Watching The Apprentice last night, I couldn't help but observe how the entire show reflects "nature in the raw". OK so the parties wear sharp suits rather than loincloths and compete with Blackberries rather than spears, but they do so knowing full well that the best team will win and one of the "losers" will be summarily sacked - the survival of the fittest as it were.Strange stuff considering that we've spent the past couple of decades telling our kids that it's the taking part that counts to the point where schools ban sports days and everyone gets a prize in Pass the Parcel.
So starved have we been of competition that it's fun to watch a good old-fashioned fight to the finish (where no-one ends up brain-dead or eaten by lions, of course).
The very uncompromising nature of the programme and the inevitability of its conclusion gives the viewer a little frisson of delighted horror - especially when Sir Alan Sugar utters his now-famous catchphrase: "You're fired". Funny to think that when Sir Alan was young, being fired for underperforming was an everyday occurrence rather than the entertaining exception.
The other thing that strikes me is the fact that all these over-confident would-be apprentices fall over themselves to impress Sir Alan Sugar. It can't be just about the job - they all have pretty good ones in any case. I think it's a father-figure thing, which is ironic and rather poignant in this age of the fatherless family.
Anyway, enough of all this pondering. Who do you like best? I like Raif (because of his wonderful upper-class arrogance) and Simon (because he's hard-working and funny). The women are a nightmare. Sorry, sisters.
