March 23rd, 2012 by Sarah.
The Apprentice star Karren Brady’s book, Strong Woman: Ambition, Grit And A Great Pair Of Heels, goes on sale on March 29th, but ahead of it, the Sun has published extracts which chart Karren’s rise to the upper echelons of the business world.
Karren, who is of course now one of Lord Sugar’s key advisers and also the vice-chairman of West Ham football club, reveals in the book how her single minded determination has been behind her rise to the top.
She writes, “I have a desire for independence, the need for control – or what others call sheer bloody-mindedness.
“But recently I’ve had to dwell on why I became who I am. I don’t reflect on such things easily because I’ve never been an emotional person. I’m logic personified.
“Looking back over my life, I tried to work out how and where the desire for independence began to make itself felt…” Read more & comment »
March 22nd, 2012 by Sarah.
The Apprentice candidate Bilyana Apostolova – I may just caller her Bill from now on – has said that she’s “not embarrassed” to have been the first candidate that Lord Sugar fired this year. She further added that in effect, she felt she’d fired herself.
However, as we reported earlier, she did also tell a tabloid newspaper that she felt Lord Sugar had humiliated her by intimating that she was trying to get through the first stage by telling her “sob story.”
But now, What’s On TV mag say that Bill has come to terms with the whole thing, and as mentioned above, isn’t embarrassed to be the first out.
She said, “Having seen the episode I don’t feel embarrassed. I didn’t make a major mistake.
“I left there while holding my head up high … it’s arguable whether it was a very fair firing…
“I am disappointed that I left so early on, but I’m not embarrassed… Read more & comment »
March 22nd, 2012 by Sarah.
As fans of The Apprentice may know, Lord Sugar fired Bilyana Apostolova in the new series of the show, however, she’s told the Sun that she felt “humiliated” by Sugar’s remarks to her.
Before he fired her – and after hearing how Bilyana had a poor upbringing in Bulgaria before she relocated at age 17 to the UK – Lord Sugar told her, “Let’s not get the violins out…”
He added that he wasn’t inclined to take account of her “sob story” when she tried to tell him of her achievements since coming to the UK.
Bilyana said, “He humiliated me with his response.
“He said, ‘Let’s not get the violin out.’ I thought that was quite ironic.
“Always, he says, ‘I’m an East End boy from the back of the truck to one of the top guys… Read more & comment »
March 22nd, 2012 by Lisa McGarry.
The Apprentice started with the typically brilliant lines and the same frosty reception from Lord Sugar. But what impressed me about this episode was the lack of mistakes.
We did have Jenna pipe up with the fact that she had a dream, and in that dream a friend told her to call the team ‘Sterling’. Ok Jenna…
Nick the candidate, not Nick Hewer, took control of the boys on the first episode. And what a great job he did. They produced a London themed product aimed at tourists, which equals a central London JACKPOT. They did have some difficulties printing the damn things though and that seems like something I would have been really bad at too. I always shied away from the practical things like that.
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March 21st, 2012 by Lisa McGarry.
In the first boardroom of the series, Lord Sugar emphasises the simplicity of the task before asking the teams about their chosen team names and seeing how the Project Managers faired.
Lord Sugar is interested to hear that none of the boys were willing to put themselves forward for the Project Manager role on Phoenix and is impressed with Nick for stepping forward. He is less impressed with the boys’ designs stating, “you can have the greatest margin in the world but in the end if the punter doesn’t want to buy your product its meaningless isn’t it?”
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March 21st, 2012 by Lisa McGarry.
The Apprentice kicks off it’s 2012 series on BBC One tonight and after viewing the entire episode last week at the press launch, we can guarantee you, it’s a great premiere!
In the first boardroom meeting, Lord Sugar wastes no time in informing his 16 possible partners of his high expectations:
“This is not about a job anymore and I’m not looking for a friend, if I wanted a friend I’d get a dog. I’m looking for a partner, the ‘Marks’ to my ‘Spencer’, the ‘Lennon’ to my ‘McCartney’. This is about me investing £250,000 into a business with one of you and I’m expecting you, as the so called entrepreneurs, to make the money for me.”
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March 19th, 2012 by Lisa McGarry.
Susan Ma
When Unreality TV met Lord Alan Sugar in London last week, at the press launch for his new series of The Apprentice, the business guru admitted that he wanted to spend more time investing in and encouraging new entrepreneurs over the next few years.
Well it seems the Amstrad boss has put his money where his mouth is, as it has been revealed that he has sank some money in a new business venture by former Apprentice candidate Susan Ma.
The 21 year old came to the reality TV show last year, as Managing Director of Tropic Skin Care Ltd.
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March 16th, 2012 by Lisa McGarry.
James McCullagh has more reason than most to watch The Apprentice, because he knows exactly how it feels to face Lord Alan Sugar in that boardroom.
The 17 year old schoolboy from Northern Ireland finished as runner up – behind Zara Brownless – in the 2011 series of ‘Young Apprentice’ and during the time on the show invented his own video game “Crazy Cabinet” and produced his own Mediterranean brand of popcorn called “La Popcorn.”
Now he’s casting his eagle eye of the latest batch of candidates to put themselves up for Sugar’s scrutiny and below, he tells Unreality TV who he’s watching out for when the series starts on March 21st.
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March 15th, 2012 by Lisa McGarry.
It seems that new Apprentice candidate Duane Bryan is more than just a promising business man.
The 29 year old Director of Drinks Distribution Company will make his TV debut on the BBC series when it launches on the 21st March, however he has hit the headlines for different reasons this week, after it turns out that he is a bit of a real life hero.
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March 14th, 2012 by Lisa McGarry.
Tom Gearing
Age: 23
Occupation: Director of a Fine Wine Investment Company
Lives: London, UK
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