Bad week for 2 Dragons + New Godfather joins the Den

Shocking news from Dragon's Den as Richard Farleigh has been axed from the panel. The brilliant business mind, who proves you don't have to be an arrogant jerk to be successful, has been given his cards by the BBC and is rightfully furious. This was the aussie's reaction:

"It would be disappointing if that was the reason - rather than anything fundamental - if it was because I was the wrong colour."

"I don't know why this has happened and I am very disappointed and bemused - I wasn't expecting it because all the feedback I got was very positive."

"I had even moved back to the UK to focus on commitments for the show. I am gutted that I have not been invited back."

In our opinion this move is a joke for several reasons, one, Farleigh as mentioned above is a nice guy and is the only Dragon who is always polite to the inventors - no matter how barmy they are. Two, he consistently invests unlike a couple of others and doesn't wait for other Dragon's before making his choice. Three, he consistently invests in businesses that go on to do something after the show - take Reggae Reggae Sauce from Levi Roots which is now an exclusive product at Sainsburys. He also invested, along with Duncan Bannatyne in Igloo, which has grown into a profitable transport business that has made it's founders millionairres.

All in all a real mistake by the BBC.

Richard's replacement is investor James Caan, who shares his name with The Godfather screen legend. Caan is worth £130 million and frankly, better be good. On his appointment James said:

"I'm thrilled to be invited to be in one of the highly coveted Dragon positions.

"In business I make a point of investing in people, as I'm a great believer that it is people who create a success in business through their passion and conviction."

And finally onto the King of Puns Peter Jones whose ITV business show Tycoon has taken a kicking in the ratings. For once Peter's midas touch hasn't been upto it and ITV have ditched the program's one hour time running time and time slot. Tycoon will no longer go out on a Tuesday night between 9pm and 10pm. It will instead return on Monday nights at 10pm in a half hour timeslot from the 9th of July.

The big problem for this show has been the quality of the contestants - unlike the Apprentice these entreprenuers are neither particularly sharp or media savvy. Frankly they are ruddy boring. Peter has also changed his Dragon's Den persona which hasn't helped. On the Den the pun happy Dragon comes across as being shrewd but also as a good fellow with a sense of humour - as he does when on other shows ie, Chris Moyles. Sadly he's decide to reinvent himself on this show as being a hardman but really he should leave the tough guy act to Sir Alan and concentrate on being himself.

Links:
Godfather replaces Aussie

Tycoon goes the way of Titanic

Bizarre Apprentice Headlines

Following Simon Ambrose's surprise Apprentice victory there have been some comical and bizarre headlines since the show's finale.

Typically, it is wicked witch Katie Hopkins who has taken her share of the column inches.

Despite her making many derogatory comments about the hapless Paul 'Captain Mainwaring' Callaghan, it seems that the first couple of the Apprentice we're happy to make-up at the filming of 'You're Hired' and have promptly rekindled their relationship.

The top Katie story has to be an even more eye opening love story; her secret crush on Sir Alan's right hand man Nick Hewer (above left). Katie revealed that she fell for the silver tongued silver fox during the filming of the show. Interestingly Nick branded her a 'gameplayer' following her firing. I wonder what he will make of the latest revelations?

The mind boggles.

The Apprentice, week 8: Ghazal - you're fired!

In episode 8 of the Apprentice the two teams were led by Ghazal and Jadine, the task was to create the branding and supporting advertising for a pair of trainers and to present their ideas to an advertising agency before Sir Alan Sugar made the final decision on who won and more importantly for the contestants who lost.

The girls team, led by Ghazal, struggled to come up with a big idea, this was despite having team members Katie who has worked as an international brand manager and Naomi who is an advertising manager. In the end they settled on the brand name of 'Jam', which has it's obvious musical connotions.

However, the girls group was split down the middle over the central theme behind their big idea which was changed at the last minute to 'music is everything' the decision was largely due to Katie taking control of poceedings and Ghazal following.

None of this pleased Naomi and Kristina. The usual predictable cat-calling following with Katie suggesting she'd like to fire Kristina 'in more ways than one'...and suggestions from the other half of the group that perhaps Katie was out to get Ghazal fired....

To be honest, I'm not sure that was the case here as Katie genuinely was pleased with the groups promotional material. I honestly think much of the back-biting which goes on all of the time is designed in part for self preservation should things go wrong in the Boardroom - if that happens the said person can turn round and say 'I told you so'.... A prime example of this in episode 8 was Tres in the boys group who never seemed to stop complaining.

The boys eventually won out( I dont know how ) with their appallingly branded 'Street' trainer and no doubting who was the star of the show and that was Simon - if this was purely a talent contest then he'd win it hands down, though to be fair Tres did play a large part in the group's win.

The fear of losing is of course what makes the show such good tv as the contestants are all desperate to become Sir Alan's assistant and so they will do and say almost anything to win which is why The Apprentice is fantastic viewing.

As for Sir Alan Sugar he was on top form again and apart from giving out his usual no nonsense verdict at the final inquest, he once again gave us all an insight into the way he thinks about business, this week marketeers got the 'SAS treatment' when he said 'For once I agreed with an advertising agency'...which suggests that dealing with Sir Alan's advertising account would be a nightmare.

Ghazal - "you're all talk and no do" you're fired

Apprentice tells SAS where to stick "six figure salary"

Word coming out of the beeb this weekend suggests that one of Sir Alan Sugar's Apprentice finalists tells the beligerant boss that life at Amstrad just isn't for him or her.

In what will be the most shocking boardroom on record, one of the finalists drops the bombshell that they don't actually want the job working for former the Spurs head honcho.

Sunday Mirror sources have promised fireworks: "Sir Alan and the whole team were completely wrong-footed. Alan had chosen the person he believed would go on to become his winner.

"That contestant had become one of the biggest personalities in the series and we were all set for a proper showdown between Alan's last two. But this individual decided to quit instead. After weeks of hard work and graft, no one could have guessed this would happen.

"It is one of the most dramatic moments in the three-season history of the programme. Sir Alan is forced to pick another contestant - who he obviously didn't rate as much."

This speculation, carried by many of the nationals over the weekend, does appear to be true and could possibly leave the credibility of this cult hit in some doubt. Two of the 'fired' candidates from series, likeable Northerners Andy 'Work Til We Bleed' Jackson and Adam Hosker have both accused fellow contestants of using the show to establish TV careers. Both former car salesman have stated that many of their in-house peers had absolutely no intention of working for SAS, with Hosker going as far to say that villainous contestant Katie Hopkins branded Sugar a dunce behind closed doors.

If the Sunday Mirror story does indeed turn out to be a goer then it seems that the ousted duo may well have a point......

Of course Season 3's collection of bullshitters and schmoozers wouldn't be the first to take advantage of the considerable press lauded onto the contestants with Series 1 runner-up Saira Khan being the first to enjoy a decent media career following 'the job interview from Hell.'

Not far behind her was the actual winner of Season 2, Michelle Dewbury, who jacked in Amstrad after 5 months. Michelle also hit the headlines for her relationship with fellow contestant Syed Ahmed- unfortunately Michelle suffered a miscarriage after becoming pregnant with Syed's child - in fairness this turblent time in her life may have had an impact on her decision to leave Amstrad.

Syed himself has now scored a satellite TV show, as has Ruth Badger - catch her on Sky One at 10pm on Tuesdays for Badger or Bust. Even Season 3 MVP Paul Torrisi popped up on UK Living last summer as analyst in the channel's alternative World Cup '06 coverage.

If any more proof were needed that the celebrity lifestyle can beat working for Sir Alan then look no further than Season 1 winner and all round good egg Tim Campbell. The former transport manager has left Sir Alan's empire after two years to work on 'new projects' aka 'a media career' of his own.

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