Sorry if this has been mentioned before but I am I right in saying we saw no evidence of the diamonds A.Sugar talked of at the start of the task?

All the women look virtually the same - what's happened to short hair?!

Have to admit, I'm increasingly finding myself hating Karen.

She's so eager to put the boot in on any of the candidates, particularly the girls - all whilst totally sucking up to Lord Sugar (or as she gets to call him "Alan")

One point in particular bothered me, it was the Final 3 and they were talking about Rebecca. Karen then turns and says "Oh well Alan she said she's done all these things but I haven't seen any evidence of that", oh really Karen? Could it be because you were with the boys throughout the task?

Guarantee she's going to be cracked down on Rebecca in future tasks, it's just what she does. Homes in on the candidates who promise things in the boardroom and then if those candidates slip even a little bit she'll blow them wide open in the boardroom until they're fired.

I'm not so sure that Rebecca was the one to bring back last night...... at the market she was the one who kept asking and asking about the pricing - clearly the only one of the sub team who had picked up on that as the key issue - and Alana couldn't or wouldn't make any sort of decision on it.

Taking her back also came to bite the PM on the bum as she put up a good defence in the final boardroom.... she fought for her life, and that's probably what saved her at this stage

Michelle's 'business idea' of expanding her existing mortgage business sounded a bit naff anyway so no wonder she got fired

Sugar is already quite successful in property I believe and I think his son is quite heavily involved with that side of things so he hardly needs to give £250k to some stranger for their help in that market!

Did he mean there were some good stuff in there worth a bit like diamonds but not the actual thing

It was a mess. Not surprised at all the men won that task. The women were frankly embarrassing and hard to fathom some run their own business.

The guy who calls himself Big K or just "K", my husband and I refer to him as Prince Monobrow. I look forward to his input in future episodes, I think he'll be quite a character.

Not sure about Michelle being fired, I thought Rebecca was pretty useless. The dark-haired woman who is overly enthusiastic will end up getting on someone's tits soon I think.

Only one episode in but I think the men have a better chance for a win.

How was the sub team suppose to know the actual value of the items?

The boys tried to gauge some idea from other traders. I think Sir Alun's point was more though that they took any price they could get - they started low and went down rather than testing the market with higher prices.

Dohh! Hadn't thought of that. That's probably what he meant, being an East End geezah. I took it literally!

Yes, perhaps there should be a separate 'chatter' thread so we don't have to scroll through pages of chit-chat that has nothing to do with the programme.

I'm sure there used to be one thread for each episode too, rather than one 'Apprentice discussion thread' (isn't that the point of having an Apprentice sub-forum after all, multiple threads?).

I was going to say if Michelle had listened to Lord Sugar in the boardroom she should have cottoned on to when he said Natalie had sold a £300 vase for £15.

If she'd brought Natalie back I reckon she would have been fired instead.

You could say the person who goes in week one might be unlucky- by week 3 a clear pattern will start to emerge- who is useless, who is hiding, who always blames someone else etc. In week one who goes can be a bit of a lottery- although it always seems to be the team leader.

1. This should be a chatter thread and there should be separate threads for each episode. I am getting a headache reading back.

2. What a trainwreck premiere. Sofiane is the only person I can see so far going to interviews. Others look invisible, incapable, annoying, and NOT business-like (hello Jessica)

Lesson one...Never ever volunteer to be project mananger in first show

I never really enjoy the first episode, often a boring task and all the candidates are strangers to us.

When I watched the first episode, I was convinced after about 20 minutes the boys would lose and the weird guy with the salt and pepper hair would be fired due to the amount of airtime he was getting!

I really really love Jessica, she's Northern and fun and doesn't take herself too seriously unlike some. Big K and his monobrow is going to be a big talking point for the season, and I usually always find myself hating most of the boys every year.

I was asked to audition for the Apprentice this year but didn't want to leave my job, so spend the episode sat there thinking that I could do a much much better job!

Was that because you applied (either this year, or in the past) or were you head hunted?

I'm fairly sure with 'Junior Apprentice' the producers found kids who had already made headlines for what they had achieved (often in regional press)

Although they always say 'Apply' it wouldn't surprise me if the producers had a ready made list of 50-100 'possibles' they have seen in previous years.

Not much in the way of ethnically diverse either. Not that I favour affirmative action kind of thinking, but it seems a little odd. The men's pool is slightly better in that regard.

I disagree. The project manager always has an edge. You have to be pretty bad to get fired as PM. In the first task you don't yet know the other candidates' strengths, but that's also the case for the other PM, and Sugar understands it and makes allowances. In the first task you get treated more generously for stepping up.

It used to be that the PM who won the first task was likely to survive until the final 4. Nowadays it seems that the ones who go first are the most deluded and incompetent. They make basic mistakes on task, and then make further mistakes in the boardroom. The reasons Michelle was fired for, would have been equally a problem in any task.

I suppose it depends on who actually applies to the show. I doubt they decide to turn up at someones door with a 12 bore and demand they spend the next few months due to they are of a particular background genetically.

I understand they can't pursue a candidate purely for their ethnicity/skin colour. Just found it odd how they're all white. I'm not suggesting an agenda btw, merely an observation.

I applied for it, I'm quite successful at what I do however there's loads of us out there. My unfortunate weak point is I don't take instruction well from people I feel aren't good enough to be my manager - so I'd be destined to fail on The Apprentice.

I just think The Apprentice is full of types - you've got the ones who overstate their achievements, the token joke character and the idiots who actually think they're amazing and aren't. This is why I like Jessica, if she's left to be herself I feel like she's going to get on quite well, and she's funny and atrractive. I just hope the rumours aren't true about next week.

Had another look at the show earlier today and LS got it right, the Project Manager was the one to leave, as I watched her during the task and she didn't do much, and spent her time writing in her notepad. If she had more hands on the Girls would have done better, instead of being all over the place. All in all she was a bad Project Manager who showed herself with her attitude.

so i watched it on iplayer, i can't think much to say, another group of idiots for Lord Sugar to chuckle at.

He came out with a couple funny jokes, but really that whole first episode just passed me by

Onto, the next

Tom Pellereau on QVC at the moment selling his nail file; it looks quite good actually