Torple

Roxy really has got TOO FAR in this Group 1 (the three BEST in the same group?!) Janine Butcher (this past week alone has put her firmly back on top) Carol Jackson Max Branning Group 2 Kat Moon Ronnie Branning Roxy Mitchell Group 3 Zainab Masood Dot Branning Tanya Jessop

He said they were researching new avenues for the nail file business. Which is presumably going to be depleting some of the £250k investment available for the chairs.

Indeed. It suggests he was only interested in investing in an existing business, in which case why even bother wasting the time of contestants he KNEW from the beginning didn't have their own business at the time? And it also wipes out his justification for firing Helen, which was based solely on her business plan. If he was willing to disregard Tom's original plan, then maybe he SHOULD have just gone into partnership with Helen and done the same for her. I like Tom but I can't even pretend that he was a better contestant than her.

It very much sounds like it doesn't it? Which kind of makes a mockery of the episode we've just seen.

I kind of have to agree. I can see why it was necessary to do it this way given the nature of the prize; at the end of the day the business plan is just as an important if not a more important factor when deciding who to invest in. I think the concept of the prize is flawed in itself though, in that essentially the Apprentice stopped being the Apprentice and became a Dragon's Den clone instead for the finale. And much as I'm thrilled Tom won, I can see that Helen would have great cause to feel aggrieved. In a past series she would have made for the EASIEST hiring of all-time. The contestants spend all those months taking in part in the tasks, which ultimately don't actually mean ANYTHING because in the end it all comes down to the business idea instead. But yes, the interviews felt that they were over far too quickly and there wasn't enough fighting and drama in the final boardroom. I think I'd have actually preferred a 2 hour finale focused solely on the interviews/decision rather than having it crammed into an hour and then wasting another hour hearing what Michael McIntyre thinks of the whole thing and seeing some clips of Jim wearing a brown turd drawn on Microsoft Paint.

Oh I missed that bit... Jark in GOOD TASTE SHOCKER. He's adorable.

As an aside, CAN Susan be charged now she's been publically outed as a tax fraud?

This more than makes up for the OUTRAGEOUS firing of Lucinda Ledgerwood all those years ago BRAVO SIRALLUN

OMG YAY

OMFG at Helen - this is SHAMELESS :o SURELY Lord Sugar won't agree to invest in a business that he hasn't seen yet?

http://www.moopy.org.uk/forums/images/smilies/grin.gif HA damn that Lord Sugar. The MINUTE I back Susan... If I DO have the reverse Midas touch, I WANT HELEN TO WIN EVERYBODY

I think I'm going to bet on a Susan victory. I didn't think I'd be saying that a few weeks ago.

I guess it depends on how involved Sirallun's planning on being with this new business. Has he mentioned whether he was planning on just being a silent investor or an active participant? If he does want to sit back, he'd be best off with Susan who would be the most self-sufficient of the four, and who is the only one who already has toes dipped into the water she is planning on submerging herself in. But yes, Karren made a good point about Tom and Sirallun maybe complimenting each other and bringing together very different sides - Sirallun's commercial awareness with Tom's innovation.

I don't think any of them really did. Susan's idea sounded the most viable but she made a few f***-ups in her business plan. Tom's seemed like an out-and-out DISASTER, Jim hasn't done basic market research and was unable to stop speaking in cliches, and Helen's idea is just $h!t and has no real USP.

Interviews over already :( I wanted to see a little more of Margaret, and I wanted to see some PROPER f***-ups like someone doing a reverse pterodactyl or boasting about stealing people's husbands. THAT'S what the interviews are supposed to be about.

Well I genuinely had no idea. I do hope it IS a viable idea as I would love to see Tom win and change the misconception that you have to be an arsehole to succeed in business.

But IS backpain that big a risk for corporations? I have no idea.

This. It's the only decent concept on the table yet (although I don't think we've seen Jim's yet), but there was no way she was going to be get away with claiming over £1m annual profit on a business with less than a quarter of that as start-up capital.

Is Helen's big innovative business idea not essentially just hiring a PA?

You just know this episode is going to be GOLD Margaret immediately calling Jim an "ass" is hopefully a sign of things to come. Big LOL at his utter failure to not use clichés! But OH NO for Tom :( His business idea sounds DREADFUL. How many businesses have the resources or inclination to spend $h!tloads of money analysing backpain?!

APPRENTICE RANK TIME 01. Lucinda Ledgerwood 02. Ruth Badger 03. Raef Bayjou 04. Katie Hopkins (I LOVED her sitting in the interview trying to use the fact that she stole someone else's husband as a reason for Sirallun to hire her ("I always get what I want!")) 05. James McQuillan

I enjoyed it. It does admittedly feel like a very different beast, and the Hollywood influence is obvious. But I kind of like the more "epic" and cinematic feel to it, they've now got the budget to blow up helicopters on Welsh beaches, Eve Myles is as good as ever, and it's still retained it's OMFG factor (THAT "alive" suicide bomber). I also have faith in the scriptwriting to suitably deal with all the questions/implications of "what if no-one died, ever?" - I still remember the sterling job they did with the last series (the spine-chilling and oddly plausible "If we can't identify the lowest achieving 10% children of this country, then what are the school league tables for").

Oh come on guys, Susan is GREAT fun to watch on television, but would you REALLY entrust £250,000 of your money with a 21 year old who had to question whether the French like their children or drive cars, and wastes a good 80% of her time standing around uselessly repeating "That is SO unfaiiiiiiiir" over and over again?

Now I don't question the actual decision to get rid of the three, it makes perfect sense. But it seems to me that it's a little underhand and more than a little disrespectful for Murphy to go announcing this before actually having the decency to confirm with the actor.

01. Lucie Silvas - The Game Is Won 02. Reflekt & Delline Bass - Need To Feel Loved 03. New Order - Krafty 04. Bloc Party - So Here We Are 05. Natalie Imbruglia - Counting Down The Days 06. Coldplay - Speed Of Sound 07. The Bravery - An Honest Mistake 08. Bloc Party - Banquet 09. Brian McFadden & Delta Goodrem - Almost Here 10. Razorlight - Somewhere Else 11. U2 - Sometimes You Can't Make It On Your Own 12. Gorillaz - Dirty Harry 13. White Stripes - My Doorbell 14. Deep Dish - Say Hello 15. Liberty X - Song For Lovers 16. Foo Fighters - Best Of You 17. 2Pac & Elton John - Ghetto Gospel 18. Katie Melua - Nine Million Bicycles 19. Nelly & Tim McGraw - Over And Over 20. Phantom Planet - California