Well my time here has come to an end. It’s been fun and I have really enjoyed the comments (both negative and positive) towards both me and the programme!

I don’t want to spoil the whole experience for you all but the weirdest thing to me is that The Apprentice has already been decided. The two finalists are already working for Sir Alan and the rest of the candidates have had to be quiet about the whole event since the end of last September when filming finished.

It's an odd time to be a candidate, finishing filming knowing that your life could dramatically change when the programme goes out, but you have to wait for six months in anticipation of it happening. You have to go back to your jobs and (under pain of death!) not say a word to anybody until a week before the first episode.

I’ve helped a couple of charities up here in Angus and enjoyed that, spoken at a couple of schools and generally turned up at a few local Chamber of Commerce events to speak about my experiences. I hope it hasn’t changed me in any way and I hope that others got more out of the events last year than I did.

So I say good luck to this year's bunch and I will be watching it from behind the sofa, cringeing at the comments and actions made by a bunch of people who are trying to become the next apprentice.

Would I do it again?

Hell yes.

Andy

WARNING - don't read on if you haven't seen the first episode of The Apprentice, as this article reveals who was fired...

Oh dear, where do I start? I hope you saw the first episode last night.

Well let's look at a few of this year's candidates.

Firstly Nicholas de Lacy-Brown (he's the Rory from last year), then Raef Bjayou (Syed Ahmed) and even Alex Wotherspoon (Adam Hosker)...

I could go on but it seems like different faces, same stereotypes. It's very easy to make comparisons from previous years as the only difference to me is that the teams are getting better looking...

I liked Alex as he seems a true sales leader. He was direct and honest with the team and unlucky to be on the losing side. He should be OK now for a couple of weeks if he melts into the background (which he won’t).

The girls didn’t really stand out much due to the editing but I am sure as time goes by we will get to know the characters, begin to like them and then watch them have a howler of an episode and get fired.

Poor Nicholas though, I remember the boardroom like it was yesterday and what you don’t realise is that this is probably 2/3 hours filming condensed into 5 minutes. There’s so much arguing and bickering from the start that you are on the defensive from the minute you walk in front of Sir Alan.

Nicholas made fundamental errors though and deserved to be fired. He also didn’t catch the public’s sympathy on the Adrian Chiles show afterwards, so again another reality show contestant to be forgotten quickly. I genuinely hope he enjoyed his time and uses the experience to move forward in his career.

It’s daunting and intimidating to be in front of Nick, Margaret and Sir Alan and then to put yourself through the public humiliation when you get the sack. So my advice to anyone wanting to be on the show or who thinks they can do better is to think long and hard about what you want out of it.

Andy

Good morning everyone. Firstly can I apologise for my spelling and grammar. I tend to have problems with the written word and it’s more difficult when I’m writing straight from my head and my heart to properly articulate my feelings onto paper. Please don’t use this as an advertisement to complain about my education (or lack of it) but it’s who I am and I can only strive to improve.

I was talking to Adam Hosker who was a candidate last year regarding this years Apprentice and he still sounds quite bitter. Like me he wanted to better himself and it just hasn’t happened for him. It makes me glad to think that I came out early before all the backstabbing and bitching went on.

Putting myself up for project manager was a measured gamble. On the one hand I was in the firing line if we failed, on the other I would be essentially “bullet proof” for the next few weeks. No one would want to tangle with a winning PM. Alas I was stitched up and I can't really complain, I quickly realized albeit too late that there was no team but a ruthless pack of 20 somethings looking to make me their first victim.

The task itself was a nightmare; I hate coffee and don’t know one end of London from the other. I had to heavily rely on others knowledge of the capital. The rules (you don’t get to see them) were there and all 20 pages were designed to hinder you, trip you up and make you look a fool in front of the cameras (the rules included things like where we could and couldn’t purchase goods, how the stall had to be set up, what times we were allowed to sell and so on). It worked and like the idiot I was, I fell hook line and sinker into the boardroom.

Tomorrow, after watching the first episode I'll give you my opinions on this years candidates and what it felt like to be put in front of Sir Alan and how it felt to be fired.

Listen to Andy and Ben Stanberry discussing their experiences of the programme

Andy

I’m looking forward to coming onto Victoria’s show tomorrow but am a little nervous about what to say about the last year. The show didn’t make me a millionaire. I still have to iron my own shirts and I even made my own tea last night. Fame and fortune has definitely missed me by a mile here.

Andy

Hi everyone. My name is Andy Jackson. You may/may not remember me from last years Apprentice. If you blinked and missed me I was the 1st to hear the immortal words “You're Fired” by Sir Alan Sugar (SAS). One year on and time has flown. I’ve been through two jobs and still waiting for 'the one' that will see me through to retirement as a millionaire (precious chance).

To all the people who still on a daily basis shout across the street “YOU'RE FIRED” or who rudely whisper to their friends “isn’t that the guy off the telly”, please remember all I ever wanted to do was better my life, look after my family and get the job that was advertised somewhere amongst all the other irrelevance.

Read yesterday in the Sunday tabloids that this years Apprentice candidates are a rum bunch indeed. To name a few - a wannabe pop star, an ex-drug addict, a failed business guru and some poor sod whose ex-wife has decided to cash in on the “love rat” angle.

It reminded me of last year when all you got was a bombardment of tabloid media stories that you were unable to defend due to the lack of media training and the fact that the PR company we were contractually tied to took care (or released) of every story for you with no actual right of reply from ourselves.

We could only talk to the media on our own when we were actually fired making it a huge hardship for our wife’s and kids who had to live through the stories and lies printed and not been able to defend ourselves against people who you used to work and live with trying to make a couple of quid by selling some tat that the papers can have a field day with… it sounds like i'm a bitter and twisted old man here so I better lighten up the mood tomorrow, I just feel for this lot this year as the media circus are relentless in digging up stuff to fill the papers.

Andy