The Apprentice 2016 thread

[SuuPRlim]

My thoughts on the remaining 5.

Courtney

No Charisma, no passion, seemingly precious little ability, on the tasks anyway it's really tough on the surface to see how Courtney has a chance, he's going to get ripped to shreds by Claude and co. in the interviews and I think this is the one spot where being the only guy will hurt him. However. On paper it's all quite positive for courtney, he's got 8/10 wins, no boardroom appearances and 2 wins as PM.  His business in novelty gifts, simple buy-product-sell business business is something that Lord Sugar will relate to, as it's how he started, if he comes in with a strong business plan and can stand behind it with some results from his past business life then he probably has a good shot at sneaking into heads up play, he's never really been under pressure in the boardroom but whenever he has a little he's come off ok and despite being as interesting as tarmac he shows some good composure. More positives for courtney too, he's surrounded by potential blowups (Jessica) and potential breakdowns (Alana), however the past ten weeks have shown him to be pretty useless at virtually anything he's done and that particular issue is going to take one hell of a business plan, and one hell of a performance in the interviews to over-come. I'm afraid I don't think he has it in him, although it won't take a divine intervention to see him sail effortlessly into the final.

Grianne

Been the most composed, assured and seemingly capable from weeks 1 - 7, despite not actually doing that much. Then she had a shocker in week 8 (claiming that the mermaid would be in the tank swimming around in the aquarium i think is actually the stupidest thing anyone has done all series), was appalling in week 9 (the video games) partly responsible for the "magic shells" disgrace and then her role in the pitch itself should have seen her sacked. This week as PM she gets pissed up on day 1 and forgets to communicate with her team and has a howler in the pitch getting slammed by over £60k (bigger margin of defeat than the Big K, although how THE FUCK Jeeeen, the not-raspberry raspberry gin with the blue writing sold £70k worth of stock i'll never know). Really by all fairness she should have gone, her saving grace has been her boardroom skills, she's a warrior and in a seriously weak field it's been pretty straightforward for her. It wasn't until last night she was even in a sweat of leaving and her savvy boardroom skills saw her safe pretty quickly, she's the most professional of the remaining candidates so I think it's fair to expect her to have the most reasonable and polished business plan and certainly on evidence she should fair very well in the interviews unless she has some serious skeletons hidden away. You'd expect her to be a big favourite to make the top two. Danger is still there for Grianne though, as her last three weeks performances are going to bring her heat and she doesn't really have much to back herself up with from the previous seven, if, as expected she makes the final 2 she's going to need to SERIOUSLY raise her game as on current form she should lose to Frances and Alana comfortably on operational abilities. You have to think that doing her own business plan when she's much better prepared and passionate about it she'd be a lot better, not we have any evidence of this. Still has to be considered favourite though.

Alana

"You don't have to be faster than the bear, just faster than the other guy running away from it" has been the motto of Alana's run, she's been consistently poor-average but every week provided the odd moment where she looked good, everytime she's been in real danger (been a few) she's been alongside someone in far greater trouble and showed a little coy in steering herself out of danger. However her composure in the boardroom has been lacking completely and there have been several emotional breakdowns, tough to say if this helped her cause at all, probably not, but I think it's very safe to assume it won't help her cause AT ALL in the interviews and unless all the crying was an act she's just going to fall to pieces in the interview process. Her track record of setting up and starting her own business from scratch is again something Sugar will relate too and if she has some success to fall back on then she might hold it together if her business plan is sensible, I actually think if she gets to heads up no-one would be a big favourite over her. Unfortunately though she just doesn't have any depth or backbone and I think this is the stage she gets really found out.

Frances

She's the toughest one to call in the interviews I think, on surface she's got a lot going for her. She's shown she can sell ok, organise a group of blokes that include Soffiane (no mean feat) and been pretty strong under pressure. However, the one time she was in real danger in the boardroom she broke down in tears alongside Jessica, and she's going to face serious heat in the interviews over her record (losing 8/10 tasks) and I think they are going to hammer her on the "WAG having fun" image thing which will make her blood boil, and she hasn't done well vs personal attacks so far. She's come across very snaky, 2faced, underhand in a lot of spots so far and I imagine that's going to come up and she'll struggle to defend herself against that (this is what caused Sugar to gg Samuel when he looked much stronger than others), along with a few juvenile moments. Her business is childrens clothing - product business, Sugar loves a product business, I don't kow how successful she's been and I get the impression she has less experience than most of the other 5 but if she can pull a solid business plan out in a similar product based field, and back it up with some results then I think she probably has enough composure to make it past the interviews. Fancy her to do well in a final as well, but lots that could go wrong for Frances though, if Alana for example produces the goods it'll probably be at her expense.

Jessica

Comes across as ditsy, scatterbrained and all over the place but has shown some real class in moments. When put under real pressure though she has cracked every time - week 2 or 3 she started crying as PM when she forgot the jeans for the advert, she broke down twice in the boardroom and has had numerous other minor breakdowns during tasks, given that she's for sure got the least actual business experience of the remaining candidates I just can't see her getting through the interviews, and this is before we consider what her business plan will look like, not impossible it's something sensible and well thought out, but also not impossible it's just utterly ridiculous. I don't think Sugar really see's her as a serious option as a business partner either although I think he admires her gutsy spirit, think she's probably favourite to be 5th unless she can produce a great business plan and some currently unproven calmness under the toughest pressure. She's done great and I think genuinely deserves her spot here, clearly she's a good businesswomen but it's over now I feel.


My Predictions:

5th = Jessica.
4th = Alana.
3rd = Courtney.

2nd = Frances.
1st = Grianne.

I can't see Jessica getting better than 5th, whereas I think Alana is likely to reasonable business plan we have to follow the evidence and that is that she just doesn't have the minerals for a boardroom showdown, and Grianne and Frances are in a different league to her in this arena, Courtney is as dull as dishwater and whereas he might hold his own ok in the interviews he won't be able to overcome this and I think as long as G and F have their business plans in order they will come through. Perhaps because I have Grianne in my bet I'm putting her #1, but in reality it's going to be VERY close, I expect Grianne to have a better business plan so going on that.

One thing for sure though none of these 5 are in the top 50 candidates of all time!

Regards

LD

[Rupert]

5th Grainne
4th Courtney
3rd Frances

2nd Jessica
1st Alana

Regards

RE

[cambridgealex]

Jesus Dave - you pour your heart and soul into the apprentice don't you!

Can't understand this love for Alana itt, she's beyond horrif. Offers nothing and has literally broken down in the boardroom whenever under mild attack. 

Grainne best candidate left in imo pains me to say, even though she's on Dave's team. Courtney has ran so pure to still be in it's untrue. Frances really come into her own and has ran joke bad to be on the losing team so many times. Think she'll come 2nd if her business plan is sensible, which it may not be!

[SuuPRlim]

5th Grainne
4th Courtney
3rd Frances

2nd Jessica
1st Alana

Regards

RE

Omg exact opposite opinions!  This is how the purest of wagers are born!!

[ripple11]

Such a poor year.....pre interviews ,twist my arm and I go Alana too.

regards

Ri

[SuuPRlim]

What have I missed in Alana?

Regards
LD

[TightEnd]

What have I missed in Alana?

Regards
LD

in part its just because every candidate is poor and none stand out.

in part (against not much competition) i thought she did a decent job on giiiiiin.

i hadn't considered her a potential winner until last night, I do now.

then again, i quite rate Jessica, so what do i know....?

regards

TE

[Rupert]

Grainne - playing the game too much, see ya later. Would imagine her business plan is an app/tech related and it turns out to be a terrible idea.
Courtney - insufferable to work with and also an idiot. Would be surprised if he could put a coherent plan together. Giin? Really?
Frances - seems to always buddy up to the right people doing very little actual work, granted she did alright on the last task except for drawing attention to Britains chequered past and not knowing where India was.
Jessica - Outgoing, seems nice, happy to admit when she's wrong, just doesn't seem that smart.
Alana - Yes she breaks down fairly easily, but she's taken to more of an eye roll position now. Clearly the most intelligent out of them all and probably most likely to come up with a business plan that isn't utter bollocks.

LD: if you want Grainne, I'll take Alana and everyone else is a push? £50?

Regards

RE

[cambridgealex]

Grainne - playing the game too much, see ya later. Would imagine her business plan is an app/tech related and it turns out to be a terrible idea.
Courtney - insufferable to work with and also an idiot. Would be surprised if he could put a coherent plan together. Giin? Really?
Frances - seems to always buddy up to the right people doing very little actual work, granted she did alright on the last task except for drawing attention to Britains chequered past and not knowing where India was.
Jessica - Outgoing, seems nice, happy to admit when she's wrong, just doesn't seem that smart.
Alana - Yes she breaks down fairly easily, but she's taken to more of an eye roll position now. Clearly the most intelligent out of them all and probably most likely to come up with a business plan that isn't utter bollocks.

LD: if you want Grainne, I'll take Alana and everyone else is a push? £50?

Regards

RE

I'll take that bet if u want more action. I know Dave is snapping your hand off

[booder]

Jesus Dave - you pour your heart and soul into the apprentice don't you!

Terrific post , thank you.

[Rupert]

Grainne - playing the game too much, see ya later. Would imagine her business plan is an app/tech related and it turns out to be a terrible idea.
Courtney - insufferable to work with and also an idiot. Would be surprised if he could put a coherent plan together. Giin? Really?
Frances - seems to always buddy up to the right people doing very little actual work, granted she did alright on the last task except for drawing attention to Britains chequered past and not knowing where India was.
Jessica - Outgoing, seems nice, happy to admit when she's wrong, just doesn't seem that smart.
Alana - Yes she breaks down fairly easily, but she's taken to more of an eye roll position now. Clearly the most intelligent out of them all and probably most likely to come up with a business plan that isn't utter bollocks.

LD: if you want Grainne, I'll take Alana and everyone else is a push? £50?

Regards

RE

I'll take that bet if u want more action. I know Dave is snapping your hand off

If Dave doesn't want it you can have it

[SuuPRlim]

Well I can't very well wirte a 6 paragraph post stating Grianne #1 and Alana #4 then turn a bet down can I. Consider yourself booked

I guess we'll wait to see what the BP's hold! I'm hoping that Grianne is going to be something in line with her current work in make-up studio, if she comes to the table with some make-up then I'm flying to Ireland myself to punch her in the face (unless she wins ofc, in which case I'm flying to Edinburgh to collect my £50 )

[Rupert]

Well I can't very well wirte a 6 paragraph post stating Grianne #1 and Alana #4 then turn a bet down can I. Consider yourself booked

I guess we'll wait to see what the BP's hold! I'm hoping that Grianne is going to be something in line with her current work in make-up studio, if she comes to the table with some make-up then I'm flying to Ireland myself to punch her in the face (unless she wins ofc, in which case I'm flying to Edinburgh to collect my £50 )

Very good! Best of luck to you, hopefully next series isn't as dreadful as this one has been.

RE

[4KSuited]

The quality of banter on this thread beats anything we've seen so far from the candidates. Some excellent posts & evaluations, I'd only be duplicating if I were to attempt the same. Other than this...

Yes, Alana was pretty flakey and weak early doors, but I feel that she has grown in confidence through the weeks. As a result, she's been the one who's shown some composure under pressure more recently, and also some real intelligence and like-ability in the way that she's handled herself like in the video game task, both with her teammates and with the clients.

So much will rest on the viability of the BP's, however, so it could be anyone's game other than Courtney's, IMO

Regards
4KS

[SuuPRlim]

Maaaaaaan please can't it just be thursday already

Sadly
LD