Starting watching this great show at start of series 3 so I have been catching up on the earlier series.

About half way through and OMG, although the candidates in series 3 and 4 were nothing special, the complete awfulness of at least half the candidates in series 2 took me by surpise.

Especially the boys, two of them started crying in episode 2, all theyseemed to do was plan, never doing anything. Even Sayid who thought he was good, just was a clueless idiot (100 chickens!!!!!!!!)Paul's "I can't believe just how bad this is laugh" in the catering task said it all. Out of the boys only Paul deserved to get anywhere near a final.

The only saving graces, Michelle and Ruth. From what I have seen so far in all series the two best candidates. They actually had commen sense.

Yeah, I'd never seen series two and I've watched the first three episodes on youtube after people on here all started sighing about "the good old days" and how series two was the best because it had intelligent people doing good business, etc.

It's great entertainment - but I really don't think the candidates (with the exception of Michelle and Ruth, to some extent Paul and Ansell) are really any more intelligent/business-minded than the ones in this series. They're just a bit nicer is all.

I cringed when Sharon told Sir Alan that her prime business strength was "creativity".

And what's with Jo Cameron's shouting at people then rapidly descending into tears. She's totally unhooked! Great entertainment, though. I look forward to watching the rest.

Glad you're both enjoying the earlier series

Personally I never saw the candidates from series 1 or 2 as more intelligent and capable. But they were generally a lot nicer.

I think it's a bit like Big Brother: in the early series you get people who are there for the right reasons, not just trying to get a career in telly.

Gosh yes, i thought that was pathetic too!

Mani, Samuel and Tuan were three of the lamest and dullest male candidates ever imo. Syed was just a knob. That Jo woman was round the twist, totally nutty

Yea, those 5 you have mentioned are far worse than most of them this year IMO. However even worse was the guy who got fired in the first week (he was even more clueless than Rory from series 3).

I am only really enjoying it by seeing how badly the mess it up every week and the brilliant Ruth. Michelle is good too.

Aw, he was lovely, though. I felt really sad watching him get fired when sitting next to sleazy Syed.

It's interesting that those watching now are mentioning Michelle's talents. I found her fairly non-descript in the tasks when I watched the original series. (Loved Ruth though.) The only task she wasn't insipid in (IMO) was the selling fashion one - she was bl**dy awful in that! She was very good in the interviews though, and, to give her credit, also did a creditable job in the final task. I wonder whether maybe I didn't give her enough credit at the time. Those watching now are doing so with the benefit of hindsight knowing the result. Therefore, they may be seeing less noticeable things that weren't immediately obvious at the time. On the other hand, they may also be watching through rose-coloured glasses...

I agree. Although she was hilarious in the fashion task. She just got wasted in the changing rooms, as far as I remember. How she wasn't fired after that, God only knows.

They were awful. The only one I liked (apart from the Badger) was Karen, who was fired in week 3...

I agree. I think Michelle had a subtlety about her. And I praised her more in retrospect than during the show itself. Also it was the first series of the Apprentice I watched and I was unaware what type of employee Sir Alan was after. The very loud, forceful characters do well but they rarely win, which is why Michelle triumphed over Ruth in the end.