The Lego Apprentice returns

The Lego Apprentice is back, after last year's Youtube success.

The comedy videos, made by Bolegbros on the video-sharing site, shows a mini version of each episode of The Apprentice using animated Lego characters.

Here is the Lego version of this episode one of The Apprentice.

The Apprentice candidate who could be ultimate loser

Fired: Ben Clarke, who lost his job by boasting he would win The Apprentice (Pic: The Sun).

Apprentice candidate Ben Clarke will be the ultimate loser of this year's The Apprentice if he is fired.

Ben was fired from his last job for boasting he would leave the 'losers' at London-based investment bank Brewin Dolphin behind and win the TV show, according to The Sun.

The arrogant and over-confident claim which lost the 22-year-old Irishman his last job may well be his downfall in the show as well.

As I stated in my first blog of The Apprentice, his idolisation of Hugh Hefner and his statement that business is 'better than sex' make him difficult to take seriously.

The tasks ahead will show whether he is compensating for his realistic chances or if he can substantiate his boasts of having potential to win The Apprentice.

If he loses, though, he will be the ultimate loser, having lost not only the chance to be Sir Alan Sugar's apprentice, but his job at Brewin Dolphin as well.

Apprentice news round-up

Yasmina: complicated family life (pic: BBC online)

Father of Apprentice candidate Yasmina Sladatan has three wives, revealed the Daily Mail yesterday.

Medi Sladatan, father to the 28-year-old Londoner, married Italian Cinzia Crispimo in an Islamic ceremony in Turkey in 1986, Italian Stephania Loi two years later and Briton Sarah Deakin in 1993, but only Ms Crispimo was recognised by British law as his wife.

It appears that my tip to win The Apprentice this year has a complicated family history.

Undoubtedly newspapers are eager to dish up dirt on the contestants of reality TV shows, most prevalent in the coverage of Big Brother, where all sorts of skeletons are brought out of the closet.

But what of Sir Alan Sugar? What of the scary boardroom boss flanked by his task spies Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford.

In fact, he is not very scary-looking at all.


Bright and breezy: Sir Alan likes to cycle (Pic: Mail online)


The Mail reported that, in his spare time, Sir Alan likes to go cycling twice a week. It seems to me that Sir Alan could be a little paranoid of cars not spotting him, so high is the number of colours he sports while out cycling.

Could a cycling challenge await The Apprentice candidates in the coming weeks?

The Apprentice: Episode One reviewed

Anita Shah is fired from the Apprentice (Pic: freshbusinessthinking)

The first programme of this year's The Apprentice saw Anita Shah become the first candidate fired by businessman Sir Alan Sugar.

Anita was fired after being assigned in a washing task after she was assigned the job of counting up how much the girls' team, 'Ignite', had spent.

Both the boys' team, 'Empire', and 'Ignite' chose to wash cars, though the boys also decided to scrub shoes as well.

There was a couple of fundamental differences between the teams.

The boys chose their team leader straight away, allowing Howard Ebison take charge, leading the team to a net profit of £239.61 after spending £107.39 and taking £347.

But the girls were less decisive in their choice of team leader. Mona Lewis eventually took on the task as every other girl shirked the responsibility.

Mona said, 'you need balls to put yourself forward to be team leader in the first week', but that was hardly the case. She was team leader because she was the girl who was the least unwilling to be the leader.

Mona led the girls to a profit of £160.55, after spending £196.45 and taking £347. The girls had spent too much and whoever was seen to be in charge of that would come under eventual heavy criticism. But who was seen to be in charge and who actually was in charge were two entirely different things.

I was quite happy to see Anita fired because, as I said in my preview blog, she is one of the oldest candidates and is a lawyer and my prediction that she would not be what Sir Alan was looking for was proven true.

But I thought it was harsh in this task alone that she was fired due to that she was only asked to count the budget and not to decide the expenditure. In the long run, though, I think Sir Alan will benefit from seeing more of what Mona and Debra Barr, who has already shown her mouthy side.

The jury is still out on whether the two of them are, as Sir Alan says, 'a bunch of designer suits and dresses' who are just 'good with words'.

Certainly Mona has a lot to prove as her team never stood much hope of winning when she could not even tell that the item she picked up at the start of the task was a duster.

That's my say on this week's The Apprentice.

Now for the regular feature I am starting which are my random thoughts of the week.

Random thought 1: Did anyone else find Majid Nagra quite sexist? Or at least portrayed as such by the BBC team with selective quotes. I took his joke that he had a wife to do his cleaning as such, but he followed that later by saying, 'We can't lose the first task, not to girls - not that I'm sexist'. No Majid. Of course you're not sexist.

Random thought 2: Now, Mona's profile said she would love to be the brains behind Tesco. So where does she instruct the other half of the team to go to clean cars? That's right - a supermarket car park.

Read next week for my review of Episode Two of this year's The Apprentice.

Navigation system could take any man off a cliff edge

Teetering on the edge (picture: Sky News)

A man called Robert Jones was almost led over a cliff by his satellite navigation system.

Blogger Chris Skoyles calls Mr Jones a 'muppet' and says his is the behaviour of another 'moronic motorist', but how far would you trust your sat-nav before you realise it is leading you astray?

Imagine you are in a car and you are heading for a destination new and completely unfamiliar to you, not just somewhere you know inside out.

Your satellite navigation seems to be taking you in the right direction (as far as you know) until it starts to lead you down a narrow gravel path. You may think it strange. It could cross your mind that the road is a little narrow. But it could also cross your mind that, for all you know, which is nothing, it is the right way, so perhaps you would keep going.

The road is a little steep, and you gather speed, until you crash through a fence towards the edge of a cliff. It could all happen very quickly.

That is what happened to Mr Jones and, unless he was suicidal, I don't think he would have done as Mr Skoyles suggests, which is to 'willingly allow his satellite navigation system to nearly drive him off the edge of a cliff', because that wasn't what he asked it to do, was it?

The other thing which puzzles me about this case, is that Mr Jones was charged with 'driving without due care'. It may not have been that he was driving without due care, and he was certainly unlikely to have hurt anyone unless he was driving like a maniac.

All he was guilty of is what many of us human beings are guilty of every day, which is trusting technnology too much to get the job right. On this point, Mr Skoyles is right that computers are indeed not infallible and they should always be our slaves, not our masters.

But Mr Skoyles' overall assessment that Mr Jones is 'a muppet' is harsh because this is one of those freak incidents which could happen to any man and, had he not been following the instructions of a faulty sat-nav but a map which had been printed incorrectly, would he have been deemed a fool for trusting a map of an area he did not know. I think not, so why is he a fool for trusting his sat-nav?

The Apprentice is back

The Apprentice returns (pic: BBC Online)

The Apprentice returns to our television screen this evening and, if it is anything like last year's, it will be something special.

Last year's Apprentice was won by determined milkman's son Lee 'Das what arm tawkin bout!' McQueen.

I didn't like Lee first-off last year because of an incident where he spoke horribly to Sara Dhada and the charming Raef Bjayou came to her rescue.

But in the later rounds Lee won me over with his better side, showing the graft and determination, for which I wanted army man and ironing expert Simon Smith to win in the early stages, to be a worthy Apprentice.

Throughout the next series, opinions and feelings towards candidates will again change towards candidates and everyone will have their favourites and controversial characters.

So what are my first impressions?

Anita Shah
From the picture alone, it looks as though Anita is putting on a tough, ballsy-girl front, the type with which Helene Speight went to far with last year. But her age, she's 35, and that she is a lawyer will count against her. Sir Alan wants somebody who is young, to mould, and remember what happened to Nicolas de Lacy-Brown, last year? Anita is a sure candidate to be off in an early, if not the first, round.

Ben Clarke
The man who says 'making money is better than sex' looks to have some drive. With a statement like that, it is no surprise that Ben's idol is Hugh Heffner. I'm not sure how seriously to take Ben, but with a degree in economics and business and career as a trainee stockbroker, he has the skeleton and the youth at the age of 22 for Sir Alan to make an impression on him. Lee will stick around for a while for Sir Alan to see what he is about.

Debra Barr
Debra is from the same stomping ground as winner Lee and losing candidate Ian Stringer last year, Buckinghamshire. 'Mouth of the year' at her office Christmas party may or may not work in her favour, but her story is quite a determined one. She went on to achieve a degree in English Literature even though she struggled with literacy in her early years. With the determination she has, Debra could go far, but will her mouth spell trouble for her?

Howard Ebison
Strangely not dissimilar to a close friend of mine in his career path, who, like Howard, is has also done accountancy, worked in a fish and chip shop (with myself, though I'm not sure if he hated it) and did a paper round before. Howard was sacked from his paper round and his hatred for work in a fish and chip shop does not indicate that he will work well in tasks Sir Alan sets which he does not like. He will probably be fired reasonably early.

James McQuillan
James' profile doesn't really give much away. He sounds like a nice guy, but will he be interesting enough for Sir Alan? His profile sounds refreshingly frank, but Sir Alan may look at the number of jobs he has had and wonder how long it would be before he moved on from the Apprentice job, should he be hired. He claims to get 'foot in mouth' syndrome and may not have the coolest head in the board room battles. Expect another candidate to outgun this Mr Niceguy in the board room.

Kate Walsh
Kate is another candidate with a strange idol - Samantha from Sex and The City. But if she has the ballsy approach to business that she claims, she could be a strong candidate, especially as she is 27, around the age Sir Alan could be looking for, young enough to mould and old enough to have had experience, which she states, in many different areas of business. Perhaps the psychology part for her combined degree with management will give her an edge in the board room. Kate should make it through the early rounds.

Kimberly Davis
Possibly, Kimberly could be the 'Michael Sophocles' of this year's Apprentice, who Sir Alan sees a bit of himself in. Kimberly was interested in business from the age of five when she started a lemonade and ice tea stall, the kind of humbling background which Sir Alan had. Kimberly does not shy away from the big stage, having performed Mozart at Carnegie Hall. Her weakness is that it her profile reads like she has done a lot in her life and unsurprisingly, she is 33. She will last a while, but perhaps she should have careered into business earlier.

Lorraine Tighe
Another with a bit too much age on her side, but Lorraine's career sounds successful. A lot could depend on how dependent her two children are on her, but their ages are not revealed in the profile. She says she has fought against all the odds and sums up her attitude to business like having the ability to drive a dead horse to the winning line. She will defying all odds if she wins the Apprentice.

Majid Nagra
Majid is at a good age to be a strong candidate, but I don't think his profile suggests he has strong enough credentials to win. He works with youth centres, charities and runs his own car-hire business, but it doesn't seem as though he has ever really excelled. He may say that business is the back-bone of the world. It'll be interesting to see how often he uses that phrase if he is on the show for any great length. I expect him to be fired in the early stages.

Mona Lewis
Mona sounds like quite a serious candidate with a purpose to drive her on, to change her life. It's bizarre that she wishes she had been the brains behind Tesco, of all businesses. Her profile is an enigma. She is one of the younger female candidates, which works in her favour over some of the other ladies. It will be interesting to see if her purpose and big-headed attitude is a front or actually has some substance.

Noorul Choudhury
As a science teacher with little business credential but from a pipe dream of becoming a millionaire, Noorul is one of the weakest candidates. He has three years on last year's chosen one Lee as well, which Sir Alan may see as three years too many. He says that business is a dog-eat-dog world and you must play to win, which should make him interesting in the board room. He surely won't last long without much business experience and will drop a real clanger at one point.

Paula Jones
Other than a Masters in Industrial Relations and Human Resource Management, Paula's profile does not have much history of how she has done in business. She was in the army, which suggests she will be a hard worker on the tasks, will do well working in a team and will be comfortable with the hierarchical system of either being led by a team leader or leading the team herself. Her great weakness is that she shys away from confrontation. She won't fair well in the board room if she is deemed at fault for anything.

Phillip Taylor
Phillip's profile suggests that he will be OK on the sales side of things as he is an estate agent used to selling and if he is as charming as he says he is. He may struggle in some of the tasks if he is not the team leader because he admits to being a power freak. If he doesn't try to take control too much and uses his sales talents, he could go far.

Rocky Andrews
Rocky is the youngest candidate at 21, which is why he will not win this year's Apprentice. If he does impress, Sir Alan may say to come back when he has more experience under his belt. With a wage above what Sir Alan is offering, his motives to win the Apprentice will also come under scrutiny. Is he that keen to work for Sir Alan that he will take a salary cut, or is The Apprentice just something he wants to win? But that's not worth worrying about. He will not win.

Yasmina Siadatan
Yasmina is a strong candidate because she has decent qualifications and describes herself as dominating yet adaptable, which is the kind of attitude which will work in her favour. She says that business is about spotting a gap in the market so we could expect some exciting ideas for products from her during the tasks. Her age, 27, and the experience of her dad's restaurant business could be invaluable. I think she may go quite far, based on her profile.

I will be watching the first show of this year's Apprentice with great anticipation tonight, preparing to see which of my predictions fall flat and which are true, and to see how the teams fair in their first task.

My canine friends

My dog Ben and myself (left)

Following on from yesterday's blogged review of Marley and Me, it really did make me pause (the end of any doggy puns I promise) for thought about my own canine friend.

Journalist John Grogan in the film wanted to be a reporter, but ended up becoming a successful columnist by writing many stories (not tales) about his dog. Not the most realistic portrayal of a journalist today, but nonetheless, it has inspired me to write something about my own dog.

If you stopped any dog owner in the street, they will probably be able to tell you a memory about something their dog has done, and more often or not, it will be something quite funny.

My first dog was called Ben, surely one of the most popular male dog names. I was looking for a website to corroborate this, but I don't believe either of the sites I found. How many people call their poodle 'Zeus'? Or their great dane 'Spaghetti'? Even 'Capone' is on their for the dog's 'gangster-like qualities', which are? Well I know at least one other person who has a dog called Ben anyway.

Does your dog show 'gangster qualities'?

Ben (pictured, left above) was my first dog, a cross between a labrador and probably a sheep dog, so when he finally had to be put down from being in too much pain, it was a sad time. I was just about to go to work to find out my shifts when I knew it was the last time I'd see him. He was a remarkably placid creature and would never chase any sticks or do any dog-like things like that. Whether it was that he didn't realise he was a dog or that he was just too clever, I will never know.

The funny thing about Ben was that he just wasn't very clever. Often he'd go down like a sheepdog and wait in the garden until all the birds arrived before rushing down with his heckles up trying to catch one, but by the time he got there the birds had always flown away and he just looked daft and confused. An excellent dog for myself and my sister growing up though because of his peaceful nature.

The dog I have now is called Bruno (left), another popular dog name alleged by myself. The difference with chocolate labrador and springer spaniel Bruno is that I have seen him grow from a small puppy and already he has produced some really warm memories from when he was so small that he could go up the stairs but was too scared to come back down again to now, where he has grown to the size where there isn't always a choice of whether to play with him or not.

My most recent funny memory of him is when he came into the living room at Christmas time and jumped onto my lap and his breath stank to high heaven of turkey. I knew he had been up to no good because it had been quiet for 10 minutes.

When I go home from university at Easter I will have to take him a bone to distract him from my own fleshy limbs.