Monthly Archives: June 2007

The Apprentice Episode 11 AKA The Katie Hopkins Controversy

The Apprentice, TV

Ahh, the episode in which three (count ’em, THREE) people get fired in one go. There was no task this week, as such, but instead a “gruelling” interview process which saw each candidate being grilled by three top businessmen. I’m never a fan of this task…whilst undoubtedly it’s a great way to test each candidate, it doesn’t really make for great telly. And hey, The Apprentice is a television program, I want to be entertained!

So, nothing particularly interesting from the interviews themselves. Nor the feedback given to Sugar. Lohit was the first to go – unsurprisingly. Nice, but not quite Apprentice material. Tre was also fired for his personality; a bit too temperamental at times. But Tre was fired AFTER Sir Alan had said that Katie was in the final…and this is the controversial part of the episode.

Now, I’m not a Katie fan at all, and certainly wouldn’t have picked her to go into the final if I was Sugar. Genuinely, I  believe that Kristina and Simon are better candidates. But she was one of the people Sir Alan picked, so be it.

But then what happened was rather extraordinary. About to decide on the other finalist, Alan Sugar noticed Katie “didn’t act like someone just chosen to be a finalist”. (I’m slightly paraphrasing there.) Quite caring of Alan, all of a sudden. Katie then decided that she wasn’t 100% sure whether or not she’d be able to uproot herself and her two young kids, as well as her “support network” (family, I presume) from her current home to London. Fair enough, I assume that that’s not a decision to be made lightly. But what I don’t understand is why she had only just come upon this realisation at that point. If she really was someone so driven, someone so capable and suitable for the job, surely this was something to have considered a long time ago. Why be in the show if don’t believe you’re going to be chosen as The Apprentice?

So really, Katie wins all round. She was actually chosen to be a finalist, but she made the choice to turn it down. And now she’s the only one that can truthfully say she could have been The Apprentice, because we will never know for sure what would have happened had she been in the final.

And all this talk of her doing it for publicity, and a way in for a career in media. Hell yes. I don’t doubt that for a second.

Shipwrecked 2007 Winners

TV

Shipwrecked 

After five sun-drenched months on two Fijian islands for the contestants, and around four months of televisual intrigue for us viewers, Shipwrecked 2007 came to an end. The decision lay with two of last year’s contestants, John and Charlie Freeman, who had to jointly decide which island they would choose to “live” on. (“Live” is not quite the right word, as they’d be heading back home almost immediately after their decision.) John was edging towards the Tigers, Charlie wanted the Sharks. And bravo to John, who put in very persuasive arguments to sway Charlie round to the Tigers…and so, a Tiger win! Yay!

A few annoyances, however: the final episode is always very drawn out…all they really have left to show is the actual final decision, yet they somehow drag it out for one hour! Secondly, and I know they do this deliberately to make exciting telly, but the way that they hint that someone might swap islands at the last minute – with fake, slo-mo puzzled reactions – is a little over-the-top. And finally, why on earth did the sharks keep labelling themselves as misfits? They really weren’t. They were just a bunch of people that were all slightly different from each other, with different backgrounds, experiences and so on. Hardly misfits.

Aside for the reunion on next week’s T4 (10th June) that’s it for another eight months or so. Bye bye Battle of the Islands!