If a Big Brother contestant shamelessly played up to the camera (doubtless, with one eye on a future career presenting late-night phone-in game shows), I'd undoubtedly be the first to dismiss them as fame-hungry wannabes, but the obvious scheming and "Look! I'm fabulous!" tactics of certain candidates on the Apprentice has become hopelessly entertaining, in a shout-rude-things-at-the-telly kind of a way.

Take Kristina and her peculiarly orange tan. If she has something to say about a fellow contestant, she seems to have one eye on the camera as she explains her reasoning, rather than simply launching into a rant. Is she making her case in case sirallan happens to be watching the tapes that week? Mind you, Katie has some choice words about this arse-covering tactic in next week's episode.

And then there's Katie herself; behind that BA-cabin-crew-circa-1985 make-up lies a volcano of self-belief. Either she really does have a super-thick skin and doesn't care what anyone thinks of her, or she has decided to play the game with a 100 per cent showbiz agenda, with one eye on post-sirallan media opportunities. Whatever her strategy, she is one of the most entertaining contestants in the current series. You know that whenever she is on camera, she will have something provocative to say... whatever you might think of her comments.

But is the Apprentice an entertainment show or a business tutorial? Ah hell, there's no point pretending it's the latter. The contestants we remember ? and yell at ? are the shouty ones; the arrogant ones; the kids whose faith in themselves knows no bounds. For example, look at Lohit and Naomi among the current bunch. Both bright, sensible people, but could you pick them out of an identity parade? Whereas Tre and his withering looks, or Katie, or posh Simon might even get mobbed in shopping centres after the series finishes its run.

Whether each week's challenges actually teach business skills is perhaps questionable, but it's hard to imagine anyone watching the Apprentice because they want to pick up tips for their own enterprise. The show is crowd-pleasing entertainment, through and through; it simply gives its group of bizarre housemates a huge project to get stuck into each week. Oh, hang on... that sounds not unlike Big Brother... So why is the Apprentice seen as a talking point and BB vacuous entertainment for teenagers?