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The Apprentice


BBC1-11/12, Wednesday 04 June 9:00pm - 10:00pm



Sir Alan likes to say his series is "the job interview from hell", but mostly it's nothing of the sort - it's commercial capers followed by tortuous postmortems. Tonight, however, very much is the job interview from hell. It's the penultimate episode, where the remaining candidates get a one-on-one grilling from some of Sir Alan's trusted friends and business associates. As a rule, the interviewers are as warm and cuddly as you'd expect of Sugar's mates. In other words, they're snarling attack dogs, whose aim is to maul the interviewees until they're little more than scraps of meat in fashionable businesswear. Obviously, this is entertaining to watch, though look out for the moment when your least favourite candidate is so brutally done over, you feel for the first time in 11 weeks an actual spark of sympathy. Despite being all talk, it's a gripping edition, not least because it turns out we may not know the candidates as well as we thought. And because, as one puts it, "If you nail this, you're in the final."
radiotimes

Having spent the last 10 weeks being told this is the "job interview from hell" we finally get to the actual interview part. Three are due for the chop and suddenly the self-confessed business superstars are bags - and berets - of nerves.

It's like watching five hapless bunnies being thrown to a group of snarling pit bulls, as the remaining candidates are ripped to shreds by three of "Suralan's" toughest business colleagues (plus the nice Birmingham City boss Karren Brady, who is more house cat than attack dog).

It's hilarious to watch, not least when Lee screws up, but I can't be alone in wishing the useless Michael hadn't already been fired.

Seeing him being whipped into place by the interviewers would have been priceless. But at least he and the rest of the original 16 will be back next week to help the finalists in their last task.
Mirror