TV star

Instead of writing AGAIN about how crap the trains are in the country - today it was a train that was meant to take me to Wakefield cancelled at the last minute, almost literally - it is about time I posted about my appearance on the final of the Junior Apprentice, broadcast a month or so ago. The final itself took place at the end of last year. I was a member of the audience of 'industry experts' and I must say, I am looking terribly expert-like in the above still taken from the broadcast (I didn't know it was on until the next day when I showed up at work and was told about it!).

The kids - they were around 15-16 - were brilliant, and though they had some (real) expert help they did a fantastic job in their presentations and dealing with the questions the audience asked. They were both given a bottled water to sell. One team (male) branded it a 'Bottle of Water' and targeted adults with a cheap and simple challenger to the market. The other (female) team targeted their brand, 'Drip Drop', at the teen audience, which, though brave, finally did for them as Sir Alan Sugar didn't think that was the right audience to target. It was a very close call. Personally I would have given it to the girls as they were just a little more creative and courageous in their approach. But I wasn't party to their dynamics, how they worked together and all the background 'stuff' which has a bearing on the decision.

The other interesting aspect of the evening was how the audience questionning got increasingly more 'competitive' as more questions were asked. Though extremely good, the competitors were only in their mid-teens and some of the questions that were asked were just too difficult for them. It didn't take very long for the questions to be about how smart the questioner was, in front of his or her peer group. Naughty.