Travelling commitments meant that I missed last week’s Apprentice episode and will mean I won’t be able to see the next two either (although a colleague will be writing the blog in my place). I was suitably surprised to learn, though, that our early table topper, Duane, had been shown the finger by his Lordship.
The league table is meant to be fun and the blog intended to highlight the psychology behind the contestants’ actions. Having said that, I felt peeved that the redoubtable Duane had been fired. My reaction is based in equal measures on personal pride and ego protection. It’s a common failing amongst experts where you set out to defend your original position in the incorrect belief that your prediction was a fact. It is easy, therefore, to state that the decision was wrong rather than our analysis.
We are nevertheless at the mercy of the programme makers and can only go by what they show us. Their objective, of course, is to create drama which relies on tension and surprise. The viewing figures would plummet if it was clear now who the winner was going to be. Of more significance in this series, as with the last one, is a set of information to which none of the viewers is privy – the proposition for the business venture that the candidates are putting up.
In the last series, the eventual winner, Tom, was good but was not the best candidate. He survived some narrow escapes because Lord Sugar saw some value in his business ideas. Interestingly he wasn’t bothered about Tom’s new idea – something to do with chairs – but wanted to exploit his already established innovation – something to do with nail files.
In other words, someone with good all-round skills and good leadership qualities but with a poor business proposal is a more expendable candidate than someone with poor skills and a great idea. A good business idea therefore acts as an invisible (to us at least) shield which, irresepective of their performance, protects them and ensures they progress.
The series therefore, whilst entertaining, is more like an extended version of Dragons’ Den.
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