If you thought that Jack Dee was grumpy, wait until you see Rhod Gilbert ringing in the changes as he takes over the comedy presenter spot for the The Apprentice: You’re Fired. Our affection for Rhod blows hot and cold, but in his new role he should be a force to contend with, a bit like the younger, comedy equivalent of Alan Suger crossed with Bryn Terfel, with a terrible hangover and not enough sleep.
For us, the best bit of The Apprentice is the opportunity it presents for laughing at the nonses that enter the show in a desperate bid to become Alan Suger’s work chimp for a year. When you add a professional comedian like Rhod, or his predecessors Dara O’Briain and Jack Dee, into the mix it takes the quality of the comments up a notch and we’re hoping that he’ll be pulling no punches in his efforts to slice and dice the ball bags of self confidence that get churned out of the show’s back door on a weekly basis.
The Apprentice: You’re Fired will be returning to BBC 2 in conjunction with the main show in October 2016, going out straight after it. There will be eleven 30-minute programmes each week, which will culminate in the final 60-minute special, You’re Hired, as the companion to the 12th series in the show’s long-running history.
Rhod won’t have to front it all alone though as he’ll be joined by a variety of panelists throughout the series to chip in with their opinions, and candidate cracks. This will include fellow comedians, business experts and probably a few random people that sound good on paper, but end up being liabilities when they’re in front of camera. All of which will make for pretty humorous viewing.
The Welsh comedian is ordinarily kept pretty busy most of the time with The Rhod Gilbert Radio Show, which goes out on BBC Radio Wales on Saturdays between 11am and 1pm, but with the addition of The Apprentice: You’re Fired he’ll have to up his working week to two days for a little bit. In all fairness to him, he also does a bit of work experience every now and again, which we’re big fans of, to keep his options open if the comedy and hostering malarkey ends up going down the crapper. We’re still hoping he’s forced back into the drag business, which he did surprisingly well at.
In a bid to cheer the grumpy git up and remind him of his drag queen success, we’ve given the news a lovely pink colour, which we think brings out the fuchsia in his eyes. He may be a big fan of pies, but nothing makes him happier than tapping into his feminine side, so hopefully a little of that will come through in his hosting of both You’re Fired and You’re Hired.
