The Apprentice: the wheels on the bike go: “You’re fired!” for Shazia

We are now half-way though the latest series of The Apprentice – and although the candidates are dwindling, which should make for stiffer competition and more enjoyable episodes, this week I found myself wondering why a show that’s all about finding Lord Sugar’s next business partner has become so damaging to its candidates.

It honestly feels like the show is verging on bullying its own participants and I’m finding it painful to keep watching.  I just can’t understand why a business show is doing everything it possibly can to make complete fools out of budding entrepreneurs whose reputations and future careers lie in their hands.

Having been through the process myself, it’s hard to watch the many awkward and uncomfortable moments and mistakes unfold – knowing full well that the production team are pulling the strings behind the scenes like puppet masters, setting the candidates up for failure time and time again. The show seems more interested in making a mockery of them and then judging them harshly because of it, than supporting them and celebrating their wins as the series progresses.

In a bid to stay relevant, the production is now taking it to an extreme and I wonder how the cast welfare team sleep at night knowing this.

In the latest episode, the remaining 13 candidates had to create an advertising campaign for an electric motorbike that included a billboard, a commercial and a pitch to a panel of industry experts.

Team Apex, led by Marnie, chose to target petrol heads, and named their brand Soldier with the tag line ‘Ride dirty, drive clean’ – which, as the panel of experts pointed out, was a huge mistake as you don’t drive a motorbike, and the petrol head community really wouldn’t respond well to that.

Team Affinity, led by motorbike enthusiast Brad, proposed to call their bike Caf-E Racer, but for some strange reason, which probably came down to the production, the rest of the team thought it was a bad idea. Once the two halves of the team parted ways, the sub team – led by Shazia, who claimed to have a background in marketing – changed the name to Zip Zap, which sounds much more like a delivery service than a motorbike brand.

The sub team had to cast the advert that Brad’s half of the team then had to shoot, but normally when you shoot a commercial, you also oversee the casting, like we did on my series. I was the sub team leader in our marketing task for Boujie Cruises and I both directed and oversaw the casting for the commercial. The show clearly broke it down in a strange way so that the casting would then become a problem – and low and behold, it did!

In the pitches to the experts, Team Apex were told their advert was cliché, but the worst criticism came in response to Team Affinity’s campaign, as the name Zip Zap was described as ‘dreadful’ – and I totally agree.

Team Affinity found themselves in the losers café, with Bradley choosing to bring Shazia and Avi back in the boardroom with him. Lord Sugar criticised Bradley for not sticking to his own ideas, especially as he was a motorbike enthusiast, but ultimately Shazia was fired for making too many mistakes and, in Lord Sugar’s words, producing a load of rubbish.

Shazia was never going to have a long journey on the show as I think her difficult nature and ‘holier than thou’ mindset was probably a turn off for Lord Sugar. But would it be so wrong to celebrate the small wins of the candidates as they go through the process? I, too, like entertainment, but not always at the expense of others being made fun of and put down. Enough is enough.

I’ve also noticed that when a candidate claims they’re an expert in a specific area, or are passionate about something like Brad was with motorbikes, they’ll most likely end up messing up the task for one reason or another, meaning the producers make sure of it, just like our motorbike enthusiast this week – because what is more entertaining than an expert or a passionate enthusiast with knowledge of a specific subject matter screwing up something they know well or should be good at?!

I dread to think what they would have done to me if I made it to the TV shopping task, knowing I have over 10 years’ experience working as a TV shopping presenter. I really wouldn’t be surprised if next week in Dubai we find our safari guide Joe in the boardroom being made a fool of or, even worse, fired.