Could You Be The Next Apprentice (The Apprentice)

Member Name: sdean

Product:	The Apprentice
Date:	16/04/09 (116 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Very funny and inspiring

Disadvantages: Some of the candidates shouldn't be there !

As soon as I start writing this the theme tune comes into my head 'Dance of the Knights' by Prokofiev from Romeo & Juliet in case you are interested, or can't get it out of your head.

The Apprentice is headed up by Sir Alan Sugar of Amstrad fame, reported to be worth millions, he's a proper east end boy done good. He is flanked by Margaret and Nick who report on each team throughout their tasks and are Sir Al's trusted advisors, especially when it comes to firing someone.

Initially there are 16 contestants who have applied using an application form and CV which is (supposed) to show how they have entrepreneurial spirit and possibly be the next apprentice. These contenders come from all walks of life, they are not just youngsters, or people who have been to university, they are older people or every ethnicity and background. Each week someone gets fired until the final week when you hear Sir Alan say the famous words 'You're Hired'.

Each week the apprentices are given a task to complete. These tasks are based on selling a product or service this includes designing, creating, packaging, branding, marketing and selling. Each task show Sir Alan where people's strengths lie, each apprentice also gets the opportunity to be team leader. To lead their team to victory, or straight in the boardroom for a roasting.

So far this season we have seen the apprentices try to pull off cleaning, catering, natural beauty products and exercise equipment to varying degrees of success. The team leaders have had arguments and made wrong decisions along the way. In more than one scenario the team leader has been fired so far.

The programme is brilliant and shows some of the mad ways people behave in this situation. For example the catering task, the girls completed it on a shoe string, the money they spent on food was tiny, their canapés were ridiculous. Since when was bruschetta a loaf of bread topped with tinned tomatoes, the boys did no better with a tortilla crisp, a bit of sausage and ketchup. But the girls won as the profit they made outweighed the amount they spent. Yasmina has the right idea. However last night, even though they had been told and told again about watching their budgets - bearing in mind most of these people have had businesses or been heavily involved themselves, the advice was not heeded. This resulted in the 'old' girls team spending £700 on essential oils, when they could have spent under £100 as they got confused and picked the expensive over the cheaper options.

I always wonder if they have ever watched The Apprentice before as some of them make the most obvious mistakes. I think sometimes as these people have come from privileged backgrounds they have not had experience of cooking, cleaning or managing a budget. Also perhaps their alleged 'business' experience is not all it's cracked up to be.

This is a brilliant show if you are a normal person who just wants a laugh. I find myself giggling at Margaret and Nick's faces when the teams are so obviously doing something catastrophic and they are watching over. This is the best reality TV show ever. We only get to see them living together for a small proportion of the programme, but we see why they are there and the private interviews with the camera. When the teams are in the board room at the end of a task and one of them is about to get fired, it is always good watching when people are defending themselves, sometimes a little too much. A prime example is the Irish guy on the current series, poor lamb, he looks like he is going to cry at any moment. But fights at the end, even when he is wrong, I suspect next time he is in the boardroom he maybe for the chop!

Summary: The Apprentice