The Apprentice

The Apprentice! The most unrealistic business interview is back. And as usual we have the same set of seemingly incompetent idiots who wouldn't be able to organise the proverbial piss up. (A potential task next year Lord Sugar?).

My dad is yelling "stop complaining and do some work!" getting increasingly more angry with this year's candidates - we probably all are - but then again, if they all just went about it in the right way, made a profit and didn't bitch, it would just be dull!

I've often wondered why they give these candidates, who are probably already on quite a hefty salary, the chance to bumble through the tasks making mistakes that we as the general public would probably do right. But I guess that's just it; it's rewarding to see these arrogant trash talking idiots fail miserably! It's cringeworthy, but brilliant.

It is, after all, an entertainment programme. Have we ever seen an "Apprentice, what the winner did next" show? No, because people aren't bothered about the job they eventually do, they're more bothered about how they will, or won't, handle the tasks each week. The fun lies in trying to figure out which group will fail and who will get fired.

There isn't a better example of how to lead an audience on a twisting path in a reality TV series. The editing is extremely clever - building one team up to success before swiftly cutting them down, offsetting the triumphs of one team with the failings of another, and intercutting all this with some fantastic facial expressions from Nick & Karen.

The clever editing flows throughout the entire series, giving screen time to the bolshy ones and leading us down the garden path about the front runners before giving them the off in the boardroom, allowing the quieter, better ones to come through later on in the series. This keeps it fresh, and keeps the audience on its toes, guessing week on week about who the eventual winner may be.

And all this is wonderfully scored with original music by Dru Masters, to intensify the drama in the boardroom, accompanied by some very clever choices of other pieces from films such as Wall-E & Harry Potter. The intelligent score, as with the editing, leads the viewer to make an opinion of a candidate, whether it be bumbling and daft, or sincere and controlled.

All this goes together to make a dream case study for any media studies student, but also an incredibly entertaining programme that makes us feel that all of us would be capable of earning Lord Sugar's three figure salary. If only...

Watch The Apprentice every Wednesday @ 9.00PM on BBC1, followed directly by You're Fired on BBC2