keeping an eye on my previous placings).