That would make sense, but given the usual tasks that The Apprentice has, it seems a bit too complicated for the likes of Sugar.

I actually have a far more sinister theory:

1. The producers realise that given the original criteria (most turnover, not most profit), Philip's team is on the losing side.

2. They are convinced that Sugar will fire Philip for his shambolic performance (esp. after The PantsMan debacle).

3. The producers try to convince Sugar to fire someone else to spare Philip - his feud with Lorraine may be a ratings-winner.

4. Sugar sees no reason to fire any of the others, ie. Kate, Howard, Lorraine or Mona. In fact, the only other person he wants to fire is Noorul, but he is on the winning team.

5. The producers suggest a last minute change of the rules (most profit, not most turnover) that would result in Philip's team winning. This "gives" Noorul to Sugar (as a compromise for not firing Philip).

6. Sugar fires Noorul but not before firing a shot a Philip telling him to improve.

Seems unlikely. On the given figures, Philip won by £135, so to turn that into a loss the items he didn't sell would have to be worth more than that.


I think Mona would be more likely to go, on merit.


Mona's not very entertaining. (I reckon he put Mona and Nooral on different teams so as to be guaranteed a shot at one or the other, which ever team lost.)


Sounds risky. It'd mean the broadcast programme wouldn't match the written brief, so the losing candidates would have a paper trail showing how they'd been cheated out of a win. It'd be safer to tweak the value of the items, because those were kept secret from the teams.

I believe that they didn't sell the bike or the shoes, which were said to be quite valuable, so maybe this isn't as unlikely as it seems.



I'm sorry. If Philip's team lost that task, Philip would have gone. Sugar doesn't like the guy after Pants Man and he was worse in this task than he was in that one.


Maybe so, but again - Philip was by far more to blame, hence Sugar's parting shot at him before he sent him off to the reward meal.


It was a risk, but as the initial brief was so vague it probably left a bit of room for change. (As I said earlier, WE, the viewers, didn't know it was about profit and it seemed strange that Sugar would bring this up right before the results were revealed. If not, why tell the teams something they already knew?) And who's to say that the teams weren't told of the change and told to keep schtum? They've all signed contracts to abide by the producers.

I think his status was similar to that of Ben. Ben lost as leader, but survived. Ben also had a bad idea in the fitness task, but Sir Alan thought that was better than no idea. On this task, as far as we can tell from the edit, he did better than Ben. It's true Sir Alan gave him a hard time in the boardroom, but that's just his way.

It's very much a judgement call, though. I think he's itching to fire Mona, just as he was Nooral.


I doubt the written brief was so vague.

However, for comparison, in the first series they changed the order of firing of James and Paul. Sir Alan fired Miriam instead of Paul in ep10, then regretted it almost immediately, and Paul was the first to get fired in the interview round. But in the programme as broadcast, James got fired first in the interview round, presumably to create some kind of drama about which of long-term rivals Saira and Paul got to the final. So they are capable of shenanigans.

I think your theory would be quite a bit more serious than that, though. Also, we did find out about that one because the candidates did talk. Contract or no contract, I wouldn't want to rely on the likes of Debra keeping her mouth shut, or Yasmina or Ben, or even Nooral who would have been unjustly fired.

Mostly I just don't think they care that much. If you're right, than Philip will be out of the game soon anyway. They can just shift the focus to some other character.

I don't buy into these conspiracy theories, but I have to say they've laid themselves wide open to them by giving the viewers such a misleading idea of what the task was really about.

Week 7:

One of the most satisfying episodes of Apprentice history.

Philip was a grade A moron - a lumbering donkey who was selfish, childish, unprofessional, arrogant and had his head buried up his own buttocks. On top of that, he wasn't a team player, couldn't negotiate, couldn't control his temper, couldn't see past his own terrible idea and this week... HE COULD NOT SELL!! His only defence was that he was better than Lorraine. He didn't listen to her, made fun of her and criticised her at any given opportunity. Meanwhile, Lorraine kept trying and actually proved she was better than Philip.

There has never been a more deserving firing in the history of the Apprentice.

Lorraine does get people's backs up, mainly because she lacks the ability to win them over when she's right. Sometimes, even when you are 100% correct and someone is disagreeing with you, you have to be sensitive in explaining why you are right instead of making the other person feel stupid. She has gained a few enemies in doing this and she is fast becoming an easy target in the boardroom. And she just HAS to stop going on about her "great instinct". I happen to have great hair, but I also know I'd piss the world off if they heard me say it more than once.

Another of these types is Ben. I'd say he is becoming a more likeable guy over the last couple of weeks, but this week he didn't sell and yet he must have mentioned his appointment with a large pet store more than he should have. Fine it was a good achievement, but ultimately a minor one.

Mona did quite well today, when she was perceived to be one of the weakest candidates remaining. But how will she fare now the major selling task is out of the way? Personally, I don't think she has much more about her.


Right now, I feel neither Ben, Lorraine or Mona are in with a shout of winning the series. James, Howard and Debra have less than three weeks to save themselves as although they have been steady performers, they are still quite vulnerable. That leaves Kate and Yasmina as arguably the strongest contenders but even these two have hardly set the world alight.


Apprentice Table

James - A very good team player, but now as the field narrows, he has to stand out on his own or he could be out.

Howard - I think it's time for him to come back into the contest. Has he been on holiday all this time?

Yasmina - I like how she called Lorraine "patronising" when she comes across as that herself sometimes.

Kate - Was this merely a blip or the start of her downfall?

Ben - Slowly building himself back up to respectability but he doesn't half harp on about any of his minor acheivements does he?

Debra - It's one thing to look out for yourself, but it's totally another to be so selfish. Her lack of teamwork could very well be her undoing.

Mona - She can certainly sell. But she doesn't convince me that she has much more to her.

Lorraine - Maybe it's because the others look down on her so much (and for this, I feel sorry for her because it's undeserved), but in none of the seven weeks has she shown herself to be an unbridled success. Now Philip's gone, does she have a reason to live?

Week 8:

Everything about this episode lacked the fire of last week, despite the nature of the task. No-one stepped up (a recurring theme of this series), no-one tanked out and nothing of any consequence happened.

Mona was always going to get fired at her next boardroom appearance. Since her abysmal performance at Project Managing the first task, it was only last week that we saw her do anything of any note, but it was too little, too late. She was perhaps less to blame for the failure of the task than Debra, but Debra had least tried in the last few weeks, while Mona simply coasted through. I don't think Mona could have too many complaints as she was the weakest candidate remaining.

Debra, I think, has run out of lives. She wasn't a good leader, despite demanding the job and she's not really shown anything special. Sugar's given her one last chance, probably as she's quite fiery and has a strong personality, but I don't he believes she can go much further.

James, is almost the opposite. I reckon Sugar sees a role for him somewhere in his company and likes his personality, but really it's up to James to prove he wants the job and to go for it.

Howard, although he didn't "wow" anybody, still took a massive stride towards the job by taking a key role and doing quite well despite having Debra as his PM. He's certainly bought himself sometime and can maybe survive one trip to the boardroom.

Although it's impossible to predict who will be on the winning team, it is possible to predict who stands a greater chance in the boardroom if they lose. At the moment, I'd pick Yasmina, Kate and Howard to get to the interview stage, with maybe James if he can avoid finishing on the losing team in either of the remaining weeks. Debra, Ben and Lorraine are walking a tightrope but at least one of them has to be in the interview stage (assuming no multiple firings), so it's not all over for them yet.

Apprentice Table

Howard - He's made a massive step towards the interview stage and proved he's not the weak or quiet candidate others have perceived him to be. However, if he ends up in the boardroom in the next two weeks, he better hope he's not up against Yasmina or Kate.

Yasmina - Not without her flaws but she is a strong all-rounder with the drive that not many of the others possess. Should make the interview stage, barring a disaster.

James - He's been doing all right, but now's the time to step up. It's sink or swim for the next 1 or 2 weeks.

Kate - Got back on the saddle without doing too much. I still think she's got one or two more lives left in the boardroom.

Ben - Like James earlier in the series, Ben has rebuilt himself just by being a decent team worker. But also like James, he has to make an outstanding contribution or he's out.

Debra - Very vulnerable at this stage. Wasn't a good leader at all despite snatching the job from the hands of Howard. Needs a good performance now or it's goodbye.

Lorraine - Technically there's not much wrong with her. But she's made the same mistakes of putting down other people's ideas, without being sensitive to the issue. Needs luck to reach the interviews, but with Ben and Debra also hanging on, she just might get it.

Week 9:

I'm not a big fan of these types of tasks. In fact, didn't we have one quite similar to it two weeks ago? Select two items and sell them on. Everyone knows that success or failure more down to the selection of products than it is over a business strategy, leadership or even great salesmanship (although there is a chance a demon seller can be uncovered in these tasks, we can rule this scenario out with these particular candidates).

In any case, only one selected item failed to shift - the rocking horse. James, as long as he didn't mess up in the boardroom, was fairly safe. Yes, he was leader, but it was also his job to listen to his teammates and they pretty much insisted on the horse. He could have gone for the buggy, but who's to say that Lorraine would have not got it anyway? The buggy was also a bit of a risk condsidering the price and the fact that it was available cheaper just 10 seconds away.

So it was between Debra and Ben. I have to say that in the last three or four weeks, Ben has improved and was becoming a worthy candidate and Debra was going in the opposite direction. It was also her fault over the rocking horse, so she was certainly lucky to escape. There's no way she's winning this now.

Ben, however, showed despite all his potential, had no tangible experience or achievements to back it up. He could have survived had he talked more about the good things he has done in the last few weeks, but the truth is, he was never going to win this either. I think Sugar just wanted to wind up Nick and Margaret a bit and let her stay.


Apprentice Table

Howard - He and James are just about the closest we've had to 'good guys' this year. I like his level-headedness and how he hasn't resorted to constant camera-whoring, but is he dynamic enough to win this?

Yasmina - Probably been the best candidate this year. Which doesn't say too much about the quality of "business brains" this series.

James - Sugar's been testing him of late and so far he's survived. But for how much longer?

Kate - Maybe if Sugar wasn't concentrating on how to fire Debra and Lorraine, he'd focus on exactly how much Kate has done recently.

Lorraine - She improved greatly since Philip was fired but she still has flaws.

Debra - Not a case of 'if' anymore, but 'when' she goes. And deservedly so.