Don’t forget to buy a ‘Luv’ Bear!

by Nicky on October 27th, 2009

Bingo! All my Christmas pressie dilemma’s are over. “Luv” Bears all round for my household. Innovative or not I will be buying one because not only are they cute but the 3 T’s charity is an amazing cause that I hold very close to my heart. Anyone reading this please consider a trip to your local Spar to buy “Luv” Bear, many families across Ireland will benefit from your €2.99 purchase and you can put a smile on a loved one’s face.

Back to business. Ok so neither product was hugely innovative and there was so much they could have done but it was a big task with a lot of aspects. The problem with a task like this is, there is barely enough time to get through the logistics. The motions of building a creative idea can get lost. Panic sets in to finish on time and I think this is where both teams fell down, they took the safe option but I know from experience that this task is harder than it looked to us watching at home. Bill was not a happy camper!! He was especially annoyed with Brendan and his team for the jelly beans. The important thing to do at the beginning of these tasks is take your time to go through concept, idea’s and pro’s or con’s to each, making sure to eliminate any stumbling blocks from the onset. They chose a brand which already existed; the first thing would have been to check brand guidelines before designing your product and then checking? At least with Shelton’s store there was so much range and teams allowed re – design as they wished. The cracker could have been really good had Brendan researched properly as Bill did, I feel he was really cautious of doing well in this task that he didn’t want to take the risk but this could have won it for them. Very surprised he brought Aoiffe into the boardroom; I wonder if this was a tactic? Thought she would back him up against Breffny compared to other team members and help save his place? Bill’s intuition gave the boy with 9 lives another shot and what is interesting is I think we all underestimate Breffny’s potential. I agree he does not always contribute a huge amount to a task but he can have the winning idea and in the boardroom makes total sense. “Delegating job’s correctly, knowing people’s strengths and pushing his intuition and gut instinct more” This being the number one piece of advice from Richard Branson, Donald Trump and our own Bill Cullen. Brendan obviously has talents as he is an experienced entrepreneur but I don’t think the apprentice was for him.

“Luv” Bear wasn’t overly innovative either but I thought Steve’s team did a good job of building the product concept and marketing proposal. They seemed to work well together as a team and Steve is acting like a true apprentice already by listening to Bill and changing his management tactics. For me a little too extreme, seemed to allow Sam do whatever she wanted with fear of being called a “bully” again. Note to both teams, PLEASE do NOT allow Sam to present again. I have to admit I felt truly uncomfortable on my couch watching her present, which seemed to be targeted at 4 year old children as opposed to professional clients. Stephen seemed like a background character in this task but I admire his ability to always speak up. Lucinda did very well again. She seems to have the ability to work with all the characters in the house.

One aspect that got lost for me and Spar on the product, Point of Sale material and in store theatrics was the focus on the charity and client which is so important when pitching for a campaign. The 3 T’s cause would be a major selling point for folk to choose one product over another in Spar but high insight is 20/20 as Brendan’s says.

For me Ruth has to go next, she would have been my choice this week to be honest. My gut says there is something contrived about her and she seems to constantly work directly with PM avoiding boardroom but not really contributing positively as she has led PM to think. Time will tell!

Nicky

The office romance turns nasty

by The Receptionist on October 27th, 2009

The office will always be good flirting ground. Men in suits, women in tight pencil skirts, couples are bound to happen. It’s when that couple no longer see eye to eye, that it becomes very awkward for the surrounding colleagues. As Brendan and Aoiffe disagreed in the boardroom last night, I had one of those awkward cringing moments. Brendan can be as quiet as he wants when Brendan O’Connor tries miserably to get him to dish the dirt, but the rumours are out there and there is no fuel without fire. Look, Aoiffe has just made a right idiot of herself in our unseen clip as she wails down the side of the bedroom locker. She will be ‘lonely’ without Brendan. Yes you looked it Aoiffe as you sided up to Stephen on the patio, a couple of minutes later.

Time to get ready is tight in the house but is Brendan sleeping in his clothes now? Who is up and dressed already to answer the phone at that hour of the morning. Pity he didn’t have a shave before he went into the presentation – I know he probably realises he looks about twelve, but don’t resort to making yourself look dishevelled in an effort to look like a grown man.

And so handbags at dawn continue between Geraldine and Aoiffe. I love how they really let rip in the unseen footage. During the task its all ‘Ger’ this and ‘Ger’ that as if they are best buds. If you ask me they are both as fake as each other.

I just loved Samantha’s face the minute she heard the word Christmas. Inside she was jumping with excitement. How can someone so small look so evil? I couldn’t concentrate on her presentation as I actually thought she was possessed. I loved how subtle Lucinda was, in telling Sam that her creativity would be lost in the PM role. I wonder was she really thinking “oh you idiot, you will do our heads in with your singing on this one, there’s no way I am going to let you be PM”. Well done Lucinda.

The Receptionist

Episode 6 Catch up

by Meteor on October 27th, 2009

This week the candidates were asked to create a product that would be suitable to sell in SPAR shops over the Christmas period. The profits go to the charity Turning the Tide of Suicide. Bill made some further changes to the teams. Cú Chulainn consisted of Brendan, Aoiffe, Ruth, Breffny and Geraldine. Platinum consisted of Stephen, Steve, Lucinda and Sam.

The teams were given a list of companies that would help them invent a new product for this task. Team Cú Chulainn went for the Jelly Bean Factory where they created a tube of jelly beans – not very innovative. Team Platinum went for a teddy bear and candy stick – again not very innovative. Both teams then presented their ideas to SPAR.

After many mistakes on branding, design and taking off the V.A.T, Bill decided to choose Platinum as the winners. Brendan was left to face the boardroom taking in Aoiffe and Breffny with him. It was noted that Ruth was not taken in after she had made huge mistakes in the budget. Bill gave all three a very hard time. Even Breffny started to lose his temper. In the end it was Brendan’s style of trying to cover everything up that got to Bill and Brendan was for the chop.

Will the next Apprentice be doing jazz hands?

by Nicky on October 23rd, 2009

All of Ireland still seems to be in shock about Maria being fired. Nobody felt she deserved to go and it was totally unjustified. What were Bill’s reasons? Was she fired for not performing well or were there ulterior motives? I feel it was more than just her performance on the Meteor task. Could they have already decided she wouldn’t be hired so any excuse to get rid of her? Maria reminded me of Brenda so Bill may have thought the same and needed more diversity in his new Apprentice. Bill claims he is not influenced by production but how true can this be when this happens, it’s just as much about the TV show now than a job! If it wasn’t he could find an apprentice off the television!? Maria also kept a very low profile on the show so from an entertaining point of view may not have been the most exhilarating character for a viewing audience. I don’t necessarily agree with this because it was a similar situation for us last year but viewing audience seems to be split in 2, those who believe it should be all about the job and the entertainment is secondary and those who want a highly entertaining show every week and find boring when the big characters leave. I am in the first category, regardless of the opinion any of us have on tasks, I know how much people give up and how they put themselves in the firing line to participate in the Apprentice so the candidates deserve kudos and the full opportunity to continue on in the competition for their skills.

We are definitely starting to see the true colours of the candidates as numbers whittle down. We saw Steve taking a dictatorship role last week which was surprising .Sam definitely had valid points on creativity and in her argument towards Steve but disappointed such a loaded word like bullying is being thrown around so easily in the boardroom. Sam wrecked Steve’s head and he switched off like many a man, “I hear you but choose to ignore you” tactic, a regular offence in my household! I am not condoning the behaviour but “Bully boy” was slightly extreme. I wonder if a new double personality Steve will unfold because Maria claims in an unseen clip that “Steve isn’t all that he seems”….Interesting! Lucinda now seems to be the favourite to win; I have seen potential in her from the beginning and hope she does well. Our good old Breffny definitely has 9 lives, he reminds me of John & Edward of the XFactor, love him or hate him you want to see more of him. He puts a smile on my face every week.

Monday nights show will be the 6th episode, pretty much half way through. That is always a major turning point; you will notice a difference in the candidates as well. All candidates get tired at this point and energy starts to lag but the realisation that you have made it to the half way mark boosts your confidence and people really start pushing themselves.

I had to laugh when I watched the clip of a bird doing their business on Sam It may seem like “one of those things” to most but what a lot of people don’t know is the same thing happened to Brenda last year. The very first task selling fruit Brenda was doing a piece to camera and bam she got hit on the face by a flying friends business!…We have never laughed so much and gutted it never made the screen, probably the fact the scene was so shaky because cameraman could barely stand! We laughed about it being good luck and our Brenda was the winner, could this be fate?!! Uh oh could this mean Mary Poppins will take over the Glencullen Group? Imagine it, next year’s Apprentice will be a musical drama with Bill & Jackie doing jazz hands!

Nicky

‘Breffdine’

by The Receptionist on October 23rd, 2009

First it was Brendan and Aoiffe, now it is Geraldine and Breffny or as they are now jointly known as ‘Breffdine’. What an unusual couple. No, no, nothing to do with the difference in where they come from as everyone likes to point out, but more to do with their personalities. Geraldine has a great head on her shoulders. A bit brash at times according to her new other half, but the girl has brains and business skills to burn. As for the other ejit. He left all his business skills on the back of the boat in Harvard. Is it the case of the ball breaking business woman seeks the silly man to control?

The Receptionist

In house fighting and flirting

by The Receptionist on October 20th, 2009

Was Breffny so determined to prove himself this week that he made a dart for the door to get there first and ended up splitting himself on the entrance steps? Seriously if one of our brightest and best cannot even make it up the steps in one piece what hope is there for the country? Thank god he wasn’t wearing his Harvard jacket; imagine if he had dirtied it – there would be nothing for him to talk about for the next week.

What would Monday night be without a good old fight between the candidates? Even the love birds got in on the action. Brendan was obviously so annoyed that Aoiffe got the vote from the team to be PM. And what did he do? Instead of going with it, he decided to get into a the huff. Typical man, hates to see the woman wearing the trousers. What was even more annoying for him was that little Miss Prim was actually good in the PM role. Yes kills me to say it too. But Aoiffe you disappointed me when you half stuck up for Brendan – he didn’t contribute at all. Now maybe my eyes deceived me but Brendan in his delight at winning got his hand seriously close to Aoiffe’s bottom? Wish we saw more of that in the office.

And then there was Sam and Steve. Everyone knows that Sam is not everyone’s cup of tea. We are not used to sitting in the office mid meeting and someone leaping up and singing all over the place. At first I thought it was funny but now I just think it’s irritating. Steve was already irritated and had got to that stage; you know where you cannot even look at the person anymore because the sound of them breathing just gets to you. So he did ignore her and he did talk her down. But bullying – I’m not sure if that is the correct word to use.

And now we have another couple – is this The Apprentice or Love island? I’m half expecting Cilla to make an appearance. The Breffmeister has become Geraldine’s little daisy. There was no work carried out between them in this task, just pure flirting. Weren’t they lucky, all that flirting caused them to mess up rightly and had Maria been on the ball and brought Breffny back into the boardroom, we could have seen the last of the Harvard man himself.

The wrong girl was fired

by Nicky on October 20th, 2009

I was looking forward to this week’s task as a Meteor advertisement was always going to be a great challenge. They had the opportunity to be creative as Meteor are always open to the talk ability factor and being a little different, humour is a large selling point for the company. Both teams seemed to be on the right track according to Meteor but I thought they both looked quite amateur. There is little time, a lot to organise and coordinate in these advertisement tasks but something was missing for me with both teams. The teams had little resources to make the ad look more professional but I think they had quite a few vital mistakes, for instance – not enough product placement, renaming product from “broadband” to “to go” and no branding throughout the ad. Also I am so familiar with Meteor ads that comparing cannot be helped, but I appreciate that it is unfair to the candidates. I find myself quite frustrated this week as I cannot identify a true opinion of this task, maybe it is the candidates themselves?

One thing I do know is this was the first week where I absolutely did not agree with Bill’s decision on the fired candidate! Maria! I can’t believe it! Fair enough she has been a background character on the show but has always exposed good skills and potential. In my opinion and in the opinion of ex candidates, she was a front runner. Geraldine and Breffny seemed to do little but mess, which was comical. After Breffny’s hysterical comment “Bill it was in my brain and wouldn’t come out”, instead “I was standing there like a model”, Breffny probably was the right choice for Maria but in fairness I probably would have picked the same two in her position. It is easy for us to judge now but at the time there was much emphasis and blame for losing the task put on Sam and Steve. They were both as bad as each other, Bill was a bit dramatic calling Steve an intimidating bully but Steve should have digested Sam’s idea’s better as she had valid points. I think he underestimated her because she is a teacher. He reminds me of Shane last year, “dog with a bone” if his idea is not adhered to. In saying that I can see Steve’s view. Sam can be so irritating and I wish I had never pleaded for her to start singing again, I can’t even watch the TV when she starts. The behaviour of both team members in the presentation was awful. Maria should have intervened in their playground spats as PM, which I am confident she did, though we may not have seen it on screen. Both Steve and Sam are adults and are responsible for their own behaviour. Was this a justified reason to fire Maria? No! Steve has shown potential in past tasks, Sam has not and really what has she got to offer?

This was last chance saloon for both Aoiffe and Brendan and the PR expert won the PM role, to the obvious distaste of Brendan. I wonder if it was fair to continuously accuse Brendan of being negative out of jealousy. Brendan knew he had a lot to prove and a gripe Bill has is not showing authority and standing up if you do not agree with something, could this have been it? The problem was he had no ideas to back it up. In fairness to Aoiffe she did well, her team were under control, they seemed to be given good direction and she showed leadership skills by confronting Brendan and putting him in his place. Why did the actress had to have a cork accent though? Lucinda really shone for me this week; she has always worked well in the background but really embraced her role and worked to her potential. I do think the panel are a little hard on her in the boardroom compared to others. I feel this is a tactical move to be hard and push those they have faith in, so one does not become complacent and fights back. This is a good turning point for Aoiffe and has catapulted Lucinda; I hope they keep it up.

Friendships/relationships, however you wish to describe the relations between candidates, one common theme throughout the show is these guys are certainly ruthless! Nothing will stand in the way of the top prize. Bill Cullen’s Apprentice! I agree with keeping the eye on the prize but let’s hope integrity is not totally lost along the way. This is a huge bonus in business and strong value for Bill.

Until Friday!

Nicky

Episode 5 Catch up

by Meteor on October 20th, 2009

This week’s task saw the candidates visit Meteor’s head office, where they were requested to create and produce an advert for Meteor’s Broadband To Go device. Humour, engagement and a sense of irishness were the key factors to incorporate, along with demonstrating Meteor’s position as a value leader.

The two teams set off about their task with Lucinda joining team Platinum. It was this team that dived into the task in great team spirit however over on the other side, things were beginning to heat up. Samantha and Steve Rayner just could not agree on anything and it was noted that Steve’s treatment of Samantha was anything but acceptable.

After concepts were created, ad’s recorded and produced, the teams pitched their concepts to Meteor’s marketing team. Although Meteor felt that team Cú Chulainn had the better TV ad, they were not impressed with the animosity that shone through in their presentation. For this reason, team Platinum were chosen as the winners.

In the boardroom Bill was tough on all candidates. Steve in particular got an earful for his inconsiderate behaviour towards Sam. Maria was questioned on her presentation skills and her ability to keep the team together.

In the end Bill made a surprise decision and chose Maria as the candidate to leave.

Boring Breffny

by The Receptionist on October 16th, 2009

So the shock of Aoiffe and Brendan’s relationship is over and I have to say I am pretty over that one myself. Two ego’s attracted to each other. But Geraldine and Breffny? Who would of thought? As Lucinda says – sometimes chalk and cheese do mix. Maybe poor Geraldine was bored.

As we wait patiently for next week, it’s really hard to decide who will be the one to go next. I know there is a lot of Breffmania out there, and he certainly is entertaining to watch, but I have a feeling as the week’s go on we may become a little tired of him. Did the man actually go to Harvard? I know he has the jacket and the tie to prove it, but with the amount of rubbish that comes out of his mouth, he could well have bought them on eBay. Is anyone getting bored of him yet?

The Receptionist

Who will be Bill’s victim next week?

by Nicky on October 16th, 2009

All week, people have been going nuts for the Apprentice. The show seems to have solidified itself as everyone’s must watch and it rules Monday night television. This time last year was the very same but not to this level. I am sure the heightened professionalism of the tasks and production has been a major factor but business show or not, the gossip and entertaining characters play a huge part. Those may frown on this but we cannot deny many work places 11am tea break is, Aoiffe and Brendan; “affair or not?” Breffney and Geraldine;” no way!” I think viewers are even missing Mary Poppins (Sam) song of the week!! Compose again singing Sam. Please!

So Jennifer left us all with a bit of a cliff-hanger on Monday and wasn’t giving away much on ‘You’re Fired’. I decided to do some digging as I was curious why she would spill; I felt it was slightly unprofessional. With an eagle eye I watched the Brendan and Aoiffe unseen clip. I noticed they had a contrived way of avoiding the subject at hand and Brendan was clever to pretty much keep stump, letting Aoiffe do all the talking. I don’t think what Aoiffe says is always bitchy, it’s more her manner of speaking, sometimes very school yard. I’ve decided it’s not Jennifer’s nor our business, it’s between the relevant parties. Partners or not.

Many people have their favourite candidates and potential winner decided. Geraldine seems to be a front runner but if last year is anything to go by the finalists is often hidden at the beginning to heighten the shock factor and keep viewers on their toes. Will this be the case this year? Below is a quick over view on my opinion of the candidates so far.

Geraldine – Showed good Project Management skills and seems to be improving. She is very determined. Currently favourite with the public. Crazy laugh though!

Aoiffe – She has not shown for me yet, certainly getting attention but for the wrong reasons. She has a lot to prove.

Brendan – In fairness he was a hard grafter on the B & Q task but seems to shy from responsibility. I imagine he will step up to the plate this week.

Sam – Has definitely toned it down and seems to be working away in the background. Need to see what she can really offer as an apprentice. I do miss her singing.

Steve – Works well as part of a team and eager to take on challenge but we need to see his ability as a PM soon or he will fade into the background. Maybe distracted by his love for Breffney

Maria – Always shown good skills but seems to be coasting as we see little of her. Like to see her as PM so we really can see what she’s made of.

Stephen – He is very competitive and honest which I like, has no problem speaking his mind in the boardroom. He may be a dark horse.

Ruth – She is the mammy of the house, suggesting tea and giving out to those fighting. My gut tells me there is something contrived with her though.

Lucinda – Didn’t see much of her this week and can’t think of much to say about her as she is not standing out. She is a quieter character. Her face after “immigrant” comment was priceless.

Breffney – Breffmeister, Breffmonster, Breffmania…the world is becoming Breffmad! His naivety is comedy. Love him or hate him he will be remembered.

Who will be the victim of Bill’s finger point this week? The floor is open to a few weak candidates but we never can tell. Monday is the Meteor task; no doubt it will be a cracker. The ad mentioned a TV advertisement, Meteor are renowned for very innovative funny ads so the candidates have a lot to prove. The meteor clips during The Apprentice crack me up, “I’ll say when I am ready, ok, action” Love it!

Catch up with you all Tuesday!

Nicky