The Apprentice 2019

dr.kenneth noisewater

dark crystal wrote:

Wednesday the 18th December - double episode from 8pm.

First episode is a look back on the season I think

Muahahaha

I see Alan Sugar is the keynote speaker at the Pendulum summit in Dublin in January following on from Boris Johnston last January. Boris got 50k for a 30 minute speech so I would imagine Sugar will be getting similar wedge. Nice money if you can get it.

AndrewJRenko

RugbyLover123 wrote: »

All those business plans were god awful. Really makes a mockery of the show when it concludes with your man wanting to set up a glorified 6th year holiday company and another one setting up a coffee shop..

They should really provide some coaching on this. Surely they could have someone work with the candidates in the house to fill in the gaps and firm up to ensure they have decent quality business plans, rather than just picking holes at interviews. But it's not really about the business, is it?

Still Ill wrote: »

The final is always a complete waste of time. Might be worth watching the boardroom bit, but the task is always completely dull. Hard to believe he wouldn't have his mind made up by the end of the interview stage.

It's usually good to see the other candidates back in a situation where they're not competing with each other - much more of a co-operative, teamworking approach.

aoh

It's usually good to see the other candidates back in a situation where they're not competing with each other - much more of a co-operative, teamworking approach.

While I agree with that, having that shower "help" launch your business makes it even more of a joke!

ArmaniJeanss

The final is missing all the pressure points that make a regular episode fun, for me anyway.

No Team Leader selection and subsequent bitching, no slow reveal by Claude and Karren of the winning team, no cafe argument, no picking of bottom 3, no arguing amongst bottom 3 in boardroom, no tension as Sugar does his almost-sack-someone routine.

Still Ill

ArmaniJeanss wrote: »

The final is missing all the pressure points that make a regular episode fun, for me anyway.

No Team Leader selection and subsequent bitching, no slow reveal by Claude and Karren of the winning team, no cafe argument, no picking of bottom 3, no arguing amongst bottom 3 in boardroom, no tension as Sugar does his almost-sack-someone routine.

Agree with this 100%.

Also, they usually show both contestants in a really good light. None of that plodding music in the background like they usually play to highlight the contestant's ineptitude. The type of music heard every time Dean was on screen this series.

djemba djemba

Wasn't the final not usually on a Sunday night. After the Sports personality of the year awards.

Muahahaha

Still Ill wrote: »

Agree with this 100%.

Also, they usually show both contestants in a really good light. None of that plodding music in the background like they usually play to highlight the contestant's ineptitude. The type of music heard every time Dean was on screen this series.

yeah the final is more so a celebration of the finalists rather than the ribbing they get in the tasks leading up to it.

djemba djemba wrote: »

Wasn't the final not usually on a Sunday night. After the Sports personality of the year awards.

Yeah the final was always on Sundays from my recollection. Maybe the viewing numbers are down and the powers that be in the BBC felt it no longer deserves a Sunday night prime time slot

jeffk

One bonus of not after the Sports personality of the year awards is it will be on time, that usually ran over a good few minutes

But then your fired is now ruined so wont watch the full show anyway

Am I the only person who thinks The Apprentice flew by this year. Maybe because I skipped many You're Fireds, but it doesn't feel like we had 10+ episodes.

The last episode is never my favourite for all the reasons mentioned, but also:

It brings back all previous contestants even the really hopeless ones and they put the ones who didn't get on with the finalists on that team but they all get on really well somehow.

gmisk

Muahahaha wrote: »

yeah the final is more so a celebration of the finalists rather than the ribbing they get in the tasks leading up to it.



Yeah the final was always on Sundays from my recollection. Maybe the viewing numbers are down and the powers that be in the BBC felt it no longer deserves a Sunday night prime time slot

I don't think the ratings are issue, if you look at Wikipedia it's pretty similar to last year's

Jordan 199

I'm looking forward to seeing Thomas again on Wednesday.

Exclamation Marc

Yeah the last episode is always just a big bag of boring. Two things always grate me immensely.

First is that they have to think of a product or company name and they are nearly always struggling like nobody's business to pick it. Clearly they can't pick their existing one or whatever is in their business plan but jesus either let them pick it or let them use the default team name. You'd think their final presentation is fairly set going in or at least should be.

Second is that the whole episode pivots on the business plan. And in nearly every case it is subsequently tweaked fairly substantially when it comes to launching. And whilst I get that it needs to be business friendlier and take on Lord Sugars input to maximise returns and viability, it just completely devalues the point of the last episode. Again it harks back to the problem with the 'business partner' prize of the last x number of years.

And as a bonus point, and christ knows I mention it enough but if we ever get joint winners again, I'm out this time.

Still Ill

Exclamation Marc wrote: »

Yeah the last episode is always just a big bag of boring. Two things always grate me immensely.

First is that they have to think of a product or company name and they are nearly always struggling like nobody's business to pick it. Clearly they can't pick their existing one or whatever is in their business plan but jesus either let them pick it or let them use the default team name.

Second is that the whole episode pivots on the business plan. And in nearly every case it is subsequently tweaked fairly substantially when it comes to launching. And whilst I get that it needs to be business friendlier and take on Lord Sugars input ., it just completely devalues the point of the last episode.

And as a bonus point, and christ knows I mention it enough but if we ever get joint winners again, I'm out this time.

Yeah, it's a bit of a joke. How would they have gotten to the final and not thought of a name for their business? Then there was the fact that the cosmetic surgeon came up with the name 'Niks' and Sugar rubbished it, but still picked her and changed the name. Also, Inventor Tom pitched a business involving some sort of office chair and ended up selling a nail file! The whole show makes little sense.

Exclamation Marc

8-9 Why I Fired Them
9-10 Final
10-10.30 You're Hired

Why I Fired Them is always dross of the worst kind.

alchemist33

Exclamation Marc wrote: »

8-9 Why I Fired Them
9-10 Final
10-10.30 You're Hired

Why I Fired Them is always dross of the worst kind.

Sky Series Record chose to record Why I Fired Them and ignore the final! Luckily I noticed in time.

seligehgit

Lottie back and picked last.:D

djemba djemba

I don't know why but I would like lottie on my team for the final

seligehgit

djemba djemba wrote: »

I don't know why but I would like lottie on my team for the final

I think she'll be on her best behaviour.

castletownman

Horton Hires a Who's Who

Jordan 199

seligehgit wrote: »

I think she'll be on her best behaviour.

I hope not.

Jordan 199

Stanton Lilly advert is brutal IMO.

Still Ill

Jordan 199 wrote: »

Stanton Lilly advert is brutal IMO.

Yeah, horrendous. Doubt it'll make much difference to Sugar's decision though.

Meauldsegosha

Carina’s ad is very good.

seligehgit

Loved the prison based advert.

Very positive feedback.

djemba djemba

That walk down must be daunting

seligehgit

Oh dear the lack of scalability of the baking business.

castletownman

Panini the new left-back for West Ham.

Love Sugar's Dad jokes

seligehgit

castletownman wrote: »

Panini the new left-back for West Ham.

Love Sugar's Dad jokes

He's gone into overdrive tonight.

Tad taking away from the seriousness of the decision he has to make.

seligehgit

Well done Carina

A worthy winner

2 great finalists

Meauldsegosha

I haven’t watched You’re Fired all series and now I know why. :rolleyes:

Calhoun

How surprising :P

alchemist33

Looks like Sir Alan has never heard of a female engineer. Really?!?

Exclamation Marc

Meauldsegosha wrote: »

I haven’t watched You’re Fired all series and now I know why. :rolleyes:

I would usually cave and watch You're Hired given the show it is, but jesus that opening was utterly brutal and painful tv.

al87987

Probably didn't affect his final decision but Carina's team performed so well and Scarlet's team shat the bed big time.

The contrast between the two adverts was ridiculous, one got a round of applause and the other just met with general bewilderment. Crap idea from Scarlet to be fair though but food is a hell of a lot easier to market than recruitment.

Still think Scarlet was the best candidate and Claude pretty much said as much but three recruitment winners would have been a bit of a joke.

crisco10

alchemist33 wrote: »

Looks like Sir Alan has never heard of a female engineer. Really?!?

And also, engineering companies need plenty of non-engineer execs too. CFO's, Heads of Marketing/HR etc.

Lottie picked last.

Ryan Mark picked over her.

Richard tea

I enjoyed this season. Deserving finalists. I would like to see some different tasks next season. Going to a remote land for a task ( selling a guided tour ) isnt really ground breaking or been very creative as sugar mentioned.



One task I would like to see is the contestants actually interviewing members of the public for a set job. They could use actors etc to try and dazzle the interviewer and we can see if the interviewer can spot any fibs or lies from the actor. A bit of a role reversal.

yerwanthere123

Throughout most of last night we heard about how great both Scarlett and Carina were and how smart and professional they've been. Sugar even said they were one of the strongest final two's he's ever had. So why don't we see more of that throughout the series? Why is the emphasis always on making fun of the candidates, making them dress up and giving them ridiculous tasks that they've no hope of doing well in? I know the show has always been a bit like this to an extent, but nowadays it's purely just about showing up the contestants. I miss they older series when they went on a journey, grew throughout the series and were given tasks in which they could genuinely excel in.

Galwayguy35

Was hoping Scarlet would win.

Was nice to see Tom back he's quite the character.

StupidLikeAFox

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Throughout most of last night we heard about how great both Scarlett and Carina were and how smart and professional they've been. Sugar even said they were one of the strongest final two's he's ever had.

I couldn't believe how poor and inexperienced they were when it came to the business plan stage. Seemed like Lewis went on to trivago or somewhere and priced up a holiday for 30 people, Karina was plucking numbers at random for branches she would open. Lottie didn't put in any figures at all! This is all basic stuff - you wouldn't be let away with that in a first-year college assignment!

StupidLikeAFox

StupidLikeAFox wrote: »

I couldn't believe how poor and inexperienced they were when it came to the business plan stage. Seemed like Lewis went on to trivago or somewhere and priced up a holiday for 30 people, Karina was plucking numbers at random for branches she would open. Lottie didn't put in any figures at all! This is all basic stuff - you wouldn't be let away with that in a first-year college assignment!

I'm suspicious about that. We have wondered how much is manufactured in the production of show. What is the betting the business plan is taken off them at the start of the process, and they get 30 minutes to put in the final changes before the interview phase?

StupidLikeAFox

Sure, or else they know the BP is brutal but pick candidates on the basis that they are likely to make for better TV.

I really enjoyed the show though, as far as reality TV goes its definitely one of the better ones out there,

_Kaiser_

Only caught up now... Scarlet's ad was awful but the whole virtue-signalling female/minority/diversity aspect of her whole idea is IMO exactly what's wrong with it. Far from being "empowering" it's divisive, exclusionary and somewhat sexist.
When it comes to recruitment and employment generally, the best person should get the job - regardless of what gender they are.

Karina has the better "mass market" idea, great TV ad, and of the two was the more obvious winner of the two.

Still Ill

_Kaiser_ wrote: »

Only caught up now... Scarlet's ad was awful but the whole virtue-signalling female/minority/diversity aspect of her whole idea is IMO exactly what's wrong with it. Far from being "empowering" it's divisive, exclusionary and somewhat sexist.
When it comes to recruitment and employment generally, the best person should get the job - regardless of what gender they are.

Whilst I completely agree with this, I think she was onto something in that a lot of large companies are keen to be seen as equal opportunity employers, so there may be a gap in the market there.

Her ad was terrible, but that was more down to the other team members than her. Think she was a better candidate overall and the manner in which she handled the presentation was excellent.

AndrewJRenko

Still Ill wrote: »

Whilst I completely agree with this, I think she was onto something in that a lot of large companies are keen to be seen as equal opportunity employers, so there may be a gap in the market there.

THere's a whole raft of research showing the actual benefits of diversity in recruitment and retention. It's a lot more than 'being keen to be seen'.

Muahahaha

yerwanthere123 wrote: »

Throughout most of last night we heard about how great both Scarlett and Carina were and how smart and professional they've been. Sugar even said they were one of the strongest final two's he's ever had. So why don't we see more of that throughout the series? Why is the emphasis always on making fun of the candidates, making them dress up and giving them ridiculous tasks that they've no hope of doing well in? I know the show has always been a bit like this to an extent, but nowadays it's purely just about showing up the contestants. I miss they older series when they went on a journey, grew throughout the series and were given tasks in which they could genuinely excel in.

Yeah agreed but sadly thats the 'reality' of reality tv these days. The poster here who was on the UK Dragons Den has an AMA running at the moment and said his pitch was around about 2 hours which is edited down to about six minutes and doesnt reflect what actually went on, it mainly focuses in on contentious moments and the conflicts the producers want to show. Its very much edited to their strict formula to make tv.

Exclamation Marc

If you needed any more evidence of Lewis being a dolt...

He got a tattoo of Lord Sugar holding a gun..

https://twitter.com/ImLewisEllis/status/1208104933209333761?s=19

Galwayguy35

No Apprentice for this year I just saw on Twitter.

Meauldsegosha

I read that this morning. They are doing a look back at classic moments with new commentary from Alan Sugar.

https://www.digitalspy.com/tv/reality-tv/a32949895/the-apprentice-delayed-2021-bbc/