# The Apprentice Series 4



## Miss Potter (Mar 20, 2008)

OK how much are we looking forward to this? Having seen the photos of the new lot and read some of their quotes, I've already decided who I hate. Shallow, moi?!

Apparently the first episode is a cracker. Bring it on!


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## May Kasahara (Mar 20, 2008)

Good to see Leicester repping hard, with not one but two glamourous ladies in the starting line-up.

In fact, from their photos the girls all look very glam and the boys all look like travelling salesmen. Unlucky


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## souljacker (Mar 20, 2008)

Oooh, they all look like a complete bunch of fuckwits, especially:



> Nicholas De Lacy Brown, 24, a barrister, artist and property developer from West London


 
One of thems a satellite TV engineer, which doesn't make him that qualified, does it?

It should be very entertaining though. When does it start?


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## Chester Copperpot (Mar 20, 2008)

Haha! Can't wait!

Loved the last series.


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## Artie Fufkin (Mar 20, 2008)

souljacker said:


> When does it start?



next Weds at 9.00pm on BBC1. can't wait, I fucking love this programme


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## Miss Potter (Mar 20, 2008)

Nicholas de Lacy Brown. Says it all really! I read somewhere that he nicked the "de Lacy" bit off his grandma as he thought it sounded glamorous


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## Threshers_Flail (Mar 20, 2008)

Considering its on a wednesday i guess I'll end up watching. I thought the last series was especially bad tho, especially with everyone talking about that Katie bitch.


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## zippypinhead (Mar 20, 2008)

http://www.delacy-brown.com/biography.html

Where the f^&% do they find these people.


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## dynamicbaddog (Mar 20, 2008)

Looking forward to this, last year's was excellent


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## wishface (Mar 21, 2008)

A 24 yo bank manager called kevin.

shoot me now.


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## Miss Potter (Mar 25, 2008)

bump bump, it's on tomorrow


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## Chester Copperpot (Mar 26, 2008)

On tonight - 9pm


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## Jim Williams (Mar 26, 2008)

Preparing to yell at the television...

Have it!


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

> Nicholas De Lacy Brown, 24, a barrister, artist and property developer from West London



Thats the first time I've ever heard of him and already I cant abide the prick


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

I do enjoy the apprentice, entertaining telly.


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## beesonthewhatnow (Mar 26, 2008)

<prepares heavy items for throwing at the screen>


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## aqua (Mar 26, 2008)

WOOHOO can't wait  we even have jam roly poly and custard for eating/throwing whilst watching


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## Gromit (Mar 26, 2008)

And so it starts. My life begins again. I come alive during apprentice season. I loves it.


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

ooh its starting and their all cocks so far


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

straight into the first task, selling fish.


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

false smiles and power handshakes all round - love it


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## Gromit (Mar 26, 2008)

Oh noes! The gils have only gone and called themselves (remember last series) The A Team!

Da de dah! Dah dah da!

I pitty the fool who messes with Sir Alan!


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## Groucho (Mar 26, 2008)

Oh God, I've got this shit on. Why? I have never watched it before. I hate them all already.


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

I'd have stabbed at least two of the fuckers by now.


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

That Asian girl is really annoying already.


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## Chairman Meow (Mar 26, 2008)

God they're all vile, aren't they?


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

Raef and the barrister in particular are twats.


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## aqua (Mar 26, 2008)

£4.90 for a lobster?


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## Groucho (Mar 26, 2008)

aqua said:


> £4.90 for a lobster?



deal


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

heh, they've fucked up already.


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## Groucho (Mar 26, 2008)

They are still alive and that is a good price. Could buy several and release them into the sea.


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

thats not cod


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

and that's not turbot


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## beesonthewhatnow (Mar 26, 2008)

Where the fuck do they find these people?


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## Groucho (Mar 26, 2008)

Hacked to bits mushed fish. So mushed is it after that hacking you can't tell if it's Monkfish or Turbot.


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## trashpony (Mar 26, 2008)

I cannot believe these people are even the same species as me. It's fucking depressing. What a bunch of fools!


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

I'm pissing myself already just thinking about Sir Alan's feedback


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## beesonthewhatnow (Mar 26, 2008)

"Look at the breast on that"

It's a fucking _fish_ you tool.


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

wtf are they in a solicitors office trying to sell fish


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## aqua (Mar 26, 2008)

why would you sell fish in an office?


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## beesonthewhatnow (Mar 26, 2008)

You mean you haven't ever fancied buying a box of fresh fish whilst at work?


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

the solicitors have pwned them


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

£50 Lol


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## aqua (Mar 26, 2008)

I can't say its the first thing i  think about when I'm sat at my desk no


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## Groucho (Mar 26, 2008)

Belushi said:


> the solicitors have pwned them



Yes, they smelt the fear, saw the desperation in their eyes. Cunts.


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## Groucho (Mar 26, 2008)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> You mean you haven't ever fancied buying a box of fresh fish whilst at work?



yes, actually.


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

Now for the fun part


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## Superdupastupor (Mar 26, 2008)

actually undersell yourself. my what a fun way to spend a day buy 600squidsworth of seafood
and sell it for 550. must try that someday.

tossers/

but i'll watch every episode


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

I think Alex wasnt a decent team leader, the posh boys seem pissed off.


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## Groucho (Mar 26, 2008)

Belushi said:


> I think Alex wasnt a decent team leader, the posh boys seem pissed off.



What's wrong with pissing posh boys off?


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

The Lobsters have cost them dear


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## Gerry1time (Mar 26, 2008)

It is interesting in a way though, that you can spot who's gonna win each week from the dynamics of the team and how they get on.

Should apply that to my own working life someday, or something.


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## Groucho (Mar 26, 2008)

Belushi said:


> The Lobsters have cost them dear



Revenge of the lobsters


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

Groucho said:


> What's wrong with pissing posh boys off?



I think its a good thing. If I ever met that Raef in real life I'd end up giving him a knuckle sandwich.


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

That wasn't funny, I've pissed myself for nothing


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## Gromit (Mar 26, 2008)

aqua said:


> £4.90 for a lobster?


 
I'd have taken the lot and sold them to a fish monger up the road.


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## Gromit (Mar 26, 2008)

Belushi said:


> The Lobsters have cost them dear


 

They are feeling the pinch because of them pesky lobsters.

No wonder they all got a bit snappy.


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

Jeez, that black girl is pretty.


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

Ooh, Margaret doesnt like Raef, hopefully he'll get the boot.


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## Groucho (Mar 26, 2008)

Belushi said:


> Jeez, that black girl is pretty.



She smiles a lot too and seems reasonably normal comparatively.


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

Raef couldn't find Nemo


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## trashpony (Mar 26, 2008)

Groucho said:


> She smiles a lot too and seems reasonably normal comparatively.



She calls herself Princess apparently


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## Groucho (Mar 26, 2008)

trashpony said:


> She calls herself Princess apparently



yes.


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

The posh boys are being discriminated against them because their educated


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

Sir Alan aint impressed by this approach.


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

Toffs ha


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## Groucho (Mar 26, 2008)

Belushi said:


> The posh boys are being discriminated against them because their educated



'educated' meaning what exactly?


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

Kill Him Al Get In There


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## aqua (Mar 26, 2008)

LOL  this is hilarious


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

Heh, 'I literally left with my hands bleeding'


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

Mummy and Daddy may have bought the best education possible but thats no replacement for intelligence.

What kind of fool tries to play the 'poor discriminated against toff' in fron of someone like Alan Sugar


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## aqua (Mar 26, 2008)

Fired Wanker :d:d:d:d:d


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## Chairman Meow (Mar 26, 2008)

Hahahahhaahahhaahahahhaha!:d


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

Yeah bye don't let the door hit ya on the bum


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

Alex is my favourite out of the boys so far, though its not hard to come across as a decent fella when your surrounded by twats.


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

Anyone else for BBC2?


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## Chairman Meow (Mar 26, 2008)

snackhead said:


> Anyone else for BBC2?



Oh yes.


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

snackhead said:


> Anyone else for BBC2?



Oh yes.


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## magneze (Mar 26, 2008)

Great start to the series. Good decision too, what a tosser ...


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

God bless Mr Chiles


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

God, this fella is a prat.


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

Sunglasses? What a tosser


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## Gromit (Mar 26, 2008)

snackhead said:


> Anyone else for BBC2?


 
I'm there!

It was a 50 / 50 choice for me. Big price cock up but also some of the worst management I've seen from someone who claims to lead a sales team.

I disliked more on a personal level the smarmy twat who got sacked more than the team leader so I'm easy.


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## DJ Squelch (Mar 26, 2008)

I wanted him to stay longer so I could laugh at him for a few more weeks.


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## Groucho (Mar 26, 2008)

Belushi said:


> Heh, 'I literally left with my hands bleeding'



My head literally exploded with mirth when I heard that.



*scrapes bits of brain off the walls. Fortunately I'll not be needing them, not being educated *


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## zoooo (Mar 26, 2008)

Belushi said:


> Jeez, that black girl is pretty.



She really is!

I like Raef, I thought he'd be the obligatory 'smarmy ethnic one', but he's quite nice and eloquent. (Yum.)

Alex is the biggest twat so far in my opinion.


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

Ah, Nick has never actually worked before. That explains a lot.


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

'Some people compare me to Dali'


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## zoooo (Mar 26, 2008)

Bless him!

They always seem so much nicer and self deprecating in the BBC2 show after.


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

'If you can piss you can paint' Genius.


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## Groucho (Mar 26, 2008)

Belushi said:


> 'Some people compare me to Dali'



I can see that. Dali was an arrogant prick too. The difference is that he was a talented arrogant prick.


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## Gromit (Mar 26, 2008)

snackhead said:


> 'If you can piss you can paint' Genius.


 
I'm going to be using that in future.


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

Those mirror shades


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## Belushi (Mar 26, 2008)

The Painting


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## snackhead (Mar 26, 2008)

Marius said:


> I'm going to be using that in future.



Whaddya say we try and sneak the phrase onto an unsuspecting thread or two?


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## Melinda (Mar 26, 2008)

zoooo said:


> Alex is the biggest twat so far in my opinion.


I thought he was awful - the way he disagreed with people was so sneery, bullying and irritating. Also his talking over people. Cock. Ugh. 

Being a braggart is part of the show you expect people to bullshit.  But being unpleasant isnt acceptable.

Nicholas has turned out to be a good sport on the BBC2 show.


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## Chairman Meow (Mar 26, 2008)

It's been driving me mad - but doesn't Nick look like Ben in Lost?


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## Melinda (Mar 26, 2008)

Chairman Meow said:


> It's been driving me mad - but doesn't Nick look like Ben in Lost?


Its his spam!


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## Gromit (Mar 26, 2008)

Is it just me or does the one guy look like a slim Mat Lucas?

Looks like missing Your Fired aftershow in future is not an option. Lots of extra footage not in the main show it seems.

I found it funny the first time they showed that woman's face as they mashed that fish head. The second time around though it had me in tears of laughter.


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## Chairman Meow (Mar 26, 2008)

Marius said:


> Is it just me or does the one guy look like a slim Mat Lucas?
> 
> Looks like missing Your Fired aftershow in future is not an option. Lots of extra footage not in the main show it seems.
> 
> I found it funny the first time they showed that woman's face as they mashed that fish head. The second time around though it had me in tears of laughter.



Slim Matt Lucas. Yes. 

Crying with laughter at the battered fish. Oh yes.


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## big eejit (Mar 26, 2008)

What a great first episode. Where do they find these deluded tossers?


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## tommers (Mar 26, 2008)

Simon is a bit of a celebrity on various west ham forums, even before the Apprentice.  

Expect to see a lot of dodgy photos of him in the next few weeks.


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## Jim Williams (Mar 26, 2008)

We shouted, we laughed, we named the teams, we took sides, we changed sides, we ignored sides, we poured derision upon them all.

Especially chinless wondermental, the slug in a condom that lost.
The one, as my woman pointed out, that had a dead bee stuck under the lip of his unfeasibly small mouth.

This will be an interesting battle. In the boy's corner we have _THE CHEESE POLES._
The women have the title _FISH FLAPS_.

Alan has strange patches of orange skin, probably from eating too many carrots again.

All hail the loser, all hail his self indulgent little self "poor me" portrait:







Hail stones upon the first plum out...


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## zoooo (Mar 26, 2008)

He looks like Eric Idle in the painting.


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## Miss Potter (Mar 26, 2008)

I laughed at the montage of the girlie in the pink beret. 

Yep enjoyed episode 1. Is Raif this season's Trey? Going on what I've seen so far he's the one who will make me throw pringles at the telly.

I wonder if Harry Hill will use any of it in TV Burp this week...


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## weltweit (Mar 27, 2008)

words fail me.


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## sumimasen (Mar 27, 2008)

So far I've seen a slim Matt Lucas, a comicbook Superman jaw, and a smug Roger Federer.

The boys were instantly dislikeable, but I figure first impression syndrome and I'll warm to a few in the next few weeks.  Not much from the girls, though the one potential hippy caught my eye.


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## Gromit (Mar 27, 2008)

alice band said:


> I laughed at the montage of the girlie in the pink beret.


 
Yes. What a great piss take. 

She so obviously wants to be known for a deliberately engineered trademark. I'll wear a beret and be known for wearing a beret! She's using it to get herself noticed because otherwise people won't.


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## Chester Copperpot (Mar 27, 2008)

What a great first episode. Full of absolute classics already.

"I'm probably the best sales person in Europe." Errrr, OK!

They Guy who got kicked off last night sooo deserved to go. What a fuck up on the pricing of the lobsters. Glad he went.


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## Chester Copperpot (Mar 27, 2008)

And as annoying as Raif is, I think he's going to be quite entertaining while he lasts.


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## ch750536 (Mar 27, 2008)

Belushi said:


> 'Some people compare me to Dali'



Yeah, 

'You're like that cunt Dali aren't you. Fuck off and find your won friends. Twat!'


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## tarannau (Mar 27, 2008)

What a fantastically cringeworthy programme. Most entertaining, although I can't quite understand where they unearth such knobbers.


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## Skimix (Mar 27, 2008)

tommers said:


> Simon is a bit of a celebrity on various west ham forums, even before the Apprentice.
> 
> Expect to see a lot of dodgy photos of him in the next few weeks.



OMFG its skerrit isnt it???  Dodgy isnt the word


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## Santino (Mar 27, 2008)

Gerry1time said:


> It is interesting in a way though, that you can spot who's gonna win each week from the dynamics of the team and how they get on.


Sorry to be pedantic, but that should be:


> It is interesting in a way though, that you can spot who's gonna win each week from the way that the episode is edited.


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## Chester Copperpot (Mar 27, 2008)

From the way it was edited I though Alex was a gonna but he made it through. I think he was the only one who didn't get a few seconds of interview time in.


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## han (Mar 27, 2008)

shit, I missed this! (on purpose actually, but now it sounds like it was worth watching!). I wonder if I can catch it again on BBC4 or something.....

Fanstastically cringeworthy sums the Apprentice up really doesn't it.

It teeters on the pleasure/pain threshold in a most perversely addictive way. I literally had to hold my hands over my eyes in embarrassment for them during some moments of the last series....

I really wanted to NOT watch this series just cos it's such TV crack, but hey - the cheap high is just too hard to resist....


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## aqua (Mar 27, 2008)

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer is your friend han


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## weltweit (Mar 27, 2008)

The thing about this programme is that you are tempted to consider how you could manage if you were there in the place of some of the idiots that are in the teams. I am much more sensible than that you say to yourself, even if I did not qualified as a barrister at the age of twelve!

The guy that was fired, bright perhaps but a social misfit and oddity at best, he was never going to make it through and win the job, Sugar just does not do people like that, that he had any thought he might get through just goes to prove he was seriously deluded and had been included for the "social engineering" amusement factor.

Why do they blow their own trumpet just so offensively? the best sales person in Europe! then what are you doing on a programme like this? seriously good sales people can name their price, patently you are not the best sales person in Europe and to suggest it proves you are an idiot! Led sales teams for the northern hemisphere, what exactly does that mean and again if it were true what are you doing on a program like this? Global pricing manager managing budgets of millions! I seriously doubt that what you actually did was as impressive as that might sound to the totally uninformed. 

So you wonder why all these self professed high flyers are in a tv programme in which their chances of winning are small at best but non existant in reality and worse the one individual who you really wonder about is Alan Suger himself, why is he on a programme like this? what possibly can he have to gain? he can already select his high flyers from his own pool of employees or from the best in the job market. Watching him during the show it does not seem that he is enjoying lambasting the unfortunate candidates as they lurch from pathetic performance to weak excuse for competance. Just why does Sir Alan Sugar take part in this farce?

I am filled with horror at the puffed up self importance of the candidates, in their own minds they are all totally successfull top of the pile high achievers many with the arrogance to match. Ridiculous self belief in their achievements in the face of the evidence that they are on a game show for which the prize is just one job, well amusing it can be and sometimes it makes good television. 

For me it is the cringe factor that is highest on the reasons why it is watchable.


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## aqua (Mar 27, 2008)

It's just been pointed out to me I've met Alex before 

So needless to say I'll support him


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## Melinda (Mar 27, 2008)

aqua said:


> It's just been pointed out to me I've met Alex before
> 
> So needless to say I'll support him


Did you dare to disagree with him over anything?


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## han (Mar 27, 2008)

aqua said:


> www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer is your friend han



ohmygod !

Thankyou! x x x x x


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## han (Mar 27, 2008)

weltweit said:
			
		

> For me it is the cringe factor that is highest on the reasons why it is watchable.



Yes - it's all these people who have sold their souls to the devil, hook line and sinker, thinking how amazing they are, chasing money fame and fortune.

And there is a side of us that wants them to fail cos their egos are just so enormous. I guess - when people are THAT un self-aware, you kind of WANT them to unravel, in the hope that they realise what a crock of shite is their lives are based on - perhaps one day they'll see the light. And if they don't - it's fun to watch them totally shame themselves on TV......


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## aqua (Mar 27, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Did you dare to disagree with him over anything?


nope not that I remember


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## KellyDJ (Mar 27, 2008)

I've never watched it but might start as I've heard so many people going on about it.

Is the first episode going to be repeated?


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## Santino (Mar 27, 2008)

weltweit said:


> the one individual who you really wonder about is Alan Suger himself, why is he on a programme like this? what possibly can he have to gain? he can already select his high flyers from his own pool of employees or from the best in the job market. Watching him during the show it does not seem that he is enjoying lambasting the unfortunate candidates as they lurch from pathetic performance to weak excuse for competance. Just why does Sir Alan Sugar take part in this farce?


"Hello, Sir Alan, BBC here. We were wondering if you'd like to do a few days filming in exchange for a big load of money and some free publicity thrown in?"

"Uh, yeah, all right."


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## Maurice Picarda (Mar 27, 2008)

It's a joke company, Amstrad. Trump Sugar is not. He certainly can't hope for "the best in the job market". 

Oh, the receptionist who purrs "Sir Alan will see you now" is an actress with derisory switchboard skillz; an acquaintance briefly squired her.


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## tommers (Mar 27, 2008)

Skimix said:


> OMFG its skerrit isnt it???  Dodgy isnt the word



yes.  yes it is.


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## Artie Fufkin (Mar 27, 2008)

Maurice Picarda said:


> It's a joke company, Amstrad. Trump Sugar is not. He certainly can't hope for "the best in the job market".



according to last night's opening voice-over, Sugar sold Amstrad for £125 million, so if it's a joke I don't know who's laughing more


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## ramjamclub (Mar 27, 2008)

*Something fishy going on*

Why the hell didn't they tell that guy in the solicitors office to sling his hook at the 50 pound offer? The desperation was so obvious that they needed to sell!!
Negotiation skills = nil points. Where do these guys live? At home with mummy, They hadn't got a clue about the price of fish. The series is priceless though.


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## El Sueno (Mar 27, 2008)

Episode one didn't disappoint did it? It ran like a spoof of the previous series, everything was 'upped' - their opinions of themselves, their complete lack of any kind of business or common sense, plus - we had mirror sunglasses, crazy eyeliner on that Rauf character, the posing and posturing - all spot on. It was hard to believe they weren't a bunch of actors given a brief to be as revolting as possible.


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## Melinda (Mar 27, 2008)

ramjamclub said:


> Why the hell didn't they tell that guy in the solicitors office to sling his hook at the 50 pound offer? The desperation was so obvious that they needed to sell!!
> Negotiation skills = nil points. Where do these guys live? At home with mummy, They hadn't got a clue about the price of fish. The series is priceless though.


Those solicitors must have held a house party last night to watch and celebrate their total rout of the 'nation's best hustlers ™ ' 

Too funny!


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## bouncer_the_dog (Mar 27, 2008)

I was dissapointed by the complete lack of manliness exhibited by the boys team. When they weren't squabbling at times they looked like they were about to cry, either becuase sir Alan had been horrid to them or they lost. I sort of like the candidates extreme self belief, it's nice to see confidence every now and again, even if it is as bonkers as 'I'm the best sales person in Europe' - you may be, but how much does that fish cost eh? eh? Good episode - first time I've shouted 'don't you know how much a farking lobster costs???" at the TV


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## maldwyn (Mar 27, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Those solicitors must have held a house party last night to watch and celebrate their total rout of the 'nation's best hustlers ™ '


I think the best laugh of the evening came from Rufus what’s-his-name on the BBC2 after show; lesson learnt: _don’t sell fish to sharks_.


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## zoooo (Mar 27, 2008)

Hound!


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## Melinda (Mar 27, 2008)

maldwyn said:


> I think the best laugh of the evening came from Rufus what’s-his-name on the BBC2 after show; lesson learnt: _don’t sell fish to sharks_.


That was a lovely line!  

The stench of desperation radiating off them must have been akin to blood in the water to those solicitors!


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## N_igma (Mar 27, 2008)

Nicholas is one of those people that if I could get away with it, would love to beat the shit out of.


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## Maurice Picarda (Mar 27, 2008)

zippypinhead said:


> http://www.delacy-brown.com/biography.html
> 
> Where the f^&% do they find these people.


 
My eyes burn from the art gallery. Worthless sub-Dali surrealism and some "Norms" which are half way in between Moomintroll and the New Shmoo.


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## Miss Potter (Mar 27, 2008)

I also laughed at Michael getting tearful with Alex because he didn't big up his selling skills in the boardroom. Michael, who sold £150 worth of fish for £50


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## Dillinger4 (Mar 27, 2008)

han said:


> Yes - it's all these people who have sold their souls to the devil, hook line and sinker, thinking how amazing they are, chasing money fame and fortune.
> 
> And there is a side of us that wants them to fail cos their egos are just so enormous. I guess - when people are THAT un self-aware, you kind of WANT them to unravel, in the hope that they realise what a crock of shite is their lives are based on - perhaps one day they'll see the light. And if they don't - it's fun to watch them totally shame themselves on TV......



^
THIS!

It is my main motivation for watching telly at all.


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## Melinda (Mar 27, 2008)

zippypinhead said:


> http://www.delacy-brown.com/biography.html
> 
> Where the f^&% do they find these people.



LMFAO! 



> It was Virgil who stated in his Ecologues: ‘Non omnia possumus omnes’ (We can’t all do everything), a statement which many have been happy to oblige.
> In Nicholas de Lacy-Brown however, there lies a man who is prepared to question such apathy.


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## Gromit (Mar 27, 2008)

Melinda said:


> LMFAO!


 
OMG. What a twat. Stood up to Alan Sugar? Stood up to? Must have seen a different programme to me.


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## jæd (Mar 27, 2008)

Is it me or do you reckon the image on http://www.delacy-brown.com/the-apprentice.html is nicked from somewhere else...?


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## Matt S (Mar 27, 2008)

"Undoubtedly a man of many talents, he has lived his short twenty-four years with a vivacity and boldness which few could achieve in a lifetime"

Oh. My. God.

Matt


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## jæd (Mar 27, 2008)

Matt S said:


> "Undoubtedly a man of many talents, he has lived his short twenty-four years with a vivacity and boldness which few could achieve in a lifetime



Its a pity grammar isn't among them. Or being able to paint. TBH his website makes him look like a small-time Sussex barrow-boy...


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## Miss Potter (Mar 27, 2008)

jæd said:


> Or being able to paint.


Hey, if you can piss you can paint


----------



## Groucho (Mar 27, 2008)

Just looked at the link to his paintings and photos. I wanted and expected to think they were utter shit. Actually they are ok.







This one is called _4 Cod, or is it Turbot?_


----------



## sumimasen (Mar 27, 2008)

Matt S said:


> "Undoubtedly a man of many talents, he has lived his short twenty-four years with a vivacity and boldness which few could achieve in a lifetime"
> 
> Oh. My. God.
> 
> Matt



I'm going to guess he received a few 'You're a smarmy cunt, die' emails by this morning. Just a guess!..


----------



## chico enrico (Mar 28, 2008)

Marius said:


> I'd have taken the lot and sold them to a fish monger up the road.



yes, there's only about three on clapel market. not to mention the post fish and chip / pie and eel shop up the top.

(to be fair, i imagine the producers ruled those places out otherwise it would have been a pretty brief and uninspiring show!)

and needless to say, if they had anything other than play-dough betwen their ears they'd have gone straight down to borough or exmouth markets.


----------



## Skimix (Mar 28, 2008)

tommers said:


> yes.  yes it is.



I hope he wins it...the whole sugar/spurs thing might not go down too well though!  He doesn't seem to be taking it quite as seriously as most of the others..."so you put people in call centres?" and "its alright, she only wants it for soup" after hacking the fish head into bits were quite amusing...


----------



## kabbes (Mar 28, 2008)

Alex B said:


> "Hello, Sir Alan, BBC here. We were wondering if you'd like to do a few days filming in exchange for a big load of money and some free publicity thrown in?"
> 
> "Uh, yeah, all right."


He also seems to genuinely feel that the programme is of great encouragement to budding entrepeneurs, which is something that for some reason he seems to genuinely care about.

Mad, but apparently true.


----------



## jæd (Mar 28, 2008)

kabbes said:


> He also seems to genuinely feel that the programme is of great encouragement to budding entrepeneurs, which is something that for some reason he seems to genuinely care about.



But it isn't. Any genuine entrepreneurs would be starting out alone, anyway... "The Apprentice" is for people who want to be told what to do...


----------



## Skimix (Mar 28, 2008)

kabbes said:


> He also seems to genuinely feel that the programme is of great encouragement to budding entrepeneurs, which is something that for some reason he seems to genuinely care about.



It might be better if he got some entrepreneurs on it rather than arrogrant gobshites...I can't imagine anything thats less likely to make people want to be an entrepreneur than seeing some of these idiots.


----------



## Gromit (Mar 28, 2008)

jæd said:


> But it isn't. Any genuine entrepreneurs would be starting out alone, anyway... "The Apprentice" is for people who want to be told what to do...


Budding entrepreneurs see show. 
Think I could do that task better than that shower of shit. And I don't need Alan Sugar to show me how.  

Think why don't I?

Goes out and do it. 

Promotes it if you ask me.


----------



## kabbes (Mar 28, 2008)

jæd said:


> But it isn't. Any genuine entrepreneurs would be starting out alone, anyway... "The Apprentice" is for people who want to be told what to do...


Hey, I don't disagree with you.  But Suralan is not the most logical of people, as far as I can see.


----------



## happie chappie (Mar 28, 2008)

Actually, Sir Alan donates his fee for the show to Great Ormond Street Hospital. And I do think he has a genuine interest in promoting “entrepreneurship”, although I’m not sure any of the would-be apprentices possess much entrepreneurial talent, just an aching desire to be very rich and famous.

I also think the show has reached a tipping point whereby most people watch it to see the contestants humiliate themselves, rather than to pick up any genuine wisdom from either Sir Al, or his would-be apprentices. 

If this is really the best business talent UK plc has to offer, then lord help us!

Happie Chappie


----------



## kabbes (Mar 28, 2008)

Frankly, the much vauted "6 figure salary!!!" (i.e. exactly £100,000) is not an enticement for anybody with real business acumen, who is probably already either earning more than that or believes that they will shortly be earning more than that.

And the thrill of working with suralan is hardly a prize to any decent professional, because the man is a cretin who looks like he would be the worst boss in the world, ever.

So it's hardly a surprise that we end up with the brain-dead and publicity-hungry, the no-hopers and the also-rans.  But hoorah, because that is what makes for great telly!


----------



## kabbes (Mar 28, 2008)

In other news, I love it when they show some horrendously expensive lifestyle luxury (such as the converted factory they are living in) and claims that it is a "taste of the lifestyle the winner can expect!!!".  

Really?  On a £100k salary?  They will be able to afford a house worth £5m+, will they?  Is the plan to spend the salary on lottery tickets until one finally wins?


----------



## jæd (Mar 28, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Frankly, the much vauted "6 figure salary!!!" (i.e. exactly £100,000) is not an enticement for anybody with real business acumen, who is probably already either earning more than that or believes that they will shortly be earning more than that.



What about employees of Amstrad. Must be galling to know you'll never be SurAlans number # 2.. Some idjit who doesn't know how to sell fish will get the job instead...


----------



## DRINK? (Mar 28, 2008)

Sir Alan although a rich man is not the God he's made out to be....Amstrad used to be worth about a billion, he's reduced them to a value of about 135m...brilliant business the ol email phone


----------



## Skimix (Mar 28, 2008)

kabbes said:


> In other news, I love it when they show some horrendously expensive lifestyle luxury (such as the converted factory they are living in) and claims that it is a "taste of the lifestyle the winner can expect!!!".
> 
> Really?  On a £100k salary?  They will be able to afford a house worth £5m+, will they?  Is the plan to spend the salary on lottery tickets until one finally wins?



Lol...that was hilarious...what planet are they on???


----------



## weltweit (Mar 28, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Frankly, the much vauted "6 figure salary!!!" (i.e. exactly £100,000) is not an enticement for anybody with real business acumen, who is probably already either earning more than that or believes that they will shortly be earning more than that.



I don't know about that actually, there are some very competant people working in sectors that do not pay well, they may never get a salary like that unless they move into a better paid sector and such a move becomes harder to achieve the longer they leave it. 

I personally rate myself as competant or even very competant at what I do but I started in a sector that just does not pay that well. Could I change sectors? well would I want to? I love what I do, the only downside is that it does not pay as well as other areas. 

However comparing the £100k salary with the espectations of true entrepreneurs is a different kettle of fish, for true entrepreneurs the sky is the limit in the longer term. And as mentioned true entrepreneurs would not apply to be on the apprentice at all in the first place.



kabbes said:


> And the thrill of working with suralan is hardly a prize to any decent professional, because the man is a cretin who looks like he would be the worst boss in the world, ever.



That is perhaps true but in business terms he has pulled off some impressive things, the first volume successful IBM clone PC in the UK market which cleared up (the Amstrad 1512) and the first and only on the market with Sky boxes when Murdoch went ahead to beat BSB at the start of satellite TV in the UK. Plus he started with nothing and made hist first cheque for a million at a very tender age. There is plenty a prospective business person could learn from Alan Sugar.



kabbes said:


> So it's hardly a surprise that we end up with the brain-dead and publicity-hungry, the no-hopers and the also-rans.  But hoorah, because that is what makes for great telly!



Agreed.


----------



## Skimix (Mar 28, 2008)

DRINK? said:


> Sir Alan although a rich man is not the God he's made out to be....Amstrad used to be worth about a billion, he's reduced them to a value of about 135m...brilliant business the ol email phone



From flogging stuff out of the back of a van in true del boy style to being worth over 750m isn't bad going in my book.  Its not like he had wealthy parents like stelios.


----------



## shakermaker88 (Mar 28, 2008)

Im in the US and cant get iPlayer, anyone got a link for the first episode?


----------



## isvicthere? (Mar 28, 2008)

kabbes said:


> In other news, I love it when they show some horrendously expensive lifestyle luxury (such as the converted factory they are living in) and claims that it is a "taste of the lifestyle the winner can expect!!!".
> 
> Really?  On a £100k salary?  They will be able to afford a house worth £5m+, will they?  Is the plan to spend the salary on lottery tickets until one finally wins?



That's exactly what I was thinking.

My favourite moment (of many) was when the men's team arrived at Chapel Market, looking like an utter bunch of twats in their fishmonger chic. "Here comes the B-team" chirped a cheeky stallholder. Class!


----------



## Cheesypoof (Mar 28, 2008)

i'd love to go on The Apprentice myself, lol


----------



## electrogirl (Mar 29, 2008)

Cheesypoof said:


> i'd love to go on The Apprentice myself, lol



i'd LOVE you to too.


----------



## Epico (Mar 29, 2008)

Cheesypoof said:


> i'd love to go on The Apprentice myself, lol



Do it, do it, do it, do it! 

The Apprentice is great, love watching these deluded freaks fail one by one. 

Michael Sophocles & Raef Bjayou are two people in particular that'll I'll immensly enjoy seeing fuck up dramatically and try to bullshit their way out of it.

I agree that Linzi is beautiful, and that Alex looks the part too.


----------



## weltweit (Mar 29, 2008)

Am I just getting old or what?

These young men who are unshaven in a smart suit, they don't look cool to me, they just look as if they did not get up properly, they just look unshaven!

The boys team leader in the last task, unshaven, looks like a prat to me, I know Sir Alan Sugar has facial hair but that is grown facial hair not some half a weeks worth of undesigner stubble or a little bit of fluff underneath a quivering bottom lip. 

Looks awful imho 

If I went to work like that people would ask questions. 

Anyone else feel the same?


----------



## suburbia (Mar 29, 2008)

Yes 

Been avoiding this thread until now as I didn't see it "live". The loser shared eerie similarities to my ex: physical appearance, arrogance, Jesus delusions, even down to the poser sunglasses  Needless to say, these are among the many reasons he is now my ex!

I think Lindi's in with a good chance: young but more down to earth than most it seems.


----------



## DotCommunist (Mar 29, 2008)

Alchemey-Gravitas


FUCK OFF

God, such sorry groat-chasing excuses for humanity. Bickering arrogant animal-fannies.

God one of thm used step up to the plate! then the next one laid in another shitty merkin business phrase

DICKHEADS


----------



## Star Dove (Mar 30, 2008)

DRINK? said:


> Sir Alan although a rich man is not the God he's made out to be....Amstrad used to be worth about a billion, he's reduced them to a value of about 135m...brilliant business the ol email phone



Is that right? Give us a link.

Hope it's true because the bloke seems like a bit of a cunt.


----------



## Miss Potter (Mar 30, 2008)

Next episode looks like a cracker, judging by this story from today's Star (which I found via Sky News).

Link is spoiler-ish so don't read if you don't want much of a preview of the show...


----------



## jæd (Mar 30, 2008)

alice band said:


> Next episode looks like a cracker, judging by this story from today's Star (which I found via Sky News).
> 
> Link is spoiler-ish so don't read if you don't want much of a preview of the show...



This was hinted at in the "Coming Next Time" bit where one of the girls is seen crying... Dunno why its a spoiler. All the girls seem thoroughly nasty people. There was one who said "I'm just after money, money, and more money".



All the guys seem to either completely dull, stupid, or just plain shite.


----------



## isvicthere? (Mar 30, 2008)

zippypinhead said:


> http://www.delacy-brown.com/biography.html
> 
> Where the f^&% do they find these people.



The researchers have to "give 110%"


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 2, 2008)

On tonight at 9pm.


----------



## zoooo (Apr 2, 2008)

Yay!

Ooh, hello Doctor. Does the tardis receive BBC1?


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 2, 2008)

Fortunately it does!


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

cheers  thats just what I need to cheer me up


----------



## zoooo (Apr 2, 2008)

Do you have a telly room, or do you have to watch it on the tardis console?

*pretends she really is talking to The Doctor*
*dies of happiness*


I hope Alex gets fired next.


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

zoooo said:


> I hope Alex gets fired next.


----------



## zoooo (Apr 2, 2008)

I don't like the cut of his jib!

(/gib? No... it must be jib.)


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

Here we go again, just hope its as funny as last weeks


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

shoot lucinda

who uses the word irksome?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

Fucking bellends.


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 2, 2008)

Great stuff already!!


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 2, 2008)

aqua said:


> shoot lucinda
> 
> who uses the word irksome?



only when im doing my acidly cold rage thing


Anyway they are all wankers


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

£4.99 for laundry? and who needs a hotline?


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

The girls look like fucking up big time so far.

That was one of the worse pitches ever.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

fucking BELLENDS.



They should all wash their souls in their laundrette.


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 2, 2008)

Great negotiation!


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

aqua said:


> £4.99 for laundry? and who needs a hotline?



But he'd have two account managers!


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

Wouldnt fancy washing and ironing all those sheets!


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 2, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> fucking BELLENDS.
> 
> 
> 
> They should all wash their souls in their laundrette.



I don't think theirs a spiritual laundrette capable of washing the arrogant, aqquisative, unfeeling pursuit-of-money stains from their grubby little souls


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 2, 2008)

"How does £400 sound."

"I only want to pay £200."

"Ok then."


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

I can feel myself feeling much better already 

I'd rather have shingles than be one of this lot


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

If only there was.



I would do that redhead though. Do her in the face.


----------



## moomoo (Apr 2, 2008)

aqua said:


> shoot lucinda
> 
> who uses the word irksome?


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

£10? for that lot? fuck me they can come here


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

He cant believe his luck!


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 2, 2008)

These people are fucking idiots.

So, just how many clothes do we think they're gonna ruin?


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 2, 2008)

iirc this is the one that raised some bullying questions......


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

'Can you imagine the harry monk in these'


----------



## Melinda (Apr 2, 2008)

Belushi said:


> He cant believe his luck!


What I dont understand is his reaction to their quote should have indicated they had got it horribly wrong. Why not step away and re-check?

Ooof.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

hahaha.


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

The boys are lucky to havethat squaddie fella, looks like he knows what he's doing and what its going to take.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

Is he the cock-knee one?


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

how many of them have done laundry before in their life  Raef certainly hasn't


----------



## Santino (Apr 2, 2008)

words fail me


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> Is he the cock-knee one?



Yeah, bit older than the rest.


----------



## DotCommunist (Apr 2, 2008)

Belushi said:


> Yeah, bit older than the rest.




oh how telling that post is


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

aqua said:


> how many of them have done laundry before in their life  Raef certainly hasn't



I reckon his mum does it for him.


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

their maid surely


----------



## DJ Squelch (Apr 2, 2008)

Belushi said:


> The boys are lucky to havethat squaddie fella, looks like he knows what he's doing and what its going to take.



He reminds me of Mark Thomas for some reason.


----------



## Melinda (Apr 2, 2008)

"Lawerence of Araefia!"


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

I hope redhead woman doesn't get fired.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 2, 2008)

The boys actually look pretty together on this one, the girls are a fucking shambles


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

the girls are an embarrassment


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

She is picking on Lucinda.


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

the red haired one is bonkers


----------



## DJ Squelch (Apr 2, 2008)

fight, fight, fight.


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 2, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I hope redhead woman doesn't get fired.



She's been well out of order


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

One of them two is going.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 2, 2008)

I hope to god that awful bloody team leader woman gets fired, she's appalling.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

The Doctor said:


> She's been well out of order



Yeh. 

But she is a _redhead_.


----------



## trashpony (Apr 2, 2008)

I feel really sorry for Lucinda - the way that woman spoke to her last night was fucking appalling


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 2, 2008)

Lucinda's going to be a scape goat.


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 2, 2008)

They're all appalling, fire them all.

from a big cannon

into a brick wall


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 2, 2008)

_pH_ said:


> They're all appalling, fire them all.
> 
> from a big cannon
> 
> into a brick wall


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

The girls have really fucked this up.


----------



## trashpony (Apr 2, 2008)

_pH_ said:


> They're all appalling, fire them all.
> 
> from a big cannon
> 
> into a brick wall



Fucking hell if I had any of this lot reporting to me I'd fire the lot of them. I find it really hard to believe they're all so 'successful'.


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 2, 2008)

i would make them all wear clown costumes before putting them in the cannon, like a proper circus


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

I think Sir Alan should fire their clothes.


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

you can't force a tip like that


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 2, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I think Sir Alan should set fire to their clothes.



fixed

then give them clown costumes


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

Cant believe theyre asking for tips.


----------



## moomoo (Apr 2, 2008)

The girls are a shambles.


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

fucking pmsl


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 2, 2008)

This is fucking funny


----------



## Epico (Apr 2, 2008)

What utter fuck ups! 

I love this program!


----------



## moomoo (Apr 2, 2008)

Belushi said:


> Cant believe theyre asking for tips.




I can't believe the cheek of that redhead!


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

Heh, should be in for some recriminations in the board room.

What a palaver.


----------



## electroplated (Apr 2, 2008)

oh deary me!


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 2, 2008)

Lol!!!


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

They'll have to pay for those mislaid shirts.


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 2, 2008)

The boys should cruise this.


----------



## trashpony (Apr 2, 2008)

That fucking bitch has got to go.


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 2, 2008)

And we're off!


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

They're sunk.


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

"I don't think they'd want us to do their washing again"


----------



## moomoo (Apr 2, 2008)

aqua said:


> "I don't think they'd want us to do their washing again"



That made us laugh lots!


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

that team leader was a twat (the girls)


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

She is. 

But she is a _redhead_.

Does that not count for anything anymore?


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 2, 2008)

five quid to clean a pillow case?! did i hear that right?!


----------



## Belushi (Apr 2, 2008)

The 24 hour hotline


----------



## moomoo (Apr 2, 2008)

_pH_ said:


> five quid to clean a pillow case?! did i hear that right?!



I'm going into the laundry business!


----------



## trashpony (Apr 2, 2008)

Belushi said:


> The 24 hour hotline



that was fucking class


----------



## magneze (Apr 2, 2008)

Classic episode ...


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 2, 2008)

Fight! Fight! Fight!

Yay!


----------



## Scarlette (Apr 2, 2008)

My flatmate and I have been in wine-induced hysterics since Alan Sugar said 'Hello girls, how are my pants doing?' Brilliant.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 2, 2008)

I love the way they turn on each other


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

will you be quiet


----------



## moomoo (Apr 2, 2008)

She's a proper hard faced bitch.


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 2, 2008)

all of them. in that ^ now.


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 2, 2008)

Wtf!


----------



## aqua (Apr 2, 2008)

No  she shouldn't have gone  that team leader was a twat and a half


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

YAY.

I am glad she stayed.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 2, 2008)

Bah, wrong choice there siralan


----------



## moomoo (Apr 2, 2008)

How did Jenny get to stay?  She's awful!   Imagine having her as your boss!


----------



## magneze (Apr 2, 2008)

WTF ... The Apprentice jumps the shark. 

The leader is being kept for entertainment value only. Think of your business!


----------



## trashpony (Apr 2, 2008)

WTF was that breastfeeding comment?


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 2, 2008)

Now they're all kissy kissy mwah mwah!

*sticks fingers down throat*


----------



## DJ Squelch (Apr 2, 2008)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Bah, wrong choice there siralan



but now we get to see Jenny & Lucinda fighting again.


----------



## moomoo (Apr 2, 2008)

DJ Squelch said:


> but now we get to see Jenny & Lucinda fighting again.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

Catfighting, hopefully. In bikinis.


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 2, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> Catfighting, hopefully. In bikinis.



I read that as blinis


----------



## Epico (Apr 2, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> Catfighting, hopefully. In bikinis.



You're a strange man Dill'. 

But Sir Alan, obviously agrees with you; being a redhead _does_ account for something.


----------



## trashpony (Apr 2, 2008)

_pH_ said:


> I read that as blinis



Your search - catfighting in blinis - did not match any documents.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

Epico said:


> You're a strange man Dill'.
> 
> But Sir Alan, obviously agrees with you; being a redhead _does_ account for something.





The world is right again.


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 2, 2008)

72 matches. But no images


----------



## DJ Squelch (Apr 2, 2008)

win   no blinis though.


----------



## Gromit (Apr 2, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> The world is right again.


 
Now I'm a fan of redheads but that doesn't absolve all sins. She was evil and should have gone.

Not letting people get a word in edgewise, wearing them down till when it finally was their turn to respond with the truth of things they no longer had the will to bother. Then would mock em for not responding, you don't have an answer cause you are guilty etc.

She deserved a slap.


----------



## Melinda (Apr 2, 2008)

Odd episode. 

Shazia didnt see it coming and so didnt defend herself.


----------



## Gromit (Apr 2, 2008)

£15! 

"Do you think that was too high?" 

lolz


----------



## DexterTCN (Apr 2, 2008)

Good TV though.

Kind of like that mouse getting eaten in V.

That ginger's an arsehole, though.


----------



## Scarlette (Apr 2, 2008)

Marius said:


> Now I'm a fan of redheads but that doesn't absolve all sins. She was evil and should have gone.
> 
> Not letting people get a word in edgewise, wearing them down till when it finally was their turn to respond with the truth of things they no longer had the will to bother. Then would mock em for not responding, you don't have an answer cause you are guilty etc.
> 
> She deserved a slap.



Most sins though! Being a redhead rocks sometimes.


----------



## jæd (Apr 2, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Odd episode.
> 
> Shazia didnt see it coming and so didnt defend herself.



She was stiched up. The Red Headed Bitch should've (a) been fired and (b) been given several slaps...


----------



## Miss Potter (Apr 2, 2008)

the majority of the audience on the BBC2 show thought it was a travesty too. I can't believe that vile woman gets another shot 

Don't forget to watch out for the "10 worst decisions" prog next week


----------



## Gromit (Apr 2, 2008)

My favourite part of tThe Apprentice  now is the YOur Fired show.

The Male Bonding scene had me in tears of laughter. Whoever the director is is fucking brilliant. I thought the beret sequence was good last week but that sequence qas fab.

Ooh they did the Matt Lucas comparison too. i spotted that last week.


----------



## Gromit (Apr 2, 2008)

milly molly said:


> Most sins though! Being a redhead rocks sometimes.


 
I take it that you are Red?

Helloes


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

milly molly said:


> Most sins though! Being a redhead rocks sometimes.



*combs hair and straightens tie*


----------



## Scarlette (Apr 2, 2008)

Marius said:


> I take it that you are Red?
> 
> Helloes



Yup. I was just thinking about getting highlights, but I think...I may not.


----------



## Melinda (Apr 2, 2008)

Marius said:


> My favourite part of tThe Apprentice  now is the YOur Fired show.
> 
> The Male Bonding scene had me in tears of laughter. Whoever the director is is fucking brilliant. I thought the beret sequence was good last week but that sequence qas fab.
> 
> Ooh they did the Matt Lucas comparison too. i spotted that last week.


A few things from this thread have turned up on TV review shows about The Apprentic and in the papers. 
I watched TV Burp's review and was like 

Either what's been said on here is very obvious, or...?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 2, 2008)

Stuff here is copyrighted! PM a mod about it, maybe?


----------



## rover07 (Apr 2, 2008)

Jenny should have gone...


----------



## pennimania (Apr 2, 2008)

Raef has got the lads eating out of his hand. 

Simple creamy charm. 

I am looking forward to it all going wrong.

Loving this show


----------



## T & P (Apr 2, 2008)

I do suspect certain people who should be fired are kept in simply for the sake of making it more interesting. I can for the life of me see why the girl who got fired tonight deserved it.

On a different note, quite a transformation on the boys camp. From deeply divided class war to best of chums. And suddenly everone loves the would-be-villain Federer lookalike chap


----------



## Melinda (Apr 2, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> Stuff here is copyrighted! PM a mod about it, maybe?


Its just ideas innit, Im probably over egging it anyway.
Unless Marius also writes for TV Burp.  



T & P said:


> And suddenly everone loves the would-be-villain *Federer lookalike* chap


 BLOODY good spot!!

*nods and applauds!*


----------



## Gromit (Apr 2, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Its just ideas innit, Im probably over egging it anyway.
> Unless Marius also writes for TV Burp.
> 
> BLOODY good spot!!
> ...



Shhhh its a secret.


----------



## Scarlette (Apr 2, 2008)

I quite like that chap that had on the pink open shirt tonight. Rarr!


----------



## tommers (Apr 2, 2008)

Belushi said:


> The boys are lucky to havethat squaddie fella, looks like he knows what he's doing and what its going to take.



west ham finest!

*snigger*


----------



## rover07 (Apr 2, 2008)

The women are always bitchy and back-stabbing from the word go. The boys will fall out soon enough though. Prince Raef doesn't stand a chance, he's already a marked man...


----------



## Gromit (Apr 2, 2008)

T & P said:


> I do suspect certain people who should be fired are kept in simply for the sake of making it more interesting. I can for the life of me see why the girl who got fired tonight deserved it.
> 
> On a different note, quite a transformation on the boys camp. From deeply divided class war to best of chums. And suddenly everone loves the would-be-villain Federer lookalike chap


 
Kind of tears apart that guys theory last week that it was class that stopped the boys from performing as a team and that it wasn't cause he himself was a twat.


----------



## cybertect (Apr 3, 2008)

trashpony said:


> Your search - catfighting in blinis - did not match any documents.


----------



## tommers (Apr 3, 2008)

cybertect said:


>



strangely enough... this is the image I get when I put that search in...


----------



## Stoat Boy (Apr 3, 2008)

T & P said:


> I do suspect certain people who should be fired are kept in simply for the sake of making it more interesting. I can for the life of me see why the girl who got fired tonight deserved it.



Totally agree. It makes no sense other than either making good television in the future by keeping the other two in who will now loathe each other through out or else something off screen which means they want rid of her.

But I am at pains to work out how anybody can still think this show is about business.  They are all so shockingly appalling. The boys worked almost a whole day to make a profit of £350 or so quid. And that plonker who sealed the deal for the hotel laundry. Beyond parody.


----------



## Chairman Meow (Apr 3, 2008)

Stoat Boy said:


> Totally agree. It makes no sense other than either making good television in the future by keeping the other two in who will now loathe each other through out or else something off screen which means they want rid of her.
> 
> But I am at pains to work out how anybody can still think this show is about business.  They are all so shockingly appalling. The boys worked almost a whole day to make a profit of £350 or so quid. And that plonker who sealed the deal for the hotel laundry. Beyond parody.



This bit - 

'Our quote to you is £500.'

'I'll give you £200'

'Oh, alright then.'

 Really top class bargaining skills there.


----------



## Stoat Boy (Apr 3, 2008)

Chairman Meow said:


> This bit -
> 
> 'Our quote to you is £500.'
> 
> ...



That was unreal. I know nothing about the cost of commerical laundry but surely you would ask to see the volume involved and have at least an idea of how to price it per item.

Walking out of there with less than £400 for that job should have been an instant dismissal and has to count against those twonks later on.


----------



## Jim Williams (Apr 3, 2008)




----------



## Maurice Picarda (Apr 3, 2008)

Stoat Boy said:


> That was unreal. I know nothing about the cost of commerical laundry but surely you would ask to see the volume involved and have at least an idea of how to price it per item.
> 
> Walking out of there with less than £400 for that job should have been an instant dismissal and has to count against those twonks later on.


 
To be fair, if the bloke usually pays £200 then it's difficult to see how any extra value could be added and the price hoiked. It wasn't clear whether the hotelier _had_ to go with one of the teams.


----------



## Stoat Boy (Apr 3, 2008)

Maurice Picarda said:


> To be fair, if the bloke usually pays £200 then it's difficult to see how any extra value could be added and the price hoiked. It wasn't clear whether the hotelier _had_ to go with one of the teams.



Did he say that he usually pays £200 ? If so then fair enough.


----------



## cybertect (Apr 3, 2008)

Maurice Picarda said:


> To be fair, if the bloke usually pays £200 then it's difficult to see how any extra value could be added and the price hoiked. It wasn't clear whether the hotelier _had_ to go with one of the teams.



And the premiss that people are going to hand over their laundry to a 'new business' that's literally not going to exist in 24 hours re-invigorates the term 'fly-by-night' and puts the whole concept on a bit of a loose footing


----------



## jæd (Apr 3, 2008)

Stoat Boy said:


> Did he say that he usually pays £200 ? If so then fair enough.



IIRC he usually paid £400...


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Apr 3, 2008)

cybertect said:


> And the premiss that people are going to hand over their laundry to a 'new business' that's literally not going to exist in 24 hours re-invigorates the term 'fly-by-night' and puts the whole concept on a bit of a loose footing


 
Yes, quite.

I'm clearly in a minority, though, as I wouldn't buy £50 of assorted fish in the late afternoon from an adrenaline-crazed reality show contestant.


----------



## happie chappie (Apr 3, 2008)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> I hope to god that awful bloody team leader woman gets fired, she's appalling.



Having that type of bullying, hectoring "I'm your superior, I'm speaking, shut up" boss is bad enough, but she was a shit manager to boot!! She lead her team (and I use that term in its loosest possible sense) to an abject defeat. 

It was her idea to have a flat-rate, £4.99 per item which led to the ludicrous £5,000 quote to clean the hotel's laundry.

She must have very compromising photos of sirrrralan in her possession (anyone care to speculate what they might be?)

Happie Chappie


----------



## treelover (Apr 3, 2008)

Sorry to be a killjoy, but according to some journalists and the Unions , the shitty behaviour by shitty people on a shitty programme is having a deleterious effect in the 'real world'


''You're fired'

The Apprentice provides a model of nastiness and bullying in the workplace. Couldn't the BBC serve up something where people are nice to each other?

Jeremy Kuper

I can't help thinking that the bullying tactics which contestants on The Apprentice use to elbow their opponents out of the way are of no use in real life, except on the underground, or on other reality TV programmes. Last year the law firm Eversheds conducted a survey which found that, as on the show, conflict at work is now rife, with over 30% of employees clashing with fellow workers on a weekly basis. Could it be case of life imitating television? Of those watching at home, some are employers looking to successful businessmen like Sugar for guidance, and others take on the roles of the bullying workmates, who believe it is acceptable to set people up for a fall in order to get ahead themselves. The Daily Express reported last year that there had been a 25% increase in industrial tribunals following the first series of The Apprentice.

http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/jeremy_kuper/2008/04/youre_fired.html


----------



## treelover (Apr 3, 2008)

In fact, maybe we could have a new programme, 'Fire Your Boss' where disgruntled employees could compete to find the worse bosses and relive them of their duties. They could start with the BBC execs who commissioned this programme, a celebration of US style 'hire and fire' culture' Such a programme would have been unthinkable in the sixties and seventies when we still had strong unions, a (admittedly diminishing) sense of collective endeavour and solidarity.


and yes, I know its 'only a TV show', but see above


----------



## jæd (Apr 3, 2008)

treelover said:


> Sorry to be a killjoy, but according to some journalists and the Unions , the shitty behaviour by shitty people on a shitty programme is having a deleterious effect in the 'real world'



More likely : Lazy journalism trying to cash in on popular tv programs in order to sell a story.

The reason we have employment law is to deal with clashes like this... If we didn't there'd be a problem, but we do...


----------



## Skimix (Apr 3, 2008)

tommers said:


> west ham finest!
> 
> *snigger*



Absolutely   I think he's come across really well so far.


----------



## Belushi (Apr 3, 2008)

What is the West Ham connection, I've seen it mentioned a couple of times.


----------



## tommers (Apr 3, 2008)

Belushi said:


> What is the West Ham connection, I've seen it mentioned a couple of times.








Notice the tie.

There's nothing much to say, he posts on various west ham forums.  He's pretty well known, there could be a few funny stories coming out about him....  there are some dodgy photos floating about of his younger days... it's quite funny seeing him on the apprentice. 

I reckon he's played a blinder so far.


----------



## tommers (Apr 3, 2008)

jæd said:


> IIRC he usually paid £400...




it was £200. 

HTH.


----------



## kabbes (Apr 3, 2008)

What about the poor ol' sods who normally get that £200 contract?  Did they get compensated for having to hand it over to these idjits?

Anyway, aside from the dodgy negotiation (not so dodgy if they were up against the general marketplace, but incredibly crap if they were only up against the girls), I thought that the boys' performance was one of the very, very, VERY few times on the Apprentice where a team actually did really well.  All credit to them.

The girls though -- oh woe!  And who is that horrible little suck-up, who went along with the £4.99 per item idea with nary a word against it ("I feel good about it!"), emphasised the "24 hour hotline" and insisted that Jenny was a "great team leader"?  She's shockingly dumb and useless.


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 3, 2008)

kabbes said:


> What about the poor ol' sods who normally get that £200 contract?  Did they get compensated for having to hand it over to these idjits?
> 
> Anyway, aside from the dodgy negotiation (not so dodgy if they were up against the general marketplace, but incredibly crap if they were only up against the girls), I thought that the boys' performance was one of the very, very, VERY few times on the Apprentice where a team actually did really well.  All credit to them.
> 
> The girls though -- oh woe!  And who is that horrible little suck-up, who went along with the £4.99 per item idea with nary a word against it ("I feel good about it!"), emphasised the "24 hour hotline" and insisted that Jenny was a "great team leader"?  She's shockingly dumb and useless.




the one with really awful false eyelashes?


----------



## kabbes (Apr 3, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> the one with really awful false eyelashes?


And the bloody awful make-up.  That's the one.  I've never seen such an awful little toady.  "Yes miss, you're right miss, you're always right miss!"

Here's the face of sycophancy:






Wouldn't be so bad if the ideas she latched onto weren't without fail all the very worst ideas, or if she ever had an idea worth persuing herself.


----------



## kabbes (Apr 3, 2008)

[dp]


----------



## 1927 (Apr 3, 2008)

kabbes said:


> And the bloody awful make-up.  That's the one.  I've never seen such an awful little toady.  "Yes miss, you're right miss, you're always right miss!"
> 
> Here's the face of sycophancy:
> 
> ...



I loved the bit where Siralan asked whose idea something had been, and she couldn't wait to tell him that hse had thought up the idea. She was beaming as Siralan ripped her idea apart!!


----------



## Jim Williams (Apr 4, 2008)

alice band said:


> Don't forget to watch out for the "10 worst decisions" prog next week



That was on telly last night (whatever digital channel it was, can't remember, Three probably). Almost couldn't watch it, all the cringing memories flooding back.


----------



## Ms T (Apr 8, 2008)

kabbes said:


> And the bloody awful make-up.  That's the one.  I've never seen such an awful little toady.  "Yes miss, you're right miss, you're always right miss!"
> 
> Here's the face of sycophancy:
> 
> ...



Watche this last night, and thought she was quite unbelievably stupid.  A hotline for laundry, ffs.  And she was the one who started selling fish for less than cost price.

I also HATE the red-head who was team leader - Jenny.  Unbelievably awful.

The ex-squaddie's by far the best so far.


----------



## Epico (Apr 9, 2008)

This is shaping up to be another cringe-fest.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Apr 9, 2008)

lordy me... idiots


----------



## DJ Squelch (Apr 9, 2008)

This is like an episode of Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 9, 2008)

Ah, my weekly dose of idiocy


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Apr 9, 2008)

Looks like it could be the boys turn to screw up big time.


Edit: Awwww, they're not doing the Italian accents we were promised. I was looking forward to that.


----------



## aqua (Apr 9, 2008)

Epico said:


> This is shaping up to be another cringe-fest.


too true

I could do better!


----------



## moomoo (Apr 9, 2008)

aqua said:


> too true
> 
> I could do better!




Worryingly enough, so could I.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Apr 9, 2008)

yummy... segmented pizza

'pizza? just a segment please!'


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 9, 2008)

i love threads like this....it's like the commentary the beeb do for the partially sighted 

who the fuck wants to be _cajoled_ into getting matey with the waiter/ress in a restaurant?

'Hello, i'm your waitress....and you are....?'

'Just stfu and get me my fucking bhajis '


----------



## aqua (Apr 9, 2008)

I'm sorry, who needs a cooks school to teach them fucking crumble?

jesus


----------



## zoooo (Apr 9, 2008)

Teehee. I loved when that big fella called Siralan 'Alan' by mistake, and covered his mouth, all embarrassed!

Ha.


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Apr 9, 2008)

I can't think of a more horrible prize than an effing cooking lesson.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Apr 9, 2008)

"the Hot Ciabatta's sold like hot cakes" (im sending that one to Private Eye)


----------



## snackhead (Apr 9, 2008)

shit, shit late home from work missed the build up shit shit


----------



## moomoo (Apr 9, 2008)

Ugh, there's nothing worse than grovelling men! 

Damn, I quite fancied Ian.


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 9, 2008)

moomoo said:


> Ugh, there's nothing worse than grovelling men!



Innit? 'Please siralan....give me another a chance....'

ffs!


----------



## zoooo (Apr 9, 2008)

Oh, they fired the pretty one.


----------



## Epico (Apr 9, 2008)

aqua said:


> I'm sorry, who needs a cooks school to teach them fucking crumble?
> 
> jesus



Yeah, Jesus was a shit cook by all accounts. It was just fish in fucking breadcrumbs every bloody night.


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 9, 2008)

Epico said:


> Yeah, Jesus was a shit cook by all accounts. It was just fish in fucking breadcrumbs every bloody night.



Yeah, but he was damn good with the portion sizes


----------



## moomoo (Apr 9, 2008)

_pH_ said:


> Yeah, but he was damn good with the portion sizes




I could do with him here sometimes.


----------



## Gromit (Apr 9, 2008)

The boys should have romped that one but buying expensive ingrediants was stupid stupid stupid. 

Pizza
Spag bol
Carbonara
Garlic bread

All cheap as chips to make and easy to sell at massive markups. 

£220 on marketing!!!


----------



## ethel (Apr 9, 2008)

buying ingredients from fucking tesco. i spotted bloody dolmio!


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 9, 2008)

moomoo said:


> I could do with him here sometimes.



Pray to him then. Go on. He will come. Apparently.


----------



## aqua (Apr 9, 2008)

Epico said:


> Yeah, Jesus was a shit cook by all accounts. It was just fish in fucking breadcrumbs every bloody night.


----------



## weltweit (Apr 9, 2008)

Oh the overblown egos, the baseless self confidence, I'm an achiever, I did a great job, full of themselves, I am a winner don't have the other word starting with L ... oser   .. And still most of the boys look as they have not got up properly with pathetic little designer stubbles .. just looks untidy and disrespectful to me .. why do I watch this program why oh why 

And while we are on the subject, why did Sir Alan not get into the boys buying their ingredients from supermarkets rather than discount outlets when he had given them the addresses of said discounters himself? seemed a large omission from the post mortem that one.


----------



## moomoo (Apr 9, 2008)

_pH_ said:


> Pray to him then. Go on. He will come. Apparently.



I tried.  He didn't.


----------



## _pH_ (Apr 9, 2008)

moomoo said:


> I tried.  He didn't.



Oh.


(((((moomoo)))))


----------



## Gromit (Apr 9, 2008)

Watching an extra bit on Your Fired. Lucinda in another argument in a taxi.
I had sympathy for Lucinda last week but I'm thinking now that she is a passive aggressive and needs to be fired.


----------



## ebay sex moomin (Apr 9, 2008)

She's playing the victim role to a T. Although I do think she's being bullied...

I just wish she didn't look so sad most of the time. I think she's lovely... alright, I fancy her 

she'll be fired soon I think. She's not equipped to deal with the cut-throat business world... she's totally out of her depth

of the guys, I like Simon. He's no nonsense, and he gets the job done.


----------



## zoooo (Apr 9, 2008)

Raef!
Still loving him.

But Simon too seems good and genuine.


----------



## Scaggs (Apr 10, 2008)

weltweit said:


> Oh the overblown egos, the baseless self confidence, I'm an achiever, I did a great job, full of themselves, I am a winner don't have the other word starting with L ... oser   .. And still most of the boys look as they have not got up properly with pathetic little designer stubbles .. just looks untidy and disrespectful to me .. why do I watch this program why oh why
> 
> And while we are on the subject, why did Sir Alan not get into the boys buying their ingredients from supermarkets rather than discount outlets when he had given them the addresses of said discounters himself? seemed a large omission from the post mortem that one.



How do they find customers who are willing to go out for a meal and spend good money on Tescos pizzas and sauce from a jar


----------



## Sweaty Betty (Apr 10, 2008)

Simon put himself across very well in the boardroom, i reckon it may be because he speaks from the heart and not from his head ...


----------



## Part 2 (Apr 10, 2008)

I watched this last night, first time this series.

Does Simon always look like he needs a good kip?


----------



## Bajie (Apr 10, 2008)

I watched it for the fist time last night, and last thing I expected to see was my sisters ex-boyfriend on the telly... must be 10 years since I last saw him but he used to be round our house all the time and came to my wedding. Good to see him doing this though as he went through a real bad patch some time ago.


----------



## Melinda (Apr 10, 2008)

Ooh! Which one is he?

I missed this yesterday; I came back here to check the running commentary and didnt really get a flavour of the minutiae that you all usually comment on!

Al well, another one down.


----------



## Bajie (Apr 10, 2008)

PM on is way 

"Melinda has exceeded their stored private messages quota and can not accept further messages until they clear some space"


----------



## Melinda (Apr 10, 2008)

Space cleared, just for you!


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 10, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Ooh! Which one is he?
> 
> I missed this yesterday; I came back here to check the running commentary and didnt really get a flavour of the minutiae that you all usually comment on!
> 
> Al well, another one down.



There you go

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b009s85y.shtml?src=ip_mp


----------



## Miss Potter (Apr 10, 2008)

I'm liking the follow-up show more and more, they pick up on smaller things we might have missed. Like Little Britain guy, who is a bank manager, counting on his fingers...


----------



## Melinda (Apr 10, 2008)

The Doctor said:


> There you go
> 
> http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/page/item/b009s85y.shtml?src=ip_mp


*Thanks The Doctor!*

*Thanks Bajie!*

*loves them hard!*


----------



## Paul Russell (Apr 10, 2008)

That Lee bloke seemed like a nasty piece of work...


----------



## souljacker (Apr 10, 2008)

alice band said:


> I'm liking the follow-up show more and more, they pick up on smaller things we might have missed. Like Little Britain guy, who is a bank manager, counting on his fingers...


 
How dense was he? We need 10 tomatoes for a soup and we want to make 15 soups. Thats....er.....

Shower of cunts the lot of them. Simon seems the only decent one but what a bum licker. He almost burst into tears when he called Sir Alan plain old Alan.


----------



## Melinda (Apr 10, 2008)

WTF is going on with the men's (Ian?) Project Manager's hair?


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Apr 10, 2008)

It required hair straighteners...


----------



## Santino (Apr 10, 2008)

I've had a pint in that pub where the boys were. It has cricket-themed tat all over the walls.


----------



## Artie Fufkin (Apr 10, 2008)

sarahluv said:


> buying ingredients from fucking tesco. i spotted bloody dolmio!



that was to give the true 'authentic' Italian taste 

wouldn't be surprised if they bought 'Taste The Difference' range or Tesco 
equivalent for the rest of the stuff. I saw a few ready-made pizzas in their trolley too


----------



## kabbes (Apr 10, 2008)

Alex B said:


> I've had a pint in that pub where the boys were. It has cricket-themed tat all over the walls.


Sounds like your ideal pub.

I would be seriously, seriously fucked off if I went out for a meal and somebody served me fucking pre-made crap.  I wouldn't even buy myself a Dolmio jar o'crap to eat at home, let alone paying a tenner for it in a pub.  I thought it was scandalous.


----------



## Santino (Apr 10, 2008)

> Then we could have... like.... carbonara... with bacon... or ham. Or chicken... and, like, creme fraiche. And then maybe mushroom... with like salt and pepper, baked in the oven... and served with, like, salty potatoes.


----------



## Melinda (Apr 10, 2008)

There is something VERY wrong with him ^^^ isnt there?  

Plus he is a very odd colour.


----------



## Jim Williams (Apr 10, 2008)




----------



## Mrs Miggins (Apr 10, 2008)

He came across as a deeply unpleasant young man on the aftermath show I thought.....


----------



## Melinda (Apr 10, 2008)

"The ciabattas sold like hotcakes."

"I designed the menus because I eat in Italian restaurants."

"I had to call the team together and give them a motivational talk"

There is something very wrong with the Matt Lucas a-like.


----------



## Mrs Miggins (Apr 10, 2008)

I just loved the way Kevin said in the boardroom that Italian was a good idea because "I know what to make because I eat in a lot of Italian restaurants"  but he didn't actually know what goes into a carbonara or that a latte is not a dessert. What a knob. Maybe he meant Pizza Hut 

The "segmented" pizza scam was priceless


----------



## kabbes (Apr 10, 2008)

It was priceless not least because of the complete ineptitude of Michael in his attempt to explain it.  Idiot!

I must defend Kevin a little bit on the latte/desert issue.  I know what he meant.  It isn't uncommon to skip desert but order a coffee, which means that the coffee is the sole "afters".  

In every other way, though, he was utterly clueless.  But then, he had no support whatsoever and he never applied to the show claiming to be a chef, did he?  At least he tried to put something together, unlike the rest of the useless nob ends.


----------



## Mrs Miggins (Apr 10, 2008)

kabbes said:


> I must defend Kevin a little bit on the latte/desert issue.  I know what he meant.  It isn't uncommon to skip desert but order a coffee, which means that the coffee is the sole "afters".



oh yes I see what you mean but it's still not something you would list as a dessert on a menu....bless him I guess he was just *brainstorming*.


*Is it a lightbulb moment? do we shoot it down or see if it stays up?*


----------



## Jim Williams (Apr 10, 2008)

Mrs Miggins said:


> He came across as a deeply unpleasant young man on the aftermath show I thought.....



Very much indeed. I thought so too.


----------



## Melinda (Apr 10, 2008)

Im all caught u now! Thanks Doctor  

Missed the after show too! What did hair-strangely-flattened-to-his-forehead-man do that was quite so unpleasant? 

He was shit on the show but contestants are usually more human on the aftershow, slightly more willing to admit fault!


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 10, 2008)

There is something a bit Boris Johnson about that Kevin. 

As well as Matt Lucas, naturally.


----------



## Santino (Apr 10, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Im all caught u now! Thanks Doctor
> 
> Missed the after show too! What did hair-strangely-flattened-to-his-forehead-man do that was quite so unpleasant?
> 
> He was shit on the show but contestants are usually more human on the aftershow, slightly more willing to admit fault!


He came across as a bit of a wanker, especially as he had obviously thought up a load of 'quips' and tried to shoe-horn them in whenever possible. Trying to look like he could see the funny side of it, I suppose, but it was like someone making pre-rehearsed jokes at a job interview.


----------



## Mrs Miggins (Apr 10, 2008)

Melinda said:


> ...but contestants are usually more human on the aftershow, slightly more willing to admit fault!



That's what was missing - an absolute lack of humility. He was clinging on to his image of himself as some sort of high achiever when all the eveidence pointed in the opposite direction! He never once admitted that he did anything wrong. He came across as a very belligerent sort.

Mind you, they asked his dad if he thought he was rubbish and his dad said yes, the lad cringed deeply and I thought it said a lot about their relationship and therefore about why he has turned out to be such a knob


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 10, 2008)

Mrs Miggins said:


> Mind you, they asked his dad if he thought he was rubbish and his dad said yes, the lad cringed deeply and I thought it said a lot about their relationship and therefore about why he has turned out to be such a knob



I notcied that as well. 

Also, he said his mum was the best mum in the world.

And Mum and Dad were sat at opposite ends of the studio. 

Or maybe I am reading too much into it.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Apr 10, 2008)

The Kings Head in Islington is a great place to hang around after hours...


----------



## Mrs Miggins (Apr 10, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> And Mum and Dad were sat at opposite ends of the studio. Or maybe I am reading too much into it.



Oh no I'm starting to feel slightly sorry for him now....


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 10, 2008)

I am not.


----------



## Melinda (Apr 10, 2008)

Im really cringing reading all that! Ouch for him not being a sport and unable to laugh at himself. 

Big Ouch for the family stuff!


----------



## Mrs Miggins (Apr 10, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> I am not.



But but he comes from a broken home...! He only wants to impress his tyrant of a father...!  

oh whatever


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 10, 2008)

heh.


----------



## Gromit (Apr 10, 2008)

I do think that the coffees idea was a good one. Tgere is a big mark up on what essentially is just water and ground beans. They missed out on a potential edge there purely cause he tried to call it a desert and got people thinking he was a muppet. 

Oh and I agree that Mr Loser with a capital L came off as a twat on the aftershow. No one laughed at his jokes and he looked like he wanted to cry whenever they pointed out where he'd been crap. He clung onto that turnover point like a drowning man clutching a life raft. His poor ego diddums.

You could tell that there was no way in he'll he would have turned up for the show if he wasnt contractually obliged to.


----------



## erasmus (Apr 10, 2008)

Alex B said:


> I've had a pint in that pub where the boys were. It has cricket-themed tat all over the walls.



It's one of those insular Hampstead pubs that's full of gossipy locals. Every so often gets taken over by hordes of sixth formers much to their distress amusingly. Had no idea it has a kitchen, certainly doesn't normally serve food. Funny old place, one of the only ones that shows the sport though in the area.


----------



## wishface (Apr 10, 2008)

Another deluded business capitalist wannabe bites the dust.

Fucking glorious.


----------



## Mrs Miggins (Apr 10, 2008)

They're just reality TV contestants though....hardly the *business leaders of tomorrow*


----------



## wishface (Apr 10, 2008)

but that's the point: they all think they are the big i am.


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 10, 2008)

So, anyone ready to predict the finalists.

Personally I'm not sure but I think Kevin and Lucinda will be the next two to go.


----------



## kabbes (Apr 10, 2008)

Mrs Miggins said:


> They're just reality TV contestants though....hardly the *business leaders of tomorrow*


In fact, I would say it is very important for the show indeed to get poor quality contestants.  If they were all genuinely big hitters, good at planning, implementation, teamworks and all that gubbins then the show would really be quite dull.

Can you imagine?  They want to sell fish -- oh, they have priced it all properly, picked a good spot and successfully made a tidy profit with no in-fighting or mistakes.  How fucking dull would _that_ be?


----------



## Skimix (Apr 10, 2008)

kabbes said:


> In fact, I would say it is very important for the show indeed to get poor quality contestants.  If they were all genuinely big hitters, good at planning, implementation, teamworks and all that gubbins then the show would really be quite dull.
> 
> Can you imagine?  They want to sell fish -- oh, they have priced it all properly, picked a good spot and successfully made a tidy profit with no in-fighting or mistakes.  How fucking dull would _that_ be?



Absolutely.  They need to be crap and have enormous egos, half the fuck ups are caused by them not knowing their own limitations or willing to listen to anyone elses point of view.  Like the bloke who got kicked out accusing simon of moaning when he was trying to point out it would be useful to know the costs of stuff before they priced it.


----------



## Mrs Miggins (Apr 10, 2008)

Exactly! 

And yet....and yet...they take themselves so bloody seriously! 

I've been checking out their profiles on the website - fecking hilarious! 

They crying one reckons she likes putting herself outside her comfort zone and segmented pizza man says he is "unscrupulous in business"


----------



## jæd (Apr 10, 2008)

How come he's billed as a "Software sales manager" :



> My name’s Ian Stringer and I am a broadcaster... I’ve worked within the broadcast industry since 2002 where I started with my local BBC Radio Station.


http://www.ianstringer.co.uk/index.htm


----------



## Juice Terry (Apr 10, 2008)

jæd said:


> How come he's billed as a "Software sales manager" :
> 
> 
> http://www.ianstringer.co.uk/index.htm



cos i think he used to work at Dixons knocking out gameboys.


----------



## maldwyn (Apr 10, 2008)

I think the production team are trying to disguise the fact that a couple of contestants are professional media whores looking for exposure.


----------



## g force (Apr 10, 2008)

kabbes said:


> In fact, I would say it is very important for the show indeed to get poor quality contestants.  If they were all genuinely big hitters, good at planning, implementation, teamworks and all that gubbins then the show would really be quite dull.
> 
> Can you imagine?  They want to sell fish -- oh, they have priced it all properly, picked a good spot and successfully made a tidy profit with no in-fighting or mistakes.  How fucking dull would _that_ be?




And if any of them were "the best" sales person they wouldn't be on it in the first place....on the whole it's a programme designed for middle managers with delusions of granduer.


----------



## Mrs Miggins (Apr 10, 2008)

maldwyn said:


> I think the production team are trying to disguise the fact that a couple of contestants are professional media whores looking for exposure.



This is very confusing....


----------



## suburbia (Apr 10, 2008)

sarahluv said:


> buying ingredients from fucking tesco. i spotted bloody dolmio!



I spied bloody Tesco Value pizza bases!


----------



## ethel (Apr 10, 2008)

suburbia said:


> I spied bloody Tesco Value pizza bases!




So did i. a massive stack of them!

they are a bunch of mobile phone salesmen.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 10, 2008)

Its SO easy to make fresh pizza dough as well.

So SO easy.


----------



## Hoss (Apr 10, 2008)

It's priceless viewing.

I've never bothered to watch much of it before but this series has been great. I didn't realise that the whole point of the show was to present these cocky, self-assured, leaders of business as the cunts that they really are. Awesome stuff. 

I had to bury my face in the sofa on more than one occasion, due to the sheer cringe value of it.

Sounds like I may also have to start tuning in to the after show.


----------



## wishface (Apr 10, 2008)

Mrs Miggins said:


> segmented pizza man says he is "unscrupulous in business"



The look he got from that customer after trying to fob him off with half a pizza was quite delicious.


----------



## isvicthere? (Apr 10, 2008)

wishface said:


> but that's the point: they all think they are the big i am.



Exactly! It's the huge Brent-like gap between their self-images and the way everyone else sees them that makes the Appentice top comedy.


----------



## wishface (Apr 10, 2008)

I think this season may have the best all round cast yet. So many utter wankers to choose from and I can see Alan, mags and Nick loving it.


----------



## isvicthere? (Apr 10, 2008)

g force said:


> And if any of them were "the best" sales person they wouldn't be on it in the first place....on the whole it's a programme designed for middle managers with delusions of granduer.



Yes. I'm always amused by the number of contestants who describe themselves as "entrepreneurs". So why are they in a show to become someone else's employee?


----------



## wishface (Apr 10, 2008)

because there's no risk. It's the lightweight approach.


----------



## Miss Potter (Apr 10, 2008)

wishface said:


> I can see Alan, mags and Nick loving it.



I loved Margaret's quote last night after watching Michael singing in the pub "he had more cheese than the pizza"


----------



## ymu (Apr 10, 2008)

maldwyn said:


> I think the production team are trying to disguise the fact that a couple of contestants are professional media whores looking for exposure.


Interesting. Wonder if that's why siralan picked the team leaders - he's never done that this early on, I don't think? The woman he picked was a bit useless too - maybe he's trying to weed out the media whores early?


----------



## Gromit (Apr 10, 2008)

ymu said:


> Interesting. Wonder if that's why siralan picked the team leaders - he's never done that this early on, I don't think? The woman he picked was a bit useless too - maybe he's trying to weed out the media whores early?


 
He did say that he didn't want any media whores winning it this time.


----------



## hektik (Apr 11, 2008)

jæd said:


> http://www.ianstringer.co.uk/index.htm



from that website:



> In May 2006 I had a World Cup song released into the UK Singles chart, sung by Tony Christie that *untimely* reached number 8.



he probably blames the fact that the world cup was in june for it not getting to number one....


----------



## isvicthere? (Apr 13, 2008)

Just rewatched it. More amused yet by Lee, who talks about himself in the third person, but can't spell "accent".


----------



## Miss Potter (Apr 16, 2008)

the teams get shuffled in tonight's episode. Apparently Alex has a tantrum and Claire is Little Miss Bossy. Should be fun!


----------



## TopCat (Apr 16, 2008)

I have never come across a bunch of people so convinced of the hugeness of their talents but who ultimately are the most incompetant wankers ever.


----------



## Gromit (Apr 16, 2008)

To be fair are they really that convinced?

I don't think that I'm the best of the best but if I was trying to win that's what I'd be trying to make out I was the entire time too. 

SirAlan doesn't want shrinking violets who don't try and sell themselves.


----------



## Epico (Apr 16, 2008)

TopCat said:


> I have never come across a bunch of people so convinced of the hugeness of their talents but who ultimately are the most incompetant wankers ever.



That's the beauty of it though, that's why I love it - watching them fail one by one.


----------



## TopCat (Apr 16, 2008)

I suspect that some are so thick their mum has to find them clean undies every morning. 

That berk james was it? "we could bake a mushroom, with salt and pepper, purreee it and serve it with saute potatos". I wanted to roast him whole like a hog.


----------



## jæd (Apr 16, 2008)

TopCat said:


> I have never come across a bunch of people so convinced of the hugeness of their talents but who ultimately are the most incompetant wankers ever.



Which is why they are doing the show. They're all unemployable shits. "I'm the best sales-man/woman in the UK". No you're not. You wouldn't be in the Apprentice. You'd have a decent job by now...


----------



## Santino (Apr 16, 2008)

Charlie Brooker has been hinting that tonight's episode is a corker.


----------



## TopCat (Apr 16, 2008)

They should all be killed one by one instead of fired. 

I say with peel Rafe's skin off with a tin opener.


----------



## wishface (Apr 16, 2008)

I love this show. this series is fucking golden fried glory.


----------



## jæd (Apr 16, 2008)

The good thing about the apprentice is that it picks the 16 worst people in the UK and forces them to live with each other. The bad thing is they're let out... 

I wonder if there would be any chance of an Apprentice / Saw combo...?


----------



## Gromit (Apr 16, 2008)

Looks like Lucinda is rubbish and in the arguments again from the snippets I heard on the radio.


----------



## catrina (Apr 16, 2008)

From what it appears, Lucinda is a complete flake. However, that evil cow had no right to treat her like that, if I were Lucinda and that was real work I would have sued right away. Straight up bullying, it was disgusting.

Last week's project manager was completely useless, too. 

I loved how they started serving half pizzas. Can you imagine?! The chef was an idiot, but he didn't quite deserve to go yet.

Why did he bring the army guy in there? Was that just class snobbery, I didn't think he'd done anything wrong at all.


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Apr 16, 2008)

Lucinda doesn't fit in with that lot. She seems almost...normal.


----------



## aqua (Apr 16, 2008)

lucinda? normal? are you having a laugh?


----------



## Threshers_Flail (Apr 16, 2008)

> Why did he bring the army guy in there? Was that just class snobbery, I didn't think he'd done anything wrong at all.



I reckon he might go soon, there all comparing him to Siralan, hopefully he'll get to lead a team beforehand so he'll get a chance to show what he can do. I love this show, they're all so up their own asses.


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Apr 16, 2008)

aqua said:


> lucinda? normal? are you having a laugh?



I did say 'almost'.


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Apr 16, 2008)

Threshers_Flail said:


> I reckon he might go soon, there all comparing him to Siralan, hopefully he'll get to lead a team beforehand so he'll get a chance to show what he can do. I love this show, they're all so up their own asses.


Fingers cross he don't screw up now he's got the chance.


----------



## trashpony (Apr 16, 2008)

Fatuous Sunbeam said:


> Fingers cross he don't screw up now he's got the chance.



I think you'd better start crossing your fingers a bit harder


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 16, 2008)

trashpony said:


> I think you'd better start crossing your fingers a bit harder



mmm - i think the edit is clearly pointing about simon's team blowing it...


----------



## aqua (Apr 16, 2008)

fuck me I want a glass of wine now


----------



## Rollem (Apr 16, 2008)

lmao at the "glam look"


----------



## trashpony (Apr 16, 2008)

aqua said:


> fuck me I want a glass of wine now



Me too! I've got a whole bottle sitting here too. I think I'd better have a cup of decaff tea


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Apr 16, 2008)

Yep - he's screwing up. Big time.


----------



## trashpony (Apr 16, 2008)

They are truly fucking hopeless. It's like watching a bunch of two year olds trying to organise themselves. Jesus wept


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 16, 2008)

is it Claire, who's being so vile on simon's team - what a cow.


----------



## aqua (Apr 16, 2008)

neither are doing well though are they


----------



## trashpony (Apr 16, 2008)

None of them have figured out that working as a team is the way to win this thing. They are all playing a stupid game of oneupmanship (ooh is that one of those put-together words?) which is the way to totally fuck things up.


----------



## Matt S (Apr 16, 2008)

I've very seldom watched this programme, and not at all in this series.

Aren't these people meant to be up and coming businessmen/women? They all seem to be totally incompetent morons? 

Matt


----------



## snackhead (Apr 16, 2008)

Nice demonstration of team spirit by Helene towards Lucinda.................................


----------



## aqua (Apr 16, 2008)

a loss isn't a surprise now is it simon


----------



## mrsfran (Apr 16, 2008)

What a total LIE by Helene! Lucinda said right from the outset "I can't do the technical stuff". She said that to suralan, and Helene out and out LIED and said she never said she couldn't do it. Helen's card should be marked now.


----------



## trashpony (Apr 16, 2008)

missfran said:


> What a total LIE by Helene! Lucinda said right from the outset "I can't do the technical stuff". She said that to suralan, and Helene out and out LIED and said she never said she couldn't do it. Helen's card should be marked now.



It's really stupid to lie to suralan about that because Margaret knows damn well that isn't true. Silly fucking cow. She's horrible!


----------



## mrsfran (Apr 16, 2008)

Poor Simon. He's the only one I think is likeable.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Apr 16, 2008)

simon is *TOAST*


----------



## snackhead (Apr 16, 2008)

SirAlan: "I'm off to have lunch with the Prime Minister." Class


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Apr 16, 2008)

snackhead said:


> SirAlan "I'm off to have lunch with the Prime Minister" Class



funniest line in the show


----------



## tommers (Apr 16, 2008)

bouncer_the_dog said:


> simon is *TOAST*



I'm not sure he is to be honest.  I think Suralan is on his side.

he's wearing a claret and blue tie too.


----------



## Matt S (Apr 16, 2008)

Why do these people just lie? They are on camera! How stupid are they?


----------



## cybertect (Apr 16, 2008)

"Alex, I was there. You stepped so far back from [responsibility], you were practically out of the room"


----------



## tommers (Apr 16, 2008)

cybertect said:


> "Alex, I was there. You stepped so far back from [responsibility], you were practically out of the room"



Claire is * TOAST *


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 16, 2008)

i love it - maragret is fierce!


----------



## trashpony (Apr 16, 2008)

tommers said:


> Claire is * TOAST *



Yep. Suralan doesn't like her does he? And neither do I


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 16, 2008)

how slimy was alex?

"Initially, i thought it was the project manager but [now i can see which way the wind is blowing] i'd say it was Claire"


----------



## trashpony (Apr 16, 2008)

In what world does Simon have an IQ of 170? He can barely string a sentence together. But at least he's not a conniving little shit like the other two


----------



## aqua (Apr 16, 2008)

ah that was obvious wasn't it

but she should have been sacked - but hopefully she'll fuck it up


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Apr 16, 2008)

Oh well.


----------



## Sweaty Betty (Apr 16, 2008)

OMG THATS the biggest mistake of he has ever made!!!!


----------



## mrsfran (Apr 16, 2008)

I liked Simon.


----------



## tommers (Apr 16, 2008)

agh.  I was wrong.


----------



## trashpony (Apr 16, 2008)

missfran said:


> I liked Simon.



Me too.


----------



## snackhead (Apr 16, 2008)

Did he say go and win it to Alex?  Like that's ever gonna happen..........


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 16, 2008)

but it won't do his employment prospects any harm.  he's come out of it with fantastic integrity.


----------



## Stoat Boy (Apr 16, 2008)

missfran said:


> I liked Simon.



He was perhaps the only one I could envisage enjoying a drink or two with in the pub but he really did lack the special something. 

Running a project like that requires the person in charge to not be taking the photographs. It should have been obvious from the very beginning.

He was to keen on being liked rather than making money. 

And why do you never see them sitting down with a legal pad and a pencil and sketching out a flow chart of how things should run ? It seemed that the most complex bit i.e the production was given the least amount of planning.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Apr 16, 2008)

bouncer_the_dog said:


> simon is *TOAST*



Boom! headshot!

(the subtle editing allowed me to predict this)


----------



## Lock&Light (Apr 16, 2008)

I'd fire them all, including Sir Allen Sugar.


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Apr 16, 2008)

Lock&Light said:


> I'd fire them all, including Sir Allen Sugar.


 
I'd give any of them except Sugar or Lucinda a telesales gig in something unpleasant like ad space or home improvements. Sugar would make a rather good doorman. Not quite sure what to do with Lucinda.


----------



## tommers (Apr 16, 2008)

Maurice Picarda said:


> I'd give any of them except Sugar or Lucinda a telesales gig in something unpleasant like ad space or home improvements. Sugar would make a rather good doorman. Not quite sure what to do with Lucinda.



neckshot.


----------



## wishface (Apr 16, 2008)

piss poor decision obviously made for the camera. Disappointing. No way should that fat old bitch have gotten through, gobby old cow.


----------



## Stoat Boy (Apr 16, 2008)

wishface said:


> piss poor decision obviously made for the camera. Disappointing. No way should that fat old bitch have gotten through, gobby old cow.



I have to disagree. Simon showed a very poor understanding of what the role of a manager is by making himself the photographer. That was not the role for the person leading this task.

Just that decision alone made him the logical one to give the chop to.


----------



## DJ Squelch (Apr 16, 2008)

Lucinda should get fired just for those god awful hats she keeps wearing.


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 16, 2008)

lucinda is just so *wet*.  ugh - i cannot bear people like that.


----------



## tommers (Apr 16, 2008)

Stoat Boy said:


> I have to disagree. Simon showed a very poor understanding of what the role of a manager is by making himself the photographer. That was not the role for the person leading this task.
> 
> Just that decision alone made him the logical one to give the chop to.




yeah true, but he thought he was the only one with the skills to be the photographer... whereas anybody could print them off.

Supposedly.


----------



## DJ Squelch (Apr 16, 2008)

Oooohh I want one of these. 







http://gizmodo.com/gadgets/gadgets/...ires-you-whenever-he-feels-like-it-173497.php


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Apr 16, 2008)

I can't believe that people were handing over £15 for an 80gsm A4 pic of them posing with some tit claiming a passing resemblance to the passe Beckham. Is there anything that Bluewater shoppers wouldn't be stupid enough to buy?


----------



## mrsfran (Apr 16, 2008)

Simon's come accross very well on You're Fired. He shouldn't have a problem getting another job at least.


----------



## Stoat Boy (Apr 16, 2008)

tommers said:


> yeah true, but he thought he was the only one with the skills to be the photographer... whereas anybody could print them off.
> 
> Supposedly.



Quite.

But I am stumped at how none of them seem to have even the most basic ideas about how things work.

I was shocked at how they set about the fish stall task when they got the pricing not only wrong but seemingly without having a clue about the basic buy for 1, sell for 2 rule that covers everything that gets sold in any sort of public access cash market from fruit and veg to drugs. 

And they never seem to spend any time sitting down and planning out on paper how things might go. Its hardly needs an MBA to know that every task has to be broken down into parts and that if you work through these before hand, even if only on paper, it gives you an indication of what might go wrong. 

Its not rocket science to point a camera and click a button. But getting that onto a computer and then printed does take a bit more technical knowledge and even the most basic of visulisations of how things might happen would have shown that.


----------



## Epico (Apr 16, 2008)

Frans beaten me to it - Simon's coming across well in BBC2 show. Very modest - its a refreshing change. I'd buy the fella a pint.

I don't think I like any of the others now, I can't imagine _anyone_ wanting to employ them.


----------



## CJohn (Apr 16, 2008)

Stoat Boy said:


> He was perhaps the only one I could envisage enjoying a drink or two with in the pub but he really did lack the special something.
> 
> 
> He was to keen on being liked rather than making money.



On one hand he came across as an arsehole, but the more of the episode went on the more you could see that actually he was somewhat insecure - which kinda made me like him more  . He looked like he was going to disintegrate at the end in the board room, which was entertaining, in a sadistic way. In a sense he was probably an alright sort of dude, just trying to hard in a role that did not suit him. Bless him and his tears.


----------



## mrsfran (Apr 16, 2008)

The selection process clearly isn't very much about who's going to make the best business person - it's who's going to be entertaining on the programme. They're almost all hideously ineffectual but compelling to watch.


----------



## T & P (Apr 16, 2008)

wishface said:


> piss poor decision obviously made for the camera. Disappointing. No way should that fat old bitch have gotten through, gobby old cow.


 Indeed. That has IMO increasingly the case. It became apparent last season, and this year there have been a couple of shocking decisions. This week's was one. So was last week's.

Still great TV, but I wish they would at least pretend they were trying to find the most suitable candidate.

On a related note, Bluewater does look hell on Earth doesn't it?


----------



## Scarlette (Apr 16, 2008)

I think I want to marry Simon Smith. I am one of his people.

I wonder if he's on Facebook...


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Apr 16, 2008)

missfran said:


> The selection process clearly isn't very much about who's going to make the best business person - it's who's going to be entertaining on the programme. They're almost all hideously ineffectual but compelling to watch.


 
I doubt there are any particularly stellar candidates being turned down. The prize isn't really that inspiring and the recruitment process looks nightmarish beyond belief.


----------



## tommers (Apr 16, 2008)

Stoat Boy said:


> Quite.
> 
> But I am stumped at how none of them seem to have even the most basic ideas about how things work.
> 
> ...



You're the perfect viewer for this programme.  Everybody who watches it thinks they could do it better, it's why it's so popular.

And do you really think taking photos of people (that they're willing to pay £20 for) is more difficult than copying off a memory card and printing them?  Really?  I know which one I can do.


----------



## tommers (Apr 16, 2008)

milly molly said:


> I think I want to marry Simon Smith. I am one of his people.
> 
> I wonder if he's on Facebook...



why don't you check? 

look... there's a group you can join...

bit redundant now mind...


----------



## Stoat Boy (Apr 16, 2008)

Epico said:


> Frans beaten me to it - Simon's coming across well in BBC2 show. Very modest - its a refreshing change. I'd buy the fella a pint.
> 
> I don't think I like any of the others now, I can't imagine _anyone_ wanting to employ them.



Fully agree.

The rest are truly shocking. I feel that the biggest irony of it all is that Sugar would probably only truly feel comfortable employing Simon because he was a 'grafter' and would probably make a brilliant driver/minder/somebody you could rely on to watch over things for you when you went away.

But not for giving a big project to manage from beginning to end.


----------



## Stoat Boy (Apr 16, 2008)

tommers said:


> You're the perfect viewer for this programme.  Everybody who watches it thinks they could do it better, it's why it's so popular.
> 
> And do you really think taking photos of people (that they're willing to pay £20 for) is more difficult than copying off a memory card and printing them?  Really?  I know which one I can do.




Well I have run my own business since my early twenties so perhaps I do have some qualification for knowing what it takes but you have a point. I like to think of it as the reality show for people who claim to hate reality shows. 

And as to your last point, I am a bit confused. I said that Simon should not have been taking the photographs but rather managing the production of them. That struck me as being far more prone to problems than just pointing a camer and clicking away.


----------



## DexterTCN (Apr 16, 2008)

Maurice Picarda said:


> I can't believe that people were handing over £15 for an 80gsm A4 pic of them posing with some tit claiming a passing resemblance to the passe Beckham. Is there anything that Bluewater shoppers wouldn't be stupid enough to buy?


On your first point you were wrong (although I agree with you).   On your second you _probably_ alienated your entire customer base.

It was probably the TV cameras they would have been using, partly.


----------



## Scarlette (Apr 16, 2008)

tommers said:


> why don't you check?
> 
> look... there's a group you can join...
> 
> bit redundant now mind...



Ha. Just wrote on the wall. Just waiting for Simon to check it and he will be mine.

*sigh*


----------



## tommers (Apr 16, 2008)

Stoat Boy said:


> Well I have run my own business since my early twenties so perhaps I do have some qualification for knowing what it takes but you have a point. I like to think of it as the reality show for people who claim to hate reality shows.
> 
> And as to your last point, I am a bit confused. I said that Simon should not have been taking the photographs but rather managing the production of them. That struck me as being far more prone to problems than just pointing a camer and clicking away.



it's the thinking person's reality show 

I get the second bit, but I'm not sure I agree with you.  He obviously thought he was best suited to being the photographer, which is why he wanted to appoint a "2nd in command" or link or whatever to handle the production.  My point is that being a professional photographer is more difficult, and a more technical job, than getting photos off a memory card and printing them.  That's pretty mundane stuff, surely?


----------



## Scarlette (Apr 16, 2008)

tommers said:


> it's the thinking person's reality show
> 
> I get the second bit, but I'm not sure I agree with you.  He obviously thought he was best suited to being the photographer, which is why he wanted to appoint a "2nd in command" or link or whatever to handle the production.  My point is that being a professional photographer is more difficult, and a more technical job, than getting photos off a memory card and printing them.  That's pretty mundane stuff, surely?



Yeah but then in the back room, it's more organisational, I would have thought. Maybe if he was so keen to actually take the photos it wasn't the best one for him to manage on. I think then he would have escaped because he WAS okay at that, except for the purple polyester drape one.


----------



## Stoat Boy (Apr 16, 2008)

tommers said:


> it's the thinking person's reality show
> 
> I get the second bit, but I'm not sure I agree with you.  He obviously thought he was best suited to being the photographer, which is why he wanted to appoint a "2nd in command" or link or whatever to handle the production.  My point is that being a professional photographer is more difficult, and a more technical job, than getting photos off a memory card and printing them.  That's pretty mundane stuff, surely?



It might well be but the role of a manager is to be looking at everything and identifying when things are going wrong. By sticking yourself behind a camera all day, you limit your ability to do this. 

In this task they had just the one chance to get it right. Most people can take competent photographs, which was all that was required here, and with the TV cameras about neither team had difficulty in attracting punters.

But the 'mundane' stuff which is this case was the printing of the actual products was the bit that bought in the cash. And it was obvious that it was the bit that none of them seemed to know what to do.


----------



## tommers (Apr 16, 2008)

milly molly said:


> Yeah but then in the back room, it's more organisational, I would have thought. Maybe if he was so keen to actually take the photos it wasn't the best one for him to manage on. I think then he would have escaped because he WAS okay at that, except for the purple polyester drape one.




yeah, but he had to be boss didn't he?  after last week.

He should have designed a better system to identify the photos though...


----------



## tommers (Apr 16, 2008)

Stoat Boy said:


> It might well be but the role of a manager is to be looking at everything and identifying when things are going wrong. By sticking yourself behind a camera all day, you limit your ability to do this.
> 
> In this task they had just the one chance to get it right. Most people can take competent photographs, which was all that was required here, and with the TV cameras about neither team had difficulty in attracting punters.
> 
> But the 'mundane' stuff which is this case was the printing of the actual products was the bit that bought in the cash. And it was obvious that it was the bit that none of them seemed to know what to do.



yeah, that is true....  it's like suralan said, he let himself get carried away with being david bailey...


----------



## weltweit (Apr 16, 2008)

"Most people can take competant photos" 

no Stoat Boy sorry I don't agree with you there and sacked project manager took a couple of mingers with so much distraction in the background it looked like they were on a pile of old clothes rather than a set he had specifically designed. 

I think the three that were in the board room shared the responsibility. 

Primarily the problem was that they had not tested their production system at all, not even once. They had no idea what to print onto what for whom. Key to that is proj manager responsibility of forseeing that this could be a problem but shared is the responsibility of the individuals doing the tasks who should clearly have seen that things were not hunky dory!

Amazingly the other team were also in pandemonium but for some reason managed to output just enough to make a small profit. 

But, and here is the rub, the reason why there are rarely photo stands like that in Bluewater or other places, if you add in the rents for the pitches and the wages of everyone involved there is precious little actual profit to be made (in the real world).


----------



## ebay sex moomin (Apr 17, 2008)

milly molly said:


> Ha. Just wrote on the wall. Just waiting for Simon to check it and he will be mine.
> 
> *sigh*


good luck, love 

Simon and Shazia fired; Claire and Jenny still candidates? Is SurAlan losing the plot?!


----------



## cybertect (Apr 17, 2008)

weltweit said:


> "Most people can take competant photos"
> 
> no Stoat Boy sorry I don't agree with you there and sacked project manager took a couple of mingers with so much distraction in the background it looked like they were on a pile of old clothes rather than a set he had specifically designed.
> 
> ...



^^^ Just about sums up exactly what I was going to say before getting to this point in the thread.

I'm quite a keen photographer myself and was sniggering when the inevitable 'David Bailey' comment came up. I wouldn't have paid 20p, let alone £20 for what he was doing with the camera. Good lighting alone takes some skill and experience to do well in that kind of situation, especially if you're looking to 'glam' up your clients.

I've also set up the technical back-end for a commercial on-site instant digital photography & print unit (circa 1996, when things were a _lot_ more challenging technically than they are now) at the opening night of the _Football Football_ restaurant on the Haymarket* We did a hell of a lot of testing!

The winning team's choice of a Beckham look-alike with a backdrop was actually quite eerily similar to what we were doing with a tethered camera, blue screen, stock images of international footballers and some nifty automated Photoshop routines  In their case, it had the huge virtue of simplicity and speed, (which was again let down by the back-room).

Processing and printing are demanding skill sets in themselves if you're doing things to a professional standard. Minimising the variables (for example, by getting your lighting right) does allow it to be automated and streamlined _if you know what you're doing in the first place_. Clearly, nobody had a clue and no-one was willing or able to figure out even the basics.

Stoat's point is valid that being the photographer limited his ability to understand what was happening to things as an end-to-end operation played quite an important part in their downfall, IMO. He couldn't manage effectively from there and I was shouting this at the telly.

How they were unable to identify the shots requested by customers with modern processing software is quite beyond me. 


* and got roundly abused out of the blue by a drunken Jarvis Cocker somewhere in the evening's proceedings.


----------



## Miss Potter (Apr 17, 2008)

Claire is just awful, Simon had an uphill struggle attempting to manage her because she just wouldn't be managed. A small moment of joy when we thought she was being fired but she was only packed off to the house. I wanted to wipe that bloody smirk off her face.

As for that Helene, grrr she was a nightmare. Her blatant lie in the boardroom was ridiculous, did she really think she wouldn't get found out?

There's still a couple who have stayed quietly in the background so far, namely Michael and Jennifer. I'd like to see more of Lee as well, he looks like a bit of a slow burner...


----------



## D'wards (Apr 17, 2008)

alice band said:


> As for that Helene, grrr she was a nightmare. Her blatant lie in the boardroom was ridiculous, did she really think she wouldn't get found out?



Helene was the worst one there, it was clear from the start she was more interested in being able to blame someone on her team if she failed than passing.

A horrible bully who will be outed first chance, or maybe kept in cos she creates friction, but will never win.


----------



## trashpony (Apr 17, 2008)

alice band said:


> Claire is just awful, Simon had an uphill struggle attempting to manage her because she just wouldn't be managed. A small moment of joy when we thought she was being fired but she was only packed off to the house. I wanted to wipe that bloody smirk off her face.



I am filled with glee at the idea that although she omitted to mention to the others when she got back that suralan had told her that he was sick of the sight of her, Alex will fill them in. He's a slimy toad but she's much worse. I think she actually believes her own hyperbole


----------



## jæd (Apr 17, 2008)

D'wards said:


> Helene was the worst one there, it was clear from the start she was more interested in being able to blame someone on her team if she failed than passing.
> 
> A horrible bully who will be outed first chance, or maybe kept in cos she creates friction, but will never win.



Both Claire and Helene where horrible bullies, with Helene facing a constructive dismissal charge in reality... Lucinda is very negative, but she's pointing out the others are doing stuff wrongly, which is correct. Pity they can't get past their egos to see this.


----------



## LJo (Apr 17, 2008)

Aaargh, was I the only one who thought Lucinda was utterly, utterly rubbish?

There is NOTHING I find more annoying than people who whine: 'oooh, I don't know anything about technical stuff, me, oooh, I don't understand.'

YOU PUSH THIS BUTTON. THEN YOU PUSH THIS BUTTON. THEN YOU PRESS 'PRINT'. IF YOU CAN USE A FUCKING CASH MACHINE YOU CAN USE A COMPUTER.

'oooh, but I don't know how to turn the computer on....'

Jesus.


----------



## jæd (Apr 17, 2008)

LJo said:


> Aaargh, was I the only one who thought Lucinda was utterly, utterly rubbish?
> 
> There is NOTHING I find more annoying than people who whine: 'oooh, I don't know anything about technical stuff, me, oooh, I don't understand.'






			
				BBC said:
			
		

> Lucinda has a diverse range of qualifications ranging from financial and business subjects to herbal and Chinese medicine. Born in Singapore, she began her career in Risk Management before undertaking various roles involving I.T. in the financial sector.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/candidate/id/12/type/contestant.html

I wonder what the IT was...? And to do these jobs she *must* of used a computer at some point...  @ Lucinda


----------



## catrina (Apr 17, 2008)

The women are all bullies this year, I think.

I still think Lucinda is completely useless, pulling the typical whining I don't understand technology BS, but rather than accepting this and moving her somewhere else, Helene insisted on keeping her there to sink the whole ship, which somehow miraculously didn't sink.

Claire, what a nightmare. Simon was being a little overcompensating for his lack of confidence, but she wasn't listening to anything he had to say, then turned around and accuse _him_ of being authoritarian!

Put the claws back, ladies.!


----------



## wishface (Apr 17, 2008)

Stoat Boy said:


> I have to disagree. Simon showed a very poor understanding of what the role of a manager is by making himself the photographer. That was not the role for the person leading this task.
> 
> Just that decision alone made him the logical one to give the chop to.


He failed and I think acquitted himself well, and I agree he ain't no businessman. But how anyone could not fire that gobby cow, who spent the entire time mouthing off _and then backtracking_ is just beyond me. 

But then I'm not a millionaire businessman in charge of a business that sells stuff that isn't on sale anywhere.


----------



## wishface (Apr 17, 2008)

trashpony said:


> None of them have figured out that working as a team is the way to win this thing. They are all playing a stupid game of oneupmanship (ooh is that one of those put-together words?) which is the way to totally fuck things up.


that's why it's such great TV, though I suspect somewhat scruipted on the part of the firing (no fucking way you'd convince me in real life you wouldn't at least fire Claire as well).


----------



## wishface (Apr 17, 2008)

snackhead said:


> Nice demonstration of team spirit by Helene towards Lucinda.................................


tbh if i were lucinda i'd just quietly leave, rather than be filmed going down in flames. she will be crucified when she gets to be team leader. all the girls seem to have it in for her. i'm not entirely sure why, ironically because she actually tries to stand up for herself I suspect. she won't last though, not at all.


----------



## wishface (Apr 17, 2008)

DJ Squelch said:


> Oooohh I want one of these.


It's the face of NO!


----------



## wishface (Apr 17, 2008)

Maurice Picarda said:


> I can't believe that people were handing over £15 for an 80gsm A4 pic of them posing with some tit claiming a passing resemblance to the passe Beckham. Is there anything that Bluewater shoppers wouldn't be stupid enough to buy?


yes how come no onecomplained their photo was on a piece of fucking paper!


----------



## Artie Fufkin (Apr 17, 2008)

the so-called George Clooney lookalike was fucking ace. when he appeared my missus and I looked at each other and said 'who the fuck is he meant to be' and when we found out....


----------



## Stoat Boy (Apr 17, 2008)

Perhaps they should have got a Sugar look-a-like and then got people to be photographed with him pointing the finger at them. They could then print of Mugs, T-shirts and so on with the slogan 'your fired' on them.


----------



## catrina (Apr 17, 2008)

wishface said:


> tbh if i were lucinda i'd just quietly leave, rather than be filmed going down in flames. she will be crucified when she gets to be team leader. all the girls seem to have it in for her. i'm not entirely sure why, ironically because she actually tries to stand up for herself I suspect. she won't last though, not at all.



On the surface she strikes me as the kind of girl who gets places by flirting and never really actually has to do anything. I almost wonder whether she is Sugar's niece or something. She has had an excuse for every single shortcoming, and she does whine a lot.

But, the other women have been attacking her which so much worse than incompetence. I think they think if they show sir alan how incompetent she is they will somehow win, but he's quite clearly onto this!


----------



## wishface (Apr 17, 2008)

catrina said:


> On the surface she strikes me as the kind of girl who gets places by flirting and never really actually has to do anything. I almost wonder whether she is Sugar's niece or something. She has had an excuse for every single shortcoming, and she does whine a lot.
> 
> But, the other women have been attacking her which so much worse than incompetence. I think they think if they show sir alan how incompetent she is they will somehow win, but he's quite clearly onto this!


I don't think she's as bad as it seems. I wouldn't say she was any worse or better than her peers tbh. I don't think she's had much of a chance to prove herself. All she's been given are a couple of very specific roles, not a chance to be creative and lead. I don't think she has a cat in hell's chance of winning though, but I wouldn't call her a whinger. She's just found herself in positions where she's been damned if she does or damned if she doesn't. 

Anyway it's not like she's my wife or something, so what do i care


----------



## Epico (Apr 17, 2008)

That Claire so desparately wants to be the new Ruth Badger.

But she's not a patch on the indomitable 'The Badger'.


----------



## Scarlette (Apr 17, 2008)

LJo said:


> Aaargh, was I the only one who thought Lucinda was utterly, utterly rubbish?
> 
> There is NOTHING I find more annoying than people who whine: 'oooh, I don't know anything about technical stuff, me, oooh, I don't understand.'
> 
> ...



I absolutely agree. I think it is a bit of an affectation, especially in people like her. 'Look how quirky and cute and girly I am, all this technological stuff is beyond pretty me'. It also seems especially nuts to make a big deal of being a luddite when going for a job with a man who made his money through technology. I mean, I know she's not going for a technical job but this sort of boasting about lack of technological know-how just makes me wonder if they are competent at _anything_, unfair as that may well be.


----------



## Scarlette (Apr 17, 2008)

Artie Fufkin said:


> the so-called George Clooney lookalike was fucking ace. when he appeared my missus and I looked at each other and said 'who the fuck is he meant to be' and when we found out....



I liked the Britney one best. Dear Lord.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 17, 2008)

I thought the George Clooney one was Jose Mourinho.



I was just sat here thinking "which George Clooney lookalike? "


----------



## Mrs Miggins (Apr 17, 2008)

I found myself wondering aloud who the hell would want their picture taken with a Cherie Blair lookey-likey?!?!


----------



## kabbes (Apr 17, 2008)

Did anybody else notice that the Cherie Blair lookalike was the same woman that was on that C4 documentary a few months back about the journo's street?


----------



## Dillinger4 (Apr 17, 2008)

She gurned too much.


----------



## suburbia (Apr 17, 2008)

trashpony said:


> In what world does Simon have an IQ of 170?



I wondered that, especially as my friend's got an IQ of 150 yet she's a doctor of astrophysics 



missfran said:


> Simon's come across very well on You're Fired. He shouldn't have a problem getting another job at least.



Indeed. Most likeable Apprentice candidate so far?


----------



## Mrs Miggins (Apr 17, 2008)

milly molly said:


> I absolutely agree. I think it is a bit of an affectation, especially in people like her. 'Look how quirky and cute and girly I am, all this technological stuff is beyond pretty me'.




Yes - I HATE that sort of attitude "oooh I can't do it because it's sort of boys stuff tee hee" GET A FUGGIN GRIP WOMAN 

I think Helene was right to have a go at her for being so pathetic. Even if she didn't know how to do it when she was nominated she went to the training session. Did she not make any notes or ask questions?


----------



## ymu (Apr 17, 2008)

suburbia said:


> I wondered that, especially as my friend's got an IQ of 150 yet she's a doctor of astrophysics


You're confusing IQ (_a_ measure of intelligence) and qualifications (bits of paper). There is only a tenuous relationship between them. I've no idea if his IQ is 170, but it's got fuck all to do with what educational opportunities came his way as a nipper.


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 17, 2008)

ymu said:


> You're confusing IQ (_a_ measure of intelligence) and qualifications (bits of paper). There is only a tenuous relationship between them. I've no idea if his IQ is 170, but it's got fuck all to do with what educational opportunities came his way as a nipper.



i think you're missing the point.  not: why if he has an iq of 170 is he sticking up sattelite dishes, but: why, if he has an iq of 170 was he appearing a bit dim during the task?

now - it's fair to say that iq is a highly unreliable measure of intelligence, but no comment was being made on his educational opportunities.


----------



## ymu (Apr 17, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> i think you're missing the point.  not: why if he has an iq of 170 is he sticking up sattelite dishes, but: why, if he has an iq of 170 was he appearing a bit dim during the task?
> 
> now - it's fair to say that iq is a highly unreliable measure of intelligence, but no comment was being made on his educational opportunities.


I was responding to this non-sequitur:


suburbia said:


> I wondered that, especially as my friend's got an IQ of 150 yet she's a doctor of astrophysics


----------



## Spion (Apr 17, 2008)

(hasn't read thread at all)

Aren't this lot a complete bunch of fuckwits? I wouldn't trust any of them to *insert very simple thing here*

It also seems like they're playing the game more in this series and the attempts of PMs to line someone up to blame is hobbling the performance of the actual task. Not one of the ones who have PM-ed so far seem to be able to rise above the petty squabbling, ie, to lead/manage people. Maybe there are some wiser ones among those who've stayed quiet so far


----------



## suburbia (Apr 18, 2008)

ymu said:


> I was responding to this non-sequitur:



That replies on the (very incidental) comment upon her educational opportunities though. Subtract that and you've still got: 




			
				suburbia said:
			
		

> I wondered that, especially as my friend's got an IQ of 150 yet she's an astrophysicist



(as a "nipper" as you say, both got a similar amount of GCSEs - hers at a bog standard comprehensive - both pre-1998 when university was free, etc.)

Anyway, was just wondering and not knocking him at all as I'm sad to see him go  I suppose it comes down to which kind of IQ test was taken, particularly as there's a lot of difference between, for example, one under MENSA conditions and, say, one off the internet


----------



## ymu (Apr 18, 2008)

suburbia said:


> That replies on the (very incidental) comment upon her educational opportunities though.


The very incidental comment that was the only thing you had to say on the subject?



suburbia said:


> Subtract that and you've still got:
> 
> (as a "nipper" as you say, both got a similar amount of GCSEs - hers at a bog standard comprehensive - both pre-1998 when university was free, etc.)


You still seem to be confusing IQ with qualifications. There are myriad reasons - good and bad - why bright kids don't do "well" academically. 



suburbia said:


> Anyway, was just wondering and not knocking him at all as I'm sad to see him go  I suppose it comes down to which kind of IQ test was taken, particularly as there's a lot of difference between, for example, one under MENSA conditions and, say, one off the internet


Right. So again, if he was really bright he'd have degrees coming out of his ears, but he doesn't so he isn't and - tee hee - must have been a dodgy test that poor thick Simon got conned by.


----------



## Structaural (Apr 18, 2008)

I like Lucinda's choice of words 'I'm technically incompetent'. .

Bit like when some people go 'I'm not the man for you, if good sales is all you want' , okay 'you're fiuured!'.


----------



## kabbes (Apr 18, 2008)

I could have sworn that I posted about IQ already, but it doesn't seem to be here.

Anyway, there's no way that he has an IQ of 170.  The IQ test doesn't even particularly make sense at those kind of levels.  You're talking a few handfuls of people in the whole country.  

More to the point, there is every chance that an IQ at that level would manifest itself negatively, because such a person would find it very difficult to relate to his peers.  Simon clearly has very strong interpersonal skills, which means strong empathy, which would be very difficult for one that has been literally misunderstood by almost everybody they have ever come into contact with their entire life.  It tends to prove difficult enough even for those of a 130 IQ, which (IIRC) is about 1-in-200 (meaning they typically will be the highest IQ in the year at school).  170 is too off the scale.

There are an awful lot of dodgy tests floating about that seriously distort the scale.  Most people don't know very much about IQ and so quite understandably believe what they get told on these scales.  Simon's clearly a bright guy and it wouldn't surprise me if he had a very high IQ that was distorted to monster levels on one of these tests.


----------



## Paul Russell (Apr 18, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Anyway, there's no way that he has an IQ of 170.  The IQ test doesn't even particularly make sense at those kind of levels.  You're talking a few handfuls of people in the whole country.



Funny thing is, I thought he said "107", which I found puzzling as that's only more or less average. But I probably misheard, as I'd had a few Bacardi Breezers.


----------



## aqua (Apr 18, 2008)

kabbes said:


> I could have sworn that I posted about IQ already, but it doesn't seem to be here.
> 
> Anyway, there's no way that he has an IQ of 170.  The IQ test doesn't even particularly make sense at those kind of levels.  You're talking a few handfuls of people in the whole country.
> 
> ...


depends which IQ test he's taken

maybe he took one online


----------



## suburbia (Apr 18, 2008)

ymu said:


> The very incidental comment that was the only thing you had to say on the subject?



No, because as you can very well read for yourself, I also mentioned that she studied astrophysics, the point of my comment being that it involves some of the most difficult concepts of science.



> You still seem to be confusing IQ with qualifications. There are myriad reasons - good and bad - why bright kids don't do "well" academically.



And I am unfortunately aware of many of these myriad reasons from first hand experience. The only reason I compared their early educational opportunities was to demonstrate that hers were no more than his and therefore really aren't very relevant. You still seem to be thinking I'm focusing on qualifications regardless of what I say, but the only one still talking about qualifications is you, seemingly because without which, your argument is fail.



> Right. So again, if he was really bright he'd have degrees coming out of his ears, but he doesn't so he isn't and - tee hee - must have been a dodgy test that poor thick Simon got conned by.



Quote where I'm laughing at Simon. Good luck with that.

You're also jumping to the conclusion that I think _Simon_ was the one who took the "dodgy" test. You certainly still haven't realised that it's not necessarily _his_ claims I'm questioning, but _hers_. For all we know, Simon could be a fully paid up member of MENSA but my friend could be claiming she has the IQ of 170 from a test from MySpace and there is _nothing_ I have written to suggest that the case is vice-versa. 

For the record, he has exactly the same kind of qualifications as I do so as I don't consider myself "thick", I don't consider him to be either and even before knowing that, I considered him to be an intelligent bloke. 

You're spoiling for a fight and I'm not going to bite, but I will ask you to stop badgering me and derailing this thread


----------



## Mrs Miggins (Apr 18, 2008)

I think the point is that regardless of what IQ actually measures, he said "I have an IQ of 170" to sort of _prove _that he's clever although he actually appeared to not be that smart at all on the show.

Anyway, whatever his level of intelligence and however it's measured, he aint no businessman and he certainly seems to be a follower rather than a leader.

Hence - YOU'RE FIRED!


----------



## snackhead (Apr 23, 2008)

Any takers tonight? I've just been through hell trying to get on boards so this could turn into a private showing.........................


----------



## snackhead (Apr 23, 2008)




----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 23, 2008)

Avocado ice cream 

Urgh


----------



## aqua (Apr 23, 2008)

lol trying to sell icecream to someone who makes their own icecream


----------



## snackhead (Apr 23, 2008)

cider is the new champagne!


----------



## aqua (Apr 23, 2008)

gazumped


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 23, 2008)

Hahahahahahahaha, they got fucked over by the other team there


----------



## T & P (Apr 23, 2008)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Hahahahahahahaha, they got fucked over by the other team there


 That was really fucking funny


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Apr 23, 2008)

so i was gonna say Lucinda is *TOAST* but it looks like she's pwned Claire!!


----------



## Epico (Apr 23, 2008)

The margin of the Lucinda's victory could be quite large after that coup.


----------



## aqua (Apr 23, 2008)

calm down people


----------



## snackhead (Apr 23, 2008)

exclusivity for three months!  *slaps forehead*


----------



## Epico (Apr 23, 2008)

I still bloody hate that ginger woman.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 23, 2008)

Epico said:


> I still bloody hate that ginger woman.



You're not the only one


----------



## aqua (Apr 23, 2008)

NOO! I didn't want that team to win 

and stop crying you stupid prat


----------



## snackhead (Apr 23, 2008)

Lucinda has to stay.


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 23, 2008)

gah - can't believe claire got away with that.  selling door-to-door to cafes - absolute farrago!

poor lucinda.  I think she's wet - but she was on top of that.  The brunette jennifer isn't showering herself with honour...


----------



## snackhead (Apr 23, 2008)

snackhead said:


> exclusivity for three months!  *slaps forehead*



Just call me Nostradamusnackhead.....


----------



## moomoo (Apr 23, 2008)

Her make up is dreadful!


----------



## snackhead (Apr 23, 2008)

Sir Alan's spoilt for choice tonight


----------



## oddworld (Apr 23, 2008)

moomoo said:


> Her make up is dreadful!


 

She reminds me of Aunt Sally from Worzel Gummidge 








All she needs is a bit of blusher :


----------



## moomoo (Apr 23, 2008)

oddworld said:


> She reminds me of Aunt Sally from Worzel Gummidge



That's it!  I knew she reminded me of someone! 

Hope she goes anyway, I don't like her mascara.........


----------



## aqua (Apr 23, 2008)

so who's going to go?


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 23, 2008)

moomoo said:


> That's it!  I knew she reminded me of someone!
> 
> Hope she goes anyway, I don't like her mascara.........



but!  but! 

Lindy's awful mascara / false eyelashes / clumpy spider nastyness!

it cannot go unmentioned.  Jen's lipstick is too bright for her, but her eyemakeup is subtle and classy compared to Lindy's.


----------



## oddworld (Apr 23, 2008)

moomoo said:


> That's it! I knew she reminded me of someone!
> 
> Hope she goes anyway, I don't like her mascara.........


 
She definately looks like it more tonight on the tele , than in that pic.

I think she might have false eyelashes on.

Her eyebrows are over plucked as well.


----------



## aqua (Apr 23, 2008)

"quite cold"


----------



## moomoo (Apr 23, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> but!  but!
> 
> Lindy's awful mascara / false eyelashes / clumpy spider nastyness!
> 
> it cannot go unmentioned.  Jen's lipstick is too bright for her, but her eyemakeup is subtle and classy compared to Lindy's.



Huh, you were right.  But we don't like Jennifers lipstick and mascara more than we didn't like Lindy's false eyelashes.   And Jennifer is a bitch.


----------



## oddworld (Apr 23, 2008)

aqua said:


> "quite cold"


 
Ice cream should be or it melts


----------



## snackhead (Apr 23, 2008)

Special! wtf


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 23, 2008)

well - i wasn't expecting that.  i'm getting a bit fed up of the 'not firing the weakest person if they can be relied upon to have arguements' policy...


----------



## aqua (Apr 23, 2008)

yeah it's a bit rubbish isn't it


----------



## oddworld (Apr 23, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> well - i wasn't expecting that. i'm getting a bit fed up of the 'not firing the weakest person if they can be relied upon to have arguements' policy...


 

Shall we all apply for the next one?


----------



## moomoo (Apr 23, 2008)

oddworld said:


> Shall we all apply for the next one?



Well, looking at that lot and how incompetent they are I reckon most of us would do a better job.


----------



## oddworld (Apr 23, 2008)

moomoo said:


> Well, looking at that lot and how incompetent they are I reckon most of us would do a better job.


 
And thats just our makeup


----------



## catrina (Apr 23, 2008)

Actually, I thought today was a good choice. In the real world it's ultimately the one at the top who's culpable, but I thought Lucinda proved herself today, and it was clearly the sales team who messed everything up.

The other team deserved to lose, totally disorganised!


----------



## girasol (Apr 23, 2008)

It's just turned into a comedy show really, they're not keeping the most competent people, and it's not like they actually picked them with competence in mind to begin with!

I want El Raefio to win, what a great performance!

e2a: just read his bio and it does say that he enjoys acting 



> Self-employed Raef Bjayou runs his own import and export company. Raef believes he has the charisma and cross-the-board appeal needed to win The Apprentice. A public schoolboy and former estate agent, he has worked in various sectors of the property industry. He has spent two  years working abroad; the first in overseas property sales in America and throughout the Caribbean, and the second as a volunteer on Ethiopian charity projects. Raef is a life member of the Exeter University debating society as well as a member of the National Geographic Society. He includes spending time with his girlfriend, acting, lawn tennis, antiquarian book collecting and cognac among his interests.


----------



## Paul Russell (Apr 23, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> but!  but!
> 
> Lindy's awful mascara / false eyelashes / clumpy spider nastyness!
> 
> it cannot go unmentioned.  Jen's lipstick is too bright for her, but her eyemakeup is subtle and classy compared to Lindy's.



I found myself concentrating mostly on the make-up and hairstyles. Jen's got a pleasant face but all that slap and angular hair makes her look like more like an evil robot dictator.


----------



## D'wards (Apr 24, 2008)

The only thing i think Lucinda did wrong is when she said that Helene had said what an evil snake Jennifer was - no need to say that, and she was just getting Helene onside (who is a crass arsehoe anyway)


----------



## wishface (Apr 24, 2008)

oddworld said:


> She reminds me of Aunt Sally from Worzel Gummidge
> 
> 
> 
> ...


all she needs is a soul, though I'm not sure which eye to inject it in.


----------



## ebay sex moomin (Apr 24, 2008)

I did enjoy the cringeworthy silence in the house when she sez, 'apparently, I'm _cold'_?

cue tumbleweeds....


----------



## Structaural (Apr 24, 2008)

You're fiurrred' was good with Jimmy Saville, though his voice has gone a bit weird.


----------



## Miss Potter (Apr 24, 2008)

D'wards said:


> The only thing i think Lucinda did wrong is when she said that Helene had said what an evil snake Jennifer was - no need to say that, and she was just getting Helene onside (who is a crass arsehoe anyway)



quite. If only she'd have kept her counsel on that one she'd be the star of the house by now.

I hope we get to see more of Lee now.


----------



## ymu (Apr 24, 2008)

We just finished watching this on replay. Took about 3 hours, we were screaming at the telly so much. 

The attitude from Claire and her team about people in the country being simpletons or deformed trolls and "it's slow in the country" (when you're skiving off to guzzle free cider, yeah).  And they were surprised the only ones willing to help them were two pissed guys (and even they managed to make them look foolish).


----------



## hammerntongues (Apr 24, 2008)

alice band said:


> quite. If only she'd have kept her counsel on that one she'd be the star of the house by now.
> 
> I hope we get to see more of Lee now.



I didnt see the whole show or last weeks , do we know if she did say it or not ? 
she denied having said it later .


----------



## Part 2 (Apr 24, 2008)

Jen should have gone, nasty, icompetent and (stciking with the nature of recent comments), the ugliest with the worst makeup.

The other two were a bit too nice to dislike them really. The bit where Lucinda started praying I just thought she wanted it all to be over.

Lindy seemed likeable enough on the aftershow, then again maybe she was just pretty. Seemed they had to dig to find anyone who wanted to talk shit on her, then it was Jen.


----------



## hektik (Apr 24, 2008)

it was great to see bowood house (where the winning team went to do archery) - so many great memories - I used to go clubbing with a guy who turned out to be the heir to the lordship, and we sometimes went back to his house for a carry on.

used to go on the aerial death slide after doing massive lines of ket. great times.


----------



## Stoat Boy (Apr 24, 2008)

That was the most boring one so far. As to who got sacked, well none of them up for it were that impressive and thus it does not matter.


----------



## jæd (Apr 24, 2008)

Part2 said:


> Lindy seemed likeable enough on the aftershow, then again maybe she was just pretty. Seemed they had to dig to find anyone who wanted to talk shit on her, then it was Jen.



She was ok, but should have managed the sales team better. Ie, no exclusivity and then backing out of other appointments.

Claire is a horrible bitch who deserves to be fired...


----------



## ymu (Apr 24, 2008)

jæd said:


> She was ok, but should have managed the sales team better. Ie, no exclusivity and then backing out of other appointments.


Yeah, she should have managed it better. She mostly just seemed to say "Ooh, I'm second in charge - aren't I clever!". But Jenny just offered the exclusivity out of the blue and that was that - go with it or abandon the sale. There's no chance these cunts are ever going to turn down a sale no matter how unethical (or stupid).



jæd said:


> Claire is a horrible bitch who deserves to be fired...


And unbelievably incompetent. She fucked up every single thing (production started late because she couldn't go 4 miles down the road to buy 50 oranges; noone was assigned to get taste-testers organised until after dark 'cos noone wanted to talk to the plebs; a pathetic 2 sales appointments set up when there'd been 3 of them on it all day with nothing else to do but buy oranges and tasting cider) and then lucked out at the end. 

Despicable bunch of people.


----------



## wishface (Apr 24, 2008)

Claire's team performed the worst by far, she got through on a fucking technicality. Just goes to show what a piss poor businessman SAS is. I thought Lucinda was the best team leader so far (which is faint praise indeed), especially considering the daggers were drawn.


----------



## kabbes (Apr 24, 2008)

The show was wonderful at demonstrating how much in business is just down to luck, at the end of the day.  Claire's team was bloody awful, a total shambles... and then they got one good deal with 20 minutes to go and won it.

Lindi has been utterly useless since the start.  In fact, possibly the worst candidate ever.  The only ideas she ever had were actually positively bad, not even just mediocre.  She was all about the excitement of crowing about being number 2, but didn't actually do anything in the role at all other than revel in it.  She seemed a nice enough lass, but also a totally useless numpty.  And puffed up to believe that she already a great businesswoman too, which made her uselessness even worse.


----------



## Part 2 (Apr 24, 2008)

Actually I heard Lindy on the radio on the way to work, without the looks she was just fucking irritating.


----------



## LJo (Apr 24, 2008)

I was watching this last night when I suddenly developed a terrible migraine. No kidding. Worst one I've had for years. I blame either Lindi's eyelids, Jen's razorblade smile or Lucinda's dress sense. They should do a warning before the opening credits.


----------



## jæd (Apr 24, 2008)

Part2 said:


> Actually I heard Lindy on the radio on the way to work, without the looks she was just fucking irritating.



She wasn't that pretty  , and the white make-up she had on in the board-room was annoying.

If anything, she was out of her depth. She could've tried putting her points across more, as well...


----------



## ymu (Apr 24, 2008)

Part2 said:


> Actually I heard Lindy on the radio on the way to work, without the looks she was just fucking irritating.




My boyfriend looked really puzzled when I described her as useless, until I reminded him of her actual decisions over the weeks (and was borne out by the rest of the programme). Interesting that Kabbes (who genuinely doesn't leer at women in the street, from another thread) and Jaed are the only (?) guys noting her uselessness. 

She's gorgeous, but utterly hopeless. No wonder it's so hard breaking the glass ceiling when we started off with a bunch of male bosses. Most of you are only recruiting talent at random, dependent on who it happens to be attached to.


----------



## Artie Fufkin (Apr 24, 2008)

I loved it when Jenny 'Best In Europe' Maguire mentioned back at the house how she'd been told she was 'icey' in the boardroom, which was greeted with total silence - a true tumble weed moment


----------



## kabbes (Apr 24, 2008)

Without wishing to dredge up the ghosts of threads past, it never even crossed my mind to consider Lindy or any of the other girls on the basis of what they look like.  Her actual actions -- her decision making and idea generation -- were actively bad.  That's what I'm going by and that's why I'm glad to see the back of her.


----------



## ymu (Apr 24, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Without wishing to dredge up the ghosts of threads past, it never even crossed my mind to consider Lindy or any of the other girls on the basis of what they look like.  Her actual actions -- her decision making and idea generation -- were actively bad.  That's what I'm going by and that's why I'm glad to see the back of her.


Because you're one of those rare gems, my dear. I was holding you up as an example to the rest. Sincerely.


----------



## Gromit (Apr 24, 2008)

Ive found jenifer attractive from the start (must be the tats) but I thought she should have gone. 
I no longer like her at all based on the last show. 

I've always thought Lindy was useless and had to go sooner or later. She carried the ultimate can as head of the sales team which is fair in the real world with full, permanent and real control. But its not quite the same on a game show where you are in control of someone who is in competition with you and you only have two days for your task. 

p.s. I don't give a shit about looks when it comes to gauging performance. I see that as a female thing more than a male thing. Like when female football fans can't see how shite a player performed cause they fancy them. Pisses me off no end.

Men can and do do it but I think women do it more. If Alex fucks up watch how many women will defend him cause he is the main hunk.


----------



## ymu (Apr 24, 2008)

I completely agree Marius (except about women being worse, and about it mattering more when it's a failure to appreciate football than a failure to pay proper wages - I think you're a bit wrong there).

I realised the other day that Beth from Hollyoaks irritates me a lot, but I'd never noticed 'cos she's gorgeous. I now feel terrible about the injustice I have mentally meted out to Michaela all these years. 

It was a true story though. Just seemed like a good time to tell it.


----------



## Maurice Picarda (Apr 24, 2008)

It's still impossible to spot anyone whom one would trust with a whelk stall. I do wonder if the BBC use a sorting hat, though, because all the contestants are clearly Slytherins.


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Apr 24, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Her actual actions -- her decision making and idea generation -- were actively bad.  That's what I'm going by and that's why I'm glad to see the back of her.



Lindy was the one who came up with the idea of the 24 hour personal laundry account manager.


----------



## kabbes (Apr 24, 2008)

The Doctor said:


> Lindy was the one who came up with the idea of the 24 hour personal laundry account manager.


Believe me, that one was in my mind.


----------



## LJo (Apr 24, 2008)

I think that was a genius idea.

I have often wondered, in the long dark 3am of my soul, whether or not the bloke from the heel bar has finished re-soling my boots yet.

Or whether the picture framing guy has got round to fitting the frame yet.

Or exactly what stage the Ocado man is at with packing my grocery order.


----------



## Sweaty Betty (Apr 24, 2008)

I love myself Lindy was no good sales person just an ego merchant like ice queen jen!!!


----------



## Ms T (Apr 24, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Without wishing to dredge up the ghosts of threads past, it never even crossed my mind to consider Lindy or any of the other girls on the basis of what they look like.  Her actual actions -- her decision making and idea generation -- were actively bad.  That's what I'm going by and that's why I'm glad to see the back of her.


#

Totally agree. She was the one who started selling two fish for a fiver in the first programme, and her ideas were laughable in the laundry task.  She's a typical bullshit merchant.

Claire's team didn't deserve to win at all.  I can't believe they pulled it out of the bag at the last minute like that.  I'm not keen on Alex, but he made some very valid points about how useless Claire et al had been on the marketing front.

I thought Lucinda was quite a good project manager, and I liked the way Lee got behind her last night.  She shouldn't have dragged Helene into it though - although Helene is clearly a two-faced bitch.


----------



## isvicthere? (Apr 26, 2008)

kabbes said:


> The show was wonderful at demonstrating how much in business is just down to luck, at the end of the day.  Claire's team was bloody awful, a total shambles... and then they got one good deal with 20 minutes to go and won it.
> 
> .



And then claimed in the de-brief, "We destroyed them!" Yeah, right!


----------



## isvicthere? (Apr 26, 2008)

LJo said:


> I think that was a genius idea.
> 
> I have often wondered, in the long dark 3am of my soul, whether or not the bloke from the heel bar has finished re-soling my boots yet.
> 
> ...



I want to know when the farmer's finger is on the cow's teat, so I can prepare for my brekkie.


----------



## beeboo (Apr 27, 2008)

Ms T said:


> #
> 
> Totally agree. She was the one who started selling two fish for a fiver in the first programme, and her ideas were laughable in the laundry task.  She's a typical bullshit merchant.



The thing I remember about Lindy is when, on the laundry task,  in their negotiation for the pile of dirty clothes, when the guy was clearly incredulous "you're going to ALL OF THAT for £10? For all of that?" she didn't know if they'd gone in too high or too low! She was completely useless!

Goes to show you can get along reasonably well with nothing but self-belief. 



> I thought Lucinda was quite a good project manager, and I liked the way Lee got behind her last night.  She shouldn't have dragged Helene into it though - although Helene is clearly a two-faced bitch.




I wanted to like Lucinda, because at least she's not an identikit candidate, so I'm pleased she's done better this week.

Helene seems pretty competent, but let down by being A COMPLETE BITCH!

Lee I'm definitely thinking is one to watch - haven't seen that much of him yet, but he seems to be competent, confident and I also really liked the way he supported Lucinda.  For that I may be prepared to let him off the way he's been referring to himself in the third person


----------



## aqua (Apr 30, 2008)

and we're off


----------



## aqua (Apr 30, 2008)

is she suggesting sending a card to raise awareness of green issues?

errrrrr


----------



## Chairman Meow (Apr 30, 2008)

Greeting cards for the environment!

I've had a shit day, and that's cheered me right up.


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 30, 2008)

I'd do a 'Congrats on Moving in Together' card.

does Jenny not see the contradiction in a (disposable, paper) card being given to celebrate environmental issues?


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 30, 2008)

ahh jeez - and they've gone for it!

it's like someone's writing a sitcom.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 30, 2008)

Save the planet - send a card

You really couldn't make this shit up


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Apr 30, 2008)

Great idea. Pic of a tree and a snappy "This tree died so I could send you this card" type slogan.


And wtf has Lucinda come as? A Parisian prostitute?


----------



## 1927 (Apr 30, 2008)

Who's going to buy a card for single people day? The single people themselves,just to remind themselves how lonely they are?


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 30, 2008)

1927 said:


> Who's going to buy a card for single people day? The single people themselves,just to remind themselves how lonely they are?



you'd need to angle it as 'celebrate your fabulous single friends day'...  but my idea was better, and would sell year-round, too...


----------



## 1927 (Apr 30, 2008)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Save the planet - send a card
> 
> You really couldn't make this shit up



Nobody has even suggested using recycled paper if nothing else! they are gonna get ripped apart in boardroom for this.

Cant belive he just been talking about saving the planet, and he was going on about wanting a fuckn Ferrari!!!


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Apr 30, 2008)

And another great idea: "Ha ha - you're single!"

In the bin with it!


----------



## aqua (Apr 30, 2008)

superb  this episode rocks


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 30, 2008)

"This will sell itself, I'd have to completely mess it up for it to fail"

And cue.....


----------



## ymu (Apr 30, 2008)

Kevin looks like Matt wotsisname, but he's coming across like David Brent.


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 30, 2008)

omg - kevin is so clueless!


----------



## trashpony (Apr 30, 2008)

I can't believe they're so thick. They're all so bloody scared of Jenny that no one dared say what a shit idea it is


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 30, 2008)

"you could have, you know, balloons and mugs"

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA


----------



## moomoo (Apr 30, 2008)

A helium balloon with a 'Love our planet' logo.............


Okaaaaaaaay


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 30, 2008)

He's got to go, surely?


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 30, 2008)

I have a really horrible feeling that kevin's team are going to win...  they've been misdirecting us on the edit, lately...


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 30, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> I have a really horrible feeling that kevin's team are going to win...  they've been misdirecting us on the edit, lately...



They both fucked up a bit, but Kevins fuckup was far greater, surely?


----------



## aqua (Apr 30, 2008)

I'm with spanglechick here


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 30, 2008)

C'MON!!!!!!!!!!

Oh fuck.....

<hide>


PMSL


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 30, 2008)

If Kevin dosen't go now I'll eat my shoes.


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 30, 2008)

was close.  that twerp from tescos liked the eco card...

Not much of a treat for the winners, mind.  and i don't think michael has done himself any favours...


----------



## moomoo (Apr 30, 2008)

I can't bear either Jenny or Kevin so I'm happy if either of them go.


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 30, 2008)

nnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnggggggggggggggggggg


----------



## trashpony (Apr 30, 2008)

Can't they get rid of Jenny? Please????!


----------



## Scarlette (Apr 30, 2008)

Did Sugar just go a bit nuts there with this 'sorry your eleven year old girl got shot by hoodies' card idea?


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 30, 2008)

trashpony said:


> Can't they get rid of Jenny? Please????!



Would be good, but my money is still on Kevin.

But then Sirallan has made a few odd choices so far....


----------



## aqua (Apr 30, 2008)

why would someone tell a card company they don't buy cards anymore?


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 30, 2008)

I'd be quite happy to see Kevin and Jenny tear each other to pieces in a snake pit


----------



## Belushi (Apr 30, 2008)

Class episode, Kevin is truly David Brentesque


----------



## trashpony (Apr 30, 2008)

milly molly said:


> Did Sugar just go a bit nuts there with this 'sorry your eleven year old girl got shot by hoodies' card idea?



Now there's a niche market


----------



## May Kasahara (Apr 30, 2008)

gggggggggrrrrrrrrrr bullies


----------



## aqua (Apr 30, 2008)

and jenny safe again


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Apr 30, 2008)

Jenny has just been let off the hook in a big way


----------



## 1927 (Apr 30, 2008)

To be fair Sara came up with the best idea of doing a range of cards for the ethnic market, didn't she?


----------



## moomoo (Apr 30, 2008)

Oh god, he's such a sycophantic, wriggling twerp.


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Apr 30, 2008)

1927 said:


> To be fair Sara came up with the best idea of doing a range of cards for the ethnic market, didn't she?



Yes!

Dafydd will have to go now.


----------



## trashpony (Apr 30, 2008)

1927 said:


> To be fair Sara came up with the best idea of doing a range of cards for the ethnic market, didn't she?



Yes she did.

I'm appalled that he didn't bring fucking Jenny in. Kevin's dead


----------



## moomoo (Apr 30, 2008)

Good.


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Apr 30, 2008)

Result!


----------



## 1927 (Apr 30, 2008)

I think if anyone had run with the idea of cards like Sara suggested they would have won by a mile.

Kev is being a twat in defeat!


----------



## aqua (Apr 30, 2008)

jesus they're all nasty


----------



## trashpony (Apr 30, 2008)

Fuck, it's like Lord of the Flies


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 30, 2008)

jeez.  really nasty bastards.  Raef went up in my estimation, though.


----------



## DJ Squelch (Apr 30, 2008)

I wonder if you can buy a card to give to someone whose just been made redundant?


----------



## Chairman Meow (Apr 30, 2008)

What a bunch of pricks.

Good result though.  Aftershow should be good.


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 30, 2008)

ooh - lovely nick is on the bbc2 show...


----------



## big eejit (Apr 30, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> jeez.  really nasty bastards.  Raef went up in my estimation, though.



Me too. 

What a shit idea that card was. Great fun this week with massive fuck up and top bitching.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Apr 30, 2008)

lol is all I can say about that episode.

Although that's only because if I start I'll get all ranty about the way they went for Sara - fucking bunch of rabid dogs tonight.

Thank god little britain got the boot - next week hopefully it'll be Jenny eh?


----------



## spanglechick (Apr 30, 2008)

i mean sara is a little bit wet, and probably out of her depth, but they were completely fucking vile and bullying.


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Apr 30, 2008)

I have to wonder who Tesco employ as their greetings card buyer. Perhaps it was a kid on work experience.

Raef, Lucinda and Sara seem like quite nice people to me. The rest can all go and fcuk themselves.


----------



## big eejit (Apr 30, 2008)

Love that Clinton cards pres where Kevin got fired up like a fuckhouse.


----------



## wishface (Apr 30, 2008)

What was that little spat at the end?

Who the fuck would buy the greeting bereavement cards SAS suggested? What the fuck is he on?

What about the chip on Michael's shoulder!


----------



## Fez909 (Apr 30, 2008)

They could've gone for an environmentally friendly card for existing days, where the message is on some sort of white board and comes with a pen.  Wipe it clean and send it on to someone else!

Cracking episode.

Whoever mentioned ethnic cards: there's a lady on You're Fire now who's making that very thing.


----------



## Onslow (Apr 30, 2008)

I would of chosen cards that cashed in on the pink pound! Coming out cards etc. ' Congratulations! You're a Lesbian!'

I actually think thats a good market to tap into, if it hasn't been done already.


----------



## rover07 (Apr 30, 2008)

milly molly said:


> Did Sugar just go a bit nuts there with this 'sorry your eleven year old girl got shot by hoodies' card idea?



Yeah...What was that about?


----------



## Stigmata (Apr 30, 2008)

It had me in stitches because it was such a bonkers thing to come out with.

The bit with Sara was just uncomfortable to watch, but i'm glad Raef sort of spoke up for her. He seems nice in a toffish way.


----------



## beeboo (Apr 30, 2008)

Moment of the week for me has to be Margaret's face after Micheal's "COOOOME ON!" outburst. 

One of the best episodes of the series.

What was that outburst about Sara at the end though - good on her for sitting through it without falling to pieces though, I couldn't have done it.


----------



## catrina (Apr 30, 2008)

That was insane. Jenny bullies one person after another and then still gets saved. wtf? They're all bullies this year, actually.

In group dynamics it is often the case that the quietest person in the room is the most powerful. It'd explain why they all went after Sara for no reason at all. She had the only decent idea. She does need to pipe up a little more, but it's hard to tell what's really going on and what's been edited out.

In this instance, I think not getting involved was her way of saying she thought the idea was dumb. 

A team of 5 people and not one of them came up with the counterargument that sending a card about the green cause was not on?


----------



## zoooo (May 1, 2008)

I LOVE RAEF!

Knight in shining armour, yes indeed.


----------



## ebay sex moomin (May 1, 2008)

got a funny feeling Raef's the man, this year...


----------



## wishface (May 1, 2008)

2 houses 1 porsche no job...sir kevin's search for a job in the credit crunch continues


----------



## Chester Copperpot (May 1, 2008)

Another great episode. It has to be said though that despite the teams appalling efforts it was actually a very hard task. I've been struggling to think of a good idea and have come up with none so far. To really be successful you need to come up with a special day to go with the card your launching to get the buyers to go with it in a big way.

Next weeks show is set to be unmissable!



Spoiler:  next weeks scandal



Two of the girls get fired in the board room after one of the teams is caught cheating! One for failing the task and the other for improper conduct. Cue full on board room cat fight.


----------



## Louloubelle (May 1, 2008)

I've often thought that there's a gap in the market for certain greetings cards

We've all thought, at times "just what do I say? hallmark don't make a card"

for example

So sorry to hear that you're dying 

It's your first ASBO!

Congratulations on your first period now you're a woman! 

You might be a skeptic or even a cynic
But trust me, you need to visit a clinic 

Thinking of you during your house repossession

Congratulations on your bankruptcy 

etc.


----------



## trashpony (May 1, 2008)

Or Congratulations on your divorce

Congratulations on escaping the rat race

Well done on finally losing your virginity/getting drunk/dropping your first e

There are hundreds of better occasions than the two those lame-ohs chose.

Loulou - what do you think is behind none of them standing up to Jenny to point out that environmental cause + card = rubbish idea? Because it clearly was - every person watching could see the gaping inconsistency. But the rest of the team either couldn't see (have they become so brainwashed by her going 'my idea is *brilliant*' they can't see past it?) or wouldn't see (they're too scared of getting on the wrong side of her evil vicious tongue). 

What's that about?


----------



## Louloubelle (May 1, 2008)

trashpony said:


> Loulou - what do you think is behind none of them standing up to Jenny to point out that environmental cause + card = rubbish idea? Because it clearly was - every person watching could see the gaping inconsistency. But the rest of the team either couldn't see (have they become so brainwashed by her going 'my idea is *brilliant*' they can't see past it?) or wouldn't see (they're too scared of getting on the wrong side of her evil vicious tongue).
> 
> What's that about?



I have no idea

I haven't been watching this and only watched it last night because I've got a painful foot injury so I don't know about the dynamics leading up to this 

It was obvious that Sarah was being bullied, she actually had some reasonably good ideas, the rest of them just seemed arrogant, stupid and in complete compliance with "the leader" even though the leader (that woman with glasses seemed to me to be the real leader) had had the most stupid idea imaginable 

I disliked most of them intensely and the way they started tearing into that girl at the end was really nasty 

I hope they;re ashamed when they see the recordings, they should be


----------



## trashpony (May 1, 2008)

Louloubelle said:


> I have no idea
> 
> I haven't been watching this and only watched it last night because I've got a painful foot injury so I don't know about the dynamics leading up to this
> 
> ...



The woman with the glasses is Jenny. Who I agree is the real leader. But I thought the dynamics where Kevin had his opportunity to hang her out to dry and failed to take it was really interesting. 

The way they attacked Sara at the end was vile.

That woman Katie whatever was pretty grim last year but she was not anywhere near as hideous as Jenny. I wonder if they deliberately pick awful women?


----------



## Spion (May 1, 2008)

trashpony said:


> I wonder if they deliberately pick awful women?


I think they've picked deliberately awful people this year. The programme is like a 60min version of 1984's 'Hate Week'. Our house rings to exclamations of, 'you posh TWAT' 'Oh, you fuckwit' every week when it's on


----------



## kabbes (May 1, 2008)

Fatuous Sunbeam said:


> I have to wonder who Tesco employ as their greetings card buyer. Perhaps it was a kid on work experience.


Don't underestimate the Tesco buyer.  He wasn't interested in the cards.  He was interested in positioning Tesco as being in tune with "green issues".  For the price of a poxy 6,000 cards, he managed to make it look as if MechaTesco actually care about these things.  A shrewd move, I'd say.

Incidentally, what won it for Michael's team was having the flexibility to recognise the key problem in their idea and junk it in time for their final meeting.  And Lee, who piped up at the right moment in that meeting with the right soothing "we're thinking of you and your stock" message.


----------



## kabbes (May 1, 2008)

trashpony said:


> The way they attacked Sara at the end was vile.


They'd clearly cut almost all of that too.  The way it was shown in the programme made it seem a complete non sequiteur.


----------



## catrina (May 1, 2008)

Who was the guy that was laying into her? Up until yesterday I thought he was in the running, but he just went for her for no reason, it was crazy. Perhaps he's been sleeping with Jenny, and Kevin thought if he brought Jenny in there and she was sacked, then that guy would have it in for Kevin or something?

I think they were all probably scared of Jenny, except for Sara. She's gone way up in my book, and glad SA has backed her up.


----------



## hektik (May 1, 2008)

kabbes said:


> And Lee, who piped up at the right moment in that meeting with the right soothing "we're thinking of you and your stock" message.



yeh, was just about to post the same thing: he was the sole reason for getting that order for 19,000 - he piped up just as raef was floundering about why they didn't have a date.


----------



## ebay sex moomin (May 1, 2008)

I knew Kevin was going to be fired as soon as Suralan picked him out as team leader- there was just this _look_ on his face... I think he _wanted_ to be fired, for whatever reason- why else would he fail to bring Jenny back into the boardroom, when Suralan had made it pretty clear that he was _itching_ to fire her...?

I thought he came across well on 'the Apprentice- you're fired!'. seemed like a good bloke. best of luck to him in the future, annat


----------



## Skimix (May 1, 2008)

trashpony said:


> Loulou - what do you think is behind none of them standing up to Jenny to point out that environmental cause + card = rubbish idea? Because it clearly was - every person watching could see the gaping inconsistency. But the rest of the team either couldn't see (have they become so brainwashed by her going 'my idea is *brilliant*' they can't see past it?) or wouldn't see (they're too scared of getting on the wrong side of her evil vicious tongue).
> 
> What's that about?



I reckon they could see it was such an appalling idea that when it came to the boardroom she'd be the one up for getting fired.


----------



## BEARBOT (May 1, 2008)

of course lots is edited out,or edited to reinforce a certain viewpoint therefore...

i cant BELIEVE NO ONE on the team saw the contradiction in "save the planet" by sending a paper card..even if its recycled paper it uses resources to send..

was saras idea of hindu/muslim holiday cards not even researched,given serious consideration? perhaps it was found out that they are stocked

some ideas people came up on here are AT least as good as the celebrate being single idea..i dont think there is much creative talent there among the candidates

kevin was awful, so arrogant and worse..dull.
he hung himself when he insisted on doing the presentation then tried to get others to do it 2 hours before.. 
perhaps he subconsiously wanted OUT by messing up the presentation with his heavy handed mannner and also by not calling jen back into the boardroom...he either wanted out or has a "thing" for jen so didnt want her getting fired..


----------



## oddworld (May 1, 2008)

The shot of the boys in bed discussing the sales pitch was fairly amusing, I'm getting a bit of a soft spot for :


----------



## girasol (May 1, 2008)

oddworld said:


> The shot of the boys in bed discussing the sales pitch was fairly amusing, I'm getting a bit of a soft spot for :



He's an arrogant bully though.    He was being horrible to Sara.


----------



## Aravis (May 1, 2008)

oddworld said:


> The shot of the boys in bed discussing the sales pitch was fairly amusing, I'm getting a bit of a soft spot for :



Oh god no, he's vile and aggressive!


----------



## oddworld (May 1, 2008)

Iemanja said:


> He's an arrogant bully though.  He was being horrible to Sara.


 
Yes that was nasty , I wasnt looking at him in that way though. I was being bad.


----------



## Lisarocket (May 1, 2008)

1927 said:


> To be fair Sara came up with the best idea of doing a range of cards for the ethnic market, didn't she?



Deffo the best idea. Eid is a bit like xmas, but i bet there isn't a huge range of cards out there. They weren't trusting her knowledge at all. Really arrogant of them to only trust what they know and disregard other people's knowledge.

Even the pet cards were a good idea...

I'm liking Raefe more and more each week.


----------



## Vintage Paw (May 1, 2008)

The Doctor said:


> Spoiler:  next weeks scandal
> 
> 
> 
> Two of the girls get fired in the board room after one of the teams is caught cheating! One for failing the task and the other for improper conduct. Cue full on board room cat fight.



Do you happen to know more details about this??? I might be interested in a PM


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 1, 2008)

Lisarocket said:


> Eid is a bit like xmas, but i bet there isn't a huge range of cards out there



You clearly don't live in Birmingham


----------



## aqua (May 1, 2008)

Vintage Paw said:


> Do you happen to know more details about this??? I might be interested in a PM


me too


----------



## Vintage Paw (May 1, 2008)

aqua said:


> me too



We're such spoilsports lol


----------



## Chairman Meow (May 1, 2008)

Lisarocket said:


> Even the pet cards were a good idea...




In our house we were shouting at the TV. 'Don't you know there are 6 million cats in London' etc etc.


----------



## spanglechick (May 1, 2008)

don't bother with a pm - stick it all in under the spoiler code.


----------



## Vintage Paw (May 1, 2008)

Spoiler: my guess about next week



If it's 2 women, I reckon it'll be Sara (Suralan will pick her as team leader because of this week's debacle) and possibly either Jenny or - in a huge shock - Claire. Jenny's a dumb idiot so I can see her cheating with that annoyingly pointy manchin grinagog stare she's got. Claire, well I reckon she's prepared to take chances, and will see it as being using her initiative. Either way, lol


----------



## Chester Copperpot (May 1, 2008)

Spoiler:  What happens next week



Ok, basically the two teams have to a list of goods from traders at the best price. They have a list of 10 items to get in total. One of the teams pays off one of the traders they need to buy from not to deal with the other team so they can't complete the list. All of this under the watchful eyes of Nick & Margret. They then report back to Suralan who explodes in the board room and disqualifies the team. He then calls in the whole team in rather than the usual three people and two people end up getting fired for inappropriate behaviour. It was in the Mirror on Sunday. Apparently it's two girls that get the chop.


----------



## Vintage Paw (May 1, 2008)

The Doctor said:


> Spoiler:  What happens next week
> 
> 
> 
> Ok, basically the two teams have to a list of goods from traders at the best price. They have a list of 10 items to get in total. One of the teams pays off one of the traders they need to buy from not to deal with the other team so they can't complete the list. All of this under the watchful eyes of Nick & Margret. They then report back to Suralan who explodes in the board room and disqualifies the team. He then calls in the whole team in rather than the usual three people and two people end up getting fired for inappropriate behaviour. It was in the Mirror on Sunday. Apparently it's two girls that get the chop.



Corr! So no one knows who then?


----------



## Chester Copperpot (May 1, 2008)

For the full story click here. 

http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/sunday/2008/04/27/the-apprentice-two-girls-fired-for-cheating-in-morocco-98487-20396548/


----------



## spanglechick (May 1, 2008)

The Doctor said:


> For the full story click here.
> 
> http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/sunday/2008/04/27/the-apprentice-two-girls-fired-for-cheating-in-morocco-98487-20396548/



ooh - that makes it pretty obvious who one of them is...


----------



## Vintage Paw (May 1, 2008)

The Doctor said:


> For the full story click here.
> 
> http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/...fired-for-cheating-in-morocco-98487-20396548/



Fuckin' 'ell, I can't wait


----------



## Vintage Paw (May 1, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> ooh - that makes it pretty obvious who one of them is...



Maybe I'm thick, but my first thought was 



Spoiler: who i think it is



Claire - because of the comment that she could have gone on to win it. But then they mention her big mouth, which makes me think that could be a clue and it's Jenny. Hehehehe ... can't wait, really can't wait!


----------



## spanglechick (May 1, 2008)

Vintage Paw said:


> Maybe I'm thick, but my first thought was
> 
> 
> 
> ...



hmm - 



Spoiler: my take on that



I too think Claire, because i don't think Jenny has been in trouble for her 'aggressive behaviour' has she?  also, she's not really a contender to win...  i mean, nor's claire - but she did win her thing when she was proj mgr, and claire lost miserably with the laundry thing, and being associated with the greeting card idea, too.


----------



## Vintage Paw (May 1, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> hmm -
> 
> 
> 
> ...





Spoiler: more about my guess



Hmmmm. I reckon Jenny was pretty bloody aggressive last night, but then the article was written before that. Although, Jenny was vile when she was PM "Stop.Talking.I.Am.Your.Project.Manager.Listen.To.Me." lol. I don't think Jenny was ever in with a chance for winning, but her mates probably would say she was, wouldn't they? I hope it's Jenny and the other Jen - the Ice Queen. That would be sweet


----------



## oddworld (May 1, 2008)

Spoiler tastic , lol lol lol


----------



## Part 2 (May 1, 2008)

Just can't resisit them spoiler buttons 

 @self


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 1, 2008)

im only half way through watching this on iPlayer . But if its fake I reckon Chris Morris has written it...


----------



## Dillinger4 (May 1, 2008)

Why should he fire them for that? Its what business is REALLY about.


----------



## Paul Russell (May 1, 2008)

I'd had a few pints of Bacardi Breezer before I watched last night's one, but it struck me that there were bits of that episode that could make it a classic, to be watched over and over again... Funnier than Brent (yes, I know I'm the 45th person to say that).

Hilarious!


----------



## isvicthere? (May 1, 2008)

I can't understand why so many of them - including Alex - were picking on her, when Alex himself has been back-peddling, covering his arse and generally keeping his head below the parapet throughout.


----------



## Vintage Paw (May 1, 2008)

Unless we all missed something unbelievably shocking in the edit, their treatment of Sara was beyond the pale. Quite disgusting.


----------



## SwizzleStiX (May 2, 2008)

Vintage Paw said:


> Unless we all missed something unbelievably shocking in the edit, their treatment of Sara was beyond the pale. Quite disgusting.



I agree, she did no wrong


----------



## maximilian ping (May 2, 2008)

i think at the start of the show it introduces the contestants as future tycoons.

that's just silly, because they are clearly just future idiots

that greek guy michael should be banged on the head and chucked in a bin for: talking like an arse; trying to speak to the editor of the daily telegraph directly to ask him whether there is an apostrophe on singles day; _that_ celebration


----------



## Annierak (May 2, 2008)

They are all cunts in this series. I honestly can't see a winner amongst this shower of shite


----------



## Gromit (May 2, 2008)

Annierak said:


> They are all cunts in this series. I honestly can't see a winner amongst this shower of shite



I think we need to see Alex PM. He has kept to the background. Talks the talk and seems quite clever but hasn't yet walked the walk.


----------



## Melinda (May 2, 2008)

Marius said:


> I think we need to see Alex PM. He has kept to the background. Talks the talk and seems quite clever but hasn't yet walked the walk.


Alex has PM'd I think- during the fish market task? He was rude, sneery, sarcastic and aggressive in his attitude to his colleagues. 


It was Lee who was the one who really stood out in the attack on Sara. He has had a really quiet edit so far. 
So I was surprised by his attitude and tone as he challenged Sara to justify her continued presence in the house. 

His face contorted into some ugly shapes, and together with the emphatic hand gestures he revealed himself to be a nasty, ugly man. 
He'll shake it off because he is tall and outrageously good looking, but the mask slipped a little. 


Alex was the one cock waving after Raef tried to finally shut down the attack on Sara. Alex argued back, insisting on his right to be a cunt.


----------



## maximilian ping (May 2, 2008)

Melinda said:


> It was Lee who was the one who really stood out in the attack on Sara. He has had a really quiet edit so far.
> So I was surprised by his attitude and tone as he challenged Sara to justify her continued presence in the house.
> 
> His face contorted into some ugly shapes, and together with the emphatic hand gestures he revealed himself to be a nasty, ugly man.
> He'll shake it off because he is tall and outrageously good looking, but the mask slipped a little.



this isnt the first time he's shown this closet rapist tendency. most of the shows he's lost it at some point and shown his true colours. if he hasnt got a conviction for violence i'll be surprised.


----------



## BEARBOT (May 2, 2008)

i have to agree..lee seems quite aggressive..i didnt like his football terrace behaviour when his team was announced as the winner of the task...as far as his attitude toward sara,not good..many women like a bit of rough im not one of them

raife is looking better and better, and lets face it he has always been easy on the eye, ill take the gentleman everytime,about time a posho won


----------



## Chairman Meow (May 2, 2008)

maximilian ping said:


> this isnt the first time he's shown this closet rapist tendency. most of the shows he's lost it at some point and shown his true colours. if he hasnt got a conviction for violence i'll be surprised.



I thought he was gorgeous until I noticed his scarey mean streak. Men like that scare the crap out of me.


----------



## catrina (May 2, 2008)

BEARBOT said:


> i have to agree..lee seems quite aggressive..i didnt like his football terrace behaviour when his team was announced as the winner of the task...as far as his attitude toward sara,not good..many women like a bit of rough im not one of them



I think you're confused. Michael was the one who did the uncouth outburst upon winning.

Lee was on the other team, and blamed Sara for everything. Even in the meeting, Jenny turned to him to back her up ganging up on Sara, when it was Jenny's useless idea that landed them all there in the first place.

Lee must go.  down with the bullies, I'm finding it a little distressful to watch. Is the business world really like this?


----------



## wishface (May 2, 2008)

BEARBOT said:


> i have to agree..lee seems quite aggressive..i didnt like his football terrace behaviour when his team was announced as the winner of the task...as far as his attitude toward sara,not good..many women like a bit of rough im not one of them
> 
> raife is looking better and better, and lets face it he has always been easy on the eye, ill take the gentleman everytime,about time a posho won


I had him pegged as a pig faced Nick Knowles alike who sat and talked bollocks.


----------



## Grandma Death (May 2, 2008)

I know who comes second though I'm not spoiling the thread.


----------



## zoooo (May 2, 2008)

Is Lee good looking to some?
I find him pretty unattractive. (Even before we saw his ugly personality)

I can see why Alex would be attractive, even if I don't agree.

The only one who I found cute was that boy who left a couple of weeks ago. He had really blue eyes.


----------



## Threshers_Flail (May 2, 2008)

I did feel sorry for Sara, she really needs to start standing up for herself or she'll just get bullied out. Next episode is going to be a good laugh, i can hazard a guess to which two girls will be leaving.


----------



## ymu (May 2, 2008)

catrina said:


> I think you're confused. Michael was the one who did the uncouth outburst upon winning.
> 
> Lee was on the other team, and blamed Sara for everything. Even in the meeting, Jenny turned to him to back her up ganging up on Sara, when it was Jenny's useless idea that landed them all there in the first place.
> 
> Lee must go.  down with the bullies, I'm finding it a little distressful to watch. Is the business world really like this?


No, Lee was on the winning team and was almost as bad as Michael when they won.

Kevin's team was Sara, Claire, Jenny and Alex. Alex blamed Sara first (in the edit), IIRC.


----------



## Melinda (May 2, 2008)

zoooo said:


> Is Lee good looking to some?
> I find him pretty unattractive. (Even before we saw his ugly personality)
> 
> I can see why Alex would be attractive, even if I don't agree.
> ...


Zooo- you do have a 'type' tbf!  Boyishly handsome, big personalities! 

Would strong, silent and mean ever appeal to you?


----------



## catrina (May 3, 2008)

ymu said:


> No, Lee was on the winning team and was almost as bad as Michael when they won.
> 
> Kevin's team was Sara, Claire, Jenny and Alex. Alex blamed Sara first (in the edit), IIRC.





I assumed he must have at least been on their team as he was so brutal in accusing her of doing nothing. I just assumed that was Lee who turned to Sara in the meeting. Similar profile I guess.


----------



## zoooo (May 4, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Zooo- you do have a 'type' tbf!  Boyishly handsome, big personalities!
> 
> Would strong, silent and mean ever appeal to you?



I've been trying to think of one...
No success so far!


----------



## isvicthere? (May 4, 2008)

Marius said:


> I think we need to see Alex PM. He has kept to the background. Talks the talk and seems quite clever but hasn't yet walked the walk.



What do you mean? He was team leader in the first task and lost dismally. The only reason he didn't walk was down to the wretched boardroom performance of Nicholas de Ponso-Knobtwat or whatever he was called.


----------



## isvicthere? (May 4, 2008)

catrina said:


> Lee was on the other team, and blamed Sara for everything. Even in the meeting, Jenny turned to him to back her up ganging up on Sara, when it was Jenny's useless idea that landed them all there in the first place.



There's a lot in this series of people being blamed for their "negative" attitude (viz. Simon in the restaurant task) when all they're actually doing is confirming what every viewer is screaming at the screen - "This is a _really_ shit idea!"


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 6, 2008)

I see Lee is PM with Sara, Lucinda, Helene and Raef in Morocco.


----------



## isvicthere? (May 7, 2008)

Fatuous Sunbeam said:


> I see Lee is PM with Sara, Lucinda, Helene and Raef in Morocco.



Let's see how good he is now, after monstering Sara, who - don't forget - won convincingly when she was PM.


----------



## wishface (May 7, 2008)

can't wait for this tonight...assuming all that business mentioned above (in da spoilers) wasn't a load of bullshit.


----------



## aqua (May 7, 2008)

god I can't wait


----------



## Artie Fufkin (May 7, 2008)

Sir Alan on BBC Breakfast News said tonight's is the best one in any series so far


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 7, 2008)

Artie Fufkin said:


> Sir Alan on BBC Breakfast News said tonight's is the best one in any series so far



Can't wait


----------



## Miss Potter (May 7, 2008)

me either, looks like it's going to be a cracking episode. I'm stuck in the moat at the Tower of London until late though, hope I get home in time. If not, praise the lord for Sky+


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 7, 2008)

Here we go


----------



## aqua (May 7, 2008)

LOL  £250? £250? excuse me? £250


----------



## trashpony (May 7, 2008)

FFS - I cannot believe they're so fucking ignorant


----------



## aqua (May 7, 2008)

errr

I'm lost for words


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 7, 2008)

You took the words out my mouth!


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 7, 2008)

A kosher chicken from a mosque?


----------



## moomoo (May 7, 2008)

Oh god!  I can't believe how stupid they are. 

I think I'm going to have to stop watching, they make me quite cross!


----------



## zoooo (May 7, 2008)

aqua said:


> LOL  £250? £250? excuse me? £250




Aw. Lovely Raef.


----------



## aqua (May 7, 2008)

Oooo you naughty stupid cow


----------



## moomoo (May 7, 2008)




----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 7, 2008)

YESSSSSS!!!!!

It is Jenny that's gonna get fired 



Surely?


----------



## moomoo (May 7, 2008)

Hurrah!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 7, 2008)

Not only does she not know the difference between Kosher and Halal, she also doesn't know the difference between espionage and bribery.


----------



## aqua (May 7, 2008)

Fatuous Sunbeam said:


> Not only does she not know the difference between Kosher and Halal, she also doesn't know the difference between espionage and bribery.


----------



## moomoo (May 7, 2008)

Fatuous Sunbeam said:


> Not only does she not know the difference between Kosher and Halal, she also doesn't know the difference between espionage and bribery.





Welcome btw.


----------



## spanglechick (May 7, 2008)

i love raef - apologising for the bad language.  bless!


----------



## stretchy18 (May 7, 2008)

where the fuck do they get these idiots from (My first viewing tonight)


----------



## moomoo (May 7, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> i love raef - apologising for the bad language.  bless!



Should think so too!  My kids are watching!


----------



## aqua (May 7, 2008)

they hear worse at school


----------



## moomoo (May 7, 2008)

aqua said:


> they hear worse at school



They hear worse at home to be fair..........


----------



## aqua (May 7, 2008)

and from me when I'm over


----------



## moomoo (May 7, 2008)

aqua said:


> and from me when I'm over




Yes, I wasn't referring to my angelic self...............


----------



## beeboo (May 7, 2008)

I haven't read any of the spoilers so I'm on tenterhooks


----------



## spanglechick (May 7, 2008)

my 10yo niece really enjoyed watching this when i was babysitting...  but i was a bit  about the language.

it's a very kid-friendly format, though.


----------



## paulhackett (May 7, 2008)

suralun on the phone? it's all gone a bit charlies angels..


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 7, 2008)

Oooooh, can't wait for this


----------



## moomoo (May 7, 2008)

I think I need a pillow to hide behind!


----------



## trashpony (May 7, 2008)

Can we have a double one and get rid of both Jennies in one swoop? Pllleeeeeeease?


----------



## Rollem (May 7, 2008)

lmao "bonjour"!


----------



## trashpony (May 7, 2008)

I'm only half jewish suralan


----------



## moomoo (May 7, 2008)

You're all intelligent people...........


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 7, 2008)

hahahahahahah - Gingah's been caught out!


----------



## Rollem (May 7, 2008)

ha ha, shut the fuck up! caught out....


----------



## trashpony (May 7, 2008)

dirty, cheap 

love it


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 7, 2008)

Did I just see the 'good Jewish boy' cross himself like the good Greek Cypriot boy he really is?


----------



## moomoo (May 7, 2008)

Ugh, she's grovelling, shut up woman!  


Yay!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 7, 2008)

Yay 

Happy birthday!

HAHAHAHAHAHAHA


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 7, 2008)

Happy Birthday, Jen!


----------



## Rollem (May 7, 2008)

allah for a kosher chicken, lmao  this is the best yet....


----------



## butterfly child (May 7, 2008)

Another riveting episode 

The Apprentice surely has many years left in it........


----------



## Rollem (May 7, 2008)

bing bang bong, gone!


----------



## moomoo (May 7, 2008)

Rollem said:


> allah for a kosher chicken, lmao  this is the best yet....



I'm going to thank allah for my kosher chicken on Sunday.


----------



## trashpony (May 7, 2008)

I think my dream's coming true - two jennies for the price of one


----------



## spanglechick (May 7, 2008)

yup - jen is dead woman walking, but i still really hate claire!


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 7, 2008)

Allelujah!


----------



## DJ Squelch (May 7, 2008)

BOO 

Why is he always firing the fit irish lasses?


----------



## trashpony (May 7, 2008)

DJ Squelch said:


> BOO
> 
> Why is he always firing the fit irish lasses?



Because she's a sneaky whining cow?


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 7, 2008)

Double win tonight


----------



## killer b (May 7, 2008)

trashpony said:


> Because she's a sneaky whining cow?


i lol'd at her saying 'fire me now'. don't think he needed much encouragement tbh.


----------



## Treacle Toes (May 7, 2008)

'It's my Birthday, i'm 36 today'
Congratulations.....your fired snake.....


----------



## Epico (May 7, 2008)

Loved Nick & Margeret aside;

"....maybe Edinburgh's not what it used to be..." 

Claire or Michael to go next, please.


----------



## moomoo (May 7, 2008)

trashpony said:


> Because she's a sneaky whining cow?



And her make up is ridiculous.


----------



## ddraig (May 7, 2008)

yay! double jennie
get in there trashy 

kwal-ee-tee


----------



## big eejit (May 7, 2008)

Epico said:


> "....maybe Edinburgh's not what it used to be..."



Best line yet. (((Margaret)))


----------



## big eejit (May 7, 2008)

Did anyone just notice "good Jewish boy" Michael cross himself as he went into the boardroom?


----------



## big eejit (May 7, 2008)

Adrian did!


----------



## wishface (May 7, 2008)

Epico said:


> Loved Nick & Margeret aside;
> 
> "....maybe Edinburgh's not what it used to be..."
> 
> Claire or Michael to go next, please.


'or'?


----------



## jæd (May 7, 2008)

big eejit said:


> Did anyone just notice "good Jewish boy" Michael cross himself as he went into the boardroom?



I think everyone did...


----------



## DexterTCN (May 7, 2008)

"How hard could it be to bless a chicken?"  As they ran into the market.


----------



## Chester Copperpot (May 7, 2008)

another great episode. TBF they all made twats of themselves but the the jenny's both deserved both barrels imo. Lucinda or Raef ftw!


----------



## cybertect (May 7, 2008)

big eejit said:


> Best line yet. (((Margaret)))



She has a very classy way with words. That makes two favourite quotes of the series from Margaret.


----------



## ebay sex moomin (May 7, 2008)

DexterTCN said:


> "How hard could it be to bless a chicken?"  As they ran into the market.




Jenny, to stallholder- 'I need a chicken... I need it blessed!'


----------



## BadlyDrawnGirl (May 7, 2008)

What an odious bunch of complete scrotes.


----------



## Part 2 (May 7, 2008)

Gobsmacked at the whole episode 

And I read the spoilers!


----------



## Ms T (May 7, 2008)

Their ignorance in this task was gobsmacking.  How could Jenny have got to the age of 36 without knowing that kosher was Jewish not Muslim?  Me and hendo were cringing on the sofa.  It beggars belief.

I really wanted to see Lee apologise to Sara and Lucinda, who were both good in this task.  But he didn't.    Looks like they're both coming into their own - from the previews they look like they were doing well in the wedding show task as well. 

I *love* The Apprentice.


----------



## BadlyDrawnGirl (May 7, 2008)

Ms T said:


> I really wanted to see Lee apologise to Sara and Lucinda, who were both good in this task.  But he didn't.



Was the Irish girl Sara or Lucinda? She was fired, and I thought she was the only one with anything approaching intelligence or likeability...


----------



## maximilian ping (May 7, 2008)

i think altho jennifer was fairly crap and lashed out like a rabid cat when she was in trouble she came across well on the Youre Fired thing on BBC2.

i was really glad that sara was praised, mainly cos i fancy her 

as i said last week, michael should be banged on the head and dumped in a bin, and i think lee is an actual psycho


----------



## Aravis (May 7, 2008)

TorchSong said:


> Was the Irish girl Sara or Lucinda? She was fired, and I thought she was the only one with anything approaching intelligence or likeability...



Neither, she was one of the Jennies. And she was a witch.


----------



## Malamud (May 7, 2008)

Aravis said:


> Neither, she was one of the Jennies. And she was a witch.



She did look a thousand times better on 'Fired' without that hidious red lipstick.


----------



## warszawa (May 7, 2008)

maximilian ping said:


> and i think lee is an actual psycho



...and, really, there's no chance of him winning the whole thing, is there? I'd rather not watch him every week, tbh.


----------



## beeboo (May 7, 2008)

Ms T said:


> I really wanted to see Lee apologise to Sara and Lucinda, .



I wanted to see him apologise to Sara too, but I thought he'd been sticking up for Lucinda the week before when she was getting some flack when she was project manager 

I actually quite liked Lee until this week, but this week he drove me insane

"THAT's what I'm talking about!" 

arrrrgh!


----------



## Aravis (May 7, 2008)

Malamud said:


> She did look a thousand times better on 'Fired' without that hidious red lipstick.



God yes - quite pretty without the "world's cruelest clown" look.


----------



## maximilian ping (May 7, 2008)

warszawa said:


> ...and, really, there's no chance of him winning the whole thing, is there? I'd rather not watch him every week, tbh.



his violent bullying of sara last week was shameful


----------



## maximilian ping (May 7, 2008)

Aravis said:


> world's cruelest clown look


----------



## warszawa (May 7, 2008)

maximilian ping said:


> his violent bullying of sara last week was shameful



Someone needs to penetrate that loony aggresive 'quality', else he'll remain the bully, as you say. It'll happen soon enough, no doubt.


----------



## Paul Russell (May 7, 2008)

Aravis said:


> God yes - quite pretty without the "world's cruelest clown" look.



Both sacked lovely ladies looked a lot nicer with the, I guess, BBC's nice make-up people to make them look a lot fluffier and pleasant in the make-up and hair dept.

I wonder if for the Apprentice proper the two ladies did their own make-up and hair to make themselves look more business-like, hard and scary, or if someone in the make-up dept on the show played a cruel joke on them throughout the series!


----------



## ymu (May 7, 2008)

Ms T said:


> Their ignorance in this task was gobsmacking.  How could Jenny have got to the age of 36 without knowing that kosher was Jewish not Muslim?  Me and hendo were cringing on the sofa.  It beggars belief.
> 
> I really wanted to see Lee apologise to Sara and Lucinda, who were both good in this task.  But he didn't.    Looks like they're both coming into their own - from the previews they look like they were doing well in the wedding show task as well.
> 
> I *love* The Apprentice.


The kosher thing was utterly unbelievable - it wasn't just Jenny and Michael - none of them knew. 

I wanted Lee to acknowledge Sara and Lucinda too - especially when he'd said at the start that he'd judge them on their performance.  Reading between the lines, I think Nick singled them out for praise in part because of the bullying. Remember last week when they all turned on Sara in the boardroom and suralan dismissed it very quickly with "I can tell when someone's being ganged up on". He didn't even consider firing her (in the edit, at least) - just advised her to stick up for herself a bit more.

Claire was really lucky that the Jennies fucked up so badly. She made the same stupid error twice. You do not start off a bargaining situation with "I really really want it", like she did with the clock - especially when her pretend boyfriend is doing the bargaining! Why on earth she thought it was a good idea to say she didn't want to go to another shop to get the carpet ... She's supposed to be a retail buyer isn't she?



beeboo said:


> I wanted to see him apologise to Sara too, but I thought he'd been sticking up for Lucinda the week before when she was getting some flack when she was project manager
> 
> I actually quite liked Lee until this week, but this week he drove me insane
> 
> ...


Yeah, but at the beginning he singled both of them out as having been accused of slacking by the others.


----------



## zoooo (May 8, 2008)

ymu said:


> Claire was really lucky that the Jennies fucked up so badly. She made the same stupid error twice. You do not start off a bargaining situation with "I really really want it", like she did with the clock - especially when her pretend boyfriend is doing the bargaining! Why on earth she thought it was a good idea to say she didn't want to go to another shop to get the carpet ... She's supposed to be a retail buyer isn't she?



I genuinely don't understand where she was going with that. No one could be so stupid as to not understand the concept of haggling.

And her monotonous voice annnnnoys me so.

Her out next!

But I think Alan likes her for some reason.


----------



## LilMissHissyFit (May 8, 2008)

oh jenny was well overdue for the boot. Sir Alan bloody hated that he didnt get his chance last week


----------



## Stigmata (May 8, 2008)

Corker of an episode, that. I really want Raef or Sara to win, but Alex is a sharp customer so he might be in with a good chance.


----------



## Gromit (May 8, 2008)

Paul Russell said:


> Both sacked lovely ladies looked a lot nicer with the, I guess, BBC's nice make-up people to make them look a lot fluffier and pleasant in the make-up and hair dept.
> 
> I wonder if for the Apprentice proper the two ladies did their own make-up and hair to make themselves look more business-like, hard and scary, or if someone in the make-up dept on the show played a cruel joke on them throughout the series!



I think both ladies definately had some media training and image advice help before they went on You're Fired. Whether the beeb paid or not though I don't know. 

As for Jewish boy crossing himself, not knowing Kosher! Good Jew?! Worst Jew evar!!!

Claire is worst role play partner ever for haggling. Talk about saying all the wrong things even when they agreed to bin that approach she tried to make out... I thought it had been agreed I'd play the girlfriend. Not at the rug purchase it hadn't liar.


----------



## ebay sex moomin (May 8, 2008)

beeboo said:


> I wanted to see him apologise to Sara too...



same here...

does Lucinda fancy him?! that's the impression I get... not just from this week's episode, where she kissed him after learning that they'd won the task...


----------



## ebay sex moomin (May 8, 2008)

ymu said:


> Reading between the lines, I think Nick singled them out for praise in part because of the bullying.


agreed...


----------



## wishface (May 8, 2008)

Lee is fucking hopeless.


----------



## Paul Russell (May 8, 2008)

wishface said:


> Lee is fucking hopeless.



He should be sacked for making that stupid "ack ack" noise alone.


----------



## Gromit (May 8, 2008)

Thought Lee was incredibly unproffesional in his behaviour. 

You could tell that Raef wasn't impressed by his most uncouth manner 

But he got his team to research and they targetted the correct areas. 

How dumb do you have to be though not to think I want Jewish chicken so i need to find a Jewish butcher. 
I want Muslim chicken I'll go to a Muslim. Its not vice versa.


----------



## isvicthere? (May 8, 2008)

Fatuous Sunbeam said:


> Did I just see the 'good Jewish boy' cross himself like the good Greek Cypriot boy he really is?



As was pointed out on "You're fired!" you can't be "half"-Jewish. The blood line passes through the mother. So if your Mum's Jewish, you're Jewish. If only your father is, you're not.

Since "Sophocles" sounds distinctly Greek, our boy would appear to be Jewish, but with a belief-beggaring lack of knowledge of his own heritage.


----------



## Part 2 (May 8, 2008)

I know it won't be popular but Lee has done alright from where I'm sat. He has some unfortunate mannerisms and probably comes from a very male environment/background but people seem to work well with him. I don't think it's through fear either despite him coming across as pretty nasty at times.

The thing with Lucinda is just flirting, she has done loads better since he backed her up after her management task. I don't think anyone's had anything bad to say about him on leaving either, much the same with Simon last series they seem to think he's funny.


----------



## Gromit (May 8, 2008)

If Lee won he'd be Amstrad's David Brent. 

Winning of the troops with his pally style and hillarious animal noise impressions. 
Refreshing for one week and then you'd want to kill him if he was your boss. Oh god he's making his monster face again to motivate us, yeah thank you for that.


----------



## Stoat Boy (May 8, 2008)

I dont see how the Ginge was fired for trying to bribe the Tennis shop lady but not the bloke. Double standards.


----------



## catrina (May 8, 2008)

That was class! Jenny (red head) got what she deserved, bee-otch.

I can't believe he didn't get a word in about her stupid environmental card idea while he was at it. I can't imagine anyone will ever hire her now, Katie from last year was evil, but she was kind of putting it on. Jenny is down right evil. And don't get me started on the kosher chicken.  And the tennis racket  Who in their right mind thinks someone would get away with that on a televised programme? OK, you're competitive, but you're also 36!!

Michael's got to go, too. I think Clare is in the running - she can be annoying, but she's a fighter, I like her. Raef is good, too. And for all the shtick Lucinda got, she really serves as a calming force on any team, I'd hire her.


----------



## Juice Terry (May 8, 2008)

I'm loving Raef. "I have a linen suit at home"

I bet he has a walk in wardrobe with rows and rows of bespoke saville row suits.

Lucinda and Sara to make up the final three. The rest of them are total cocks. 1200 dirhams for a second hand juicer The boys in the medina must have been laughing their arses off at this lot.


----------



## kabbes (May 8, 2008)

Ms T said:


> I really wanted to see Lee apologise to Sara and Lucinda, who were both good in this task.  But he didn't.    Looks like they're both coming into their own - from the previews they look like they were doing well in the wedding show task as well.


I really wouldn't assume that you see everything that happens involving ten distinct people over the course of 24 hours in a single one hour show.  For all we know, that outburst to Sara was a completely isolated incident for which he apologised profusely to her... but they either didn't get it on camera or it didn't make for good telly.   It's not really possible to say either way until we get Sara's actual take on it.

Lee strikes me as a bit of a liability in a real business situation but quite good in a competition such as this.  He has actually rescued his team a few times (for example, his intervention at the Celebrations pitch saved Raef last week and won his team the task) and he generates good competition team spirit.  He won't and shouldn't win, but he's doing alright in my book.  Notwithstanding the fact that he is potentially a psycho, of course, which would rather affect my opinion of him.


----------



## kabbes (May 8, 2008)

Call me Mr. Suspicious, but I think that they were always intending to fire two people this week.  Consider the facts:

* The losing team didn't actually do noticeably worse than previous losing teams have done.  They basically achieved the task, but screwed up parts of it.  Some weeks, the team actually completely fails and/or loses lots of money but only one person goes.
* A series will be commissioned to last a certain number of shows.  They won't want to cancel one just because suralan gets a bit surly.
* Similarly, tasks must be set up months in advance.  They will be very reluctant to junk one just because suralan feels like firing more than one person.
* With ten people left there are five people in a team.  That means you can comfortably bring all five back into the boardroom and it makes for a nice set-up.
* Unless I've miscalculated, we are exactly half way through the series.  Firing two people makes it more interesting for the audience and keeps everybody on their toes.

Make no mistake about it, this double firing was on the cards from day 1.


----------



## trashpony (May 8, 2008)

Stoat Boy said:


> I dont see how the Ginge was fired for trying to bribe the Tennis shop lady but not the bloke. Double standards.



It was her idea to be fair - he just didn't try and stop her. 



kabbes said:


> Notwithstanding the fact that he is potentially a psycho, of course, which would rather affect my opinion of him.


----------



## rover07 (May 8, 2008)

Ha...both Jennies out... Ginger Jenny was laughable in the boardroom.


----------



## rover07 (May 8, 2008)

Favourite bit was when Jenny was trying to bribe the tennis shop assistant, the woman just shrugged her off saying;

 'I don't need your money'


----------



## Mrs Miggins (May 8, 2008)

rover07 said:


> Ginger Jenny was laughable in the boardroom.



She was class with her "I don't know what kosher is" swiftly followed by "I was relying on [whatshisname] to sort this one out because I know he's Jewish".

Daft cow 

And _of course _they always planned 2 firings....it's telly you know!


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 8, 2008)

So, who do we reckon is going to win?

I want it to be Raef, but seeing how these things often get edited I have a feeling he's being set up for a fall...


----------



## May Kasahara (May 8, 2008)

rover07 said:


> Favourite bit was when Jenny was trying to bribe the tennis shop assistant, the woman just shrugged her off saying;
> 
> 'I don't need your money'



That was pure class.

Alan Sugar so blatantly put all the shit, dislikeable people in one team - great tv.

Margaret is my hero 

I'd definitely like to see Raef, Lucinda and Sara in the final three - they seem like the ones who'd be the best all-round asset to any business, not that that's really what the Apprentice is about.

I thought both Jennies looked awful on 'You're Fired' - ginger bitch with her fluffy hair, ice queen with her terrible frosted lipstick. Was also in hysterics at the monstering ginger bitch got on 'You're Fired' - all the media training in the world couldn't hide the fact that she was genuinely shocked at the depth of feeling against her 

Fantastic stuff.


----------



## Mrs Miggins (May 8, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> Margaret is my hero



Edinburgh's not what it used to be......


----------



## tommers (May 8, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Call me Mr. Suspicious, but I think that they were always intending to fire two people this week.  Consider the facts:
> 
> * The losing team didn't actually do noticeably worse than previous losing teams have done.  They basically achieved the task, but screwed up parts of it.  Some weeks, the team actually completely fails and/or loses lots of money but only one person goes.
> * A series will be commissioned to last a certain number of shows.  They won't want to cancel one just because suralan gets a bit surly.
> ...



Good lord.  If you weren't here to show me the light then I don't know what I'd do.


----------



## spanglechick (May 8, 2008)

Stoat Boy said:


> I dont see how the Ginge was fired for trying to bribe the Tennis shop lady but not the bloke. Double standards.



she claimed it as her idea - rather proudly.  fool.

but the summary firing was mostly, i think because she got caught in a blatant lie about the kosher thing.  michael should also have gone though.  he was really whiny.


----------



## rover07 (May 8, 2008)

Mrs Miggins said:


> Edinburgh's not what it used to be......



Clearly.... Nick


----------



## LJo (May 8, 2008)

Oh, that was wonderful.

Up there with some classic episodes from the past, such as the advertising pitch one - from season one, I think (anyone remember "Always sit with the Mac man!" and the 'mood board'?)

And that brilliant one from season two when they ran the stall at the food fair and bought around a thousand chickens.


----------



## rover07 (May 8, 2008)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> So, who do we reckon is going to win?
> 
> I want it to be Raef, but seeing how these things often get edited I have a feeling he's being set up for a fall...



I reckon Raef will win, he's cool under pressure,intelligent and polite!!! Apologising for Lee's bad language was class. 

I want Lucinda to do well too. She's sooo lovely


----------



## ymu (May 8, 2008)

(@ kabbes)^^Nah. The reason for a double-firing was the attempted bribery - hard to see Jenny agreeing to set herself up for that particular career-damaging scenario. It's easy for them to plan in for things like this - from what he said, I think he's got multiple firings written in the contract, and they must have back-up plans for people who walk out or whatever anyway. There's no need to cancel tasks when they can simply adjust the numbers later. The format changes when it gets down to very few people - they've got plenty of wriggle room.


----------



## trashpony (May 8, 2008)

LJo said:


> Oh, that was wonderful.
> 
> Up there with some classic episodes from the past, such as the advertising pitch one - from season one, I think (anyone remember "Always sit with the Mac man!" and the 'mood board'?)
> 
> And that brilliant one from season two when they ran the stall at the food fair and bought around a thousand chickens.



Yep - they were brilliant. The other one I particularly liked was when they took that huge block of vile cheap cheddar to sell to the French


----------



## tommers (May 8, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> she claimed it as her idea - rather proudly.  fool.
> 
> but the summary firing was mostly, i think because she got caught in a blatant lie about the kosher thing.  michael should also have gone though.  he was really whiny.




he's an aggressive little jumped up wanker.

From what I have seen of him on this telly show.


----------



## ymu (May 8, 2008)

Marius said:


> I think both ladies definately had some media training and image advice help before they went on You're Fired. Whether the beeb paid or not though I don't know.


They would have. I had to do a tough interview with them once and a producer rang me the day before and grilled me for a couple of hours to make sure I was prepared. It may have been because they knew I was media-naive and were worried that I'd get eaten alive - but a reality show is a much bigger deal from a fucking-up-your-life POV. I don't think they'd risk putting them in the You're Fired bear-pit without some preparation.


----------



## kabbes (May 8, 2008)

ymu said:


> (@ kabbes)^^Nah. The reason for a double-firing was the attempted bribery - hard to see Jenny agreeing to set herself up for that particular career-damaging scenario.


Ah -- but then, why not *just* fire Jenny?  Why also fire Jennifer?  It's not like it is the first time he's had two useless and fireable individuals in front of him.  In fact, he even said, "With regret..." when he fired Jennifer -- if he regretted it then why do it at all, given that he has already fired one?



> It's easy for them to plan in for things like this - from what he said, I think he's got multiple firings written in the contract, and they must have back-up plans for people who walk out or whatever anyway. There's no need to cancel tasks when they can simply adjust the numbers later. The format changes when it gets down to very few people - they've got plenty of wriggle room.


Fair enough, I'll take that on board.  It still seems bloody convenient though that it was exactly halfway through the series and at the point at which the teams formed an aesthetically pleasing five people to be confronted by suralan.


----------



## Ms T (May 8, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> I thought both Jennies looked awful on 'You're Fired' - ginger bitch with her fluffy hair, ice queen with her terrible frosted lipstick. Was also in hysterics at the monstering ginger bitch got on 'You're Fired' - all the media training in the world couldn't hide the fact that she was genuinely shocked at the depth of feeling against her
> 
> Fantastic stuff.



Vanessa was absolutely vitriolic about her!  (Did anyone else think that Vanessa looked a bit scary and plastic surgery-ed?)


----------



## Ms T (May 8, 2008)

rover07 said:


> I reckon Raef will win, he's cool under pressure,intelligent and polite!!! Apologising for Lee's bad language was class.
> 
> I want Lucinda to do well too. She's sooo lovely



I like Raef and Lucinda as well.


----------



## LJo (May 8, 2008)

Weird about Raef and Lucinda. I started off hating them more than anything but they are doing pretty well.

Usually when I think this the person in question fucks up royally in the next episode, so I think they're probably doomed.


----------



## El Sueno (May 8, 2008)

Ms T said:


> Vanessa was absolutely vitriolic about her!  (Did anyone else think that Vanessa looked a bit scary and plastic surgery-ed?)



I always think Vanessa looks scary and plastic surgery'd. And coked out of her tiny mind, too. Nostrils flaring, beady eyes full of hellfire, blathering like a fucking idiot. I still haven't mustered the courage to watch _You're Fired_ yet because they said she was on it.


----------



## maximilian ping (May 8, 2008)

I think the TV cameras made the whole bartering thing in the souks a joke. it's fairly easy to get most things for half price there with a bit of haggling and walking away. but if you are a trader you don't want the world to know that you will come down quick on the price of your goods.

but i spose that's obvious...


----------



## catrina (May 8, 2008)

On Breakfast this morning Jenny said she thought Helene would win. I'd forgotten about Helene, but Jenny would say that, seeing as she was just as evil a cow towards Lucinda as Jenny had been. Can't see that happening.

In any case, I think the extra firing was to make the clear point that bribery and lying aren't tolerated. She wasn't going to win the thing, but she really took things to a new level.

Mike is a young weakling with no morals who lies and cheats to get ahead as well, but he's 22 and she's 36, so sir alan gave him a second chance. Kind of cheeky, but I guess fair enough.

The other Jennifer had to go because she was totally useless. She gave absolutely no direction, she even said herself she was thinking of the trip to Morocco as if she was going on holiday, she seemed like she wanted to just be done with it all so she could go to the beach. Hardly professional!

As for all of them, are they all so posh that they've never had to haggle before? None of them had any technique at all, it was crazy!


----------



## kabbes (May 8, 2008)

catrina said:


> As for all of them, are they all so posh that they've never had to haggle before? None of them had any technique at all, it was crazy!


"No, no, you have to haggle -- 'ten for that, you must be mad'".

"Oh, please do tell me what to say!"


----------



## Paul Russell (May 8, 2008)

Ms T said:


> I like Raef and Lucinda as well.



I know it's going back a few episodes, but the odd thing about Lucinda is that she has a fairly recent science degree and "she began her career in Risk Management before undertaking various roles involving I.T. in the financial sector"

but seemed to be unable to do basic things on a computer in that photography task and said something like "technology, nope, I'm hopeless".

How can you operate in an office environment, which is what the job will mainly be, like that?

Or am I completely mis-under-remembering?


----------



## Epico (May 8, 2008)

catrina said:


> As for all of them, are they all so posh that they've never had to haggle before? None of them had any technique at all, it was crazy!



Tbf, neither have I - it's just not the done thing in most of Blighty, if something's priced at £10, and its something I want/need, I'll pay £10. 

I'd be shit at it, but better than Claire though.


----------



## Structaural (May 8, 2008)

Paul Russell said:


> I know it's going back a few episodes, but the odd thing about Lucinda is that she has a fairly recent science degree and "she began her career in Risk Management before undertaking various roles involving I.T. in the financial sector"
> 
> but seemed to be unable to do basic things on a computer in that photography task and said something like "technology, nope, I'm hopeless".
> 
> ...



Her exact words were 'I'm technically incompetent'


----------



## ymu (May 8, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Ah -- but then, why not *just* fire Jenny?  Why also fire Jennifer?  It's not like it is the first time he's had two useless and fireable individuals in front of him.  In fact, he even said, "With regret..." when he fired Jennifer -- if he regretted it then why do it at all, given that he has already fired one?
> 
> Fair enough, I'll take that on board.  It still seems bloody convenient though that it was exactly halfway through the series and at the point at which the teams formed an aesthetically pleasing five people to be confronted by suralan.



Don't get me wrong - I'm sure the producers are delighted, and they might have planned to allow for this contingency (rather than just in case), but I don't think it was manufactured for this episode.

He's been interfering with the teams and choosing project managers for weeks - he's never done it this early or this often before. Although...... you do have a point there - so far he's mostly just been selecting 2 team leaders that are clearly on the weak side, but he did go to greater efforts to put the idiots all on one team this time. Maybe they just wanted to get rid of the main bullies and knew both Jennies would oblige (and that Claire would step up to the plate as a back-up).


----------



## Paul Russell (May 8, 2008)

Structaural said:


> Her exact words were 'I'm technically incompetent'



You watched it a few times?


----------



## Miss Potter (May 8, 2008)

There's plenty you can do in IT without having much technical knowledge. Project Managers in my firm haven't got much of a clue...mind you even they have basic knowledge of keyboard & mouse.

I think Michael's a loose cannon. He loses his temper really quickly. Something about him gives me the creeps, I will be glad when he goes.

Hated Raef in the first one or two episodes but since then he's really grown on me. Last night, apologising for Lee's language, he completed his transformation in my eyes.

Was disappointed with the follow-on show though, I suppose they had 2 firees to process so it lacked it's usual oomph.

wonders if apostrophe is in right place in last paragraph


----------



## ymu (May 8, 2008)

Epico said:


> Tbf, neither have I - it's just not the done thing in most of Blighty, if something's priced at £10, and its something I want/need, I'll pay £10.
> 
> I'd be shit at it, but better than Claire though.


I had a motorbike salesman in tears once. I haggled him down on everything - bike, new fairing (inc mirrors), full set of hard luggage and top/side racks. 

Once I had his best price, I got him to agree to them fitting it all for free. 

Once we had that sorted, I paid him cash. They make most of their money by selling credit deals.


----------



## Chairman Meow (May 8, 2008)

Epico said:


> Tbf, neither have I - it's just not the done thing in most of Blighty, if something's priced at £10, and its something I want/need, I'll pay £10.
> 
> I'd be shit at it, but better than Claire though.



Haggling is easy. Offer them a quarter what they're asking and settle for around half, and walk away if they don't agree. You can always come back 20 mins later and offer a bit more, or more likely find someone else that will agree to your price.

I'd rather die than haggle in the UK though, although my husband always asks for a discount for cash. 

I couldn't believe that Claire bint offering 1100 when the asking price was 1200! I mean FFS!


----------



## Structaural (May 8, 2008)

Paul Russell said:


> You watched it a few times?



No it's just that line made me laugh, my gf said 'yes you bloody are' after she said it.


----------



## Structaural (May 8, 2008)

alice band said:


> There's plenty you can do in IT without having much technical knowledge. Project Managers in my firm haven't got much of a clue...mind you even they have basic knowledge of keyboard & mouse.
> 
> I think Michael's a loose cannon. He loses his temper really quickly. Something about him gives me the creeps, I will be glad when he goes.
> 
> ...



No apostrophe there - you've said 'it is'.


----------



## Gromit (May 8, 2008)

I love haggling and as I don't exactly have reams of cash it means I can afford things I wouldn't have otherwise. 

I just spent £1200 on a telly I couldn't really afford. 
I didn't get the manager to drop the price but by the end of it I had free delivery (£30 saving), a gold skart lead (£36) and a blueray DvD player (£199) thrown in for free. Things I was going to buy anyways.  Total saving £265. Thst buys a lot of beer or shoes or whatever you are in to. 

That was in a UK Curry's. So you can haggle in the UK.


----------



## Melinda (May 8, 2008)

Marius said:


> That was in a UK Curry's. So you can haggle in the UK.


Try it in Sainsbury's!


----------



## jugularvein (May 8, 2008)

i went to university with micheal and bumped into him in the pub the other day. refused to tell me who won so no trip to the bookies unfortunately


----------



## Ms T (May 8, 2008)

maximilian ping said:


> I think the TV cameras made the whole bartering thing in the souks a joke. it's fairly easy to get most things for half price there with a bit of haggling and walking away. but if you are a trader you don't want the world to know that you will come down quick on the price of your goods.
> 
> but i spose that's obvious...




Yup - my first thought on watching last night's episode was that the TV cameras would make haggling much more difficult.


----------



## Ms T (May 8, 2008)

catrina said:


> The other Jennifer had to go because she was totally useless. She gave absolutely no direction, she even said herself she was thinking of the trip to Morocco as if she was going on holiday, she seemed like she wanted to just be done with it all so she could go to the beach. Hardly professional!
> 
> As for all of them, are they all so posh that they've never had to haggle before? None of them had any technique at all, it was crazy!




Did noone tell her that Marrakech doesn't have a beach?  Yet another example of the massive ignorance shown by most of the contestants.


----------



## jæd (May 8, 2008)

Marius said:


> I love haggling and as I don't exactly have reams of cash it means I can afford things I wouldn't have otherwise.
> 
> I just spent £1200 on a telly I couldn't really afford.
> I didn't get the manager to drop the price but by the end of it I had free delivery (£30 saving), a gold skart lead (£36) and a blueray DvD player (£199) thrown in for free. Things I was going to buy anyways.  Total saving £265. Thst buys a lot of beer or shoes or whatever you are in to.
> ...



You can haggle in most places in UK... I'm always slightly shocked on TCR when tourists buy things for the fixed price...

Thing is negotiating isn't rocket science, and for the Apprentices to be bad at it indicates they must be pretty useless. I wonder how their salary negotiations will go with Suralan...?


----------



## Ms T (May 8, 2008)

Chairman Meow said:


> Haggling is easy. Offer them a quarter what they're asking and settle for around half, and walk away if they don't agree. You can always come back 20 mins later and offer a bit more, or more likely find someone else that will agree to your price.
> 
> I'd rather die than haggle in the UK though, although my husband always asks for a discount for cash.
> 
> I couldn't believe that Claire bint offering 1100 when the asking price was 1200! I mean FFS!



And always be good-humoured about it and smile.  It's a game, and the seller must not lose face.  And in Morocco you will get called a "berbere" (tribal Moroccan person) at some point - it's the law!


----------



## jæd (May 8, 2008)

jugularvein said:


> i went to university with micheal and bumped into him in the pub the other day. refused to tell me who won so no trip to the bookies unfortunately



How did you supress your desire to punch him in the face...? Have you suffered a horrible accident to both arms...?


----------



## jugularvein (May 8, 2008)

jæd said:


> How did you supress your desire to punch him in the face...? Have you suffered a horrible accident to both arms...?



there were too many people around.  i agree he's extremely punchable. i think i would prefer to slap him actually. he is quite stocky though... 

he was arrogant as fuck before the apprentice so you can imagine what a pleasant character he is now


----------



## Gromit (May 8, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Try it in Sainsbury's!




Its doable but you need a good excuse such as its on clearance, display goods or slightly damaged. Plus haggle with the manager who has the power to negotiate not a checkout girl. 

Source a female diamond buyer whose job is to haggle and was saying on TV when back from S Africa she will haggle in any UK shop, even supermarkets.


----------



## catrina (May 8, 2008)

Have you never taken a minicab before? Or buying a car, at least in the States, involves lots of haggling, though over a longer timescale than a day.

Name a ridiculously low price and then walk out. Don't sit in there and tell them you're not leaving until you've bought the thing! 

Neither team sat down and priced out which things would need to be full-price and which would need to be haggled and budgeted accordingly, which was pretty stupid. Hence the team ended up with fake brand tagines, etc.

I find haggling uncomfortable in proper retail stores, and I wouldn't try it in a restaurant, but pretty much everywhere else it's fair game.


----------



## catrina (May 8, 2008)

Ms T said:


> Yup - my first thought on watching last night's episode was that the TV cameras would make haggling much more difficult.



Maybe for buying property or something, but a green mosque clock? In a market five miles long famed for being a bartering capital? I don't think that's crushing any business secrets there.

It might've been harder to feign poverty in those circumstances, and desperation for a green mosque clock is going to throw off some red flags, but still.

You walk the 2 miles to the centre of the thing where things will be cheaper, and you lose the cameras! They weren't with both teams the whole time.


----------



## cybertect (May 8, 2008)

kabbes said:


> "No, no, you have to haggle -- 'ten for that, you must be mad'".
> 
> "Oh, please do tell me what to say!"



That's more like it. Ten?! Are you trying to insult me?! Me, with a poor dying grandmother?! Ten?!


----------



## ymu (May 8, 2008)

catrina said:


> I find haggling uncomfortable in proper retail stores, and I wouldn't try it in a restaurant, but pretty much everywhere else it's fair game.


Not so sure about that - on ethical or financial grounds. I amused myself one afternoon by pricing up a machine in the independent computer shops on Tottenham Court Road (where I knew I was going to buy it) and then trying to get PC World round the corner to beat it. When I pointed out to the salesman that the price for his ex-display model with the maximum discount he could offer was still 15% higher than the list price round the corner he went a bit pale. Happily, it was crowded and I was in quite a loud mood. 

You can get discounts in any high street retailer, especially higher value goods (electricals etc). If you have to buy from big a chain, they can afford to knock a bit off. The independents usually can't because the big chains in the area have already pushed their prices to rock bottom.


----------



## cybertect (May 8, 2008)

ymu said:


> If you have to buy from big a chain, they can afford to knock a bit off. The independents usually can't because the big chains in the area have already pushed their prices to rock bottom.



When you and your competitors are working with a gross margin of 4% or less, there's not much room for extra discounts.

[one of the reasons I got out of computer retail when I did]


----------



## ymu (May 8, 2008)

cybertect said:


> When you and/or your competitors working with a gross margin of 4% or less, there's not much room for extra discounts.
> 
> [one of the reasons I got out of computer retail when I did]


Nice edit, presumably so you don't have to explain how the small independents can do it cheaper.


----------



## cybertect (May 8, 2008)

ymu said:


> Nice edit, presumably so you don't have to explain how the small independents can do it cheaper.



Frankly, in some circumstances I don't know how they do it.

When I started in retail at MacLine in 1993, Apple dealers could expect an average gross margin of about 15%. That had dropped to nearly 10% by the time I was left the company in 97. People I knew working in PC dealers were getting by with half of that. Customers couldn't understand why I couldn't give them 20% off the list price...

I remember being at the MacUser Show a few years later - Computer Warehouse were selling iMacs off their stand for £605 (£15 lower than Apple's list retail price and about £10 less than they normally sold them for) at a time when I knew the wholesale price was £598 (I was working with a small Apple dealer as a technical consultant by then). Channel volume discounts don't make _that_ much difference.

On peripherals there's usually a larger mark-up, but they're lower value sales.


----------



## Gromit (May 8, 2008)

Its one of those industries now where the really money isn't made by selling the product but by selling a credit agreement and or extended warranties etc. for said product. Thats when the hard sell comes. 

Like package hols. They make sod all selling them. The money is made by selling day trips to the punters once they are in your package hotel and your reps have access to them.


----------



## suburbia (May 8, 2008)

Great episode! Ginger Jenny came over worse in You're Fired, the other Jenny surprisingly slightly better.

And Mags' sunglasses were


----------



## 1927 (May 8, 2008)

jugularvein said:


> i went to university with micheal and bumped into him in the pub the other day. refused to tell me who won so no trip to the bookies unfortunately



It would technically be illegal to bet on it anyway!


----------



## Gromit (May 8, 2008)

Re the camera crews. They have 4 of em as they ooften separate into 2 sub teams per team. Probably something in their contracts too that they arent allowed to give the cameras the slip.


----------



## isvicthere? (May 9, 2008)

Epico said:


> Tbf, neither have I - it's just not the done thing in most of Blighty, if something's priced at £10, and its something I want/need, I'll pay £10.
> 
> I'd be shit at it, but better than Claire though.



I'd probably be shit at it too. But, unlike Raef, if I was offered an improbably low price, I wouldn't baulk and question it.


----------



## isvicthere? (May 9, 2008)

Ms T said:


> Did noone tell her that Marrakech doesn't have a beach?  Yet another example of the massive ignorance shown by most of the contestants.



But does it have an apostrophe?


----------



## grimble (May 9, 2008)

Marius said:


> Re the camera crews. They have 4 of em as they ooften separate into 2 sub teams per team. Probably something in their contracts too that they arent allowed to give the cameras the slip.



Correct - they are not allowed to split up into more than two groups within the team (partly because you would lose interaction between the contestants but mainly because they don't have unlimited camera crews to follow more than 4 separate sub-teams), so they couldn't all go off individually to find one or two items each over the course of the day.


----------



## _angel_ (May 9, 2008)

catrina said:


> As for all of them, are they all so posh that they've never had to haggle before?




I'm not posh or rich but haven't done haggling. It's more a lack of confidence to be honest.

Although I'd expect so called business people to have some kind of idea about it.


----------



## kabbes (May 9, 2008)

_angel_ said:


> I'm not posh or rich but haven't done haggling. It's more a lack of confidence to be honest.
> 
> Although I'd expect so called business people to have some kind of idea about it.


Why?  What kind of business involves haggling in a market?

I'm regularly involved in negotiations worth multiple millions but I wouldn't have a clue about haggling for a £5 clock.  I'd be eaten alive.  My negotiation tactics all involve knowing more than the other guy about exactly what I am paying for or selling -- analysis, creativity with opportunities, understanding the underlying drivers of risk, that kind of thing.  None of that is remotely relevant to buying a clock.


----------



## _angel_ (May 9, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Why?  What kind of business involves haggling in a market?
> 
> I'm regularly involved in negotiations worth multiple millions but I wouldn't have a clue about haggling for a £5 clock.  I'd be eaten alive.  My negotiation tactics all involve knowing more than the other guy about exactly what I am paying for or selling -- analysis, creativity with opportunities, understanding the underlying drivers of risk, that kind of thing.  None of that is remotely relevant to buying a clock.



Haggling in general must come into business negotiations, regardless of the setting.


----------



## Melinda (May 9, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Why?  What kind of business involves haggling in a market?
> 
> I'm regularly involved in negotiations worth multiple millions but I wouldn't have a clue about haggling for a £5 clock.  I'd be eaten alive.  My negotiation tactics all involve knowing more than the other guy about exactly what I am paying for or selling -- analysis, creativity with opportunities, understanding the underlying drivers of risk, that kind of thing.  None of that is remotely relevant to buying a clock.


Kabbes, you know what she meant 

Haggling is the artform of negotiating over price! Different arena, but same principles.

In a souk/ medina its about being supremely confident- which is difficult because the vendor is on his home turf. You need to know how much you want to pay-  the game is in you both finessing the each other into blinking first.


----------



## kabbes (May 9, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Kabbes, you know what she meant
> 
> Haggling is the artform of negotiating over price! Different arena, but same principles.


Yes, I know what she meant but no, I completely disagree with what she meant, which is why I posted what I did.



> In a souk/ medina its about being supremely confident- which is difficult because the vendor is on his home turf. You need to know how much you want to pay-  the game is in you both finessing the each other into blinking first.


Right, and this style of negotiation does not necessarily have anything to do with business.  Yes, if you want a car salesman then he or she will probably prove to be quite good at this.  But proper, higher-level business?  No -- that is done in meeting rooms with presentations, computer models and figures.  Not by outstaring each other.


----------



## kabbes (May 9, 2008)

_angel_ said:


> Haggling in general must come into business negotiations, regardless of the setting.


Define "haggling".  Not market-style face-to-face "sell me this clock now or I'm walking away" style haggling, no.  Not necessarily, at least.  It depends on the business.


----------



## Melinda (May 9, 2008)

If you are selling you want the best price, with the highest margin.
If you are buying you want the best price, as close to cost as possible.

Whether you are talking barrels of oil, sacks of grain or alarm clocks in a market-  what you do is present your position, then haggle.


----------



## kabbes (May 9, 2008)

Melinda said:


> If you are selling you want the best price, with the highest margin.
> If you are buying you want the best price, as close to cost as possible.
> 
> Whether you are talking barrels of oil, sacks of grain or alarm clocks in a market-  what you do is present your position, then haggle.


That's not an answer.  And it demonstrates a lack of understanding of what business negotiation actually involves.

Right, so.  You're buying my insurance company.  How are you going to haggle on that one?  What's your strategy?  And what similarities does that have to buying a clock?  Merely saying "you haggle" doesn't even begin to describe the first iota of what is involved.  It's a linguistic trick, to avoid actually describing what is really happening.


----------



## Gromit (May 9, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Yes, I know what she meant but no, I completely disagree with what she meant, which is why I posted what I did.
> 
> Right, and this style of negotiation does not necessarily have anything to do with business.  Yes, if you want a car salesman then he or she will probably prove to be quite good at this.  But proper, higher-level business?  No -- that is done in meeting rooms with presentations, computer models and figures.  Not by outstaring each other.



Haggling is just another name for negotiation. 

If you show a reluctance or inepitude to haggle for best price in a market then how am I suppose to have confidence in you getting the very deal for me in big business? Its the difference between those who make 4 million in a big deal and those who make 4.2 million because they didn't give in on the price early just to close the deal. Those .2's add up.


----------



## jæd (May 9, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Right, and this style of negotiation does not necessarily have anything to do with business.  Yes, if you want a car salesman then he or she will probably prove to be quite good at this.  But proper, higher-level business?  No -- that is done in meeting rooms with presentations, computer models and figures.  Not by outstaring each other.



Since when was Apprentice about anything remotely like "business"...?


----------



## Melinda (May 9, 2008)

kabbes said:


> That's not an answer.  And it demonstrates a lack of understanding of what business negotiation actually involves.
> 
> Right, so.  You're buying my insurance company.  How are you going to haggle on that one?  What's your strategy?  And what similarities does that have to buying a clock?  Merely saying "you haggle" doesn't even begin to describe the first iota of what is involved.  It's a linguistic trick, to avoid actually describing what is really happening.


Right Im buying you're insurance company- do I pay the first price you come up with?  Or do I negotiate? 

You think there is no strategy involved in face to face haggling in a medina?

You are being needlessly pedantic.


----------



## Melinda (May 9, 2008)

Marius said:


> Haggling is just another name for negotiation.
> 
> If you show a reluctance or inepitude to haggle for best price in a market then how am I suppose to have confidence in you getting the very deal for me in big business? Its the difference between those who make 4 million in a big deal and those who make 4.2 million because they didn't give in on the price early just to close the deal. Those .2's add up.


Thank you!


----------



## kabbes (May 9, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Right Im buying you're insurance company- do I pay the first price you come up with?  Or do I negotiate?


Don't be ridiculous.  You think that I just come to the table with a price and we argue about it?  You think that I even come to the table with a price _at all_?  It goes to tender to the wider market place, there is a first round where numbers are whittled down.  There is a second round where detailed due diligence work is done and a final bid presented.  There is no haggling about the price at any point -- you make your offer and others do the same.



> You think there is no strategy involved in face to face haggling in a medina?


No, you're the one who implicitly seems to think that, or at least seems to think that it is the exact same strategy.  I'm saying that it is a *completely different style* of strategy, that bears very little relation.  As such, it is no measure of somebody's negotiating ability in a very different circumstance.



> You are being needlessly pedantic.


No, you are being needlessly myopic in your view of what constitutes types of negotiation.


----------



## kabbes (May 9, 2008)

jæd said:


> Since when was Apprentice about anything remotely like "business"...?


Well, that's kind of my point.  It's a game show, and an entertaining one at that.


----------



## kabbes (May 9, 2008)

Marius said:


> Haggling is just another name for negotiation.
> 
> If you show a reluctance or inepitude to haggle for best price in a market then how am I suppose to have confidence in you getting the very deal for me in big business? Its the difference between those who make 4 million in a big deal and those who make 4.2 million because they didn't give in on the price early just to close the deal. Those .2's add up.


It all depends on the type of negotiation you are doing.

Or frankly, if you are even negotiating at all.  Lots of people in business leave the actual negotiation on a real "haggling-style" deal to experts that they employ for precisely that reason.  We have a whole team of them to deal with the bits of our business that DO need this style of negotiation.


----------



## Melinda (May 9, 2008)

FFS, why are we arguing here? 

We were talking about *basic negotiation skills *here, these skills are transferable. That is what _angel_ was referring to. I understood that, as have others. 

Its you trying to be 'the big I am' who is missing the point.


----------



## jæd (May 9, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Well, that's kind of my point.  It's a game show, and an entertaining one at that.







kabbes said:


> It all depends on the type of negotiation you are doing.



Well, yes. "Negotiating" is huge area, and there are various different strategies, etc, for different types to it.... Saying its done in x or y way for all negotiations is huge, Apprentice-style, generalisation...


----------



## kabbes (May 9, 2008)

Melinda said:


> FFS, why are we arguing here?
> 
> We were talking about *basic negotiation skills *here, these skills are transferable. That is what _angel_ was referring to. I understood that, as have others.
> 
> Its you trying to be 'the big I am' who is missing the point.


No, I merely made the point that although "basic negotiation skills" may be transferrable, *there is no reason that a businessperson should necessarily have developed them (as they apply to haggling in a market, in any rate) *.  It was YOU that took issue with my pointing out this simple fact and then precipitated the argument by rolling your eyes at me and calling me "needlessly pedantic".  Very helpful, that was.


----------



## _angel_ (May 9, 2008)

kabbes said:


> No, I merely made the point that although "basic negotiation skills" may be transferrable, *there is no reason that a businessperson should necessarily have developed them (as they apply to haggling in a market, in any rate) *.  It was YOU that took issue with my pointing out this simple fact and then precipitated the argument by rolling your eyes at me and calling me "needlessly pedantic".  Very helpful, that was.


----------



## kabbes (May 9, 2008)

A small red cross in an embedded border?  Interesting, but I can't see the relevance, unfortunately.


----------



## _angel_ (May 9, 2008)

works fine for me


----------



## kabbes (May 9, 2008)

Ah, now I see it.  And a very attractive image it is too.


----------



## isvicthere? (May 9, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Why?  What kind of business involves haggling in a market?
> 
> I'm regularly involved in negotiations worth multiple millions but I wouldn't have a clue about haggling for a £5 clock. .



Kabbes, call me a cynic, but I think the foregoing has less to do with the ostensible subject of haggling than with an attempt to make yourself look like a serious hard-dealing "go-getter".


----------



## ymu (May 9, 2008)

kabbes, you're being remarkably obtuse for a man of your brains.

When you sort out the numbers and put in a bid, you're deciding how much the company is worth to you, presumably based on its assets, turnover and projected future profits. So you work out how much you want to pay for it, plus any other non-monetary sweeteners you can add, and hope that your bid is accepted above the competition.

In a haggling situation, you have to go through much the same process. Decide what it's worth to you and try to get it for that. You know he will try to get more, so you start with a lower offer - maybe 50% of what you want to pay; fairly extreme, but not a silly offer kind of thing. Then you go from there, always shifting up from your starting offer and never down from his counter-offer. If you can offer to send more business his way, or come back the following week, or anything else that might help persuade him, go for it. Then just hope that he will accept an offer at or below the price you want to pay.

There is one significant technique in haggling that I suspect might also apply in certain "business" situations, if you were acting for a large company were seeking to contract services and there were several companies that could fulfill your requirements. Back to haggling, if there is more than one vendor you could acquire the goods from, you can go back and forth with the best offers. In this case you _do_ start from their starting offer, but you force them to haggle _each other_ down to the best possible price. 

I used the latter technique with freebie non-independent financial advisors when I got my first mortgage. I saved a fortune compared to their initial best offers, summat like £170/month on a £280/month (eventual) mortgage payment.


----------



## spanglechick (May 9, 2008)

this thread has become boring.

i come here for bitching and pisstaking, not nit picking.

so stfu, thanks.xx


----------



## Sweaty Betty (May 9, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> this thread has become boring.
> 
> i come here for bitching and pisstaking, not nit picking.
> 
> so stfu, thanks.xx



word

Alex is not a stud and michael needs a but plug


----------



## LilMissHissyFit (May 10, 2008)

jugularvein said:


> i went to university with micheal and bumped into him in the pub the other day. refused to tell me who won so no trip to the bookies unfortunately



Sir Alan reckons it hasnt been filmed yet ( he was on jonanthan ross tonight)
so michael wont know....


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 11, 2008)

What I want to know is how fucking stupid do you have to be to cheat when theres a bleeding camera crew there!!


----------



## spanglechick (May 11, 2008)

bouncer_the_dog said:


> What I want to know is how fucking stupid do you have to be to cheat when theres a bleeding camera crew there!!



you have to think that maybe they thought suralan would think it showed commendable initiative,  certainly jenny owned up to it with pride in the boardroom.

i've realised, though.  she's proper bloody thick.  it pains me to say it about a red headed woman - i always imagine they are utterly fab - but with the eco card bollocks and the kosher cockup - she's plainly special needs...


----------



## _angel_ (May 11, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> you have to think that maybe they thought suralan would think it showed commendable initiative,  certainly jenny owned up to it with pride in the boardroom.
> 
> *i've realised, though.  she's proper bloody thick.*  it pains me to say it about a red headed woman - i always imagine they are utterly fab - but with the eco card bollocks and the kosher cockup - she's plainly special needs...



The kosher/ halal cock up as well! That was enough reason to fire her alone!


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 11, 2008)

"I'm a good jewish boy"
"then ahh come you dan't knaa wot a Kosher chicken is??"
*gulp*  "erm er I'm half jewish"


----------



## Epico (May 14, 2008)

So, another week another episode.

Michael Sophocles is an odious turd.


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 14, 2008)

raef and alex would pass the cheesypoof test


----------



## aqua (May 14, 2008)

how was that underwear "classy"?


----------



## Melinda (May 14, 2008)

Those coloured dresses!


----------



## trashpony (May 14, 2008)

aqua said:


> how was that underwear "classy"?



I'm glad you said that


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 14, 2008)

I'd be selling fatties dresses and cake myself..


----------



## moomoo (May 14, 2008)

aqua said:


> how was that underwear "classy"?


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 14, 2008)

Raef in the bear costume


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 14, 2008)

I wouldn't be selling DULL cakes to Dum Dums though...


----------



## Melinda (May 14, 2008)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Raef in the bear costume


Noooooooooooooo!


Michael telling a woman her traditional wedding cake will be dull!


----------



## gaijingirl (May 14, 2008)

Who is this idiot calling that woman a "dumbdumb" because she wouldn't buy his cake because her husband wasn't happy with it...?



ETA  - and trying to persuade her to buy it against her husband-to-be's wishes?


----------



## moomoo (May 14, 2008)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> Raef in the bear costume



Now that was classy!


----------



## spanglechick (May 14, 2008)

michael has to go this week.  no question.


----------



## Melinda (May 14, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> michael has to go this week.  no question.


He's dead in the water.

But Sara was weak too. 


The American Apprentice weekly winners get much better treats/ prizes.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 14, 2008)

oof

pwned


----------



## Epico (May 14, 2008)

Michael or Sara I reckon. Who's to second guess Suralan though.


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 14, 2008)

michael is a bit of a plum. too bloody arrogant, no intellect!


----------



## moomoo (May 14, 2008)

Cheesypoof said:


> michael is a bit of a plum. too bloody arrogant, no intellect!



I bet he knows you should use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence though.


----------



## spanglechick (May 14, 2008)

i missed how much the losers made...  alpha got £5k ish...?


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 14, 2008)

sophocles is *TOAST*


----------



## Epico (May 14, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> i missed how much the losers made...  alpha got £5k ish...?



About £1.5k-ish


----------



## DJ Squelch (May 14, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> i missed how much the losers made...  alpha got £5k ish...?


that got about £1.5k - 5 dresses no cake 

michael to go please


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 14, 2008)

moomoo said:


> I bet he knows you should use a capital letter at the beginning of a sentence though.



i seriously doubt that, watch him closely moomoo


----------



## spanglechick (May 14, 2008)

ouch.

but also alex on 6 losing teams => mega ouch.

losser!


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 14, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> ouch.
> 
> but also alex on 6 losing teams => mega ouch.
> 
> losser!




michael oozes tacky hardnosed telesales. He's good in his niche but out of his depth here. He doesnt have what it takes to be The Apprentice. Raef, Claire and Alex however, do.


----------



## stretchy18 (May 14, 2008)

Bloke needs to go swirming lying toad, followed by the asian chick


----------



## spanglechick (May 14, 2008)

Cheesypoof said:


> michael oozes tacky hardnosed telesales. He's good in his niche but out of his depth here. He doesnt have what it takes to be The Apprentice. Raef, Claire and Alex however, do.



christ no! claire's godawful! did you see her haggling last week?

and she's no badger.


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 14, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> christ no! claire's godawful! did you see her haggling last week?
> 
> and she's no badger.



in order of talent

1. Raef (who i am 99% sure will win)
2. Alex (good all rounder)
5. Claire (she is the next best after the top two there, but i think they will be in the final)


----------



## spanglechick (May 14, 2008)

bloody hell - sara?


----------



## Melinda (May 14, 2008)

Im not begging, but... *begs*


----------



## DJ Squelch (May 14, 2008)

nnooooooooooo the greasy little turd has escaped.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 14, 2008)

Gosh its amazing how far abject grovelling will get you...


----------



## trashpony (May 14, 2008)

He should have got rid of Michael too while he had the chance.


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 14, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> bloody hell - sara?



i agreed with that decision. Sara just talked AT people and is bad at reading people. Empathy is really important for sales. And yes, she was too defensive.


----------



## Melinda (May 14, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> bloody hell - sara?


She is awful in the Boardroom. Her voice is irritating.


----------



## spanglechick (May 14, 2008)

mind you - what she's saying in the taxi is telling.  'i can't be a team player'?

maybe the edit was kind to her...


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 14, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> mind you - what she's saying in the taxi is telling.  'i can't be a team player'?
> 
> maybe the edit was kind to her...



who do you think will win ms spangles?


----------



## spanglechick (May 14, 2008)

raef is the only one capable - but he's never chosen my favourite finalist yet.


----------



## Epico (May 14, 2008)

Cheesypoof said:


> who do you think will win ms spangles?



You would, if you were in it, cheesy.


----------



## moomoo (May 14, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Im not begging, but... *begs*




Ugh, I can't bear watching men grovel!


----------



## Epico (May 14, 2008)

moomoo said:


> Ugh, I can't bear watching men grovel!



Don't say that moomoo...

Please don't say that...........


----------



## moomoo (May 14, 2008)

Epico said:


> Don't say that moomoo...
> 
> Please don't say that...........


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 14, 2008)

Epico said:


> You would, if you were in it, cheesy.



thats true. I am sending in my application next year


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 14, 2008)

Raef has got to win, but it would be a bit obvious frm a TV pov.  

According to surallun on telly the other night it hasn't been filmed yet though, so we shall see....


----------



## moomoo (May 14, 2008)

Cheesypoof said:


> thats true. I am sending in my application next year



Remember your capital letters on the form then.


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 14, 2008)

moomoo said:


> Remember your capital letters on the form then.



Sorry moomoo! Of course


----------



## moomoo (May 14, 2008)

Cheesypoof said:


> Sorry moomoo! Of course




Good girl.  You'll go far. 


(((((Sirallun)))))


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 14, 2008)

Cheesypoof said:


> thats true. I am sending in my application next year





then so am i..see you in the boardroom!!


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 14, 2008)

bouncer_the_dog said:


> then so am i..see you in the boardroom!!



Wicked!!!


----------



## electrogirl (May 15, 2008)

ugh does suralan want to bone Michael or something?

i think he can't resist those puppy dog eyes.

begrudgingly i thought claire was quite good this week, and nicer, maybe she's learning...


----------



## madamv (May 15, 2008)

I thought that too eg.   Claire seems to have softened and started being nice to punters.   Perhaps it was the romantic girly in her - selling wedding dresses.  

Lucinda is quietly bubbling away.....  I wouldnt be suprised to see her reach the end.  Raef gets on my tits, he cant relate to the common man imo, and michael  ewwwwwwwwwwww


----------



## Melinda (May 15, 2008)

madamv said:


> Raef gets on my tits, he cant relate to the common man imo


 Did you see him throwing bear shapes in the bathroom?


Sorry! 

*Raef FTW!*
*Team Lucinda since April 2008*


----------



## Miss Potter (May 15, 2008)

I thought Nick looked fairly shocked when he realised AMS had changed his mind about firing Michael. I was fucking livid


----------



## kabbes (May 15, 2008)

This week, the key people were:

* Lucinda, for once again showing how to manage a team to make the best of everybody's strengths and making the right calls, even where those calls involved trusting the judgement of others..
* Raef, for one key decision alone -- he was the one that stuck his neck out in favour of the expensive dresses
* Lee, who showed how you actually sell -- make friends, be nice, laugh and don't take it too seriously
* Claire, who also exemplified the more soft sales technique.

In other words, the whole of Alpha did well (and it was Lucinda's management that allowed the whole of the team to do well.)

People who crapped up badly:

* Helene, who is a dreadful, dreadful manager.  She overrode people again.  She didn't trust them again.  She tried to do it all herself again.  She made awful decisions again.  It was her call and her call alone to pick those shitty niche dresses (which, in turn, lost her the accessories).  It was her call to put two dreadful hard-sellers to sell the cakes and she totally failed to split them up when she could see that it wasn't working.  She doesn't have a clue.
* Michael, who doesn't have merely an overinflated opinion of himself, he is absolutely deluded into thinking he is the polar opposite of the true situation.  He was the one that made a lot of the suggestions that turned out to be disastrous (such as splitting the dress-buying teams).  Which is what happens every week.  He's crap and has never been anything other than crap.
* Sara, who as already said has no empathy... with all the corresponding problems that brings.  I didn't think that in this task she was as bad as Helene or Michael but she still was awful plus she has been consistently useless, so no surprise to see her go.

The only member of Helene's team that did OK was Alex.

Those calling for an Alex win -- what has he actually done *ever in the whole series* that has been noticeably good?  He's been a solid enough performer but one with no great imagination or verve.  There's a reason that he is consistently in the losing team -- he keeps to himself, doesn't suggest much of worth and happily watches it all go tits up with no ability to salvage the situation.  He's OK if told to get on with a task but he's no great shakes.

For me, the consistently best performers have been Raef and Lee, who have both shown ability to correctly make key decisions at key moments, and Lucinda, who has shown management abilities in a different league to the rest of them.  Claire is OK, but her weaknesses are too critical and she is not aware of them.  Alex is mediocre and Helene and Michael are just bad.

I'd like to see a Lucinda vs Raef final.


----------



## wishface (May 15, 2008)

Michael has a massive chip on his shoulder. He also seems to have the luck of the fucking irish.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 15, 2008)

Lets not forget that Michael came up with 'segmented pizza' as opposed to 'a pizza we cut in half'


----------



## Paul Russell (May 15, 2008)

kabbes said:


> This week, the key people were:
> 
> [snip]



Missed last night's episode, but over the whole series I would agree with just about all of that, although Lee's vicious streak is a bit worrying. I thought that Lee really laid into Sara at one point, but funnily enough, see seems to come out of the house thinking he was OK...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/portal/main.jhtml?xml=/portal/2008/05/15/ftapprentice115.xml

"At least with eviction comes the chance of settling a few scores. Sara gives her verdicts: Lucinda? "Quirky, great fun." Claire? "Loud. In your face." Raef? "True gentleman, fantastic guy." Lee? "Fun. Makes all sorts of expressions." Helene? "Quite scary." Michael? "Useless." Alex? "A bit slimy.""


----------



## girasol (May 15, 2008)

Said it before, will say it again: Raef to win   He's such a nice man.

I like Clare too, I could work with her.


----------



## electrogirl (May 15, 2008)

Iemanja said:


> I like Clare too, I could work with her.



she was much better last night but i still think she's the person i could _least_ work with!


----------



## May Kasahara (May 15, 2008)

I think Michael would benefit from some spade/head interfacing.


----------



## Part 2 (May 15, 2008)

His grovelling last night was a treat though.

It was like he'd practised saying it. "Oh but pwease suralan, just give me another chance to be project manager"

On the other hand I'm getting a bit sick of it being the stock phrase to weedle out of being fired.


----------



## Artie Fufkin (May 15, 2008)

not enough of margaret or nick last night


----------



## Mrs Miggins (May 15, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> I think Michael would benefit from some spade/head interfacing.



He was soooo obnoxious last night when people wouldn't buy those hugely expensive cakes. And he seems completley dishonest to me. Always trying to say he said something he didn't actually say in order to save his bacon.

"Central London is near North London" was a classic though 

Still, I'm glad Sara's gone, she was incredibly rude and aggressive as well.


----------



## electrogirl (May 15, 2008)

Mrs Miggins said:


> Still, I'm glad Sara's gone, she was incredibly rude and aggressive as well.



i loved it when she stropped off cos they wouldn't commit to a payment.

what a dick!


----------



## Melinda (May 15, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> I think Michael would benefit from some spade/head interfacing.


Yeehaw! 
*Returns MayKay's high five*


----------



## Mrs Miggins (May 15, 2008)

electrogirl said:


> i loved it when she stropped off cos they wouldn't commit to a payment.



Daft cow 
"we don't want your cake!"
"well just let me take a deposit - you like the taste right and that's the most important thing right - GIVE ME A DEPOSIT"


----------



## kabbes (May 15, 2008)

Paul Russell said:


> ... although Lee's vicious streak is a bit worrying. I thought that Lee really laid into Sara at one point, but funnily enough, see seems to come out of the house thinking he was OK...


Aye, it is.  Although, to be fair, that really does seem to have been a completely isolated incident.  A deeply unpleasant isolated incident and maybe one that he doesn't deserve to recover from, but a single incident nonetheless.


----------



## jæd (May 15, 2008)

Mrs Miggins said:


> "well just let me take a deposit - you like the taste right and that's the most important thing right - GIVE ME A DEPOSIT"



People don't buy Wedding Cakes. Its just hugely overpriced fruit-cake. People buy it because its (a) traditional and (b) looks good.

Deserves to be sacked for not realising why people buy the product... 

Its a bit like trying to sell a Wedding Dress based on it being hard-wearing and durable...


----------



## wishface (May 15, 2008)

The cake is a lie.


----------



## Mrs Miggins (May 15, 2008)

jæd said:


> People don't buy Wedding Cakes [because of the taste?]. Its just hugely overpriced fruit-cake. People buy it because its (a) traditional and (b) looks good.



Quite 
Big, expensive weddings are all about showing off anyway IMO
Spend £600 on a cake?  you need your fucking bumps feeling


----------



## aqua (May 15, 2008)

Mrs Miggins said:


> Spend £600 on a cake?  you need your fucking bumps feeling



nope it's no good, can't let that one slip  £600 was quote for a 5 tier cake - have you any idea how much time goes into that? or don't you think talented people should be paid minimum wage? let alone a proper wage?


----------



## tommers (May 15, 2008)

aqua said:


> nope it's no good, can't let that one slip  £600 was quote for a 5 tier cake - have you any idea how much time goes into that? or don't you think talented people should be paid minimum wage? let alone a proper wage?



5 battenburgs with matchsticks as stilts to hold them up.

done.


----------



## Mrs Miggins (May 15, 2008)

aqua said:


> nope it's no good, can't let that one slip  £600 was quote for a 5 tier cake - have you any idea how much time goes into that? or don't you think talented people should be paid minimum wage? let alone a proper wage?



I'm not saying it's not worth it in terms of the work that goes into it...I just couldn't bring myself to spend £600 on a cake!

It just amuses me when people moan about how much their wedding is costing when they don't actually _have_ to spend that much.


----------



## ymu (May 15, 2008)

Slightly crappy episode with nothing majorly stupid going wrong. It was always going to come down to which team secured the best products. The winning team was criticised during the day for choosing a high-end range for the wrong market, but that's what won it for them - at which point the losing team were criticised for not choosing the high-end range, because it was suddenly the obvious best choice.


----------



## Melinda (May 15, 2008)

aqua said:


> nope it's no good, can't let that one slip  £600 was quote for a 5 tier cake - have you any idea how much time goes into that? or don't you think talented people should be paid minimum wage? let alone a proper wage?


 YOU GO GIRL... etc!


----------



## LJo (May 15, 2008)

I hate Lee.

I hate anyone who repeatedly shouts "COME ON! YES!" for no reason.

I bet he stares in the mirror every morning and shouts: "I'M A TIGER! A TIGER!"

In the words of the great Clive James, I want to throw a tarpaulin over him and nail down the corners.


----------



## Paul Russell (May 15, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Aye, it is.  Although, to be fair, that really does seem to have been a completely isolated incident.  A deeply unpleasant isolated incident and maybe one that he doesn't deserve to recover from, but a single incident nonetheless.



Wasn't Lee quite aggressive in one of the earlier episodes? Quite a bit of aggressive fucking swearing while talking to someone??


----------



## madamv (May 15, 2008)

Yup he was, and for similar reasons Michael grates on me...


----------



## T & P (May 15, 2008)

Regardless of Michael's grovelling act I somehow doubt Sugar was going to fire two people again... I'm sure it's all scripted to a degree and the makers of the programme wouldn't be too pleased about Sugar regularly fired two people and shortened the series.


----------



## ebay sex moomin (May 15, 2008)

kabbes said:


> This week, the key people were:
> 
> * Lucinda, for once again showing how to manage a team to make the best of everybody's strengths and making the right calls, even where those calls involved trusting the judgement of others..
> * Raef, for one key decision alone -- he was the one that stuck his neck out in favour of the expensive dresses
> ...


I was going to add a comment, but this, plus the rest of your post, sums it up perfectly for me.

I was dead against Claire earlier in the series- _hated_ the way she (imo) undermined Simon, but I really like the way she's apparently toned down the more confrontational aspects of her personality.

I'd also like to see Raef v Lucinda in the final. I like both a lot- I think Raef will probably win, but I'd be happy with either. In fact, if any of the four you mentioned won, I'd not be disappointed.


----------



## Mrs Miggins (May 16, 2008)

Paul Russell said:


> Wasn't Lee quite aggressive in one of the earlier episodes? Quite a bit of aggressive fucking swearing while talking to someone??


Yes - Raef was quite disgusted


----------



## Gromit (May 16, 2008)

What I didn't like is the way Sir Alan said to Raef are you taking full responsibility for that decision in a you'll get fired if it doesn't pay off its all your fault way. 

It paid off big time. Does he get full credit for winning the task? No one else gets credit? Thats how I think it should be if they are pinning it on that. 

Plus even if it failed. Doesnt Sir Alan take the occasional big risk that fails? Surely he doesn't play it safe all the time and always gets it right if doesn't play it safe. Yes it was a risky decision but not foolishly un-thought out I thought.


----------



## aqua (May 21, 2008)

here we go again


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 21, 2008)

So, we've got a group of people capable of staggering amounts of bullshit getting involved in advertising 

This is gonna be good


----------



## aqua (May 21, 2008)

I think I do really like Raef


----------



## mrsfran (May 21, 2008)

Enjoying the Raef and Michael double-act.


----------



## mrsfran (May 21, 2008)

aqua said:


> I think I do really like Raef


 
He's just so charming.


----------



## killer b (May 21, 2008)

fucking hell... raef's team is going to clean up by the looks of it.


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 21, 2008)

OMG - Lee's screwing up big time!


----------



## May Kasahara (May 21, 2008)

oh god

that presentation brought me out in hives


----------



## killer b (May 21, 2008)

what's 'the female genre' that cunt was on about?


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 21, 2008)

This boardroom should be fun


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 21, 2008)

poor Lee


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 21, 2008)

Alex is *TOAST*


mind you "I do buy a lot of Tissues"

'cos you're sniffling so much?


----------



## killer b (May 21, 2008)

that was a turn up!


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (May 21, 2008)

bye Bye Michael


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 21, 2008)

curse you edit


----------



## zoooo (May 21, 2008)

That's so unfair 

The losers' advert AND presentation were way better than the winners'.

Stoopid.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 21, 2008)

"I'm not going to lie and backstab"

<lies and backstabs>


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 21, 2008)

Nooooooooooooooooooo!!!


----------



## killer b (May 21, 2008)

as if!


----------



## trashpony (May 21, 2008)

nooooooooooooooooooooooooooo - you're a fooool suralan


----------



## Hassan I Sabha (May 21, 2008)

!


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 21, 2008)

What the fuck?

You're an idiot Surallun


----------



## mrsfran (May 21, 2008)

oh noez   ((((Raef))))


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 21, 2008)

gosh!


----------



## ebay sex moomin (May 21, 2008)

gutted 

I'll amend my tagline after 'you're fired!'

e2a- tagline was formerly 'Raef FTW!'


----------



## vogonity (May 21, 2008)

Not Raef! Wrong!


----------



## moomoo (May 21, 2008)

*Speechless*


----------



## May Kasahara (May 21, 2008)

And it was such a great opportunity to get rid of Michael as well.


----------



## aqua (May 21, 2008)

I'm gutted  why is michael still there?


----------



## weltweit (May 21, 2008)

Lets face facts Raef was never going to win. I mean one thing Sir Alan does not do in people is pompous and that is Raef to a Tee.


----------



## weltweit (May 21, 2008)

I wonder whether the contestants to this show do any research at all before going on it. In previous versions of the apprentice it has been made clear that in advertising and the like Sir Alan likes direct clear and simple communications which focus on the features and benefits of the product. 

Back when he was selling Amstrad computers sometimes the adverts would be as simple as a picture of a Compaq with the price on it next to a picture of an Amstrad with the (lower) price on it. 

What he does not like is arty farty .. and that is exactly what Raef and his team delivered. No features and benefits and BRAND name, just a few flashes of unnamed tissue during the advert. 

Raef could have sold plently of school children with his Ad but not tissues !!


----------



## moomoo (May 21, 2008)

Bloody hell weltweit, stop being so sensible.

Never mind all that!  Raef was fit dammit.


----------



## killer b (May 21, 2008)

so who is going to win now? all the people left are utterly clueless...


----------



## weltweit (May 21, 2008)

killer b said:


> so who is going to win now? all the people left are utterly clueless...



I agree, now he can only have the best of a poor bunch .. 

not much of a choice


----------



## weltweit (May 21, 2008)

moomoo said:


> ... Never mind all that!  Raef was fit dammit.



Raef ... fit ... not from where I was sitting !! :-/


----------



## Treacle Toes (May 21, 2008)

moomoo said:


> Never mind all that!  Raef was fit dammit.



He's a good looking bloke but  the word 'fit' and Raef are not obvious bedfellows in my mind.

Micheal has to go though, I think Alan is saving him for his first on-screen-kick up-the-backside-out-of-the-boardroom episode.


----------



## moomoo (May 21, 2008)

Sorry, fit means good looking in the moomoo household.


----------



## Treacle Toes (May 21, 2008)

moomoo said:


> Sorry, fit means good looking in the moomoo household.



Err I know. That's what I mean!


----------



## moomoo (May 21, 2008)

Rutita1 said:


> Err I know. That's what I mean!



Oh, sorry! 

I have to admit he's grown on me since the start of the series.


----------



## Epico (May 21, 2008)

I'm still a bit shocked.

Didn't watch the entire thing as we were focused on the football, but I think Sir Alan has well displayed this year why he's no Donald Trump in terms of resources - if this is an indication of his how he judges character.


----------



## wishface (May 21, 2008)

Adrian Chiles not Michale's biggest fan then!


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 21, 2008)

when i was a journalism student, i did my work experience at Conde Nast,  the mags were Vogue and Glamour, and I worked with Jo Elvin from Glamour mag, for a few weeks. I had to do an interview to get the work experience and I am glad that she believed in me. She was the Aussie on the post mortem show speaking to Raef there. She was so nice, hardly ever there, but when she was i really liked her and i think she liked me because i am very outspoken, thats why i got in in the first place over the other burds that applied. She took on board all my criticisms of her mag and published two pages i wrote for Glamour with credits, when i was just 23. 

womens mags are good fun when you are starting out as a journalist. 

(((womens mags)))


----------



## tommers (May 21, 2008)

Cheesypoof said:


> when i was a journalism student, i did my work experience at Conde Nast,  the mags were Vogue and Glamour, and I worked with Jo Elvin from Glamour mag, for a few weeks. I had to do an interview to get the work experience and I am glad that she believed in me. She was the Aussie on the post mortem show speaking to Raef there. She was so nice, hardly ever there, but when she was i really liked her and i think she liked me because i am very outspoken, thats why i got in in the first place over the other burds that applied. She took on board all my criticisms of her mag and published two pages i wrote for Glamour with credits, when i was just 23.
> 
> womens mags are good fun when you are starting out as a journalist.
> 
> (((womens mags)))



so you worked for conde nast?    thanks for sharing.


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 21, 2008)

tommers said:


> so you worked for conde nast?    thanks for sharing.




yeh i dont care either.


----------



## Gromit (May 22, 2008)

What the hell happened there?

SurAlun has obviously taken a personal dislike to posh Raef and used this week as an excuse.


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 22, 2008)

Marius said:


> What the hell happened there?
> 
> SurAlun has obviously taken a personal dislike to posh Raef and used this week as an excuse.



yeh micheal shoulda been fired.


----------



## ymu (May 22, 2008)

"How could you fall for such an odious little twat?"

Spot on Adrian.


----------



## jasoon (May 22, 2008)

I knw someone who's been told who wins through a media colleague right before the series started ('reliable' source), but saw when A.Sugar was on JR the other week ,that he mentioned that the winner wasn't decided till the week before, so how far in advance is the show filmed, can't be a week can it


----------



## tommers (May 22, 2008)

jasoon said:


> I knw someone who's been told who wins through a media colleague right before the series started ('reliable' source), but saw when A.Sugar was on JR the other week ,that he mentioned that the winner wasn't decided till the week before, so how far in advance is the show filmed, can't be a week can it



I have heard that they film two endings for the final and decide in the week before it goes out...


----------



## Cheesypoof (May 22, 2008)

jasoon said:


> I knw someone who's been told who wins through a media colleague right before the series started ('reliable' source), but saw when A.Sugar was on JR the other week ,that he mentioned that the winner wasn't decided till the week before, so how far in advance is the show filmed, can't be a week can it



bollocks. i work in the media scum of scum like yer pal and this theory holds no water. dont listen to this. please, siralan is serious about it, and he really is looking for an apprentice.


----------



## jasoon (May 22, 2008)

Well he mentioned who wins a few weeks back, bloody spoiled it for me, and he was adamant, but hope you're right...and if he is right, I'll place a rather large bet next year at the start  ... at the moment the name he has given is looking very likely so guess it could be true


----------



## killer b (May 22, 2008)

Cheesypoof said:


> bollocks. i work in the media scum of scum like yer pal and this theory holds no water. dont listen to this. please, siralan is serious about it, and he really is looking for an apprentice.


bless.


----------



## Part 2 (May 22, 2008)

In the Mirror the other day it said he leaves 4 people to the final show.

I'm looking forward to the one where sugars mates interview them, always brings out a few surprises.

Lee was a bit aggressive again tonight, my money's on a past conviction for violence/public order.


----------



## Gromit (May 22, 2008)

The more I think about it the more the conspiracy theorist in me beleives Sir alan wanted Raef out and this week was his chance to engineer it. 

Instead of pitting him against Michael he pairs them up. He assigns Raef as PM on a subjective task. He can make the result anything he wants as there is no profit line involved. Its purely subjective. Raef was out no matter what. Sir Alan didn't want to work with him or thought Raef would trundle off into media as he'd probably do quite well and would be sought after. 

Sir Alan was also very wrong about having to bang on about the product all the way through. Look at the gorrila playing Phol Collins ad. That only mentions the product at the end and yet that add went viral and raise dairy milk's profile massively. My mother said she'd have bought I Love My Tissues and liked the name and I can see other women liking the branding too (they are soft like that, ooh look hearts, pretty). Take I can't believe its not butter, stupid name and it sells like hotcakrscon the strength of the name alone.

Their only one big crime was not branding the side of the box for a TV close up. Something that with more time and experience would have happened. 

The celebrity endorsement was a bit of a fuck up but I think they were right to drop in editing something that turned out to be ineffective for something that was. Cutting room floor decisions were right and sometimes thats the way the cookie crumbles with creative processes. Give it a go and if its shit admit it and move on even if the material did cost you money. 

Sir Alan has gone down in my estimation this series. Cant see past his own prejudices. Doesnt like Raef's airs and graces so he had to go. I don't like em either but I'd employ him.


----------



## catrina (May 22, 2008)

I thought Raef was OK, but last night he did seem to be full of 'a lot of hot air.' Michael, however much I dislike him, was not being so offensive last night. 

The girl with the PhD got sacked early last year because she behaved as if the whole business world/sales was below her. I thought Raef was doing hte same kind of thing last night. It might be because he's posh and advertising is uncouth to him. Fair enough if that's how you feel, but isn't going to get you anywhere in business. Fair result, I think.

Really, I thought Lee's pitch was diabolical, but then after the advert is was quite obvious they were going to win. I can still see 'atisu' in bold print branded on the back of my retinae (sp.?)!


----------



## jæd (May 22, 2008)

If Michael wins, I wonder how long before his former profession is main-stream news...? 

Slimy little shit.


----------



## tommers (May 22, 2008)

jæd said:


> If Michael wins, I wonder how long before his former profession is main-stream news...?
> 
> Slimy little shit.



absolutely.

what previous profession?


----------



## Stigmata (May 22, 2008)

I just googled it- lol


----------



## Part 2 (May 22, 2008)

Last night showed Raef was never gonna win, just not prepared to stoop to the level and be a shit. Could do well in media I suppose, a likeable enough bloke.

I reckon Alex did ok last night, Lucinda has done her bit now and was back to her old whiney self, she doesn't like being managed and I can't see sugar wanting a manager, which is what she's shown to be good at.

Michael must surely go before the final.

That leaves Alex, Lee, Claire and Helene for the last show.


----------



## Dovydaitis (May 22, 2008)

tommers said:


> absolutely.
> 
> what previous profession?



snivelling idiot perhaps????

i preferred the i love my tissues ad far more than the other one (plus the box would go in my dressing room ) and i could see where they were going with it. i mean look how popupar the gold blend and oxo ad's were!

wrong team won

just googled his former profession!!!!!!!!!!!!!


----------



## maximilian ping (May 22, 2008)

they are all crapper than crap. can AS decide to fire them all?


----------



## killer b (May 22, 2008)

much as it pains me to say it, claire is the only one who looks even vaguely likely as a winner from that lot...


----------



## tommers (May 22, 2008)

male escort eh?

that's an unlikely one.

he's also been to stage school. 

ugh.  can't stand him the little dead eyed shit.


----------



## ymu (May 22, 2008)

tommers said:


> the little dead eyed shit.


That's rather a good description. There's something very wrong about Michael.


----------



## ruffneck23 (May 22, 2008)

wasnt michael the one who claimed he was ' half jewish '   ? if that is the case can anything he puts on his cv etc be believed ?


----------



## vogonity (May 22, 2008)

Imagine Michael getting his arse kicked in the last 4's interview round: that would be amusing...


----------



## Paul Russell (May 23, 2008)

I had that episode taped to watch Thursday evening, and spent the whole day not looking at news sites, urban, etc. etc. so I didn't find out who was booted (see The Likely Lads and football).

Then I walked into a newsagent to buy a can of fizzy pop and saw a little pic of Raef at the top of the Guardian, and they only interview people when they've got the boot. Bollocks!


----------



## kabbes (May 23, 2008)

I watched it yesterday.

It was obvious to me from very early on that Raef's team was going to lose and only became more apparent as the show went on.  It has been made abundantly clear from series 1 that suralan likes adverts to display the product prominantly and often.  This was no surprise.  

He has a point too.  The winning advert was dire and awful but in style at least it was similar to real tissue adverts.  And they are like this for a reason.  If you want people to remember something, tell them about it seven times in, preferably, seven different ways.  You put your product in the background, you show it in use, you display the logo, you have it mentioned explicitly, you have it referred to implicitly, you make it ALL ABOUT THE PRODUCT.  The winning advert did this and the losing advert did not.

The Phil Collins Cadbury's advert was mentioned earlier -- three things about this.  Firstly and most importantly, Cadbury's is a highly established brand, which people will recognise with the most fleeting of glimpses.  Secondly, that advert is epic in length, which means you can take more liberties with people's attention, since it will be the main focus of any advert break.  Thirdly, the key Cadbury's image is actually very well emphasised -- the trademarked "Cadbury's purple"... and with such a well known brand, that is all you need.  Comparing Raef's effort with that is just not on.

Who was at fault for losing this task?  Raef, without a doubt.  He paired up the teams wholly inappropriately, just because he wanted to play director with Michael.  He made all the decisions about the television edit.  He wanted to do it his way and his way was wrong, both in pure advertising terms but more importantly in terms of his audience... which is suralan and only suralan.

But who should have gone?  Michael.  It has never been about the performance in a single task in any Apprentice firing.  It is always about how they have done over the series.  Michael has *never done one thing well ever* and, furthermore, has *frequently made suggestions that are actively destructive*.  He is actually one of the worst candidates I can remember.  I can't believe he is still there.

Raef went because of suralan's inverted snobbery, pure and simple.  He made up his mind about Raef on Day 1 and has been gutted that no other candidate to date has been willing to go along with his prejudice.  He finally got his chance to fire Raef, so out Raef went.  He would have gone on the first show had there not been an even bigger toff to get rid of instead.

Finally a word about Lucinda -- she came across as whiny on this week's show but she was absolutely right so I don't blame her for being whiny.  Alex's team leadership was awful.  It *was* the two guys sending off the woman so they could giggle by themselves about her.  There is no way that she should have been sent to a location check -- she was the most valuable resource they had.  Lee was the one giving out a load of ideas and Lucinda was the one filtering them, working out how to use them and creating focus (those two work very well together).  Alex should have recognised this and gone to check out location whilst Lucinda and Lee got on with the creative element.


----------



## Lisarocket (May 23, 2008)

tommers said:


> male escort eh?
> 
> that's an unlikely one.





Who in their right mind would pay to spend a night in his company


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 23, 2008)

Lisarocket said:


> Who in their right mind would pay to spend a night in his company



Raif?


----------



## trashpony (May 23, 2008)

bouncer_the_dog said:


> Raif?





That bloke Simon who won last year was a posh bloke too wasn't he? 

I do think Raef deserved to go in some ways because he did cock up this task absolutely. And Sian Lloyd? WTF?


----------



## Gromit (May 23, 2008)

Kabbes, Fair point on the cadbury's advert. You do need to have brand identity already to pull off just and end mention. If building a brand you do need to bang away a bit with the branding. I'll withdraw my comment. I'll put my hands but just give me another chance and you won't regret it.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 23, 2008)

Marius said:


> Kabbes, Fair point on the cadbury's advert. You do need to have brand identity already to pull off just and end mention. If building a brand you do need to bang away a bit with the branding. I'll withdraw my comment. I'll put my hands but just give me another chance and you won't regret it.



You forgot to grovellingly beg to be project manager next time to prove yourself..

this leaves me with no choice...

*YOU'RE FIRED*


----------



## wishface (May 23, 2008)

vogonity said:


> Imagine Michael getting his arse kicked in the last 4's interview round: that would be amusing...


if he makes it to that phase he will be eaten alive with his attitude.


----------



## catrina (May 23, 2008)

wishface said:


> if he makes it to that phase he will be eaten alive with his attitude.



I'm guessing that's the point of why he's still in - good tv at the interview stage!


----------



## Artie Fufkin (May 23, 2008)

catrina said:


> I'm guessing that's the point of why he's still in - good tv at the interview stage!



perhaps the interviewers have begged suralan to keep him in and then they can get tooled up....


----------



## wishface (May 23, 2008)

catrina said:


> I'm guessing that's the point of why he's still in - good tv at the interview stage!


I had wondered.


----------



## zoooo (May 23, 2008)

Simon was middle class. Apparently Alan can deal with that without feeling intimidated.
Raef was just toooo posh.


----------



## Paul Russell (May 27, 2008)

Public Service Announcement:

The Apprentice is on today (Tuesday) this week, not Wednesday...


----------



## Structaural (May 27, 2008)

cheers


----------



## Chairman Meow (May 27, 2008)

catrina said:


> I'm guessing that's the point of why he's still in - good tv at the interview stage!



Oh yes, makes perfect sense. That could be fantastic tv.


----------



## Ms T (May 27, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Finally a word about Lucinda -- she came across as whiny on this week's show but she was absolutely right so I don't blame her for being whiny.  Alex's team leadership was awful.  It *was* the two guys sending off the woman so they could giggle by themselves about her.  There is no way that she should have been sent to a location check -- she was the most valuable resource they had.  Lee was the one giving out a load of ideas and Lucinda was the one filtering them, working out how to use them and creating focus (those two work very well together).  Alex should have recognised this and gone to check out location whilst Lucinda and Lee got on with the creative element.



I totally agree with this analysis.  The trailers for this week's show are a bit worrying as well in that Lee and Alex are being boys together again and Lucinda is left out in the cold.


----------



## Paul Russell (May 27, 2008)

After last week's episode, I don't know who I want to win.

Lucinda was a complete nightmare last week, although I can understand why she was pissed off. Michael is obviously an odious shit. Alex is a bit wishy washy, I suppose he would be an OK Apprentice, and wouldn't cause Siralan any trouble. Lee has generally been a good performer apart from his occasional psychopathic tendencies. Claire's a good presenter, etc. but erratic and difficult. Helene I can't really remember what she's done.

Yes? No?


----------



## Chester Copperpot (May 27, 2008)

I've got a feeling that Lucinda or Michael will go tonight.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 27, 2008)

I can't see how Michael could possible survive a decent grilling from siraluns crew..


----------



## Treacle Toes (May 27, 2008)

Paul Russell said:


> Public Service Announcement:
> 
> The Apprentice is on today (Tuesday) this week, not Wednesday...



Bump! Cos you love it!


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

Bumpity Bump! 9pm tonight because of the Association Football tomorrow night.


----------



## snackhead (May 27, 2008)

Hope it's a good 'un, although judging by Siralan's poor firing decisions so far it'll probably be Nick and Margaret tonight


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 27, 2008)

oh..cars.. no interviews this week..


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 27, 2008)

Michael's doesn't like cars! He has a ready made excuse for losing. Go for it, boy!


----------



## trashpony (May 27, 2008)

This has got to be the end of Michael. Although I'm not sure that Zonda was a good decision


----------



## Miss Potter (May 27, 2008)

the raffle could be a bad idea,aren't you supposed to register with the Lotteries Commission or something?

Michael: "I'm a born salesman"


----------



## snackhead (May 27, 2008)

Michael has to go, I'm hoping the early build up to him being tired and not knowing about cars isn't a bluff for someone else to go


----------



## snackhead (May 27, 2008)

Portobello Market? The man's a donk


----------



## winterinmoscow (May 27, 2008)

Born salesman.... what a twit


----------



## winterinmoscow (May 27, 2008)

I want Lucinda to stay in


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

How come I've never heard of a Zonda?


----------



## snackhead (May 27, 2008)

Belushi said:


> How come I've never heard of a Zonda?



Are they made by Amstrad?


----------



## winterinmoscow (May 27, 2008)

Belushi said:


> How come I've never heard of a Zonda?



i was thinking that....


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

snackhead said:


> Are they made by Amstrad?



lol


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 27, 2008)

I want Lucinda to stay too but she's being such a wimp! If they lose she'll probably go.


----------



## trashpony (May 27, 2008)

Belushi said:


> How come I've never heard of a Zonda?



It's clearly too exclusive for the likes of you and me


----------



## Miss Potter (May 27, 2008)

noooooooooo he offered a discount, did he not learn from the ice cream task?


----------



## winterinmoscow (May 27, 2008)

Michael2go


----------



## lenny101 (May 27, 2008)

They all look exhausted and at the end of their teathers.


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

heh michael


----------



## trashpony (May 27, 2008)

alice band said:


> noooooooooo he offered a discount, did he not learn from the ice cream task?



He will have to take it off whatever he makes on the Aston (assuming that they actually manage to rent it given they've paid no attention to it)


----------



## snackhead (May 27, 2008)

I love the way Margaret lurks in the shadows


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

Michael is fucking desperate


----------



## Miss Potter (May 27, 2008)

oh fuck Michael leave the guy alone


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

'Can I come to your meeting with you?'


----------



## lenny101 (May 27, 2008)

Belushi said:


> Michael is fucking desperate



Can I come to you rmeeting with you?


----------



## mysterygirl (May 27, 2008)

God I hope Michael goes this time. 

I don't actually care if he's better or worse than the others (apart from hopeless Lucinda - she can go next time) he just annoys the hell out of me!


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (May 27, 2008)

I want a go in the Zonda


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

'Have you heard of a Zonda?'


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 27, 2008)

OMG, she's selling the wrong fecking car.


----------



## spanglechick (May 27, 2008)

gah - lee's team will end up in the boardroom - which is only a shame in that michael is making such a totally perfect arse of himself.


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

Should be some fun trying to sell at Canary Wharf


----------



## 1927 (May 27, 2008)

Fatuous Sunbeam said:


> OMG, she's selling the wrong fecking car.



I just put my hands over my ears and hid behind the sofa I was that embarassed for her!


----------



## lenny101 (May 27, 2008)

Rev the fucking car, that'll attract the people.


----------



## mysterygirl (May 27, 2008)

Fatuous Sunbeam said:


> OMG, she's selling the wrong fecking car.



That's so 

I think even I would realise which car I had.


----------



## snackhead (May 27, 2008)

I hope the guys get a rocket up their arses for their version of teamwork


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

Its heavier than a batmobile!


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

Yay! Lucinda made a sale!


----------



## trashpony (May 27, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> gah - lee's team will end up in the boardroom - which is only a shame in that michael is making such a totally perfect arse of himself.



No - that's 3 days in the zonda Lee's sold now. They've won by a big margin I reckon


----------



## snackhead (May 27, 2008)

Here we go


----------



## spanglechick (May 27, 2008)

ahh - lucinda must live to whine another day


----------



## spanglechick (May 27, 2008)

so - can suralan really save michael again?


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

what is it exactly that lucinda is meant ot be good at?


----------



## mysterygirl (May 27, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> so - can suralan really save michael again?



Please, no!


----------



## mysterygirl (May 27, 2008)

Belushi said:


> what is it exactly that lucinda is meant ot be good at?




Being shit.  And whining a lot.  And getting right up my nose.









But not as much as that bloody Michael!


----------



## snackhead (May 27, 2008)

Michael's off


----------



## lenny101 (May 27, 2008)

Bye bye Michael.


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

Michael cant survive again


----------



## mysterygirl (May 27, 2008)

ha ha he told Lucinda to shut up!

Bet he sacks her not Michael.


----------



## trashpony (May 27, 2008)

Belushi said:


> what is it exactly that lucinda is meant ot be good at?



I have absolutely no idea. She doesn't get technology, she can't sell. She's a risk analyst apparently. 

She reminds me of my dotty neighbour but she's an artist. She would be the least appropriate Apprentice I know


----------



## snackhead (May 27, 2008)

If Michael attacks Helene in the boardroom to try and save himself, I'm gonna watch the rest of this from under my bed........................


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

Come on! I want to see Michael in tears


----------



## snackhead (May 27, 2008)

Helene = Mona Lisa Priceless


----------



## mysterygirl (May 27, 2008)

He's young?!  

That's a reason to give him a plum job like this?!  FFS!

Of the 3 of them I definitely want Clare to stay.


----------



## snackhead (May 27, 2008)

Is.he. saving. Michael..................................................?


----------



## winterinmoscow (May 27, 2008)

I'm naive....


----------



## mysterygirl (May 27, 2008)

snackhead said:


> Is.he. saving. Michael..................................................?




Reckon.


----------



## magneze (May 27, 2008)

Michael Houdini is it?


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 27, 2008)

Michael has to go (we've said this before)


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 27, 2008)

I'll be just as happy for Helene to go. I dislike her as much as Michael and I think she should have gone after the wedding task. She's nasty rubbish.


----------



## mysterygirl (May 27, 2008)

Fatuous Sunbeam said:


> I'll be just as happy for Helene to go. I dislike her as much as Michael and I think she should have gone after the wedding task. She's nasty rubbish.



Im not keen either, just got it in for Michael.  Mostly because for some reason he's getting excuses made for him and Im not convinced he deserves it.


----------



## magneze (May 27, 2008)

Yeah ... I agree. Michael is useless at present but has passion and potential - big gamble though ... he won't win but I can see why Helene might go ahead of him tonight ..


----------



## mysterygirl (May 27, 2008)

Good.  Clare's staying.

Ooooo.............. could it be?????


----------



## mysterygirl (May 27, 2008)

Yay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Lucinda next.


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

Yay!


----------



## killer b (May 27, 2008)




----------



## lenny101 (May 27, 2008)

Hoorah!


----------



## ymu (May 27, 2008)

Claire and the two boys for the final then!


----------



## Miss Potter (May 27, 2008)

about bloody time. Helene had a lucky escape though


----------



## DJ Squelch (May 27, 2008)

Thank fuck for that.


----------



## snackhead (May 27, 2008)

Whoooooo Hah  3 mins to the BBC2 show seems too long now


----------



## Miss Potter (May 27, 2008)

ha ha yes what will Adrian Chiles say to the odius little twat 


oh yay interviews next week


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

Excellent, next week will be an interview episode


----------



## magneze (May 27, 2008)

Difficult to pick between Lee, Claire and Alex now got to be one of them IMO ...


----------



## mysterygirl (May 27, 2008)

Magneze said:


> Difficult to pick between Lee, Claire and Alex now got to be one of them IMO ...



You'd have thought so, yes..


----------



## snackhead (May 27, 2008)

Cracking panel on BBC 2 methinks The Badger and Trevor Nelson will monster him


----------



## spanglechick (May 27, 2008)

Got to be Claire to win, i'd have thought.


----------



## Belushi (May 27, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> Got to be Claire to win, i'd have thought.



I think he was very impressed with the amount Alex had sold tonight.


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (May 27, 2008)

I liked Michael's performance on the after show.

I think there's a good chance Lucinda will get through the interview task.


----------



## mysterygirl (May 27, 2008)

Fatuous Sunbeam said:


> I liked Michael's performance on the after show.
> 
> I think there's a good chance Lucinda will get through the interview task.



Maybe.  But even _I_ would be better than her, Im sure of it.


----------



## May Kasahara (May 27, 2008)

That sea of red FIRED! signs was beautiful.


----------



## Paul Russell (May 27, 2008)

Was Michael just hungover on the day of the task? Barely able to function at the beginning, perked up towards the end.

Even with a hangover, you would have to be pretty clueless to go to Portobello Road market to sell that particular product though. The others could have torn him apart for that.


----------



## rover07 (May 27, 2008)

Ha.. Michaels gone, i dont think he was even trying on this one.

'Is it a er spike er spy something'  couldn't even remember the name of the car ffs. 

Sadly Lucinda was just as bad, shame cos i fancy her but she cries a lot which is off putting.


----------



## ymu (May 28, 2008)

Alex and Lee were shits, but Lucinda was pathetic. She's good at managing but hopeless at actually doing anything. She's terrible at picking up new skills.

Helene did a good job in that final plea - up until then I thought it was either Helene or Helene and Michael for the chop.


----------



## rover07 (May 28, 2008)

Yeah Helene made a good case, she and Lucinda are the only ones who seem to have real experience in business. The others are a bunch of chancers imo but Sir Alan seems to like them more.


----------



## Gromit (May 28, 2008)

I'm a bit annoyed that Helene was bullied into thinking she was going and made to battle SirAlan all for the sake of good TV and lto eave the suspense as to whether or not Michael was fired. I found it needlessly cruel for the sake of entertainment. Who was it who refered to the Jeremy Kyle show as human bear baiting? Well we had some more on this week's apprentice.

The excuse will be that he wanted to see if she had any backbone but in truth it was needless as the interview task is next week and that really does weed out those with no backbone.

I saw a clip and can't believe what Lee has done! Prize wally.

We've got to the stage where tbh i want none of them to win. On skill, I'm thinking Claire is probably the most deserving of the lot though.


----------



## LJo (May 28, 2008)

Can't wait to see who turns out to be the CV bullshitter par excellence next week. There's always one fool who thinks he/she can lie on the CV and get away with it. 


(Did anyone notice the eyes of the first City guy to buy a day in the Zonda? Strange eyes...Strange, dead, incredibly rich eyes...How rich would you have to be to go 'oh yeah, three grand for a day in a car, why not?')


----------



## jæd (May 28, 2008)

LJo said:


> (Did anyone notice the eyes of the first City guy to buy a day in the Zonda? Strange eyes...Strange, dead, incredibly rich eyes...How rich would you have to be to go 'oh yeah, three grand for a day in a car, why not?')



How do you have "strange, dead, increadibly rich eyes"...?  TBH, he looked like he wanted to get away from Lee...


----------



## jæd (May 28, 2008)

LJo said:


> How rich would you have to be to go 'oh yeah, three grand for a day in a car, why not?')



You would need at least £3,000 in the bank and a desire to go in a nice car for the day... Not sure how that is being "rich".


----------



## Santino (May 28, 2008)

jæd said:


> You would need at least £3,000 in the bank and a desire to go in a nice car for the day... Not sure how that is being "rich".


No, you would need to have so much in the bank that you can spunk £3000 of it on fuck all.


----------



## jæd (May 28, 2008)

Alex B said:


> No, you would need to have so much in the bank that you can spunk £3000 of it on fuck all.



It depends what "fuck all" means to you. If you're really into cars then I'd imagine driving around a Zonda wouldn't be "spunking it on "fuck all".

But then different people have different views on what  is a worth-while day out...


----------



## Gromit (May 28, 2008)

jæd said:


> You would need at least £3,000 in the bank and a desire to go in a nice car for the day... Not sure how that is being "rich".


 
£3k plus the deposit.

I believe on the one car there was a £5k deposit even though they only wanted it for a 1 x £65 hour.

Plus you can have £3k in the bank at the beginning of the month but if you spend it your mortgage payment and bills would bounce.

I can see your point that if you weren't rich and had saved up £3k to spend and really wanted to spend it on a play in a car you wouldn't have to be rich to do so. But in the main you'd have to be seriously seriously keen on cars to blow that much worth of savings on a single day or very rich so that the amount isn't as significant, say only 1 month's savings instead of 2 years (which is how long it would take me to save £3k if not longer).


----------



## jæd (May 28, 2008)

Marius said:


> But in the main you'd have to be seriously seriously keen on cars to blow that much worth of savings on a single day or very rich so that the amount isn't as significant, say only 1 month's savings instead of 2 years (which is how long it would take me to save £3k if not longer).



You'd have to gross around £ 72,000 which isn't "seriously rich"... Its quite well off, but I would be defining "seriously rich" at > £ 10 million a year...


----------



## Chester Copperpot (May 28, 2008)

A good episode I thought. I felt sorry for Lucinda - she was totally left out in the cold by the boys after Lee promised not to send her off on her own. I really don't understand why both teams split up in the first place. Was it in the brief? I'd personally have kept the two cars together and run a sales team of three for the whole day.


----------



## chegrimandi (May 28, 2008)

michael - _'can I come to your meeting with you, please please'_

he seriously lost the plot in that episode...

although to be fair this is the jewish boy that didn't know what kosher was so...


----------



## wishface (May 28, 2008)

What on earth is the deal with Lucinda? That girl's got hormone's going ga ga!


----------



## LJo (May 28, 2008)

jæd said:


> How do you have "strange, dead, increadibly rich eyes"...?  TBH, he looked like he wanted to get away from Lee...



Not sure. I am recording my Vague Impressions.

My point was that saving up for a day out in a car takes some planning. Wandering past a car and thinking 'oh yeah, I'll have that for £3000 a day' seems to me to indicate a level of richness I cannot comprehend.

However, if there are any non-rich Urbanites out there who have done similar things I am happy to be corrected. I regard buying a tub of face cream for £10 on impulse as an extravagance...


----------



## Gromit (May 28, 2008)

jæd said:


> You'd have to gross around £ 72,000 which isn't "seriously rich"... Its quite well off, but I would be defining "seriously rich" at > £ 10 million a year...


 
I still consider that rich if not seriously rich. I personally don't have any friends who earn that and the *Director *of the organisation I work for only earns a little more than that.

Seeing as thats three times the average national wage too.


----------



## kabbes (May 28, 2008)

I think that the guy who bought the day's Zonda driving from Lee was just much, much, much better at negotiating than Lee is.  If you watch it carefully, you'll notice that he says not one word until Lee offers him 10% discount.  He keeps absolutely silent.  It's classic negotiating and hard to pull off.  The first man to blink loses and that man was Lee.  The guy was always going to buy the day's driving... and now he has it for £275 less.

Those asking what Lucinda is good at -- well, she's the only one I'd actually employ.  She's an excellent manager of both people and tasks -- the only one who is.  She synthesises ideas superbly -- the only one who can do this.  She herself is also a steady source of good ideas too.  She brings structure, focus and clarity.  These are not common traits and are incredibly valuable in a real organisation (and pretty useful even on tasks on a reality TV show.)

You don't (necessarily) employ a top level manager on £100k because they can work a computer or sell to the public.  You employ them for the skills Lucinda has in abundance.

However, I worry about her working specifically with suralan because he is such an aggressive prick and she is not at all robust.  She doesn't cope well with being managed poorly or with antagonism and I think she'd get that in spades in his organisation.

The rest of them, however, are not top manager material, however good they might be at being on the shop floor doing tasks


----------



## kabbes (May 28, 2008)

Marius said:


> I still consider that rich if not seriously rich. I personally don't have any friends who earn that and the *Director *of the organisation I work for only earns a little more than that.
> 
> Seeing as thats three times the average national wage too.


To be rich you need income AND assets.  If you have large debts and are suddenly offered a £200k wage, you won't be living an extravagant lifestyle any time soon.

Massive tangent though, and one we've done to death in the relevant forums.


----------



## jæd (May 28, 2008)

kabbes said:


> I think that the guy who bought the day's Zonda driving from Lee was just much, much, much better at negotiating than Lee is.  If you watch it carefully, you'll notice that he says not one word until Lee offers him 10% discount.  He keeps absolutely silent.  It's classic negotiating and hard to pull off.  The first man to blink loses and that man was Lee.  The guy was always going to buy the day's driving... and now he has it for £275 less.



This is perhaps why he is paid so much...


----------



## trashpony (May 28, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Those asking what Lucinda is good at -- well, she's the only one I'd actually employ.  She's an excellent manager of both people and tasks -- the only one who is.  She synthesises ideas superbly -- the only one who can do this.  She herself is also a steady source of good ideas too.  She brings structure, focus and clarity.  These are not common traits and are incredibly valuable in a real organisation (and pretty useful even on tasks on a reality TV show.)
> 
> You don't (necessarily) employ a top level manager on £100k because they can work a computer or sell to the public.  You employ them for the skills Lucinda has in abundance.
> 
> ...



While I agree with you about all her positive points, she is also whiney, she plays the victim far too often and lacks initiative. For all those reasons, I wouldn't employ her


----------



## Gromit (May 28, 2008)

kabbes said:


> I think that the guy who bought the day's Zonda driving from Lee was just much, much, much better at negotiating than Lee is. If you watch it carefully, you'll notice that he says not one word until Lee offers him 10% discount. He keeps absolutely silent. It's classic negotiating and hard to pull off. The first man to blink loses and that man was Lee. The guy was always going to buy the day's driving... and now he has it for £275 less.


 
I did this when buying my telly. I must have been there 10 whole minutes saying nothing until the manager asked me what was a i thinking.

I answered that I was thinking I could get it cheaper on the net and was i happy to wait to get it delivered rather than picking it up today. Thats when he threw in the gold skart leads into the deal.

The best price drop i've ever  had though wasn't through silence but by screaming How much!!!! That was genuine outrage though not a negotiating tactic. It was on a pair of factory seconds designer jeans (that had been cut too long and needed taking up to make wearable). He dropped to under half price immediatly he was so shocked by the venom in my voice at the price.


----------



## Gromit (May 28, 2008)

trashpony said:


> While I agree with you about all her positive points, she is also whiney, she plays the victim far too often and lacks initiative. For all those reasons, I wouldn't employ her


 
The day she project managed she seems very employable.

But she doesn't deal with people disagreeing with her or things not going the way SHE wants them too at all well. Good boss if she has total control but a crap employee.


----------



## kabbes (May 28, 2008)

No, as a boss she cedes lots of control.  That's why she's a good manager.

She doesn't deal well with being ignored or sidelined though.  She *is* a natural victim (or "not robust", as I put it earlier).  This is a problem alright, particularly if she is in the wrong situation.


----------



## rover07 (May 28, 2008)

Last nights episode was a bit like the wedding dress one.

The team with the most expensive items won by selling just a few. 

Whereas the other team sold to more customers but for far less...


----------



## kabbes (May 28, 2008)

True, although "more" customers in both cases amounted to "only a few more".

Michael's whole team were guilty of assuming that nobody would want to pay £2,750 for a day's Zonda driving.  They assumed that their customers would be just like them, in other words.  Big mistake.  The very fact that the supercar hire company has it on their books implies that it is a viable business model -- _somebody_ must want it.  

Sometimes you have to just do the maths.  One Zonda sale at £2,750 requires five Ferrari sales at £650 to overtake it.  Are you going to achieve that?  And it requires 22 Spiker hours at £125 per hour -- are you going to achieve that either?

The big ticket item is always worth a shot in these tasks.


----------



## Gromit (May 28, 2008)

kabbes said:


> No, as a boss she cedes lots of control. That's why she's a good manager.


 
She does but she has all the control to cede. So she feels she has ownership is in overall control.

When other people are delegating she moans like hell they are doing it wrong as she doesn't have the ownership of the project but acts as if she is of the opinion she still should be. Its a constant, I wouldn't do it like that mentality which she can't get past to just do the job. She spends so much time arguing how things should be done they could have done it already by the time they finished arguing.


----------



## kabbes (May 28, 2008)

I would agree with that Marius, except that the *only* times I have seen her arguing is _when I feel she is blatently right_!  

This, then, becomes a tricky issue.  If the team leader is heading down a dark and dangerous path and you can see it and they simply will not pay any attention to your concerns then you are damned either way.  If you say nothing then suralan says that you are "not a team player" and "happy to let things go wrong as long as you do your bit OK".  And if you make a fuss then you are accused of being a whinger.

I can't think of one time when Lucinda was making a fuss when she wasn't actually spot on.


----------



## ymu (May 28, 2008)

kabbes said:


> True, although "more" customers in both cases amounted to "only a few more".
> 
> Michael's whole team were guilty of assuming that nobody would want to pay £2,750 for a day's Zonda driving.  They assumed that their customers would be just like them, in other words.  Big mistake.  The very fact that the supercar hire company has it on their books implies that it is a viable business model -- _somebody_ must want it.
> 
> ...


Yeah - the Zonda is just too special. Top Gear wet their pants over it regularly and it's very rare. Lots of these guys would hire a Ferrari on holiday, but they might never have another chance to get their hands on a Zonda.

IMO they won because they couldn't hire the Zonda out by the hour - days or nothing. And unlike the wedding show, they were heading for an area where many people are earning north of £100k and can find that kind of cash fairly easily.


----------



## rover07 (May 28, 2008)

ymu said:


> Yeah - the Zonda is just too special. Top Gear wet their pants over it regularly and it's very rare. Lots of these guys would hire a Ferrari on holiday, but they might never have another chance to get their hands on a Zonda.
> 
> IMO they won because they couldn't hire the Zonda out by the hour - days or nothing. And unlike the wedding show, they were heading for an area where many people are earning north of £100k and can find that kind of cash fairly easily.



Spot on, which means if the other team had picked the Zonda they would probably have won.

Michael might have been hailed as a brilliant salesman 

Maybe not though....


----------



## kabbes (May 28, 2008)

I'm not sure.  I'm not sure that the other team had the ability to sell the experience.  But who knows?

But this is the point in any case.  The choice of cars was the biggest factor in the loss.  And who made that choice?  Who actually got FIRST PICK and still made that choice?  Michael did.  It's always Michael that is deeply embedded in any bad decision or suggestion in the programme.  He's the worst candidate that the show has ever had, I reckon.


----------



## ymu (May 28, 2008)

Yes, Michael was absolutely and consistently awful. Why he thought it was a good idea for him to go off alone when he hates cars is beyond me.

You're right though - Lee and Alex were always going to sell the Zonda best. But the Zonda was always going to win - for the reasons you point out; one sale makes it tough to catch, and it sells itself to some extent, especially in that perfect environment provided for them.


----------



## kabbes (May 28, 2008)

(... except that I noticed that there was an identically priced Koenigsegg on the list -- the other team could have had that instead!)


----------



## jæd (May 28, 2008)

kabbes said:


> But this is the point in any case.  The choice of cars was the biggest factor in the loss.  And who made that choice?  Who actually got FIRST PICK and still made that choice?  Michael did.  It's always Michael that is deeply embedded in any bad decision or suggestion in the programme.  He's the worst candidate that the show has ever had, I reckon.



You really needed someone who knew (a) the market, and (b) the cars. TBH, the Ferrari is there to catch you out. Its an easy sell, but you have to sell lots of them...


----------



## ymu (May 28, 2008)

Yes - there was scope for both teams to adopt the same strategy.


----------



## Gromit (May 28, 2008)

jæd said:


> You really needed someone who knew (a) the market, and (b) the cars. TBH, the Ferrari is there to catch you out. Its an easy sell, but you have to sell lots of them...


 
I would have been caught out then... except:

It was a choice of you can have the Ferrari or the Aston rather than you can have the Ferrari or the Zonda.


----------



## jæd (May 28, 2008)

Marius said:


> I would have been caught out then... except:
> 
> It was a choice of you can have the Ferrari or the Aston rather than you can have the Ferrari or the Zonda.



My choice would've been the Zonda, and then a mid-range price car. The Ferrari is too cheap and tacky...


----------



## Gromit (May 28, 2008)

jæd said:


> My choice would've been the Zonda, and then a mid-range price car. The Ferrari is too cheap and tacky...



Cheap and tacky is popular. Why do you think Ferrari and Porshe sell by the bucket load. You are making the mistake or transfering your own taste onto the market instead of pitching based on what the market actually is. 

At the end of the day there was 2 low, 3 mid and 1 high. 
With two teams getting dibs it was allways likely that each team would have 1 low each as no team would have wanted both lows and would have complained if they had.


----------



## kabbes (May 28, 2008)

I'd have gone low and high in an attempt to cover my bases.  I would have been deeply unsure as to market tastes on the day.  The high value car would have covered me in the event that there was an appetite for high value items.  And the low car would have covered me in the event that there was no such appetite.

With this in mind -- and the fact that populist is the key -- I'd have gone Ferrari and Zonda.  The Aston was useless IMO -- lacked that "wow" factor.


----------



## Gromit (May 28, 2008)

kabbes said:


> The Aston was useless IMO -- lacked that "wow" factor.


 
It wouldn't have been so bad if it had been a James Bond model of Aston so you could tout the 'Be James Bond for a day' sales angle... but it wasn't. 

Has anyone mentioned Lucinda and car names yet?

"Heard of a Zonda?" she says pointing at an Aston.

"Want to hire a Zonno?" she says pointing at the Zonda.

I was waiting for her to call it a Fonda, a Zoro and a Wanda.


----------



## kabbes (May 28, 2008)

Hey, you can be James Bond in a Z4, IIRC.


----------



## jæd (May 28, 2008)

Marius said:


> Cheap and tacky is popular. Why do you think Ferrari and Porshe sell by the bucket load. You are making the mistake or transfering your own taste onto the market instead of pitching based on what the market actually is.



Well... I was watching it with a City Banker Boy, and was his opinion was that the Ferrari would get interest, but was tacky. (Small, non representative sample)


----------



## Cobbles (May 28, 2008)

rover07 said:


> Spot on, which means if the other team had picked the Zonda they would probably have won..



somehow I doubt it - Claire may manage to sell tat but I just can't imagine her with the Zonda "_OOO-er  ain't it sooch a luvverly coo-loor pet_?"



rover07 said:


> Michael might have been hailed as a brilliant salesman
> 
> Maybe not though....



Correct - in order to do that he'd have to actually sell something instead of simply shouting the odds like working off a tele-sales script.


----------



## LJo (May 28, 2008)

Wasn't just the type of car, though. I can't imagine that even the Zonda would have sold stuck down a back street in Knightsbridge.

Or next to a fruit and veg stall in Portobello, come to that.


----------



## Paul Russell (May 28, 2008)

Cobbles said:


> Correct - in order to do that he'd have to actually sell something instead of simply shouting the odds like working off a tele-sales script.



That's a problem with a lot of the Apprentice candidates generally though over the series though, isn't it?

They get a lot of massively confident salespeople who are used to doing jobs where they are spoon-fed the leads and script and then rely on their huge ego, charm and bullshit to sell the product, rather than people who are used to sitting down, having ideas, brainstorming, marketing, etc.


----------



## trashpony (May 28, 2008)

ymu said:


> IMO they won because they couldn't hire the Zonda out by the hour - days or nothing. And unlike the wedding show, they were heading for an area where many people are earning north of £100k and can find that kind of cash fairly easily.



True. But that same tactic also worked on the wedding show didn't it? Sell one expensive gown and you're sorted. You would have thought Michael would have learned from that experience but he didn't.


----------



## sleaterkinney (May 28, 2008)

jæd said:


> My choice would've been the Zonda, and then a mid-range price car. The Ferrari is too cheap and tacky...


Ferraris aren't cheap and tacky, are you having a laugh, that thing would have sold itself. Zondas look ridiculous and aren't that well known compared to Ferraris, they are a much more difficult sell.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (May 29, 2008)

Sun  says Michael slept with MINGERS to pay debts...


marvellous piece of tabloidism


----------



## alexisonfire (May 30, 2008)

Is it just me or has Claire adopted a completly Southern way of saying "task" (tarsk) in the last few weeks? Sounds ridiculous next to her breathtakingly grating accent.


----------



## Gromit (May 30, 2008)

kabbes said:


> I would agree with that Marius, except that the *only* times I have seen her arguing is _when I feel she is blatently right_!


 
Its not that she is right or wrong (and she has been wrong but I forget exactly when) its that the people management skills go out the window and rather than being able to cooly persaude people as she was able to as PM her voice goes up an octave, she whines and plays the victim etc. etc.

Your natural reaction is react negatively to her even if she has a point.

She forgets how to influence and persaude when she isn't in charge.


----------



## butterfly child (May 30, 2008)

sleaterkinney said:


> *Ferraris aren't cheap and tacky,* are you having a laugh, that thing would have sold itself. Zondas look ridiculous and aren't that well known compared to Ferraris, they are a much more difficult sell.



Not cheap, but decidedly tacky.


----------



## wishface (May 30, 2008)

Sinister Uncle: "would you like to 'ave a ride in my Zonda?"
Little Lucinda: "but, but, it's an ASTON FUCKING MARTIN, BITCH!"


----------



## Melinda (May 30, 2008)

Im going o see the recording of The Your Fired show on Monday. 

Look out for me, I shall be wearing a pink beret in solidarity with Lucinda and a cravat in memory of Raef.


----------



## trashpony (May 30, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Im going o see the recording of The Your Fired show on Monday.
> 
> Look out for me, I shall be wearing a pink beret in solidarity with Lucinda and a cravat in memory of Raef.



I shall be scouring the crowd


----------



## kabbes (May 31, 2008)

Marius said:


> Its not that she is right or wrong (and she has been wrong but I forget exactly when) its that the people management skills go out the window and rather than being able to cooly persaude people as she was able to as PM her voice goes up an octave, she whines and plays the victim etc. etc.
> 
> Your natural reaction is react negatively to her even if she has a point.
> 
> She forgets how to influence and persaude when she isn't in charge.


I do agree with that.


----------



## suburbia (May 31, 2008)

bouncer_the_dog said:


> Sun  says Michael slept with MINGERS to pay debts...
> 
> 
> marvellous piece of tabloidism



He's the minger!


----------



## ebay sex moomin (May 31, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Im going o see the recording of The Your Fired show on Monday.
> 
> Look out for me, I shall be wearing a pink beret in solidarity with Lucinda and a cravat in memory of Raef.


get a special blue 'undecided' card made to hold up- then we'll definitely spot you


----------



## beeboo (Jun 2, 2008)

Bump to remind Apprenticeites that there's a special hour long edition on tonight profiling the final five - 10.45 bbc 1


----------



## Structaural (Jun 2, 2008)

beeboo said:


> Bump to remind Apprenticeites that there's a special hour long edition on tonight profiling the final five - 10.45 bbc 1



ta!


----------



## isvicthere? (Jun 2, 2008)

Cobbles said:


> Correct - in order to do that he'd have to actually sell something instead of simply shouting the odds like working off a tele-sales script.



Am not an expert, but I thought Michael was appalling at sales throughout the series. He dripped with contempt and, even worse, desperation.


----------



## zoooo (Jun 2, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Im going o see the recording of The Your Fired show on Monday.
> 
> Look out for me, I shall be wearing a pink beret in solidarity with Lucinda and a cravat in memory of Raef.



I'm so thick! I thought it was actually live!
Honestly, what's *wrong* with me?


----------



## Part 2 (Jun 2, 2008)

Marius said:


> I saw a clip and can't believe what Lee has done! Prize wally.



I missed that, what's he done?

Just watched last weeks. As said, the boardroom for Helene was nasty she was very close to tears I thought.

I thought Michael was good on the You're Fired show, looked and sounded like the whole thing had taken a lot out of him and knocked his confidence, just about managed to smile.


----------



## brianx (Jun 2, 2008)

Peter York's on the tele now. Raef is York lite but I do do love him the bully-mob stopping fop.


----------



## Melinda (Jun 3, 2008)

zoooo said:


> I'm so thick! I thought it was actually live!
> Honestly, what's *wrong* with me?


Im back! Apart from the horrendous queues and toilets you could catch hepatitis from, we had a lovely time. 

Oh you're in for a deliciously good show on Wednesday!- Unmissable! PM  me for spoilers!  

A couple of them get HORRIBLY monstered in the interviews.  
There are a couple of just _excruciating_ bits. I still have the sound of 200 pairs of buttocks clenching echoing in my head. 


Dont miss the You're Fired Show either- very funny! Simon from last year was in the crowd.

Ha! I was just about to reveal what someone was wearing!


----------



## zoooo (Jun 3, 2008)

Ohmygod!! 

Ooh, I loved Simon.

Want spoilers but must wait.

Will you tell us it all after it's been on telly? 
(well, what they don't put in the show.)


----------



## Melinda (Jun 3, 2008)

Simon is kind of funny looking in the flesh. He smiled at me 

Ooh and Adrian Chiles is so much leaner in person, there is a lovely line to his legs, and he looks firm and fit in his shirt. 
He cycled from Newcastle to London for Sports Relief and he still looks so good on it. 
I cant believe Im saying this, but he was quite phwoar!  Its scary how totally different he looks in person. His face doesnt look pudding-y at all. 

Also- he's terribly good at putting the candidates and the audience at their ease. Very obviously good at what he does too- 
the talking smoothly while people yammer constantly in his ear stuff.


----------



## zoooo (Jun 3, 2008)

Ha!
I can actually believe that y'know. I've been giving him the glad eye a bit lately myself.


----------



## Melinda (Jun 3, 2008)

zoooo said:


> Ha!
> I can actually believe that y'know. I've been giving him the glad eye a bit lately myself.


Bit elderly for you, no?


----------



## zoooo (Jun 3, 2008)

You would think!

I must be getting old...


----------



## ymu (Jun 3, 2008)

Adrian is the perfect presenter for it - he can say what everyone else is thinking about the firee and still make them feel very comfortable in an interview. Quite a skill. The people who prepare them for the ordeal are doing a good job too - I don't think there's been a series with as many seriously unpleasant characters, and they've all managed to redeem themselves quite a lot on _You're Fired_.


----------



## electrogirl (Jun 4, 2008)

i want to know why lucinda doesn't talk to her family. cos i'm nosy.


----------



## May Kasahara (Jun 4, 2008)

Gutted I'm going to be out tonight till about 9.30pm, so will miss half the interview show  I've been extra-specially looking forward to this one as well!


----------



## aqua (Jun 4, 2008)

I'm out tonight too - will have to iplayer it and avoid this thread


----------



## Melinda (Jun 4, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> Gutted I'm going to be out tonight till about 9.30pm, so will miss half the interview show  I've been extra-specially looking forward to this one as well!


Hurry home, its a DOOOZY! 

Im itching to say something!


----------



## aqua (Jun 4, 2008)

spoiler me


----------



## Melinda (Jun 4, 2008)

You serious? Cos I will!


----------



## aqua (Jun 4, 2008)

YEP YEP YEP 

in pm though natch


----------



## Santino (Jun 4, 2008)

*puts fingers in ears* LA LA LA LA I'M NOT LISTENING LA LA LA


----------



## trashpony (Jun 4, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> Gutted I'm going to be out tonight till about 9.30pm, so will miss half the interview show  I've been extra-specially looking forward to this one as well!



You can't do that. You're going to have to record it and watch it at 10.30. Otherwise it'll be all spoiled


----------



## ramjamclub (Jun 4, 2008)

*Time to predict the finalists*

Who do think will make the final?

my prediction.

Claire and Alex


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Jun 4, 2008)

May Kasahara said:


> Gutted I'm going to be out tonight till about 9.30pm, so will miss half the interview show  I've been extra-specially looking forward to this one as well!



I'll be out as well, but this is where the joy that is iPlayer comes into its own


----------



## ymu (Jun 4, 2008)

Claire and Alex for the final. Alex will win. He always chooses the crumpet over the powerhouse (Badger vs that blonde, for example, and Simon vs the Irish one).


----------



## Melinda (Jun 4, 2008)

aqua said:


> YEP YEP YEP
> 
> in pm though natch


OK- Ive written the pm, but just checking how much detail you want?  

Highlights but no outcomes? Outcomes and highlights?


----------



## Chairman Meow (Jun 4, 2008)

Please no spoilers in this thread, cos I won't be able to resist clicking on them.

I reckon they discover wossisname has a conviction for violence and they sack him on the spot.


----------



## aqua (Jun 4, 2008)

Melinda said:


> OK- Ive written the pm, but just checking how much detail you want?
> 
> Highlights but no outcomes? Outcomes and highlights?


everything


----------



## Melinda (Jun 4, 2008)

Chairman Meow said:


> Please no spoilers in this thread, cos I won't be able to resist clicking on them.
> 
> I reckon they discover wossisname has a conviction for violence and they sack him on the spot.


 

*zips mouth*


----------



## Treacle Toes (Jun 4, 2008)

Melinda said:


> OK- Ive written the pm, but just checking how much detail you want?
> 
> Highlights but no outcomes?
> Outcomes and highlights?



Can I have both? 
It won't spoil it for me...I will still watch to see it happen.
Sad, but true.


----------



## tommers (Jun 4, 2008)

Melinda said:


> *zips mouth*




I've already seen him doing his scary bird impression to one of the interviewers!


----------



## Juice Terry (Jun 4, 2008)

I have it on good authority that Lucinda's last job was at Credit Suisse where she was sacked in less than 3 months for being totally incompetent, and then, surprise, surprise, there were tantrums and threats of unfair dismissal proceedings.

Wonder if that's on her CV


----------



## Melinda (Jun 4, 2008)

Rutita1 said:


> Can I have both?
> It won't spoil it for me...I will still watch to see it happen.
> Sad, but true.


PM sent! 


Tommers- if only it had been a bird!


----------



## Treacle Toes (Jun 4, 2008)

Melinda said:


> PM sent!


Thank you!
Just read it! 

Nice one.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 4, 2008)

tommers said:


> I've already seen him doing his scary bird impression to one of the interviewers!



I've seen that on the trailers! 

I really want to know what question elicits that as an answer 

"Can you do a Pterodactyl impersonation" is all we can come up


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 4, 2008)

Juice Terry said:


> I have it on good authority that Lucinda's last job was at Credit Suisse where she was sacked in less than 3 months for being totally incompetent, and then, surprise, surprise, there were tantrums and threats of unfair dismissal proceedings.
> 
> Wonder if that's on her CV



She gives Risk Managers a bad name


----------



## Gromit (Jun 4, 2008)

QueenOfGoths said:


> I've seen that on the trailers!
> 
> I really want to know what question elicits that as an answer
> 
> "Can you do a Pterodactyl impersonation" is all we can come up



How do you make an impression?

Er I didn't mean that kind of impression.


----------



## SwizzleStiX (Jun 4, 2008)

Hope Lucinda doesn't go tonight. Can't wait to watch it now. 

Claire reminds me of Ruth Badger a bit - sir alan may not pick her as he didn't pick ruth.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 4, 2008)

Marius said:


> How do you make an impression?
> 
> Er I didn't mean that kind of impression.



I would wet myself laughing if it was something like that


----------



## winterinmoscow (Jun 4, 2008)

Here we go....


----------



## snackhead (Jun 4, 2008)

oh lord Claude's back - he's just told Lucinda she's unemployable!


----------



## winterinmoscow (Jun 4, 2008)

my God he just did it!!! how embarassing


----------



## snackhead (Jun 4, 2008)

Lucinda seems to be holding her own


----------



## winterinmoscow (Jun 4, 2008)

yep I think Lucinda is doing well really


----------



## snackhead (Jun 4, 2008)

Alex fluent in English on his CV!


----------



## winterinmoscow (Jun 4, 2008)

Alex seems to be obsessed with his bloody age!


----------



## snackhead (Jun 4, 2008)

I think he might make Lucinda cry


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Jun 4, 2008)

OMG! Lee's been caught out. How mortifying.


----------



## snackhead (Jun 4, 2008)

Oh noes Lee's caught out lying about Uni on his CV


----------



## snackhead (Jun 4, 2008)

Didn't he think they'd check?


----------



## winterinmoscow (Jun 4, 2008)

snackhead said:


> Oh *noes* Lee's caught out lying about Uni on his CV




is that not a spelling error?


----------



## softybabe (Jun 4, 2008)

snackhead said:


> Didn't he think they'd check?



innit, bloody liar!


----------



## snackhead (Jun 4, 2008)

winterinmoscow said:


> is that not a spelling error?



Not at all my dear Winter, tis a perfectly acceptable internet term


----------



## snackhead (Jun 4, 2008)

Can't see how Lee can get through after that lie with no explanation, I'll guess Alex and Helene


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Jun 4, 2008)

Helene hasn't got a cat in hell's chance. SAS has already said he hasn't been impressed with anything she's done and I don't think calling all the other candidates gobshites will have helped her chances any.


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Jun 4, 2008)

OK, sounds as if the gobshite remark didn't hurt her at all!


----------



## snackhead (Jun 4, 2008)

Which two do you want?


----------



## Passdout (Jun 4, 2008)

I reckon Claire will win this


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Jun 4, 2008)

I can't decide. I'm thinking Claire at the moment. Not sure who else.


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Jun 4, 2008)

Oh Christ - now they're grassing up Lucinda.


----------



## snackhead (Jun 4, 2008)

Alex dropping Lucinda in it- not good


----------



## Melinda (Jun 4, 2008)

*pops in to look around*


----------



## snackhead (Jun 4, 2008)

eh?


----------



## Scarlette (Jun 4, 2008)

Ugh. Stupid Alan. I like Lucinda. All the people left are bastards. And knobby.


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Jun 4, 2008)

Hmmm.....I don't think Lucinda should have been the only one to go. But it's probably right that she did. I quite liked her though.


----------



## Lisarocket (Jun 4, 2008)

Fatuous Sunbeam said:


> Hmmm.....I don't think Lucinda should have been the only one to go. But it's probably right that she did.



Reckon Alex should have gone too. It's a bit of a snub to Lucinda to just kick her out when there was supposed to be two going. I'd have kept her in over Alex.

It was obvious that Alex should go for his last minute panic tactic of saying Lucinda didn't want the job...


----------



## DJ Squelch (Jun 4, 2008)

Yay, I want some curry scented aftershave.


----------



## winterinmoscow (Jun 4, 2008)

Don't think it's in any way likely but I'd love Helene to win


----------



## ymu (Jun 4, 2008)

Interesting!

Lee's lie might have saved him there - suralun looked genuinely pained that anyone might think it mattered, and he obviously understood why he did it.


----------



## Lisarocket (Jun 4, 2008)

winterinmoscow said:


> Don't think it's in any way likely but I'd love Helene to win



Think it might be between Claire and Lee in the end.


----------



## winterinmoscow (Jun 4, 2008)

Lisarocket said:


> Think it might be between Claire and Lee in the end.



have to say I agree with you there


----------



## Stoat Boy (Jun 4, 2008)

I enjoyed tonight.

That Lucinda woman should have gone weeks ago.

As to the others, well I think that it could be any (although I have been told by somebody who claims to be in the know who it is) of them.

It definitely wont be Helene due to AS getting burnt last time around by a hard luck story.

Personally I think it will be Clair. Bright girl, got a big mouth but so what ? She seems able to adapt and is the one I would pick. A bit like the Badger last year, who should have won it then.


----------



## Lisarocket (Jun 4, 2008)

winterinmoscow said:


> have to say I agree with you there



It's not been the same since Simon and Raefe left. They had a bit of integrity, but i suppose it doesn't count in business these days


----------



## Fatuous Sunbeam (Jun 4, 2008)

Lisarocket said:


> It's not been the same since Simon and Raefe left. They had a bit of integrity, but i suppose it doesn't count in business these days



Totally agree.


I think Helene's a cow. She's the only one I would hate to see win.


----------



## Melinda (Jun 4, 2008)

At the screening, we were told that three were going, I suppose to increase the tensions and the final surprise. 

I didnt think Helene deserve to be in the final.  

I also thought Lee, although damaged, came out of it all rather better than one would expect.


----------



## Melinda (Jun 4, 2008)

Fatuous Sunbeam said:


> I think Helene's a cow. She's the only one I would hate to see win.


Alex is that person for me. Cant stand him.


----------



## big eejit (Jun 4, 2008)

Can't believe the two blokes are still in it. Alex is useless and Lee is plain stooopid.


----------



## Gromit (Jun 4, 2008)

Lisarocket said:


> Think it might be between Claire and Lee in the end.


 
They've matched the rough diamonds against the sophisicated.

The product is perfume.

I think Alex and Helene will be the winners and the ones he'll have to choose between.

Good result tonight but my mother wasn't happy with Alex going through as she didn't like the sly tactic of dropping Lucinda in it. He is very clever, very sly and very effective. I wouldn't trust him as far as i could throw him though. He'd sell you to the enemy in a heartbeat to save his own skin.


----------



## big eejit (Jun 4, 2008)

Alex "I'm only 24 and I went to private school you know" is a twaaaat.


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 4, 2008)

Marius said:


> dropping Lucinda in it. He is very clever, very sly and very effective.



To be fair at that stage it was mano a mano.   He's the youngest and has the least to yak on about.


----------



## Lisarocket (Jun 4, 2008)

big eejit said:


> Alex "I'm only 24 and I went to private school you know" is a twaaaat.



When he pulled out the "i went to public school" quote i thought he was definitely out there. He was proper grasping at straws.


----------



## Grandma Death (Jun 4, 2008)

Lisarocket said:


> Think it might be between Claire and Lee in the end.



deleted


----------



## Chairman Meow (Jun 4, 2008)

Grandma Death said:


> xxxxxxxxxx ( edited)......and I know who came second



NO SPOILERS! FFS!

God, this has really pissed me off.


----------



## zoooo (Jun 4, 2008)

Oh wonderful, well done.


----------



## brianx (Jun 4, 2008)

Does Karen Brady go to prison in the end?


----------



## zoooo (Jun 4, 2008)

No, but Alan wakes up and it was all a dream.


----------



## Ms T (Jun 4, 2008)

A shame noone asked Karen Brady if she was still under suspicion of fraud....


----------



## ymu (Jun 4, 2008)

Chairman Meow said:


> NO SPOILERS! FFS!
> 
> God, this has really pissed me off.


Who knows if he knows? Most Apprentice inside info jobs turn out to be bollocks. 

Alex and Helene are going to have to find some dynamism from somewhere - or pick their team members very wisely. Claire and Lee have a much stronger track record as PMs and generally.

At a guess, he has his two favourites on opposite teams.


----------



## zoooo (Jun 4, 2008)

Yeah, I thought he probably split up Alex and Claire so he'd have a good one on each team.
(Good, meaning less bad.)


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 4, 2008)

claire to win.

siralan made a big mistake firing Raef.


----------



## brianx (Jun 4, 2008)

Cheesypoof said:


> claire to win.
> 
> siralan made a big mistake firing Raef.



Well said Cheesy Raef was the best candidate but like Lucinda there is no way that sugarsugar would have got on with Raef. Lee will win. Karen will get six months with Bea Smith and never look back.


----------



## T & P (Jun 4, 2008)

Tonight was good but in previous series the interview episode was far tastier- mainly because there always was the one hated candidate who got found out during the interviews.


----------



## miss giggles (Jun 4, 2008)

Sad to see Lucinda go, but I think she's really far too much her own woman to be a team person. Personally I thought she was fab. Stylish, clever and individual.

I really hated the comment about her only being useful for dressing rooms with candels, what a twat.


----------



## wishface (Jun 4, 2008)

Alls I can say is: what an ugly ugly world these people want to live in. I want no part of it and I think, light entertainment aside, the world would be a better place without these greedy cunts.

I hope Lee is proud of depriving a 42 your old man's family of their daily bread and the man of his livelihood (and probably, sadly, his dignity).

These peopel should all be put up against a wall and fucking shot, Sugar along with them, and his cunt job interviewer mates as well. Makes me sick.


----------



## suburbia (Jun 5, 2008)

I don't want any of the final 4 to win! I just don't think any of them deserve it  to the extent that I hope that all the other candidates they've backstabbed over the past few weeks come back to twist the knife in 

Although I've warmed to other candidates who I never thought I would, my least favourite is Alex as I still can't see him as anything other than a spoilt, sulky tell-tale


----------



## zoooo (Jun 5, 2008)

At least Raef is back on next week!

Hurrah!


----------



## ebay sex moomin (Jun 5, 2008)

I love Raef... wish he was in the final- I think SAS made a bad decision there

top man


----------



## isvicthere? (Jun 5, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Alex is that person for me. Cant stand him.



Ditto. I don't like any of them, but particularly reserve my bile for the slimy, dissembling, back-stabbing, arse-coverring, tale-tit Alex. Down with him!


----------



## tarannau (Jun 5, 2008)

Raef's just an upmarket Foxtons agent clone - plenty of them around unfortunately. Nice enough, just no real substance behind the costume changes


----------



## isvicthere? (Jun 5, 2008)

big eejit said:


> Alex "I'm only 24 and I went to private school you know" is a twaaaat.



You're just jealous coz he's "fluent in English"!


----------



## dynamicbaddog (Jun 5, 2008)

wishface said:


> I hope Lee is proud of depriving a 42 your old man's family of their daily bread and the man of his livelihood (and probably, sadly, his dignity).
> 
> .


yes I went right off him after he came out with that 
When it first started I thought Simon would win and I'm really suprised he got fired so early on in the series..


----------



## Gromit (Jun 5, 2008)

I realised just now... Sir A making faces when being told of Helene's sob story. Where has he heard that before? Oh yes that one he hired and she turned into an absolute mess.


----------



## electrogirl (Jun 5, 2008)

lee came across as a knob. 'oooh i'm so proud of firing a 42yr old man with kids!' yeah good one lee.

and his face after the backwards teradactyl (sp?)!! so crestfallen!

those interviewers were wankers though, it made me so angry, 'ooh lucinda you wear berets therefore you must be into aromatherapy!'

cunts.

i also liked it when suralan had a go at one of the interviewers and the man looked so upset and hurt! everyone's in thrall of him.

i want raef back.

and helene sweared loads in her interview?! is that professional?


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

Sigh.

Last night's show once again demonstrated how useless the unstructured interview is as a guide to anything.  It's so character-driven, often actually being down to how much the interviewer thinks the interviewee is just like they were at that age.  Group tasks are bad enough but this is just appalling.  Good telly though.

And even as interviews go, these were terribly done.  An interview is supposed to be a two-way street, as much about the interviewee finding out if they want the job as vice versa.  An attack-dog going for you for an hour is as far away from that ideal as you can get.  

Not to mention the most important thing -- *nobody even knows what the job is that they are supposed to be applying for!*.  Not even Alan Sugar, as evidenced by him saying to the Viglen MD that he "might send the winner down to you."  Recruitment isn't supposed to be a random process of generally how much you like someone.  It's supposed to be about identifying the key traits you need and then seeking the person that fulfils them.  How can you do that if you don't even know what the bloody job is?

All in all, I think Sugar's company is an utter shambles, with a deeply unpleasant and, frankly, useless boss.  The best candidates in the process have been Raef and Lucinda but both of them are well off out of it, because neither would prosper in his organisation.  Winning the Apprentice turns out to be its own punishment for the things you need to do in order to win it.


----------



## trashpony (Jun 5, 2008)

I just have no sense of Helene at all. I'm indifferent to her. 

Claire sounds like a stuck record - she talks a lot but she says THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN

Alex is a fucking slimy snake in the grass

Lee is a bit silly but at least he has some integrity (despite lying on his CV). And I don't buy that he fired that bloke with no remorse - it was patently obvious he was uncomfortable about it


----------



## electrogirl (Jun 5, 2008)

that man seemed soooooooooooo proud he'd caught lee out on that cv lie thing.

i think it's irrelevant really, everyone fibs. it's not right but it's not the sin of the century.

god i hated nearly all those interviewers.

it's funny how if you'd merely watched the interviews, you would've thought the girls did way better than the boys but miraculously in the board room they spun it to make the boys seem better.

lucinda held her own more successfully than anyone!

just shows how pointless it was, those interviews could've gone any way, Sugar knew who he wanted to fire.


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

electrogirl said:


> it's funny how if you'd merely watched the interviews, you would've thought the girls did way better than the boys but miraculously in the board room they spun it to make the boys seem better.


As I said above, unstructured one-on-one interviews are normally largely about how much the interviewee reminds the interviewer of him- or herself.

This becomes more and more true:

a) As the interviewer becomes more and more successful (something which actually owes as much to luck as anything else, not that they would want to acknowledge that)

b) *The less the interviewer is aware of his or her own biases*.

The latter one is particularly important, as many successful people that interview for new candidates have never actually studied anything like cognitive bias, because it isn't their field of expertise.  So they are totally unaware of the elephant traps that they can then fall into.

Alan Sugar, a blokey philistine, gets three other blokey philistines to do his interviewing for him.  Absolutely hopeless from a diversity perspective -- anyone that isn't a blokey philistine is already on a sticky wicket.  At least this year they had Karen Brady too -- who unsurprisingly gave a very different view about the candidates.

Seriously, the whole thing just makes me scream with rage that anybody could think this is an appropriate recruitment technique.  And the proof of the pudding is in the eating -- look who he has ended up with; they've consistently had no success within his company.


----------



## trashpony (Jun 5, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Seriously, the whole thing just makes me scream with rage that anybody could think this is an appropriate recruitment technique.  And the proof of the pudding is in the eating -- look who he has ended up with; they've consistently had no success within his company.



I think you might be taking this a leeeeeeeeetle bit too seriously 

It's more about being a tv show than a job interview. Let's face it, you can knock holes in the entire process. It isn't about good interview techniques, it's about good telly


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

dynamicbaddog said:


> yes I went right off him after he came out with that
> When it first started I thought Simon would win and I'm really suprised he got fired so early on in the series..


I've become soured to the whole thing now, and there's no way fatty claire is on 85k a year. Perhaps she confused her wage with her pie bill.

All of them are universally grotesque - and not just the contestants.


----------



## hammerntongues (Jun 5, 2008)

It`s entertaining enough but they should just give the winner a " prize " of the £ 100 000 but start them on the appropriate salary for an apprentice , who-ever  goes into the job will not be worth a fraction of the £ 100 000 salary they will be getting. They would piss off after a few weeks but that would probably be best for everyone.


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

trashpony said:


> I think you might be taking this a leeeeeeeeetle bit too seriously
> 
> It's more about being a tv show than a job interview. Let's face it, you can knock holes in the entire process. It isn't about good interview techniques, it's about good telly



Oh, undoubtedly.  But Sugar and co at least seem to take it seriously -- I would say that THEY genuinely think that this is a worthwhile recruitment process.  I have no doubt that this interview style is one that Sugar rates highly and uses in his real business.


----------



## ymu (Jun 5, 2008)

electrogirl said:


> those interviewers were wankers though, it made me so angry, 'ooh lucinda you wear berets therefore you must be into aromatherapy!'


I think it might have been had more to do with the fact that she was doing a part-time degree in Aromatherapy and Herbal Medicine at the time... I don't think it was the beret that tipped them off; it was probably on her CV, along with the degree in Chinese Traditional Medicine.


----------



## electrogirl (Jun 5, 2008)

ymu said:


> I think it might have been had more to do with the fact that she was doing a part-time degree in Aromatherapy and Herbal Medicine at the time... Probably on her CV, like.



oh

oh but you know what i mean! just because she's a bit 'out there' means she can't be a good business woman is bollocks.


----------



## Santino (Jun 5, 2008)

wishface said:


> there's no way fatty claire is on 85k a year. Perhaps she confused her wage with her pie bill.


Do fuck off, there's a poppet.


----------



## ymu (Jun 5, 2008)

(@electrogirl)
  Yeah, I know - and I agree (sorry). The way they presented that was a bit shit. Horribly blokey bunch.


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

trashpony said:


> I just have no sense of Helene at all. I'm indifferent to her.
> 
> Claire sounds like a stuck record - she talks a lot but she says THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN
> 
> ...


Lee has integrity? What show were you watching? The guy's a blusterous fucknuckle.


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

Alex B said:


> Do fuck off, there's a poppet.


that's the sort of comment i'd expect from a 24 yo.


----------



## trashpony (Jun 5, 2008)

wishface said:


> Lee has integrity? What show were you watching? The guy's a blusterous fucknuckle.



He's not two-faced though. And he didn't hate Lucinda for being posh which the rest of them did. Takes people at face value.

Look - they're all obnoxious capitalists aren't they? I think it's bizarre that you're shocked by that. They're people who go on a gameshow because they think they're really successful and more ruthless than the next person. I don't think any of them are going to be winning any socialist awards any time soon


----------



## jæd (Jun 5, 2008)

trashpony said:


> He's not two-faced though. And he didn't hate Lucinda for being posh which the rest of them did. Takes people at face value.



In any real selection process Lee would be out of the running by now and Helene would be considered a liability for swearing all the way through. And, in most selection processes, if they couldn't find a decent candidate out of the current selection they'd re-acquire new candidates...


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

I personally think the two L's have been canoodling, I bet that will come out as fact in a few weeks after the show. You watch.

He may not be two faced, he just has no integrity and is more than willing to suck satan's corporate teat for a little more. Simple as that.

Reminds of a quote from Mr Burns in response to Homer asking him what it's like being wealthy and he says he'd trade all his riches in for a little more.

Capital C baby.


----------



## Chairman Meow (Jun 5, 2008)

wishface said:


> there's no way fatty claire is on 85k a year. Perhaps she confused her wage with her pie bill.


----------



## ymu (Jun 5, 2008)

jæd said:


> In any real selection process Lee would be out of the running by now and Helene would be considered a liability for swearing all the way through. And, in most selection processes, if they couldn't find a decent candidate out of the current selection they'd re-acquire new candidates...


 Any "real" selection process will select those who fit with the organisation. Suralun doesn't rate academic qualifications, but understands why Lee felt the need to exaggerate his, and doesn't have a problem with swearing. 

Lee's never been in the boardroom, which might just be luck but it doesn't immediately suggest he's incompetent or difficult to work with. Helene is still there because she's done well in a very tough corporate environment and seems to have convinced them all that she might have a bit more to her than she's shown so far.


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

ymu said:


> Any "real" selection process will select those who fit with the organisation.


Any *well run* organisation will recognise that diversity brings strength and that you need a complete range of personality types to get the most out of the team.  Because of this, they won't pick the person to fit the *organisation*, they'll pick the person to fit the *job*.

Sugar's organisation is not a well run organisation.


----------



## SwizzleStiX (Jun 5, 2008)

i've got a feeling hellene might win, hope Alex doesn't.


----------



## ymu (Jun 5, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Any *well run* organisation will recognise that diversity brings strength and that you need a complete range of personality types to get the most out of the team.  Because of this, they won't pick the person to fit the *organisation*, they'll pick the person to fit the *job*.
> 
> Sugar's organisation is not a well run organisation.


I'm not disagreeing. But I don't think you promote diversity by automatically disregarding people who swear or exaggerate on their CVs.


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

Neither do I.  I wasn't suggesting that, as far as I know!


----------



## ymu (Jun 5, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Neither do I.  I wasn't suggesting that, as far as I know!


Ah, but Jaed was - I was responding to his post, and then you responded to me.


----------



## Part 2 (Jun 5, 2008)

Lee to win. Like I said weeks ago.


----------



## Paul Russell (Jun 5, 2008)

Great telly, although it would be better if there were a couple of genuinely likable characters in, like Raef or Simon.

Who was the dude who could get away with calling SirAlan plain Alan?


----------



## Epico (Jun 5, 2008)

How many times did Alex say he was 24?

Btw I'm 24 too.

Karen Brady felt like such a token. I reckon that was the only female business woman that a) Sugar and b) the public vaguely knew. Was a sound addition though. Enjoy the interview episodes, like the way the interviewers make them feel as useless and inadequate as possible - then face Sir Alan and say 'I really liked them actually'  

Don't really care who wins.

And I'm 24.


----------



## jæd (Jun 5, 2008)

ymu said:


> I'm not disagreeing. But I don't think you promote diversity by automatically disregarding people who swear or exaggerate on their CVs.



4 months -> 6 months would be an exaggeration. 4 months -> 2 years is a lie. What else is lieing about...?  How do we know he isn't telling porkies about his personal life...?

Swearing : if you can't avoid swearing in an interview, how will you be able to keep control with a client, or in any kind of corporate environment...?


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Jun 5, 2008)

Epico said:


> How many times did Alex say he was 24?
> 
> Btw I'm 24 too.
> 
> ...



He's really annoying about his age. Every time he's under pressure he babbles on about how young he is. FFS - we know!

Helene is also really annoying for this.


----------



## Gromit (Jun 5, 2008)

Part2 said:


> Lee to win. Like I said weeks ago.



Ive a terrible feeling that Alex's team will win the task. Between them two I think Alex is the one Suger would pick. 

Overall I think Lee or Claire deserve it more but it will come down to which team wins the final task.


----------



## tarannau (Jun 5, 2008)

Lee's a fucking numpty though. I half wanted the bloke to shout 'now that's what I'm talking about' when he confronted him about the not inconsiderable lie on his CV.

Alex is a snake, but at least he's not quite the cliched shoutbag that is Lee. Claire's a budget version of the Badger and Helene's hard to warm to. Not much of a choice.


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Jun 5, 2008)

tarannau said:


> Lee's a fucking numpty though. I half wanted the bloke to shout 'now that's what I'm talking about' when he confronted him about the not inconsiderable lie on his CV.


----------



## Gromit (Jun 5, 2008)

The Doctor said:


> He's really annoying about his age. Every time he's under pressure he babbles on about how young he is. FFS - we know!
> 
> Helene is also really annoying for this.



Got to love the fact two interviewers put him in his place by saying how successful they were at 22 and 23. To which he had no answer. Class!


----------



## tarannau (Jun 5, 2008)

To be fair to Alex I can see why the format of this programme would make you into a two-faced backstabbing cunt. Sugar also keeps mentioning his age at every opportunity too.

But they're all a bit shit this year, aren't they?


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 5, 2008)

wishface said:


> I've become soured to the whole thing now, and *there's no way fatty claire is on 85k a year. Perhaps she confused her wage with her pie bill.*
> 
> All of them are universally grotesque - and not just the contestants.



What a nice adult, insightful comment to make


----------



## tarannau (Jun 5, 2008)

Ach, leave the unpleasant pillock alone. He probably spent a lot of time between computer games coming up with that comment. Well, between that and constantly bemoaning why nobody gives him a job. With enlightened attitudes and winning social graces like that it's a real mystery to all of us as well.


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Any *well run* organisation will recognise that diversity brings strength and that you need a complete range of personality types to get the most out of the team.  Because of this, they won't pick the person to fit the *organisation*, they'll pick the person to fit the *job*.
> 
> Sugar's organisation is not a well run organisation.


any well run organisation wouldn't need to resort to using a tv gameshow to promote its stock. 

why else would sugar bother?


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

QueenOfGoths said:


> What a nice adult, insightful comment to make


your welcome.


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

tarannau said:


> Ach, leave the unpleasant pillock alone. He probably spent a lot of time between computer games coming up with that comment. Well, between that and constantly bemoaning why nobody gives him a job. With enlightened attitudes and winning social graces like that it's a real mystery to all of us as well.


oh get over yourself, you arrogant prick.

it's a tv show, if these peopel don't like idle comments made on the interweb then more fool them for taking part. She's fat so fucking what? But don't give me bullshit about her earning 85k a year because I don't buy it. 

 

All the bitchy comments made about people on this and other shows and suddenly there's moral outrage because i said she's fat? Get fucked with your fake sentiment you snide cunt.


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

Marius said:


> Got to love the fact two interviewers put him in his place by saying how successful they were at 22 and 23. To which he had no answer. Class!


to be fair to him, he wasnt comparing himself to them. He was simply saying that's what he had achieved (if such things mean anything to you, they don't to me) at his age.

Which, I gather, is 24.


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

Epico said:


> How many times did Alex say he was 24?
> 
> Btw I'm 24 too.
> 
> ...


I question the wisdom of hiring a 23 year old to manage a football team. I really do.


----------



## tarannau (Jun 5, 2008)

Aye, because companies up and down the country are consulting old wishface about what constitutes a well run organisation and appropriate renumeration, aren't they? You're talking from a real informed position of expertise aren't you.

You keep puffing your chest out, pumping out that hot air and those impotent insults. It's funny, like watching Elmer Fudd having a irate moment.


----------



## baldrick (Jun 5, 2008)

wishface said:


> I question the wisdom of hiring a 23 year old to manage a football team. I really do.


She doesn't manage a football team, she is iirc, managing director of a football club.

Slight difference there.


----------



## editor (Jun 5, 2008)

jæd said:


> Swearing : if you can't avoid swearing in an interview, how will you be able to keep control with a client, or in any kind of corporate environment...?


The Job Centre once forcibly despatched me to an interview with the fucking Evening Standard. I quickly learnt that putting in a few swear words in the interview guarantees that you won't be hired for public facing office jobs.

Sweet.


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

baldrick said:


> She doesn't manage a football team, she is iirc, managing director of a football club.
> 
> Slight difference there.


I believe she said that she was manager of Birmingham (or was it Brighton) when she was 23. 

Got to be some nepotism involved there. I can't see any 23yo having sufficient experience to do that job.

Not that I give a fuck to be honest. The whole purpose of that interview process was to be confrontational becaue that's what we the tv viewering masses demand.


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

tarannau said:


> Aye, because companies up and down the country are consulting old wishface about what constitutes a well run organisation and appropriate renumeration, aren't they? You're talking from a real informed position of expertise aren't you.
> 
> You keep puffing your chest out, pumping out that hot air and those impotent insults. It's funny, like watching Elmer Fudd having a irate moment.


that's nice dear.


----------



## tarannau (Jun 5, 2008)

That's because you can't even listen properly you cloth-eared goon.

She was MD of Brum FC at 23, not their manager.


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 5, 2008)

I was encouraged by someone I trust that this was worth looking at so I just saw the interviews episode on the iplayer – first encounter with this show. I thought it was fascinating to see AMS and his gang go to work on these applicants. 

Lee: I don’t particularly mind the exaggeration of his cv (almost everyone does it, certainly every salesman does it – they’re selling themselves for goodness sake) but apparently he mentioned having a degree in a previous episode which, if so, I do mind – he was always going to be grassed up to the BBC by someone watching and doing that was plain stupid. Overall, he’s a salesman in character and instinct and I don’t think he has the wherewithal to sufficiently develop further dimension.

Alex: When Karen Brady said she was running BCFC at 23, Alex could have said that was the case because someone had seen the potential in her and taken the chance on her at 23 – she hadn’t achieved much at 23, the person who deserves most credit at that point was her assessor/interviewer, though as the years past, Brady affirmed that initial judgement call. His outing of the blonde woman was ugly in tv terms and from a co-worker pov, but no one on the managerial side found fault with it.

Helene: Seems to be the classic survivor type, whether in a corporate environment or a game show. Hugely strong instincts in that particular regard, presumably hewn from childhood experiences of handling, coping, getting something from drunk adults. Interesting that Brady accepted her background in a different sense, and none of them saw the survivor angle.


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

Managing *Director*.  Not manager.

If you look at her route to success, however, it isn't something that I'd particularly be trumpeting.  Look at how the owner of Birmingham (David Sullivan) made his money, for a start.  Now look at how an attractive 23 year old woman might rise up his chain of command (fnarr).


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

tarannau said:


> That's because you can't even listen properly you cloth-eared goon.
> 
> She was MD of Brum FC at 23, not their manager.


like i give a shit.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 5, 2008)

wishface said:


> .... She's fat so fucking what? But don't give me bullshit about her earning 85k a year because I don't buy it.



Actually I don't buy it either. With the bonus she claimed she would have been on about the £100k the apprentice pays so what is her motivation?

Then there was her claim to have made over (was it) £80m profits for her firm, again I just don't buy that, it does not make sense to me. Anyone who was responsible for earning a company £80m at the bottom line would be on a great deal more than £85k in the first place and if not then their bonus would be more than £25k.


----------



## QueenOfGoths (Jun 5, 2008)

wishface said:


> oh get over yourself, you arrogant prick.
> 
> it's a tv show, if these peopel don't like idle comments made on the interweb then more fool them for taking part. She's fat so fucking what? But don't give me bullshit about her earning 85k a year because I don't buy it.
> 
> ...



There is a lot of difference between criticising someone because of their cuntish behavoir and criticising them for the their weight or the way they look. The first can be justified, the second can't.


----------



## tarannau (Jun 5, 2008)

She could well earn 85k a year, although I'd be inclined to suggest that he 'incremental rise of 80m profit' or whatever she spouted, was far more of a team effort than a 'I did that' achievement.


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

weltweit said:


> Actually I don't buy it either. With the bonus she claimed she would have been on about the £100k the apprentice pays so what is her motivation?
> 
> Then there was her claim to have made over (was it) £80m profits for her firm, again I just don't buy that, it does not make sense to me. Anyone who was responsible for earning a company £80m at the bottom line would be on a great deal more than £85k in the first place and if not then their bonus would be more than £25k.


Exactly.

And that shrivel faced goatee wearing Sugarite chews out Lee for claiming he went to uni for two years and not 4 months.

The whole interview process is just inconsistent and brutish.

But we loves it don't we, we love the whole charade. Bread and circuses and zondas.


----------



## tarannau (Jun 5, 2008)

wishface said:


> like i give a shit.



Amazing how you're so harsh about everyone's failings but your own isn't it?

Poor shouty you. The irony of you berating the 'confrontational' nature of the programme, you watching it and then acting like an aggressive, insulting twat is lost on you, right?


----------



## wishface (Jun 5, 2008)

tarannau said:


> Amazing how you're so harsh about everyone's failings but your own isn't it?
> 
> Poor shouty you. The irony of you berating the 'confrontational' nature of the programme, you watching it and then acting like an aggressive, insulting twat is lost on you, right?


again, get over yourself.


----------



## tarannau (Jun 5, 2008)

I'm fine Elmer. How's the blood pressure and outrage level in hypocrite land?


----------



## weltweit (Jun 5, 2008)

Lee would have been out for my reconing, first they found a lie on his CV, albiet not a massively important one but there should be no lies on a CV, but more importantly he had misspellings in his answer to the question "why should you be the apprentice" (or whatever it was) 

Surely in the age of spellcheckers it is possible to get something so simple right. 

It implies he will misspell in communications he makes on the job as well which is not really acceptable.


----------



## mrsfran (Jun 5, 2008)

weltweit said:


> Actually I don't buy it either. With the bonus she claimed she would have been on about the £100k the apprentice pays so what is her motivation?
> 
> Then there was her claim to have made over (was it) £80m profits for her firm, again I just don't buy that, it does not make sense to me. Anyone who was responsible for earning a company £80m at the bottom line would be on a great deal more than £85k in the first place and if not then their bonus would be more than £25k.



It was 8m profit she claimed. And I very much doubt she was solely responsible for a company's profits improving by that much. I imagine she was part of a managerial team that was in situ at a good time in the company's business. It was probably part luck and she claimed the credit for herself.

Even so, she's the one I'd hire. I don't care if she talks too much, she's a good business woman and she she works hard. If you can't deal with someone who has an outgoing, talkative personality then you're not a good manager.


----------



## tarannau (Jun 5, 2008)

Yep, Lee's a loser to me. A trier, but he's not cut out to be anything other than a gobshite salesman in my book.


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 5, 2008)

weltweit said:


> Lee would have been out for my reconing, first they found a lie on his CV, albiet not a massively important one but there should be no lies on a CV, but more importantly he had misspellings in his answer to the question "why should you be the apprentice" (or whatever it was)
> 
> Surely in the age of spellcheckers it is possible to get something so simple right.
> 
> It implies he will misspell in communications he makes on the job as well which is not really acceptable.


"reconing?


----------



## weltweit (Jun 5, 2008)

missfran said:


> It was 8m profit she claimed. And I very much doubt she was solely responsible for a company's profits improving by that much. I imagine she was part of a managerial team that was in situ at a good time in the company's business. It was probably part luck and she claimed the credit for herself.



Yes but if you claim a result that is down to a team as yours and yours alone, I think that is deceitful. I agree with you that that is probably what happenned though.



missfran said:


> Even so, she's the one I'd hire. I don't care if she talks too much, she's a good business woman and she she works hard. If you can't deal with someone who has an outgoing, talkative personality then you're not a good manager.



I also think so, for me she is the best of a weak bunch. I think in past series there were better candidates in at this stage.


----------



## ymu (Jun 5, 2008)

weltweit said:


> Lee would have been out for my reconing, first they found a lie on his CV, albiet not a massively important one but there should be no lies on a CV, but more importantly he had misspellings in his answer to the question "why should you be the apprentice" (or whatever it was)
> 
> Surely in the age of spellcheckers it is possible to get something so simple right.
> 
> It implies he will misspell in communications he makes on the job as well which is not really acceptable.


Yeah - I actually think he was lucky that the lie was there, because it took attention away from the really bad errors in that answer. 

I really don't think the lie was important in the context that it was made - although it's not clear how long he took to explain himself in the end, he was honest about why and it's obviously true. It's not like catering college is massively impressive or relevant to the job - he's just sensitive about people thinking he's thick just because he doesn't have some paperwork saying he's not. 

Which of course makes the errors in the CV worse - he really should have put more care into that - but they didn't get much attention in the storm over The Lie, which I think got him more sympathy than anything else plus an important opportunity to own up to a mistake in the boardroom, which siralun loves.


----------



## editor (Jun 5, 2008)

I quite liked the booted-out kooky one myself. Bonkers, but at least a bit interesting and not all swivel-action corporate cocksuck.


----------



## killer b (Jun 5, 2008)

'bit too kooky for me... you're fired'

the man's a cunt. is it any suprise, year after year, that he employs cunts?


----------



## tarannau (Jun 5, 2008)

That nice Tim bloke wasn't a cunt was he?

It's a load of entertainment rather than a real recruitment policy admittedly, but not every winner's been a wanker.


----------



## baldrick (Jun 5, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Managing *Director*. Not manager.
> 
> If you look at her route to success, however, it isn't something that I'd particularly be trumpeting. Look at how the owner of Birmingham (David Sullivan) made his money, for a start. Now look at how an attractive 23 year old woman might rise up his chain of command (fnarr).


for god's sake.

no need for that, at all.  sexist rubbish.


----------



## Superdupastupor (Jun 5, 2008)

Mrs Kooky was a bit sinister I found. I sort of thought that whilst she did talk in a very soft, understandable and notably intelligent manner ( everything that came forth from her mouth was an air-tight statement of purposefulness with zero waffle) it felt very much that it was all a facade and there was a lot of hidden stuff going on inside.

The non-chronological editing of conversations in this ep was so blatant   at times it was like a mash up


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 5, 2008)

I thought kooky was a wily old bird who was, at this stage, glad to be out of it - don't have any trouble thinking she gave Alex the tool to finish her off. Had fun, but time to get back to her world.


----------



## STFC (Jun 5, 2008)

It might have been mentioned before, but has anyone noticed that when Claire talks on camera, she looks just like David Brent? Same facial expressions and eye movements, it's uncanny.


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 5, 2008)

ebay sex moomin said:


> I love Raef... wish he was in the final- I think SAS made a bad decision there
> 
> top man



Raef is an absolute fox, because he straddles justified arrogance, with decency and decadence - he's just my type.


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 5, 2008)

talking of kooky . . .


----------



## jæd (Jun 5, 2008)

Epico said:


> How many times did Alex say he was 24?



Its not the fact that he's 24, more that he's done nothing. Oh, I'm not sure what an achievement having your company is. I had my own software games company when I was 16. But it was just me, and never made any money. We didn't ship any games on time, either...


----------



## Structaural (Jun 5, 2008)

STFC said:


> It might have been mentioned before, but has anyone noticed that when Claire talks on camera, she looks just like David Brent? Same facial expressions and eye movements, it's uncanny.



I noticed that! I've been mentioning it on CiFs comments


----------



## Structaural (Jun 5, 2008)

Cheesypoof said:


> Raef is an absolute fox, because he straddles justified arrogance, with decency and decadence - he's just my type.



What's decadent about Raef? The fact he likes a posh dinner?


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

baldrick said:


> for god's sake.
> 
> no need for that, at all.  sexist rubbish.


About as far from a fair description of me as you can get, which I hope my posts on Urban have made clear.

I'm not talking about generalities here, I'm talking about this one specific woman, Karen Brady.   I remember David Sullivan taking over Birmingham City and I remember well when Karen Brady was made managing director of Birmingham City.  Sullivan was best known for owning the Sport newspapers and his takeover of Birmingham was accompanied by all the usual exploitative rubbish you might expect of him.  He had his "Sport girls" in Birmingham and all that rubbish.  When he put Brady in charge, he made a big deal at the time of the PR boost he would get out of having a 23 year old blond woman as his managing director.

Now, what has happened since then is not the issue.  Brady has turned out to be a damn shrewd woman.  But on the specific point that "by the time I was 23, I was already managing director of Birmingham City" -- well, I would still say that the way in which she obtained that position isn't something that I would hold up to others as a role model (although please note that I am not for a moment suggesting that she slept her way into the position, which I have just realised could have been an interpretation of what I wrote.)  Allying yourself to a peddler of exploitative smut and taking advantage of the fact that he wanted the PR of having her as MD isn't a career path that I would hold over somebody that hasn't done the same.


----------



## electrogirl (Jun 5, 2008)

my favourite quote from last night

Alex- 'I'm a partially painted canvas!'


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

Unfortunately, however, it's a Jackson Pollock.


----------



## Gromit (Jun 5, 2008)

I agree with Kabbes. I'm pretty darn sure that Sullivan wouldnt have picked Grady if she'd had a face like a smacked arses and spent 85k a year on pies.

He wanted to bring contraversy and glamour to a make his club be noticed by potential punters. A club from a city renowned more for being the opposite of glamourous. 

It was a clever move and Brady has been very lucky to reap the rewards of it. She has since earnt her place through hard work and on merit but she didn't initially win it based on past merit.


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 5, 2008)

C'mon, Brady was and perhaps still is quite cute, but she's really not all that. Point is, she persuaded some grizzly entreprenuer to give her a chance and she ran with it. Plenty of ways to bend over in business, and almost everyone has done it.


----------



## Structaural (Jun 5, 2008)

from Popbitch:

-----------------------------------------------------
Apprentice reject Lucinda Ledgerwood was known as
Cindy Burger (her real name) before the show.
-----------------------------------------------------


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

I don't particularly disagree with that, Elsie.  But is the fact that she managed to get the reprehensible Sullivan to give her a go at 23 really something that she should lord over those that are not an MD at 24 years old?


----------



## g force (Jun 5, 2008)

Structaural said:


> from Popbitch:
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Apprentice reject Lucinda Ledgerwood was known as
> ...



Now that is


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

Cindy could well be short for Lucinda, so I don't see the issue there.  And I don't blame her for changing her last name if she wanted to disassociate herself from her family.


----------



## Gromit (Jun 5, 2008)

Structaural said:


> from Popbitch:
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Apprentice reject Lucinda Ledgerwood was known as
> ...



I had noticed her friends calling her Cindy in the final five show. 

At the time I thought  putting on airs and graces for the TV are we?


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 5, 2008)

kabbes - it was a set up, she wanted  to catch him off guard, get a reaction and to see how he handled it. All those interviews were about getting under the surface from different angles. Using herself was something he could have refuted had he thought quicker and clearer.


----------



## Vintage Paw (Jun 5, 2008)

Structaural said:


> from Popbitch:
> 
> -----------------------------------------------------
> Apprentice reject Lucinda Ledgerwood was known as
> ...



I noticed that one of her mates on the profiles show the other night called her Cindy.


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> it was a set up, she wanted  a reaction and to see how he handled it. All those interviews were about getting under the surface.


Possibly, although it was also self-aggrandisement.  There are other ways to go if you just want to get a reaction.  But anyway, the original point was that she was managing *director* and not *manager* of Birmingham City -- the other bit was just an aside and something I felt I needed to defend myself about having been accused of "sexism".


----------



## Gromit (Jun 5, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Cindy could well be short for Lucinda, so I don't see the issue there.  And I don't blame her for changing her last name if she wanted to disassociate herself from her family.



What about the issue that she hasn't asked any of the contestants or the producers to use her more familar name?

Dont blame her though as anyone with a girl name ending with a Y does tend to get taken less seriously by people. Its cutesey innit.


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

She wouldn't be the first person I'd seen that uses a more formal version of their name in a business context.


----------



## Santino (Jun 5, 2008)

Marius said:


> What about the issue that she hasn't asked any of the contestants or the producers to use her more familar name?


The issue is that it's a total non-issue. What's it got to do with anything?


----------



## Gromit (Jun 5, 2008)

Alex B said:


> The issue is that it's a total non-issue. What's it got to do with anything?



Its telling about her self image and personal interaction with people. The distance she places between her self and colleagues. 
But then we've seen all along that she didn't get on with anyone else in more blatant ways so its unimportant overall. I just saw it as backing up some things we'd already surmised about her.


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 5, 2008)

Lucinda is Cindy, and most of my Uni friends use their maiden name in business and their married name elsewhere. She can call herself Captain fucking Birdseye for all anyone cares. It is, as Alex says, a non-issue.


----------



## mrsfran (Jun 5, 2008)

Marius said:


> Its telling about her self image and personal interaction with people. The distance she places between her self and colleagues.
> But then we've seen all along that she didn't get on with anyone else in more blatant ways so its unimportant overall. I just saw it as backing up some things we'd already surmised about her.



She cut off contact with her family. I'd say that goes hand in hand with changing your name. Nothing to do with The Apprentice.


----------



## aqua (Jun 5, 2008)

electrogirl said:


> my favourite quote from last night
> 
> Alex- 'I'm a partially painted canvas!'





kabbes said:


> Unfortunately, however, it's a Jackson Pollock.


----------



## aqua (Jun 5, 2008)

Marius said:


> What about the issue that she hasn't asked any of the contestants or the producers to use her more familar name?


one of her mates in the show on monday called her cindy

but I don't use the name I'm known by at home at work. theres nothing unusual about that


----------



## Mitre10 (Jun 5, 2008)

kabbes said:


> I don't particularly disagree with that, Elsie.  But is the fact that she managed to get the reprehensible Sullivan to give her a go at 23 really something that she should lord over those that are not an MD at 24 years old?





If I recall correctly from something I read a while back, Karren Brady was 20 when she worked for Saatchi and Saatchi and it was there she first met Sullivan as he was a client of the agency.

She impressed him so much that he spent an astonishing amount of money with S&S and then headhunted her for a job as director of the parent company of his several firms.

It was while she was working for Sullivan that she persuaded him to buy Brimingham City and let her run it. Admittedly, the fact she was young and attractive did come into play as they are both well aquainted with the value of publicity but make no mistake, she is a very clever woman indeed.

Another thing I seem to remember is that she went to an all-boys school too!!


----------



## Cheesypoof (Jun 5, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Cindy could well be short for Lucinda, so I don't see the issue there. * And I don't blame her for changing her last name if she wanted to disassociate herself from her family*.



The scoop on why she has cut them off is the story tabloid editors should be chasing (and I suspect are).


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 5, 2008)

Sayeth Wikipedia:


> Directly after leaving school she worked for LBC, but soon moved to Saatchi & Saatchi, where she enjoyed her work on a schedule that was normally for graduates.[2] She managed an account for radio advertising with several clients, who initially did not spend much money; however, one of the clients, David Sullivan, encouraged by Brady, spent more than £2,000,000 on advertising in just 8 months, which earned Brady more commission than the rest of the sales team put together.[2] Sullivan offered her a job with his firm, Sport Newspapers, and she became one of the directors at the age of 22 years. Brady explained that the 'adult' nature of many of Sullivan's publications was of no concern to her, saying that they were, "...just different kinds of publications within one house." While in Sullivan's employ, Brady spotted an advert for the sale of Birmingham City F. C. in the Financial Times, when the club was in receivership,[3] and persuaded Sullivan to buy it and let her run it. Sullivan later commented that he agreed to the deal because such a young, female director would attract publicity to the club, and also because Brady was a "Sacker".[2] Brady was 23 years of age when she started work as the Managing Director of Birmingham City F. C. in March 1993.



kabbes - over to you.


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

Cheesypoof said:


> The scoop on why she has cut them off is the story tabloid editors should be chasing (and I suspect are).



... and that is why I don't ever read the tabloids.

If she wants to cut off her family, that's up to her.  Anyone who elects to ignore her wishes and force her to reconfront what was obviously a very painful issue is no human being that I would ever want to associate with.


----------



## Structaural (Jun 5, 2008)

What's a 'Sacker'?


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> Sayeth Wikipedia:
> 
> 
> kabbes - over to you.


Well, of course, the narrative of history is always fun to construct after the event.  We all like to make up the story that makes sense to us given what we subsequently know about how events played out.  That goes for nameless Wiki writers as much as any of the rest of us.

And none of us will ever really know the whys and wherefores of Brady's appointment -- not even Sullivan and Brady themselves, funnily enough, owing to the wonderful way we all have of retrospectively editing our memories in light of what we subsequently discover.  All I can say is that my current memory of the appointment was the massive PR putsch that surrounded it.  But maybe that itself was the obscuring blanket.  As I say -- it's impossible at this point to say.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 5, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> C'mon, Brady was and perhaps still is quite cute, but she's really not all that. Point is, she persuaded some grizzly entreprenuer to give her a chance and she ran with it. Plenty of ways to bend over in business, and almost everyone has done it.



No I think the point is that her shot to the candidate "when I was 22 I was already managing director ... " was a cheap shot. 

Why? because how many 22 year olds in the UK are offerred or even seriously considered for a managing directors position of a multi million pound company. Well in that year, probably one, just one !! The fact that he had not already been a managing director does not speak badly about his experience at that age. 

She used the opportunity of that moment in the interview to brag (big herself up) in a most immodest way and a few people picked up that it was a cheap shot.


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 5, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Well, of course, the narrative of history is always fun to construct after the event.  We all like to make up the story that makes sense to us given what we subsequently know about how events played out.  That goes for nameless Wiki writers as much as any of the rest of us.
> 
> And none of us will ever really know the whys and wherefores of Brady's appointment -- not even Sullivan and Brady themselves, funnily enough, owing to the wonderful way we all have of retrospectively editing our memories in light of what we subsequently discover.  All I can say is that my current memory of the appointment was the massive PR putsch that surrounded it.  But maybe that itself was the obscuring blanket.  As I say -- it's impossible at this point to say.


I see, you don't see a pattern of business achievement there, at all. It's probably about giving David Sullivan a noshing from time to time?


----------



## baldrick (Jun 5, 2008)

kabbes said:


> well, I would still say that the way in which she obtained that position isn't something that I would hold up to others as a role model (although please note that I am not for a moment suggesting that she slept her way into the position, which I have just realised could have been an interpretation of what I wrote.)


That's what i thought you were implying, sorry about that!


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 5, 2008)

weltweit said:


> No I think the point is that her shot to the candidate "when I was 22 I was already managing director ... " was a cheap shot.
> 
> Why? because how many 22 year olds in the UK are offerred or even seriously considered for a managing directors position of a multi million pound company. Well in that year, probably one, just one !! The fact that he had not already been a managing director does not speak badly about his experience at that age.
> 
> She used the opportunity of that moment in the interview to brag (big herself up) in a most immodest way and a few people picked up that it was a cheap shot.


Oh for goodness sake. Get a grip. This wasn't a job working on the tills at Tesco, the quality of interviewer reflected that. Really, there is a level beyond the playground.


----------



## kabbes (Jun 5, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> I see, you don't see a pattern of business achievement there, at all. It's probably about giving David Sullivan a noshing from time to time?


Be fair Elsie, I am not in any way suggesting any noshing whatsoever.  I am merely suggesting that the smut peddler Sullivan saw it as a PR coup to have a 23 year old attractive blonde as the figurehead of his high-profile new acquisition.

The fact that Brady also turned out to be a shrewd and effective businesswoman was a not insubstantial added bonus.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 5, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> Oh for goodness sake. Get a grip. This wasn't a job working on the tills at Tesco, the quality of interviewer reflected that. Really, there is a level beyond the playground.



I am afraid I don't know what you mean. 

The snippets of the interviews that we were allowed to see were not really enough to make up a complete picture of how good or poor interviews they were.


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 5, 2008)

weltweit - If you don't think those interviewers knew what they were doing, best we not waste each others time.


----------



## STFC (Jun 5, 2008)

I really don't think Karren Brady was having a pop at Alex. He kept on saying "I'm only 24"  in a way that suggested he couldn't possibly have done anything yet, whereas it's actually not that young really. She simply stated that she was running BCFC at 23 - not in a pompous, look-at-me-aren't-I-great way, just a statement of fact. The other chap said he ran his own business at 22 - again, just a fact. It might have been an absolute disaster, but he did it. Alex seems to think that being 'only' 24 is a valid reason for not having done anything of note in business.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 5, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> weltweit - If you don't think those interviewers knew what they were doing, best we not waste each others time.



What I said was we did not see enough to make our minds up.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 5, 2008)

Personally I enjoyed the interview task in previous series but I thought we saw less of the interviews this time than we did in the past. I would have liked to have seen more.


----------



## LilMissHissyFit (Jun 5, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> Lucinda is Cindy, and most of my Uni friends use their maiden name in business and their married name elsewhere. She can call herself Captain fucking Birdseye for all anyone cares. It is, as Alex says, a non-issue.



I know several Jen's.. myself included but if I were in business I and my similarly named friends would want to use our 'proper' names.
Its the same with a Victoria being vicky and so on...
Nobody asked 'Nicholas 'de lacy' Brown why he felt the need to Falsify his name did they? He was clearly doing it to hide his original background and make him sound like he was from wealth.

He was a working class essex boy originally Nick Brown but nobody made an issue of it... why should it be an issue i the semi final stage what she calls herself?


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 5, 2008)

Ask marius, he's the only one who thinks it is.


----------



## Gromit (Jun 5, 2008)

STFC said:


> I really don't think Karren Brady was having a pop at Alex. He kept on saying "I'm only 24"  in a way that suggested he couldn't possibly have done anything yet, whereas it's actually not that young really. She simply stated that she was running BCFC at 23 - not in a pompous, look-at-me-aren't-I-great way, just a statement of fact. The other chap said he ran his own business at 22 - again, just a fact. It might have been an absolute disaster, but he did it. Alex seems to think that being 'only' 24 is a valid reason for not having done anything of note in business.



The thing is that there are three kinds of self made men (women). 
Those that left school at 16. 
Those that left after A'levels. 
Those that stayed on to do a degree. 

The ones that left at 16 have 8 years to make something of themselves by age 24. 
Whereas university graduates are practically fresh off the boat at that time of their life. 

Compared to Sir Alan he is very young at 24.


----------



## Epico (Jun 5, 2008)

LilMissHissyFit said:


> why should it be an issue i the semi final stage what she calls herself?



I agree.

What’s in a name? that which we call a Lucinda  
By any other name would be as incompetent


----------



## weltweit (Jun 5, 2008)

I hate it that women change their names when they marry. 

I used to have to deal with a very difficult lady who seemed to put barriers up to us ever doing good business with this client. Eventually I got the agenda through for a future meeting and saw that she was not on it, yipee I thought now we can make progress. Imagine my dissapointment when I arrived and there she was, the same as ever, she just changed her name when she got married!


----------



## Gromit (Jun 5, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> Ask marius, he's the only one who thinks it is.



Issue is the wrong word. It is an insight into a person's character. Whether or not its a negative insight or not that a person chooses to change their name you can decide for yourselves but it certainly doesn't mean nothing whatsoever. If names weren't important then Nicolas and Cindy wouldnt have changed their's. If names arent important then why not use the same one for work and home? Why differenciate if it makes no difference? Someone tell me that?


----------



## Aravis (Jun 5, 2008)

Marius said:


> Issue is the wrong word. It is an insight into a person's character. Whether or not its a negative insight or not that a person chooses to change their name you can decide for yourselves but it certainly doesn't mean nothing whatsoever. If names weren't important then Nicolas and Cindy wouldnt have changed their's. If names arent important then why not use the same one for work and home? Why differenciate if it makes no difference? Someone tell me that?



I use my full name at work, and a diminuative amongst friends. It sounds a bit too "cutesy" in my view to be used in a professional environment - just my personal taste. When friends use it, it sounds affectionate.


----------



## STFC (Jun 6, 2008)

Marius said:


> The thing is that there are three kinds of self made men (women).
> Those that left school at 16.
> Those that left after A'levels.
> Those that stayed on to do a degree.
> ...



Doesn't matter whether you're a self-made (wo)man or not, if you're asked what you've done in life, being 'only' 24 is not an excuse for the answer being 'not much'. At a later point he mentioned he and his brother bagging up and selling aggregate from the local farm. That could be dressed up as having run your own business. The whole process is about selling yourself, he missed the opportunity to do so.


----------



## suburbia (Jun 6, 2008)

dynamicbaddog said:


> When it first started I thought Simon would win and I'm really suprised he got fired so early on in the series..



Me too  Will be a pleasure to see him back next week, can't wait


----------



## Grandma Death (Jun 7, 2008)

Chairman Meow said:


> NO SPOILERS! FFS!
> 
> God, this has really pissed me off.



It wasn't a spoiler. I agreed with the poster I quoted.


----------



## LilMissHissyFit (Jun 7, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> Ask marius, he's the only one who thinks it is.



sorry, was agreeing with you. I can see the way I worded it didnt make that clear.
Apologies!


----------



## LilMissHissyFit (Jun 7, 2008)

STFC said:


> Doesn't matter whether you're a self-made (wo)man or not, if you're asked what you've done in life, being 'only' 24 is not an excuse for the answer being 'not much'. At a later point he mentioned he and his brother bagging up and selling aggregate from the local farm. That could be dressed up as having run your own business. The whole process is about selling yourself, he missed the opportunity to do so.




Innit

.... every bloody line ! "Im only 24" "at the age of only 24"
"Given that Im only 24"

FFS... sut up about being 24, weve got that, now what else have you got? what can you offer??

"err, since IM only 24"

YOURE FIRED!


----------



## Paul Russell (Jun 8, 2008)

Sort of hard to decide who should win without knowing exactly what the job entails (well, I don't maybe others do).

For example, if it involves doing a lot of slick presentations and writing the odd report, Lee would be not good. He's great at selling directly to the general public, but how much chance is there going to be to do that in this job?


----------



## kabbes (Jun 9, 2008)

Totally agree with you, Paul.  And I think that even Sugar doesn't know exactly what the job entails, as it happens.  At least, judging from some of his remarks throughout the series.  Hopeless!


----------



## Chairman Meow (Jun 9, 2008)

Grandma Death said:


> It wasn't a spoiler. I agreed with the poster I quoted.



Err. you said you knew who came first and second and named them. Atleast you deleted it after, but too late for me.


----------



## jasoon (Jun 9, 2008)

It's clearly none of the women, Al 'negged' them just before the review show ended yesterday


----------



## Grandma Death (Jun 9, 2008)

Chairman Meow said:


> Err. you said you knew who came first and second and named them. Atleast you deleted it after, but too late for me.



Did I....

I thought I was agreeing with the poster above who said either Clare or Lee would win.

Never mind-sorry if I spoilt it for you


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 9, 2008)

Paul Russell said:


> Sort of hard to decide who should win without knowing exactly what the job entails (well, I don't maybe others do).


I don't know much about the show but I did form the impression 'the job' is/has become secondary to the process - the (tv) process having become the end, and the job the means.


----------



## kabbes (Jun 9, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> I don't know much about the show but I did form the impression 'the job' is/has become secondary to the process - the (tv) process having become the end, and the job the means.


Which is why those involved should really stop pretending that it is anything other than what it is -- reality TV entertainment


----------



## London_Calling (Jun 9, 2008)

I did say to a friend of mine it had the feel of Big Brother, but for the elder, more serious-minded in the family.

They don't seem too shy about it either, those bedroom scenes  are begging for a Geordie voiceover.


----------



## isvicthere? (Jun 10, 2008)

Something which just occurs. They still keep showing Alex in a scene from an early episode when he's negotiated something for half price, and boasts on the phone, "I've got 100% off!" Er..... no! If you'd got 100% off it would be free. 

Alex: 50% as good as he thinks he is.


----------



## wishface (Jun 10, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Totally agree with you, Paul.  And I think that even Sugar doesn't know exactly what the job entails, as it happens.  At least, judging from some of his remarks throughout the series.  Hopeless!


Isn't it usually selling his latest product, which noone will ever hear of again.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Jun 10, 2008)

kabbes said:


> Totally agree with you, Paul.  And I think that even Sugar doesn't know exactly what the job entails, as it happens.  At least, judging from some of his remarks throughout the series.  Hopeless!



I think the fact that no one knows what this magical mystical job they are going to get is undermines the whole thing.. I mean what is it? If it involves buying kosher chickens and talking utter bollocks then why the fuck am I not on a £100k ??? I could do that for ..er.. well.. hmm.. £75k i think would be reasonable.

I like the grumpy one with no charm who - becuase she is not 24 - simple states that she's a 'ballsy woman'. This is becuase she very pointedly says 'i'll give it 100%' unlike everyone else who says 'i'll give it 110%'...


----------



## g force (Jun 10, 2008)

Its not really, nor has it ever been, about finding a decent job. At least in the early series they had a vague idea of what the role would entail. Now it's pure entertainment....why else would spelling mistakes on an application for the show suddenly be bought up, or someone's tough upbringing. Audience manipulation plain and simple.

The lack of a definded job makes the entire process pointless but then its the process everyone's interested in rather than if they're any good talking down a phone. Now that would be dull.


----------



## Paul Russell (Jun 10, 2008)

I'm going to make a prediction that it's going to be Alex -- not that I particularly love him, but he'd be a safe all-rounder.

He can sell, is reasonably articulate for the presentations, really wants the job, and won't get up anybody's nose. Safe choice.

Oh, and he's 24.


----------



## weltweit (Jun 10, 2008)

For my money, none of the four are worth £100k 

1) Too unshaven, ineffectual and also - only 24.

2) Not really balsy enough at all, despite repeatedly saying she is and corporate of course.

3) Can't spell, can't tell truth or give a presentation and also doesn't bother to shave.

4) The gobby one, sells well, never listens, already earns the money if we are to believe the hype.

For Sir Alan, I recon he will plump for no 1 or 4, good luck to him and them after that!
I do think the candidates were better last series.


----------



## DexterTCN (Jun 10, 2008)

g force said:


> The lack of a defined job makes the entire process pointless...


Surely it allows Sugar to pick the person, rather than fit a peg in a hole?


----------



## Gromit (Jun 10, 2008)

weltweit said:


> 1) Too unshaven, ineffectual and also - only 24.


 
Who is onlyh 24?


----------



## kabbes (Jun 11, 2008)

DexterTCN said:


> Surely it allows Sugar to pick the person, rather than fit a peg in a hole?


Why is that a good thing?  Pick a person to what end?  Not to be his eventual son and heir, I can assure you of that.


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Jun 11, 2008)

Apparently Claire is the bookies favorite and Helene is the rank outsider.

I was thinking of placing a bet on Claire but the odds will be rubbish by now.


----------



## Epico (Jun 11, 2008)

The Doctor said:


> Apparently Claire is the bookies favorite and Helene is the rank outsider.
> 
> I was thinking of placing a bet on Claire but the odds will be rubbish by now.



How? I wasn't aware any markets were open on the Apprentice. 
How would that work, it's filmed in advance. It'd be like playing an untelevised tennis match and still being able to bet on it several weeks later.


----------



## Chester Copperpot (Jun 11, 2008)

Epico said:


> How? I wasn't aware any markets were open on the Apprentice.
> How would that work, it's filmed in advance. It'd be like playing an untelevised tennis match and still being able to bet on it several weeks later.



It was on the news on the radio on the way to work, they had some guy from William Hill on there.

ETA: You're right - you can't bet on it. But here are the odds they would have offered if you could.

http://www.williamhillmedia.com/index_template.asp?file=10219


----------



## wishface (Jun 11, 2008)

I think I'm going to win the Apprentice. I've got more chance than those buffoons.


----------



## bouncer_the_dog (Jun 11, 2008)

If you listen to todays Today show there is quite a good interview with suralun about 2hrs 24mins in where I think he gets a taste of his own medicine.. Today=1 Suralun=0


----------



## STFC (Jun 11, 2008)

I think The Gobby One will win. She's annoying, but probably the best of a not very good bunch.


----------



## isvicthere? (Jun 11, 2008)

The Doctor said:


> It was on the news on the radio on the way to work, they had some guy from William Hill on there.
> 
> ETA: You're right - you can't bet on it. But here are the odds they would have offered if you could.
> 
> http://www.williamhillmedia.com/index_template.asp?file=10219



So Hills theoretically have Claire 11/8, Alex 9/4, Lee 7/2 and Helene 9/2. Or team-wise, Claire and Lee 4/6 and Alex and Helene 11/10. 

A mate of mine is a driver for a lot of "celebs" and a couple of years ago was hanging around BBC TV Centre. The word came out in advance among the drivers who had won, and quite a few of them lumped a big wedge on the foregone conclusion. One of the big bookies ( Ladbrokes, I think) investigated "irregular betting patterns in the Shepherds Bush area".


----------



## beeboo (Jun 11, 2008)

ooh, it's started


----------



## Guruchelles (Jun 11, 2008)

They're not all back then.


----------



## magneze (Jun 11, 2008)

Heh ... this could be good.






*AMSTRAD ... FOR MEN*
"The Stink Of Excess"​

... or maybe not ...


----------



## moomoo (Jun 11, 2008)

"I'm 24 years old"


----------



## Guruchelles (Jun 11, 2008)

Magneze said:


> Heh ... this could be good.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


----------



## Lea (Jun 11, 2008)

I'm liking the Roulette idea. The advert is well cheesy.


----------



## Belushi (Jun 11, 2008)

Lea said:


> I'm liking the Roulette idea. The advert is well cheesy.



too cheesy.


----------



## softybabe (Jun 11, 2008)

Lea said:


> I'm liking the Roulette idea. The advert is well cheesy.



very cheesy but bottle and all shebang is better


----------



## softybabe (Jun 11, 2008)

fucking Helene is gonna ruin it for Alex


----------



## trashpony (Jun 11, 2008)

Interesting that they didn't invite Lucinda back (or she didn't want to come).


----------



## magneze (Jun 11, 2008)

softybabe said:


> fucking Helene is gonna ruin it for Alex


Now there's a rumour ...


----------



## trashpony (Jun 11, 2008)

Is there any reason why Claire isn't doing the pitch? when we know that Lee is rubbish at that kind of thing?


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Jun 11, 2008)

Lea said:


> I'm liking the Roulette idea. The advert is well cheesy.



And Surrallun tends to go for good old fashioned stuff dosen't he?


----------



## Miss Potter (Jun 11, 2008)

oh no Lee is shit at presenting


----------



## softybabe (Jun 11, 2008)

Lee needs to go back to school  how hard is it...read from the fucking notes


----------



## Lea (Jun 11, 2008)

beesonthewhatnow said:


> And Surrallun tends to go for good old fashioned stuff dosen't he?



Yeah, I reckon he wears Old Spice.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Jun 11, 2008)

Lea said:


> Yeah, I reckon he wears Old Spice.



Nah:


----------



## Belushi (Jun 11, 2008)

Tough audience.


----------



## Lea (Jun 11, 2008)

I think that Dual is more sophisticated than Roulette. They've certainly got better feedback.


----------



## softybabe (Jun 11, 2008)

i like the dual concept more now...oh who shall i hire 

















































My money is still on Alex


----------



## aqua (Jun 11, 2008)

but wasn't the idea of the 2 bits to the bottle the designers and not Alex/Helene's?


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Jun 11, 2008)

Yeah, but the cost thing might get them, you know how Surallun is about the bottom line....


----------



## Guruchelles (Jun 11, 2008)

aqua said:


> but wasn't the idea of the 2 bits to the bottle the designers and not Alex/Helene's?



That's what I thought.


----------



## Belushi (Jun 11, 2008)

should have guessed surallun wouldnt approve of metrosexuals


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 11, 2008)

"you are all shit, you are all fired"


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 11, 2008)

Is it wrong that I find Clare kind of attractive?


----------



## softybabe (Jun 11, 2008)

oh no!


----------



## aqua (Jun 11, 2008)

hang on, is helene saying that the bottle was the problem and she didn't do the bottle

she didn't do a fucking thing


----------



## Lea (Jun 11, 2008)

Oh it's going to be a tough one. I thought that both Claire and Lee have performed well in their task and worked well as a team.


----------



## beesonthewhatnow (Jun 11, 2008)

See, it's all about the bottom line with Surallun, good design and so on counts for nowt, it's profit or you're fired.


Claire ftw now I reckon.


----------



## softybabe (Jun 11, 2008)

shut the fuck up Helene!  ffffffffffffffffs


always shifting blame....


----------



## Belushi (Jun 11, 2008)

Dillinger4 said:


> Is it wrong that I find Clare kind of attractive?



Nowt wrong with that, shes a good looking woman.

Though Id probably end up throttling her if she didnt shut the fuck up


----------



## spanglechick (Jun 11, 2008)

heh - so pleased.  i hate alex.  especially after that 'final five' show.

"this is our son, he's so manipulative and devious"

anyway - it should be claire, i hope it's lee - lessee if surallan's notorious sexism rears its head.


----------



## softybabe (Jun 11, 2008)

'tis obviously gonna be Claire  or else i shall add all kinds of ltrs b4 my name...also claim several universities that i have 'attended'


----------



## spanglechick (Jun 11, 2008)

claire is awful, though - this vile snobbery she has about the general public.  makes me want to vom.


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 11, 2008)

Belushi said:


> Nowt wrong with that, shes a good looking woman.
> 
> Though Id probably end up throttling her if she didnt shut the fuck up



I am thinking some of that might be involved in the attraction.


----------



## softybabe (Jun 11, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> claire is awful, though - this vile snobbery she has about the general public.  makes me want to vom.



True, she is....


----------



## softybabe (Jun 11, 2008)

oh no................














it's Lee!


----------



## Dillinger4 (Jun 11, 2008)

Lee!!!!


----------



## Belushi (Jun 11, 2008)

Yay Lee!  Im glad he got it, think he'll get most from it.


----------



## mrsfran (Jun 11, 2008)

Come on Claire FTW.


----------



## ddraig (Jun 11, 2008)

softybabe said:


> 'tis obviously gonna be Claire  or else i shall add all kinds of ltrs b4 my name...also claim several universities that i have 'attended'



oops


----------



## softybabe (Jun 11, 2008)

right!



*doctors her CV


----------



## mrsfran (Jun 11, 2008)

DAMN! I forgot I'm watching it 10 mins behind on Sky + and spoiled myself on here!


----------



## moomoo (Jun 11, 2008)

It's not is it?  I've just realised that I paused it earlier and am watching it on delay again!


----------



## softybabe (Jun 11, 2008)

ddraig said:


> oops



hey love


can u help with my cv pls


----------



## moomoo (Jun 11, 2008)

missfran said:


> DAMN! I forgot I'm watching it 10 mins behind on Sky + and spoiled myself on here!



Heh!  I've just said that!  It's all your fault!


----------



## mrsfran (Jun 11, 2008)

moomoo said:


> It's not is it? I've just realised that I paused it earlier and am watching it on delay again!


 
Snap 

Sky + FTW, eh?


----------



## catrina (Jun 11, 2008)

nooooooooooooooo!  claire so deserved it.


----------



## mrsfran (Jun 11, 2008)

Alex B says "LEE??? Fuck off!".


----------



## ebay sex moomin (Jun 11, 2008)

aw, Alex shouldn't be too despondent about being fired. he is, after all, only 24


----------



## beeboo (Jun 11, 2008)

woah, didn't see that one coming!


----------



## spanglechick (Jun 11, 2008)

well i'm pleased - the only nobbish side we saw of lee was having a go at sara that evening in the house...  but outweighed by his sticking up for wet lucinda.

claire on the other handy was a nasty piece of work - on a personal level.

now, she might be better at buisness - but she didn't deserve the prize.

and i can see why lee would appeal to surallan.  he's in awe, not too ambitious - isn't going to move on in 3 months.


----------



## softybabe (Jun 11, 2008)

beeboo said:


> woah, didn't see that one coming!



neither did I  ish


----------



## trashpony (Jun 11, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> well i'm pleased - the only nobbish side we saw of lee was having a go at sara that evening in the house...  but outweighed by his sticking up for wet lucinda.
> 
> claire on the other handy was a nasty piece of work - on a personal level.
> 
> ...



matching accents an all


----------



## moomoo (Jun 11, 2008)

I'm not impressed.


----------



## Epico (Jun 11, 2008)

"That's What He's Talkin' About!"


----------



## Threshers_Flail (Jun 11, 2008)

Last year a prat won, and this year an even bigger prat won. How can a guy who lies on his CV, and can't spell for shit, win?

(Checks spelling)


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 11, 2008)

ray! Lee won, decent w/c stock trumps out


----------



## spanglechick (Jun 11, 2008)

Threshers_Flail said:


> Last year a prat won, and this year an even bigger prat won. How can a guy who lies on his CV, and can't spell for shit, win?
> 
> (Checks spelling)



his lie on his cv was odd - he still had himself down as a dropout - and i can understand why he felt insecure about his education.

they reckon just about everyone has similar creativity on their cv - i know i have extended periods of 'travelling' when truth be told i was watching a lot of daytime telly in a depressive funk.  Oh, and the one month job i got fired from doesn't seem to feature either...

the spelling...  maybe he's dyslexic?  he certainly should have got someone to proofread it - but for the job, is it that important?

i wonder how good surallan's spelling is...


----------



## big eejit (Jun 11, 2008)

Well done to the lying retard! S'ralan dumps the strong woman in favour of the dumb bloke again.


----------



## Gromit (Jun 11, 2008)

Why is everyone shocked. He didnt employ the badger cause she was a mouthy cow and now he hasn' employed mouthy Claire. None of us should be shocked.

As someone else said, Lee is going to take the job and cherish it as his grail. Its success beyond his wildest dreams. Others might have cast their eye around for the sweet media deal etc.


----------



## trashpony (Jun 11, 2008)

I'm glad Lee won. He deserved it


----------



## Melinda (Jun 11, 2008)

Damn!

Lee on the You're Hired show. His shirt was PERFECT. I was so wowed by the way he looked.

Im shalllow.


----------



## trashpony (Jun 11, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Damn!
> 
> Lee on the You're Hired show. His shirt was PERFECT. I was so wowed by the way he looked.
> 
> Im shalllow.



He has great husky coloured eyes. I like a trustworthy dog


----------



## Melinda (Jun 11, 2008)

His eyes are a wonderful colour.

The shirt was magnificent. The navy suit was a bit flash but damn he looked good. 

Ive a thing for alpha males.


----------



## Stigmata (Jun 11, 2008)

I'm glad he won. Fibbing on your CV is really not uncommon and all the other contestants seemed to think well of the guy. Clare will land on her feet.


----------



## Gromit (Jun 11, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Ive a thing for alpha males.


 
Then you should be gagging for Sir Alan as he is the alpha male and Lee his lapdog.


----------



## Gromit (Jun 11, 2008)

Stigmata said:


> I'm glad he won. Fibbing on your CV is really not uncommon and all the other contestants seemed to think well of the guy. Clare will land on her feet.


 
Brady said she'd have her didn' she. Sorted.


----------



## ymu (Jun 11, 2008)

Alex and Helene were never gonna step up - Alex was a lot better than I expected, but only by contrast to Helene doing nowt. Not realising that a fixed price point meant that part of the task was about keeping costs down was a bad mistake. They could have got away with it if they'd had some real figures and a strategy to keep costs down elsewhere - but they just hadn't thought about it.

As already said (and I think I predicted), he wasn't going to pick Claire - he doesn't do mouthy women. Lee should be pretty perfect for the job he's got in mind for him anyway. Putting up cunty advertising screens all over the place.


----------



## zoooo (Jun 11, 2008)

I find Lee quite repulsive.

But never mind! It was still a great show.


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 11, 2008)

zoooo said:


> I find Lee quite repulsive.


Why is that then?


----------



## Melinda (Jun 11, 2008)

Marius said:


> Then you should be gagging for Sir Alan as he is the alpha male and Lee his lapdog.


No, there's a bit more to being an alpha male though, no?

Its not about financial prowess for me- other women think differently. Bernie Ecclestone must have something to him right?

Its primal for me. Size, height, smell; the ability to stop you in your tracks with sheer magnetism and overwhelm you with their masculinity just by their presence.

You'd want one type to father your children and the other type to help you raise them I suppose.

I think I felt Lee's masculinty


----------



## zoooo (Jun 11, 2008)

It did all stem from that time he was aggressively bullying the girl for no reason after she came back from not getting fired. So everything since then has been coloured by that!
But I do hate aggressive people.
He lied on his CV, but in a really crap easily checkable way.
He made all those stupid spelling mistakes in it also. And if he is dyslexic, that's all the more reason to use a spell check. He's sloppy and careless and that annoys me.
Erm... I think that's everything.

Oh, and I don't like the way he talks. (pure shallowness.)


----------



## Melinda (Jun 11, 2008)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> Why is that then?


He's a bit masculine for Zoooo!


----------



## zoooo (Jun 11, 2008)

That too!

I do hate it when you can smell the testosterone through the TV set.

I had to give it a little clean afterwards with a wet tissue.

And to be brutally honest, Lee came across as a big thicko. I like clever boys.


----------



## spanglechick (Jun 12, 2008)

zoooo said:


> That too!
> 
> I do hate it when you can smell the testosterone through the TV set.
> 
> ...



but who didn't?  they were all nasty and they were all dim.


----------



## Gromit (Jun 12, 2008)

Melinda said:


> No, there's a bit more to being an alpha male though, no?
> 
> Its not about financial prowess for me- other women think differently. Bernie Ecclestone must have something to him right?


 
No its about winning and power (which just happens to be accompanied by money for most true alphas) which Sir Alan has in spades. Look at how he made his interveiwers who work for him cower.

Lee is still a pup in awe at his master's heel.


----------



## rover07 (Jun 12, 2008)

Not surprised Lee won, he's done the best over the series but i didnt like any of them. Lost interest a bit when Lucinda went.

Did anyone think Lee's reaction was a bit strange when surallan said ...'you're hired'

He didnt say anything? He didnt even look up, just clammed up...nothing. I think he's a bit odd tbh


----------



## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 12, 2008)

zoooo said:


> That too!
> 
> I do hate it when you can smell the testosterone through the TV set.
> 
> ...


more fool you if you think he was a thicko.

just cos he wasn't articulate. 

obloquy


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## Melinda (Jun 12, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> but who didn't?  they were all nasty and they were all dim.


Im not sure they were all dim. 

Alan Sugar has demonstrated time after time he is anti-intellectual. 

He repects quick wit, quick thought and street smarts. Anyone remotely cerebral is portrayed as elitest or away with the fairies. 

Its not in anyone's interest to be 'book clever' on this show.


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## Stigmata (Jun 12, 2008)

I was finding Clare increasingly fanciable towards the end, which was very disturbing. I think I have a thing for brisk corporate types.


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## rover07 (Jun 12, 2008)

spanglechick said:


> but who didn't?  they were all nasty and they were all dim.



Yeah, were they really the best out of 20000 people


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## Melinda (Jun 12, 2008)

Marius said:


> No its about winning and power (which just happens to be accompanied by money for most true alphas) which Sir Alan has in spades. Look at how he made his interveiwers who work for him cower.
> 
> Lee is still a pup in awe at his master's heel.


We're talking at cross purposes I think. It wasnt Lee's money and power I was admiring now was it?

Im not denying people are attracted to money and power. Im saying a commanding physical masaculine presence can be intense and tremendously attractive.


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## rover07 (Jun 12, 2008)

Stigmata said:


> I was finding Clare increasingly fanciable towards the end, which was very disturbing. I think I have a thing for brisk corporate types.



Clare was more shouty recruitment type imo


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## Stigmata (Jun 12, 2008)

rover07 said:


> Clare was more shouty recruitment type imo



Shit, it's worse than I thought then.


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## zoooo (Jun 12, 2008)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> more fool you if you think he was a thicko.
> 
> just cos he wasn't articulate.
> 
> obloquy



No, I really do believe he's quite slow witted.
Not just based on his lack of articulate speech, or not having gone to Cambridge, etc.

But I agree, none of them were great minds! Even Raef, my fave.


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## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 12, 2008)

zoooo said:


> No, I really do believe he's quite slow witted.
> Not just based on his lack of articulate speech, or not having gone to Cambridge, etc.
> 
> But I agree, none of them were great minds! Even Raef, my fave.


slow witted compared to what? or who?

he's obviously performed quite well to win this competition fwiw.

feels like you're projecting certain prejudices across to someone how doesn't necessarily know his/her p's & q's to me...


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## zoooo (Jun 12, 2008)

Could be! I'm just expressing my view.
I don't know him, or anyone in the show. But surely we all have right and wrong views on people we don't know? This and the BB thread would be pretty empty otherwise.


P.S. Compared to the typical household pet.


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## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 12, 2008)

well, presumably you don't hold such a view about the (clearly) more educated contestants.

and thus, the more-educated contestants have some clear advantage despite showing no clear out-performance, compared to Lee for all his faults.

and this leads that young man to feel the need to lie about his experience and more importantly his ability. and that is held against him.

i'm ignoring the pet quip hoping you may be able to as well.


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## zoooo (Jun 12, 2008)

Paulie Tandoori said:


> well, presumably you don't hold such a view about the (clearly) more educated contestants.



So it's okay for you to presume things about me?

Crivens. Who knew talking about the Apprentice could get so boring. (for other people to read.)

I feel bad for him having low self esteem, I don't think lying on your CV is always a bad thing, I've done it myself. I specifically said it annoyed me that he'd done it so badly.


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## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 12, 2008)

zoooo said:


> So it's okay for you to presume things about me?
> 
> Crivens. Who knew talking about the Apprentice could get so boring. (for other people to read.)
> 
> I feel bad for him having low self esteem, I don't think lying on your CV is always a bad thing, I've done it myself. I specifically said it annoyed me that he'd done it so badly.


maybe people like Lee have a self esteem cos people like you assume he's thick?

sorry for generalising but its what you've done here and the fact you feel uncomfortable with it should maybes give you some food for thought when you dismiss him as you did.

imvho of course


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## zoooo (Jun 12, 2008)

Yes, you're right about that bit. I've already been though all this in my mind, believe me. I'm not a horrible person. I'm not even that clever myself (as evidenced here). I still don't see why I should pretend not to think he's thick though. Some people just are.
I'm sure if I met him I'd like him and feel guilty for ever having said such things, but it's not going to happen is it.

*hopes you're not in fact, Lee*


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## Melinda (Jun 12, 2008)

Zoooo, I dont believe forcing yourself into retreat is particularly necessary. You arent responsible for Lee's self esteem issues!


PT- come on. Lay off a bit. Challenge off key comments, but do you relly think anyone is going to change their mind about an issue while being spoken to like that?


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## zoooo (Jun 12, 2008)

It's not a complete retreat, I do feel sorry for him, I just also think he's a giant twat.


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## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 12, 2008)

zoooo said:


> Yes, you're right about that bit. I've already been though all this in my mind, believe me. I'm not a horrible person. I'm not even that clever myself (as evidenced here). I still don't see why I should pretend not to think he's thick though. Some people just are.
> I'm sure if I met him I'd like him and feel guilty for ever having said such things, but it's not going to happen is it.
> 
> *hopes you're not in fact, Lee*


whoever said you're a horrible person? not me.

but similarly, don't dismiss someone cos they come across as a bit different, a bit raw, compared to you or your world view. You don't have to like him, or me, or anyone in particular. Just don't dismiss so easily is all, imo


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## Melinda (Jun 12, 2008)

zoooo said:


> It's not a complete retreat, I do feel sorry for him, I just also think he's a giant twat.



And you're entitled to think so IMO.


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## zoooo (Jun 12, 2008)

Alan should have dismissed him, not me.

Aside from all this babble,
Did anyone think Lee was the best of the whole bunch?


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## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 12, 2008)

YES. 

yes.

Yes!


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## zoooo (Jun 12, 2008)

You are Lee!


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## Paulie Tandoori (Jun 12, 2008)

*wark wark wark*

reverse pterodactyl...


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## rover07 (Jun 12, 2008)

zoooo said:


> I just also think he's a giant twat.



I agree, thats why he won. The whole thing is a game show to see who is the loudest, ballsiest, bullshitter.


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## ebay sex moomin (Jun 12, 2008)

rover07 said:


> Did anyone think Lee's reaction was a bit strange when surallan said ...'you're hired'
> 
> He didnt say anything? He didnt even look up, just clammed up...nothing. I think he's a bit odd tbh


my middle sister told me that they film two endings, with Suralan telling each of them they've been hired, and filming the (acted) responses... then Suralan later tells the one who has _actually_ been hired later on, in private.

may explain the odd response from Lee... he didn't actually know he'd been hired.

I'm glad he won out of the four, by the way; though Simon impressed me the most overall, and Raef was my favourite character... (also liked Lucinda a lot, but there was no way she was ever going to be hired)


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## Wookey (Jun 12, 2008)

First Sugar got rid of the short ones.

Then he got rid of the posh ones.

And the tall, working class ones were the ones that were left.

And one of them won it.

Which shows that tall, working class people do well in interviews, which I have always known.


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## Aravis (Jun 12, 2008)

I liked Lee in last night's episode and was glad when he won. But I think I liked him because for once he wasn't coming across as all wannabe-alpha-male. The self-doubt and struggles about the presentation made me feel a bit protective all of a sudden....


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## Part 2 (Jun 12, 2008)

I did say he'd win 

Much like the fella last series there was very little negative footage of Lee throughout the series. Never had a pop at anyone behind their back and people worked well with him so no-one had a bad word to say about him. I don't think that was a strategy, just came natural. 

Claire was having to change her behaviour to fit and I'd wonder how long she could keep it up.


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## SwizzleStiX (Jun 12, 2008)

Glad Lee won  I was convinced it was gonna be hellene/or alex,


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## Stoat Boy (Jun 12, 2008)

Personally I think Claire deserved to win it but there was not much in it between them both.

Pleased that Alex did not. He strikes me as being a very nasty piece of work.


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## tarannau (Jun 12, 2008)

Bit of a strange task with the whiff of a set up. Why the fixed price approach for example?

FWIW, I though Dual was a much better product than Roulette, with an integrated advertising approach and a genuine chance of some differentiation in a crowded market. Roulette was just a bit anodyne and safety first. Perhaps it's no surprise that SirAlun chose the lower cost option in retrospect - he made exactly the same error with Amstrad, losing a comfortable market position through lack of investment, low quality and lack of innovation.

Still, at least Alex or boggle-eyed Helene didn't get it.


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## Melinda (Jun 12, 2008)

tarannau said:


> Still, at least Alex or boggle-eyed Helene didn't get it.


I dont believe they ever had a chance of winning.

The endgame was set up that way. The pairings were deliberate.


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## Paul Russell (Jun 12, 2008)

Quite pleased that Lee got it (thought it would be Alex), though that's more because I didn't really like Alex, Helene or Claire that much.

Lee had that aggressive moment with Sara that loads of people mentioned, but she ended up really liking him and she thought Alex was useless... No-one seemed to have a bad word to say about Lee.


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## trashpony (Jun 12, 2008)

tarannau said:


> Bit of a strange task with the whiff of a set up. Why the fixed price approach for example?
> 
> FWIW, I though Dual was a much better product than Roulette, with an integrated advertising approach and a genuine chance of some differentiation in a crowded market. Roulette was just a bit anodyne and safety first. Perhaps it's no surprise that SirAlun chose the lower cost option in retrospect - he made exactly the same error with Amstrad, losing a comfortable market position through lack of investment, low quality and lack of innovation.
> 
> Still, at least Alex or boggle-eyed Helene didn't get it.



A product that costs so much to make so that you're not going to make a profit is pointless. And anyway, the only innovative thing about their product was the packaging - and that was nothing to do with either Alex or Helene.

I agree with melinda though - those two never had a chance of winning really.


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## mrsfran (Jun 12, 2008)

Helene came accross _terribly_ on You're Fired. A nasty piece of work.


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## electrogirl (Jun 12, 2008)

alex trying to wriggle out of who came up with the dual bottle idea was painful! he knows it's been filmed! just own up!

i wish clarie had won, i ended up quite liking her big moonface. lee was just a big moron.

i loved loved loved that bitchy west country fella being back though! i wish i could keep him in my pocket to amuse me always.


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## Melinda (Jun 12, 2008)

trashpony said:


> And anyway, the only innovative thing about their product was the packaging - and that was nothing to do with either Alex or Helene.


That was odd wasnt it? It ws obvious Alan Sugar knew the bottle design had bugger all to do with them. As Alex walked into that design meeting he had nothing, not an idea and not a clue. 

So why werent they nailed on it? He let them um and ah (and in Alex's case, lie!) and then let them off! 

Complete joy at Kevin trying to demonstrate what a mover and shaker he was!

E2A
Ha! Electrogirl and others said what Ive just said while I wondered off to get a drink!


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## kabbes (Jun 12, 2008)

Nick Delacey-Brown for the win!

For once, I don't have much to say about the show, other than: I think surullun had decided which team was going to win before they even started.


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## Melinda (Jun 12, 2008)

Im fascinated by the cut of his shirt! 

The suit is a bit pimping though! But again it is beautifully cut! 

Hurrah for flat fronted trews!


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## Gromit (Jun 12, 2008)

Melinda said:


> That was odd wasnt it? It ws obvious Alan Sugar knew the bottle design had bugger all to do with them. As Alex walked into that design meeting he had nothing, not an idea and not a clue.
> 
> So why werent they nailed on it? He let them um and ah (and in Alex's case, lie!) and then let them off!
> 
> ...



Do you think Steve Jobs of Apple came up with the wheel design for the iPod himself or was it a member of the design team he pays to come up with design ideas and then he either approves or shoots it down. Nothing wrong with using other people's input unless its shit input. In this case it was a bad PM decision to use the designers idea as he forgot the bottom line. If it had been a good idea then credit to Alex rather than criticsm for using it. 

As for having already decided the outcome...
Well they always end on a subjective task to allow SA to take his pick. I do think Alex was set up to fail because he was paired with Helene. There was always a chance that the other teamcoils meltdown though. 

Whether Alex and Helene were doomed from the start the fact of the matter is they gave SA all the ammo he needed. As a business task they failed. It wouldnt have made any money even if it sold well. Thats major made of fail in business.


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## LJo (Jun 12, 2008)

I'm so disappointed that Kevin the Gerbil didn't get to the final. There was clearly so much more quality toss in him, just waiting to flood out.


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## STFC (Jun 12, 2008)

ebay sex moomin said:


> my middle sister told me that they film two endings, with Suralan telling each of them they've been hired, and filming the (acted) responses... then Suralan later tells the one who has _actually_ been hired later on, in private.
> 
> may explain the odd response from Lee... he didn't actually know he'd been hired.



If this is true, and I have my doubts, Claire must be a very good actor. The tears started flowing as soon as Sugar told Lee he was hired.


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## London_Calling (Jun 12, 2008)

kabbes said:


> For once, I don't have much to say about the show, other than: I think surullun had decided which team was going to win before they even started.


That was my thought, also. I did think the others maybe had a chance if there was a spectacular gulf in performance but there wasn't.

I don't know how it worked in previous series but it struck me that, this time, sentiment got the better of AMS and he chose someone in whom he could see a  similar hunger to his own back in the day.

TBF, you're really not going to let this guy loose on a project involving proper money, or even paperwork. Mighty limited tool set, though what he has is obviously good.


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## Melinda (Jun 12, 2008)

> Do you think Steve Jobs of Apple came up with the wheel design for the iPod himself or was it a member of the design team he pays to come up with design ideas and then he either approves or shoots it down. Nothing wrong with using other people's input unless its shit input. In this case it was a bad PM decision to use the designers idea as he forgot the bottom line. If it had been a good idea then credit to Alex rather than criticsm for using it.


Yah, but Alex didnt want to acknowledge it wasnt his idea. In addition he clearly thought bottle design was an integral part of the task which is why he didnt want to cede the idea behind the design to someone else. 

If the bottle design was 'just' another of the inputs - why did he stammer and flail when asked who's idea it was? Why not just say 'we worked with a designer and together we came up with it.' 

Also it goes to his character- Alex is underhand and his instinctive child-like arse covering is cringy to watch. 




> As for having already decided the outcome...
> 
> Whether Alex and Helene were doomed from the start the fact of the matter is they gave SA all the ammo he needed. As a business task they failed. It wouldnt have made any money even if it sold well. Thats major made of fail in business



This is true, however even I had to acknowledge that Alex and Helene got the best feedback from the floor on the night.
Industry professionals valued the amount of work they had done in 3 days. The concept and the advertising was slicker with more thought behind it.

However, I feel even if their pricepoint had been right, they still wouldnt have won.


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## STFC (Jun 12, 2008)

LJo said:


> I'm so disappointed that Kevin the Gerbil didn't get to the final. There was clearly so much more quality toss in him, just waiting to flood out.



He is a Matt Lucas character, surely? Made me laugh when he said something along the lines of "Dual will be a success, because I came up with the whole concept". Brilliant.


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## catrina (Jun 12, 2008)

What kind of message does this show send?

Lie on your cv and treat women like shit, you're hired!

Work your arse off, do everything you're told, keep your mouth shut, be damn good at your job, and you're sacked. 

He is abusive, and he's a liar. I don't need to know anything else.


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## London_Calling (Jun 12, 2008)

Well it's business. Fwiw, I did see the plump bird abusing someone on a previous  test/challenge thing - completely emasculated the team  leader in a shopping mall <alert for the literalists>. Def abuse by any standard I know.

And they’ve all lied, we’ve all lied. It’s not fucking Camelot.


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## STFC (Jun 12, 2008)

catrina said:


> Work your arse off, do everything you're told, keep your mouth shut, be damn good at your job, and you're sacked.



Welcome to the layer cake son...


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## Melinda (Jun 12, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> Well it's business. Fwiw, I did see the plump bird abusing someone on a previous  test/challenge thing - completely emasculated the team  leader in a shopping mall <alert for the literalists>. Def abuse by any standard I know.
> 
> And they’ve all lied, we’ve all lied. It’s not fucking Camelot.


The 'Plump bird' is called Claire.


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## Gromit (Jun 12, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Yah, but Alex didnt want to acknowledge it wasnt his idea. In addition he clearly thought bottle design was an integral part of the task which is why he didnt want to cede the idea behind the design to someone else.
> 
> If the bottle design was 'just' another of the inputs - why did he stammer and flail when asked who's idea it was? Why not just say 'we worked with a designer and together we came up with it.'
> 
> ...



The price point was set by the task. Which in turn sets the whole task. You dont have any money for gimmics, celebritiesor anything else. All you have is basic branding and marketing open to you at that price point. Lets see what you can do with it. 

They didn't understand the remit cause they didn't look for it. They needed it spelt out on a plate for them else they dont consider bottomline. Thats sin enough isn't it?


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## London_Calling (Jun 12, 2008)

Melinda said:


> The 'Plump bird' is called Claire.


Yep, and I hope she enjoys her job with Karen Brady, assuming the latter follows up on her statement to AMS.


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## Melinda (Jun 12, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> Yep, and I hope she enjoys her job with Karen Brady, assuming the latter follows up on her statement to AMS.


Claire will end up with hundreds of job offers like Christina last year. 

Both were the best candidates, just not the most likeable.


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## London_Calling (Jun 12, 2008)

Melinda said:


> Both were the best candidates, just not the most likeable.


Even I can see Lee was probably the better candidate for job AMS sketched out (selling  advertising, the adverts going to public display screens directly, digitally and wirelessly - at least I think that's what he described). The winner is made for a job like that.


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## spanglechick (Jun 12, 2008)

zoooo said:


> Alan should have dismissed him, not me.
> 
> Aside from all this babble,
> Did anyone think Lee was the best of the whole bunch?


me.  and i certainly think he was the most decent person.


catrina said:


> What kind of message does this show send?
> 
> Lie on your cv and treat women like shit, you're hired!
> 
> ...



hold the phone.  he had a go at sara.  fair enough - it was over the top.  i don't buy the idea that it's somehow worse for him to have a go at her than it is for him to have a go at a bloke.

he also stuck up for lucinda when no one else was.

each of the final four wasn't a nice person.  the other three were far nastier pieces of work, surely?


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## Stigmata (Jun 12, 2008)

London_Calling said:


> Yep, and I hope she enjoys her job with Karen Brady, assuming the latter follows up on her statement to AMS.



On the radio today Claire mentioned she was meeting Brady soon to discuss possibilities, but that it was only one of the options she was considering.


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## zoooo (Jun 12, 2008)

It's interesting. I think everyone just has different 'sins they cannot forgive'. Like, the other three were probably quite sneaky, manipulative etc. So that makes some think Lee is a better person. But I saw Lee as verbally aggressive (not all the time, but once is enough) and that to me is worse than sneaky.


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## LilMissHissyFit (Jun 12, 2008)

catrina said:


> What kind of message does this show send?
> 
> Lie on your cv and treat women like shit, you're hired!
> 
> ...


You must have been watching a different show then
You missed the episode ( I think it was 3/4) where she bullied, belittled and undermined her team leader at every opportunity on the photography task then? And continued the abuse in the boardroom until Sir Alan told her to leave??

She hardly kept her mouth shut- ever. IT was clearly her weakest point, she never knew when to stop and shut her mouth nor open her ears.


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## weltweit (Jun 12, 2008)

Did anyone see in the closing show "your hired" that they mentioned the previous winning apprentice and asked Sir Alan Sugar how he was doing, Sir Alan responded something non commital like "quite well, quite well" and they cut to the previous apprentice who was sitting in the audience looking a bit uncomfortable! 

Methinks things are not going exactly peachy with the last apprentice!


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## isvicthere? (Jun 13, 2008)

Wookey said:


> First Sugar got rid of the short ones.
> 
> Then he got rid of the posh ones.
> 
> ...



Not sure Alex - "privately educated" - or Claire - pony as a child - are particularly working class.


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## zippypinhead (Jun 14, 2008)

One thing has been consistantly proven thoughout all the series of the apprentice.

Don't be a gobby person of Asian descent you dont even need to bother to apply however talented you are.


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## Bajie (Jun 14, 2008)

It's all a load of old toss anyway, not one of the former winners is still working for the old git. Just a game show which people watch not becuase of the ones they like, but becuase of the ones they really hate.


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## wishface (Jun 14, 2008)

I feel slightly sorry for Alex (as someone who had nothing to do with any of the plaudits his team's product received) because Helene finally proved herself to be the dead weight she had been throughout. Absolutely useless.


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## wishface (Jun 14, 2008)

Bajie said:


> It's all a load of old toss anyway, not one of the former winners is still working for the old git. Just a game show which people watch not becuase of the ones they like, but becuase of the ones they really hate.


As I recall the prize was a contract that only ever lasted for a year.


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## Melinda (Jun 14, 2008)

zippypinhead said:


> One thing has been consistantly proven thoughout all the series of the apprentice.
> 
> Don't be a gobby person of Asian descent you dont even need to bother to apply however talented you are.


Im not sure your assertion has any merit Zippy!

A fair few candidates over the 3 seasons Ive seen (I didnt see the first season with Saira) have been pegged straight into the cerebral but ineffectual box (some very unfairly- I believe that Alan Sugar is anti-intellectual). That label is not limited to Asian candidates IMO, although Lohit from last year fell directly into that box. Shazia (who got canned this season over the laundry task) seemed quiet and capable but got fucked over by Helene and didnt defend herself adequately. 

Im afraid Sara, like a lot of candidates was a member of the Unearned Confidence Club. Despite what she thought, Sara had no relevant skills; she couldnt sell, couldnt manage, didnt know how to speak to people, didnt speak up when she needed to, and she hectored and badgered when she didnt need to. She was annoying, shrill and more importantly she failed utterly.

By all means be a swaggering, cocky candidate, just as long as you can walk the walk.


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## Bajie (Jun 14, 2008)

wishface said:


> As I recall the prize was a contract that only ever lasted for a year.


Yer but if I had someone really decent working for me I would offer them a long term contract, Alan Sugar has had the same people working for him for decades that seems to be the way he likes working. So they where either crap at their jobs or wanted to do something else, either way none of them have been huge sucesses. 

Though I would like to know what exactly they do for a year.. he probably gets them to do the shredding and making cups of tea.


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## wishface (Jun 15, 2008)

Well I'm sure if he so desires, he can extend the contract. 

Or break it and just throw a few greenbacks at them to make them go away.

I think what they do is help market some new product.


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## Miss Potter (Jun 15, 2008)

On BBC2 now, The Weakest Link Apprentice Special, contestants from across all 4 series


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