After last night’s episode of the Apprentice I think the final candidates will feel like a task would be a walk in the park! Bill instructed his team of interviewers to give the candidates the interview from hell and they didn’t disappoint.  

For once, the candidates knew what to expect but even so I don’t know if any of them could say they were prepared for the gruelling they faced. It really seemed more like a murder trial than an interview. Nonetheless, it was interesting to see how the candidates reacted to it.  

Orla was probably in the weakest position as she had been close to the firing line so many times in the last few weeks and she was far too defensive in the interviews. She spent too much time arguing and didn’t really sell herself as the person Bill should have as his apprentice. 

I was starting to think Stuart could make it into the final show he managed to keep his composure and came across quite well. He received great praise from one of the interviewing panel but there were too many questions about his overall skills, (remember that presentation during the Elysian task?). I thought the business card was a bit cringeworthy but fair play to him for trying! 

And then there were two. Nicki and Brenda. Brenda has been the strongest performing candidate throughout so she has to be the favourite but there are doubts as to whether she’s willing to leave her already successful business in Cork. I quite like Nicki overall but I just can’t stand her waffling! She doesn’t answer questions she keeps speaking until you don’t care about the answer!  

So what do you think? Has Bill ended up with the right finalists and who do you want to win???  

PS. Sorry Charlie, we couldn't resist showing everyone the business card you had printed earlier for next season's Apprentice... Vicki

Week 8 of The Apprentice and I must say the teams are starting to look pretty small now that we’re down to 7 candidates (6 after last night’s show). I’m still trying to pick a winner but again this week the candidates failed to shine.I thought the task was a bit all over the place and the candidates weren’t given clear objectives but in any case the results were less than impressive. 

There are some particular low points worth mentioning here. Paddy standing in his empty store trying to tell the team’s graphic designer his vision for the store and causing the camera crew to laugh uncontrollably at how stupid he sounded. Brenda’s airplane painting might have been a good idea if the team hadn’t decided to paint it themselves with the end result looking like a team of 4 year olds let loose in art class. Stuart’s scanner idea also could have been more impressive had he not chosen to illustrate it by simply putting a branded sticker over a sky digital remote. But worst of all was the simple mistake made by Orla, when she forgot to check if her team’s brand name was not already an existing brand. 

This ultimately left Orla’s team in the boardroom and by now the candidates really must realise that Bill wants people who will speak up for themselves. Unfortunately, Paddy was the one who didn’t speak enough and was sent packing. While I don’t think Paddy was all that bad, I don’t think he was ever all that good either. 

So only 6 candidates remain and I think it’s time we all pick our favourite. Personally at this point the only candidate I see as a potential winner is Shane, my fellow blog poster Vicki has already given an early prediction that Brenda will win, what do you think?

By now we’ve all heard the reports of the Russell Brand and Jonathan Ross incident. I have to say I think the whole thing has been blown way out of proportion. No question, the joke was tasteless, juvenile and should never have been broadcast. But does it warrant both Brand and Ross being condemned? I think not. 

These were two comedians doing what they do and what we applaud them for regularly. Russell Brand is known as an edgy comedian and has never been one to shy away from harsh satire. Part of what we like about Jonathan Ross is that he can laugh at his guests and get away with it and even his guests find him endearing because of it.The radio sketch wasn’t done out of malice it was done for a laugh. True, it was way off the mark and certainly an apology is necessary but it shouldn’t have resulted in the media circus that it has. 

It’s been confirmed that Jonathan Ross faces a 12 week suspension without pay and Russell Brand has left the BBC as a result of the prank. It’s a shame it’s come to all that but the lads can take comfort in the fact that “There’s Always a Better Job on RecruitIreland.com” 

So what’s your opinion on it?

 There was a sense of excitement when the candidates were called for this week’s task and told they would require their passports. No doubt they recalled visions of the last series of the English version of the show when the candidates were flown to Morocco for a day. So their faces did seem a little surprised upon arrival here in Cork! However, as a native myself, I knew it would be no less exciting and exotic! 

Their task would be to create a 45 second ad for Cork’s hottest new property, the Elysian, in the heart of the city. I was a little disappointed that both teams went with a very straightforward approach to the ad and didn’t really any real creativity in what they produced. What we did see though, were the cracks starting to appear in the teams. 

Mark, Orla and Shane were more than willing to tell of their dislike for Joanna. Joanna herself seemed to be in her own little world yet again and was getting annoyed with her teammates for reasons that weren’t at all clear to me. Stuart just seemed to be in everyone’s way and not really contributing anything except occasionally telling the camera how great he was and how confident he was about the task.As bad as all that was, it was his mistake in the presentation that was unforgiveable.  

Not only did he trip over his opening lines and force his teammates to jump in and save him, but the only word he did manage to say clearly was mispronounced. The word also happened to be the name of the building! Again and again he referred to the project as the “Essian”, leaving his teammates and potential client in stunned silence. 

As I expected, Stuart ended up in the boardroom. I thought Bill made a great call by sending Shane straight back to the house and telling Stuart there was no reason for Shane to be in the boardroom. However, I also thought he made a terrible call by firing Orla rather than Stuart. Bill says he’s looking for fighters but I think in this case he lost out on quiet potential in favour of loud ineptitude.  

What did you think? Leave your comments below

As the candidates entered the boardroom last night I wondered if any of them would survive to see another week. Although much had gone wrong before the candidates had started, nothing could have prepared me for their pitches.It was certainly a tough task and one that was going to expose some weaknesses. Although, I don’t think it was intended to reveal weaknesses from pretty much every candidate! 

The candidates pitched a marketing and sales strategy for the new “Blue Cube Personal Loan Card” and at times it was difficult to watch. Nobody seemed capable of delivering anything convincing but the stand out candidate had to be Joanna. For all the wrong reasons. Reading from a scrappy notepad she seemed to speaking to the ceiling as she spouted meaningless stories and stumbled out her words. When the potential customers asked questions, her answers were laughable and to me it looked like the customers eventually accepted answers because they were starting to be embarrassed for her. 

So I was frankly stunned when Bill sent Avril packing. Fair enough, Avril failed to speak up and be heard on this task. Yet I don’t think even previous performances could forgive Joanna’s total ineptitude. At the end of the day, Joanna scraped through, project manager Orla was sent back to the house with her tail between her legs and all the candidates got a harsh reminder that if they want to be Bill’s apprentice, they better have the “liathroidies”! 

So what did you think? Leave your comments below

After an impressive first episode of Ireland’s take on “The Apprentice” I was keen to see what Bill & Co would have in store for the candidates on week two.Bill didn’t disappoint as this week’s task was to launch the latest offerings from video games giant EA games.

Following some cringe worthy pitches to the EA representative and the usual jargon from the project managers the teams set off to organise their launch parties in less than 24 hours.Both teams seemed to get off to a good start, the girls seemed to be agreeing on everything and on the boys team, project manager Ronan was even being praised by Bill’s right hand man Brian Purcell.

However, the boy’s good fortune didn’t last long. While the girls weren’t without their fair share of mistakes, I couldn’t help but roll my eyes when Derek from the boy’s team decided it would be a good idea to use props with the Adidas brand and logo as props at their launch party. In the boardroom, Ronan did little to defend the boy’s loss and certainly did himself no favours by putting Mark in the firing line. Derek tried to talk his way his way out of trouble but Bill was clearly unimpressed and it was long before he was walking out the with The Apprentice catchphrase ringing in his ears.

It’s still a bit early to pick a stand out candidate but Bill seems to have made no secret of having an early favourite in hard selling Mark. For the moment, Bill is proving he’s more than a match for Alan Sugar and the candidates look to be in for some tough times with next week’s Supermac’s task. Of course, if it all gets to be too much for them, there’s always a better job on RecruitIreland.com….  So what did you think? Leave us your comments below.