So, Lee won The Apprentice last night. Despite lying on his CV and then blatantly lying to the interviewer who questioned him (in the last episode), he won. Still, compared to the rest of them, he seemed like a decent bloke. Apart from when he yelled at Sara.
It was a good finale, but then, I have loved the show since it started four years ago. I was slightly surprised that Claire and Lee beat the other two, based on their 70s-esque commercial for 'Roulette' fragrance, but they did actually work together and didn't snipe with members of their team (made up of previously fired contestants).
I didn't think Helene stood a chance of winning; she seemed quite dour and negative a lot of the time. Alex came across as a tad sulky, but I think he'll go far. As will Claire (but I do think Sir Alan was worried she'd drive him crazy). Lee had boundless enthusiasm and seemingly, was a gentleman. There was no contest, really.
So, now that The Apprentice is over for another year, the question is: do I let myself succumb to Big Brother? Hmm.
Well, it never really crossed my mind that Lucinda would be the new apprentice for Sir Alan. She was far too new age and wasn't motivated by money – not a combination that you could attribute to Sir A.
I enjoyed last night's penultimate episode of The Apprentice. The interviewers were hard buggers. They were unreasonable and unfair, and it was tricky to see how any of the candidates would be recommended to Sir Alan after the gruelling day of interviews.
I cringed when Lee's CV lie was uncovered. And Lucinda's lack of money-motivation was silly – did she think Sir Alan would like that? Claire was just herself (gobby, loud, hard, cocky). Alex was strange – clever but also snakey (and I don't see the appeal as far as his looks go)... Helene was once more bovine and went on about a hard childhood... hmmm.
So, anyway, instead of firing three people, Sir Alan gave Lucinda her marching orders and kept four back for next week's final. The fact that he thinks there's so little to choose between those remaining makes it hard to predict who will win. I wonder.
I had to do this post as a two-in-one, having been a lax blogger of late. Also, I missed the Raef-firing episode and there are various reasons I haven't blogged of late:
• Work (I've been working on several magazines; sometimes I have no idea where to head to when I wake up in the morning... and when you are staring at a screen all day, and into the night at times, believe me, you don't want to blog...)
• Holiday to Paris (lovely break – and it was hot and sunny the whole time)
• Stress and tiredness have taken over (due to work). I have felt better; it's been bad – bad – at times.
So, anyway, The Apprentice. Well, Michael, who is so young, according to Al, went. I'm not surprised, but I have to say that I wasn't too bothered whether it was him or Helene that went. I reckon they had to fire Mikey due to Helene's comment about age (i.e. the Beeb couldn't risk a furore over Sralan being ageist).
Helene defended herself well. She seems OK, at times, but has also been a horrible bully, and is so miserable looking that I can't take to her at all. She needs to liven up a bit, methinks. She's looking permanently bovine.
Michael was an entertaining little thing, wasn't he? Irritating but quite watchable in a sort of experimental fashion. As for Raef, well I watched the boardroom bits on BBC iPlayer, which was handy, and after seeing the commercials, think he had to go. Shame really. He was just too subtle and measured for his own good.
As for tomorrow, I reckon that Helene or Lucinda might go. But I really hope it's Lee. He was awful to Lucinda and frankly, needs to calm down. I think Claire and Alex stand out as my final two. For now.
Last night's Apprentice was great. The boardroom was especially brilliant, with plenty of backstabbing and bitching – until Sir Alan lost patience and fired first Jenny redhead, who is simply awful and a great buck-passer, and then the screeching Jenny ice-maiden, who is a charmless individual. Wonderful.
The funniest part was Michael defending why he called himself a 'good Jewish boy' on his CV but failed to grasp the difference between kosher and halal. He claimed to be half Jewish, which is not possible, and didn't know what to say when Sir Alan sarcastically suggested that Michael pulled his trousers down so he could make sure.
It was good to see Lucinda and Sara, who have been bullied by the rest of the women and some of the men, being praised for their efforts on the task. I think the BBC is very keen to avoid the accusations of bullying that affected Celebrity Big Brother.
I'm not sure who I want to win, but it isn't Helene, Claire, Lee or Alex.
Kevin really had to go on last night's Apprentice. His famous last words "I have never lost a pitch" were surely a sign of things to come. Too cocky, by far, though he came across OK on the You're Fired show.
So, that was good.
But I am eagerly awaiting next week's Morocco challenge, when, apparently, two people are fired for almost coming to blows. I wonder if it will have anything to do with the bullying of poor Sara. I couldn't believe the reception she got from the others when she went back to the house after the boardroom. They were awful. Good for Raef for sticking up for Sara. She looked like a deer caught in headlights – she needs to stand up for herself but I think she was just shocked at being bullied so badly by some of those people.
Hmm.
Apparently two The Apprentice contenders will be fired by Sir Alan this week. They are two women who "almost came to blows", according to the radio today.
Bring on Wednesday! I vote that Jenny and Helene go... *rubs hands*
I've just discovered that a friend's sister had dealings with the show and said that some of the would-be apprentices were "prats". Understatement.
Last night, Sir Alan fired Lindi from The Apprentice. He really should have taken his opportunity to get rid of that cold fish, Jennifer. What a horrible woman. What with her, that Helene and the other Jennifer bitching, well, it doesn't give women a good name. The way they carry on is embarrassing.
I was pleased that Lucinda, who comes across as soft but is actually just a nice woman, didn't get the boot. Jennifer was icy. It was funny when she went back to the house after the board meeting and complained that Sir Alan had called her icy and the room remained silent as everyone silently agreed with El Beardo.
This is a very entertaining series but I think Sir A has made some diabolical decisions. But then again, he is a millionaire, so what do I know?
It's been a while since my last post, as I have been (and still am) ill with either a food poisoning bug or something similar. I've been in bed for nearly six days now. Not good.
Hopefully, normal service will resume soon (blogwise and me-wise).
Oh, can I just say: Sir Alan – what are you thinking? Why did you let Simon go? Why did you keep that awful woman Claire?! Total craziness.
The outcome of last night's episode of The Apprentice was ridiculous. Why did Sir Alan fire Shazia? It was blatantly obvious that Jenny Loudmouth should go. She was rude, unpleasant and lacking charisma. Also, she let Shazia leave the premises (this was the main reason that Sir Alan fired Shazia) – so shouldn't it be down to her to know who should stay and who should leave the place of work? Very odd.
Raef and the boys turned around their reputation and ran a slick ship, winning the challenge hands down. There was no silly bickering – just lots of camaraderie. I know whose team I'd rather have been on (though I'd have to have a sex change!).
Ah, he's back. Alan Sugar and his gravelly voice, shiny boardroom, greying comrades and inevitable 'you're fired' is back on the TV.
The Apprentice is my favourite reality show. I love watching the competitors start off by being friendly and then descend into what I've been dealing with most of the week: political shenanigans designed to upset the applecart for their team members. They're all after the one job – to sit at the right hand side of Sir Alan at one of his many companies.
There's always the troublesome opinionated one, the posh one, the good-looking one, the timid one, the earthy one, the loud one, the nutty one, the quiet but effective one (who fails because of their lack of oomph) and so on. A great mixture. Like any workplace in fact.
Last night, Nicholas (number one in the picture) was fired. He reminded me of the preacher in There Will Be Blood. Not for preaching (though he did do a bit of that, on and on about his qualifications), but it was his face. It's scarily similar and kept making me laugh. Great film, that. Daniel Day-Lewis was amazing.
Yesterday, I was on the phone and became a bit Alan Sugar-esque. I've been dealing with people who simply cannot get on with their jobs without me spoon feeding them. I've lost sleep this week over having to pick up after people who really should know better, and should be working much harder. And, as any regular reader will know, me and my sleep take strong measures to keep our relationship healthy.
So, having had just a few hours kip the night before last, having made the silly move of looking at emails at 11pm, I was not happy yesterday morning. As I explained the situation to the big boss, expletives, to which I hardly ever resort at work (in anger, at any rate), flew out of my mouth. It certainly got the point across.
I'm well and truly done with putting up and shutting up. Those days are gone. I have no patience with being messed around, workwise and otherwise. People have expected me to accommodate them and I've gone along with it for too long. I know I let it happen, so it has been my own fault. But people that persist in taking advantage of me now should consider themselves well and truly fired.
