Last week’s Media Guardian asked ” is it time to say “you’re fired” to Sir Alan Sugar?” To which Luke Johnson (chairman of Channel 4 and apparently an “unrepentant capitalist”) responded with a resounding “Yes”.
Now I have to sympathise with Luke for “[making the] mistake of doing some business with him almost 25 years ago”. I don’t think I’d enjoy that too much either. And in terms of a creating some “Entrepreneurial Apprentice” – what does this actually mean? Surely the point of being an entrepreneur is to have the drive to just get off your ass and make it happen. Landing a job as Suralan’s reasonably well-paid assistant may make it easier to pay the mortgage, but you’re not going to become the next Bill Gates.
However, with all that said, I for one am an unrepentant Apprentice fan!
So what other complaints has Luke got with Suralan? “The show presents a wholly bogus image of what commercial life is like.” Agreed! Is this a problem? Not really. I don’t sit around thinking that the Apprentice is in any way connected with real life. I also don’t imagine for a second that doing well on the apprentice would equate to being a successful entrepreneur. But I still enjoy listening to Jennifer inform me that she’s the best sales person in Europe. Or listening to Raef explain how words are his tools.
Luke’s not the only one, of course. The Apprentice seems to be fairly proficient at polarising opinion. It’s all just pantomime; unreality reality TV, but still thoroughly enjoyable. Long live the Apprentice!