Starts on 1st February at 9pm on BBC1.
I'll inevitably claim I dislike it but still catch every episode.
Karren Brady and Tim Campbell back as advisors as expected.
Fair play to Paul for not panicking and taking that horrible deal for his existing business. Really is a bad look that billionaire Sugar was trying to take half of his successful business that he's built from the ground up for a measly £250k.
Feel it's a similar situation with Phil too. A successful business with £750k in cash albeit possibly going through a rough spell. He'd be better off going on Dragon's Den.
Was sure Flo would make it to the final, she was the only one who put a bit of work into a business plan and was a strong candidate in all the tasks.
Why does Rachel have horns?
Yeah, thought the same. Do we know what his business plan is yet? Getting Inventor Tom vibes with the way this is going down.
The mixing of the teams and the 4 v 3 seemed a blatant tactic to maximize Phil's chance of getting a win. "Right, I want you to create a football skills video for use in schools. I'll mix up the teams - Lionel and Erling, move over to Phils team"
Big time. I'm nearly sure others have been fired in the past for losing streaks of 3 and 4.
I meant Steve’s business idea was rubbish.
Sugar deffo has his eyes on Paul, reminds me a bit of Dr Leah a few years ago. Lots of money in the private medical/dental sector
Are all these orders purely fictional? Seems you'd be stupid to risk a new flavour when one that tastes like another on the market already would probably get orders. Like Phils team got thousands of orders but they were told they couldn't taste truffle despite it being a truffle cheese.
TBH it comes across like a bit of a set up to keep Phil in. Move Tre over to give them the advantage.
Falusha was out of her depth weeks ago. Putting the V in the wheel of cheese because it's a vegan product….secondary school level.
Steves business idea seemed crap. An app to help meet new friends I think he said? Meetup already exists.
I don't think Flo wins even though I think she's one of the best this year.
was deffo a task where having 4 had a massive advantage V 3. Think Sugar went on too much about the 3 person team should have put 2 on the branding. They’d have been left with only 1 on the product design then - bad move too I’d say.
Paul’s business idea was vapourware so not surprising Sugar fired him
I thought the mixing of the teams was unfair. Moving Tre (a strong candidate) to the other team created a big imbalance plus the format to create a final five meant a double sacking.
Totally different.
Steve took responsibility and admitted it was a gamble that didn't work.
Noor took responsibility but only because she was still convinced it was the best idea going and thought everyone else was wrong.
A tactic that didn't work for Noor last week.
I thought that his 'I'm taking responsibility for my sh1t' tactic might just get him over the line. Just so unusual to hear any of them actually say this.
Aww I felt for Steve there, I wanted him in the final 5. Unfortunate he was up against Rachel who's just been that bit stronger throughout.
Rachel must have a great business plan.
As I understand it, Sugar gets 50%. They changed the model a few years ago because they'd had a run of unsuccessful businesses/candidates. The previous model was a 100k job offer doing whatever business the candidate wanted to run.
Interesting article here: https://www.radiotimes.com/tv/entertainment/reality-tv/the-apprentice-winners/
I watched a couple of the episodes towards the end of last years series and was thinking the same about the eventual winner, the boxing gym.
But it's fairly clear that I think, was it, 200k of grants made it easy for Sugar.
Anyone know what way the investment works? Does Sugar get 50%?
Sam wasn't a bad candidate - her business plan was pre/post natal exercise classes; similar to Maura and the yoga - think Sugar would have no interest in that type of investment
Paul must have a killer business plan.
I also think Rachel is a good candidate; Tre wasn't as good last night as he has been. Wouldn't be surprised if Sugar likes Paul, being a dentist he's lots of scope as an investee (botox and all that)
To be fair, the more you watch it, the more you realise nothing makes any sense or follows logic. More holes than a block of ementhal cheese.
Maura could make you a fortune with a good yoga business idea. But by Apprentice rules, because she's awful at selling tents on television, she's not worth the investment. It's the show that rewards the Jack of all trades rather than the master of one - which when we're in the "business investment" era of the show, itself makes no sense.
That said, I think Flo is definitely the favourite right now and we know that Lord Sugar loves a recruitment person.
Doing their homework as it were does not seem to be a strong point with this group. Taking people on a wine tour, it might have been a good idea to learn a bit about wine the night before.
Or knowing the day before you are going to be on the marketing sub-team, maybe come up with some ideas the night before? Don't arrive for your sit down session to come up with a campaign to advertise an electric campervan with just E-Camper or E-Van.
Honestly, I think a lot of people would do a whole lot better with same amount of prep.
It's not like they were given the task and immediately had to go on tv. They could have practiced in their head or in their room the night before of their approach.
They just needed to think of any time they watched tv sales.
In fairness how good would anyone be selling stuff live on TV with zero training and preparation? And with people screaming instructions in an earpiece? It's often said that the tasks are designed to make the contestants looks stupid/ill prepared and this week's task is a perfect example of that. No idea how real life tv shopping works, but I'm pretty sure there'd be a few weeks of training/dry runs first.
I'd be embarrassed if I was Maura looking back at the show. Her wine tour bullshit was cringe and then on this task she was screaming and shouting about a paddling pool.
How can these people be in the show and running successful businesses? They're nearly all idiotic, I'd be pissed if one of them was hired to work with me for 50k salary.
The only semi competent one from what I can see is Flo, she's gorgeous too for an added bonus. lol
Raj…"wow wow wow wow!!!" Someone in 3rd year of college would be miles better than her at selling something.
Ha! That's insane! Sugar would struggle to do that himself.
That guy who didn't get fired must have a killer business plan!
Really thought the fan would be the biggest seller. They were really given absolute tat as choices. Set up to fail as usual. The suggestive incidental music has become chronic at this stage. Anyone would look inept put to that soundtrack.
Wasn't it Shopify he left?
As daft as bean bags sounds if they did take off you could make serious money and become multi millionaire in a couple of years, sell the business and be retired in your mid thirties, something you couldn't do working for someone else.
Phil must have a good business plan, only explanation for him still being here.
I was thinking the same until I heard her business idea. She wants to provide bridging finance to property developers. 250k is absolutely nothing in that line of business. It will be interesting to see what Phil's idea is.
It gives hope to anyone that the most bat sh!t crazy idea could be a winning business idea.
It also gives us plebs some validation. Some of the executives above us are as clueless as these candidates, and we get to see the candidates in horrible situations, which does add a little satisfaction, I dont mind admitting.
Dragons Den sometimes gives similar satisfaction. The guy earlier left Spotify as an executive to sell bean bags online. Woinder what the Spotify Board would say to that from a business decision point of view.
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