Well yes, but in that sense he can't win. He'd have been criticised for sticking with a poor idea, but instead he's being criticised for having the sense to drop it.



Yeah he did have a bad task on the shopping channel. But equally, Naomi had a bad task in week 3 and in my opinion should have been fired then - when Gerri seemed to have been scapegoated for the team losing.

Sir Alan said on the Why I fired them show that he saw Naomi as having more to give, so by week 10 when he's put in a similar position with Simon and Naomi he'd obviously changed his mind about Naomi and therefore gave Simon the extra life that Naomi had recieved in Week 3

You've mis-read the shopping task completely.

The products Naomi picked were completely unsellable for Simon, he just couldn't really do anything with the trampoline or the card. She dropped him right in it and on balance deserved to be fired as Simon's products did actually sell and he really justified his decision well in the boardroom. I think it was at that point that Simon won the Apprentice he actually argued his point and was proved right, just because Sir Alan would have had a different strategy when approaching the task does not mean that Simon's approach was wrong and I think Sir Alan recognised that.

Each week it would be hard to justify for real tangible reasons why you would fire someone, he might just have gut reactions to the candidates and simply wanted rid. Interviewing and selection is a difficult business and it's especially difficult if you don't have the full picture which we certainly and I doubt Sir Alan really thought he did either so often gut reactions and first impressions are probably big factors but trying to articulate those feelings would be even harder.

Simon got the job because its all about being PC for Sir Alan's rep. He's had a black man, a woman and now he took a posh boy to try show that he is not moved by sob stories (like Michelle's) If he had chose Kristina people would have said 'oh look - he discrimintes against people of wealthy backgrounds.'

He had to choose Simon. End off!

I am as shocked as anyone at the result and can only suspect that Sir Alan is looking for someone mouldable and therefore finds it difficult to seledct the obviously stronger, more complete candidate (Saira, Ruth, Kristina) I understood it the first time, but three in a row seems to show a pattern.

I agree razorboy. Hence the reason I strongly oppose allowing candudates over 30 as they're just being given false hope which is extremely unfair. The runners - up have consistently been better than the winners in all the series.

No Simon is the right type to be Siralan's estate agent to flog all that office space in London.. he will be driving a MINI ONE with AMSTRAD written down the side..

Sorry

I really don't get this idea that Sir Alan is looking for someone to mould.

Whoever the Apprentice'll be they're nothing more as a pawn in this tv show where the main purpose is to give Alan Sugar a high profile celebrity career and the BBC ratings. A position is found for them somewhere in the business and they're told to get on with it, only to be dragged out as 'last years winner' for the odd PR event.

Both Tre and Katie seemed to have realised that as the show progressed which is why one was never gonna take the job and the other just accepted his firing. The actual position they'll get isn't this dream job where 3 years down the line you'll be CEO. This is why I think in terms of the job Kristina would have been the best choice. She was aware of this but wanted it nonetheless and would have commited herself to the company. She is slightly older and does have a family and is at a time in her life where you wanna be where you wanna be as opposed to being at the very beginning of a long career journey. Her aim was to win this position and she would have stuck with it and I'm sure settled into it

Then again maybe that's why Sir Alan chose Simon, he'll do his year and maybe stick around for a bit before quitting to do his own thing and then they're not stuck with having to think what to do with 'that one who won the tv show the other year'.

Had we known from the start that Sir Alan had a clear idea in mind that he wanted someone 'posh' to progress his move into real estate then we would have realised why the others did not make the mark and why he had higher expectations of Paul.

No-one's suggested the obvious reason he chose simon, that he doesn't want a female winner this year. He's probably so scarred from michelle that he's decided to go for an enhaustic bloke this year instead. There's also the fact that simon did better on the final task, I think sir alan said his colleagues were very impressed with the answers he gave and also his building was better designed, altho that wasn't really down to him.

It was more exotically designed, but it had much less floor space, so was probably not as well designed from a financial perspective.

People seem to be forgetting that somewhere near the start of this series, SAS said something like 'I need to be thinking about retiring and what's going to happen to my business in the future'

Simon running Amstrad?

Yep, this information would have explained SAS obsession with Simon.

The Apprentice is a tv show - simple & straightforward. It amazes me why people get so excited about outcomes throughout the show & the final decision. It is all done to bring in the viewers & the appointment is just a side-show as it is not expected that the individual will stick with it for any length of time. I suppose it keeps many people hooked as they can spend time getting angry about decisions.

The show is far better than many others but it is as scripted as for example X-Factor. This £100K job is about as serious as the million pound recording contract is to the winner of X-Factor. Where will any of the winners be in a two/three years? - answer not working for Alan Sugar or have a recording contract with Simon Cowell.

Just enjoy the tv show & take it for what it is.

MB

The only difference being that the winners in the other shows aren't usually someone that just has potential that only the expert can see and the person themselves hasn't showcased their talent on the show to a decent extent.

All you people who are saying how great Kristina is - would you really want to work for her? Really?

Yes , because I would feel like she knows what she is doing and wouldn't end up losing the company millions. A good boss isn't necessarily a likeable boss (even though I do like her)

I would work for her, no problems there.

Clearly you can't see the potential but making statements that Alan Sugar is the only one who can is incorrect. Suggest you read other threads as there are others who can. Reminds me of similar sweeping statements about how perfect Leona is

MB

I recall sweeping statements from you about how you and your work friends' opinions have enough merit to apply to everyone but lets not get into that.

Not forgetting the fact that you thought you and your workmates represented the general public but there we go

EDIT: Just read Ethereal's post

But she has no intellectual depth. And she shouts all the time. If that's what you need in 'business' it explains why it's not for me. There's nothing clever about spending 20 hours 'working really hard' if a bit of creative thinking could have got you there in 2. She's a plodder not a thinker. I don't claim to be Stephen Hawking but people like that drive me nuts at work. It's like you've found your way to level 5 and they're still explaining to you how to get to level 3 because that's as far as they've got. ugh! So irritating.

She doesn't shout all the time. I can't recall any instances of her shouting in the last episode. And would you have thought to go ask a French kitchen if you could use their cookers to cook some sausages?

When did Kristina shout?

Er yeah - it's hardly rocket science is it. Maybe it's tone rather than volume then but I found her quite grating most of the time.

But I've just caught up with some of the other threads and I see Kristina's brother posts here and there's a bit of a love in going on so I'll move along.