If I hadn't seen him on The Apprentice, would I too be sucked in by this saintly persona he is now peddling? It baffles me the amount of people not seeing through his tripe, even as his mask starts to slip, but again is that because I've previously seen him in action?.

Other Apprentice viewer's, what are your thoughts on the reinvented Mr Hill?

I mean admittedly I was floored with admiration at the humanity he'd acquired during his apparent turn around / personality transplant, so I get why others are fooled. However aren't those of us who've seen him before in familiar territory now?

I'm positive if the series was slightly longer a lot more people would become wise to him but unfortunately there isn't the time, so Mr Hill I take my hat off to you, you've played an absolute blinder, well done.

The Apprentice is a dog-eat-dog business competition. I liked him on it, I thought he has loads of passion. The other contestants also got on well with him.

I just remember him as a bit daft tbh. Was it him that did the coach tour thingy on The Apprentice?

He wasn't exactly cut-throat! He was a bit of a wally really and irritating at times but obviously a likeable person with the others in the programme - even Alan Sugar seemed to like him despite his gaffes and bluster. I think he's obviously competitive otherwise he wouldn't have gone on the apprentice or big brother but that doesn't mean he isn't a basically decent bloke.

I didn't see him in The Apprentice but have never liked him on this. One of my least favourite hms from the start. Dull, dim, sneaky and smug.

He had a completely different persona on The Apprentice. Full of himself, cocky etc. He was the token villian of the series. It's really jarring to see him play the nice guy on BB. Wonder what his next role will be?

You do know The Apprentice is as fake as Jenna's arse?

They have scripts and give people roles. And then they edit stuff from 7 days to less than an hour. Much more edited than BB.

And BB isn't? That doesn't mean you can turn Jesus into the devil with editing. Even if it was 100% scripted James had a blinder. He's a very good actor you know.

Of course.

But BB is a day condensed into an hour. The Apprentice is 7 days condensed in an hour. You says Jesus can't turn into the devil with editing. I beg to differ, you can change anyone with editing. If you have 1 row in one week, they will show that row on The Apprentice, taking up half of the programme even if it lasted 20 mins in the whole week.

Yeah but you could tell from just how he carried himself and spoke to other people that it is markedly different from on BB.

Honestly James has played this very well. I'd rather he won than Stevi/Chloe as at least he is not parading his fake relationship around on the show but he is hiding his true persona imo.

I hated James on "The Apprentice". He was arrogant, ambitious and big headed with very little to be big headed about. He turned around my opinion on Big Brother, as he seemed like a genuinely nice guy. I began to wonder about the editing on The Apprentice...

Then he saved Janice and his true colours began showing again - arrogant, ambitious and big headed. It's James who always thinks he's right and won't listen to anyone else's opinion, not Austin. I hope he sinks back into the obscurity he deserves.

Austin is always right?

"She is a ****, she is a ****".

Austin and Jenna never let James finish a sentence. When James was saying he agreed that Austin was upset about the letter thing and said to Austin "give us a hug", Austin flipped at James with Jenna for no reason just because James didn't slag Janice off.

I can't believe Austin gets away with his behaviour. It flabbergasts me.

I didn't say Austin is always right, but Janice is a **** and that is not a word she hasn't used in the house. Time and again, Austin has admitted he shouldn't have behaved as he did, whereas James is never wrong and just walks away if anyone dares to question him. James has got to know Austin and now he is very cleverly pushing Austin's buttons to make James look like he's being fair to everyone, because of course we British love fair play. James is playing a great game, I have to hand it to him.

Agree with you, good post.

Not to be pedantic but... ok, I'm going to be pedantic.

Tasks in the Apprentice rarely last more than a couple of days. Add in the fact that an hour on BBC is *actually* an hour whereas an hour on one of the commercial channels is closer to 40 minutes. Taking that into account the ratio of real-time to edited-time isn't really that different.

As for scripts? Nonsense. They 'cast' the show just like BB, and certain contestants will be archetypes such as 'the cocky one' or 'the sly one' but no one's following a pre-determined script.

Even if eveything shown in an episode of The Apprentice is from 2 days task worth, that leaves 5 days worth of material that is gone completely.

We know that James has kept in contact with a lot of people from The Apprentice, the fact that lots of them are championing him most likely means he wasn't as bad as he came across. Sanjay, Solomon, Daniel and Lauren are supporting him, and that's just the tweets I see.

Five days of material of what? The tasks aren't going on in those times. Many of the tasks run straight after one-another. Sometimes they have breaks in filming and they go home to their families. There isn't any material to show!


Sure, James has friends. He has social skills, so why wouldn't he? That doesn't mean he's a saint or even that he's genuine, just that people enjoy his company. Often one can see a person more clearly from afar that up close.

Didn't like him on The Apprentice.

Don't like him on CBB.

I didn't really like him on The Apprentice, he seemed like a huge wannabe. But then again that whole series was an arduous task to get through.

I've not been that excited about him on CBB, he's played a very well-engineered game but it's all been a little too safe for my liking. Though he has had the unfortunate task of putting up with Austin and just about managed it without cracking.

If he wins he's earned it but I am sneakily hoping for a chaotic final with a shock winner.

There IS material. They all lived together, the real personas would be seen during their time when thry are not working.

I never said he was a saint. But I think he's genuine.

Well if that's the case both shows much share script writers and directors because in one ep his 'calm' way of him (not condescending Bianca but) explaining to Bianca why she was wrong (when she clearly wasn't ) and declaring the conversation closed when she began successfully pointing out his errors was very 'the reason I chose Janice.....' style

Or

The episode he lied to all his team (for their own good) about a deal he'd lost them by calling the client the wrong name, stating he'd 'changed his mind' about working with said client and stuck with the story before being quite dramatically outted in the boardroom, is not dissimilar to the selfless act of kindness he played to his house best mate.

So cleary this is either The Apprentice sequel or James is being typecast and needs a word with his agent.

sorry for sarcasm but my obviouslymy opinion is Editing can only go so far, ultimately you are what you are and that eventually reveals itself.