Is it me, or is The Apprentice getting a little dull?  I watched the programme last night – although I must admit I’ve not seen the whole series – and I felt like I wanted Sir Alan to turn round and sack the lot of them.  The arrogance and childish nature of most of the participants really turns my stomach.  And the thing that I really can’t stand is the bitching and stamping of feet (a bit like Ronaldo not getting his way last night) in the board room!  Then, following the complete character assassination of their competitors, they trot out behind the sacked contestant and it’s all hugs and kisses!  Urrrggghhh – where’s your backbone!

But seriously, is this format going to be churned out year after year?  Surely the BBC could be a little more creative or at least put people in there that demonstrate what an amazing array of young, professional entrepreneurs we have in this country.   Last week Insider highlighted the talent in the NW alone for young professionals.  It’s such a shame that this programme has gone from an interesting business experiment – uncovering entrepreneurs such as Tim Campbell for example – to a ‘chase the ratings’ show, with arrogant and ridiculous participants.

What a great shot of free PR Bentley has enjoyed recently after Ronaldo wrote off his Ferrari.

It seems that none of the national newspapers were going to let the precious little football flower off the hook easily. Alongside the humiliating photographs of the collision were reports of how Ronaldo brought in his £140,000 Bentley as a back-up to ensure that he was still able to attend his weekly manicure appointment in style. Of course, the 23-year-old’s well-toned buttocks were not going to be sitting in any old second-hand courtesy car.

This is just an estimate, but from reading last week’s papers I wouldn’t be surprised if the tale of Ronaldo and his doting relationship with his sumptuous Bentley Continental had totted up 100+ hits in the media.

The real icing on the cake, however, came this weekend when several of the Manchester United players were snapped rolling up to football training in identical Bentleys. This firmly positioned the car as the ultimate in a more-money-than-sense boy’s toy. With seven of United’s top-flight players pictured next to their Bentley, the resulting media coverage could have easily been mistaken as having come from an official press exhibition for the Continental.

Then again, it’s not been too bad a week for Ferrari either – after all, Ronaldo and his shining million pound limbs came out of the collision in one piece didn’t they?