The Apprentice: Bao buns, walkouts and the inside scoop on behind-the-scenes antics
One of Lord Sugar's former boardroom victims delivers her verdict on Episode Two of the latest series of The Apprentice
I had high hopes that the second instalment of the Apprentice would provide a little bit more spice after last week’s trip to Antiqua fell rather flat.
Unfortunately, viewers were once again let down by another carbon copy formulaic task we see year after year – packed full of producer-engineered cringeworthy moments – and a boatload of lip filler.
This week, the candidates were given the task of manufacturing bao buns – savoury buns for the public and sweet buns to sell to a corporate client. The team that made the most profit would win the task.
Disaster struck in the kitchen with completely wrong measurements of ingredients ordered by the girls’ team and very poorly made products from the boys. Ultimately the boys found themselves in the firing line, losing the task due to making a smaller profit. Try not to judge the candidates too harshly though, as they’re set up for failure each week no matter their skillset or business acumen.
I’m not sure what changed at the Apprentice HQ – but looking back on the older series of the show, the format has clearly taken a nosedive from factual entertainment into pure engineered reality television. The show is no longer about the candidate’s genuine business ability, but more a case of making them look like fools each week for the viewer’s pleasure.
Lifting the lid even further, I can also share with you that I’ve met people who have participated in the show as ‘corporate clients’ for the tasks – and they shared that the production team tells them how high or low they can go with their amounts – and that they steer them in certain directions with their decisions, which will ultimately affect which team wins or loses.
It’s not about business, it’s about entertainment– and this is exactly why the show has gone so massively downhill in comparison to its early days.
Sadly, Irishman Kevin was in the firing line this week – despite the fact that when he was asked by his team to take on the role of Sub Team Leader, he told them twice that he was very reluctant as he felt he wasn’t the right person for the job.
Was Kevin’s firing the right decision? Absolutely not. There were much more deserving candidates this week. If it were possible for both teams to find themselves in the bottom, they would have. Overall, the boys did perform more poorly in the task – but the girls’ team couldn’t even perform simple mathematics, with Karren Brady having to step in to flag their huge mistakes.
Similar to last week, once again the most interesting part of the episode was another unfortunate and unexpected departure, but this time from one of the candidates.
Shannon shockingly announced in the boardroom that she had decided to leave the process – which, having been through the application process myself, has really left me questioning why. From submitting your application, to back-and-forth castings and meetings in London, I must’ve spent over 100 hours just to get to the point of being cast on the show.
You have to prepare a huge business plan, buy and prepare all of your wardrobe options – provide a ton on information to the production team – and ensure your business and personal life back home are all being managed in safe hands, as once you start the process you can’t leave, see your family, or actively work on your business until you’re fired from the show.
Shannon owns a bridal boutique and boasts that she already has a million-pound business. We all know that the bridal industry is big money – and I genuinely felt like she would’ve made it to the final and stood a very good chance of winning the show. Lord Sugar would have loved a slice of that wedding cake.
Perhaps once she was in the process and saw it for what it really was, she quickly realised that, short of making it all the way to the end and securing the investment, participating in a show that makes a mockery of its candidates probably isn’t going to benefit her already very successful business a great deal.
Either that, or something happened behind the scenes that we may never know about. But regardless, I wish her every success with her business as she was one of my top candidates to watch and it’s a real shame that we won’t get to see more of her each week.
Looking forward to seeing whether the show picks up momentum next week and actually showcases some true business acumen from its candidates. Probably not, but I can always hope….
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