The suits are sharper, the drone shots of London are better and the candidate’s house is dreamier than ever before. The iconic theme song ‘Montagues and Capulets’ by Prokofiev, however: that never changes.
Yes. You guessed it, ‘The Apprentice’ is back and Lord Sugar is searching for his fourteenth business partner and competition winner. It’s obviously early days but can we identify the potential winner already?
For the record, let’s look at the candidates’ list:
- Andrew Brady (26, Project Engineer)
- Anisa Topan (36, Fashion PR Agency)
- Bushra Shaikh (34, Fashion Label Owner)
- Charles Burns (24, Management Consultant)
- Danny Grant (Retail Store Owner, already fired)
- Elizabeth ‘Scary Liz’ McKenna (39, Florist Store Owner)
- Elliot Van Emden (31, Legal Firm Owner)
- Harrison Jones (27, Sales Executive)
- Jade English (25, PR & Marketing Manager)
- James White (Recruitment Firm Owner)
- Jeff Wan (28, Business Analyst, already fired)
- Joanna Jarjue (Digital Marketing Manager)
- Michaela Wain (33, Construction Company Owner)
- Ross Fretten (25, Digital Product Consultant)
- Sajan Shah (24, Event Company Owner)
- Sarah Jayne Clark (25, Clothing Company Owner)
- Sarah Lynn (35, Confectionery Company Owner)
- Siobhan Smith (34, Wedding Company Owner)
Progress report: first thing to say is well done to the all girls listed above, who have quite simply disgraced the boys so far, winning the first two tasks and avoiding the dreaded finger, which will eventually be pointed at all the candidates except one.
Who will be the one? We can already say it won’t be Danny who seemed like a fish out of water, quite frankly; or the sole non-UK candidate Jeff Wan who I thought was unlucky to be fired (the Project Manager, Ross, picked the wrong people to follow him into the boardroom, if you ask me).
While the women have come out on top, it’s not that much to write home about. In the first two weeks we’ve seen really strong performances from the likes of… nobody, to be honest. What stands out is a lot of squabbling and an unhealthy dose of passive aggression. The only difference between the teams is that the ladies have managed to squabble on the move and still get the job done.
I mean, Sajan & Michaela have proven to be good talkers but if that’s their strongest point, they won’t last long.
Looking on the bright side, James and Ross seem to have what it takes, minus Ross’ apparent attitude problem. The girls’ team has a trio of potentially strong contenders: Joanna, Elizabeth and Siobhan have all made a half-decent start, despite constant bickering.
It’s too early to guess at the potential winner. Maybe next week Wednesday at 9pm we will have a clearer idea. Tune in next week to find out whether the finger of death was pointed at the right person (in our humble opinion).