The Apprentice UK 2023

downtheroad · 16-03-2023 10:21pm

These business ideas are woejus. Online pick n mix, hair extensions, a gym.

Transition year students would come up with better.

Xander10 · 16-03-2023 10:28pm

Great to see Claude back.

But on the downside I can't stand that Brady bitch

Meeoow · 16-03-2023 10:35pm

So Victoria is one of those spoofers who puts sweets into a pizza box and sells them on Facebook for a ridiculous mark up.

Marie said she grew up in a caravan. Is she a traveller?

downtheroad · 16-03-2023 10:37pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120367854#Comment_120367854

She really doesn't come across well on this episode at all

salmocab · 16-03-2023 10:47pm

Karen is playing a character in the interviews.

Marney seems like the only one who has anything going for her plan.

Man Vs ManUre · 16-03-2023 10:48pm

It’s a bit late for this lass with the bright red lipstick to be trying to sell hair extensions to Claude!!

Meeoow · 16-03-2023 11:05pm

We are missing someone with a balloon arch business there.

I noticed way back that Brady was very anti Irish. Baroness Brady. 😂

jaffa20 · 16-03-2023 11:17pm

I thought what he said to Victoria on her way out was just a bit uncalled for really "keep it as a hobby, it's a good hobby". Yes, it wasn't a great idea. You did have her in the semi final though!

AndrewJRenko · 16-03-2023 11:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120367854#Comment_120367854

He doesn’t look great, lost a bit of weight

AyeGer · 17-03-2023 12:10am

Every one of the final 5's business plans were a mess. What is going on? This isn't a serious show anymore, mind you it hasn't been for a few years i suppose.

Trampas · 17-03-2023 12:16am

How do they get by the selection process with such bad business plans.

It was obvious half way through the interviews which two would make it through

downtheroad · 17-03-2023 12:33am

https://thesweetlifeuk.com/?fbclid=PAAaZZ5XVqXICdUcxxFzfOiZk3jLJqsUrOVzYOHRXBM_tvJH-EPE_r3s9ZzCQ

The prices for a few haribo in a box. Who is buying this? Dragons Den would destroy her, and she gets to the 2nd last round of The Apprentice with this business?

Exclamation Marc · 17-03-2023 12:38am

Marnie shadow boxing saying "I'm going to be Lord Sugars next business partner" was peak Alan Partridge.

So many bizarre things in the interviews:

Dani not knowing the difference between turnover and profit and thinking feeling like a mermaid is a legitimate USP.

Victoria not being able to count and making a weird number of mistakes. How did she miss so many errors.

Megan not really bothering with the business plan at all.

Rochelle having no concept of how small her floorplan was and pulling a rental figure out of her arse.

Marnie thinking a business plan works without paying her staff.

Christ I'd love if he just invested in none of them this year.

Galwayguy35 · 17-03-2023 11:43am

Interesting they have Dragons Den on just before this, the people that get rejected on it for their business ideas are streets ahead of anyone that has been on this show for years.

I know where I'd be telling Brady to shove her Baroness title, of course she had to let everyone know she lives in Belgravia as well.

Still Ill · 17-03-2023 3:31pm

Dragon's Den has been amazing this season. Miles ahead of The Apprentice. They have a great balance of Dragons at the moment.

AyeGer · 17-03-2023 11:24pm

If the girls business plans were this much of a mess what must the boys plans have been like?

Niall_76 · 18-03-2023 8:23am

I think he said Rochelle’s floor plan was 50 m2. This is a lot more than 3 parking spaces. But sounded like she costed for 50 sq m.

Can anyone imagine sugar being involved in an online pick and mix? Do people even buy that online? I think not costing for staff got her to the interviews.

Deeec · 18-03-2023 8:51am

The apprentice has lost what it's about. Candidates are not selected based on their business ideas or accumen anymore. They are just there to increase their profile. It seems to be more about their looks now than their business idea. (Their looks are even questionable).

All of the business ideas were pathetic - not one is a money maker. Nothing unique there at all. None of them have business brains at all or are investible. Sugar could not add anything to those businesss at all.

It's a shame - I used to love this show. If it's on for as another series I couldn't be bothered watching.

19-03-2023 11:00pm

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=XLr5lWQHsV8

The business ideas are almost as bad as the Sani-fone business run by Derek Smalls dad. A mass of hair! Online pick-n-mix! Love to see a good parody of the apprentice.

Being scheduled after the excellent Dragon's Den really highlight the absence of any credibility. Reflects badly on Sugar, Brady and the producers rather than the candidates who are nice but naive. Like Dani saying 'I never expected to get this far'.

yerwanthere123 · 19-03-2023 11:39pm

As others have said, the contrast between The Apprentice and Dragon's Den is quite jarring. Don't understand how the Apprentice contestants are accepted on the show when they don't know the very basics of their business plans, or how they work. Dani mentioned that the 'confidentiality agreement' on her business plan was part of a template, so I'm guessing it was a plan she'd lifted from Google or something? The contestants definitely weren't always this amateur.

I think Marnie will win this now, I guess she's the best of a bad bunch. Although to be fair to her, securing that amount of money for her plan is actually quite impressive? And yes I know it seems to be conditional on her actually securing Sugar's investment, but still.

ArmaniJeanss · 20-03-2023 12:28am

I'd have thought Marnie's is as good a deal as he could possibly get from Sugars point of view. On the face of it he gets 50% of a business which already has more than his required stake in capital grants. Plus premises and Sport England approval.

Like the other 4 candidates they gave her a bad edit for the interviews with talk of not paying the trainers (which is apparently standard enough in that industry) and downplaying the grants/loans (alluding to how the money isn't actually in her account yet, and KB saying it can be slow). But I think this was all just to keep some element of uncertainty for the final. The unshown footage, imo, would have been the 4 assistants telling Suicre that it's pretty much a slam dunk near-flawless proposal and it's just a matter now of getting through the formality of a pointless final.

everlast75 · 20-03-2023 2:34pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120368007#Comment_120368007

An Irish contender could have said "Yeah Karen, I'll apologize for not saying Baroness when you apologize for 800 years of oppression" lol

20-03-2023 2:46pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120367818#Comment_120367818

I really am not sure. Maybe anyone with half a brain is sensible enough to stay well away from it. I'd love to go on it, but I am sure I am far too boring to get considered.

Exclamation Marc · 20-03-2023 4:04pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120379323#Comment_120379323

This is it.

If you've a legitimate business, you're more likely than not going to avoid being demeaned for 12 weeks and having to live and work with utter bell-ends who think they're the second coming of Warren Buffet. The recent winners seem to have fairly solid businesses but I'd put that down to the management of Lord Sugar's teams who manage his investment.

I imagine if you tracked back to the 'growth plans' from the winners' interviews, they're nowhere near the nonsense that they promised and are enjoying relatively modest success (which in itself is not to be sniffed at mind).

20-03-2023 4:09pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120379837#Comment_120379837

The first series of the Apprentice I watched was 2015 and the winner was Dr Leah Totten (you never forget your first!), aside from being stunning looking she was also the smartest by a country mile, however, her original name for her skin care business was NIKS, which is skin backwards. All I could think of was "Hi Doctor Nick!" the dodgy doctor from The Simpsons. I think Claude or Karen took her aside and went "No no no no. that name is shocking. Come up with something else".

Trigger Happy · 20-03-2023 4:25pm

The business plans were a mess. I guess that they are created as part of their original application to the show and contestants are not allowed to modify them after that point.

Most applicants dont believe they will get to appear on the show. So their focus is probably in putting as much bravado in to their application with little focus on their business plan. And then they get to the interview show and suprise suprise ...their business plan is muck.

In theory it makes for more dramatic tv but it really is poor. A bunch of shopkeepers. If they had people with original entrepreneurial ideas the show would likely be less dramatic but much more interesting to watch.

20-03-2023 4:40pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120379923#Comment_120379923

I don't entirely agree. If you compare it to Dragons Den, people regularly appear on it not knowing their numbers, or without a fully thought out plan, and thats when they definitely know they will be in front of the Dragons. Some people just suck at the soft skills stuff.

Many years ago I met a man at a barbeue. We got to talking and when I told him where I worked he said he was jealous, that he had applied but not managed to get an interview. I gave him my card and told him to email me his CV, and I would put it in front of someone. What he sent me was a complete shambles. I completely redesigned it, gave it to Talent Acquisition, he got invited for an interview which he completely nailed, and he still works there to this day. Super smart guy, years and years of experience, but his soft skills were just not on par.

Trampas · 23-03-2023 10:09pm

The Irish ones didn’t come back.

Marine wearing a cape. Hoping for a superhero performance ?

Galwayguy35 · 23-03-2023 10:14pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120393600#Comment_120393600

They probably weren't asked, both of them were gone early on in the series.

Thought less of them came back this year compared to other years.

AndrewJRenko · 23-03-2023 11:58pm

Seemed to be genuinely good natured between all participants, even stony faced Karen smiled and laughed.

The Apprentice UK 2023

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