I feel sorry for Lorraine.

As far as I can see, she has done nothing wrong in the tasks. She tries very hard every week. And she has always spoken sense and has came up with good ideas.

Yet, she is looked down on by the rest of the candidates. When she tries to put her ideas forward she is seen as disruptive and negative, and when she doesn't put herself forward she is perceived as being weak. She also comes in for a lot of stick from viewers, most of which is unfair and based on a personal level.

At least when people criticise Ben, Philip, Debra - this is because of the way that they behave. With Lorraine, it seems to be personal and people just want to write her off without giving her a chance. She is the most under-estimated of this year.

I await to see how she performs as PM! Out of everyone, she is the one I would most like to see succeed and prove some people wrong.

I think you may have a point. Phillip I'm-just-an-ordinary-bloke-from-Durham certainly ignored her big time last night and then had the audacity to ask her why she hadn't made her thoughts known about the rug! Others also attempt to sleight her.

The only thing we can hope for is that the Sir Mayor-elect one sees all of this and keeps her in...... but, then again, maybe she won't make the best telly when up against the shy and retiring Debra and the likes. Time will tell.

Maybe AS will put her and Phillip in different teams next time so we can see how they perform without eachother to bicker with.

She can't win this show, that's for sure. It will never happen.

But I would like to see her make a dent in the competition, and make it further than Philip, at least!

I totally agree with OP

Philip was an arse last night - he said 'just tell me if I'm being a jerk' and then proceeded to roll his eyes at everything Lorraine said like a 5-year old

and then to have the front to say she hadn't said the rug was worth a lot all along - I'm so glad Margaret was there to set him straight because he keeps getting away with it

I think he forgets the cameras are actually there all the time, not just when he's pontificating

I feel sad for Lorraine - it's only because she's not seen as 'hot' (he wouldn't speak to Kate or Yasmina or Mona or Debra like he does to her)

I'll be happy if she outlasts Philip.

If she outlasts Ben as well that will be a bonus.

I agree with this, and most the criticism I've seen about Lorraine seems to consist of jibes about the way that she looks.

Lorraine is my favourite candidate. I really do think she has a lot of sense and isn't getting the recognition she deserves.

I completely agree with the OP.

Philip is an absolute arse with Lorraine and I'm fairly sure it's because she's not as good looking and glamorous as he Katie types. The arrogant man is judging her entirely on her looks and dismisses everything she says I'm from the North East but I don't want him to win, he's a bit of a bully and a neanderthal. He also seems to think he's God's gift and his morning routine (as seen on BBC2's You're fired) would rival any woman's

I was SO pleased when Sir Alan put him right in his place regarding Lorraine last night. He has his eyes on Philip now so he and the rest who are dismissing Lorraine had better watch their actions in future.

She is possibly one of the most intelligent competitors. I think you've got to watch out for her as she could be the dark horse.

She has shown that she has a good instinct and that isn't going un-noticed by Margaret & Nick. For the last two tasks she has been right about her instinct but has been shot down in flames by Philip who was a joke with that rug - an he's an estate agent, I wouldn't want that joker value my house

Lorraine was spot on last night, but completely ignored by Phillip probably because of his dislike for her.

She does seem to be on the edge of the group.

I can see Lorraine being a strong contender for the final two if she doesn't do anything stupid.

She's far less divisive than Debora and it's becoming clearer that she has a lot to contribute but has been overwhelmed by the oafish one.

It's all very well saying that she should stand up to him but it looks to me as if should anyone really do that he'd destroy the task.

It will be interesting to see how one of the more high profile candidates deals with his tantrums in a different mix.

Agree with this and all the other posts on this thread. Lorraine is good.

She needs to cheer up and not be such a grumpy old thing then maybe people would be more receptive to her ideas.

Precisely my thoughts too.

I really cannot fathom why her opinions are held in such low regard.....

I expected that someone would respond by saying something like this, and I do not agree.

Besides from the fact that I think Lorraine is reasonably cheerful most of the time, more so in the early weeks when she didnt have to deal with Philip, the reason I HATE this argument, is that it completely lets Philip off the hook, and says that it's okay for him to ignore her and to write off all her ideas, because it is actually Lorraine's own fault that others don't want to listen to what she has to say. I do not accept this at all.

As far as I can see, all of Lorraine's objections have been intelligent and she has put them forward quite calmly and reasonably. Whether others see her as a 'grumpy old thing' should have no relevence, this is supposed to be about business. So they should not be ignoring her if they want to win the tasks.

Isn't it partly because she does little to carry through her opinions? It's very easy to say someone else's idea is "pants" or that you 'have a feeling' that the rug is worth something but you have to come up with a viable alternative idea or do something about getting the rug valued or else it's just covering your own back. Philip is a bore and a boar but at least he puts his neck on the line and carries through.

She had an alternative idea to Pantsman. I agree that it wasn't a brilliant idea, but it was something that could have been worked upon with the cooperation of the others if they hadn't dismissed it from the beginning. Pantsman was a complete dead-end of an idea and had no hope of achieving anything. It was a failed concept as it didnt make sense. At least having fruit characters fitted in with the concept of selling cereal.

She kept trying to get the rug valued, but Philip kept telling her to stop and focus on selling the skeleton. There was nothing else she could have done.

With respect, her ideas for the cereal were worse than Philip's because they did not meet the brief which was to create one character when she kept harping on about a whole host of character jumping out of the bowl. And while Philip was very forceful with his concept the idea that he prevented any other creativity is nonsense when you rewatch the programme and see Kimberley specifically ask if anyone else has an alternative and they all sit in silence.

I didn't see her do anything about getting the rug valued other than look at the catalogue provided which was for antique carpets, rather than a reasonable quality new rug. She made no suggestions about arranging a visit to an importer or some calls, just whines on about her 'feeling'.

That's what I meant about her idea needing to be reworked. It was a solid enough idea, not massively original - but it could have been worked to fit the brief by picking to focus on a single fruit character. And at least was a better alternative than Pantsman, if nothing else was on offer to pick from.


She wasn't allowed to arrange any visits about enquiring about the rug. Everytime she mentioned it, Philip kept telling her to shut-up and Lorraine didnt want to be viewed as a trouble-maker after the last task.

Because it seems to be the one that shouts the loudest is the one that they follow. Too many weak links who take what Ben & Phil say as gospel in my opinion.

I went off her in task 3 when she tried to revive the under-floor ankle exerciser when it was far too late to do so. That time she was no Cassandra; Debra was right not to listen to her. Lorraine then insisted on doing the pitch, and did a pretty poor job of it.

Last week she was right about Philip's idea being poor, but her own idea was worse and she didn't seem able to fix the basics in it between the morning session when she first came up with it, and the afternoon session. (It's true other people could have fixed it for her, had there been time, but we're talking about her, not other people.)

This week she was right about the rug, but didn't get any valuations to back it up. Again, no follow through.

I agree with you, though, about her trying hard. She put a lot of effort into the pitch in task 3. She still seemed cheerful when pitching her multiple characters idea in the afternoon session last week. (She was upstaged by Philip's song and dance routine, so his energy was even higher, but she did have some enthusiasm herself.)

She reminds me of Lucinda from last series, because the other candidates thought she was useless and they all kinda zoned in on her. Yet, she survives far in the competetion with this belief that she was the "under-dog". Lorraine will probably be the same.

I think Sir Alan likes her because all she has done has been right so far. Philip attacks on her as he sees her a easy-pickings because she is slightly older than the rest and used the rug argument to try and cover himself if he lost the task.

I don't like Philip but I can understand why he ignored Lorraine. Again she was going on about the rug being an antique when it was clearly a modern rug!!! Had she said that the rug just looks like an expensive one without wasting time insisting that it is an old rug, she would have been more convincing. But her reasoning caused her team members to dismiss her point.

We see her arguing with Philip about the possibility of the rug being an old one (and well-preserved!!!) instead of arguing about the main point: its value. At that point Philip was right which led him to ignore Lorraine completely.

LOL, so much for Lorraine not following through. You've just said that managed to insist that she did the pitch. I'll bet not many people could insist on doing something against Debora's wishes when she was PM.


Yeah, right.

If you believe that anything can be worse than associating a cereal aimed at children with underpants.


But it's supposed to be a team effort.

It would have taken seconds to bring her idea in line with the brief at which point they would have been in a vastly better position then they were with pantsman.


You do understand how this works, don't you?

She couldn't get any valuations because the team leader would not allocate time to it.