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From the opening moments of last night's Apprentice it was clear that we had another bunch of jumped-up, arrogant, cringeworthy know-it-alls battling for a job with Sir Alan - in other words we are in for another excellent series.
Ian can't even bring himself to say the word 'loser', Jennifer rates herself as 'the best salesperson in Europe', Claire says she likes to crash through everything like her family's german shepherd dog and scary Sara doesn't like to beat her opposition, she likes to thrash them.
The first task saw the group split into male and female teams and given a load of fish to sell at a London market. Easy? Well, no. The teams struggled to tell their Monkfish from their Sea Breams and ended up selling the fish at a fraction of the actual value.
Other highlights of the first episode included sulky Ian pursing his lips and declaring that he hated losing, Lucinda's kooky dress sense (do health and safety regulations allow people to sell fish wearing a purple woollen beret?) and, of course, Raef's hair - what's that all about?
The award for best line has to go to Sir Alan's sidekick Nick who asked the boys' team "Did it strike anybody that a £5 lobster is bloody cheap?"
The boardroom showdown saw the girls triumph and drippy boys' team leader Alex chose to take Nicholas and Raef back into the boardroom with him.
Things quickly escalated into a class war with Nicholas declaring that the group had split into the educated and the non-educated. Alex was quick to point out that he also had a university degree which led Nicholas to point out more differences between the boys - he likes to talk about arts and culture and they like to talk about football apparently. The writing was really on the wall for Nicholas at that point and Sir Alan rightly fired him.
What did you think of the first episode? Who are your favourites and which of the candidates are getting on your nerves. Let us know...
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User comments
well if he got his head out of his arse for one minute he'd have realised the fish prices were way out, i guess he's been stuck there for so long he probably can't find his way to the real world! It'll be a tough choice for AS since it appears they're all pretty useless! Fire them all and hire a skivy off the street, at least they'll get the job done!
Posted by: efoxuk1 on Thu Mar 27 02:49PM | Report abuse4
Posted by: frankisolomon on Thu Mar 27 02:50PM | Report abuseThe sill y pratt didnt have a clue, Ive been in business myself like Sir Ale, but he didnt even know the basics and they were all running around like headless chickens and didnt seem to have any idea or direction about any business setup. I also ran a successful Childrens Charity for 11 years, lets hope they don't get to have a try at that. Listen to Sir Ale as he has been there like I have and its no good just saying what you think your GOOD at. Get real if you wanna survive.
Posted by: elfie1957 on Thu Mar 27 02:50PM | Report abuseit's no wonder the country's going down the pan, with plonkers like him having highpowered jobs!!! It seems that a hardup nose toff like Nicholas, has never seen fish in his live,oh,I forgot,they have servants for that!! buying fish that is!!! I was embarassed for him, not be able to indentify the fish from the picture book!!! my 2yrd old baby girl knows how fish look like!!!
Posted by: vmiskovska on Thu Mar 27 02:50PM | Report abusethe thing that's terrifying about the Nicks of this world is that they often get in to positions of power without having any idea about what the world is like for most people. They get to speak, act and make policy decisions that shape this country. The government - on all sides id full of them.
Posted by: janeaweiruk on Thu Mar 27 02:50PM | Report abuseVery good television. It kept us interested watching the various antics and confirmed the scarcity of common sense amongst the educated classes.I think Alan Sugar should run a third group, alongside the self-opinionated, drawn from the Scouts to show the others what teamwork is really all about. I am grateful to Mr Sugar for firing Nicholas who epitomised the ," Its somebody elses fault" attitude of the youth of today,
Posted by: pkidderdrange on Thu Mar 27 02:50PM | Report abusenot only has this guy been fired from the apprentice but he has probably ruined his career too... priceless.
Posted by: lukehewitt16 on Thu Mar 27 02:50PM | Report abuseIt had to be a fix! Like Big Brother, I reckon he was picked simply because they needed someone who would provoke audience reaction (like what we have here) and who they could justifiably fire on the first show. There's a few more already targeted for dismissal once their audience ratings value has run its course.
Posted by: prossersue on Thu Mar 27 02:50PM | Report abuseAbout all the other contestants, some of the phrases they used to describe them selves were just horrid and plain arrogant, like the one who rated her self as the best sales person in europe, come on please. People wake up and smell the coffee, there are people out there that would eat you alive and you wouldn't know how it happened. Its been my experience that when you are knew and young to listen and learn and don't open your big mouth until you are spoken to. These kids have never been to the real world yet and in all honesty would not last a few minutes out in the real world.
Posted by: joehamza on Thu Mar 27 02:51PM | Report abuseWhat I would like to know is why is the salary on offer still only 100K. Surely since the first series this should have been increased to reflect the cost of living? Are you allowed to join a union if you work for Sir Alan? :)))) This country has gone to the dogs and this program is just another example of the types of folks running the show. If Sir Alan was honest with himself he wouldn't hire any of them, but its a cheap 100K to get this kind of publicity. Roll on next Wednesday....
Posted by: gillybirchall1 on Thu Mar 27 02:51PM | Report abuse