The Apprentice

[chichi]

Raef Bjayou - He has spent two years working abroad; the first in overseas property sales in America and throughout the Caribbean

Nicholas de Lacy-Brown - A keen fan of amateur dramatics, he supplements his earnings with a mixture of artistic endeavour and property development. But he's out first!

Kevin Shaw - area manager for Halifax PLC

Alex Wotherspoon - Texas for a year where he worked as a Loan Officer

[Bloo Loo]

overseas property sales? timeshare?

[chichi]

overseas property sales? timeshare?

Export/import

http://www.infinitate.co.uk/

[barsark]

Load of ol' shite

[Sofa Spud]

Glad I haven't been watching it!

[Harry Sacks]

Raef Bjayou - He has spent two years working abroad; the first in overseas property sales in America and throughout the Caribbean

Nicholas de Lacy-Brown - A keen fan of amateur dramatics, he supplements his earnings with a mixture of artistic endeavour and property development. But he's out first!

Kevin Shaw - area manager for Halifax PLC

Alex Wotherspoon - Texas for a year where he worked as a Loan Officer

They've boiled down a cauldron of monumental w@nkers for this series. That Barrister, Nicholas -"my biggest failure was a B in French." No mate, your biggest failure is you.

[Guest anorthosite]

Sir Allen made the right decision.

Bender Boy was a poof with an attittude with regard to peoples backgrounds and parents that has fortunately been consigned to history, thanks to Margaret Thatcher.

Its a shame that New Labour are creating a resurgence in upper class snobbery, but hell the tw4ts are not getting very far fortunately.

Allen, you are a legend, the next one should be Raef to come out, and I am not just talking about his sexuality.

You might just be the only person in Britain to talk about homosexuality more than Richard Littlejohn

[laurejon]

You might just be the only person in Britain to talk about homosexuality more than Richard Littlejohn

Well I do hope the representatives of the Gay community on Allens show, conduct themselves in a more appropriate manner as its painting a bleak picture of how Gay people treat others.

[Badger]

One of the greatest shows on telly IMO, mightily amusing watching sharp suited serial careerists selling fresh lobster for a fiver apiece

[laurejon]

One of the greatest shows on telly IMO, mightily amusing watching sharp suited serial careerists selling fresh lobster for a fiver apiece

The funny thing is these people are sold to the public as being the Creme de la Creme, pick of the crop.

I would guess the producers had a great time picking out 16 dickheads, safe in the knowledge that none of them could run a bath let alone a company.

Thank God real business has changed, the old "Where do you see yourself in five years" "I never lose" "I am invisible" has thankfully been consigned to the past.

I work in a team of 500 people, and occassionally we do get a knobhead as is seen on Allens show, I am sure it comes as no suprise they last less than the time it takes me to pop to the canteen for a bacon sandwich.

[davidg]

I work in a team of 500 people, and occassionally we do get a knobhead as is seen on Allens show, I am sure it comes as no suprise they last less than the time it takes me to pop to the canteen for a bacon sandwich.

Sounds like paradise where you work, I've worked at the big consultancies and they are full of them, some clever people too mind. Outside of that boiler house enviroment I've worked with pretty normal people but a huge amount of dead wood who should really have considered another career.

[laurejon]

Sounds like paradise where you work, I've worked at the big consultancies and they are full of them, some clever people too mind. Outside of that boiler house enviroment I've worked with pretty normal people but a huge amount of dead wood who should really have considered another career.

I suppose in any large corp there will always be some dead wood, its odd that they are not identified when the sharks arrive looking for cuts however some of them are old school and know how to play the game, have contacts, and are a real drain on progress.

I really do despise the up themselves, and in my experience have found those who shout loudest are often the ones who are living off the backs of others.

The good thing in my business is that the managers have all been changed, time served, who you know, who you slept with, are all consigned to the past, the management team are selected on merit and thus far they have done a very good job in turning the business around to become a joy to work for. Its now appreciated in business circles that a manager cannot manage anything, a manager should have detailed knowledge of the business he is engaged in, he should not be managing people, he should be managing the processes that he staff undertake, and he should be expending every effort to provide the tools for those staff to undertake the job.

[juvenal]

They've boiled down a cauldron of monumental w@nkers for this series. That Barrister, Nicholas -"my biggest failure was a B in French." No mate, your biggest failure is you.

He likened himself to Dali - didn't Dali produce a work called The Great Masturbator?

[Son of Fred]

Any property developers?

They all look like a bunch of unemployed estate agents to me however I wonder if anyone else noticed what happened to last years winner and runner up?

Witless wonder Simon Ambrose now works for Sugar's son Daniel (anagram of Denial), in 'Amsprop' The real estate arm of Amstrad.

He could find he has his work cut out in showing Sir Alan a profit this year if this 2006 article is anything to go by:

Sugar in £1bn Property Spree

Runner up Kristina Grimes came across as particulary hard Boiled and most of the viewers at my workplace thought that grim Grimes should have won.

she is now:

Investment Sales Director at Dandara Ltd, Property Developers

Hilarious website:

Investing with Dan Dare

Bricks and mortar are increasingly seen as one of the safest and strongest medium to long-term investment assets, with new property offering many advantages over old. Investing in property makes sound economic sense and dandara offers a solid commitment to making investment in property easy, profitable and secure.

[laurejon]

He likened himself to Dali - didn't Dali produce a work called The Great Masturbator?

I think when he told Sir Allen he was a barrister, he was not wholly truthfull and neglected to mention he gained the qualification in StarBucks.

[South Lorne]

...surprised so many saw it with the footie on.....

[jammo]

They were all inadequate. Several office junior-types manning a stall each hassling the public with their fish was never going to work, and none of them saw the irony of this test. If I were sir allen, I'd hire the bloke that, near the end refused to buy ALL of the male team's fish for more than £50 (it was worth c£130 cost price I believe). All off them were lamers. I hold no hope for a 5-figure salary winner to emerge...

[A.steve]

All off them were lamers. I hold no hope for a 5-figure salary winner to emerge...

While this might sound silly, I understand that they're being made to compete for a £100K gross salary... and they're doing a 12 week interview - which, for the first year is equivalent to £80,100 - and they will be living in London - so their costs will be high. This is not a salary I'd compete for - and, to be honest, while I'm sure there would be lots one could learn, Alan Sugar is full of shit if he thinks that people should work for peanuts because he has been successful and has an ego.

With almost every Apprentice I find myself thinking - I could have turned either group around... conversely, I would not put myself on television and I would likely lack motivation to engage such an obvious circus as board-room defence. If I'd been in either group I'd have been loud and brash for a minute... I'd have called them all "sales and marketing" - whereas, I enjoy cooking fish dishes. I'd have priced the fish correctly - by taking a fish for which I knew the supermarket price and reverse engineering the mark-up. As a team lead, I'd have immediately thought to task the group members with the most front to sell to businesses - though not at a discount. I'd have managed the prices with a burn-down prediction in an attempt to adjust the rate of sales to run out exactly at close of business. It is so easy... I wouldn't have been trying to impress the other contestants... I'd be making out that I'd be a push-over later in the game... I'd be looking for the 'cheats' which make the difference - and absolutely refusing to justify myself in the event of my own mistakes - which I'd be the first to criticise.

I can only conclude that the candidates were selected not for their capacity to perform at the tasks, but rather for their entertainment value.

[Darkman]

I can only conclude that the candidates were selected not for their capacity to perform at the tasks, but rather for their entertainment value.

Well of course

[Guest Charlie The Tramp]

Sorry Guys I don`t rate Mr Sugar at all, had the luck to get in at the right time with a product, and that grey haired past retirement lady with him tells me it`s all a joke.

Off now to set my DVD recorder for Upstairs Downstairs for 6.25am this morning.

The Apprentice BBC version of Big Brother.

[A.steve]

I don`t rate Mr Sugar at all

If I met him, I'd thank him. I'd thank him for making shit products that, for reasons entirely beyond my grasp, still commanded high second hand prices. The Amstrad PCW 9512, for example, used sub-standard variable resistors for the brightness control... which caused units to fail after a year or so... I could buy up these failed units for peanuts and fix them for coppers - before selling them second hand for £200 a pop. Thank you Mr Sugar... your lack of interest in quality and contempt for your customers paid for me to learn to drive and buy my first car.

[Guest Charlie The Tramp]

If I met him, I'd thank him. I'd thank him for making shit products that, for reasons entirely beyond my grasp, still commanded high second hand prices. The Amstrad PCW 9512, for example, used sub-standard variable resistors for the brightness control... which caused units to fail after a year or so... I could buy up these failed units for peanuts and fix them for coppers - before selling them second hand for £200 a pop. Thank you Mr Sugar... your lack of interest in quality and contempt for your customers paid for me to learn to drive and buy my first car.

Sadly he caught me out, charged £110 for a poxy 4mb memory upgrade for my business computer. :angry:

[right_freds_dead]

I work in a team of 500 people, and occassionally we do get a knobhead as is seen on Allens show, I am sure it comes as no suprise they last less than the time it takes me to pop to the canteen for a bacon sandwich.

i had no idea Ginsters employed that many.

[neverdespairgirl]

That Barrister, Nicholas -"my biggest failure was a B in French." No mate, your biggest failure is you.

He sounded as if he wasn't fully qualified - lots of talk about his Bar Vocational Course (BVC) none about him actually doing pupillage and qualifying as a practising barrister.

[Mr Yogi]

I enjoy watching The Apprentice but what gets me about it is the assumption that to progress a business career you need to go and work in a big company.

Bollock$!

Anyone with anything about them would be working for themselves.

How many 'jobs' do you think Alan Sugar ever had?