Nope, they'd have to know if they were going to the US, as James, not sure about the others would fail the ESTA. Felipe would also need a VISA I think.

Yes but like I said they had could have still have had no idea which week or even where in The US. Given they had no idea of the task they could have been flogging Disney merch in Florida or selling horses in Texas for all they knew when getting visas and what not. The NYC aspect could still have been a surprise.

Not wishing to split hairs your didn't say that, you said a trip abroad, you didn't say where.

i'm sure most of the paperwork has been sorted out by the production company and the US embassy is the place to go anyway if you can't get an automatic visa so probably after they've turned off the cameras they go and have a chat with the immigration officers and the final bit of paperwork is completed and they're able to then get together can sort out who goes where and if someones not able to get a visa they won't be made a fool of with the edit and they'll just say "i'll stay here and do X"

Maybe, just usually it takes a lot longer, than that to sort out a visa, you can't just turn up on spec and get one. Don't know whether production companies etc have a fast track facility for artists, actors etc.

they'll of been in contact with the embassy to sort out access etc and would of known for ages what the task was so once the candidates got sorted they could of sent those details to the embassy to get them to check over the candidates and probably most would of passed anyway so and those that didn't may of needed a 5-10 min chat to sort things out so 99% of the works already been done before they turn up and they may agree on a 1 trip visa for the purposes of the program as they'll know they'd be back in blighty 3 days later

I'd imagine the ESTAs and or visa's would've been sorted before the whole process took place, meaning all 20 candidates were probably cleared from the off.

I imagine that's much closer to the truth than a mad run-around at the last minute. The magic of TV can give the impression that these things are all sorted out on the spot, but the reality is that the fine details are generally all nailed down well in advance. The last thing the producers are going to do is jeopardise a tight shooting schedule by risking a delay - that's why programmes such as TA have such a large production team, to sort out the logistics so that everything runs like clockwork.

It certainly doesn't all happen on a wing and a prayer - when you start to think of everything involved in this task, it's mind-boggling: flights, visas/ESTAs, hotels, getting the industry panels together on such-and-such a day, booking the digital billboards in Times Square, securing help from agencies and designers, blocking out time in Sugar's/Nick's/Karren's diaries etc. And then there's all the invisible stuff that needs to be sorted - for instance, you can't just wander around New York with a camera crew as you need filming permits.

Imagine the carnage that would ensue if all that was held up by something as easily pre-sorted as a visa. And any delay could then impact the arrangements for the following task - in this case, the Royal Bath & West Show, which takes place on fixed dates and cannot be moved.

Think we've missed the point I originally made, which was given the complexities of getting a VISA for certain team members, they must of known weeks, months in advance that they were off too America, so their staged looks of surprise etc was all false.

I've just remembered - James has a conviction for assault - surely it would've been pretty tricky for him to get a visa?
I'd be surprised if, out of 20 people, he was the only one with a conviction too.

^^ We've already said he'd need a VISA, ESTA won't do, my question is given that these take time, the contestants must of known in advance (some weeks/months) that a visit to the US was on the cards.

All of that organisation is an Apprentice style task in itself.

Just not one you'd give to an actual Apprentice team to organise ...

As false as everyone getting up and washed and shaved (including the boys) and made up (including the girls) in just 20 minutes? Not to mention breakfasting.....

how do they do it?

Hell no, they'd even balls up the cabs to Heathrow.

"I'm not from London, how would I know where Heathrow is?"

"I blame the sub team for not dialling the cab number correctly after I'd written it down for them."

Must cost a bloody fortune then to book 20+seats then cancel some, get James and whoever else to London for a VISA (nearly £300 a time if memories correct), £9 a time for ESTA's although they can be done last minute.

You just know that they'd end up at the wrong terminal ... at Gatwick

£300 is no amount of money for a BBC primetime show whatsoever. They wouldn't have booked 20 plane seats, don't be silly.

^^ You can't be sure, how quick can you book seats for Virgin to NY, they'd have to have known days maybe weeks in advance to know many they needed, and don't forget, with the format of this series, there's no guarantee how many people will be left on a certain week etc.

You can't just rock up at Virgin and say I need 12 seats for tomorrow morning please and hope they have them.

they'd know probably theres at most 15 people left in the competition and given both teams will divide into 2 groups each side of the pond you'd probably need to book 7-8 tickets maximum so not too much cost and they'd be probably be able to release a couple in time to get some of the deposit back

True, but in what names do you book the tickets, hence why I asked do they book for all 20 etc.

I'd imagine they'll of sorted it all out well in advance, 8 tickets reserved and they could just reserve them in false names like they do when celebs/royalty fly and once they've decided they just ring up the company providing the flights and attach real names to the false ones and the US embassy can also warn the US airport whats happening and thus they're expected and swiftly through immigration to get on with the task, its probably more common than we think with VIP's always jetting to/from the USA. Its probably a royal ballache to do but when you've got months to grease the gears properly its not that hard

Think your right, but you'd of still thought James at least would of got a grilling at the airport for his several assault convictions. Would of been funny if immigration told him "no".