Apprentice (IRL) - Season 2 Week 7 Discussion

Oliver1985

I think last night Sam deserved to go!!! Numbers are getting short now How long will Bref hold out

VERYinterested

Oliver1985 wrote: »

I think last night Sam deserved to go!!!

Agreed, she should have been shot with a ball of her own sh1te, after her 'unique twist' on the happy birthday tune at the start of the show.

ibarelycare

Oliver1985 wrote: »

How long will Bref hold out

Until the end hopefully...imagine him going through the interviews in the penultimate week
MOD EDIT: Can't people read? NO SPOILERS ARE ALLOWED.

Oliver1985

Someone started a facebook club for bref and it has over 6,500 fans now:eek:

znv6i3h7kqf9ys

Sam is a loon. Bref has to win. Just think about it. He has been turned into a z list celeb already & everyone likes him. The car industry is in bad shape at the moment so Bill Cullen could do with the PR and the Brefmeister will give him that. As for the rest of them........ poor standard. Lucinda is one of the stronger candidates and she's not all that. I should know because I worked with her for a year

FruttiTutti

Is there actually anybody that does not like Breff? I've read these threads in detail and unless I missed a couple of posts I haven't seen a bad thing written about him. He is TV Gold. I'm definitely joining the facebook fan club!!

As for The Apprentice winner, I unfortunately don't think it'll be him. I really hope I'm wrong though!

That said, Bill has fired the losing PM in almost every episode this series, if that continues it's gonna be fairly unpredicable who wins in the end!

Genghis

VERYinterested wrote: »

He is a two faced, wise in hindsight idiot!

Best example of this was last night when Dr Bill claimed that Focus Groups were a waste of time and that you should do the exact opposite of what a Focus Group says? Complete rubbish, I mean why does anyone do a focus group for any product then? And whay were they both ordered to have a focus group if Bills opinion is that they will throw you off-course and in completely the wrong direction?

Delighted for Breff, in spite of the very humourous side to him, he showed last night he has a sense of how to win this, even when half his team (Aoife and Ruth) openly declared that they didn't trust him, and the other team smugly concluded that they couldn't possibly lose with Breff managing the competition (ref: remark made by Sam in You're Fired!).

Chocoholic84

VERYinterested wrote: »

Can you imagine if they went with Rocky Road? "This was supposed to be an innovative task and all you did was re-package a Cadbury product that's available in Australia" He is a two faced, wise in hindsight idiot!

COMPLETELY agree! Bill is a pure feckin eejit, they would have been devoured either way!

Well, I guess Sam deserved to go last night, although I reckon herself and Breff are the only entertaining ones on the show...

Jesus Ruth is completely useless..."I really think I should present, I am very strong at this, blah blah..." Yeah, you said that about doing the budgeting last week, and looked how you effed that up, ya foooooool!
She was a complete embarrassment, she didn't know some very basic information, and what does she say? "Erm, well, these are the people who made it," (ie. Ger and Breff), removing herself completely from the task altogether! Gahhhhh, she must be fired soon......

Aoiffe just makes me laugh now tbh, with her drama queen tendencies...calling Breff "horrendous"? Lol! And her face when Bill said Cadbury liked the name "Blasta" - go Breff!

And as much as I love Breff, his management skills aren't the best lol...did he hang up on the girls twice?! Even though they deserved it...wasn't exactly professional... Was great TV though! Even Brian Purcell loved it...

Ger - hmmm, kinda fading into the backgroud now? Methinks she needs to step up her game a bit more.

I reckon, like a lot of other people here, that Lucinda is a bit of a dark horse...and possibly may go on to win! I thought she handled the questions at the end of the presentation well.

Steve....didn't see that much of him on this task. (But I would )

Stephen...not v impressed with him in general tbh...reckon he should go next (well after Ruth maybe)

And finally Sam - ah yes, you are a moany oul cow but I'll miss ya! Was very childish not hugging Stephen though...sounds like she still has a grudge too..."well maybe if I still had swine flu, I'd give him a hug..." OUCH!

Roll on next Monday!

znv6i3h7kqf9ys

Chocoholic84 wrote: »

I reckon, like a lot of other people here, that Lucinda is a bit of a dark horse...and possibly may go on to win! I thought she handled the questions at the end of the presentation well.quote]

Rubbish. She even admited that she spoofed her way through and got given out to for it. Shows what you know. By the way I worked with Lucinda before so I know what I'm talking about.

dedon

VERYinterested wrote: »

Don't get me wrong I disliked Sam intensely, but she did say something on the after show last night that made sense concerning Dr. Bill. Can you imagine if they went with Rocky Road? "This was supposed to be an innovative task and all you did was re-package a Cadbury product that's available in Australia" He is a two faced, wise in hindsight idiot! Maybe it's his age and he can't remember the things he gave out to teams about last week, but I bet he would have gone through them for a short cut for copying an existing product, like he did about the bear and in last year's show with the Duty Free shop fiasco, 'Fly & Buy' or 'Buy & Fly' or whatever it was called.

http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/aaasmt/index.php/url_indprod?xlc=2977

I saw the Big Red Book TV ad during one of the breaks and right enough there was the Rubix Cube featured on the end board of the commercial along with a hundred other pieces of information, it is on screen for maybe two seconds and impossible to read. It is an amateur piece of advertising and to think this guy was upset that his name was spelled with a K instead of a C. :rolleyes:

Ya its a terrible advert. Very amateur indeed. Makes their product look very amateur and ordinary. Big slip up there. Wouldn't touch it.

A good few of us at work were laughing at that as well. To come up with such crap ad after dissing the contestants.

Very unprofessional.

Shane10

Jessa Acidic Gearshift wrote: »

Chocoholic84 wrote: »

I reckon, like a lot of other people here, that Lucinda is a bit of a dark horse...and possibly may go on to win! I thought she handled the questions at the end of the presentation well.quote]

Rubbish. She even admited that she spoofed her way through and got given out to for it. Shows what you know. By the way I worked with Lucinda before so I know what I'm talking about.

ya she spoofed but she did as well as anyone would have in that situation. terrible question to be asked on the spot and at least she didnt hesitate. she's growing on me have to say aswell.

lucinda,aoife,bref and steve ryder should be last 4. tough to seperate them after that right now IMO.

Chocoholic84

Jessa Acidic Gearshift wrote: »

Rubbish. She even admited that she spoofed her way through and got given out to for it. Shows what you know. By the way I worked with Lucinda before so I know what I'm talking about.

Sheesh, someone's a lil touchy about Lucinda? We all haven't worked with her, so we have to give our opinion on how she's performing in the show. tbh, I think she's one of the strongest contenders now, she hasn't made any major eff-ups, and she was very good in the Meteor task - and yes, she admitted she spoofed her way through it - but it was good spoofing!

GEM_13

Shane10 wrote: »

Jessa Acidic Gearshift wrote: »

ya she spoofed but she did as well as anyone would have in that situation. terrible question to be asked on the spot and at least she didnt hesitate. she's growing on me have to say aswell.

lucinda,aoife,bref and steve ryder should be last 4. tough to seperate them after that right now IMO.

to be fair to her,she did think quite quickly on her feet on something that she had not prepared.ive said all along that she has the best chance to win it.last night just confirmed this i think.would definitely like to see bref get to the final week as well-entertainment he does provide:rolleyes:

znv6i3h7kqf9ys

Chocoholic84 wrote: »

Sheesh, someone's a lil touchy about Lucinda? We all haven't worked with her, so we have to give our opinion on how she's performing in the show. tbh, I think she's one of the strongest contenders now, she hasn't made any major eff-ups, and she was very good in the Meteor task - and yes, she admitted she spoofed her way through it - but it was good spoofing!

No not touchy at all. My point is that if she is one of the stronger contestants it doesn't say much for the rest of them. Don't get me wrong she is ok but nothing special. Anybody that is good would already be in a really good job and wouldn't be making themselves unemployable by going on that tv show

pikachucheeks

The right person definitely left the competition last night.
Dear Lord, Sam's project was just wrong on SO many levels.

Rhubarb and Custard chocolate bar? Doesn't sound appealing and how is it Irish, in any way? Also, the packaging was far from innovative.

The decor in the hall was just ... disgusting. Having custard and rhubarb on the tables as centerpieces? Don't think I've seen anything tackier - or bizarre - in my life!

And then there was the presentation. Two business professionals dressed up in neon yellow and pink costumes? It was ridiculous looking and made the whole thing seem very childish.
I actually felt embarrassed for them, having to wear those outfits.

I don't think Sam was a bad person, but she doesn't have the relevant experience to be a business apprentice and it was right that she left last night.

znv6i3h7kqf9ys

I don't think Sam is a bad person but she certainly is a mad person. Really I don't think she would be suitable in any employment inc teaching. What sort of an example would she be to impressionable teenagers? I mean she would just confuse the hell out of them by them thinking that she is a normal human being. Normal adults do not behave like her what so ever.

Shane10

ya i was like what the hell has rhubarb and custard got to do with ireland ? and who would want that mix in a chocolate bar...disgusting i though. i thought the design of the bleasta bar wrapper didnt get enough credit, seemed quite good to me. wouldnt mind one now actually....:P

patmac

NickDrake wrote: »

Can't believe Brendan mentioned my post from last week. Word for word. A true honour. Brilliant!!

In fairness it was probably the only post in cyberspace to say Sam was hot, so it was bound to stand out (and judging by your taste in women probably not the only thing standing out).

RGDATA!

pikachucheeks wrote: »

Rhubarb and Custard chocolate bar? Doesn't sound appealing and how is it Irish, in any way? Also, the packaging was far from innovative.

I thought Cadbury's were a joke on this task.

First of all, they asked for an addition to the Dairy Milk range. All of the Dairy Milk range share similarities in the packaging, as befits a "range". Cadburys have had the same packaging for years for this range, even the recent change being rolled out now is only subtly different.

So they give the two teams one day to come up with a new bar from recipe to wrapper, plonk them in front of a graphic designer with the "dairy milk" template open on his screen, and then rip them for lack of innovation. Meanwhile, I'm struggling to think of the last innovative thing I've seen from Cadburys - ressurecting the Wispa maybe?:rolleyes:

Rhubarb and custard was a good idea for a bar if they made it with custard filling a la caramello. Blasta was a good name, and a far more innovate bar than anything cadbury have on the market at the moment IMO. They were all moaning about Rocky Road not being picked - what the **** do 'Rocky Road' or marshmallows connote about Ireland?

I think most of the contestants are muppets, but on this task, as far as delivering a bar of chocolate and a wrapper, both did surprisingly well in the time given and the criticisms from Cadburys/Bill on these counts were spurious.

Busi_Girl08

So is Blasta going to be launched or not?

I want to try it, it sound really nice

MagicMarker

Busi_Girl08 wrote: »

So is Blasta going to be launched or not?

I want to try it, it sound really nice

Or as one could say, tasty.

Cicero

Jessa Acidic Gearshift wrote: »

Sam is a loon. Bref has to win. Just think about it. He has been turned into a z list celeb already & everyone likes him. The car industry is in bad shape at the moment so Bill Cullen could do with the PR and the Brefmeister will give him that.

V. interesting perspective- when I read this first, I initially agreed with the comment- but then got thinking, how many people have we followed on reality TV through the years Vs how many do we remember now, or 3 months after the show is ended? Bref might be a good PR person short term but probably a liability medium term- i.e. he doesn't have the business accumen at the moment at least- will be v. interested to see does he achieve any longer than 15 mins of fame

pikachucheeks

RGDATA! wrote: »

they give the two teams one day to come up with a new bar from recipe to wrapper, plonk them in front of a graphic designer with the "dairy milk" template open on his screen, and then rip them for lack of innovation.

Nice rant, made me laugh!

I agree - Cadbury's weren't offering them complete - or much - creative freedom, but it was up to the teams to work with what they were given and try to do something innovative.
They could have done this in many ways ; font, product name, colours used in the packaging, icons on wrapper etc.

RGDATA! wrote: »

Rhubarb and custard was a good idea for a bar if they made it with custard filling a la caramello.

Yeah, you're right with that one - They possibly would have received less criticism if they'd done that as well, as the product would have tasted more authentic and more like actual rhubarb and custard.

Ulysses Gaze

They could have done this in many ways ; font, product name, colours used in the packaging, icons on wrapper etc.

I disagree with this. If they had gotten as innovative as changing packaging, icons etc you can guarantee that Cadbury's would have said:

'Oh you're changing our product too much. How does this fit in the Dairy Milk brand?'

Cadbury's Dairy Milk is a conservative brand and the teams did the best within the parameters of that brand in terms of packaging etc. The problem was that Sam's team designed a package too close to the Tiffin range, it wasn't 'Irish' enough and it tasted crap.

Bref's idea was good and I would argue when dealing with as conservative a brand as Cadbury's Dairy Milk, about as innovative as you could get without rebranding it completely.

Really, what did Cadbury's expect?

RGDATA!

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

I disagree with this. If they had gotten as innovative as changing packaging, icons etc you can guarantee that Cadbury's would have said:

'Oh you're changing our product too much. How does this fit in the Dairy Milk brand?'

exactly.
furthermore i'm just back from the local shop and there's **** all difference between the tiffin and turkish wrappers, and fruit & nut is not a million miles away.

From a distance you wouldn't identify any of them over the other. Neither could I see single cadbury product on the shelf there that didn't exist 20 years ago which speaks to their own recent record in innovating.

Oliver1985

Busi_Girl08 wrote: »

So is Blasta going to be launched or not?

I want to try it, it sound really nice

Dont think so There is a comp in the hearld tonight design your on choc bar "as seen on the apprentice"

RGDATA!

finally, what of Cadbury's own Rocky Road, the one they were so disappointed neither of the teams had the innovation to reinvent? What colour was the wrapper when Cadbury's had it on the market? exactly the same fupping colour as Turkish, Tiffin and the proposed Rhubarb & Cream one last night.
FFS.

http://www.cybercandy.co.uk/aaasmt/index.php/url_indprod?xlc=2977

Heroditas

Cicero wrote: »

Bref [...] probably a liability medium term- i.e. he doesn't have the business accumen at the moment at least- will be v. interested to see does he achieve any longer than 15 mins of fame

I don't think the winner will need much business acumen working for Bill.
They will probably end up as a glorified bell-hop in the hotel or parking the cars up in Liffey Valley.

pikachucheeks

Ulysses Gaze wrote: »

Cadbury's Dairy Milk is a conservative brand and the teams did the best within the parameters of that brand in terms of packaging etc. The problem was that Sam's team designed a package too close to the Tiffin range, it wasn't 'Irish' enough and it tasted crap.

I don't think the teams did the best they could have done, really.
Yes, Cadbury's might have put a dampener on their creativity but Bref's team did a much better job than Sam's.
With Sam's team, it was essentially the Tiffin packaging with a different name on the front, where as Bref's team made an effort to use Irish-style font, come up with an original name and introduced a tri-colour colour scheme.

Cadbury's might have been at fault for not allowing much room for change, but Sam's team basically changed nothing. They came up with a new chocolate bar, stuck the unoriginal name on the front of existing packaging and tried to wing it!

Bref's team were much stronger and made much more effort to fulfill the brief.

Cicero

Heroditas wrote: »

I don't think the winner will need much business acumen working for Bill.
They will probably end up as a glorified bell-hop in the hotel or parking the cars up in Liffey Valley.

OK, let's just take this a little step further..(might even merit a thread of its own)...It's final time, and Bref comes through as the winner...what now?

What insane job will he be put in charge of in Bills' Big Business...

1. Selling cars on TV?
Hi, I'm the Bref, and I think you need this Renault- I have a Harvard Degree don't ya know- so do as I say and buy this Renault.

2. Selling Car Finance:
Need a car but don't have the money? Hi, I'm the Bref, and with my Harvard degree, I am qualified to tell you that you don't need any money to buy this here Renault- just take out one of our finance pakages and the car is yours' to drive away today....and there's no Fada's in Renault either

frightening part is...he just might get away with it eekkk!