Apprentice is really not a "reality show"

I am sure there are reasons why The Apprentice is called a “reality show”. Looking from another perspective, I can see there are more reasons why it is not a reality show. Here are some of them:

1. Configuration is by chance more than by design:

Contestants come together and form teams and start taking on roles based on the task at hand. Configuration is key to the success of any enterprise. I hope that people don’t go and build companies by configuring the way it happens in Apprentice. It will be a nightmare.

2. Loyalty is a joke:

The way team members behave when they are together in a team makes you feel that they are brothers and sisters from the same family. It feels silly when you know that it’s a contest where everyone is competing with everyone else and nobody is “really” anybody’s friend in the long run. Real life does not work that way.

3. Short term results are what counts most of the time: 

For example, a day’s winnings will determine which team wins. There is no discussion about whether the same strategy holds good for the long run.  Hopefully, people don’t follow this to create “one hit wonders”

4. Winning or losing in some tasks is meaningless:

Some tasks are designed in such a way that in the professional lives of people they may never encounter them. You can make a claim that one can extrapolate and judge the skills of a team member from the way they handle the tasks. My $.02: It’s a stretch

5. Ethics take a back seat sometimes:

When I watch the times where a team won by using rogue tactics and gets away by labeling those tactics as “aggressiveness” I feel like laughing. These kinds of things can only produce short-term results in real-life.

I can go on and on but I will stop here.

Like I said, I love the show but mostly, I watch it for entertainment.

Have a great week ahead.