the apprentice.

betonit

I thought the whole interview 1 on 1 thing tonite was very interesting. As for the canditates and the ideas Im at a loss how they got this far. Wheres the unique element in any of the businesess and that spoofer of all spoofers did he eat a dictionary that nite.


oh maurice

neris

Thought the interviews were poor and the interviewers more like angry school teachers. When you see the business ideas at the end theres nothing new there. 1 girl with a small company trying to expand, 1 guy living in cloud celtic tiger, 1 guy doing into a market where theres a load of insulation companies already and 1 guy with a twist on ebay

Fries-With-That

The ideas were presented by the final 4, were poor to say the least.

Which idea if any shows true entrepreneurial foresight and vision(as presented to us the viewer by programme editing).

The real question here is what exactly did Bill want and after seeing what idea he went with as his winner I feel he was really looking for something that adds to his current business strategy, therefore the other ideas that were outside his realm were never going to be in the final four.

He invests 200k into a 'new' business that as a previous poster has said is a twist on ebay personally I think that's giving the idea too much credit.

I would imagine that Eugenes business will become a clearing house for cars that Bill Cullen can't sell from his forecourt.

The apprentice has generated massive amounts of publicity for all those companies represented on the show (sponsors not contestants) which isn't a bad thing.

I watched the show, I enjoyed the show and I'll most likely watch it again next year.

Bill wins, Eugene wins, Companies win and we the viewer win even if you didn't enjoy it you still watched it :P .

The Apprentice

Well i did think it was a pr stunt from the 4 interviewee gimps.. Those people just irritate me and although pr/brand/Hr consultants i would never ever hire the services of those people by the way they conduct themselves with nothing more than an interrogation..

Highly irritated although it was a good old show there was some annoying bits but overall a good production.

Chet Zar

I was actually kind of shocked by how bad the contestants were this year. Even Joanne there with her business plan with the kind of mistakes she had on it - a business plan that was going to Bill Cullen and a verdict on which was to be given in front of the nation, effectively!

Your man Noel was a surprise quantity though. And Maurice, still living in 2006

betonit

Chet Zar wrote: »

And Maurice, still living in 2006

i'd say worse than that. For a guy that went on about his business accumen and qualifications his idea was deplorable. He obviously has no idea about ROI or runing costs. 2.1M to setup, 12.5 sqft... just to open the doors how much would that cost to run. Down to his array of menu ideas even sourcing and storing the ingredients logistically difficult and costly. I dont think the contestants were great this year but maurice is unhireable id say, imagine giving him a budget to get something done and then listening to the spoof about where it all went.

As i said originally no new ideas. Good point from friess with that on the clearing house plus very little investment required to get off the ground.

Joan brophy

So many have degrees etc but have not a clue for real world.

Chet Zar

betonit wrote: »

i'd say worse than that. For a guy that went on about his business accumen and qualifications his idea was deplorable. He obviously has no idea about ROI or runing costs. 2.1M to setup, 12.5 sqft... just to open the doors how much would that cost to run. Down to his array of menu ideas even sourcing and storing the ingredients logistically difficult and costly. I dont think the contestants were great this year but maurice is unhireable id say, imagine giving him a budget to get something done and then listening to the spoof about where it all went.

Oh totally, not an iota. I actually think he was on it just for the craic and because he liked the idea of being on TV Which is a shame because that was someone else who missed out on being on The Apprentice.

barneystinson

Chet Zar wrote: »

Even Joanne there with her business plan with the kind of mistakes she had on it - a business plan that was going to Bill Cullen and a verdict on which was to be given in front of the nation, effectively!

But we weren't shown how long they were allowed to actually type up and print their business plans, and you can be damn sure they didn't have anyone else to proof read them - if you had to prep a substantial business plan, in the real world, you'd always have someone else proof it for you.

The really embarrassing typo she had, pubic instead of public, is a nasty one, because a spellcheck will never pick up on it, and when you have typed the document yourself your eye will be inclined to see the word you expect it to see...

Having said that, I don't disagree with the fact that they weren't exactly an awe-inspiring bunch. The way I look at it, anyone worth their salt wouldn't want to be associated with that process - they edit the show to make the contestants look like muppets, for entertainment value, and it's become more obvious each year - hence the ever-decreasing quality of the candidates. It is really only an attractive proposition to a certain type of person, and you can be pretty sure a young Bill Cullen wouldn't go near it.

omerin

Maurice and Noel's ideas required a large capital investment and there was never a chance that bill would back them because it would have been a lot of cash up front. The other two choices - girl from Donegal Would have won if she was from Dublin and eugene both had small enough capital up front. Can't see the relationship lasting long tbh. As far as the show is concerned they should give it a decent burial

Pablo Sanchez

There was a South African girl on during the early stages of the programme, her idea was to have a company which provided western business etiquette classes to Chinese businesses, i thought this was a great idea and definitly a growing market.

EIREHotspur

What they are is "suits".

They are all "dublin 4" types....with apologies to anone living there.
Blag, Ego and Gibberish Talking Muppets.
They should rename it The Apprentice Muppet Show.

I thought the Woman would win because she had more cop on than the others.

Obviously with what Bill was looking for this year the Car idea was always going to win.

It is a tv show though after all and it is very entertaining....they should cut down 10 minutes of the boardroom and devote it to more of the task though.

What irks me about Bill though to listen to him is you'd swear he was still out on the street selling apples....then you read about his how many rooms mansion + helicopter and being the head of Renault still and you wonder how much he still lives in the real world and how far away from his roots he is now.
It makes what he says seem disingenuous.

Axwell

barneystinson wrote: »

But we weren't shown how long they were allowed to actually type up and print their business plans, and you can be damn sure they didn't have anyone else to proof read them - if you had to prep a substantial business plan, in the real world, you'd always have someone else proof it for you.

The time given was to finalise their business plan. They knew going on to the show what was on offer at the end and you can be sure before they got on to it they would have had to give some sort of draft in of what they planned or they wouldnt have even got accepted. They would have already had the business plan done out and only would have been tweaking it if anything at that stage. It was more for drama than anything else.

buck65

I've watched most of the Apprentices both Englis and Irish editions and I can say with total conviction that this season's candidates were the worst group I've ever seen.
Yes he went with Eugene because he might sell a few cars for him but Eugene proved himself barely competent and a bit of a gossipping Grainne throughout the process.
Maurice should have been fired about a month ago for being a useless sod, Noel was about as enthusiastic and charismatic as a wet sock, peddling an idea that might have been good 3 years ago before half the contractors in Ireland did the same.
The interviewers are doing the same crap "I'll take you down to size" routine for years now and it is really grating.
Bill himself is a plonker, ever read an interview with this guy?
Still gets up at 4 am or something to work out, eats all raw veg blah blah, full days work, in bed by 9am?
Come on Cullen, every boss knows that with work, functions etc. you're never in bed before midnight and lucky to be at the desk the following morning in time for business probably missing breakfast along the way.
Time to knock this show on the head or perhaps put in someone who isn't a retired relic.

cycletheroad

Having watched the show this year, i think Bill had his choice of business made at the start, because at the end of the day:D it came down to the idea not the candidate,if you had a brilliant idea for business, it didn't matter how brainy or clever the next person was, it was going to work,the show then just went through the motions.

Definitely the apprentice muppet show:D

I thought Conor with the car rental people was unbelievable, i would have ended it their and then:D

rainbowdash

I just took a look at auctionhouse.ie, nothing new there, I'm not saying it won't work but there is nothing original in it that I could see.

barneystinson

Axwell wrote: »

The time given was to finalise their business plan. They knew going on to the show what was on offer at the end and you can be sure before they got on to it they would have had to give some sort of draft in of what they planned or they wouldnt have even got accepted. They would have already had the business plan done out and only would have been tweaking it if anything at that stage. It was more for drama than anything else.

Do you know all of that for a fact - I'd say it's quite possible that they may have been allowed to keep hard copies of whatever drafts they had prepared previously, and told to type up the final draft from scratch in that last couple of days, purely so that they could be put under the maximum amount of pressure and would make mistakes that could be focused on to suit the editors...

Chet Zar

barneystinson wrote: »

Do you know all of that for a fact - I'd say it's quite possible that they may have been allowed to keep hard copies of whatever drafts they had prepared previously, and told to type up the final draft from scratch in that last couple of days, purely so that they could be put under the maximum amount of pressure and would make mistakes that could be focused on to suit the editors...

The business plans would have been in their heads as much as anything else, that thing at the end was mainly for the drama, you can be sure that they were just going over the plans for the last time, checking for spelling mistakes, proofreading it, etc...oh no wait....!

Axwell

barneystinson wrote: »

Do you know all of that for a fact - I'd say it's quite possible that they may have been allowed to keep hard copies of whatever drafts they had prepared previously, and told to type up the final draft from scratch in that last couple of days, purely so that they could be put under the maximum amount of pressure and would make mistakes that could be focused on to suit the editors...

Having seen every episode of the Apprentice, that includes the Irish one, the BBC one, the American one and the Australian and New Zealand versions I can tell you that not a series has gone by where they had the interview process that there wasn't plenty of mistakes in the CV's submitted let alone the ones found in these business plans. People always chance their arm on them or have loads of typos and mistakes. Eugene putting down one of his references as Obama was the stupidest thing I have heard in a long time. No amount of pressure would make you put something as stupid as that down and for a 'business professional' to claim to have misunderstood what was meant by references and still go on to win the show having put down that nonsense shows that the show is more about reality tv and entertainment than a serious business opportunity.

smcgiff

Thought this thread was going to be some gossip about our 'The Apprentice'

Sadly, it was about that muck on RTE.

I preferred to watch the Young apprentice on the BBC. But I saw bits of the Irish one and some of the Irish final as I was visiting a friend who loves it.

I had to walk out, it was excruciating viewing.

I've a problem with the interview process - It shows up the candidates to be very poor. And as the premise of the show (allegedly) is to showcase worthy entrepreneurs the show is a failure. Basically, you'd be a fool to watch it from any point of view other than to marvel at the weakness of the candidates. And that kind of TV doesn't interest me.

Two other things. Not 100% sure, but I don't think Bill has any official involvement with Renault any more (apart from owning a garage), and I think Bill will be replaced next year.

Tabnabs

smcgiff wrote: »

Sadly, it was about that muck on RTE.

TV3 actually, but never mind eh

smcgiff wrote: »

Two other things. Not 100% sure, but I don't think Bill has any official involvement with Renault any more (apart from owning a garage), and I think Bill will be replaced next year.

He owns Ireland's largest Renault retailer, CityGate Motor Group, but no longer has the franchise for Renault car distribution.

I would be very surprised to see Bill Cullen replaced, his exposure has courted a lot of negative publicity and few would be interested in that kind of exposure. I also know that the TV production company found it a real struggle to get someone into the role initially. So the replacements are hardly likely to be lining up to step into the role. IMHO it would be nice to see it put on ice for a year or two and if possible resurrected with a new "entrepreneur" with a more professional team and less nepotism.

buck65

Michael O Leary auditioned for it but fired everyone the first week as well as the producers of the show. And rightly so...

golfman

Did anyone have a REAL look at auctionhouse.ie?

Click on the "About" link........ "info coming soon".

Absolute joke. I watched the final and went on the site that night and was disgusted that any business could be that lazy that they didn't even complete the most basic information on their website - on their tv launch night! It was a pretty important deadline to meet when you're new company is going to be introduced to hundreds of thousands of people on national tv!

Some people in life deserve to fail....

One other point, could anyone actually imagine going into business with Bill? I'd say that explains the lack of good business ideas on the table....

AlanFo

Snap are running an apprentice comp of their own at the moment and theres certainly a couple of better entries of business's there than on the show! And thats without Bills 200K www.snap.ie/apprentice.

Chet Zar

golfman wrote: »

Did anyone have a REAL look at auctionhouse.ie?

Click on the "About" link........ "info coming soon".

Absolute joke. I watched the final and went on the site that night and was disgusted that any business could be that lazy that they didn't even complete the most basic information on their website - on their tv launch night! It was a pretty important deadline to meet when you're new company is going to be introduced to hundreds of thousands of people on national tv!

Some people in life deserve to fail....

One other point, could anyone actually imagine going into business with Bill? I'd say that explains the lack of good business ideas on the table....

I went to look for auctionhouse.ie when the last show was going out, and couldn't find it - URL wouldn't connect!

To not have your 'About' section filled out after half a million people have checked out your site is, well...there are no words

AMurph1979

There site is working now was anyone at last weeks auction ?