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How different would the show be if it was real?


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Old 30-10-2015, 22:09
pearlsandplums
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Sorry to wake you up, and I know one of you was poised at the top of the stairs, but you'll be picked up in three hours
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Old 31-10-2015, 03:33
lammtarra
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One of the previous contestants (can't remember who) said it's the noise of the camera crew moving around that wakes (some of) them up before the phone rings.
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Old 03-11-2015, 22:42
pward1965
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...and you'll magically just 'know' what type of clothing to wear for that particular task...
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Old 03-11-2015, 23:03
Hitstastic
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More swearing.

Don't know how many of you work in an office environment but where I work, you pretty much hear swearing all day long.

I suppose the beep machine would just go into the overdrive.
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Old 04-11-2015, 07:23
rubberduck3y6
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I've been watching series 1 on youtube and the candidates swear a lot more in it.

Actually series 1 is more realistic in most ways.
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Old 04-11-2015, 10:00
Kirsty_Jones90
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lots of swearing here too

Tbh, the Apprentice has about 20% reality in it.
And I doubt they even sleep in that house and not go back home inbetween filming
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Old 04-11-2015, 10:02
slouchingthatch
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lots of swearing here too
And I doubt they even sleep in that house and not go back home inbetween filming
I think this has been discussed before. Someone with a better memory will correct me, I'm sure, but I believe they do stay in the house - although the 'weeks' shown for each task aren't necessarily weeks at all - but the candidates have (at least) one break during the series where they have time scheduled to return home to visit family, mow the lawn, that sort of thing ...
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Old 04-11-2015, 10:17
Shrike
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The fiction that the show is running in real-time does the candidates a real disservice. From what I've read the reality is tasks back to back so by the end of the process the survivors are completely frazzled. But the viewer is often left with the impression that the candidates sit around for five days of the week and so thinks its a doddle.

I can't see why they persist with the 'cars will pick you up in 20 minutes' nonsense either - no way could those hair dos be done in such a short period!
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Old 04-11-2015, 10:48
Kirsty_Jones90
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The fiction that the show is running in real-time does the candidates a real disservice. From what I've read the reality is tasks back to back so by the end of the process the survivors are completely frazzled. But the viewer is often left with the impression that the candidates sit around for five days of the week and so thinks its a doddle.

I can't see why they persist with the 'cars will pick you up in 20 minutes' nonsense either - no way could those hair dos be done in such a short period!
Yes indeed.
They have shown already that some things are a big fluke, when the Calais products task was on for instance. The candidates had to be back in the boardroom for a certain time with the end result but in the Boardroom they wore the other clothes that seem to appear every boardroom so when did they have time to change clothes if they had to rush to get to Sugar in time
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Old 04-11-2015, 16:32
carnivalist
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It might beneift from being a less formulaic. It's going a bit stale now - although that might down to the poor cast this year.
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Old 04-11-2015, 22:49
firefly_irl
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This task is particularly ridiculous, come up with a whole book, illustrated and and written in a day then flog it the next day. Of course the books will usually suck.
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Old 05-11-2015, 00:03
Lucien_Di
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A big move towards realism would be to attempt to simulate the need for repeat business, and penalise teams that 'game-played' by shoving any old rubbish out to unsuspecting customers at a huge mark-up, safe in the knowledge that they will never need to see them again after today, like some fly-by-night cowboy builder. Some might suggest that's how Sugar made his money in the first place, but that would be unkind...

Also, they ought to recognise the value of inventory in tasks with non-perishable items. Flogging off a load of stock in the last hour as if you are about to go bankrupt is ridiculous - it would also mean that the teams have to really analyse any deals they make, as the stock itself might be more valuable unsold than sold at too great a discount.

Potentially, having penalties in the scavenger hunt that were set to the retail value of the highest value item, then the second highest, then the third etc. regardless of the value of the actual missing item, would mean that it wouldn't be economical anymore to ignore sourcing low-value items and hoping that any discounts on large-ticket items would cover the cost of the fine.

Just a couple of suggestions...
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Old 05-11-2015, 09:48
slouchingthatch
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A big move towards realism would be to attempt to simulate the need for repeat business, and penalise teams that 'game-played' by shoving any old rubbish out to unsuspecting customers at a huge mark-up, safe in the knowledge that they will never need to see them again after today, like some fly-by-night cowboy builder. Some might suggest that's how Sugar made his money in the first place, but that would be unkind...

Also, they ought to recognise the value of inventory in tasks with non-perishable items. Flogging off a load of stock in the last hour as if you are about to go bankrupt is ridiculous - it would also mean that the teams have to really analyse any deals they make, as the stock itself might be more valuable unsold than sold at too great a discount.

Potentially, having penalties in the scavenger hunt that were set to the retail value of the highest value item, then the second highest, then the third etc. regardless of the value of the actual missing item, would mean that it wouldn't be economical anymore to ignore sourcing low-value items and hoping that any discounts on large-ticket items would cover the cost of the fine.

Just a couple of suggestions...
An idea I've floated in the past is to turn the entire series into one big task that explores different aspects of business. So week 1 might be about coming up with a business idea, week 2 might be about branding and customer research, and so on up to actually launching the business and generating repeat sales.

Of course, this would be impractical to do in real life and would probably be rather dull, but you get my idea.
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Old 05-11-2015, 10:40
Joel_B
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An idea I've floated in the past is to turn the entire series into one big task that explores different aspects of business. So week 1 might be about coming up with a business idea, week 2 might be about branding and customer research, and so on up to actually launching the business and generating repeat sales.

Of course, this would be impractical to do in real life and would probably be rather dull, but you get my idea.
It would be a much more useful and informative show. At the moment it's just Big Brother for business. At least the first few series pretended to try and be informative.
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Old 05-11-2015, 10:45
Joel_B
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In the real world a lot of these numpties would never have got the job. Hopefully HR would have managed to see through their blatant CV exaggerations and lies. And if they did get a job at my firm, if they acted they way they do they would have been called into HR pronto.
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Old 05-11-2015, 11:59
slouchingthatch
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It would be a much more useful and informative show. At the moment it's just Big Brother for business. At least the first few series pretended to try and be informative.
Part of the 'problem' these days, of course, is that as viewers it's often easier for us to see what is going to go wrong in a task before the candidates do. While it's clear to me that some of them are well versed in the show, others aren't - and they're all so busy pursuing their own agendas so much of the time that to call them a 'team' is stretching the definition of the word, ot say the least!
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Old 05-11-2015, 13:50
TheAuburnEnigma
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Yes I think one task covers about 3-4 days in real life, so each 'week' has 1-2 tasks done. I believe every so often they get a day off between the end of one task and the start of the next (see ep 3), and then a longer break at about ep 8/9.

So instead of the candidates having to be out of work for effectively 3 months if it were real time, it's actually about 6 weeks at most.

I'd like more of the tasks where the candidates have to provide a service of sorts, since that is what some of them would be doing in their businesses. So highlights for me include the pie shop task towards the end of series 7, the away-day task in series 9, and I think next week's ep will be a good one as well.
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Old 05-11-2015, 14:00
slouchingthatch
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Yes I think one task covers about 3-4 days in real life, so each 'week' has 1-2 tasks done. I believe every so often they get a day off between the end of one task and the start of the next (see ep 3), and then a longer break at about ep 8/9.

So instead of the candidates having to be out of work for effectively 3 months if it were real time, it's actually about 6 weeks at most.

I'd like more of the tasks where the candidates have to provide a service of sorts, since that is what some of them would be doing in their businesses. So highlights for me include the pie shop task towards the end of series 7, the away-day task in series 9, and I think next week's ep will be a good one as well.
That's pretty much my understanding too. Of course, tasks vary in length - tasks such as the opening one and the X items scavenger hunt are typically just one day (although this year's cross-Channel one was spread over two) and the boardroom doesn't necessarily take place on the day the task finishes. But I believe they try to run the tasks as close together as they can. Obviously that isn't always possible when some tasks have to run on certain days to coincide with, say, the London Pet Show, or it can depend on Sugar's, Karren's and Claude's availability (they do have day jobs to attend to ...) but it makes sense to condense filming into as short a period as possible.

One thing we do know is the dates of last week's pet show task. This took place on May 9th and 10th and it looked like the task took place on the setup day and day 1 of the show, so May 8th and 9th. So that would probably put task 10 in mid to lateJune. It'll be interesting (if you're a geek like me) to see if we can precisely date one of the later tasks to confirm this.
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Old 05-11-2015, 15:09
Ænima
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'I'd like you all to do a task designed to show off your business skills, with each person matched to roles you have strengths in, not a task that'll have you running around like headless chickens for shits and giggles, whilst Karen and Claude, (who would probably be just as bad in this situation), look on disapprovingly'.
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Old 05-11-2015, 15:56
BasilRathbon
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I always find it amusing that in the time it takes Lord Sugar to fire one of the three losers in the boardroom, everyone else has managed to get back home and change into their pyjamas.
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Old 05-11-2015, 17:02
firefly_irl
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I always find it amusing that in the time it takes Lord Sugar to fire one of the three losers in the boardroom, everyone else has managed to get back home and change into their pyjamas.
This is always a bit odd, I wonder how long the whole firing process takes, from sending them very unnecessarily to the coffee shop and then bringing them back to the boardroom. I prefer on the US version how the boardroom starts immediately after the result.
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Old 06-11-2015, 04:34
carnivalist
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To answer the OP, it might give us a realistic idea of what attributes are useful in a successful businessperson.

'The Apprentice' is a load of old codswallop, says biz prof

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2013/07...says_biz_prof/
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Old 06-11-2015, 04:37
carnivalist
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This is always a bit odd, I wonder how long the whole firing process takes, from sending them very unnecessarily to the coffee shop and then bringing them back to the boardroom. I prefer on the US version how the boardroom starts immediately after the result.
Even the Bridge Cafe doesn't appear to be real. It's in West Acton, not far from my brother and every time I've seen the place it's clearly unused except for the show.

Funnily enough we both also used to live near the original coffee shop - the Addis Cafe in Notting Hill. That was actually a real cafe, but it's closed now.
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Old 06-11-2015, 08:25
Maxatoria
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This is always a bit odd, I wonder how long the whole firing process takes, from sending them very unnecessarily to the coffee shop and then bringing them back to the boardroom. I prefer on the US version how the boardroom starts immediately after the result.
I'd imagine since the building is rented for the show the trip to the cafe will allow the camera crew etc to reposition the camera's/chairs/tidy up all the glasses of water etc.
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Old 06-11-2015, 08:59
lammtarra
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I'd imagine since the building is rented for the show the trip to the cafe will allow the camera crew etc to reposition the camera's/chairs/tidy up all the glasses of water etc.
And probably also the trip to the cafe is part of the format as licensed from the American production company which owns the rights. I can only imagine this also explains the otherwise pointless pre-filmed scenes of fired candidates getting into a taxi.
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