Wednesday, May 13, 2009

Just A Spoonful Of Sugar

Back from my fishing trip, but to be honest all I caught was crabs. Still, I'm in time for the Margit episode of The Apprentice (9pm, BBC1). Hurrah!

Tonight the Sugar Babes are given the task of rebranding the Arsonists' Playground, as if you hadn't heard already. Here's what the blurb says:

They must use all of their creative and marketing skills to rebrand one of Britain's most enduring tourist attractions [Shurely shome mishtake? - Ed] - the seaside resort of Margate. Once a jewel of the Kent coast, Margate still has a faded [i.e. carbonised] grandeur, but it is up to the teams to bring a much-needed sparkle[r] for the 21st century.

The teams have just two days to produce an eye-catching series of posters and an information-packed leaflet that will attract new tourists to the town. They must then pitch their campaigns to tourism industry experts
[None of them local, one assumes, as there aren't any] and to the residents and dignitaries of Margate.

Hmmm. It'll be interesting to see if the much-previewed idea of attracting the pink pound wins the day with Sralan and the 'dignitaries'. Or will they go for burning the place down and building a car park, like so many before them?

Sralan and the Sugar Babes on BBC1

Daily Mail goes for the 'gay hole' angle, natch

Update: Our local red-top, the Thanet Times, appears to have bust all embargoes and run the full story ahead of tonight's show, even revealing the identity of who's fired. Hmm, not sure the Beeb will be too happy about that. If you don't mind having your surprises spoilt, click here to read on.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

Steve Ladyman, President of the Royal Legion

YOUR FIRED!

Anonymous said...

I agree that he's a two-faced hypocrite, but PLEASE stop spamming all the blogs about it!

Anonymous said...

Can't wait to see what a mess they make of the task - this year's lot of prospective apprentices seem particularly clueless.

Anonymous said...

they cant do much worse than the bunch of spivs in charge of tourism at the mo.....
not that theres much left to come for, seeing as successive council cretins(along with their byrant and may sponsored chums) have been trying to ban tourism for the last twenty years..

Shin said...

From what I've seen of the apprentices so far I'm not expecting to be overly impressed. Most of them seem like a bunch of talentless chancers...probably better suited to politics or banking.

Anonymous said...

Barkley bankers surely not!!!

Anonymous said...

Richard you old dog fancy not telling us you were on the show.

I thought the low cut red blouse was a tad inadvisable, but the surgery seems to be coming on nicely, how long till you part with your "member" of parliment?.

Fiona S said...

I thought Margate came out rather well, on balance. Would like to know why we lost our blue flag though?

Millicent said...

AS usual the Apprentices made a hash of the task - I don't want to re-create the past but one hundred years ago Margate had regular excursion trains and packed paddle steamers arriving from London every day, loads of boarding houses to suit all pockets in Cliftonville, popular beach entertainment and a good show most nights at one of its theatres. Music Hall stars such as Marie Lloyd and Vesta Tilley, the celebs of their day, performed there and there were beach photographers, donkey rides, sand castle competitions and lots of attractive shops like Bobby's department stores. Also popular were afternoon excursions by charabanc for cream teas in outlying villages. Occasionally aeroplanes could be seen flying over the town and along the beach which in 1909 brought everyone out to watch!

The moral in this story is if you provide enough things for all types of visitors to do either in the day time or evening and cheap ways for them to reach your town they might actually visit you- rocket science it ain't!

Lucy Mail said...

Seems to work for the Spanish, Milly!
And we do have a very handy airport on the outskirts of town.
Though I'm not sure that hoardes of Spaniards, chasing a donkey through Harbour Street, on to the beach and beating it to death with sticks, really appeals.
Maybe a jug or two of sangria would take the edge off the horror?

Anonymous said...

I think Lucy is on to something Pro/ celebrity Donkey beating, sounds perfect for Sky Sports 3.

Richard Eastcliff said...

Lucy could beat off a donkey any day!