You're fired!- The Apprentice is back

It's that time of year again, The Apprentice is back on our screens... do you watch it?! Whether you watch it for the business side of things, or simply for the comic value of watching them all run about like headless chickens, it can be quite an entertaining show. This week has seen an introductory double-whammy of the Apprentice, with 3 people fired in just 2 days. With more contestants comes the chance of double eliminations out of the blue, which is what was seen last night as Robert and Scott were both fired.

With added members to each team compared to previous years, one might think that the inventions would be better and the teams more organised. Far from it. The show last night depicted a group of mouthy and argumentative members, who seemed to be acting more like teenagers than business men and women. 

Maybe it's a case of too many cooks spoiling the broth, and it did seem the case yesterday with the creations the team came up with. Having been given the brief of 'wearable technology', the boys came up with a jumper with a video camera on the front, which they advertised with the unfortunate words 'privacy is history' and which rather resembled a tacky Christmas jumper.

Similarly, the girls had a bit of a nightmare with their product too, a jacket which charged your phone, kept you warm with heat pads and had flashing lights on the front. A gimmicky product which was trying to be too many things to too many people and just didn't seem to make sense. For example, why would you be wearing a jacket if the sun was out? (the sun was the main source of power to charge the jacket through the solar panels) and why would you want flashing lights on a jacket, never mind the fact that they would need to be in the light to be charged?! More bizarre of all was the fact that they were pitching to a sports shop among others... they seem to have missed a trick here.

It seems that this week the team members were just too much for the project managers to control, and there was a definite conflict of opinions amongst some large personalities. However much we can laugh and shout at the television screen, it does make for good entertainment, even if it's just to see Lord Sugar's humorous remarks at the end of each challenge. It looks like it'll be an eventful series, and we're definitely interested to see what happens over the next couple of weeks!

And so it ends... the Great British Bake off is off the screens

The Great British Bake off has come to an end, and while some of you may be weeping, others are rejoicing, both at the results and at the fact that it is over for another year. If you have yet to watch the final and are trying to avoid knowing who won, read no further!

The #bingate dramas of the Great British Bake Off

Following the big Olney Bake off at the Big Olney Food Festival, we're wondering how many of you are enjoying watching the ever-popular TV series, the Great British Bake Off? If so, you'll have noticed that this series appears to have that little bit more drama than usual...

The first shocker came last month when one contestant, Iain Watters, was sent packing after throwing his baked Alaska in the bin. Not only that, but accusations then flew around of sabotage, when it turned out that another contestant, Diana Beard, had taken his ice cream out of the freezer, causing the tissue with the Alaska!

Viewers jumped on this drama, and thanks to social media the controversy escalated quickly. '#bingate' became the hashtag for the event, trending worldwide, and people began getting a little too over the top with their outrageous tweets aimed at Diana. A few brands also jumped on the bandwagon and used the opportunity to create a quick bit of advertising, with Innocent drinks and Tetley tea joining in with the drama.

The episode caused uproar all round, with viewers calling for Iain to be reinstated and Diana to be dropped, clearly forgetting in the excitement of it all that the series had actually been filmed months before. Not only that, but Iain then appeared on Newsnight the following evening... and this is where I think we need to stop and remember that this is all about a cookery show! Wow!

Following this drama, viewers were left reeling again last week as there was another surprise, and first ever for the GBBO, with no-one being sent home and the bottom two given another shot! Following Diana's exit due to illness, the question was raised as to whether the contestants were kept in order to keep numbers up, but judges Paul and Mary claimed this had nothing to do with it. Maybe the show is trying to inject a little more drama to the cake baking, but to me it sounds rather too similar to the stunts pulled by shows such as X-Factor and Big Brother, with dramatic twists and turns to keep viewers on their toes and make it more dramatic and less and less predictable.

Whatever the reasons for the comings and not-goings of the contestants, Diana Beard is attempting to set the record straight with her side of the story of the ice cream dramas on 'an extra slice' this week, again reminiscent of the Big Brother and I'm a Celebrity coming out shows.

How do you feel about the whole debacle? We hope your home baking doesn't erupt into quite so much drama! We're about halfway through the series now... so who knows what other dramas may be in store, you may be watching tomorrow's episode on the edge of your seat, and if you've missed out so far, it looks like it might be worth tuning in!