The third series of UK version of the The Apprentice starts next week (Wednesday 28th March) and yesterday the sixteen new contestants were revealed, amongst whom are the usual assortment of managers, a scientist, several single mothers and someone that used to employ Prince Will’s girlfriend Kate Middleton, but is now bankrupt (any connection?) and working as a waiter. Sir Alan Sugar used the launch of the new series to subtly criticise last year’s contestants:

 “There’s a lot of regrets about last year – maybe turning up was the biggest regret about it. I was somewhat disappointed with the calibre of the contestants we had in the second series.”

I’m not sure what he’s trying to say there, really… Perhaps he didn’t think they were any good? 

In related news, Series One winner Tim Campbell has left his job working for Sugar. He is to start his own business, and launch a trust which aims to give entrepreneurs (me! here! woo-hoo!) £1m a year.

BBC News – First Apprentice Winner Quits Job

Both the British and American versions of the show have their plus points, but are reasonably different. Alan Sugar is basically an East End boy made good and the UK version is pretty low-key in its tasks and prizes. Donald Trump likes to show off all his wealth in pretty much every episode, and arrives to all meetings in a helicopter and has task prizes like dining in his million-dollar penthouse with his model wife. He’s even got his contestants living in Trump Tower, and they travel to the boardroom several floors above by lift. In the UK, the boardroom is a set, and the fired contestant is filmed leaving a hotel somewhere. Try harder Sugar!