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Old 12-11-2015, 09:33
slouchingthatch
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I like him..he is a typical military man. He wants to do a job properly. I have to admit I would have assumed that cleaning up the stands would have meant scraping up the chewing gum. Why would you clean the place and leave that? That's not doing a proper job and I agree with him about that. They should have organised it a lot better so they could have completed it
That's my point. Brett made an incorrect assumption that meant he overdelivered on one aspect of the job at the expense of underdelivering on another part of it. As someone so obsessed with details and who is in a similar trade, he should have asked rather than assumed.

In the greater scheme of the task, it was a small mistake compared to the shambles that was Versatile. But it could easily have been a critical one - it meant they lost both money and time.

Don't get me wrong. I think Brett's military style stands him in good stead in many ways, and I applaud him for wanting to do a good job rather than scrape by with a shoddy one. But he's still sexist, autocratic and, for me, thinks way too much of himself relative to his actual ability for my liking.
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Old 12-11-2015, 11:43
SwanGirl
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You can't pressure wash paint that hasn't completely dried, you'll just wash the new paint off the concrete. Water dries much faster than paint, so they should have pressure washed the stairs first, then the seat rows. As soon as the stairs were dry the lines could have been painted.

Brett is good at following orders. Exactly. To the letter. It's all about making sure his arse is fireproof. A very military attitude. It doesn't matter if you are doing the wrong thing as long as you are doing what you were told to do and can prove it in triplicate. When it came to deciding what his team should do he became obsessed with doing a perfect job, ignoring what the job actually required. Line painting was essential, chewing gum cleaning was not.
My bad! Still, the gum issue he got so fixated on wasted a lot of unnecessary time. He's too concerned about everything being perfect and that can be a benefit but in time restricted tasks it is more of a problem.
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Old 12-11-2015, 15:32
Aslan52
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He seems alright to me.

Possibly not the most imaginative of the bunch but I'd trust him to do things (once I'd assured myself that he understood the job) whereas I'd expect most of the others to make a total pig's ear of whatever I wanted doing and then have a convoluted bulls**t excuse for why they screwed up.
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Old 12-11-2015, 19:49
JavarnJohnson
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He was organised and made decisions quickly I'll give him that. I think having Elle as the opposing TL helped him a lot though as she was just totally useless. Still, there are definitely weaker candidates than him who will probably go first.
Absolutely. I actually ended up liking Elle, but she was well out of her depth. Brett at least seemed clear and organised in his approach, even though he didn't quite execute to those extremely high standards he was bragging about.
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Old 13-11-2015, 09:34
slouchingthatch
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He seems alright to me.

Possibly not the most imaginative of the bunch but I'd trust him to do things (once I'd assured myself that he understood the job) whereas I'd expect most of the others to make a total pig's ear of whatever I wanted doing and then have a convoluted bulls**t excuse for why they screwed up.
And that's exactly why I don't see Brett as a contender. He's good at following orders to the letter and I can see him heading up his own small business in the building trade. But as a serious business leader and an investment prospect, I see terrible people management skills and a complete lack of vision. Sugar doesn't want someone who can follow instructions - he wants someone who with the vision, drive and ability to make it happen for themselves with a little bit of guidance in certain areas. I think you could see that quite clearly in Mark, Leah, Ricky and Tom. I don't see any of that in Brett.
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Old 13-11-2015, 10:04
Aslan52
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And that's exactly why I don't see Brett as a contender. He's good at following orders to the letter and I can see him heading up his own small business in the building trade. But as a serious business leader and an investment prospect, I see terrible people management skills and a complete lack of vision. Sugar doesn't want someone who can follow instructions - he wants someone who with the vision, drive and ability to make it happen for themselves with a little bit of guidance in certain areas. I think you could see that quite clearly in Mark, Leah, Ricky and Tom. I don't see any of that in Brett.
Oh, I agree.

At the risk of making a hasty generalisation, I tend to find that ex-military folks are either incredibly driven or they're a bit, erm, "lacking in vision".
Brett hasn't really done anything to suggest he's the former but a lot of what he's done has revealed characteristics of the latter.

You don't survive in the military if you're just a complete chancer though so at least you know somebody like Brett is likely to be honest, reliable and trustworthy and that's something you can't say about some of the others.
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Old 13-11-2015, 10:25
Neio
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I like him to look at, but he seems like a bit of a knob at times (like when he was complaining that the women wouldn't be good at the fish task). And, as others have said, he doesn't seem very creative or imaginative, perhaps understandably due to his background. That rigidity of sticking to specifications over common sense can be a problem – like with those doorstop-sized fishcakes he kept insisting were to specification.

He does seem quite crude at the wrong times too – like when he was saying "I s**t you not" and "She had her arse in her hands" in the boardroom. Imagine what Margaret would have said if she was still one of the panel!
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Old 13-11-2015, 10:30
Monkseal
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I like him on the show (although he doesn't seem like a particularly serious candidate for the win) but the way he's behaving off it regarding Selina is repellent.
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Old 13-11-2015, 12:03
slouchingthatch
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Oh, I agree.

At the risk of making a hasty generalisation, I tend to find that ex-military folks are either incredibly driven or they're a bit, erm, "lacking in vision".
Brett hasn't really done anything to suggest he's the former but a lot of what he's done has revealed characteristics of the latter.

You don't survive in the military if you're just a complete chancer though so at least you know somebody like Brett is likely to be honest, reliable and trustworthy and that's something you can't say about some of the others.
Agreed. Brett, despite his failings, is one of the more capable candidates this year. But I'd find his patronising, sexist outdated attitude difficult to work with, I have to say.
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Old 13-11-2015, 14:27
Reggie Rebel
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Untrue totally.No Way is that the case. Look at his Twitter hes a married man with a child!
As Katie Hopkins showed us, candidates do not need to be monogamous to get far
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Old 13-11-2015, 14:58
allafix
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Untrue totally.No Way is that the case. Look at his Twitter hes a married man with a child!
Married men with children have been known to have affairs. Living and working closely together as they do, while being separated from their partners, it could be any of them.

If it was Brett they probably always had to do it exactly to spec. Lucky Selina.
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Old 13-11-2015, 15:48
LauraLS
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He reminds me of the policeman in Doc Martin.
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Old 13-11-2015, 16:12
Lordsally
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Werent him and Selina allegedly reckoned to be the house couple
Definitely not. He has tweeted she was trying to ruin the experience for him and others after the 'outside boardroom spat' episode was aired. He was very supportive of Charleine in that.

That aside, someone on here said he had a stupid accent.........

It's not the best accent, I'll grant you, but it's the only one I have
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Old 13-11-2015, 16:17
firefly_irl
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I assumed the couple was Elle and Mergim as they hooked up subsequently.

I don't like him in the show but bet he'd be good in the sack.
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Old 13-11-2015, 17:34
muzungu
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That aside, someone on here said he had a stupid accent.........

It's not the best accent, I'll grant you, but it's the only one I have
Really?
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Old 14-11-2015, 01:17
CaseyJones85
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It is this kind of guy - alpha male / unfriendly - that I would hate to work with...

Imo he is an arsehole
I agree. A lot of the time he is right, but does he have to be such a prat about it?
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Old 14-11-2015, 05:42
09beyoncefan
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I find him ridiculously sexy. That is all....
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Old 14-11-2015, 09:36
MissMonkeyMoo
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I like him, out of all of them he is a PM. he is decisive, in control and he does listen and respect his team - i have yet to see him belittle anyone or shout at them? He may be direct in his responses but I think he has been fair.
The only thing that obviously let him down this week was the chewing gum scenario - you should always follow the brief as set by your client. I know things work slightly differently on the apprentice, but as a PM I would never take on any work without a written and signed contract that clearly states what you are expected to deliver, the timeframe and the payment. If they had this, then there was no excuse for cleaning up all the gum,but with verbal contracts it will always be ambiguous. The guy at the football club seemed very genuine to be fair, but if they hadn't cleaned the gum up he could have come back and asked them why they hadn't!
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Old 14-11-2015, 10:56
CaseyJones85
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In all fairness, the way the show is directed and edited probably makes him look worse than he is.

I wouldn't want to be on his team though! I'd be compelled to take the p just to wind him up!
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Old 14-11-2015, 12:03
lammtarra
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The only thing that obviously let him down this week was the chewing gum scenario - you should always follow the brief as set by your client. I know things work slightly differently on the apprentice, but as a PM I would never take on any work without a written and signed contract that clearly states what you are expected to deliver, the timeframe and the payment. If they had this, then there was no excuse for cleaning up all the gum,but with verbal contracts it will always be ambiguous. The guy at the football club seemed very genuine to be fair, but if they hadn't cleaned the gum up he could have come back and asked them why they hadn't!
Precisely right about the contracts, though it is a pita at work where some plank in management did not include desks in the cleaning contract, so unused ones are left to accumulate dust and rubbish.

But aside from the ambiguous contract, the other problem illustrated by the chewing gum is that Brett (and his colleagues) had not worked out the logistics of the task -- in which order to sweep, scrape, soak and paint. Ironically, if it were not for the chewing gum, we'd be commending Brett for realising that painting came last.
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Old 15-11-2015, 08:16
Matt_Harbinson
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I find Brett quite annoying; he tries to use longer words and phrases to sound intelligent that are way too flowery; "we formulated a quotation based on the information supplied" etc, in terms of the task, it was overlooked that he and his team had come up with a very high price on the theatre at just under £900 when what was paid in the end was £375 for other team. I don't think Brett is that much of a contender but he will probably last a bit longer still.
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Old 15-11-2015, 21:02
JimothyD
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I think he's an arsehole and I don't think he's much cop in the tasks either, far too stubborn and not entrepreneurial. He'll be lucky to last much longer.
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Old 16-11-2015, 04:55
lammtarra
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I find Brett quite annoying; he tries to use longer words and phrases to sound intelligent that are way too flowery; "we formulated a quotation based on the information supplied" etc, in terms of the task, it was overlooked that he and his team had come up with a very high price on the theatre at just under £900 when what was paid in the end was £375 for other team. I don't think Brett is that much of a contender but he will probably last a bit longer still.
The difference in price shows the trap the producers set in every series -- generally commercial sales are at much tighter margins than sales to consumers. Teams should (but normally don't) weigh up whether the high-price sale is actually worth the candle. I think this is what Sam was getting at with his otherwise absurd-sounding question about whether they need do the work if they win the bid -- in other words, if they won the contract, would they be able to pull out of the deal? On the other team, we saw Joseph belatedly realise there was not much gravy in the theatre renovation.
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Old 16-11-2015, 14:20
Larry_Johnson
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I think that Brett will go far, I love the way that he gets stuck into the tasks and isn't afraid to get his hands dirty.
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Old 17-11-2015, 09:18
Matt_Harbinson
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I was surprised that Brett sealed and agreed a price of £480 originally for his job; to me, it didn't seem to be worth that. It is very low skill labour and didn't seem like something that would take 6-7 hours to just power wash, sweep and paint whereas the theatre job was more specialised. I thought the price of £360 was ambitious when they were coming up with it and then he just added another £120 when it came to pitching it to the client. Maybe the client in this case was nervous about negotiating a high discount like the theatre client did.
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