The Apprentice 2012, news and chat

The Apprentice return date confirmed by Lord Sugar as new series looms

The hotly anticipated eighth series of The Apprentice will return on Wednesday, March 21, according to its star Lord Sugar, who made the announcement via his Twitter account today.

'Ok its now official The Apprentice is back on on 21st March BBC 1 9pm (sic),' he wrote.

The 64-year-old business mogul had been teasing Apprentice fans with a series of cryptic tweets about the new series for months and appeared to be pleased that the show's launch date had been finalised.

The Apprentice has historically aired later in the spring and the earlier start date is thought to be down to efforts by the BBC to stop major series clashing with the Olympics broadcasts in the summer.

Lord Sugar will be joined for the new series by his aides Nick Hewer and Karren Brady, as well as a slew of new contestants all vying for investment in their businesses.

The business expert recently said that despite the fact that none of his previous winners still working for him, he doesn't regret the decisions he's made.

'I don't think I've made too many mistakes in picking the winner. The mistake or firing the wrong person is usually in the early episodes of the show. Something like episode five, six or seven,' he said.

Metro, 10/03/12.

Meet Lord Sugar's BBC Apprentice contestants this year

Group photo etc released.

Pics, full article here, BBC, 13/02/12.

Hoorayyyy!

Yes, I can't wait for it to begin. It's one of my favourite shows at present.

Former The Apprentice Winner Tom Pellereau Launches New Business With Lord Alan Sugar

Having won the title of The Apprentice winner and £250,000 investment with Lord Alan Sugar last year, Tom Pellereau has now launched his new business, a range of 'S' shaped nail files.

The range, which features a file, buffer and emergency S-file, will be available to buy from Sunday.
Speaking about his new venture, the Inventor gushed: “Since the Apprentice final I’ve been working night and day to create the Stylfile Collection.

"Working with Lord Sugar and benefiting from his experience in retailing, manufacturing and marketing has been invaluable. It has been the experience of a lifetime and seeing my product on shelf is a dream come true.”

Lord Alan Sugar, who will be seen beginning his search for his next apprentice next week, added:

"Tom has worked diligently this past year at developing the Stylfile and getting it to market. He’s done extremely well at turning a very good concept into three excellent products and getting them stocked with some of the biggest retailers in the country.

"There’s been a lot of interest from my followers on Twitter asking me what Tom is up to – well now they know, I ‘m sure they’ll be letting me know what they think of the Stylfile”

We can't wait until the new series of The Apprentice begins, especially now that Lord Sugar has hinted at a new romance on the show!

Entertainment Wise, 15/03/12.



Well done Tom.

I want Margaret to come back....

Oh yes!

Margaret was first class. I used to love her facial expressions.

Here's what we've got to look forward to from the first episode of series 8 ... a few choice quotes.

"If I want a friend I'll get a dog"
"Business is very simple but it is made complicated by idiots"
"As an architect she can draw. That's it. She can draw buildings"
“I’m looking for the Marks to my Spencer, the Lennon to my McCartney"
"A very worried looking penguin"
“I’m the reflection of perfection”
"I think it's terrible but it's done now"
"She needs to cop onto herself"

The Apprentice begins on BBC1, Wednesday March 21 at 9pm.

Great opening episode.

Clearly Billyana would have stayed had it not been for her constant talking and interrupting in the Boardroom. She just would not stop talking and I think that annoyed AS. I know it annoyed me.

As far as I am concerned, the task was lost by Gabriella, the project leader. She was useless. Katie was not much better. But they both remained quite calm, whilst Billyana's nervousness led to her talking herself out the Apprentice. AS just realised that he could not work with her.

Really missing KingArthur at this moment.

We've been exchanging views about the Apprentice for several years. Hope he gets back here soon.

Billyana really shot herself in the foot, didn't she? If she had only shut up I think Lord Sugar might have picked Katie.
That poor shop assistant being attacked by all those aggressive young women....

I have a feeling that Billyana will go far even if she was kicked out so early.

I was convinced that Katie would be going, with Gabriella being the second choice.

I was sreaming at the telly, telling Billyana to shut-up but she panicked and reacted by non-stop chat.

It's a shame because she was not responsible for the loss of the task. Also, I think that she would have been very entertaining to watch for a few more episodes.

I thought she would be very watchable too...

The Apprentice candidates Gabrielle Omar and Nick Holzherr 'find love'

The Apprentice 2012 contestants Gabrielle Omar and Nick Holzherr are thought to be dating having fallen for each other in the very first task - but the pair were forced to put their feelings on hold as they both had partners ...

Metro, 25/03/12.



Oh well, here we go. Let's hope they're the only ones.

I was rather hoping they would getrid of Jenna this week, simply because I find her voice very irritating.

Really sorry to see Maria go. What did she do wrong? IMO nothing. So what if she dozed off in the car, being tired is not a crime. In any case a lot of people doze off in cars (me included).

Maria was just not very good at defending hersdelf in the boardroom.

Both Jane and Jenna deserved to go. Jane made the wrong choice in product against plenty of advice. Jenna was an idiot at figures, so why did she volunteer?

Product choice and costs lost the task. Jane and/or Jenna should have gone. Maria should have stayed.

I'm pretty sure Lord Sugar is considering the business plans of the contestants when he decides who to fire.

Good point. I think you are right.

Good grief, what a pathetic lot this crowd are!!

They were all pretty useless last night. However, yet again, the wrong candidate was fired.

Michael was innocent! He did nothing wrong. Yes, he should have sold more. Perhaps if the product had not been so expensive, he would have sold more. But, as he was dealing with traders, and not the public, his group were at a huge disadvantage. The trade just would not buy at such a high price.

Michael's mistake was that he failed to effectively make this point in the board room.

This task failed becdause they messed up on the production side. The guy in charge should have been evicted or Katie for not taking proper charge of production.

The guy in charge was sooo full of himself

I enjoyed last night's task and loved so much of the stuff both teams picked up.

For the first time in this series I agreed with Alan Sugar about who should go. Jane McEvoy was useless at sales. If she had sold more then perhaps her team would have stood a chance. Plus, she had been on the losing side 3 times.

Laura was pretty useless as the project manager but she tried and was not served well.

I'm just waiting and hoping for Jenna to be fired..

That voice......

I know whay you mean. Horrible sound.

A Bit Of A Conundrum

Channel 4's Countdown presenter Nick Hewer is reunited with his former Apprentice colleague Margaret Mountford next week when Mountford takes her seat in the famous dictionary corner chair.

Expect plenty of banter, witty anecdotes and a few raised eyebrows shared between the pair when Margaret joins the team for one week from Monday April 16.

Nick Hewer said: "Countdown is great fun, often because of the personality of the dictionary corner guests, and the imminent arrival of my old Apprentice colleague Margaret, promises to be the week of the year as far as I'm concerned. And for once I'll be in charge. Let's see how she likes that!"

Margaret Mountford said: "It feels wonderful and relaxed being on the Countdown set. It is fun to be with an old friend with such a dry sense of humour and nice to check up on how he's getting on in his new career. He may think he'll be in charge..."

Waveguide, 12/04/12.



I like Margaret. I hope to watch next week.