The Apprentice

[Beansprout]

I couldn't agree more. I've seen nothing yet that would lead me to believe any member of either team would last more than 5 minutes with me. Someone had better start to show some ability, rather than just ego, or the whole series will be a farce.

Or is that the idea?

Has this gone from a semi-serious idea to just more 'reality' TV?

Karen and Paul (ish...he's too egotistical) and the big black guy are the only three who seem like decent people to me.

Initially I thought they had a better bunch than last time....but now I'm starting to wonder...none have *really* stood out as Fantastic people so far.

Also - I was just checking the BBC website, and I've found out something quite worrying. Anyone remember that appalling woman, Rachel, from series one? The one who did the "ideas board" thing? Well...

After being fired, Rachel took a well-earned break and enjoyed six months of "me time" during which she managed to pen a fictional novel. Now she’s the Head of Fundraising for the Citizens Advice Bureau.

:/ :/ :/

Saira has a column on the Apprentice's website which is quite a good read - here. I actually agree with her for once

 

[Al Vallario]

Not a very interesting episode today, just a lot of bickering and disagreements. I think Jo was right on to comment about the sheer stupidity of the cats idea, but it would have worked in her favour had she got on with the job regardless then been able to point out she was against the idea in the boardroom. Brings back memories of last week, setting up the girl's fruit stall, when she went totally out of control and started screaming at bewildered passers-by. She has an attitude that gets on my nerves, and I bet Sir Alan won't be keeping her for too long!

Neither of the calendars looked particularly good to me. The girls could have made up for their outlandish subject matter had they gone with a more conventional calendar layout, and the boy's calendar looked pure desktop publishing to be honest. It seemed fun and colourful, but at the end of the day I wouldn't want to hang that in my house, no matter who the money was going to!

Nargis - oh dear, oh dear. Her pitch was absolutely rubbish, and I'm shocked she produced the same heap of junk thrice without making any revisions. Her timing was appalling (One of the people she was pitching to even managed to say "Well thanks for letting me know" after the useless cat fact, when she should have been straight in) and she clearly didn't understand that she was the one who needed the retailer's help, not the other way round!

No one particularly stands out as the next apprentice to me, but I guess time will tell...

 

[Sudden]

Joe is a nutter but Nargis is absolutely awful and I'm glad they got rid of her.

Agreed. How stupid do you have to be interrupt the man you're selling to and say "hold on. let me finish"
Just let him ask his question it's not like he's telling you to go ahead and get out.

 

[Sequoia]

Karen and Paul (ish...he's too egotistical) and the big black guy are the only three who seem like decent people to me.
....

Oh, I'm not saying they're all as big numpties as tonight's leaders .... I mean, the guy that said he was a presentation expert (management consultant) and "made his living from this", well, talk about setting yourself up for a fall. His presentation was, IMHO, absolutely dire and personally, I HAVE spent a fair chunk of my working life doing presentations, and to board level in some of the world's largest companies at that. And as for Nargis, well, she was little short of rude and insulting. If she'd presented to me and spoke to me that way, she'd have been shown the door before she even finished. Telling one guy she hadn't finished speaking! And as for telling the Harrods (?) buyers they "needed" to give her a price? She's pitching to them for pities sake. They didn't "need" to do squat.

I have to say that my impression was that the girls wouldn't have sold a thing were it not for the fact that this was televised, and the buyers would have looked mean had they bought nothing from either team when it's a kid's hospital charity it's in aid of. The Calendar Club buyer seemed to genuinely like the guys calendar, but neither Harrods nor Virgin were bowled over by either the product or the presentation.

If I were Sugar, I'd be wondering if any of them is worth a "six figure" salary?

As for Karen, Paul and the big black guy .... well,

• Karen. Competent lawyer maybe, but I haven't seen her exactly shine yet.
• Paul. The name doesn't even register with me, so he hasn't made much of an impression.
• the big black guy .... yeah, maybe so. He seems competent enough, and certainly was the only one making much sense when he slapped the prima donnas down when he found then arguing 30 mins before leaving the house to to the pitch .... and he did it wearing a towel and still dripping wet. He MIGHT amount to something. Early days yet. He'd be my choice .... so far.

 

[Brynn]

And as for Nargis, well, she was little short of rude and insulting. If she'd presented to me and spoke to me that way, she'd have been shown the door before she even finished. Telling one guy she hadn't finished speaking! And as for telling the Harrods (?) buyers they "needed" to give her a price? She's pitching to them for pities sake. They didn't "need" to do squat.

It was just cringe-worthy, I had to change channel I was embarassed by it that much. I mean, I haven't done much presenting, and I know not to interrupt the people you are pitching to. And for her to get them to name a price, and pretty much not speak until they would give you a price, is highly immature.

 

[Psycho Ned]

Omg what a cringeworthy hour of tele! toe curling from start to finish!

Those presentations were woeful as others have said I did better ones at Uni! Nargis could she honestly have been more dreadful? rude, pushy, agressive the classic bit was when the bloke from Harrods I think it was went to ask a question she butted in and told him to shut it basically then a long pause and then told him he could ask a question WTF!! She totally deserved the sack.

The blokes was no better and some of the over the top emotional cobblers he came out with was insulting to the people they were pitching it to tbh that they thought they would fall for such garbage.

After the sucess of last years one you would think they would have had the creme de la creme apply this year but this bunch are absolutley terrible! God Sairah, Tim, James and Co were miles more professional business people than this lot.

Oh and did you know there are 6 million cats in Britain.....and most of them are in London Comedy Gold tonights show was.

 

[Al Vallario]

Nargis could she honestly have been more dreadful? rude, pushy, agressive the classic bit was when the bloke from Harrods I think it was went to ask a question she butted in and told him to shut it basically then a long pause and then told him he could ask a question WTF!! She totally deserved the sack.

Haha, yeah!

"So if you'd like to ask any questions..."
/Asks question
"Excuse me, I haven't finished talking yet. So if you'd like to ask any questions, feel free to do so and we can work it out..."

 

[fozzybear]

I've just watched episode 2 through the BBC website. It was excellent entertainment as usual if a little bit hard to watch at times.

Nargis deserved to go. What an appalling set of presentations. Why the hell was she allowed to make it when she'd never even done one in her life before?

I must say Jo has gone up in my estimation. It takes guts to stand up in a group like that. I'm sure other members of the group disagreed with the kitten calendar yet didn't have the balls to voice their opinion.

I'm glad Karen stayed for the only reason that she is a hottie. What a classy woman. My age as well!

No one really stands out at the moment. I'm sure Karen has a lot more to give but most of them seem a bunch of egotistical and emotional wrecks. It all makes for great televison though. I'm already looking forward to next weeks episode.

 

[aphex]

What was with the really amateur graphic design on the guy's calendar? The font they used almost looked like Comic Sans ffs...and it looked as bad as a website made in Word.

 

[VIRII]

[*]Paul. The name doesn't even register with me, so he hasn't made much of an impression.[/list]

The overweight white guy with short hair who spends lots of time in the cab with the big black guy and the irritating Pakistani guy backstabbing the rest of the team but then remains very silent when all 6 of the guys are in one room.
I think he intends to stir up as much trouble as possible quietly.
He is also the guy that got £2 for an apple in the first episode.

Karen is my choice for winner for various reasons

 

[Psycho Ned]

What was with the really amateur graphic design on the guy's calendar? The font they used almost looked like Comic Sans ffs...and it looked as bad as a website made in Word.

Shocking wasnt it! They had the perfect pictures and really should have slaughtered the girls by miles if their calendar didnt look like a secondary school design assignment!!

The girls one was the other end of the scale, far too arty farty how could you use that for anything?

I take it the graphic design monkeys they are given to design the stuff are not allowed to have any input into how it looks else surely they would say something?

So far very few likeable characters. But yes Karen is a bit of alright

 

[D4VE]

Have you learnt nothing through Duck Tales ("Woooo-ooooo")?

It's so you can have a large silo of money to swim in.

lol, yup I remember that.

 

[Rich_L]

What struck me is that it appeared no-one had actually costed the damn thing!! I'm sure everyone noticed the first question the managers asked after the presentation spiel had finished was 'How much will it cost'- yet this was met by a blank stare..how could they not have anticipated that?

A calendar shouldn't be that hard, dark italic text on white background for the month, half or 2/3rds page picture, the rest of the page dates of the month which you can write things in, logo of the charity in the corner. It's a charity calendar so if it's half-decent it'll sell itself through tugging at the heart-strings. What the managers want to know is how much they can buy it for, how many they can sell and for how much - that's all! Our freakin Young Enterprise stuff at school was better planned than their efforts

Felt like slamming my head against the wall watching it last night Am softening towards curly haired crying woman as she stood up quite well in the boardroom, she's still annoying though..

Good program though!

 

[callmeBadger]

Another quality night, getting slowly sozzled and yelling "NO you Idiots" if only the Beeb could produce more of these types of interesting shows, rather than the normal "Vote for your favorite" junk.

Nargis, I was thinking about half way throuugh she had to go, it was between her and Jo, but the presentation.

"Did you know there are 6 million cat owners, and the majority live in London."

What relevence is this? theres probably 6 million Dog owners who would not buy a calendar for the very same reason. And the London thing? This was not just a London calendar, so what the hell did that have to do with the price of rotten apples?

Jo, I thought for most of the show Grow up. she didn't get her way, she cried. She was correct in that what does Kittens have to do with GOSH, but when the decision was made, she sulked. Emotions and gut feeling are useful, but crying all the time.

If she could stop going from extremes, bouncing and yelling child like to crying becouse she didn't get her own way, she would be a far better candidate, one of the better ones if she could stop being so damn childish.

The blokes idea, i thought was a far better idea. A calendar for a childrens hospital, should have children, each page had branding and the charity could be identified with. Just the design was useless, I've seen DTP packages with a Calendar Wizard that have produced almost the same design.

What was the name of the Financial advisor bloke who claims to be a perfectionist, the bloke who went to "Center" himself when he cried in the kitchen becouse the team realised he had spent an entire day playing with the design, to be told it was rubbish and needed doing quicker.

/slap Syed, better than last week, but he's to prone to back stab, and over estimates his abilities. Every time some needs bringing round to a group decision he goes in makes useless agruments and Ammil had to come in, mend broken bridges and get the thing done.

Poor performance all round in the end. I spent a good 10 mins ranting at how useless the womens calendar would be, little numbers at the bottom and a large picture. It was only when Alan Sugar saw the thing his first reaction was, it don't work as a calendar, and wheres the branding.

Nargis, right choice in the end becouse of her presentations.

 

[MrM3]

I'm not saying you're lying, more sugar coating the whole issue. With the high calibre of candidates applying, even missing one question would result in rejection, indubitedly missing that question would highlight a definite weakness for working in such a top level position. I believe that she may have ben 'accepted' but for the final fourteen I find it hard to believe.

'high calibre' lol

I'd have fired the lot of them by now. They are rubbish.

 

[MrM3]

What struck me is that it appeared no-one had actually costed the damn thing!

Exactly which is why they should ALL be fired. The object was to make as much money as possible for the charity.

 

[Ugley_Matt]

The two in the final should be Karen and Ansell, they both seem quite sensible.
I thought Karen did well in the Boardroom by pointing out that although was completely against the cat design she did do all the tasks she was asked to do, which i think was a credit to Jo, although she is annoying as hell.

Still miss Paul from series one....

 

[MATTeL]

Mani "I have the prices, I have been looking on the internet, why the **** can you not trust me to have done my job?"
...
Buyer "So how much are they?"
Mani "erm... er... erm..."

Not only could he not present but he didn't do his job and is far to uncontrolled and aggressive.

Total numpty... of the women Nargis had to go on the BBC 3 follow up show she still refused any other blame and held on to the "I'm the team leader" defence.

 

[MATTeL]

Oh dear Gods I just Remembered that Jo is the team leader for next week!

 

[callmeBadger]

Hello Team, I'm JO, this week we will be testing the effects of Caffine drinks and tissue paper, trust me, i'll be a good Team leader as i have a lot of experience with both of these products.