A "new" to us series of The Apprentice USA is being shown from tonight on BBC1. As before there is a double bill, but as before you will have to stay up late. First episode begins at 00:10 am! That is ten past midnight in old money. :censored:

Thanks for that.

I would love to watch. However the time is a nuisance.

:(

It was rescheduled which meant that the first episode was shown by the BBC at about 11.30pm followed by the second episode.

I found out completely by chance when flicking through the channels.

Enjoyed it, particularly the second episode when the losing team failed to get rid of the big guy.

:)

I too was lucky to notice the earlier than billed start, if I had switched over at 00:10 I would have all but missed the opening episode. With 18 contestants I expect a few multiple firings, and I think there could have been one in ep. 1. Summer was useless but she and the others were spot on, as project manager Tarek? was hopeless.
In ep 2 the big guy Brent was a bit of a clown even though the girl over-played the "threatening" behaviour. It was the "Russian" guy who won it, (Lenny I think) he was no-nonsense get out and sell while everyone else was waffling away about what word to use.

I got the strong impression that Trump and his 2 assistants, his daughter and the previous winner, had watched a recording of the incident.

Had they not done so, they would not have been so dismissive of the woman criminal lawler. Trump seemed to be poking fun at her on several occasions.

It makes sense that an allegation like that would have been investigated. Any substance and the big guy would have been out.

Whatever his faults may or may not be, the lawyer was incredibly rude and dismissive of the big guy.

I managed to watch the 1 of last night's 2 episodes.

It has started out as an excellent series. I particularly like the fact that there are very distinctive characters in it.

The right person went. The team leader was utterly useless. Trump's daughter was quite right to point out that she could not blame the disaster on the late arrival of a power generator and other stuff like that.

Despite the failure on her part, she could have saved herself by taking her friend into the final meeting. And that was the woman that booked the comedieene and the models that she did not brief.

Very good to see Brent on the winning team. The opening scenes, showing his return, were awful. How nasty of some of them to react in t hat way. I am pleased that Brent just grinned.

:P

KA, I would love some details from the next episode. I just fell asleep at the start of the second one.

Part one, it is almost heartening to know that the US Apprentices who are supposedly all successful in their own right can be just as incompetent as our guys. :D Agree, the project manager (Theresa?) just couldn't handle it and hiring models to give out the technical information was a blunder of the highest order. The comedian bombed (and was paid 1700 dollars!!) it was a shambles.
Part two. Sorry Eddy but your guy Brent left the building. The task was to create a billboard for a new cereal. Brent was as ever sidelined by his team and he did not react well. Brent did offer to do the final presentation but was told his "image" was not right. Sean (the English guy) did it and was a disaster. In the boardroom everyone lined up behind the team leader and said Brent was a disruption. Brent did not help his own cause by saying his team leader "stank." When Brent complained about the presentation Trump just told him he agreed having an overweight guy present a healthy cereal was not the right image, and Brent's 'intemperate' language cost him. No doubt his team-mates treated him badly, but he became increasingly awkward and lost his cool in the boardroom.

Thanks KA.

I am sorry to read that Brent has gone. I cannot help feeling that had he been treated with at least some respect, as he was in the previous episode, he would have been OK.

They just did not like him because he was different to them. And I am not just referring to the fact that he is a big man. They were openy so rude to him, out of proportion to anything that he had actually said or done.

:angry:

I agree that his team were nasty to him, and oddly because they gave him zero responsibility he should not have been blamed for the billboard task failing. Brent did rather dig his own grave by the way he spoke in the boardroom. His somewhat crude descriptions of his team-mates may be understandable, but it displayed to Trump he could not defend his corner in a cool and level-headed manner.

Thanks a lot BBC. Advertised to air at five to midnight, because of football highlights the first show didn't begin until five past one! Even though I work odd hours and am normally still just about awake then, I don't usually plan for nearly two hours of TV. I much prefer the UK version, there are just too many of these "creative" tasks that are judged by big companies getting free publicity.

Anyway, first show the team leader had to go but I was amazed that Tarek survived again. Trump pointed out this was his third time in the boardroom and all series he had been "very disappointing" yet still he survived.

Second show with the jingle was much harder to call. The team leader clearly made a mistake (with his boardroom picks) and was almost too nice for his own good. Lee missing his second task because of an important Jewish holiday, Trump would have created uproar if he fired him but I wonder how such a situation would be resolved in Britain?

Is it just me or is the Arby's beef sandwich not really "World famous"? I have never heard of it.

I am enjoying this. Though, once again, I only managed to catch one of them.

Are the US team-leaders silly? Once again, just like last week, they protect their mates by not taking them into the final boardrom meeting.

First show team leader was told by DT that it was likely he would have survived had he taken his friend into the final meeting.

The UK contestants are far more ruthless.

PS - Never heard of the sandwich. Silly name.

Part One: What a shambles. When "Goldrush" had their meeting with the three execs. and team leader Lennie couldn't think of anything to ask I was cringing. Then Michael from "Synergy" would not shut up! I don't know which was worse. To start with, I liked Lennie with his no-nonsense approach but he was a poor leader and had to go.

Part Two : I think the team leader from Synergy (Andrea?) was lucky she won because her dictatorial style of leadership will win her few friends.
I don't much care for Lee but he was right, the pricing of that disgusting sounding sandwich was too high for a downmarket shop chain. Given that, the team leader had to go.

As I have a rather heavy cold, I could not sleep which meant I watched both episodes.

Part One: Lennie was an awful leader. But I think Lee, his loyal best-friend, should have been sacked for intellectual dishonesty and deceipt. There attempt to blame Charlemaine (?) and get her sacked was a disgrace.

I accept that Lennie had to try something but Lee should not have joined in so keenly.

Part Two: The right decision was made. Very sorry to se that woman go as I really liked her for not being loud and obnoxious and dictatorial like the leader of the other team.

Really annoyed at the BBC and these ridiculous times.

KA, as you have probably guessed, I missed both.

I had set the television to automatically change channels when the episodes were to begin. I managed to catch the first few minutes and then fell asleep on the sofa in front of the terlevision. It was a sweet sleep but I was annoyed. Boo to the BBC.

:angry:

I wondered Eddy because sometimes shows on all channels including BBC are scheduled differently in Scotland. When I read that the first show was not due to start until 1am I was not best pleased...

Part One:You missed nothing Eddy, it was a "catch-up" show telling us who got fired in the previous weeks and why. There were little bits of "unseen footage" but it was mostly a waste of time.

Part Two: It is now 1:45 am, I have just sat through a pointless look back at the first eight weeks and my will to carry on is draining away. The task was to create a limited edition commemorative brochure of Ellis Island, the place where many immigrants were processed about 100 years ago as they arrived in the USA. Synergy lost with Allie as project manager. Allie, Roxanne and Tammy immediately decided to put the blame on slightly nasty Andrea who was not very helpful. Sean refused to take sides.
It looked a close call in the boardroom but eventually Andrea was fired.

Btw, on the other team, Charmaine still hates Lee and was annoyed that her team won with him as project manager. More back-stabbing to come. :D

KA, thanks for the reports.

I am going to try to find all this on You tube. there is a chance that some of this is there.

Eddy, I have tried YT in the past to find Apprentice USA and there are only very brief clips, certainly not an entire episode lest alone a whole series.
Another thing I forgot, in the second task the two "mentors" were Trump's kids Ivanka who has appeared before and Donald jnr. whom I had never seen.
Ivanka clearly gets her looks from mum and poor Donald jnr. from dad... :)

I have just had a quick look and there is next to nothing.

Funny that, given that a show like Hells Kitchen USA can be found in full.

I stayed up to watch. I only managed to follow the basics as I kept dozing off. I enjoyed what I saw.

The friends are now turning on each other particularly among the boys team. Which of the boys was sacked by DT?

As I have said before, really angry at the BBC.

:disblief:

Watched through bleary eyes...
Part One: Within about ten minutes I decided I really didn't like many if any of the eight remaining candidates. Sean is very sleazy, and Lee is very conniving despite someone saying he has "high moral standards."
Charmaine fired for poor leadership along side Tarek who has been a pain throughout. He should have gone weeks ago. Tarek and Lee treated Charmaine very badly. IMHO

Part Two: With a 4/2 split in the teams the girls are happy to pass Sean over. After the task was announced, to sell steaks etc. at an American football game the male chauvinism came flying out. I was rooting for the girls big time as the boys spouted so much BS. The girls victory made me very happy but the decision made me angry. The girls won because they did nothing but sell food, the boys laid on too many events to "entertain" the 'frat boys.' Michael was fired because he made that one phone call to his team-mates asking if the girls could get just a couple of cheerleaders.
(The cheerleading coach had asked him too, she said she had regretted giving the boys team exclusive access.) Trump said he admired Michael's sense of fairness but it was a terrible business decision. He totally ignored the fact that Lee's too many distractions prevented them from selling food, the food price was too low, having an eating contest was not good when you are supposed to be selling food not giving it away. DT got it badly wrong IMHO, Lee was the screw-up. :angry:

Thanks for the report. Greatly appreciated.

:thumbsup:

No problem Eddy. I am accustomed to staying up past midnight but I fear my concentration levels dip...I have not liked Lee for a while and I sometimes wonder if DT keeps him on for fear of offending "religious sensibilities" which are more difficult in America. Sean I find too arrogant and smug. Of the women I think Tammie is perhaps a bit lightweight in a business sense, Allie is sharp but over-abrasive at times and I cannot decide on Roxanne, other than she seems to be the nicest of the bunch. Next week should be interesting.

The first episode starts at 11.55pm.

I shall try to watch this one but I am giving up hope.

Unfortunately I do not have a recording facilty.

I managed to catch some of the episodes though, as usual, I kept dozing off and waking up again.

I have enjoyed what I have seen of this series and have been entertained by the shameless promotion of DT by himself. Well done to DT. Still really annoyed by the BBC's scheduling.

I enjoyed the fashion designing task which the boys won. I liked all the creations from both teams.

None of the remaining 4 possible apprentices impress me very much. The 2 girls are ok. I think the black woman is my favourite in that she comes across as reasonably normal. Her weakness is that she does appear to allow others to lead even when she disagrees. Allie is a stronger candidate, though her abrasiveness is not nice.

Of the boys, I prefer the guy that is not Lee. Forgotten his name but he speaks with quite a southernly English accent. Is he from England? He is annoying and a little full of himself but prefer him to Lee.

Lee is a nice guy. Why has he got this far? He is weak and just has the gift of talking in a charming way.

As you can tell KA, I missed watching who left at the end of the second episode. Please reveal all. Thankyou.

:)

Part One: The girls were not nice to Tammie. She did get a couple of things badly wrong and it was fair she was fired but Roxanne and Allie decided to give her no help whatsoever. It is OK for Trump to say "you should have managed them better" but really what power does the project manager have? Trump can fire his slackers, but Tammie could do nothing.

Part Two: I thought some of the girl's designs were awful. They looked like Thunderbirds characters. Both girls were fired. It was a bit contrived. Trump asked Roxanne if he should fire Allie. Roxanne said she didn't want either of them fired. Trump replied "that ain't gonna happen" and so naturally Roxanne said OK, fire Allie. Allie of course stood her ground and a bit of an argument ensued. Trump then announce how saddened he was that two best friends had turned upon each other and fired them both.

So it is a Sean (says he is from London) vs. Lee final. I fear it will be as weird and drawn out as last year. I think Sean is the better of the two but I am not convinced he is that good.

KA thanks.

I am really surprised that he fired Allie. I was almost convinced that her place in the final was a certainty.

As for Allie and Roxanne, the two great friends, falling out in the Board Room ...

:D

It seems fitting as they had turned on everyone else at every opportunity.

A Lee and Sean final is not very inspiring or very exciting.

:)

No problem Eddy.
Allie and Roxanne were put in a position where they almost had to turn on each other. They seemed to leave together on good terms though there was a hint of frost in the air...I'm sure if Lee and Sean had lost the task they too would have reacted in a similar fashion and Trump would have fired them both.

The final tonight. Don't know about London but here in Scotland part one is not due to start until 1am. :angry: The scheduled finish of part two is 02:50. Even for a night owl like me that is pushing things. I am not overly bothered who wins, I don't care much for Sean or Lee, but I do think the BBC should take a long hard look at themselves. Having sat through the whole series I want to watch the conclusion and I will endeavour to do just that, but honestly I am not happy at these ridiculous times. :angry:

KA, I look forward to your report tomorrow. That's if you stay up till that time.

There is no way that I can stay up that late.

:(

Confusion and Suspicion
I will try not to ramble (too much!) The teams are picked informally with all 16 previous contenders assembled in the 'suite.' Sean immediately chooses Tammy, the girl he loves (he would later say he plans to marry her) Andrea and Tarek. Lee immediately chooses old mate Lennie, Roxanne and at Lennie's bidding Pepi who was second to be kicked out.
Neither DT or his sidekick Caroline can even remember seeing Pepi.
The tasks are similar to last time; charity fundraisers with one for World Wildlife Fund (a concert by Barenaked Ladies) the other for NY firefighters (a celebrity ice-hockey game.) Both choose to do the concert, Lee relents and accepts the ice-hockey. Sean gets a fairly easy ride from the WWF who reject one totally stupid idea but basically leave him alone. The firefighters charity is all over Lee like a rash. Lee looks shaky but Sean is criticised by sidekick George for delegating too much. Both end up holding auctions as money-raising schemes. Sean suffers a scare when Andrea is apparently coughing up blood but it turns out to be a false alarm and she quickly returns. Sean's team work well for him, Lee's perhaps not so much with Lennie almost a liability, he is not a people person.
Part Two: Oh heck, the grand finale is back in a theatre with a whooping audience and a load of nonsense. Both events appear to turn out well but we never find out who raised the most money. In fact the final 'boardroom' does not even discuss the last task, it may as well have never happened. After lots of waffle from previous contenders and the two finalists, Trump is handed the result of a phone vote. He says it is not even close, he agrees and Sean is hired. So did a phone vote decide the winner? Why was the result of the final task never announced? My suspicion is that Trump wanted Sean but Lee actually raised more money. Why else would they have a final task but never actually discuss it? A long way to get to an obvious choice (rather like this post!) :D

KA, thankyou for your excellent reports both today and on previousa occasions.

I remain furious at the BBC for the despicable scheduling of this programme. I really enjoyed what I saw. I would have loved to have seen it all.

I think it is fair to say that Lee is likely to have raised more money in the final challenges. That is why it was not featured.

Well done to Sean for winning the viewers vote.

:) :thumbsup:

No problem Eddy, a large vodka and coke will be sufficient compensation. :lol:

I am with you, the scheduling was just bizarre, especially for the final show.
Part one was quite enjoyable, I was less keen on the second part which is more like an ego trip for DT. Sean was probably a better candidate than Lee and he certainly picked a better team. They held the finale in Hollywood, Trump announced the next series would take place in L.A. rather than New York. If they show it, I doubt the BBC will treat us viewers any better. :(

Just curious KA but did my old friend Brent return for the final? If so, did he make much of a show?

Remember him? The big guy that none of them seem to get on with.

:)

Yes Eddy, Brent was there. :)
Neither Lee nor Sean seem to give him much consideration in the team-picking (he was not alone in that regard) and he also appeared in the theatre line-up but Mr Trump never asked his opinion. Again he was not alone in that.

Thankyou KA.

New Series
I have just noticed that BBC1 are showing a new series of The Apprentice USA tonight (or early tomorrow to be accurate.) 1st programme at 12:20 am followed by another at 01:25. I honestly don't know if I have the stamina to sit up that late. :(

I would love to watch this, but my alarm goes off at 5.30am so its a 'no' for me.

I'm hoping it might be repeated at some other time.

:(

Available on iPlayer!
Amazingly the show will be available on iPlayer for 7 days. I will watch very soon and make a report. I simply could not sit up so late last night.

Episode 1.
Too long, too many candidates. (18 in total.) Upon arrival the whole group were asked to erect a large tent in the garden of the mansion and the two most vocal were chosen as 'project managers.' The actual project was to run a car cleaning service for a day. Frank (mouthy New Yorker) failed to attract customers in the beginning, Heidi the other PM pulled in loads but was left with few actual car cleaners. Heidi's team won and the winning PM stays on as PM until they lose. She was also given a seat in the boardroom to supposedly help determine who gets fired. Winning team stay in mansion, losers sleep in tent in garden. On the losing side nearly everyone turned on a guy called Martin for no reason that I could see. Motormouth Frank survived and Martin was duly fired.

Episode 2.
Another twist. The entire winning team will be exempt from the next task.
This task was to design swim wear. Heidi's team won again though some disharmony is developing. Other team a guy called Carey who designed the male swimwear and a girl called Michele who did nothing much were singled out as culpable. Carey was fired for being too daring and appealing to a 'gay' market. The winning team had a reward of a trip to the Playboy Mansion, something a mostly female team perhaps did not appreciate. :)

Excellent. KA, thankyou for letting me know.

Something for the weekend. I really am pleased.

:)