Subcultural engagement for the 21st Century...
Barbelith is a new kind of community (find out more)...
You can login or register.

The Apprentice series 2

Page: 1 ... 3 4 5 6 7(8)9

Regrettable Juvenilia

19:59 / 10.05.06

Given how good she is at selling to people, Ruth really isn't very good at talking to Alan.

gah.

■

20:00 / 10.05.06

Pshaw.

Cherielabombe

20:00 / 10.05.06

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!1!1

Tryphena Absent

20:00 / 10.05.06

That man is a moron.

Ganesh

20:01 / 10.05.06

Fucker. Why bother with any tasks? Why not just specify 'umble origins? Servalan didn't base his decision on anything that happened in the show itself.

Tryphena Absent

20:01 / 10.05.06

WOW the Badger's hair!!!!

paranoidwriter waves hello

20:03 / 10.05.06

Oh Sir Alan, you've made a mistake. She'll sell your secrets for a better wage (just my instinct, mind, no real evidence).

■

20:03 / 10.05.06

Hang on. Ruth just said "All the best in your new CHALLENGE". Gragh. I now have to hate her. That's foolish.

Ganesh

20:03 / 10.05.06

Next year, any female wannabe Apprentice should produce a basket of puppies and explain that she's suckled them herself because they couldn't afford a mother.

Cherielabombe

20:05 / 10.05.06

But you can't bang SAS over the head with it, a la Sayed.

Ruth was robbed, definitely!

Tryphena Absent

20:07 / 10.05.06

You know I'm beginning to think that I could get onto this show. I have three years temping experience and I think I could sell a used car badly, organise a 00heaven event without selling any tickets for significant money and argue with people. If I had vocal training I could also sound a lot less posh than I do at the moment. A bit of time in a beauty parlour and I reckon I could even be the Apprentice.

Ganesh

20:08 / 10.05.06

The Badger's being unbelievably gracious in defeat. Possibly because she did bloody better in terms of almost everything. She just forgot the basket of orphaned puppies.

Ganesh

20:09 / 10.05.06

Just remember the puppies, Nina. The puppies.

Cherielabombe

20:09 / 10.05.06

If only she had mentioned just once all the scrapping she had to do in her childhood, it would've worked.

Tryphena Absent

20:12 / 10.05.06

Advice taken. Puppies purchased from Battersea Dogs Home Online Edition.

Alex's Grandma

20:14 / 10.05.06

Congatulations Michelle!

You are now Alan Sugar's new *choke* (you may find yourself doing a lot of that, dear, in your future position as you beg for mercy, but perhaps not in a good way, over the thrumming engine of the Sugar Towers photocopier) apprentice.

Cherielabombe

20:15 / 10.05.06

Do you think Ruth didn't get it because she did TOO well? Ever since she did so well in the flat task SAS has thought "she's a sales person a sales person a sales person.... I DON'T WANT A SALESPERSON!"

Ganesh

20:15 / 10.05.06

Try orphanedpuppiesforservalan.com. And go for flicky hair; that seems to be a winner.

Ganesh

20:18 / 10.05.06

"Let's speak to Michelle's mother, Glynis."

Oi, Glynis! You're meant to be DEAD!!

Cherielabombe

20:20 / 10.05.06

I do kind of wonder if SAS has a thing for Michelle. I mean, last week he asked her "Do you have a little devil in you?" and this week before he chose her he said, "There's something about her.. from the first time I met her (or something like that)."

Ganesh

20:21 / 10.05.06

It's the flicky hair. And her puppies.

Tryphena Absent

20:30 / 10.05.06

He must have a thing for her because based on the show there's very little other reason to hire her.

■

20:32 / 10.05.06

"Do you have a little devil in you?"

Are you suggesting he wanted to say: "Do you want some?"

bjrn

20:35 / 10.05.06

I kind of warmed to Michelle over the later episodes, but I still would have prefered it if Ruth had won. I really though The Badger was a too good deal to pass on.

Right, so now we just have to wait another year and hope a barb member is in the next series!

Regrettable Juvenilia

21:02 / 10.05.06

Looking back at last year, what Tim shared with Michelle (along with a basic level of competence and likeability - I don't think one of the utter walking liability wankers is going to win this any time soon) is a certain amount of deference, almost reverence, to Sugar. That's something Ruth was never going to give him. And those who saw the documentary on Tim's first year as Apprenctice may feel that Badger dodged a bullet, really. Imagine that micro-managing little bully calling you ever bloody other week from his yacht to rubbish your ideas without having the slightest clue of the context...

Ganesh

21:17 / 10.05.06

I think the Badger showed deference. She just didn't show smiley deference (she wasn't very good at that), and didn't properly establish a connection with Servalan - despite her far superior performance in the tasks.

Hattie's Kitchen

06:45 / 11.05.06

Siralan is a pillock. I'm gutted for Ruth.

What is the point of having a final task when he's going to pick who he wants regardless of the outcome?

Ruth's idea was naff, but she pulled in at least a grand more than Michelle and managed her team a whole lot better. It seems that all you need to do to win the Apprentice is stay in the background doing pretty much sod-all and then pull out the hard-luck sob story in the final stages. It worked for Tim last year as well.

I think Ruth's had a lucky escape if I'm honest. She'd be wasted in a job trying to flog Amstrad's tat and I'm sure she'll be beating off prospective employers with a shitty stick after this, but still, she deserved to win.

■

07:08 / 11.05.06

There's an article (in the Grauniad, I think) about "what Amstrad do" which illustrates that Paul was probably not alone in not having done any research, and suggests to me that those who had checked probably wouldn't have applied. It sounds awfully dull: set-top boxes, those pointless e-mail phones and wrinkle removers....

Regrettable Juvenilia

07:32 / 11.05.06

Well, yes - remember last year when they had to flog the crappy novelty CD player that Sugar Junior was in charge of? "The jukebox... is back!"?

Not in the Face

07:35 / 11.05.06

I think Flyboy's right about the need for apprentice's to have deference and pliability. Its a test not only of their skills but of their ability to fit in with what he perceives as the culture of his company. Thats why he'll never choose one of the self-described 'entrepreneur' candidates chosen or any of the louder ones like the Badger - there's probably a in-house rule that only SirAlan gets to talk above a whisper.

After all, all of his 'I'm a no bullshit hard businessman form the streets' approach didn't stop him appointing his son to run the plane company. Seems a clear message that you can be SirAlan's apprentice but you don't get to run the shop when he dies but you can carry on being a functionary to his family

Not in the Face

07:42 / 11.05.06

There's also the fact that Michelle is a telecoms manager applying for a job in a largely communications/electronics company which may have steered his otherwise seemingly random decision. I do wish the news would stop referring to her as a 'former checkout girl'. Their constant reference to it (about 3 times on bbc news this morning) smacks of some sort of snobbish patronising attitude that I can't put my finger on

sleazenation

08:18 / 11.05.06

According to a Five Live radio interview with the two finalists, they've both been working for Sir Alan for about 6 months, the Badger is now going solo- I guess there is great opportunity and greater freedom for the runner up - see how Saira appears to have had more success and been more prominent in the media spotlight...

Ganesh

08:32 / 11.05.06

After all, all of his 'I'm a no bullshit hard businessman form the streets' approach didn't stop him appointing his son to run the plane company.

Indeed. He also needs to amend his "I don't like liars. I don't like bullshitters" spiel, maybe adding, "unless I like them". The "I'm the most belligerent person you'll ever come across" bit also needs "unless you impress me with your Cratchitts' Christmas background, in which case you can fail as many tasks as you like and I'll still smile like a loon as I appoint you".

thestrongarm

14:25 / 11.05.06

What made me laugh was Sir Alan saying with a straight face "And I hope people watching this learn something about business...."

Peach Pie

13:23 / 13.05.06

I cringed when poor Ruth got the rude call through from He Who Must Be Obeyed. It was clear that the winner had already been decided.

Didn't buy SAS' line about it being a 'very close thing this year'. His *eyes lit up* whenever he spoke to Michelle and that *never* happens... Michelle did very well to bounce back from Paul and Syed's cat fight, tho.

Page: 1 ... 3 4 5 6 7(8)9

Add Your Reply