The Apprentice

Ahhh the Apprentice. I remember when I was watching Red Nose Day one Year, and it was pretty late, I think everyone had gone to bed. Why was I staying up so late? So I could watch Part 2 of the Celebrity Apprentice that had been shown the previous 4 hours. You know these charity marathons, they do this big list at the start of the show saying who is gonna preform, what parodys/crossovers they're gonna do ect... And all the things you want to see are right at the end, but they don't tell you that do they? Instead you have to watch the whole thing wondering when the hell the Doctor Who themed whatever is coming on. So I was waiting patiently for David Tennant to show his face again when they did the Celebrity Apprentice gig. It had Allan Carr, Jonathon Ross, Ruby Wax and some other nobodys trying to win the then (now Lord/Sir/Baron) Sir Alan Sugar's approval. I think they had to create a children's toy or something (it was a while ago) and Alan Carr was the one that got Fired at the end. It was split into 5 minute segments and was scattered across the night, and of course (me the sucker that I am) I stayed up late to watch all of them well into the night! I loved the whole "YOU'RE FIRED" thing at the end of the "Celebrisode" and I genuinely thought it was pretty good. 

I also created an interest into the show Dragons Den that night, but thats another Story. Anyway, when the new Series of the Apprentice aired, I sat down by the old telly and watched each Episode week-on-week. To be honest, I think its alot like Big Brother except more Buisness related. Alot of its popularity is due to the now infamous Alan Sugar as well as the wacky idiotic contestants that come every Year: At the Start of every Series, you get a montage of all the contestants saying how good and qualified they are, exchanging awful puns and weird catch phrases ("Buisness is like sex for me" or "I think out of the box, if I was an apple pie, the apples inside would be Orange!") and you just know that by the end of the Episode they will make complete £$%@s of themselves! All they say is how good they are, but half the time they just make plain dumb decisions! I mean sure, the tasks all have to be done in a matter of 24 hours, so creating, making and selling a product in 24 hours isn't exactly the easiest thing to do but these people are supposed to be the elite buisness people hand picked by Sir (sorry, Lord) Sugar out of thousands and they can't do crap! In one of this Series episodes, one of the candidates literary turns down the offer of exlusivity to one of the biggest retail stores in the UK! Hello?! In a task where you have to round up the most orders possible for a product and you turn down that offer? What was going through your head at the time? So basically you 
watch it to see the candidates %$£@ up and for Lord Sugar (I finally got it right this time) to really give them a piece of his mind in 'the board room'. And boy does he: I just love looking at his expressions every time one of the candidates opens his or her mouth to say something stupid. These are desperate people and they will say anything to get them out of being Fired (one candidate has to be 'fired' at the end of each show, and it continues until you're down to the last five). They stab each other in the back like you wouldn't believe! Its so funny to watch them act all nice until the board room and then just tear they're so called 'friends' to shreds. Although their are a few exceptions, some of them seem genuinely nice people but can't help being (seemingly) as dumb as a stick. Alex Epstein (pictured right) was someone that I really liked but he might just as well have put the firing gun to his head there-and-then! Check him in action here:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u9jHrwdlIuA, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg7NKTZjpys. Unfortunately, he was the one in the firing line this week and I was really sad to see him go. See his departure in this YouTube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3Z7XtzbSyg&feature=related. This series has been really funny for the most part, although not as good as last year but the candidates are just as funny as ever. Personally I'm rooting for Chris or maybe Stella to be in the final two. As far as competent buisness people go, they are the favorites (also, is it just me, but does Chris look like Christopher Nolan, the guy that directed The Dark Knight and Inception?). Anyway, pitted against the soley buisness approach to Dragons Den, the Apprentice wins for me, just because of Sir Alans insatiable temper and the funny contestants! It should be very interesting to see where this series goes, me' thinks. Right now, The Apprentice, Merlin, The Sarah Jane Adventures (whose Finale is vastly approaching, and looks pretty good, so catch it this Monday and Tuesday at 5.15pm English time!) and Doctor Who (the Christmas Special has now been confirmed to be titled "A Christmas Carol" which is just about the least original Christmas title imaginable!) seems to be the only shows that I dedicately watch right now. Doctor Who still reigns supreme for me, although Merlin and the Apprentice are quickly catching up. So apart from these shows, TV pretty much bores me now, and anything else I do is either surfing the web and doing Homework! Thats it from me, but watch out, because Sir Alan is waiting for you....