The Apprentice - Series 9

Ohh the male chauvinist card comes out.
And was quite well played too. That's the only reason he picked two girls to go back in with him, the two blokes who cocked up should have been in there with him and perhaps he'd have stood a chance.
 
The editing certainly made it seem that Zee was like that and bringing in both the girls just backed that upeespecially when Kurt screwed up the flag dimensions and Neil managed to buy the wrong style / type which essentially cost them the task.
 
I've actually given up with this already. Never thought I'd say that about one of my favourite programmes.

Same here. I'm really struggling this year and it used to be my TV highlight of the week. Has it run it's course?? Or are this year's candidates just so dull?
 
It does annoy me that the show is so blatantly scripted though... like both the shops they'd gone to for plants were already briefed by the production team and blatantly both shops had been told that if the teams ask for the manager they could get X discount off a plant. It happened to both teams in pretty much the same way - shop assistant offers to ask the manager... tis up to team to say yes ask the manager then they get an instant discount/tick in the box for that part of the task.

A previous season's lot came round my office trying to sell Sandwiches - we got e-mailed about it a week in advance of them showing up.
 
It wouldn't work if it weren't set up because no one would tolerate the idiocy. But they're only scripting the setup, not the outcome, so it's not a big deal.
 
Well I never knew that all the visits to the shops and stuff were prepared in advance. That's ruined my enjoyment somewhat now.
 
To be fair half the places they go to would probably tell randomers turning up with a film crew to jog on if they hadn't been briefed in advance, unless they felt that had a genuine opportunity to make serious money.

Anyway I thought this week's ep was much better than the last, best two one-liners for me were:

1) LS: "Well Myles, or Kilometres as Kurt probably calls you..."
2) Natalie: "Don't worry about the door" after following Zeeshan back into the boardroom

Leah really shocked me this week, I thought she was well out of order. First of all declaring herself subteam leader, and then shortly afterwards blatantly disregarding her instruction to go the markets by changing direction and heading to the mall instead, only to get there, and then turn around and go back, wasting loads of time. That's what really got me, it was literally a lose-lose situation, she caused an unnecessary delay and ended up doing what she was asked to do in the first place so would have been better off just maintaining her discipline. She may have been annoyed at not being project manager to start with but to be fair in that situation I would have voted for Zeeshan all day long, he's lived and done business there before so if nothing else should know local customs etc (we've seen teams come a cropper due to that when overseas before). Yes as it turns out he was hardly the font of all Dubai knowledge but that's with 20-20 hindsight, I still think he was the correct choice at the time.

Thoughout the episode there were shots of people struggling to be understood by locals and what leapt out at me was that there were often people with non-English accents doing the talking, e.g. Leah from NI, Alex from Wales etc which I don't think helped matters. Also at the risk of sounding sexist/ignorant of foreign customs I would probably have tried to have most of the business deals done by men due to expecting them to be taken more seriously in positions of authority over there.

I think the right person was fired but he really didn't do himself any favours bringing Natalie in, it just firmed up the suggestion that he was looking for easy/female prey as his reasoning didn't seem great (part of the reason she didn't do much was because they wouldn't let her have the phonebook - selective editing no doubt but the point remains). I never liked him and even on the You're Fired show where you sometimes get to see a different side to the candidates outside of the pressure cooker environment, he still came across as a bit of an arrogant twit.

Flag size error was ridiculous, part of me felt like Kurt should get the flak for it but on the other hand if the other two had a braincell between them they would have immediately corrected the mistake.
Other team didn't cover themselves in glory either, when they asked "is it ok if we pay in advance?" I cringed, of course the guy is going to take your money. Given that time is of the essence I'd have tried to negotiate to incentivise the deal i.e. half the cash up front as deposit and other half if completed on schedule or similar otherwise a 20% discount. They tried to pull that stunt at the end asking for a discount... er HELLO, why is the guy just going to give you free money?

Neil surprised me a little this week, trying to act as peacemaker as I didn't think that was in his nature, he seems like a decent salesman and has potential. Need a few weeks to whittle the numbers down a bit
 
Last edited:
Not the best episode this week, I prefer when they have to flog uk products to the other countries. But some incredible one liners from Big Alan especially the Miles kilometres one.

As the series' have gone on I've become more sceptical about the whole show especially now that the business partnership is the prize. I really don't see how many of the tasks contribute to running a good business. I get he feeling the majority of the show is for the public while LAS fires the idiots and keeps the ones with promising business ideas until the final.
 
That's what really got me, it was literally a lose-lose situation, she caused an unnecessary delay and ended up doing what she was asked to do in the first place so would have been better off just maintaining her discipline.
TBH you never know which way shugs will fall on this one...

If you had a valid argument and didn't stick up for your side you didn't show initiative.
If you had a valid argument and did something about it you're not a team player.

There's a big part of me that hates the show but there's also a big part of me that likes laughing at idiots.
 
Back
Top Bottom