The Apprentice

[Julia9054]

According to some sources they were Afterskokz

I know. That's why I wanted to know what made them different from their other models or why an established company already selling headphones successfully would need crowd funding.

 

[ufkacbln]

I know. That's why I wanted to know what made them different from their other models or why an established company already selling headphones successfully would need crowd funding.

I get a feeling that the benefit to the Company was the publicity for the product rather than any real contribution to the crowd funding from these two groups

The rest would be a pure quest that the programme's researchers had also chosen proven and successful campaign to give the team an edge

 

[ufkacbln]

They're not even sure how to spell gilet, one of the products they are selling

Could have spelt it Gillette...... but they didn't

Was that a close shave?

 

[ufkacbln]

[QUOTE 4542594, member: 259"]I quite like this series of the Apprentice, as it falls into the "it's so bad it's good category", and Jessica's the spitting image of my first girlfriend, apart from the fact that she hasn't got a stud in her nose. I'm not sure what Lord Sugar, as a keen cyclist, was thinking when he chose this load of bollocks as a task though.[/QUOTE]

Allegedly (according to the BBC)

Who thinks up the tasks?
The tasks are designed by Sir Alan and the production team, working closely together. They are carefully chosen to test the core business skills: sales, marketing, design, teamwork, negotiation etc.

 

[Pale Rider]

I went off The Apprentice when I realised how the winner is probably picked.

Lord Sugar - who can recognise a money making opportunity from a thousand paces - looks at the business ideas before any tasks are done.

It seems to me he chooses the winner, or at least identifies the two or three best ideas, at that point, so he then knows who to manoeuvre into the final.

This became apparent to me in the case of an absolute non-candidate who won a few years ago.

Lo and behold, his business idea was a new design of nail file which Sugar turned into a successful product.

 

[Lozz360]

It seems to me he chooses the winner, or at least identifies the two or three best ideas, at that point, so he then knows who to manoeuvre into the final.

Wouldn't you if it was your £250k you were investing? The TV shows are just for our entertainment.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Like many of the "original" ideas, it has become more about "entertainment" than the actual concept

This is no longer about finding that "ideal partner" but finding a series of characters that will increase the viewing figures and provide "content" that can be milked

.. and of course you can then go on to exploit even more with the programme that reviews the original programme, the programme that interviews the failed candidates, the programme that reviews the programme that reviewd the programme thatreviwwed the pprograme about th failed candidate etc....

"Strictly", "Big Brother" "Britain has go no Xfactor talent" "Great Britain can't bake celebrity edition" have all been degraded in this way

I suspect you may be harking back to a golden age that never existed.

Having never watched any of these things*, I'm not really in a position to comment but weren't they always just "entertainment". Was Big Brother ever some kind of interesting experiment in social anthropology, or has it always been lowest-common-denominator tripe?

* I'm not being snobbish or condescending. I do watch utter rubbish on telly. Just not that kind of utter rubbish. The variety of rubbish available these days is huge.

 

[Shut Up Legs]

Like many of the "original" ideas, it has become more about "entertainment" than the actual concept.

These so-called 'reality' TV shows were never about the concept, and always about the entertainment. They're just a lot more blatant about supporting the latter now than previously, that's all.

 

[ufkacbln]

There have also been changes in society that reflect what would have been a workable format a few years ago can be hijacked by social media and personal agendas

The "Greatest Briton" vote was (allegedly) affected by a sophisticated voting campaign by Brunel University

The "Greatest invention" vote was skewed by campaigns by cycle forums (including this one)

The farces listed would not have happened a few years ago and "Boaty McBoatface" is a classic example of something that a few years ago would have had a perfectly sensible outcome

 

[Lozz360]

[QUOTE 4548164, member: 45"]You think the Apprentice is about Lord Sugar donating a £250k investment?[/QUOTE]
It's about Lord Sugar investing £250k. Donations you don't expect to get back.

 

[ufkacbln]

It's about Lord Sugar investing £250k. Donations you don't expect to get back.

The income will cover the costs. Alan Sugar is in fact paid for the show and this is part of the production costs.

Normal practice is that the "prize" is included in those production costs. If this is the case then it would a neutral cost to Sugar, neither an investment or donation to the Apprentice process

Although it is all really academic as allegedly he donates the fees for the Apprentice to Great Ormond Street

 

[Dogtrousers]

The point that some missed and had posts removed for is that there is a big difference about the original idea, what reaches production, and the actual outcomes

I suspect you're being a tad generous to the originators of the ideas. I wouldn't be surprised if the outcomes were precisely what was envisioned. The only criteria of success being viewing figures and advertising revenues.

But hey ho, it's all terrible rubbish, enabling us to temporarily ignore weightier matters. My own preferred rubbish is American murder reconstructions.

 

[Lozz360]

[QUOTE 4549029, member: 45"]As has been said, The Apprentice doesn't cost Sugar anything.[/QUOTE]
I never said it did. Sugar would expect to make money out of an investment, not give it away. It matters not that the money comes from BBC's production costs, Sugar's back pocket or his personal post office account it is still an investment.

 

[andrew_s]

why an established company already selling headphones successfully would need crowd funding.

There have been quite a few instances of established companies funding development of a new product through kickstarter etc. I dare say it works out cheaper than a bank loan.

 

[suzeworld]

I love the Apprentice, but I doubt it has ever been anything other than entertainment, the ways in which the contenders interact and blunder about is still entertaining me, even though this lot seem to be a particularly weak lot - definitely a few bulbs short of a street lamp. Or an illuminted Gillette for that matter.

I would think it could inspire youngsters, thinking I could do better than that!