Why we love the apprentice

Why do we love The Apprentice so much? Sure, it's an award winning show, but what makes it water cooler worthy?
The Apprentice is a group of hard-nosed young go-getters, all from drastically different backgrounds, gracefully climbing over one another to get to the next rung of the ladder, all the while managing to keep designer suits pressed, champagne glasses raised, rock-hard abs, and a pencil tucked neatly in a stylish up-do.
Perhaps on first watching these enormously popular series, the hope is that the most worthy, honorable, hard working chap will rise to the top of the heap. She or he may not win every battle, but head held high, stays a steady course until the last episode sees our hero to the well deserved, shining moment. Yes. That is a nice image. Of course, these candidates (they are candidates, folks, not "contestants") albeit young, are already doing well in their respective industries. They are, for the most part making quite a salary even before they are cast on the show. Debra Barr, a former candidate on The Apprentice UK, was making fifty thousand pounds in the digital media industry, before her appearance on the reality show.

Do we watch the show because we want to observe and take notes from some of the most well-respected entrepreneurs and business in the world? There is certainly no shortage of sage advice; there are plenty of hearty common sense reminders coming from the stars of the shows. But let's be real here: We watch the Apprentice for the extreme, passionate drama. And who faithfully brings the drama, week after week? The Villains do, of course.

It's no secret that the television viewing public will faithfully turn out in droves to see a tongue lashing, undeserved snub, or stubborn and oblivious stand to support an obviously bad idea. From Ben, Debra, and Katie of the Apprentice UK to Omarosa, a legend from the US version of the show, the candidates and their extreme Type-A toughness rarely disappoint. Neither, for that matter, do our fearless leaders, the stars of the show disappoint. Voted the seventh scariest celebrity on television in a 2006 Radio Times poll, sir Sugar Alan carries on a proud tradition of Apprentice hosts, taking brutal honesty to a whole new level.

Yes, Apprentice Bad Guys have become larger-than-life embodiments of everything we aspire to, and everything we loathe about the road to success. This, evidently, is a formula that works. The Apprentice franchise has been embraced all over the world. Since the success of the original in New York, we have seen Martha Stewart's Connecticut-based production, the wildly popular Apprentice UK, and even an Irish edition, starring Bill Cullen.

--
This article was written by Tom Sangers on behalf of Martin Ward Anderson who provide recruitment services for international jobs and public sector jobs