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Apprentice Kate to front new Five show
- Posted at 3:24pm
- 17 August 2009
- by PaulJones-RT
You may have noticed that this year's Apprentice runner-up Kate Walsh hasn't been entirely absent from our screens since the show ended in June. It seems that rather than sharpening her appetite for business, The Apprentice gave Kate a taste for being on telly.
Having successfully fronted a fashion spot on GMTV earlier this year, Kate is now set to share presenting duties on a new daily show on Five.
Starting next month, she'll join Melinda Messenger and Ian Wright as co-host of Live from Studio Five, a mix...
The Apprentice: The Final
- Posted at 11:20am
- 08 June 2009
- by PaulJones-RT
It must have been a bit weird for Kate and Yasmina on that final night, just the two of them in the penthouse that used to sleep 15. And when Kate answered the phone to Sir Alan's PA the next morning, I did wonder if she might just decide not to wake her opponent up.
But, no, we got our final competition - each of the girls was asked to launch a new brand of chocolates - and with some of the fired candidates returning to help out, there was plenty of entertainment to be had. 
The Apprentice: Week Eleven
- Posted at 11:31am
- 04 June 2009
- by PaulJones-RT
"This is the job interview from hell!" No, really. This is the week when Sir Alan sends in his four hired hitmen (or rather three hitmen and one obligatory hitwoman) to take out three more of the candidates.
But these aren't the kind of assassins who favour a single, clean head-shot from a high-powered rifle mounted on the roof of a nearby building. Sir Alan's cronies like to get up close and personal, and toy with their victims before they dispatch them.
So we had trouble-shooter Claude Litner tell James, "I've had a look...
Adrian Chiles on who'll win The Apprentice
- Posted at 1:02pm
- 01 June 2009
- by VincentGraff-RT
Ahead of the penultimate episode, the You're Fired presenter assesses the chances of the last five Apprentice candidates.
"I've got a lot of admiration for anyone with the balls to go on The Apprentice. There may not be any outright nutcases this series who'll live on in the imagination, but that's not necessarily a bad thing - it means the quality of candidates is probably better than ever."
Lorraine Tighe
"She's difficult to love, though the other candidates are always surprisingly nice about her when they talk about her on You're Fired. She's...
The Apprentice: Week Ten
- Posted at 11:02am
- 28 May 2009
- by PaulJones-RT
Offer me a device that lets me eat a big load of chips without getting fat and I'll bite your hand off (especially if you happen to be holding a chip at the time). So when Lorraine and Howard appeared on a TV shopping channel to sell just such an item I was sure they'd picked a winner.
So was Sir Alan - it was the pitch he was less convinced by. Lorraine and Howard got so carried away talking about, and eating, chips (I can empathise) that they forgot to hammer home the price of...
The Apprentice: Week Nine
- Posted at 12:11pm
- 21 May 2009
- by PaulJones-RT
We found out this week that James has experienced childbirth (though not first-hand, of course) and knows all about the mechanics of popping one out. Not only did he give a demonstration in a home birthing pool, complete with moans and grunts (his wife will be thanking him for his sensitive depiction of her on national television), he also went into extensive anatomical detail.
Personally, I could have done without all the talk of pelvic bones opening up and babies "jumping out" (and by the look on his face, so could Nick), but I can see that...
The Apprentice: Week Eight
- Posted at 11:27am
- 14 May 2009
- by PaulJones-RT
"Daaaaaaaan to Margate," sang Chas and Dave, "we'll have a pill of jellied eels at the cockle stall." Rousing indeed. But that antiquated view of the seaside town was exactly what the officials of Margate were hoping to dispel when they turned to Sir Alan Sugar for help in "re-branding" the holiday destination.
So, what would Sir Alan's top people come up with? James convinced Empire to pursue the pink pound. As he put it, "I'm inclined towards the gay option." It seemed like a reasonable strategy. After all, Brighton's done well out of it. And,...
The Apprentice: Week Seven
- Posted at 11:47am
- 07 May 2009
- by PaulJones-RT
The downturn in the property market has seen an accompanying decline in the number of green and yellow minis screeching around our roads - and if you're as happy about that as I am, you'll also join me in celebrating estate agent Philip's eviction from his well-appointed west London penthouse.
Yes, the Durham bull has gone - but it wasn't the empty order book, it was beauty killed the beast… Actually, when Lorraine first suggested that it was "Kate's beauty" distracting Philip and Ben from their sales task, I wasn't convinced. Yes, Kate is a decent-looking...
The Apprentice: Week Six
- Posted at 11:41am
- 30 April 2009
- by PaulJones-RT
Q: What do you call someone who patronises you, lies to your face, then pretends to be your mate?
A: An estate agent.
Yes, Philip really lived up to the high standards set by his profession this week as he lead Ignite in a task to value and sell a collection of items ranging from a plastic skeleton to a valuable Indian rug.
First, he refused to entertain Lorraine's idea that, y'know, maybe they should actually check that the rug wasn't worth anything before dismissing it. Then, when it turned out she...
The Apprentice: Week Five
- Posted at 11:50am
- 23 April 2009
- by PaulJones-RT
Woah. The last thing you need when you've just been dragged out of bed at 6am is a giant Sir Alan staring down at you, every crease and grizzled hair visible in pin-sharp detail on the London Imax screen. It's enough to make you lose your breakfast. Hmmm… Frosted Chuck-Ups, anyone? Well, it's about as good an idea for a breakfast cereal as Phillip's underpants-based brand…
Until recently, I'd thought Phillip was all right. Yes, he often came across as bolshie and negative, but I put that down to a determination not to suffer bad...
Apprentice candidates need some perspective
- Posted at 11:42am
- 22 April 2009
- by AlisonGraham-RT
Suralan, (sob, sob, sob), I've been on an incredible journey and I don't want it to end. I'm doing this for my sick mother/dead wife/arthritic hamster/whatever." Oops, sorry, that's not The Apprentice, that's The X Factor.
"Suralan, I'm passionate about food and winning means everything to me. I simply can't leave now, this is my life." Oops, sorry again, that's MasterChef.
"Suralan. I've given 110 per cent, I'm brilliant at business and if you fire me you'll regret it because none of the other competitors is as good as me." Ah, that's better, THAT'S...
The Apprentice: Week Four
- Posted at 10:51am
- 16 April 2009
- by PaulJones-RT
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,...
The Apprentice: Week Three
- Posted at 1:39pm
- 09 April 2009
- by PaulJones-RT
Design and build a piece of home fitness gear? Absolutely. Prepare a pitch? No problem. You'll give us a day to do it? Um…
Sir Alan sneered at Empire's boxy product and, yes, it did look a bit like "an old TV with some wires hanging out the back". But what did he expect when he'd given them 24 hours to come up with something that would normally require months of research and product testing?
All the more incredible, then, that Ignite's "Body Rocka" looked so good. With its smooth, gleaming white curves, it...
The Apprentice: Week Two
- Posted at 11:11am
- 02 April 2009
- by PaulJones-RT
Girls against boys. Yasmina versus Rocky. A big-shot restaurateur toe-to-toe with a humble sandwich shop owner. Was Rocky's story destined to be that of the underdog taking a shot at glory and, against all the odds, winning through?
No. He got fired. It's The Apprentice, stupid. It's ruthless, not romantic.
The task: cater for some meetings and posh drinks bashes for "City high-fliers". Of course, you can't simply serve food in The Apprentice; there has to be a theme. While the girls' team made a half-hearted attempt at Mediterranean - tomato and basil on everything...
The Apprentice: Week One
- Posted at 1:27pm
- 26 March 2009
- by PaulJones-RT
Ominous classical music? Check. Grim-faced candidates striding purposefully across bridges? Check. Said candidates making absurd claims about business prowess and ruthlessness? Oh, yes. Sir Alan bellowing that his TV show is the hardest thing anyone in the world has ever done, ever? YES! New series of The Apprentice? Bring it on!
But what's this? Has Sir Alan been scribbling down notes behind those frosted glass doors? Because he's got himself some witty new lines: "I'm as hard to play as a Stradivarius," and "I'm looking for a diamond. Well, a diamond started out as a lump of...
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