Apprentice candidates can’t discuss tasks if cameras aren’t rolling so sit in silence
“You can’t speak because it would be cheating,” explains this week’s fired candidate, who says the amount of time spent sitting without speaking was surprising
**Episode spoilers follow**
The Apprentice candidates might insist they’ve got the gift of the gab when it comes to business, but they actually spend a fair amount of time on task sitting in silence.
“Both teams have got to be able to spend the same amount of time talking about the task and doing the task,” this week’s fired candidate Natalie Dean told RadioTimes.com. “It’s all got to be on camera. So every time you weren't being filmed you literally sat there in silence during the task.”
“Obviously you can’t be selling or pitching all of the time, there’s a lot of time in between where you’re sat there waiting,” Natalie continued. “You can’t speak because it would be cheating. It’s got to be fair on the other team.”
It’s a tall order Natalie admitted.
More like this
“It’s very difficult when you’re in the middle of the task not to talk about the task, so you just resort to silence because it’s easier.”
Of why they don’t just discuss other things - the weather, their daily lives, who has got the most money, biggest watch, most expensive suit… – Natalie said it’s just simpler not to.
“You start off doing that and then it always ends up converting to talking about the task, because that’s what everyone’s thinking about.”
Comparing her experience as a viewer to that of being a candidate Natalie admitted: “The amount of time spent sitting in silence is probably the thing that surprised me the most.”
The Apprentice continues Wednesday at 9:00pm on BBC1
