The Apprentice was in my neck of the woods at Stoke Park in beautiful Buckinghamshire this week. 

It is one of my favourite local hangouts with fabulous restaurants, pools and a state of the art spa. The task? Making money from interior design. 

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However, Lord Sugar makes it clear it is not just about creativity. It’s about making a profit too. So, in typical Apprentice form, the boys team focus on what the task is not (all about design) with Jeff, in particular, stating ‘design is everything in this task... how many bankers do you know that can break-dance?’ 

I’d be very cautious of making such statements as they ultimately result in the boardroom demise of the naive, outspoken candidate. 

The stress starts to show as the girls’ team measure walls and claws come out. Poor Elizabeth, a bit of an odd, however, likeable character, unknowingly rubs the other girls up the wrong way with them stating ‘she just makes everything worse’ and ‘she lives on another planet’. 

Elizabeth reminds me a bit of our ‘sausage Oliver’ in the 2016 bunch. A target for those that think the ‘odd but likeable’ one is easy bait to take down. This may be true, however I feel one must target the bully within the group if true justice is to be served. 

The girls’ team strategy is to skimp on hotel room fittings as much as possible while the boys indulge in overspending but then, the boys team weren’t watching the numbers to start with. 

As The Apprentice production machine rolls on, candidates are put under intense pressure and more things start going wrong - rooms are not measured properly, wallpaper designs come out looking horrible and worst of all, there just isn’t any time to fix these ‘problems’. 

I can relate to the stress the candidates are feeling. Before going on The Apprentice in 2016, I’d watch the show thinking  ‘how silly you lot are’ and ‘you can’t get even the simplest things wrong’ however now I know what goes into this. When I see the candidates stressing and making errors I empathise because I know all is not what it seems. 

They are more competent than they are made to look. But hey, this is TV and the rest of the country like to watch the candidates desperately scrabbling around... so back to heads rolling in the boardroom. 

The boys team lose and the project manager, Ross, is trying to explain something to Lord Sugar. 

When Lord Sugar interrupts him, Ross bites back saying ‘I’m actually trying to explain something’. Instead of a bruised ego, Lord Sugar seems to have a new found respect for Ross after he stands up for himself and fires Jeff who, in my opinion, was rather good. 

Just shows you that standing up to your ‘superior’ in business can sometimes prove fruitful. Well done Ross...