Isn't it amazing how scum rises to the top? (The Apprentice)

Member Name: bruffyboy

Product:	The Apprentice
Date:	20/04/09 (115 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: educational and entertaining too

Disadvantages: Sugar a little OTT sometimes

Well we're right in the full swing of The Apprentice again, and boy is this season another typical expose on the supposed genius business-men and women of the country.

Competing against each-other for the dream job of working for self made Millionaire Sir Alan Sugar, a group of the country's leading men and women of business are put to the test. Each week, groups are given a challenge, often requiring a simple business plan to succeed, and from the worst performing team comes one unlucky soul being evicted out of the competition.

We're around one month into the show, which airs on Wednesday evenings on BBC1, and so far we've seen some ridiculous characters who quite honestly deserve to be taken out and shot.

Of particular note so far, and as a good exemplar of just what makes contestants so annoying is Ben - the hamster-faced self confessed 'stunner of the group' this man has about one hundred annoying things going for him; big headed, cocky, arrogant, with an accent that pronounces "soap" as "soup" (no wonder no-one wanted a bar), this guy just winds me up so much. It's his brazen, unwarranted self-belief that has made so many of us hate him, and the fact that he's actually a bit of a prat when all's said and done just makes you look forward with relish to the point where he gets the sharp end of Sugar's boot pointed into his lardy ass.

This series, like others, shows how one of the key character traits you need is common sense, seen lacking time and time again in the contestants who seem to think intelligence is a new Calvin Klein aftershave.

If it has any faults, the series can be criticised for deliberately keeping the wrong people in, seemingly basing eviction decisions on entertainment factor and not just business sense. Without giving any names away, Sugar could have done with a dose of his own self-prescripted common sense last week, as he sent the wrong person home.

What the show manages to do, so brilliantly, is make us all think "I could do this better", and there's the rub: would we perform any different? I think I would knock out the cocky cockneys and be escorted from the building by the police, but there's something about a group mentality that, when we get together with others, means none of us can see the wood for the trees. From the dis-attached comfort of our own sofas we can see the stupidity, but when you're surrounded by it, it's hard to remain objective.

Nick and Margaret remain the perfect guides, overseeing the chaos and just occasionally highlighting the idiocy with a pointed look or grimace, but Alan himself is getting more and more Hollywood, with cliches and catch-phrases filling what used to be a beautifully blunt dialogue.

Without giving any spoilers, we've so far seen team leaders who are comatose and pathetic, over the top aggressive, and mis-guided but well meaning. In many ways, it mirrors the higher echelons of any big company, where idiots often seem to somehow work their ways to the top.


At its best, this show is both an educational documentary-esque expose into the inner workings of business, and full to the brim with entertaining predicaments too (Sandalwood anyone). At its worst, it's a dressed up version of the X Factor or Britain's Got Talent, where we laugh at those mis-guided idiots who think they've got something to offer. But just remember, we all laughed at Susan Boyle that day (except I had an inkling she'd be good as she reminded me of an ex-girlfriend.



* The Apprentice can be seen, any time, on the BBC Iplayer, or on BBC 1 on Wednesday evenings.

Summary: watch it