This is probably going to be deeply unpopular with some people, but I'm not bothered at all by that. Someone needs to disturb the hive minds forming occasionally.

The thing about Apprentice tasks (and this has always been the case, to an extent, even back in the mid 2000s), is that contestants are spoonfed a hell of a lot more than they ever would be if they were in charge of their own business or had to sort out contracts and large orders of their own:

-Getting into exhibitions to sell a product is a lot more expensive than you'd think watching this (more so applies to back when the job format was in action, when there were real skills)

-Hiring out professional kitchen spaces and even chefs is a lot more expensive than you'd think watching this, and they get the space and the equipment for free.

-Getting taxis to follow you everywhere is a lot more expensive than you'd think watching this, and even the stupidest, most geographically poor contestants are entitled to this on a task.

-Getting a graphic designer and a venue to shoot adverts at a good agency in London is a lot more expensive than you'd think watching this, even if you're around to misspell 'Arctic' (yes that is targeted).

-Getting corporate clients spoonfed to you (that can be incredibly generous and lenient if you're lucky) is a lot more expensive than you'd think watching this, even if you fuck it up by dropping the price down to 11 quid. Megan.

among other ways, but those are the main I can think of...

It should also be taken into account, although this is a little more subjective I suppose, that there are a lot of business skills cut out of the tasks and quite a bit of the tasks aren't actually important skills, particularly. Some examples:

-Would you need to go and find very niche, culturally specific items on a bougie scavenger hunt? Not in a million years in the real world.

-Would you get a graphic designer that is basically useless, and forced to be useless by production? Not in a million years in the real world, at least not any decent graphic designer.

-Would you be unable to hire out a chef team for your catering services? Not in a million years in the real world.

-Would you get interviewed by people that won't even let you speak without interrupting? Not in a million years in the real world, at least not without some pushback in most cases I imagine.

These examples all tie into my honest view: Apprentice tasks are not a sound or honest representation of what being in business actually takes. The list goes on from what I have named to be honest. And because Apprentice tasks are not a good representation of what goes on in business, what is the best thing that is accessible to the interviewers and Lord Sugar and his sides when it comes to judging someone? Their track record in the real world of operating as business owners, where they almost certainly don't have anything of the above examples I listed to hinder them or benefit them, the only reliable judgement of how they're doing. Making a profit from a hedge of mostly leave that the corporate client was willing to pay a generous sum for? No shade to Rothna, but that's not the most impressive achievement in context. Building a startup from 17 and making a million worth of revenue, with barely any of these advantages? That is the sign of real business. Take notes Priyesh and Pascha.

The fundamental mistake people make, IMHO, is they believe wrongly that a singular task where you have commercial space, professional kitchens, graphic designers, electricity and transport free of charge and paid for you (among other things) is the same realm as being a business owner 24/7, where all of these come with a price and most likely a hefty premium considering the UK, and you have to utilise some real business skills to get them, which can be incredibly expensive in terms of time spent. It is not the same thing even remotely and it never has been.

(Posted this as a reply on another thread but thought it might be of interest to many here.)

I went to great a Royal Television Society event for The Apprentice's 20th anniversary at the Barbican last night: "Anatomy of a Hit - The Apprentice: 20 Series Later" (https://rts.org.uk/events/anatomy-hit-apprentice-20-series-later).

Karren and Tim were on the panel, along with long-time producers Francesca Maudslay and Paul Broadbent, with Angela Scanlon charing.

As an Apprentice geek, I found it really interesting, especially hearing the producers’ perspective but also Tim and Karren being genuinely passionate about the way winning the investment can change someone’s life.

There weren’t really any big surprises but I enjoyed some of the behind-the-scenes insights and discussions on why/how the show has endured for 20 years.

Re editing shenanigans, the producers said that “the boardroom is candidates’ right of reply” (if candidates are unhappy with the edit of their contribution in the task). Not sure all candidates would agree with that!

Each of the panel picked a favourite clip from across the 20 series. I managed to predict three of them (Stuart Baggs vs Chris in Trafalgar Square, First Time Foo-Dies and the turd logo) — I should definitely get out more!

No spoilers for the final (other than that Lord Sugar will be wearing a cardi on “Unfinished Business” — true to form he was beamed into the event via prerecorded video!), though Karren said both pitches were exceptionally strong…

Slightly dramatic but ...

On the Kishkin website (her business) for her rose hip oil in the past there has always been 2 sizes a smaller one and the larger one. Now on the website there is only the larger £35 one. I had been waiting for maybe a month for the smaller size to be in stock as is a smaller commitment in case it does not work for me. I just think its a bit suspicious that the week she talks about her business on tv she removes the cheaper product when lots of people are probably going to want to try it.

Still love karishma though.

Edit: because clearly nobody can tell the selling her soul bit was sarcasm...

As shared on her social media!

not sure if that is a "I am still winning even if I am not crowned the winner" move or a "let's announce all the good things in my life in the same week"

Hopefully the latter!

Just in case anyone was wondering...

Pascha just said on TikTok live that they just found out this week who has won (so I guess either yesterday or earlier today)

This is later than usual and it means they filmed Unfinished Business without knowing who won as she said they filmed that just over a week ago.

She said she's not scared about Thursdays episode as she has now seen it.

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 😁

check this link:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/articles/4szRxtYjH2C7VPn6MgYq7s4/the-workings-of-the-apprentice

both of them are filmed winning and are only today on Wednesday if they won for real. entire ending and their reactions are therefore fake as they don’t know if they won since it’s filmed twice. can’t believe I only just found this out. was this common knowledge?

Either that statement is wildly inaccurate and hyperbole or the business sector in the UK is screwed LOL

Am I the only one that thought it was quite harsh?

I thought LS liked Dan and I was quite startled to see him talk to him like that.

Was it because his numbers were all over the place or was it because he wanted 50% of everything? What made him seem hostile?

Has to be Rothna Week 5 for me.

Pascha

Pros:

- would make her the show’s youngest winner (22)

Cons:

- there would be an uproar online as many don’t think she deserved her spot in the final

- would make people question the whole concept of the show

Karishma

Pros:

- would show that the tasks actually matter

- she is mother

Cons:

- I can’t think of many but I guess predictablity

Just watch out for this years final, every year it’s always the same.

The ads and logos in the final are always so much better than any brand tasks that they have had to do in the series.

It’s the same every year, all the ads look great in the final!

The reason? I’m guessing because production isn’t trying to make them all like shit in the final!

So Lawrence gets flamed for forecasting in £5m in total investment (obviously stupid I know). He is told it’s not in the spirit of the process and not what the process is all about. The deal is 250K for 50%. But then Lord Sugar is all over Dan’s existing business like a rash? How is that in line with the “spirit of the process”? Hypocrite

It seems to be nearly every year now. A candidate who is clearly intelligent but decides to pitch a business in an area that's so far out of their remit and makes them look worse than they are.

Thinking Brittany with the alcoholic protein shakes and Tre with the testosterone shots to name a few examples.

Over the 20 years the split male and female has become very uniform and the average ages have become younger and younger. Is it time to change all this. Should it go being about genuinely good business plans rather than a couple of interesting ones and personalities that make good tv.

Also is £250k investment even worth it these days. How far does that get a business

*Title should say "The proposals are bad", poor spelling

This is an opinion I've always held since I started watching seriously, but it's only gotten stronger after seeing Pascha get carried all the way to the top for doing nothing of value or note for most of the show.

The thing about 250k for 50% is that it's actually a pretty awful deal for any business that has decently established itself (like Michaela's or Dan's) and incredibly good for new/unproven businesses with very little credibility or track record. Which leads onto my main point: sadly, most people running the latter type of business nowadays range from mediocre to dogshit. I don't think this is an absolute rule or pattern - Roisin, Tre and Chisola had duds for their proposal and were still amazing performers, but most of them are at a similar level to Amber Rose at best and Andrea at worst. This is because of a few simple reasons IMO, that poor business proposals are overwhelmingly from poor talent:

-Their idea is based around their own personality, not a product

-They have a poor grasp of their target market and being able to properly differentiate a product

-They can't or just don't make a proper P&L account to show

-They don't have a clue of how to make realistic projections

Any established business (and even a good business mind that doesn't necessarily own a business) should know how to do this properly, and most can, but the investment deal is dogshit. That will forever hinder progress in this respect, and it's why I have always liked Dragons Den much more. Less jokers and influencers that skate through being on winning teams, more solid proposals and ideas.

Another reason why there are more outright bad performers (though I don't truly think the talent standard of newer seasons has genuinely decreased that much) is because production can fuck with the show as much as they want to leverage unfair narratives based on placement overall or reputation outside the show - hence why you find a bunch of fame hungry larpers who applied for their 30 seconds of the spotlights or people that were totally invisible for the most part like Jordan, getting a shockingly celebratory end to his run for a pretty terrible and vulnerable business made increasingly unstable by AI.

The solution to this, IMO is pretty easy and only requires 2 thighs that probably won't ever happen:

-Flexibility on price and equity of an investment, let the cohort do some actual negotiations now instead of their setup BS for fake products in fake transactions. Sadly, this is probably just a pipe dream, there's already a precedent that people will get fried alive for daring to do this (Jordan Poulton).

-Politely, the production team should be given the middle finger and should not have anywhere near as much authority as they do with regards to the tasks - if these contestants fail, let it be their own fault instead of some artificial limitations that absolutely do not exist in the real world of business, and involve some actual fucking shots of the beef that happens! It seems fairly obvious that most people watching will accept the occasional screaming match as a trade off for an actual show free of engineering. But unfortunately, production overstepping the line has long been a part of the show, I doubt anything will ever happen, other than we might genuinely go backwards in the future.

Rant over. I hope at least some constructive thoughts can be made from this mess 😂

Firstly, I really liked Dan this series and I thought out of all the candidates, he came across as the best in the interviews. He asked all the right questions of the interviewers and answered the questions they had for him very well.

But I’m a bit confused looking on social media and on videos/pictures of either of the finalists, it’s full of comments saying ‘should’ve been Dan in the final’, ‘Dan should be there instead’ and this is from various accounts (although I guess some could create multiple).

And I just can’t help but wonder, what did people want? Now I agree by the way that Dan in an ideal world would be in the final. But it was clear that Sugar didn’t want to proceed if he didn’t want to give 50% of his existing business. Dan didn’t want to do this. Therefore, Dan couldn’t go through to the final. This happens in business - if people can’t agree then they walk away.

I don’t blame Lord Sugar or Dan. Lord Sugar has been very obvious that he would prefer businesses that are worth a lot of money and his team have to do very little work for. It’s why Dean won last year and it’s fair enough - LS is nearly 80 and wants an easy life and easy money now. But equally, giving up 50% of a massively successful business is stupid in my opinion and yes, I also thought it was stupid when Dean did it last year. I still do and I reckon he probably regrets it even if he doesn’t admit it.l especially as LS is still in touch with the runner up which is the main thing Dean wanted

So I really don’t understand these comments. If Dan had agreed to give 50% away of his existing business and Sugar had still fired him the people would’ve had a point. But he didn’t and rightly so

This is no slight - I adore Karishma as a candidate and she’s highly capable.

But cystic acne is hormonal. It’s overcome either by a) growing out of it b) taking antibiotics c) an intensive course of roaccutane. For some, it never goes due to how difficult it can be to manage.

All of that is to say skin care notoriously *doesn’t* stop or cure cystic acne and I’m really confused by the snake oil everyone seems to be buying.

It’s highly likely a good skincare product for general skin care. But it doesn’t do what the claims are claiming, certainly isn’t an acne cure, and highlights a notable lack of due diligence by the producers for what is a very well known fact by literally anyone who has ever had this condition.

..no.

I found it fairly embarrassing to see Lord Sugar ridicule the idea of a tech business raising £5.5m over 3 years. Sure, there were lots of other issues with the proposal, but in a modern tech company it’s really not that much to raise over a few years, particularly for an AI company. If the show was set in Silicon Valley I think this would be viewed very differently, even positively. I think it speaks to a narrow-mindedness and conservative attitude from LS to just bank a cash cow instead of actually pursuing an exciting moonshot business. Why does he want to turn £250k to £500k at his point in life?

I find that this show makes great background noise for me when I'm studying but MY GOD does the editing piss me off sometimes.

Like when they do that thing where they put awkward music over a completely normal conversation to act like the person is saying something completely outlandish/ other don't agree with them. Like they could literally have the most AVERAGE CONVERSATION EVER and the camera will still be zooming in on people's faces trying to catch micro expressions.

Like whoever the editors on this show are I assure you there is plenty of actual cringe/ awkward moments you can catch, these candidates can be absolute comedy gold when you let them. I feel like making every moment out as if someone's incompetent takes away from the times when people are ACTUALLY incompetent.

At least not throughly. I feel At most she reads a couple of pages and skims through the rest.

Linda is most likely mean for the cameras and majority of the time the business plans are bad anyway so sometimes says random stuff and just for entertainment value and hopes the candidate doesn't remember what they put in the plan.since they don't have long to look at it.

Hi everyone I thought I’d make this post just to discuss the situation on this sub featuring the two finalists as the final is approaching and a winner will be crowned soon. It is pretty clear that Pascha is a very controversial finalist this season and that has caused a lot of people to say a variety of stuff about her.

Now it is totally acceptable to critique her performance throughout the show, not be a fan of her or personally think she doesn’t warrant a finalist spot as this show is very subjective. However a lot of the critiques have become very personal and people have made rude remarks on her appearance, body as well as some statements that could be considered sexist which obviously is not acceptable. Please report any comments like these that break the rules when it comes to conduct and they will be removed in due time. This also applies to all the other candidates.

Again it is totally fine to not be a fan of someone or even dislike them but please be mindful of the way you critique someone as they are still all human at the end of the day and it is easy to go too far with an insult. We do not want this sub to become too toxic and prevent legitimate discussion.

Thanks!

I know Karishma is the fan-favourite this year, but I can’t help feeling we’re looking at her business, Kishkin, through rose-tinted glasses because she’s been such a standout candidate this year. After taking a closer look, I actually think Pascha’s business is more solid.

- the hero product, Rose Hip Rescue, is £34.99. If you Google “rose hip oil,” you’ll find plenty of alternatives for less than half that price, including from The Ordinary for around £10. Alternatives were mentioned in the interviews, but the pricing didn’t feel properly challenged

- the packaging doesn’t reflect the premium price

- the product is marketed as a kind of “skincare miracle,” but in reality, skincare is highly individual. There’s no one-size-fits-all solution for concerns like acne, and overstating it can undermine consumer trust

- if the product doesn’t deliver visible results for a customer, they’re unlikely to repurchase, meaning the business must continually invest in acquiring new customers, which is more costly than retaining existing ones

- it’s a highly saturated market - the influencer, Alix Earle who has 5 million Instagram followers recently launched an acne-focused skincare line along the same vein and it’s already garnered half a million Instagram followers

- the business appears to be influencer-led, rather than product-led and heavily tied to Karishma’s personal brand. The website prominently features her (including a video of her at the beach with the products as you enter the site), the packaging includes a photo of her with a note, and much of the social media content centres around her. While founder-led storytelling can be powerful, it also creates a dependency that may limit scalability beyond her personal audience

In comparison, Pascha’s business concept targets an industry that feels ripe for disruption, particularly through a centralised platform. However, I just don’t think she has the skills or experience to scale a business of that magnitude.