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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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Posted by: semuk2 on Thu Mar 27 02:56PM | Report abuseSir Alan should pick the guy in the solicitors that bid them down to £50 for the fish he was the only person with an ounce of business sense & showed them how to negotiate a deal
Posted by: semuk2 on Thu Mar 27 02:58PM | Report abusewhat a load of old tosh!!! if thats the best they can select from nearly 20 thousand applicants then my god how has alan sugar ever made a penny???!!! the most simple of tasks and what a balls up they all made!! i mean surely old posh boy knew 5 quid was a little cheap for a lobster!!! oh and lastly, does anyone else think raef is a dead ringer for sebastian the prime ministers aid in Little Britan??? the resemblence is uncanny!!!
Posted by: d_wallington.t21 on Thu Mar 27 03:02PM | Report abuseu deserved it who wants a bidhead like u
Posted by: imsexedout69 on Thu Mar 27 03:02PM | Report abuseNice, er moustache and beard mate!!! It'll be OK when you can grow it for real instead of the bum fluff you've got now!!
Posted by: mpyzf on Thu Mar 27 03:03PM | Report abuseHow has Nicholas ever ever ever qualified as a barrister - he is totally and utterly out of touch with the general public and life in general. Just because he happens to like the arts and culture there is nothing whatseover wrong in liking football (as I do along with numerous other people). Sir Alan was completely in the right - the world is full of "I know best" attitudea and it will have done him no harm whatsoever than to have been voted off and knocked back a peg or two!. I do not consider Alex "drippy" as referred to in your article. He is reserved and quiet - what is wrong with that! At least he stood his ground and gave as good as he got to Nicholas and I might add if Raef is so good, how come he did not put himself up for Team Leader or was he afraid he would be voted off as people can see right through him and what about the other male contestants, no one was prepared to put themselves forward instead of Alex. What does that say about the rest of the male team! The girls have an awful lot to learn - how to work as a team and not fighting against each other and wanting to be Queen Bee all the time. People have degrees these days, but does that mean they know about life skills - NO! You can pass your driving test but you still have a lot to learn once you are out on the open road yourself - the same applies for people with degrees - it is only once they have their degree and go into the big wide world that they start to learn life skills. Sir Alan certainly has life skills - learnt the hard way and he has done so well in life and this what the whole team male and femal need to bear in mind!!!!!! Mary from Bournemouth
Posted by: peterogers258 on Thu Mar 27 03:03PM | Report abuseHmm, Im a barrister and highly intelligent, but Im going to talk to a man who started his empire by selling car aerials in the east end and was for nearly a decade the chairman of a football club about how I cant relate to the working man and football. Thats some good work there Nicholas.
Posted by: sha_rk7 on Thu Mar 27 03:05PM | Report abuseHis actual name is Nicholas Brown. He has decided to add 'de Lacy'. I think that says it all.
Posted by: nagone on Thu Mar 27 03:07PM | Report abusePoor Nicholas, right from the start he looked like a chicken caught in the headlights of Alex's assassination plot but I think it wont be long before Alex suffers the same fate. I do wish Sir Alan would learn how to speak English a fraction more fluently, sometimes he sounds like he went to a school of effluence.
Posted by: pondsidehomes on Thu Mar 27 03:07PM | Report abuseWhy are so many of you against people that are well-spoken? Surely that's a form of snobbery in itself? And it seems perfectly acceptable for you to spout out comments like "upper class twit" but if it were the other way round and someone was labelled "working class trash" there would' be uproar. Don't get me wrong, I'm glad Nick was sent packing but there are a lot of double standards on this board. I think Raef is great. He accepted his mistakes and even tried to share the blame of selling the remaining stock at too low a price. He's loyal and honest. He just happens to talk posh and that isn't a crime in my books. But one of the girls to win this time. They seem much more astute.
Posted by: le36dd on Thu Mar 27 03:10PM | Report abuse