The Apprentice Series 3 - Episode 11
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"The swot in the yellow socks!"
This was the episode for where the candidates were put through three extremely gruelling interview process.
Opinion
I would have loved this part of the process, as I have never had a truly harsh interview and I think it would have taught me a lot. I think the candidates came across really well given that they had to prepare for an interview 11 weeks in advance, for a job that they know nothing about – although to be fair the interviewers looked deeply underwhelmed most of the time.
I was pretty astounded by some of the things that came up:
1) The interviewers were asking so many personal questions, particular about the women's children which is completely against the law, but I guess it was a risk worth taking to increase the interest level.
2) SAS was focussing on where people live which is entirely ridiculous, people at this level of business re-locate for their jobs all the time so I don't quite see why this is relevant.
3) The most shocking thing was when SAS felt he could tell someone of his own age to “close his eyes and imagine” - how embarrassing.
4) The last bit was so obviously staged. My guess is that Katie told SAS to stick his job and SAS insisted they re-shoot it. More below.
| Simon Ambrose: |
So “The swot in the yellow socks” clearly has a little crush on Sir Alan Sugar but you can't help but love watching him and it is abundantly clear that he really wants the jobs and is in this for the right reasons. My favourite bit was when he was boxed into a corner about being made redundant and the interviewer asked him to look at him while he was speaking. It is hard to work out what he has done since he was made redundant and I can't help but wonder if he truly is an entrepreneur because otherwise we surely would have seen more prowess in this dry period. I hope he is back on track and gives us a fun show in the final. Go Simon!
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| Kristina Grimes: |
Still my favourite to win! I think she shows such tenacity from bringing up a kid by herself to earning no money and putting herself through University. She is clearly great at sales, although her entrepreneurial side hasn't yet shown through but she is totally relentlessly and much more down to earth than a lot of the other candidates. It was interesting that one of the interviewers thought she had high integrity, I would question that given the lollipop incident but she works hard, delivers and is really serious about winning. Please, please let her win.
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| Katie Hopkins: |
Firstly, I can't believe she would “put her kids first” it just doesn't seem very Katie. Plus did anyone else spot the contradiction between her children being her first priority and yet her complete belief that it is OK to split up the traditional family unit by stealing people's husbands.
It was interesting that Katie knew absolutely nothing about SAS or Amstrad which backs up the theory that she is it in for the media exposure. In fact Katie admitted in the house that she had never even seen The Apprentice before. Still you have to admire her for this because coming third is best place to come if you are in it for media exposure as the contract is different for the top two.
I think it is interesting that the interviews said that she is perfectly capable but would upset a lot of people she works with, which has to be an understatement, and SAS decided she was his preferred choice anyway.
Sorry but....is anyone else beginning to feel sorry for her though because I can only assume that she is deeply insecure and her level of ruthlessness is a cover up for having had quite a hard life plus it was pretty obvious that she has lost a lot of weight on the You're Fired show (unless she has bought those delicious control pants). Opinion seemed quite divided about her on the show, I personally felt my self relax when she left and Lohit came on. |
| Lohit Kalburgi: |
I just feel a little disappointed that throughout we haven't seen much of Lohit, though to be honest he certainly has in no way jeopardised his career unlike others. I think it is a shame that he was described as boring, middle of the road etc just because he isn't controversial: actually he is really fun to work with really deserved to get to this position. Personally, I would happily work with Lohit in the future and definitely do not hold the same view of his abilities as the interviewers.
I was so happy when on “You're Fired” he said that it is better to be the “nice guy” than to be the “bitch” - never a truer word has been said! |
| Tre Azam: |
It is easy to complain that Tre should have done some research on Amstrad but ridiculously you aren't allowed Internet access or even books in The Apprentice house so anything you read you have to remember for 11 weeks (which actually means Simon's efforts were amazing). It was truly tre-mendous to watch Tre arguing with the interviewers and I think across the land we are all going to miss Tre on our screens. I can understand that he is a little aggressive towards people and I think the Bra woman was spot on when she said he could be an employee and had to work for himself. I would actually really like to work with Tre, I think what he lacks in vocabulary he makes up for in sheer common sense and business acumen.
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| <Read Episode 12> |