Did Margaret say that Ruth should have won the Apprentice or did I dream that ?

No, you did not dream that. She actually said it!

"Ruth should have won".

She was very decisive about it, too. I have to say I absolutely agree with her on this one. Look what Michelle brought Sir Alan. Nothing but tabloidstories about her fling with Sayed.

If she hadnt had the whole Malarky over the fling with Syed, then she would have been the perfect winner. She was an all-round good business woman, and very shrewed. Ruth admitted Michelle should have won.

In hindsight, due to Michelle leaving, of course Ruth should have won but if that had not happened, I think Michelle would have fitted in very well into his organisation

Yes

He was my favourite in that series, though, and I think it was another of Sir Alan's wrong decisions not to hire him, as he said he didn't need the job.

I've warmed to The Badger more since she the show finished. I think she shot herself in the foot when she made her speech in the Boardroom. It was her worst moment in the show for me - she just came over as blushing, flustered and desperate.

Surely Jo Cameron from S2 was more of a motor mouth than Paul Tulip? Jo didn't get any mention.

That's a good point...Jo was fair more entertaining than Paul Tulip as well....

No problem.

Just watched Motor Mouths on iplayer, the memories.
Good old Margaret - "Ruth should have won".
I always thought James from series 1 was underated as well.

James was very good, but got himself labelled as the a sort of nice-but-dim character, which is unfortunate because he had plenty of business smart I think.

I agree. I think because of the fact he was well spoken and very polite people tarred him with that brush. But the guy was very clever and I liked the fact he was there to enjoy himself as well as wanting to win.

Reading the posts in this thread it shows how good the final candidates in Series 1 were. I would have been happy if James, Saira, Miriam and even Paul had won, and wasn't disappointed that Tim was the overall winner.

Again it makes me wonder if in the series that have followed; the majority of the candidates are picked for "entertainment" and there are only 1 or 2 people who are genuinely in with a chance of winning.

Those are my feelings too. I think series one had the best business candidates and the majority behaved much more professionally. Even Paul with all his faults displayed a certain amount of respect for other candidates at times .

I still think Katie Hopkins was awesome. If you ignore her pantomime-villain asides I reckon she was easily the most intelligent and capable candidate of S3.

Tre was just a bully - but being a bully is OK as long as you're funny with it. He was a complete loose cannon and only occasionally made a good point - the rest of the time he was just shouting for people to shut the f*ck up and calling them all kinds of nasty names. I also remember him being less than impressive as a PM. He won the first time because the other team messed up massively (I think that was the Selling Kisses debacle), and the second time it completely fell to pieces. Terribly overrated as a businessman and as entertainment.

Kristina also reminded me that she was actually quite awful as a person, and I think if Katie hadn't been there she would have taken the role as Series B*tch. Definitely more deserving than Simon - but like she says, Sir Alan picks people based on whether they would "fit in", not whether they're the best.

Saira reminded me of how awesome she was in S1. lol @ the megaphone. She looks fab now!

She does look great, Ive always had a soft spot for Saira. I think even Nick and Margaret have a lot of respect for her.

Yeah, the standard in series 1 was higher overall than in subsequent series, which is why I'm sad less people saw that series as invariabley candidates from that series seem to get less recognition in spite of generally being better.

I'd agree, I'm absolutely convinced Kevin is only there because of the Daffyd factor, Lucinda for the eccentric factor (although they did have that increadibly tall boffin bloke in series 1), Simon's got an interesting 'human' factor etc.

ETA - and James Max was lovely, the site of him selling those wolf fleeces will live long in my memory
Last edited by Agent Krycek : 19-04-2008 at 12:52

Michelle never used that card. We only found that out in the penultimate episode where they had the interviews.

When Alan asked if she looks after her brothers, she said 'they get what they want'. And that's what I think won it for her.

I think you confuse her with Syed

None of us knew her mum killed herself until the last episode

Wasn't it her sister who plunged to her death from an 8th floor flat?

After the series ended she gave an interview and donated her fee to charity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michelle_Dewberry

ok then my mistake

Sorry if that came across as correcting you - not intentional.

It's no problem, honestly

Syed was certainly insufferable, although also hilarious. You'd think to listen to him that no-one else but him ever worked for a living.

I can't wait till the "Where are they now.." Series 3 contestants airs

Michelle had a better story and was competent in most of the tasks. She's also tough enough but less abrasive than the Badger. Perhaps even more importantly she had a wider CV including setting up a company and dealing with overseas customers/suppliers (wasn't she responsible for overseas call centres - where customer disatisfaction equals higher profit margins? ) That was an ideal CV for his strange idea about setting up a new firm recycling computers.

Not sure why she left but apart from any personal issues there was the story that Michelle rightly saw it as a dud idea - which defeated the possibilities somewhat.

You mean Jenny Celerier