I have to admit that I never was that good at maths when I was 16; in fact I even had to retake my maths GCSE just to achieve a C Grade. But then again working out percentages and how they will relate to selling a certain product will ever come into my life also I’m not currently studying for A-Levels in maths, further maths or Economics unlike Hannah, Hayley or Lizzie three of the girls competing on this year’s Young Apprentice. While trying to work out how many litres of ice cream they would need to produce in order to make a profit they were struggling immensely carrying point threes and basically over-complicating things. To be fair to the trio they did have Nick Hewer breathing down their necks looking like a disappointed maths teacher who went as far to tell the camera that they couldn’t add, subtract, multiply or divide. Possibly Hewer was a bit annoyed that he had to give up more of his time to participate in a second series of The Apprentice in a time in which he should be on a break. 

However Young Apprentice, or Junior Apprentice as it was previously known, is different from the grown-up programme these sixteen and seventeen year olds don’t have much of an agenda and a lot less cynicism than their elder counterparts. This year there are two extra contestants and an added two weeks means we’ll be watching the boardroom shenanigans until Christmas week. Lord Sugar was far more pleasant than he ever is on the normal show smiling as the twelve teens entered the room and then telling them that he loved them all. He took time to go through their extra-curricular endeavours like a headmaster giving out trophies on prize night and asking his charges what they’d been going on to do next. One piece of early housekeeping was to sort out the names that he would give to the two Harrys eventually setting on Harry M and Harry H for messers Maxwell and Hitchens respectively. I honestly thought that this would be the opportunity to go younger maybe call one Hazza and the other one H-Boy or something like that, but I suppose some sense of decorum still has to take place this is The Apprentice after all. 

What I feel is a little irresponsible is to have these kids living together under the same roof although they are business minded they are still teenagers away from home and with hormones raging you never know what’s going to happen. I honestly felt that at one point they would decide to ditch the whole ice cream task and instead throw a Skins-style house party inviting everyone they knew on Facebook. But they got down to the tasks of team names, team leaders and flavours of ice cream and this was the part of the process in which the larger characters started to emerge. Firstly there was James who dominating proceedings pushing the idea of an Apple and Watermelon flavoured Frozen Yoghurt over anything that the other boys wanted additionally he was rejecting several of the team names and just came across as pretty aggressive. Mahamed was the other main personality of the boys and he was marked out straight away for his choice of bright white suit in the first scenes coming across as a Southern Oil Baron instead of a teenager who flogs satellite dishes on weekends. On the other side the girls really just blended into one in the opening scenes although Zara did catch my eye but mainly because she was trying to dress as somebody thirty years her senior. 

On trying to decide the themes James once again was eager to take credit for everything suggesting a pirate theme, the character of Captain Vanilla and the slogan Shiverrr me Timbers because ice cream is cold, geddit? Mahamed also excelled her by creating a treasure chest design for the ice cream unit while project manager Harry (H not M) just let them get on with it. The girls’ slogan, something about giving pleasure to the lips and being kind to your hips, seemed to suggest that ice cream was some kind of slimming food and indeed later on they would market their product as healthy treats when they got to their Chessington World of Adventures destination. Having messed up their quantities and number of units needed the girls set about charging as much as they could for their ice creams. It was two pounds for a single scoop and they charged an extra 30p for every topping and 20p for the sodding cone!

Nick was impressed by Zara’s ‘upselling’ which was tantamount to stealing as she’d decided to add the toppings before they’d even been asked for. Zara’s techniques almost resulted in a fight as one harassed mother took objection to having to pay for a cone, and quite right too in my opinion. The young ladies costume of choice was pieces of fruit so we saw bananas and strawberries rushing around this theme park come zoo which was fairly surreal. 
However their costumes weren’t dangerous unlike the boys who, dressed as pirates, were throwing faux-cutlasses around willy nilly almost connecting with potential customers’ faces, which is never a good thing. After Harry M did such a good job with the maths, the boys knew roughly what they were going to sell their wares for and ended up at £1.50 a scoop although Karren Brady thought this was far too cheap which did raise the question, where the hell does she buy her ice cream from? But the old men out for the day at Southend-on-Sea, which is the jewel of the Essex coast according to The Apprentice narrator, seemed to agree with Ms. Brady commenting on the relative value for money of their frozen treats. I have to say though if the BBC forewarn us about violence and bad language before programmes commence I would like a warning about old man flesh, this was something I really didn’t want to see and it would’ve put me off my dinner had I been eating at the time. One thing I noticed here was that Mahmed was being sent to drum up custom for the mobile unit while the other two lads took the cash to drum up their own personal sales. Later on in the day the boys started an ice cream delivery service taking orders from those on the beach who were too lazy to come to the promenade which did in the end prove fruitful and add a lot of money to the total earnings.

Back in the boardroom it seemed that Zara’s aggressive ‘upselling’ and the decision to charge extra for the cone paid off as the girls team made more than a hundred pounds more profit than the boys. While the girls went off to their treat of Zorbing the boys had to head to the Bridge Cafe of doom however I felt this being the Young Apprentice they should’ve been sent somewhere hip and cool, the Bridge Diner perhaps? Harry H eventually decided to take in shouty James and snappy dresser Mahamed into the firing line which I feel was a mistake as these two possible did the most out of any of the team. Indeed James tried to pull a Jim Eastwood questioning Harry’s decision to bring him back quoting his Project Manager’s description of his work ethic as ‘heavenly’ an adjective no man would ever use to describe a fellow team-member. Although Lord Sugar did threaten James to ‘watch it’, it was Mahamed who ultimately got the boot after being described as an optimist rather than a realist. 

I have to say that I really enjoyed the first series of Young/Junior Apprentice although there was one girl, Zoe, who really annoyed me and she put me off the show altogether at times. The contestants here don’t seem to have that problem and I have earmarked several that I think will do well throughout the series. Both Harrys stood out for me, H due to his mature nature and find team leading skills and M because of his general maths ability. Of the girls PM Hayley did well but it was aspiring fashion designer Gbemi who seemed the alpha female winning argument with Hayley about the quantities of mangoes needed for their frozen yoghurt. If the boys ever thought they would win they were kidding themselves as, due to their low prices, they would have to sell double the amount of ice cream due to the pound difference between their two scoops. Or is it every double scoop got them more money? Or maybe if they’d charged double for the toppings they’d get back what the girls charged for the cones? Oh I give up. I told you I was no good at maths. 

What did you think of the contestants leave me a comment below? Or read my blog: mattstvworld.blogspot.com and follow me on twitter @mattstvworld.

View the original post Captain Vanilla and the Pricey Cone: Young Apprentice Week One Review on Unreality TV

The hugely popular hit show The Magicians returns to BBC One in the New Year, with a show-stopping live new format, a dazzling new host and an astonishing line-up of magicians.

Following last year’s ratings success of over six million viewers, the 2012 series will be extended to six 75-minute programmes which will transmit live – which will see the first time a magic series has been transmitted live on the BBC in over 30 years.

In addition to the new format, The Magicians has an exciting new host in Scottish-born television host Darren McMullen, in his debut UK primetime presenting role.

Darren has fronted national shows in both Australia and the US and will preside over the celebrities and magicians as well as announcing the live audience vote each week.

He said: “I can’t wait to host live shows here. The Magicians is a huge entertainment show and talked about around the world so I can’t wait to be at the heart of it. Being a live show, the pressure really will be on the magicians and whether or not they can pull off dangerous stunts in front of a live audience. I’m certainly going to have to have my wits about me!”

Magic duo, Barry & Stuart, return to the series this year and are joined by magicians Pete Firman and Jason Latimer. Each magician will be paired with a different celebrity partner each week. Together they will perform three illusions, both live and pre-recorded, from the classic to the never-attempted before, after which their performances will be put to the viewers’ vote. The magician and celebrity pair with the fewest votes will then have to face a live and dramatic forfeit.

Award-winning Scottish duo Barry and Stuart have had four sell-out shows at the Edinburgh festival, including this year’s smash hit Show And Tell. Previously they starred in the TV shows Dirty Tricks, Magick and Tricks From The Bible, for which they were nominated for a Scottish BAFTA Award. They also won the “Best Comedy Illusionist” Award at the World Magic Awards in 2009.

Pete Firman is the UK’s leading comedian/magician. He’s one of the few magicians to have been invited to perform at Canada’s prestigious Just For Laughs comedy festival in Montreal. A familiar face on British television, Pete has previously starred in TV shows Monkey Magic, Dirty Tricks and The Secret World Of Magic, as well as being nominated for a Golden Rose at the Rose d’Or Festival in Montreux.

Jason Latimer is an American illusionist as well as an academic specialising in the fields of Economics, Mathematics and Applied Physics. Attributed as being the man who makes the connection between technology and magic, Jason also holds the title “Grand Prix Best Overall World Champion of Magic”.

The Magicians will need to dazzle, delight and excel beyond their own favoured speciality, be it escapology, illusion or sleight of hand card tricks, to ensure they get the audience’s support for the live vote.

Karen Smith said: “We are delighted to have The Magicians back with the new format making it even more spectacular than the first series – and it will certainly hold more jeopardy in front of a live audience. It will be a show-stopping array of magic and illusions, set to astonish, grip and entertain. Darren will be the perfect host for this new format and we’re delighted to welcome back Barry and Stuart to the show. Pete Firman and Jason Latimer promise to be equally mesmerising!”

BBC Commissioning Editor, Jo Wallace, said: “Magic is always a fantastic source of entertainment for the whole family. Last year’s show was a resounding success and this year is set to be even more so with the live show element and the addition of Darren McMullen and the new magicians. It will have viewers spellbound.”

View the original post The Magicians returns to BBC One on Unreality TV

BBC have promised they will get some big named stars for their new reality TV series The Voice and if the latest rumour is true, then we’d say they are on exactly the right path.

Lenny Kravitz is reported to be in talks with channel bosses about joining the new show – the American version of which stars Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green, Adam Levine and Christina Aguilera – in which he would be required to properly mentor and not just cast judgement on a group of aspiring singers.

Lenny would act as a mentor and vocal coach and a source told the Sunday Mirror:

‘They want Lenny for The Voice and he’s close to saying yes.

‘They want the show to be credible, not full of pop people who don’t sing live and don’t know the industry.

‘And they don’t want to make mistakes with the casting. So they must have thought long and hard before approaching Lenny.’

The voice was a huge hit in America, despite some worries that people would be tiring of reality TV talent competitions in an already saturated market. However, it’s credibility and attention to actual talent and performing skills won over a lot of viewers and the BBC hope their version can be just as popular in the UK.

Lenny certainly has enough experience for a judging role as, having achieved multiple number one singles all over the world, the singer-songwriter also won the Grammy Award for “Best Male Rock Vocal Performance” four years in a row from 1999 to 2002, breaking the record for most wins in that category and most consecutive wins in one category for a male.

Watch the video of Lenny performing below and tell us, do you think he’d make a good judge?

View the original post Lenny Kravitz for BBC’s The Voice? on Unreality TV

With less than a week to go before the glitz and glamour of Strictly Come Dancing bounces back on to our screens, it would seem that the wholesome family show’s halo has slipped somewhat amidst claims of betting on the part of the production crew.

Judge, Alesha Dixon – who won the show in 2008, has told how at the time of her victory one of the production crew thanked her for winning as he had backed her to win and that he had made £8000 as a result.

Dixon told the Daily Star Sunday: “I was 25/1 when it started and at the end of the series one of the producers came up to me and thanked me for just winning him £8,000.”

Alesha was unaware at the time that this was wrong, but BBC guidelines strictly forbid employees to gamble in such a way and Section 42 of the 2005 Gambling Act makes it illegal to bet on an event that you can influence the outcome of – although it’s unclear how senior the producer was.

Since these allegations have emerged TV watchdog Mediawatch last night demanded the BBC launch a full investigation.

Mediawatch director Vivienne Pattison said: “Viewers don’t want to feel like they are being hard done by or taken advantage of. I would hope the BBC launches a full investigation into this as it has a duty to us the licence payer.”

A Metropolitan Police spokesman added that any complaint regarding cheating in relation to gambling would be “stringently investigated to the full extent of the law”.

A BBC spokesperson insisted that all staff are expected to comply with the corporation’s standards on fairness and impartiality. The producer could face a prison sentence of up to two years if found guilty.

A source said: “This is a disaster for show bosses. It’s an embarrassment for everyone involved. There are strict guidelines forbidding staff on the show from voting during the competition or placing bets on it.

“The incident happened a while ago and the production team has changed significantly since then. But the claims are still damaging and heads could roll.”

View the original post Strictly Come Dancing at centre of ‘Betting Scandal’? on Unreality TV

BBC have opened applications for their new TV talent series The Voice.

The show launched in America earlier this year and achieved record ratings and high critical acclaim, as judges Christina Aguilera, Cee-Lo Green, Adam Levine and Blake Shelton set out to find the most amazing singer in the states.

In January 2012 the UK version of the series will kick off on BBC One and open auditions will be held for the show this winer.

On their application form, show bosses ask that only talented performers apply, writing:

Please only register for Open Auditions if you are an artist with real talent and an amazing voice.

They also revealed that duos will also be accepted on the show, though larger groups or bands will not be allowed to try out.

If you want to audition for The Voice and you are 16 years old or older, then apply here via the BBC website. The audition dates are listed below.

London

Monday 31st October 2011
Tuesday 1st November 2011
Wednesday 2nd November 2011
Friday 25th November 2011
Saturday 26th November 2011

Birmingham

Saturday 5th November 2011
Sunday 6th November 2011

Cardiff

Wednesday 9th November 2011
Thursday 10th November 2011

Glasgow

Monday 14th November 2011
Tuesday 15th November 2011

Manchester
Friday 18th November 2011
Saturday 19th November 2011

Belfast

Tuesday 22nd November 2011

View the original post BBC launch auditions for The Voice 2012 – Belfast, Cardiff, London, Glasgow, Birmingham, Manchester on Unreality TV

Jim Eastwood became the first person to be fired on tonight’s Apprentice final.

Helen Milligan, Jim Eastwood, Susan Ma and Tom Pellareau were the four candidates who made it through to tonight’s final episode and the hopefuls had a hard time during their tough interviews with Lord Alan Sugar’s business contacts.

None seemed to overly impress the gurus. The panel thought Jim was too full of clichés and bull sh*t, Susan’s numbers didn’t add up, plus she likes a bit of tax evasion, Helen is organised but some felt her business idea lacked potential (Alan Sugar in particular was ‘terribly disappointed’ by her business plan) and Tom is an amazing inventor, but a few of the interviewers thought he lacked the real life business acumen to make a business succeed.

However, Sugar seemed particularly disappointed by Jim’s plan to start an e-learning service, which was called AMSmart and borrowed heavily from his own brand name.

He said:

What worries me about your business plan is that what you are selling, is me. You are jumping on the back of my brands.

Jim, in the past twelve weeks you have shine through as a great sales person but I have struggled to differentiate between great salesmanship and business acumen.

The Northern Irish man tried to disagree but Lord Alan wasn’t to be persuaded, he insisted:

There was an opportunity to become a business partner and I’m afraid to say that opportunity is not open to you any longer.

And Jedi Jim was done.

Do you think he deserved to go? Leave your comments below.

View the original post The Apprentice 2011 Results: Jim Eastwood first fired! on Unreality TV

BBC bosses are reportedly embroiled in the process of recruiting judges for their newest reality TV venture, however they have seemingly already met with some obstacles.

Iron Maiden frontman Bruce Dickinson has claimed that he was asked be a panellist on the show – in which four celebrity judges, all noteworthy recording artists, choose teams of contestants through a blind audition process – but turned producers down flat.

He claims that he refused to take part ‘with great delight’ because he hates that genre of entertainment.

Bruce – who until recently fronted Bruce Dickinson’s Friday Rock Show for BBC’s 6 Music – told NME:

“That show sounds so crap and demeaning to everyone involved, I took great delight in turning the BBC down.”

He added:

“The X Factor is appalling enough, it’s no better than Opportunity Knocks.”

Dickinson is currently on tour with rock metal band Iron Maiden, as they continue with their European arena tour.

The Voice achieved great success with it’s first American series earlier this year. It featured Christina Aguilera, Cee Lo Green, Maroon 5 lead vocalist Adam Levine, and Blake Shelton as it’s judges and vocal coaches and the UK version is expected to air on BBC One in January 2012.

View the original post Iron Maiden’s Bruce Dickinson took ‘great delight’ in turning down judges role on BBC’s The Voice on Unreality TV

Shayne Ward is said to be in the running for the presenters role on new BBC’s talent show The Voice.

The channel paid a whopping £20 million for the rights to air the US format, which is currently proving to be a massive hit stateside with celebrity mentors Christina Aguilera, Blake Shelton, Cee Lo Green and Adam Levine, and insiders they are keen for the former X Factor winner to front the show alongside One Show star Alex Jones.

A source close to Shayne – who was dropped by Simon Cowell’s record company earlier this year – told the Daily Star:

“He’s really nervous about screen testing but he knows this is a massive chance to become something other than a singer.”

It was reported yesterday that the channel are also trying to poach Dermot O’Leary from The X Factor for the show and though insiders insist they will not be making an ‘X Factor clone,’ former judges Dannii Minogue and Cheryl Cole are also said to be in the running for mentors positions.

It was reported earlier this month that Shayne will star as Stacee Jaxx in 80s-themed musical Rock of Ages at the Shaftesbury theatre, London. TV funnyman Justin Lee Collins will also be in the cast, taking on the role of Dennis Dupree.

View the original post Shayne Ward to present The Voice for BBC? on Unreality TV

With the ever animated circus that is the reality TV show race that is currently engulfing our news headlines, we can confirm that you will not be asked to split your loyalty when it comes to new BBC talent contest, The Voice, as bosses have confirmed that the show will not be shown at the same time as, or in direct competition with ITV’s X Factor.

It is hard to imagine if by the end of the year there will be anything scripted on our TV screens at all, what with X Factor both sides of the ponds as well as the usual winter line up of Strictly Come Dancing and I’m A Celebrity but it would seem that the reality season will spill out into the new year courtesy of BBC’s The Voice, who have today confirmed that their show will not be aired in competition with X Factor, but instead will run between January and March next year.

The show has caused quite a stir, coming in at a time when the very foundations that made the X Factor as popular as it is, come under immense pressure with the release of an American version and the controversial judge juggling that has seen our nations sweetheart, Cheryl Cole, out of a job.

But, according to The Mirror, she needn’t plan a trip to the job centre just yet, as bosses at the BBC have implicated her as part of their judging panel for The Voice.

A bold and incredibly clever move by the BBC, who won the rights to the show after a bidding war with many higher bidders, one of whom was a very intimidated ITV, who were probably very worried by the competition factor way before Cheryl became another.

Speaking to The Mirror, BBC boss Danny Cohen said:

“The Voice is a really stand-out format and it has got a lot of warmth and heart,” Cohen told the tabloid. “It has got something in it for all ages with very high quality musicians involved. There is a real freshness to the fact you are picking people not on what they look like, just on how they sing. In terms of judges, we want a real range of musical styles, that is something they have done well in the States. I wouldn’t like to compare the show to The X Factor, it is just a big new show for the BBC. And we will work hard to avoid our show clashing with The X Factor on ITV.”

He revealed: “We were a little worried when ITV put in a bid but we fought really passionately for the show and worked hard to show how we felt, and hopefully that played a part when bigger bids came in. We want to provide really good Saturday night entertainment right through the year,” Cohen explained. “The vision of the BBC is it is there to inform, educate and entertain and we take inform and educate very seriously, but we also take the entertain bit seriously. The BBC has a fantastic heritage of wonderful family entertainment on Saturday evenings. Every so often we will take something from abroad because we think it is worth it.”

Rumours circulating regarding the judging panel of The Voice put Adelle, Robbie Williams and a humiliated and much sympathised with Cheryl Cole, who returned from LA earlier this month having been sacked from her job on the US X Factor judging panel, in the hot seats for this new singing talent show.

View the original post ‘The Voice will not clash with The X Factor’ – but Cheryl Cole might be a Judge? on Unreality TV

Gary Barlow reportedly first turned down the chance to appear on The X Factor, because he wanted to work on the BBC instead.

The Take That singer had been signed to work on a new reality TV show, which would search for a singer to perform at the London 2012 Olympics ceremony. However, he agreed to work on the ITV talent show instead, after Olympic organisers insisted they only wanted big named acts for their event and the BBC show was cancelled.

An insider told The Sun:

“Gary really wanted to do a show on the BBC as he believes in its public service mission.

“He loved the idea of finding an amazing unknown singer to appear at the opening ceremony in 2012.

“But Olympics chiefs made it known they wanted big name acts to perform instead and the show had to be pulled. It was only then that Gary turned to The X Factor and became the new Simon Cowell.”

Gary has surprised hopefuls at the UK audition venues he has attended so far, as few were prepared for his straight talking and no nonsense attitude. We can’t wait until he hits our screens this summer!

View the original post Gary Barlow almost turned down X Factor job for BBC Olympics show! on Unreality TV