The Apprentice - brilliant, brilliant TV
Tonight saw the welcome return of The Apprentice to our TV screens and I must say it’s good to have Sir Alan back telling all the toffs how it really is. Although I class The Apprentice as a “business/entrepreneur” type of show I have to be honest and admit that I don’t actually watch it to learn any business practices. Instead I watch it for the personalities of the contestants and to see how they cope in highly pressurised situations. For me that’s the fascinating aspect of the show, tonight for example we saw a female contestant (Jennifer Maguire I think) tell us that she is the “best salesperson in Europe” - yeah OK. In her profile she states that she can “sell pieces of paper for £50 and making a living out of it.” Just a shame she couldn’t label, price or even sell some fish on tonight’s episode then.
Likewise Ian Stringer comes up with this gem of a quote in his profile. “There are two kinds of people in the world. Winners and… I don’t know how to spell the other word. I can’t say it…” Well Ian let me help you seeing as your team L-O-S-T tonight, it’s L-O-S-E-R-S.
James has given up on the show already and won’t be watching it any more. But he’s got it wrong. It’s exactly because the contestants are arrogant, annoying and behave like schoolkids that makes the show such good value. Personally I love the fact that the BBC have recruited the biggest egos on the planet for the show. It just makes such good viewing to watch them all fighting for survival and desperately trying to outdo each other. Up until this series I must admit that I’ve always preferred the 2 American versions of the show over the UK version. The reason for this is that the American contestants have always been so over the top that they are almost parodies of themselves. Never shy to be in front of the camera or to vocalise their opinions, they have made compulsive and very entertaining viewing. However the UK show has featured more of our “stiff upper lip” and up until now the contestants have (mainly) been dull. But I think that’s all set to change with the current UK season of The Apprentice as from what I’ve seen we’re got some real ego’s in the game and I’m sure there will be some gems of personality clashes to look forward too.
For a real laugh, meet the girls and meet the boys. Some absolutely brilliant *cough* business *cough* quotes here 
Roll on next Wednesday 9pm, I’ll be watching again, will you?
What I’m listening to right now: Cassie – “In Love With You”
Thursday, March 27th, 2008 at 1:52 am and is filed under General Ramblings. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Welcome to my blog. My name is Kieron Donoghue and I run UK Offer Media Ltd. I thought it would be fun to post a daily (well hopefully daily) blog, writing about my experiences in Internet Marketing and more specifically Affiliate Marketing. I'll include some personal stuff too, probably about my other passions, music and cars. Please feel free to post your comments and thoughts too.
March 27th, 2008 at 4:30 am
Spot on review Kieron.
It will be a great show even if just for watching how far people go to impress ’sir’ alan & while not my biscuit fair play to them for trying it…
Being Irish, I was waiting for the Irish content to impress me but with that “best salesperson in Europe” comment even my 10 year old daughter gave up on her…
car crash tv at its best, but looks like it will be compulsive watching.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:09 am
It’s going to be another must-watch series I reckon. The BBC2 show ‘You’re Fired’ is also worth a watch to pick up on the humorous side of the show. For instance, apparently fish have breasts.
March 27th, 2008 at 10:48 am
I thought it was totally brilliant, and was so glad that the silly schoolboy was fired at the end of it - perhaps he can go get another qualification now.
Next one I want off is Mr eyebrows on the other side of the team leader - pure arrogance in a bottle that one…
March 27th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
I actually use to work with Jennifer Maguire when I first left school, she was my Manager and I can say she can/did make a living out of selling a pieces of paper (promotions) for £50 to complete strangers and earnt extremely good money
I’m routiing for Jennifer at the moment, as shes the only person i’ve even know to appear on a programme
March 27th, 2008 at 12:19 pm
Haven’t seen it yet, but planning on watching it tonight on replay - i’m looking forward to it even more now
March 27th, 2008 at 2:01 pm
I had to laugh at the ‘Meet The Girls’ video. One of the girls says….
“I deal with men that grunt, groan, shout & moan everyday of the week”
….. I can guess what her previous job was!
But I must be wrong.
March 27th, 2008 at 4:25 pm
I love the apprentice, although I’ll have to watch the second half tonight as I fell asleep!!!
Like you Kieron, I don’t think I’ll learn much from watching it, apart from being a nice person, not arrogant, aggressive etc are far better ways to get on in business! I can’t imagine anyone wanting to employ any of them tbh. All the same, good tv.
March 27th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
I agree with David, “You’re Fired” is the best bit for me. I can’t believe Nicholas walked on wearing his aviators! What a plonker! I also liked Sir Alan’s eyebrow raising - classic!
March 28th, 2008 at 3:42 am
It is a pretty hilarious show. I am a massive fan. Any of you guys watching the celebrity US version? The final airs tonight or tomorrow with Piers Morgan vs Trace Adkins as the final two. It has been a great watch.
The thing I see with the UK version is that it does not seem to attract the same caliber of contestants the US one does. I want to see a show of genuinely brilliant business people battling it out.
Nicholas wearing those aviators was truly ridiculous. How can he be the apprentice when he has never had a job though.
April 1st, 2008 at 9:29 pm
It was classic Apprentice for me - I’m really looking forward to this week’s episode, which is not something i’ve said about any telly recently!