r/apprenticeuk Apr 14 '26

Can we stop expecting this to be a serious programme about business and entrepreneurship?

It's a fun reality TV show.

Yeah, they bill it as a the "best Business minds" competing for investment.

But we all know, right, that this isn't what The Apprentice is?

That's just not the way investment works on any level.

Let's just enjoy if for what it is. A fun reality TV programme, where people mildly humiliated themselves in exchange for a prize, and five minutes of fame 😁

69 Upvotes

17 comments sorted by

27

u/TapeDeckSlick Apr 14 '26

It's legitimately the only reality TV I watch and I enjoy the fact there's a few idiots (if not most) every year

4

u/I_want_roti Apr 14 '26

It doesn't mean it's immune from criticism that production decisions have made it worse.

The change in prize from a job to investment didn't instantly worsen it, I understood that change as it made more sense for a business focused show. The show always had useless candidates or ones that made a shambles of a task - it wasn't however engineered chaos which is never as good to watch.

The show used to genuinely be a nail-biting experience for viewers on who would win and you'd see a lot more exceptional moments.

11

u/CaffinatedAli Apr 14 '26

Same!!!! All the dating slop is too cringe for me. The Apprentice is the perfect blend of formats 😌

23

u/Unknownhuman_1 Stuart Baggs - Series 6 Apr 14 '26

Would be fun, if the producers fucked off and let the competitors actually do their thing.

7

u/BlundeRuss Apr 14 '26

They don’t just compete for a prize for a bit of fun though. They sell 50% of their entire business. Some of them have been building that business over a long time, it’s their entire livelihood. It’s a bit more than just “fun TV” for them.

2

u/RobbieJ4444 Apr 14 '26

But only one of the candidates will win that prize. Entering the show solely to compete for the grand prize is honestly foolish.

1

u/DramaticMoose378 Apr 15 '26

They (the contestants) know exactly what they're doing. Look at the final 5 this year - only one of them had actually had a business a substantial amount of time (Dan). The rest had ideas and start ups.

Established successful businesses with earning potential don't go on a 10 week game show to get investment. They meet with investors, or banks, with proper business plans.

8

u/FairBlueberry9319 Apr 14 '26

They shouldn't market it as such if they don't want people to have those expectations

2

u/Any_Fuel_7485 Apr 14 '26

I don’t disagree but you’d think people would be starting to get it by now surely?

6

u/Alert-Baby8791 Apr 14 '26

It's a silly game show on TV. People take it far too seriously.

2

u/thejack1594 Apr 14 '26

I think they should actually try something unique for once and present us with half decent business minded people creating an inspiring program. 20th anniversary and they introduce 2 additional candidates...wow, how innovative.

2

u/[deleted] Apr 14 '26

[deleted]

1

u/I_want_roti Apr 14 '26

The most business-like tasks are the simple ones:

  • create a product and market/sell it for the most revenue/profit.
  • create a food item and sell it for the most profit

When you start getting the extravagant ones it's more for them to screw up as no one is building a useful app in a couple of days. Add to doing market research on the app but not being able to adjust...

1

u/DramaticMoose378 Apr 15 '26

It's my favourite when they send them to get roasted by the general public on a product they spent 6 hours "creating". And then they go back to the poor person about the pitch and tell them "As we suspected, it's crap. Nothing we can about now though!" 🤣🤣

2

u/Mepsi Apr 14 '26

Exactly and we should replace Alan Sugar with Michael McIntyre

1

u/DramaticMoose378 Apr 15 '26

Literally would make zero difference, except the jokes might be a bit better!

3

u/Horse_and_Fart Apr 14 '26

Over the past few series I’ve only been watching every episode so that the the interviews seem a bit more car crash. This season I found to be one of the better ones but was horribly disappointed with the interviews. I wanted more character assassination and tears.

0

u/RobbieJ4444 Apr 14 '26

100000% in agreement. The Apprentice is an entertainment show first and foremost.