Apprentice (IRL) - Episode 1 - October 3rd

Robert McGrath

caesar wrote: »

It’s always the same, the teams slip up on the basics, but then again most businesses that encounter failure often do so likewise, granted on a magnified scale.

That aside, this year it’s a different ball game because of the prize that’s on offer. With that the calibre of candidate is somewhat different to what we have seen before. Yes, their weaknesses and mistakes will be exposed in a somewhat humiliating fashion but the reality is that most of these candidates have managed to achieve something of worth in order to get onto the show. Of course, the producers will have picked some for entertainment value alone.

I like to see the group dynamics unfold; I can only imagine from a project management point of view what it is like to try to get to grips with the range personalities, especially when the candidates see themselves as entrepreneurs.

As for the task, Conor should have been listened to; failing to read the brief is unforgivable.

Finally, the standard is as much as I expected given the prize. On the face of it seems great but when you break it down and look at what it contains and with the 50% stake going Bills way you'd wonder are they all in it to win? I doubt it very much.

I agree with Caesar (is that you, Barry?)

A detailed breakdown of the "package" would be interesting because you can include anything at an inflated price, e.g. free office space in a vacant property owned by Bill with a chunky part of the 200k package being "rent".

It was a bit slow tonight but that's the case every year for the first couple of episodes (with the You're Fired show as well) because we don't know the characters yet.

Keep the young fella Conor in as long as possible ... He's where the entertainment will be, I reckon ... The other 2 were desperately trying to be diplomatic and polite while waiting outside and he basically told them to f*** off

caesar

Robert McGrath wrote: »

I agree with Caesar (is that you, Barry?)

Ha never thought of that, can't remember where my username came from.

Ya didn't learn much about the candidates. Maurice seems pretty strong even at this early stage.

I love when I hear the "I'm not here to make friends", they have to live with each other FFS.

Anyway are their profiles available yet?

starlit

It's very much the young enthusiastic and vibrant versus the older wiser and more experienced set of candidates this year rather than a men versus women kind of thing going on this year in the competition.

Not reading the brief was an epic facepalm fail though for the team that lost in the first episode. I had picked that team out from the start that they probably lose once that happend!? Picking out who would be brought in the boardroom aishling had a good few choices but think she was right to bring in chris but in all fairness chris should have gone really was so sure he be fired rather than aishling.

starlit

All the bio's of the candidates are on the TV3 website.

Sir Oxman

Glebee wrote: »

Late placing order and late back to board room as well. No punishment.

He could have fined them 90% of their profit and they'd still have won!

walshb

I was mostly impressd with Conor last night. Very detailed and precise, and on the ball. Plus, not afraid to speak up. He does come across as a wee bit aggressive though.

Speak Now

I thought it was a celebrity Apprentice when i first tuned in

Eoin is Ossie Ardiles
Conor is Mark Allen.
Girl that got fired is a young Olivia O'Leary
And Ruth looks like an older sister of last years winner.

Heroditas

Just looking at the business ideas. Are some of these people pulling the proverbial?

Aisling Smith: Website offering daily discount deals
Yep, definitely need one of those. Nothing like that has EVER been tried before. :rolleyes:

Conor Browne: Fresh Christmas trees and wreaths.
Doesn't he do something like that already?

Eoin Hamdam: Cloud Computing.
Has he ever heard of Google or any other number of cloud computing companies?

Eugene Heary: Auction Centre
Did he miss the whole property bubble and subsequent crash?

Sandra Murphy: Outside Catering Company
So a chip van or an ice cream van?

Brian Kirwan: Expand his sales outsourcing company IncreSales
Not really a new innovative idea, is it?

Yinka Rahman: Online Store website selling human hair extensions
Errrrrrrr

Susanne Short: Interactive website targeting the over 50s
Ah yes, as opposed to all those non-interactive sites

Ruth Leggett: The Clever Clip – bra attachments
An original idea? About time!

Peter Nielsen: Extreme Sports Clothing Company www.evictedwear.com
Hardly innovative, is it?

Noel Rowland: Retrofit Technology Products
This might explain why Brian was at the recent retrofitting conference in Croke Park. If they reckon it's a runner, they'll make sure Noel is fast-tracked all the way to the final.

Maurice O'Callaghan: A nutritionally focused restaurant
Oh please. :rolleyes:

Louise O'Hara: Staff Training Consultancy
Doesn't Bill have one of those already up in Swords? :rolleyes:

Joanne Sweeney-Burke: Expanding her company Media Box (multi-media company)
Wouldn't she have been better going on Dragons' Den for that?

Claire Crone: Finishing School
Bill won't like that idea! "All dem fancy dans"

Christopher Harold: Social Network Initiative
Facebook? Bebo? Linkedin? Myspace? Google+? Need I go on?


Seriously, most of those ideas are nothing more than people looking for an injection of capital into their existing business or are absolutely awful ideas.
Bill may go for the insulation business because there's going to be a huge amount of work done there in the next few years. The bra attachment one might also be unique and original but he probably won't go for that because it may take a while to bring to market and I imagine he wants to start making cash as quickly as possible.
Dear oh dear....... not exactly a list to make you feel the country is ready to turn a corner, eh?

kippy

Okay,
I enjoyed the past few seasons of the Apprentice both UK and Ireland but I didn't really enjoy the UK one this year mainly because of the prize.
I beleived that from the start SAS had his mind made up about what "idea" was the best one for him. This became evident as the show went on when yer man who had the idea kept getting saved in the board room despite him being the worst person in there on more than one occasion (based on earlier seasons benchmarks)
However he continued to get through and eventually won at a canter (bit of drama for TV) because of the idea he had. He defo wasnt the best "apprentice" and the show really was let down by SAS pre conceived ideas about where he wanted to stick the cash into.

I believe the same thing is going to happen her with BC. He will have, no doubt, investigated all the contestants ideas and will have no doubt made up his mind which one is most deserving of his cold hard cash.
Once a few weeks have passed it will be obvious who the winner will be as it was on the UK version.
In the meantime we will have a processions of add filled episodes with more product placement than the last James Bond movie, surrounded by the usual "Tasks" that have little or nothing got to do with the end result (due to the prize and BC's own ideas of who he wants to invest in)

I dont think the prizes and the format of the tasks/show go hand in hand any more. It's trying to be a cross between dragons den and the apprentice of old but failing (in my opinion).

That being said, I'll keep an eye on it and try pick a winner.

Heroditas

kippy wrote: »

I believe the same thing is going to happen her with BC. He will have, no doubt, investigated all the contestants ideas and will have no doubt made up his mind which one is most deserving of his cold hard cash.

That being said, I'll keep an eye on it and try pick a winner.

I definitely think Noel Rowland will be one of the last few, particularly when Brian Purcell was at a conference regarding that very topic the week before last.

caesar

Heroditas wrote: »

Just looking at the business ideas. Are some of these people pulling the proverbial?

Aisling Smith: Website offering daily discount deals
Yep, definitely need one of those. Nothing like that has EVER been tried before. :rolleyes:

Conor Browne: Fresh Christmas trees and wreaths.
Doesn't he do something like that already?

Eoin Hamdam: Cloud Computing.
Has he ever heard of Google or any other number of cloud computing companies?

Eugene Heary: Auction Centre
Did he miss the whole property bubble and subsequent crash?

Sandra Murphy: Outside Catering Company
So a chip van or an ice cream van?

Brian Kirwan: Expand his sales outsourcing company IncreSales
Not really a new innovative idea, is it?

Yinka Rahman: Online Store website selling human hair extensions
Errrrrrrr

Susanne Short: Interactive website targeting the over 50s
Ah yes, as opposed to all those non-interactive sites

Ruth Leggett: The Clever Clip – bra attachments
An original idea? About time!

Peter Nielsen: Extreme Sports Clothing Company www.evictedwear.com
Hardly innovative, is it?

Noel Rowland: Retrofit Technology Products
This might explain why Brian was at the recent retrofitting conference in Croke Park. If they reckon it's a runner, they'll make sure Noel is fast-tracked all the way to the final.

Maurice O'Callaghan: A nutritionally focused restaurant
Oh please. :rolleyes:

Louise O'Hara: Staff Training Consultancy
Doesn't Bill have one of those already up in Swords? :rolleyes:

Joanne Sweeney-Burke: Expanding her company Media Box (multi-media company)
Wouldn't she have been better going on Dragons' Den for that?

Claire Crone: Finishing School
Bill won't like that idea! "All dem fancy dans"

Christopher Harold: Social Network Initiative
Facebook? Bebo? Linkedin? Myspace? Google+? Need I go on?


Seriously, most of those ideas are nothing more than people looking for an injection of capital into their existing business or are absolutely awful ideas.
Bill may go for the insulation business because there's going to be a huge amount of work done there in the next few years. The bra attachment one might also be unique and original but he probably won't go for that because it may take a while to bring to market and I imagine he wants to start making cash as quickly as possible.
Dear oh dear....... not exactly a list to make you feel the country is ready to turn a corner, eh?

If I remember correctly, the businesses didn't have to be set up or could be already trading. The existing ones might need the capital for international expansion or whatever else, whose knows.

I agree with you on the face of the ideas seem weak, but you can't really dismiss them on the basis of four word description. I would imagine IP issues might restrict the detail on some so by virtue of that they all get the four-word description. There are a lot of companies in the cloud computing arena but it's all about the application of the technology. He might have a software system that he wishes to launch on the cloud for example. Furthermore the ideas don't need to be radically innovative, you don't know what spin they might have on theirs that's makes them moderately innovative, unique and competitive.

Having said that it would be nice to see something exciting but we all know those entrepreneurs are off sourcing VC funding, working with Enterprise Ireland or whatever else and most certainly not giving away 50% with zero negotiation. I'm not trying to discredit these ones but the show was never going to get the best 16 up and coming business people or business ideas.

Anyway I agree with kippy, the ideas people have will influence the boardroom decisions - how could they not. It wouldn't make sense if they didn't.
I'd love to know how much detail in terms of the businesses or business ideas the candidates had to give.

Noel Rowland appears to have a decent track record behind him. I think the editing team deliberately focused a lot on Conor going on about the brief so that people would perceive him to be a strong candidate, might be setting him up for a big fall. I don't buy the whole he's not afraid to speak up, none of them are, which can be problematic at times.

Anyway thanks for the tip on the Bios, couldn't find them earlier.

Heroditas

caesar wrote: »

but you can't really dismiss them on the basis of four word description.

Of course we can! How else are we supposed to have fun at their expense?

caesar wrote: »

Having said that it would be nice to see something exciting but we all know those entrepreneurs are off sourcing VC funding, working with Enterprise Ireland or whatever else and most certainly not giving away 50% with zero negotiation. I'm not trying to discredit these ones but the show was never going to get the best 16 up and coming business people or business ideas.

Anyway I agree with kippy, the ideas people have will influence the boardroom decisions - how could they not. It wouldn't make sense if they didn't.
I'd love to know how much detail in terms of the businesses or business ideas the candidates had to give.

Definitely! If the ideas were definitely worth pursuing, then there is plenty of VC out there to avail of. In fact, a lot of the business ideas seem very "SME-ish" in scale.
I completely agree regarding the business ideas influencing the boardroom decisions. Unless you're a total gobsheen, if you have a decent idea, Bill will make sure you go the distance.

HellFireClub

Haven't seen anything as cringeworthy on the television in a long long time. What's all this about, "you are all entrepreneurs", NO THEY ARE NOT!!! A brief overview of the candidates shows that while several have or are engaged in a management position within a business, this is a different thing entirely from ticking the box of being an entrepreneur.

If you want to be an entrepreneur, go out and take on the risk and the inherent hardship that is associated with the task and get on with it, there really is no need to be hiding under the frock of Bill Cullen, in order to be an entrepreneur.

Every year I end up looking at these goons and they are all, without a single exception, more suited to politics than to the formation of any successful enterprise.

The whole thrust of this series I think is one that is based on humiliating extremely naive people in public than anything else, enterpreneurship is a serious business and I don't think it is right that something that we need to badly in this country at the moment gets dragged down to the thrashy standard of reality TV that we have come to associate with a Big Brother episode.

Shame on you Bill Cullen.

MiCr0

Any one else have issues with the editing of the episode?

During the intro you got to see a boardroom shot from later in the series, showing the final six? It was just a quick 2 second clip, but with the magic of sky+...... ;-)

Colmo52

MiCr0 wrote: »

Any one else have issues with the editing of the episode?

During the intro you got to see a boardroom shot from later in the series, showing the final six? It was just a quick 2 second clip, but with the magic of sky+...... ;-)

How do you know it wasn't a team of 6.

kippy

MiCr0 wrote: »

Any one else have issues with the editing of the episode?

During the intro you got to see a boardroom shot from later in the series, showing the final six? It was just a quick 2 second clip, but with the magic of sky+...... ;-)

I have to be honest, I didnt see the full show last night for various reasons but the parts I did see had some editing mistakes (times on clocks different to what they should have been or vice versa), bits that just didnt make sense in context but in fairness the editing has improved from two years ago.

Dymo

MiCr0 wrote: »

Any one else have issues with the editing of the episode?

During the intro you got to see a boardroom shot from later in the series, showing the final six? It was just a quick 2 second clip, but with the magic of sky+...... ;-)

I've looked at that again and from the camera angle it looked like a team of 6 but it has 3 of the over 30's on the team and 3 of the under 30s on the team so it's possible.There is 16 apprentices so it could be possible to mix up the teams in the next couple of weeks.

But If that is a team of 6 the other team has 5 or six people on it, so it means none of those in the clip are going to get fired in the next 3/4 weeks

StephenHendry

i though eugene and noel stood out as being quite good last night. the northern ireland guy , the one who looks like ossie ardiles was hilarious especially when attempting to sell sarnies to those french guys. i liked conor , he is like aiden mcgeady's twin brother

Harry Angstrom

I always watch the UK Apprentice but have never watched the Irish version (mainly because I think Bill Cullen is a twat) but last night I decided to tune into the first episode.
I thought it was very klunky, the editing was woeful, Cullen is devoid of any humour whatsoever and the aftershow "The Apprentice: You're Fired" sounded like it had been staged in an echo chamber, with very shoddy editing as well. I know the BBC have been doing it a bit longer but the UK Apprentice is a far slicker programme and much funnier and more enjoyable IMO. Just wondering what others think?

HellFireClub

If these participants think that they are good business people, WHY ARE THEY NOT OUT THERE STARTING BUSINESSES?!?!?!?!?!?!?

This is what completely p*sses me off about this country, when it comes to churning out management babble speak and playing bullsh*t bingo with useless pseudo "corporate" catch phrases, and throwing out rubbish like, "I'm ruthless", or "I'm not here to make friends, I'm highly competive and I'm here to win and beat everyone else", people in this country seem to have a particularly unique talent for this kind of crap, however when it comes to taking the small steps and starting at the bottom, these folks are completely allergic to doing this.

Instead, they try to by-pass all the well known and accepted risks and hazards that are associated with getting a successful business off the ground, by hoping that they can throw out enough bullsh*t for someone like Bill Cullen to be able to take them under his wing.

It's as rediculous as it is cringeworthy. It's hardly surprising that we have a massive unemployment crisis in this country at the present, with this kind of nonsense getting air tme.

Pixie Girl

Harry Angstrom wrote: »

I always watch the UK Apprentice but have never watched the Irish version (mainly because I think Bill Cullen is a twat) but last night I decided to tune into the first episode.
I thought it was very klunky, the editing was woeful, Cullen is devoid of any humour whatsoever and the aftershow "The Apprentice: You're Fired" sounded like it had been staged in an echo chamber, with very shoddy editing as well. I know the BBC have been doing it a bit longer but the UK Apprentice is a far slicker programme and much funnier and more enjoyable IMO. Just wondering what others think?

Have to agree with you there. I find the UK Apprentice way better than the Irish one. It is definitely more entertaining to watch and even the you're fired aftershow is miles better! Dara O'Brian is brilliant on it! Cannot stand that Anton Savage guy.... even Brendan O'Connor was better and thats not saying much!

shuffles88

HellFireClub wrote: »

If these participants think that they are good business people, WHY ARE THEY NOT OUT THERE STARTING BUSINESSES?!?!?!?!?!?!?

Some of these people do have businesses others are hoping to start up with the money. Heroditas gave a run down of the peoples businesses I've pasted them here:

Aisling Smith: Website offering daily discount deals
Yep, definitely need one of those. Nothing like that has EVER been tried before.

Conor Browne: Fresh Christmas trees and wreaths.
Doesn't he do something like that already?

Eoin Hamdam: Cloud Computing.
Has he ever heard of Google or any other number of cloud computing companies?

Eugene Heary: Auction Centre
Did he miss the whole property bubble and subsequent crash?

Sandra Murphy: Outside Catering Company
So a chip van or an ice cream van?

Brian Kirwan: Expand his sales outsourcing company IncreSales
Not really a new innovative idea, is it?

Yinka Rahman: Online Store website selling human hair extensions
Errrrrrrr

Susanne Short: Interactive website targeting the over 50s
Ah yes, as opposed to all those non-interactive sites

Ruth Leggett: The Clever Clip – bra attachments
An original idea? About time!

Peter Nielsen: Extreme Sports Clothing Company www.evictedwear.com
Hardly innovative, is it?

Noel Rowland: Retrofit Technology Products
This might explain why Brian was at the recent retrofitting conference in Croke Park. If they reckon it's a runner, they'll make sure Noel is fast-tracked all the way to the final.

Maurice O'Callaghan: A nutritionally focused restaurant
Oh please.

Louise O'Hara: Staff Training Consultancy
Doesn't Bill have one of those already up in Swords?

Joanne Sweeney-Burke: Expanding her company Media Box (multi-media company)
Wouldn't she have been better going on Dragons' Den for that?

Claire Crone: Finishing School
Bill won't like that idea! "All dem fancy dans"

Christopher Harold: Social Network Initiative
Facebook? Bebo? Linkedin? Myspace? Google+? Need I go on?

HellFireClub wrote: »

It's hardly surprising that we have a massive unemployment crisis in this country at the present, with this kind of nonsense getting air tme.

What on earth has unemployment got to do with this show? These people are working on starting up businesses that will hopefully end up providing employment!

HellFireClub

shuffles88 wrote: »

What on earth has unemployment got to do with this show? These people are working on starting up businesses that will hopefully end up providing employment!

It's got everything to do with it, we have a defective attitude towards enterpreneurs in this country and it's goons like the people who go in for this show that are the cause of it.

It completely misrepresents the inherent difficulties that a GENUINE entrepreneur will experience when starting a business.

The people who put themselves forward for this show are serial attention seekers, they are the Brendan Kilkenny's of the world who are more interested in being recognised than they are in doing anything useful for themselves or the country they live in.

gbee

mymalovesme wrote: »

from Spar and a bottle of ****a.

Good thing you told me, I was going to MACE.

And I watched the show :eek:

gbee

doovdela wrote: »

but in all fairness chris should have gone really was so sure he be fired rather than aishling.

I wouldn't agree, Aisling showed unbelievable ineptitude in a market segment she was professional in.

Whilst Chris has his own faults, he did his bit very well ~ he was over acting a bit too and maybe he could have done more to save the day but he was not instrumental in their failure.

Aisling should have brought them all back in TBH.

CroatoanCat

What was with the weird pause in the voiceover: "chicken <pause> and stuffing sandwiches"????

starlit

gbee wrote: »

I wouldn't agree, Aisling showed unbelievable ineptitude in a market segment she was professional in.

Whilst Chris has his own faults, he did his bit very well ~ he was over acting a bit too and maybe he could have done more to save the day but he was not instrumental in their failure.

Aisling should have brought them all back in TBH.

Ya of course she should have but saying that Chris had his own part to play in it if anything he had as much to blame for the teams downfall as she did since he was the PM's assistant. He was all nice about her at first in front of bill but then his true colours showed when brought in the board room that he was acting a bit two faced to be honest. There is something sneaky about him though that's just the vibe I am getting from him on the show. He has away with the ladies too like, maybe part of his game plan to suck up to them in the hope he win. His game plan is already on the cards though as Jackie, Brian and Bill seemed to have noticed! While the other's its a case of them in the background or in the grass really despite most of them being strong characters.

Any of them could win, so its a bit early to tell yet. I wouldn't rule out Conor though, Maurice, Brian, and some of the girls have a good chance I think. Still early days yet. I like most of the characters so far just a bit wary of chris he looks like someone who might stab a few of them in the back like! Though some of the lads look like that too say two or three others maybe!? I say the girls be grand this year.

Looking forward to the next few weeks! Hope it be good!?

Harry Angstrom

CroatoanCat wrote: »

What was with the weird pause in the voiceover: "chicken <pause> and stuffing sandwiches"????

I was wondering that myself. At first I thought maybe we were supposed to find it funny , but then I started wondering whether the "and stuffing sandwiches" bit was edited in afterwards

starlit

Though business people they are with great skills and influence in the hope of turning the country over a new leaf with the entrepreneurial and innovative skills they are supposed to have there could be a few chancers there though!?

dazed+confused

kippy wrote: »

I have to be honest, I didnt see the full show last night for various reasons but the parts I did see had some editing mistakes (times on clocks different to what they should have been or vice versa), bits that just didnt make sense in context but in fairness the editing has improved from two years ago.

+1 You can see on one of the lad's watches that its 20:06 ad its supposed to be 16:30. They were all looking like drowned rats one minute and immaculately presented the next.