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The Apprentice: Week Four

Paula Jones from The Apprentice
  • Posted at 10:51am
  • 16 April 2009
  • by PaulJones-RT
  • 10 comments

I don't want to work myself into a lather but I'm going to come clean - in this week's soap opera, Ignite were a useless shower and would have been all washed up if it hadn't been for a slip from Empire. Phew! With all the soap puns out of the way we can concentrate on this week's task which, in case you hadn't twigged, saw the teams producing a range of bath and shower products.

Sir Alan picked Nooral and Paula as project managers. Interesting, since we'd seen little from either so far. I must say, I've had my doubts about Nooral since it was first revealed that, along with the business managers, marketing consultants and entrepreneurs, one of the candidates was a science teacher.

Now don't get me wrong; filling young minds with the wonders of life, the universe and everything is a worthy occupation. But does a knack with a Bunsen burner necessarily equal a nimble business brain?

One of Nooral's original sound bites was "I can manage a team of people - total strangers even - because I am feisty and have an attitude". By any chance were these "total strangers" known collectively as 4B? And did "managing" them entail getting the whole class to turn to the chapter on photosynthesis at the same time? Because as a team leader, Nooral was about as feisty as, well, a science teacher.

While Paula took immediate charge of Empire - coming up with solid product ideas, delegating tasks and designing appropriate packaging - Nooral struggled to form words. The only time he didn't look utterly uncomfortable was when he got to wear a lab coat and play with test tubes. And even then his chemistry skills resulted in a bar of soap that oozed sticky honey. You might just as well take a jar of Gale's into the shower.

But the balance sheet doesn't lie. Paula's team got confused over a key ingredient. It was understandable - cedar wood and sandalwood do sound similar. Unfortunately, £26 per kilo and £1,200 per kilo do not…

It's a shame Paula Jones is gone so soon. Not only am I sad to lose my female namesake, I also liked her calm, decisive leadership style, and if she was a bit ditzy at times, she knew where her weaknesses were and delegated appropriately. The only problem is that delegation doesn't work if the person you're delegating to decides to completely absolve himself of responsibility…

Yes, it was more of the same from blustering Ben this week: he finds an excuse to get his body out, helps his team lose the task, then shouts at the camera like a pumped up WWF wrestler about how he's going to rip his opponent's heart out in the boardroom. Ben had better watch out, though, because scientist Nooral is still in the game - and you wouldn't like him when he's angry!

**

What did you think of this week's episode? Was the right candidate fired? Post a comment below and let us know.

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Comments

  • Posted on 22 April 2009
  • at 7:37pm
  • by Chris Reynolds

The narrator mentions that the mistake came when Yasmina and Paula confused 3% on the recipe with 3g, thus showing a basic inability to do primary school level maths. The issue was confused because Nick was under the impression that they had just confused the terms cedarwood and sandalwood (which they did initially, but then got that sorted out). Paula was definitely the right person to go - she says she's no good with numbers, but some basic level ability is necessary in business and I think Sugar prefers to sack people for incompetence rather than the attitude that they display in the boardroom - after all he doesn't have to be around Ben all day - and of course Ben makes for great television.

  • Posted on 22 April 2009
  • at 9:28am
  • by RajD

Joe's right about the unanswered mistake questions - but of course the fault is with the programme's editing technique. There's too much evidence of a frantic search for jeopardy at the expense of coherence and plot - and as for character, well what do you expect beyond cardboard cutouts like Ben the Baddy and Nooral the Nerd? Reality TV doesn't do nuance, it doesn't do explanation, it just does 'Will *** manage to do *** by lunchtime?'. And the answer is always no. But we keep subscribing to it like the suckers we are for cheap and unsatisfying jeopardy non-cliffhangers. TV producers think were're mugs and we do little to convince them otherwise. Fire the production team, I say.

  • Posted on 19 April 2009
  • at 1:39pm
  • by Lalaine Veroga Paras

If this show were truly reflective of Real Life.... wouldn't the Boss simply say to Mr Alan Sugar "You're Fired". No-one in their right mind would employ such a contemptuous little turd.

  • Posted on 16 April 2009
  • at 9:21pm
  • by ben

Surely being totally obnoxious and thuggish disqualifies you from being an effective colleague? Ben is embarrassing to watch, and should go.

  • Posted on 16 April 2009
  • at 8:06pm
  • by Steph

S'ralan should have broken the rules and fired Nooral on the spot to spare viewers another excruciating episode just willing him to say something...anything! Or maybe I'm missing the point of the show. I can't wait to see how Nooral deals with Adrian Chiles and the You've Been Fired panel.

P.S. Paul Jones - I love your reviews - keep on critiquing!

  • Posted on 16 April 2009
  • at 5:50pm
  • by rob heap

shame for Paula, she should have shafted the others as they shafted her. Ben will be found out soon enough surely, his tactic of just bullying everyone when he gets in the boardroom must sooner or later be exposed as incompetency by Sir Alan.

  • Posted on 16 April 2009
  • at 5:50pm
  • by Joe

Last night's episode was definitely a nail-biter. Apart from the major costing error, Paula's team was as perfect as could be. Selling was strong, marketing was good, the product was great and managing to offload the remaining stock to a local retailer was a stroke of genius. Unfortunately, the cost of sandalwood was still too much. The show never really made it clear where the mistake actually was. Was it that they confused sandalwood with cedarwood? But then during the making the design of the packaging, Debra picked up on the price but Paula countered with the statement that they were only going to be using a small smount. Then was it the measuring out of the oil and calculating the resulting cost which was fudged? But Yasmina and Paula worked on that together so surely Yasmina was very much at fault too. However, Paul Jones also has it right when he mentions that Ben completely absolved himself of the responsibility for costing. I think Paula missed a few opportunities to point out some fatal errors made by her companions in the boardroom and was sacked prematurely; her leadership and creativity both shone out during the episode and I would have liked to see more of her.

Oh, and I think Nick should win a television award for having the best timing in the world. His ability to drop bombshells in a meeting cannot be understated.

  • Posted on 16 April 2009
  • at 4:26pm
  • by Edward N Igma

Sorry, Mr Alan Sugar.... you are definitely FIRED. Honestly, what type of Crystal Ball do you base your decisions on...... or do you simply pick the name out of a hat? Better still, apply for the role of a Contestant within the next series of The Apprentice, and once you are there, you will understand how miniscule you are in relation to your Peers. BUT.... YOU ARE MOST DEFINITELY FIRED SUGAR.

  • Posted on 16 April 2009
  • at 3:33pm
  • by Trish

Paula showed great creativity and excellent leadership skills. It was unfortunate she did not delegate more clearly to Ben and put him solely in charge of costs; he might then have not been able to relinquish himself of all responsibility! I would have liked to see more of Paula. Although, I do feel that she's possibly a bit too nice for the show!

  • Posted on 16 April 2009
  • at 11:22am
  • by vicster

Ben has obviously got something that us mere mortals cannot spot...Perhaps Sir Alan got some soap in his eyes which momentarily clouded his vision.

I think that Paula's goos was cooked when she agreed with Sir Alan that HR are good for calculating redundnancy on a calculator and little else...

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