Which candidates have moved furthest up and down in your opinion this week?

For me:

Up: Ben - simply because he was positive, behaved quite well and started from such an incredibly low position.

Down: Philip - I'd given him the benefit of the doubt before because he seemed to talk sense but now he's really shown his true colours as an appallingly spolt child.

These two are still the candidates I like the least (so I'm sure they'll both make it to the interviews. )

Down: Phillip. 'Pants Man'????? Jeeeesus. What was he thinking!!!!! And shame on Kimberley for going with it!

Up. Lorraine. For being the only person to see what the majority of us at home thought. For standing up to 'The Ego'. For defending herself so well in the boardroom. In fact, I might even go so far as to say that Lorraine is my new favourite!

Yep, Philip's gone right down in my opinion. He is a bully. Lorraine was treated unfairly last ngiht

My opinions haven't changed, still can't stand Ben or Philip

Philip: Pants down
Kate: Pants up

Up:[LIST][*]Kate, for managing a team of big characters really well.[*]Lorraine, for challenging a crap idea when her supposedly expert project manager didn't[*]Ben, for coming up with a great concept. Though I still don't like him, just dislike less [*]Lorraine, for being the only one to give an honest answer to Sraln's question 'Good project leader?'[*]Jasmina, for a cracking impression of Kimberly in the cab[*]Lorraine, for being the only one who even tried to come up with a better idea than p###kman[*]Howard, for confronting Lorraine and Philip about their behaviour while their project leader pretended to write stuff down on her clipboard.[*]Lorraine, because I need another 'Up: Lorraine' bullet point here.[*]James, for instantly understanding the concept and coming up with the practical ideas to get it fleshed out.[/LIST]
Down:[LIST][*]Noorul, though bizarrely I can't think of an example of anything he did during the task that would make me think less of him [*]Philip, for the gap between his ability and his self belief[*]Mona, for one of the worst displays of presentation skills ever[*]Philip, for assuming that what might appear funny to a 30 year old estate agent would be funny to a pre-teen.[*]Nick, for what seemed like dubious reports back to Sraln that made Lorraine look like the person responsible for the failure.[*]Philip, for his bullying manner[*]and last but not least, Kimberly, for being a dreadful, dreadful, dreadful project leader[/LIST]

Up
Kate - handled her team really well, with a very positive attitude

James - just 'cos I really like him - he's a super intelligent guy, but I think there's so much going on in his head that bits get jumbled (he reminds me a bit of Boris Jhnson in that respect)

Howard - he's quiet, but when he speaks he makes good sensible points. It was unfair of Philip to say that he was staying under the radar.

Down

Nooral - what is the point of his being there?

Kimberley - terrible team leader. Doesn't seem capable of actually doing anything which her job would require.

Biggest change up for me would be between Yasmina, James and Debra.

Debra and James more so over the course of the series, but Yasmina to the extent that she dipped a little last week. Ben was not really in focus and hence not annoying, but I wouldn't say my mind's changed as far as he's concerned. Kate was the one who shone, but liked her anyway, so not really a change of opinion, as such.

And down:

Lorraine. I wasn't particularly all that keen before but she came across quite badly. She could claw it back if she shows she has something though.

Also, Mona is increasingly fading into the background considering her first week, and not displaying tremendous skills.

Up:

James. Am seeing him as a real contender - thinking of placing a bet even.

No other strong opinions really. It's not half-way yet and the manipulation of the viewers does lessen in the second half of the series.

Ben and Phillip are there as villains of the piece, who usually get to the interview stage but never win. No previous winner has ever been a bit like either of those two. Anyone remember the dreadful Paul Torrance from Series 1, whatever happened to him?

For me, virtually no change. Philip again showed his energy and creativity, as did Ben. I had Kate pegged as a strong candidate ever since the first episode. Howard was sensible and beavered away in the background. Nooral and Mona contributed nothing, as usual. Lorraine behaved here much as she did on the fitness task.

James went up a bit - I can now see in him more of what Margaret saw a few episodes back.

The only major change in opinion I've had was about Philip, but that was on week 3. He went from zero to hero. But this week, I now realise that the "hero" is Pants Man. :sleep:

Debra is gradually going up in my estimation every week. She's definitely a capable candidate, she just needs to be easier and more pleasant for others to work with. James has also been growing on me - he isn't a total knob.

As for Ben, IMO he only behaved well this week because he had such a brilliant manager, who knew how to humour him. He's still a complete and utter tosser.

Ben's basically Katie Hopkins redux. He always behaves impeccably on tasks (about for his natural pretentiousness), but when he's brought into the boardroom he behaves like a cock, and he's constantly foul about people in interviews. I think Kate managed him fine, but if his team had lost he would have been just as rude and aggressive to her in the boardroom as he was to everyone else who brought him in there.

Kate and James went up the most in my estimation this week. The former because she was a great manager and the latter because he confirmed last week's competence wasn't just a blip.

Mona went down the most because she demonstrated yet another thing she can't do. Oh and Kimberly, because she was pretty poor.

However, pants back down again (literally ) for Kate, for choosing Philip as a boyfriend.

My opinions haven't changes about any of them!!

Kate has been very strong since day 1. She always talks sense and what she did in this task as just emphesized her ability to deal with different characters and to lead what can be described as a very strong team to victory.

Debra and Yasmina have delivered a solid performance as usual!!

I like Howard since day 1. He always talks sense. His strategy was good when he was PM considering it was his first task.

Philip is always full of ideas. He reminds me a bit of Tre (although Tre gets it more right than Philip). At least he had something to offer in a very weak team - probably the weakest team I can remember in the history of the apprentice. I just don't like his tactics in the boardroom!!

Ben and James are good team players. They always offer something in the teams they are in.

Loraine has always been weak IMO. She is usually negative and she is always wasting valuable time. Since episode 1 she points out the mistakes when it is over. She keeps pushing other ideas even when they are undeveloped. In the fittness episode she wanted to go against philip's idea but thankfully Debra shut her up. In this episode she got lucky by being negative against a bad idea. However, she didn't offer a decent alternative. They already wasted too much time trying to find a character and her ideas didn't even meet the brief.

Finally the weakest players Mona and Noorul who continue to offer nothing. I hope they go as soon as possible.

Kate was very weak in the posh catering challenge. It was lucky the client had already agreed to pay them the price they wanted for the food she so thoroughly understood

That seemed predominately down to Yasmina giving her very little to work and with little knowledge of food she had to deal with it on the spot.

It always takes 3/4 weeks to decide whos my favourite and whos my least favourite so im supporting James and im hoping Noorul get sacked at least until they leave

kate has gone way up in my estimation. Ben remains the lowest, but Mona is on her way to joining him at the bottom of the pile.

Up
Kate - nice person
Lorraine - stuck up for herself, has a good head

Down
Philip - annoyed me so much with the stupid pants idea
Noorul - just why?

But business is all about having to deal with unexpected stuff on the spot. She hardly exuded an air of confidence

None of them have really changed.

Some just let their mask slip (e.g. Philip) and others just hid their negative qualities better (e.g. Ben).

Yes , but business isn't about coming up with an entire menu in 4 hours and then pitching it without being briefed by your manager in limited time to secure the deal by the next day , so we can let her off for that

She did better during the presentation in the advert task. She got some unexpected and hard questions but wasn't thrown by them. The difference was probably in the amount of time she had to prepare.

I agree - she answered the question really well in the Captain Squawk presentation - she just needs to work on her techniques for handling questions she doesn't already know the answers to

Down : Philip ... I really liked him to start with, but he's always trying to make other people look like like t***s

Up : Ben ( gawd 'elp me ) ... when he said about being accepted at Sandhurst, ( or somesuch ) and Sir Alan rolled his eyes, I thought it was all over for him. But he's wierdly growing on me ! ... maybe it's because he looks like Dustbin Hoffman ...