The recent launch of The Apprentice marks the show’s 20th series on the BBC. Instead of celebration, fans of the show are calling the format stale and repetitive.
Each series the candidates face a ‘new’ challenge each episode that tackles a key skill required to successfully run a business. Marketing, branding, buying and selling.
The challenges contain a unique product or location to mask their repetitive nature as they are judged by businessman Lord Alan Sugar and his aides Baroness Karren Brady and Tim Campbell MBE, who was the first winner back in 2005.
Lord Sugar then delivers his iconic “You’re Fired!” to the weakest player after a sequence of infighting in the boardroom.
Any tension and drama is minimal with tasks being reused and every episode providing the “worst performance ever.”
Is The Apprentice Changing?
The show does attempt to avoid it becoming stale and repetitive.
The first episode of series 20 reveals that this series will feature an extra two contestants and with the series being the usual length this means more double firings than expected. This comes quick as the episode itself features two firings from the losing team.
We now have a far greater variety of reality competitions than 2005. Even the freshest of formats, The Traitors only being in its fourth year, are playing with their game to keep viewers excited. The introduction of the secret traitor for example.
Lord Sugar disagrees as he hit back against the media on X writing “IF IT’S NOT BROKE DON’T FIX IT.”
Young people were once inspired by the show. Now it fails to inspire them to watch due to it being repetitive.
Where Does The Apprentice Fail to Land?
Lord Sugar citing the contestants as the show’s selling point highlights another of its shortcomings. All the business leaders taking part across all series have very similar histories, motivations and personalities.
The Traitors and producers Studio Lambert earn praise for forming engaging, relatable and likable casts only highlighting The Apprentice cast as arrogant, inadequate and unrelatable. The sea of suits and smart office-wear make contestants inseparable.
Image Credit: BBC
Whether it’s possible or not to rejuvenate the show’s stale and repetitive format, it’s clear that Lord Sugar and the BBC are happy with the way it’s coming across. Iconic moments from the previous series’, particularly when the contestants make an obvious error, continue to circulate social media.
A full celebrity series airs for the first time later in the year. Hopefully less stale and repetitive than the civilian series. Lord Sugar won’t be hearing “You’re fired!” from the BBC any time soon.
Featured Image Credit: BBC