Adebayor's started so well for Man City
The Apprentice gets under way...
Former Apprentice contestant, Andy Jackson is blogging for us all week
WARNING - don't read on if you haven't seen the first episode of The Apprentice, as this article reveals who was fired...
Oh dear, where do I start? I hope you saw the first episode last night.
Well let's look at a few of this year's candidates.
Firstly Nicholas de Lacy-Brown (he's the Rory from last year), then Raef Bjayou (Syed Ahmed) and even Alex Wotherspoon (Adam Hosker)...
I could go on but it seems like different faces, same stereotypes. It's very easy to make comparisons from previous years as the only difference to me is that the teams are getting better looking...
Nicholas de Lacy-Brown was the first one out with his Top Gun glasses and his absolutely hopeless contribution to the task as well as his inept defence in the boardroom. He deserved to be fired first and a change from Sir Alan's stance of the losing Project Manager getting the boot (only a year too late to help me!).
I liked Alex as he seems a true sales leader. He was direct and honest with the team and unlucky to be on the losing side. He should be OK now for a couple of weeks if he melts into the background (which he won’t).
The girls didn’t really stand out much due to the editing but I am sure as time goes by we will get to know the characters, begin to like them and then watch them have a howler of an episode and get fired.
Poor Nicholas though, I remember the boardroom like it was yesterday and what you don’t realise is that this is probably 2/3 hours filming condensed into 5 minutes. There’s so much arguing and bickering from the start that you are on the defensive from the minute you walk in front of Sir Alan.
Nicholas made fundamental errors though and deserved to be fired. He also didn’t catch the public’s sympathy on the Adrian Chiles show afterwards, so again another reality show contestant to be forgotten quickly. I genuinely hope he enjoyed his time and uses the experience to move forward in his career.
It’s daunting and intimidating to be in front of Nick, Margaret and Sir Alan and then to put yourself through the public humiliation when you get the sack. So my advice to anyone wanting to be on the show or who thinks they can do better is to think long and hard about what you want out of it.
Andy
I could not believe what was coming out of Raef's mouth in the boardroom. All that stuff about princes and paupers. It clearly showed that the class system is not only alive and well, but thriving. It is a shame that the indoctrinated Raef will have to go through life with a severe case of Deluded Grandeur Syndrome. Let's hope that proletarian Sugar will prick his bubble.
Sugar was always going to sack Nick - he does not like qualifications and this was a classic example of "just like me recruiting" (you can dress it up in -isms, but this is the reality). Half of them can be excluded now on the basis of the end job SAS has in mind.
Much as I wanted Nick to go (he read Law at King's London; I was at UCL), he was no better/worse than anyone else, none of whom seemed to have bought on a market in their lives. They pulled all the fish out of the vans at the start, so why not sort it out then, while it was all calm?
This year's crop seem no different from previous years - all exaggerating their real jobs and actually pretty useless.
The programme last night was fantastic.
Nicholas was always going to struggle based on the way that he marketed himself.
It is clear that Sir Alan has a strong dislike to those born with a silver spoon in there mouth and who base all there experience on academics and education.
Raef has his card marked, he would be better off basing his comments on fact rather than long words that most people don't understand. When he claimed that 'Pomposisity' was a creditable trait i had to laugh.
Micheal started his manipulation early on and I am sure that these will continue in the weeks to come. Quite weak overall.
As for the girls, difficult to see them as winners? They made many of the fundamental errors that the blokes made and got luckier in the end. The team leader will probably go far.
Sara the one who markets herself as glamourous will come unstuck soon, it was becoming clear that she rubs up certain people the wrong way, the people that she has to work with and get the best out of.
Great TV though...bring on next Wednesday
Really enjoy The Apprentice. Never miss it. Reminds me of my times sinking into tasks for which I was not always prepared; and the joy of 'team work'.
Poor Nicholas. Here we have a brain box; clearly well gifted at study, research, analysis and likes a challenge but only with himself on self set tasks. Now about to undertake his 2yr pupilage with chambers. I just hope that as he grows in wisdom matures with age, that he gets a taste of the real world before his taking 'Silk' and appoinment as a Judge. God help our legal system.
I think his self portrait as 'messiah' perhaps says it all. It's a thought...
Hello Victoria,
Like many of your listeners, I find shows like The Apprentice and Big Brother to be unwatchable clap-trap.
The fact that it is now being inflicted on us via radio is unfortunate.
I'll be turning to ´óÏó´«Ã½ Radio Scotland every time you start talking about the nonsense.
I don't think I can bear to watch it this year. I was an avid fan last year but the idea of following this group of over-inflated egos from one week to the next listening to their high opinions of themselves compared to their actual abilities and seeing them making total idiots of themselves in some basic situation has lost its lustre.
I wish them luck, but they can get on with it without me.
He deserved to go , if only for his pretentious double barrelled name ( i took my Grandmothers surname, hands up that his grandmother is actually call Lacy but Lacy- Brown isn't posh enough for this whining no mark)
He was useless but then every year they always are at the 1st few tasks.
How can a group of intelligent people take about 4 hours to decide which market to go to !
As ever when all it needs is a bit of common sense and absolutely no management speak bull they end up looking total prats ( and that went for both teams )