The latest Apprentice was its usual action-packed self. I found it particularly enjoyable as the barrow-boy buy/sell exercise seems more in the spirit of British enterprise than some of the slightly more artificial exercises of introducing un-researched, poorly differentiated products into a crowded market. Truly, it was the Only Fools and Horses edition episode.
I was hoping for Melody’s departure. Of the remaining brands of ignorance and idiocy, hers is the most aggravating. Loud-mouthed, tedious, and almost exclusively from a place of polished, artificial superiority, her overall tone and bearing invited contempt. I’m surprised it took this long; but I guess her unfailing sales patter did protect her from the wrath of Sugar.
To me, arrogance and insecurity are flip sides of the same coin. The less confident you are, the more you crow, and the harder you push for the centre stage. And this, I think, was at the core of Melody’s failure.
Having seen the personalities in action for a few weeks, my estimation of Helen went down too – the only way to work with people like Melody is to play to their ego. She could have asked for the stock replenishment role without usurping Melody’s authority and she might have therefore had a chance of adding another task to her winning streak.
Alan (or Al, as I like to think of him) commented on the fact that it is a "cruel process." As someone fresh to the Apprentice this is becoming increasingly evident. Unlike other reality TV programmes where there seems to be something of a bond between the participants, the adversarial nature of the Apprentice seems to have resulted in higher barriers. And, indeed, when on a weekly basis they are forced from camaraderie and teamwork into blame-calling and execution, it’s unsurprising. It’s not an exercise I’d have any desire to get involved with at all.
The remaining weeks will be interesting. Natasha and Susan are probably next for the chop, owing to the former’s unpleasant ignorance and the latter’s naivety (although I really felt for Susan this week when dealing with the frankly pathetic Natasha), leaving Tom to flounder against the polished Helen and the manipulative Jim.
