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The Apprentice

So here I am channel hopping, and I come across The Apprentice. I swear I don't normally watch it.

It's on now. They are designing a rollercoaster. At the moment, they are making Merlin's worst ideas look creative, and falling into every trap that John Wardley would have avoided. Will fill in the gaps when it finished, but at the minute, branding, logo, cost, gimmicks and attempted one upmanship are in my view very poor.

It's not as easy as it looks, but I think we could all do better.
 
One team, decided to go for 15 loops. JW always said that one upmanship Leads to a boring ride.

0 to 120 in 1.5 seconds. Sounds downright unpleasant, if not downright dangerous.

...and let's not get started on the laws of physics.

Coaster two is called Insomnia, with possibly the worst logo ever.

There are some big wigs from Merlin Entertainments passing judgement, but no sign of JW yet.
 
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I don't normally watch The Apprentice, but I decided to watch tonight's episode given that the subject I'm most enthusiastic about was involved!

The teams certainly made a noble effort, but I must admit, I'm not sure if either of the two rides looked overly realistic. The Final Loop looked as though it defied the laws of physics, although I must say that Insomnia was certainly an interesting concept. I must admit that I was hoping to see more involvement from actual roller coaster designers as opposed to marketeers and graphic designers.

It was cool seeing some familiar faces and familiar places appear, though!
 
I watched it last night and obviously the participants don't know much about rollercoasters.

I couldn't see nothing new in their concepts.

The fasted launch (120mph in 1.5 seconds) with the most loops, as @Altonadvocate1 say's, the laws of physics means that this would not only be impossible, but would be extremely dangerous. Should have been named the vomit comet.

A backwards rollercoaster, been done many times before :rolleyes:

There were nothing new in these concepts that would temp me to ride them.

The Insomnia logo reminded me of a crappier version of Thirteen Logo, with the green eye looking logo.

I'm sure that Thorpe Park got some good free publicity from this.

I'm sure that a school kid could have designed a better rollercoaster concept on Rollercoaster Tyccoon

Eat your heart out John Wardley :p
 
What were people expecting? Coaster geekery is likely to be at the bottom of the list of interests of people who appear on this show. They're way more interested in how their make-up is done in the morning and their own narcissism. Why would they know about the laws of Wardley and coaster physics? This is like asking Sanbrooke to design a new make-up for Clairol and a new dress for Versace and expecting it to be anything other than not very good. Yes, of course you all could have done a better job as you're massive theme park geeks. Give yourselves a massive pat on the back. I didn't watch it by the way.
 
What were people expecting? ....

... I didn't watch it by the way.

At least I watched the program to voice my opinion on it :p

Like any reality program, there is no such thing as reality as the program makers will have some sort of input and influence over what the contenders decisions and what you see in the name of entertainment. Some scenes are probably set up or filmed several times from different angles to make good viewing.
 
Yes, I know exactly how the format works and the 'quality' of the candidates on it. That's why I stopped watching it a few million series' ago.
 
The fasted launch (120mph in 1.5 seconds) with the most loops, as @Altonadvocate1 say's, the laws of physics means that this would not only be impossible, but would be extremely dangerous. Should have been named the vomit comet.
The launch sounds extreme but it's actually only about 3.5G. The fastest launch on a coaster is Do-Dodonpa which is 0 to 112mph in 1.56 seconds, about 3.3G.

Nonetheless it looked really unpleasant with those inversions and I preferred the other team's design.

Yes, of course you all could have done a better job as you're massive theme park geeks. Give yourselves a massive pat on the back. I didn't watch it by the way.
Patronising much?
 
They always seem to pick a bunch of fawning, self important prima Donna's for these shows. Personally, I get on better with the average guy in the street that you meet in Wetherspoons. Could we do better? Probably. Does that make me big headed? Perhaps!

Oh and by the way, Barry Zola... Sanbrooke to design a new Versace dress. I'd by that for a dollar!

He has branched away from theme parks with his Adventure Shaun channel, so who knows... (By the way, I think he is a good guy and his genuine enthusiasm for theme parks is contagious).
 
It has just struck me that despite this episode being a marketing dream for Merlin it won't actually have any effect! The parks have just closed. No one will remember it next year. Should of had this as the first episode of the series. Might of got them some pre-halloween business.
 
It has just struck me that despite this episode being a marketing dream for Merlin it won't actually have any effect! The parks have just closed. No one will remember it next year. Should of had this as the first episode of the series. Might of got them some pre-halloween business.

I thought this as well, was very strange timing. They also never seemed to really address the park properly as well as introduce any of the staff working for Merlin, it was all "Hi my name is X and I am Y" not mentioning the company. We do have one gentlemen however, Paul Moreton, who actually does say he's from Merlin, but there just wasn't an emphasis or background on it before the presentations. I didn't really know what I was expecting to be honest, just thought maybe it would have been interesting!
 
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