Is the 'Apprentice' past its sell by date?

I quite like the Apprentice and as usual for me I am following the current series too.

I am surprised however that with being several weeks now into the show that no one on here seems to have made mention of it.

Yes I know that many of the contestants 'big' themselves up and some even behave cringe worthy - they may even be like that in real life too, but underneath all of that it still takes an innate grasp of what to do, to be able to run a business.

It always surprises me how many lack so much common sense, although I most probably was as naive as most of them at a similar time in my career.

I like the show and will watch it to the end even though it is almost impossible to pick the winner as I suspect that is decided by whom has the best business plan in Sugar's opinion.

Am I alone in still liking the show or is it no longer di rigueur anymore?

Way, way, way past it.

I've never liked it because I can't stand the type of person that the show inherently attracts as competitors.

We've all come across them in the workplace, I'm sure.

Desperate to get on, overly self-confident and totally unwilling to listen to advice from those who do actually know better.

I've come across several graduate trainees over the years who arrive fresh from university with a 2:2 in Toilet Management and think they're King Shit.

And it's always entertaining to see them fail miserably when they try and impose their "philosophy" on people who've been doing the job for years.

I actually saw one walk out of Jacobs in Liverpool in tears, reduced to a broken man after having been verbally ripped apart by some Scouse women.

Life's too short for that sort of naked ambition.

If you're any good, you'll do ok without having to climb over people.

It's the incompetence I can't stand. None of them ever seem to have the vaguest clue about business - although that might be intentionally projected through the editing. The fact that they have to go on to a game show to get £250k backing says it all about their business ideas.
They say people buy people - from which we can conclude that none of them will ever succeed other than as a minor D list celeb.

I still enjoy watching it-and share much of the sentiment about the candidates that have been mentioned in the thread so far. I think some of those who get fired will do well in business despite the fact that Alan Sugar shows them the door. His philosophy about business seems to be cut throat barrow boy business at which he excels. And there is certainly  a place for that in very competitive industries. But softer souls ( like Sam in the current series) will still do well as they seem to have  a wider range of success factors in mind- more than just profit.
But looking at the current crew- if Alan Sugar fired them all, and none of them got the money- I think that would be a wise decision as none of them seems to have the character, ability and honesty to gain success.

Still one of the best programmes on TV, although it lost something when Sugar started picking the winner based on business plans and not on how people had performed in the tasks.

This series hasn't been great, mainly because the people are too nice. Not dissimilar to this site really, you need a couple of bad eggs to keep it interesting.

I must admit i love it and was gutted i didnt get on the time i applied. I think they was a bit worried after they asked me why id applied

I quite enjoyed the last Celebrity Apprentice USA with the wacky celebs - Gary Busey is clearly not a well man and with drama queens Meat Loaf and Latoya Jackson on board it made for excellent viewing. Even Dionne Warwick looked less than cool at times. 
Somehow it was so much better than the British version even though they are produced by the same guy.

bwfc1874 wrote:Way, way, way past it.

I haven't even bothered to watch the current series. All these reality shows end up being very repetitive and the ones featuring "ordinary people" become complete jokes as the contestants are selected to maximise publicity and controversy.

xmiles wrote:



I haven't even bothered to watch the current series. All these reality shows end up being very repetitive and the ones featuring "ordinary people" become complete jokes as the contestants are selected to maximise publicity and controversy.

Not this series. There are no big characters or bad guys.

There is a few. The twat with the beard that was ice skating in the arndale.

I'm another that will say it's way past it's sell by date, in fact I have never sat down and watched a full episode due to it being that shit.

This is the first season in ages I have not watched.

I missed episode one and then never caught up.

One thing that bugs me is when they are on a task, selling in a shopping centre, pitching a fake product to a supermarket, buying products from suppliers... etc its all so fake.

A camera crew, Nick and Margret (or equivalent) floating about, but saying to people we are a new business etc in the street. People know its The Apprentice being filmed when they walk past.

It needs a change.

I wonder if any of the past winners who have gone into 'partnership' with Alan Sugar have actually been successful. Or has that just been a gimmick as well?

rammywhite wrote:I wonder if any of the past winners who have gone into 'partnership' with Alan Sugar have actually been successful.

The winners of 2011, 2012 & 2013 have all been very successful in partnership with Sugar.

Natasha Whittam wrote:

rammywhite wrote:I wonder if any of the past winners who have gone into 'partnership' with Alan Sugar have actually been successful.

The winners of 2011, 2012 & 2013 have all been very successful in partnership with Sugar.

Nat- where did you find this out. Is there a website with the info?

I have been watching the current series but I switched to ITV as soon as I'm a Celebrity returned. I have been watching Apprentice on catch up and I still enjoy it. I'm always amazed at how genuinely deluded some of the candidates are.

Bump!

We are several weeks into this years Apprentice and I think I must be the only one still watching the programme as in recent years it as been quite a topic of discussion on here.

Got to say though that this year would be apprentice are the worst bunch by far in terms of being business savvy - I think only Trishna has got any sort of a clue.

Anybody else watching this years series?