The Apprentice --- tv program
Discussion
I've been watching this and thought it would be nice if we had a place to discuss and share info/ideas/tips/comments amongst the great group of people we have hear. Hope this does not break any forum rules.
*** Week one *** Two teams split by gender.
The team were required to buy and sell flowers.
The winning team made a £300 profit selling door to door using quite a bit of charm.
1.) Did the guys win because during the day those at home are still mainly female ? Who may prefer buying something from a male salesperson ?
*** Week two *** Teams are still split by gender.
Task was to design an innovative toy for children
(The hardest consumers to please)
The guys went for a small tech toy which can communicate with other toys. A electronic trading card type device.
The ladies had two ideas
A card based game and a small robot
They went with the card based game and lost.
*** Week one *** Two teams split by gender.
The team were required to buy and sell flowers.
The winning team made a £300 profit selling door to door using quite a bit of charm.
1.) Did the guys win because during the day those at home are still mainly female ? Who may prefer buying something from a male salesperson ?
*** Week two *** Teams are still split by gender.
Task was to design an innovative toy for children
(The hardest consumers to please)
The guys went for a small tech toy which can communicate with other toys. A electronic trading card type device.
The ladies had two ideas
A card based game and a small robot
They went with the card based game and lost.
I think the gender aspect is not that important in sales. The guys were just better, more coherent and worked better as a team. The girls were useless ignorant losers at the end of the day. You may think I'm biased being male, but this was the opinion of a few of my female friends and family, one of whom is incredibly successful.
The toy project further showed how both teams had their weaknesses. The guys lacked the market research which was shown up by Sir Alan. The girls continued with their bickering and unprofessionalism and were caught out.
I'm enjoying this show. It's interesting seeing lots of different opinions on a topic.
I want that stupid mature male student to go next. He shows no ability to work as a team member, ffs he was reading a book during a brainstorming. He's a typical academic really... never realises how arrogant he can be.
I also want the red haired girl to go, the wannabe successful businesswoman who is just useless and ignorant of her failings.
I also find it humorous that these are 14 'highly successful' business people who are giving up successful jobs to run for a £100k job.
Firstly, in the city £100k isn't anything special. Secondly, i doubt any of them gave up a 'successful' job as a career break of 10 or so weeks is unlikely. Thirdly, one is a 'bankrupt internet entrepreneur'... read that as another failure.
I think the producers have realised the comical value of the program and have chosen the candidates wisely.
Great viewing
The toy project further showed how both teams had their weaknesses. The guys lacked the market research which was shown up by Sir Alan. The girls continued with their bickering and unprofessionalism and were caught out.
I'm enjoying this show. It's interesting seeing lots of different opinions on a topic.
I want that stupid mature male student to go next. He shows no ability to work as a team member, ffs he was reading a book during a brainstorming. He's a typical academic really... never realises how arrogant he can be.
I also want the red haired girl to go, the wannabe successful businesswoman who is just useless and ignorant of her failings.
I also find it humorous that these are 14 'highly successful' business people who are giving up successful jobs to run for a £100k job.
Firstly, in the city £100k isn't anything special. Secondly, i doubt any of them gave up a 'successful' job as a career break of 10 or so weeks is unlikely. Thirdly, one is a 'bankrupt internet entrepreneur'... read that as another failure.
I think the producers have realised the comical value of the program and have chosen the candidates wisely.
Great viewing
My thoughts.
Sorry did not make my earlier post clear,
I thought that *gender* may have played a role in that particular task (selling flowers door to door during the day).
Perhaps also designing an innovative toy would be a task more suitable to the guys (due to the age group of our entreprenuers). Today girls and boys are equally tech savvy...these are the toy/tech gadget/car designers of the future.
I used to go to computer shows in the 80's
95% male attendees...and I would not go back to school and tell everyone what I did at the weekend.
Computing was not cool.
15 years ago most parents could not program the VCR
Now everyone is sending SMS messages and emailing relatives in far flung places !
my ideas:
**** WEEK 1 ****
I would have enlisted the help of local shops/businesses to help sell the flowers. Would have used a local internet cafe to write a quick A4 poster
"TODAY ONLY - 10% discount on flowers with a receipt from this shop"
That way I only have to print say 20 posters
(at 10-20p per print = £2-£4 pounds plus a couple of pounds for use of the computer).
Why would local business help ?
I would have explained to shops that team members would keep a track of sales with discounts. Whichever local business was in the lead would benefit by having a quick recommendation to shop there by our team.
For example say after an hour we had sold 10 customers discounted flowers.
The receipts table :
W.R Fruit & Veg 3
A.P. Computers 2
Local Bakers 5
So after all sales we would say thanks for your custom if you want some great bread check out Local Bakers across the road.
***** WEEK 2 *****
I quite liked the robot, but I suppose toys really benefit by being in films/animations.
(I'm going to order a light sabre in a couple of weeks)
Also I found it quite hard to believe that not one of the guys had not seen a similar toy in stores/on TV/on the web. I'm sure they all have broadband !
Long post I know !
>> Edited by robertuk on Thursday 24th February 01:06
Sorry did not make my earlier post clear,
I thought that *gender* may have played a role in that particular task (selling flowers door to door during the day).
Perhaps also designing an innovative toy would be a task more suitable to the guys (due to the age group of our entreprenuers). Today girls and boys are equally tech savvy...these are the toy/tech gadget/car designers of the future.
I used to go to computer shows in the 80's
95% male attendees...and I would not go back to school and tell everyone what I did at the weekend.
Computing was not cool.
15 years ago most parents could not program the VCR
Now everyone is sending SMS messages and emailing relatives in far flung places !
my ideas:
**** WEEK 1 ****
I would have enlisted the help of local shops/businesses to help sell the flowers. Would have used a local internet cafe to write a quick A4 poster
"TODAY ONLY - 10% discount on flowers with a receipt from this shop"
That way I only have to print say 20 posters
(at 10-20p per print = £2-£4 pounds plus a couple of pounds for use of the computer).
Why would local business help ?
I would have explained to shops that team members would keep a track of sales with discounts. Whichever local business was in the lead would benefit by having a quick recommendation to shop there by our team.
For example say after an hour we had sold 10 customers discounted flowers.
The receipts table :
W.R Fruit & Veg 3
A.P. Computers 2
Local Bakers 5
So after all sales we would say thanks for your custom if you want some great bread check out Local Bakers across the road.
***** WEEK 2 *****
I quite liked the robot, but I suppose toys really benefit by being in films/animations.
(I'm going to order a light sabre in a couple of weeks)
Also I found it quite hard to believe that not one of the guys had not seen a similar toy in stores/on TV/on the web. I'm sure they all have broadband !
Long post I know !
>> Edited by robertuk on Thursday 24th February 01:06
I thought the toy idea was good (and I've got 4 kids !)
The women deserved to lose - the Project Manager championed her own idea in the face of obvious opposition (even the kids weren't interested) then she tried to blame her team. Had to go IMO. If she'd fronted up to Sir Alan and said "Sack me, I was in charge, I made a bad call", she might've gotten away with it.
The women deserved to lose - the Project Manager championed her own idea in the face of obvious opposition (even the kids weren't interested) then she tried to blame her team. Had to go IMO. If she'd fronted up to Sir Alan and said "Sack me, I was in charge, I made a bad call", she might've gotten away with it.
Great prog.
Week1:
Girls blob amongst each other, get nothing much done. Fail.
Boys pitch in, get job done. Succeed.
Week2:
Girls ever so careful to seem polite and "playing the game". Quietly blob amongst each other. Get nothing much done. Fail.
Boys pitch in, get job done. Succeed.
Bit of a pattern forming, here. Could be about to get very very boring. However, as from week 3, girls & boys are mixed together. Hopefully this will persuade the remaining girls to forget playing tactically for a while and just demonstrate their skills. Will be a sterner test for the boys, to see if they can cope with some of the more self-important female characters being on the same side as them.
Last night's prog was hilarious. Girl's team leader backed herself into a completely untenable position and couldn't see it! Her parting comments just showed how poor she was at being objective.
{Edited to add:} What summed it up for me was the 2 team's approaches to making the pitch for their toy. Boys went in and sold it hard, Girls went in and started off by explaining what they'd been asked to do. FFS! Had it not been a set-up I'm sure the board of teh toy co would just have shouted "next!" after about 30 seconds...
>> Edited by pdV6 on Thursday 24th February 13:02
Week1:
Girls blob amongst each other, get nothing much done. Fail.
Boys pitch in, get job done. Succeed.
Week2:
Girls ever so careful to seem polite and "playing the game". Quietly blob amongst each other. Get nothing much done. Fail.
Boys pitch in, get job done. Succeed.
Bit of a pattern forming, here. Could be about to get very very boring. However, as from week 3, girls & boys are mixed together. Hopefully this will persuade the remaining girls to forget playing tactically for a while and just demonstrate their skills. Will be a sterner test for the boys, to see if they can cope with some of the more self-important female characters being on the same side as them.
Last night's prog was hilarious. Girl's team leader backed herself into a completely untenable position and couldn't see it! Her parting comments just showed how poor she was at being objective.
{Edited to add:} What summed it up for me was the 2 team's approaches to making the pitch for their toy. Boys went in and sold it hard, Girls went in and started off by explaining what they'd been asked to do. FFS! Had it not been a set-up I'm sure the board of teh toy co would just have shouted "next!" after about 30 seconds...
>> Edited by pdV6 on Thursday 24th February 13:02
I thought the boys not waking the girls up was a bad idea, Sir AMS will change the teams at some point, no need to annoy anyone ....turns out its going to be next week !
That comment about makeup ...I hope he was joking.
It's great walking into a department store via the cosmetics section to be greated by beautiful people.
"Excuse me, do you have post-wash-pre-shave scrub with UV protection for men who use computer monitors daily ?"
"Which version New York, Bombay, Sydney or London ?"
"London...is it based on pollution, what's the difference ?"
"New York includes a digital display in the base of the tube which displays live stock market info.
Sydney has a display which has live sport scores & results.
Bombay has a list of all call centre numbers on the side of the tube. To help you in case you lose your bank cards, have a problem with your telephone bill e.t.c, "
"...and London ?"
"London has contact numbers for
Congestion charge payment, Parking meter payment and
Wheel Clamp removal services. "
:-)
>> Edited by robertuk on Thursday 24th February 13:43
That comment about makeup ...I hope he was joking.
It's great walking into a department store via the cosmetics section to be greated by beautiful people.
"Excuse me, do you have post-wash-pre-shave scrub with UV protection for men who use computer monitors daily ?"
"Which version New York, Bombay, Sydney or London ?"
"London...is it based on pollution, what's the difference ?"
"New York includes a digital display in the base of the tube which displays live stock market info.
Sydney has a display which has live sport scores & results.
Bombay has a list of all call centre numbers on the side of the tube. To help you in case you lose your bank cards, have a problem with your telephone bill e.t.c, "
"...and London ?"
"London has contact numbers for
Congestion charge payment, Parking meter payment and
Wheel Clamp removal services. "
:-)
>> Edited by robertuk on Thursday 24th February 13:43
sorry Robert - dont understand your last post at all?
Was that the bloke who was banging on about how 'women dont need make-up, if my wife had been wearing some she wouldnt have got me' - sounded like a very arrogant man!
Great show though - and yeah, couldnt believe that woman still trying to defend herself after being fired. Especially after sitting in that meeting and saying "oh i didnt really count that vote' - then what the f**k was the point?!! amazing.
frankly I thought tht all the toy ideas were a bit weak. The robot was nice, but been done literally thousands of times (though I may have missed whatever their USP was...didnt see all of program). The Signalling one was vaguely interesting..but would make no money and get ripped off faster than burberry; and the card trading game....again interesting, Alan was wrong to say they existed already - that wasn't quite their idea. There is a LOT of room in the card/electronic trading/fighting market. but it was hardly innovative.
their not as openly bloby or nasty as on the Donald Trump version - shame really!
Was that the bloke who was banging on about how 'women dont need make-up, if my wife had been wearing some she wouldnt have got me' - sounded like a very arrogant man!
Great show though - and yeah, couldnt believe that woman still trying to defend herself after being fired. Especially after sitting in that meeting and saying "oh i didnt really count that vote' - then what the f**k was the point?!! amazing.
frankly I thought tht all the toy ideas were a bit weak. The robot was nice, but been done literally thousands of times (though I may have missed whatever their USP was...didnt see all of program). The Signalling one was vaguely interesting..but would make no money and get ripped off faster than burberry; and the card trading game....again interesting, Alan was wrong to say they existed already - that wasn't quite their idea. There is a LOT of room in the card/electronic trading/fighting market. but it was hardly innovative.
their not as openly bloby or nasty as on the Donald Trump version - shame really!
Great thread!
I was disappointed for the girls team last night. The lady who was there Project Manager appeared in the first instance to manage her group much better than the Pakistani businesswomen the week earlier. In general, there was less confrontation and more action. In the end, they managed to develop two very different concepts in the allotted time, so they had the capacity to be quite productive.
Of course, the lady in question was over confident in her gut feeling about the "Secret Signals" game - and it was her own idea. She was brave to champion in it against the robot figure, but dumb not to take heed of the opinions of the rest of her team which was based upon the best information that was available. She took a poor risk and paid the price.
It is great television, I love this kind of thing and it so much better than gutter garbage such as "Big Brother" - it is the thinking man's reality TV.
On a different note, did anyone see "Trouble At The Top" this week, it was eye opening and at the same time hilarious following that pikey multi-millionaire around with his bevy of East European beauties, young enough to be his grand daughters!
Good Episode !
**Tourists**
Quite a few of the customers on Saturday would have been of Arab or Chinese origin.
It would have helped to have staff who spoke Chinese or Arabic. Not sure if Saira speaks Arabic.
Timothy is a nice guy but AMS did warn them early on what he finds unacceptable. He wants the facts in front of him, so he can work with it.
His aides will also inform him of the events so there is no use sidestepping his questions.
***Paul the bear***
Quite a charmer. See how he played the role of the bear ? Combines charm with sales skills to good effect.
I would have loved that helicopter trip.
**Next Week March 16th**
I think a male team member will go.
How do I know ? Well at the end he said:
"Mate I'm sorry, you're fired"
Has to be a guy he's referring to.
There are quite a few episodes left (10)
At the moment I think Paul or Saira are top of the list.
R.
**Tourists**
Quite a few of the customers on Saturday would have been of Arab or Chinese origin.
It would have helped to have staff who spoke Chinese or Arabic. Not sure if Saira speaks Arabic.
Timothy is a nice guy but AMS did warn them early on what he finds unacceptable. He wants the facts in front of him, so he can work with it.
His aides will also inform him of the events so there is no use sidestepping his questions.
***Paul the bear***
Quite a charmer. See how he played the role of the bear ? Combines charm with sales skills to good effect.
I would have loved that helicopter trip.
**Next Week March 16th**
I think a male team member will go.
How do I know ? Well at the end he said:
"Mate I'm sorry, you're fired"
Has to be a guy he's referring to.
There are quite a few episodes left (10)
At the moment I think Paul or Saira are top of the list.
R.
[quote]On a different note, did anyone see "Trouble At The Top" this week, it was eye opening and at the same time hilarious following that pikey multi-millionaire around with his bevy of East European beauties, young enough to be his grand daughters![/quote]
When is Trouble at the top on ? I cant find it in Tv guides?
The apprentice is excellent, Love watching the true colours of the contestants shining through.
When is Trouble at the top on ? I cant find it in Tv guides?
The apprentice is excellent, Love watching the true colours of the contestants shining through.
was very surprised at last nights that they didnt pick up on the fact that the winning team actually only won because they
a)ripped off the other teams marketing/sales pitch ideas
b) went and asked that lady who ran the toy department who obviously really knew her stuff and could just get things done - she REALLY saved their bacon.
Shame that the team who lost didn't realise that the other team had robbed their ideas and were doing them better, and then respond likewise....cos they were clearly the better overal team (individuals notwithstanding).
I also felt that James (?) made an excellent staff motivator/team leader, but not a very good business leader.....Saira seemed to ed up driving a lot of it - not just sales but it was also ehr who pointed otu tey better do something fst or they were gonna get eaten.#
great viewing!
a)ripped off the other teams marketing/sales pitch ideas
b) went and asked that lady who ran the toy department who obviously really knew her stuff and could just get things done - she REALLY saved their bacon.
Shame that the team who lost didn't realise that the other team had robbed their ideas and were doing them better, and then respond likewise....cos they were clearly the better overal team (individuals notwithstanding).
I also felt that James (?) made an excellent staff motivator/team leader, but not a very good business leader.....Saira seemed to ed up driving a lot of it - not just sales but it was also ehr who pointed otu tey better do something fst or they were gonna get eaten.#
great viewing!
Thats called business and competition. Evaluate your performance against your direct competitors, rationally identify your weaknesses, make decisions, make changes, don't understand the slight implicatin that they were being underhand, or worse team. Were the best team for these reasons, all though the very last sale of the day won the task, the way they handled things indicated the best team.
B
B
Is it me or did Mr Sugar fire the wrong person last night.
That Sirya (spelling) gets right on my t*ts, so dominating, talking people down, interupting and then not letting the other person come back. Fired -no ifs - no buts, gone, out the door, no turning back, P45 on the way out.
And the way she says 'Can I just say' without letting the other person finish, gggggrrrrrrrr.
She should go next!
That Sirya (spelling) gets right on my t*ts, so dominating, talking people down, interupting and then not letting the other person come back. Fired -no ifs - no buts, gone, out the door, no turning back, P45 on the way out.
And the way she says 'Can I just say' without letting the other person finish, gggggrrrrrrrr.
She should go next!
Angelis said:
Personally I would'nt hire any of them.
Have'nt seen such a bunch of tts since I was at Law school!
well said. watched my first - and last - episode the other night.
what a pitiful bunch of shallow, egotistical pillocks. odious ensemble.
to paraphrase - "those who can DO and those who can't go on THE APPRENTICE"
vex said:
Is it me or did Mr Sugar fire the wrong person last night.
Yep and Saira knew it... thus why she burst into tears. She knew that she was the reason the blond got sacked. She'll hopefully get sacked next week but I think Sir Alan likes the way she has the 'balls' to say what she thinks.
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