I know James is popular due to his personality but with Ben now gone he is the weakest candidate left. Tonight was his second loss as a PM and on neither time as a PM has he really had control over his team and a clear strategy. I can't recall a particular strong individual performance from him in any of his tasks, the only quality I've seen is that he is a good team-player. He has stayed in so far as there have been weaker condidates deserving of going.

Howard, Kate and Yasmina are clearly the strongest three left. After them Lorraine has had some mixed weeks but within that she has had some good individual performances and did a good job of PM tonight, the one big oversight with checking competition on the bugeys exempted. Debra is extremely unlikeable and tonight was her second bad task in a row after last week but she still had some good weeks and has a couple of strong points. For me this puts her ahead of James.

I agree Kate and Yasmina are the strongest. James might be the weakest, I am not sure. I think he is probably a really good manager, but lacks any kind of real spark.

I think he has more spark than Howard

Howard is the wekest and showed his spinelessness again this week....

James has not shown more spark than Howard or that he is a better manager. James has lost two tasks as PM for a start when there was not good management, the gym product task and this one. The one time Howard was pm he won mainly due to good management in that they checked their costings before starting the car washing as he requested(which Mona did not) and secondly, he went down to the car lot when Phil, Ben and James were struggling and got them to pull off the full order. He also performed well tonight in a well functioning team and was the only positive in last week's tasks for his group. For me he is well ahead of James.

I think he's hilarious. But that said, I know that's not the skills he should be judged on.

James is definitely weak. He's shown some creativity though, in the cereal task. I think he's more creative than organised, and more of a team builder than a team leader.

Like her or not, Lorraine's demonstrated more ability than Howard. She's consistently making the right business choices and is very aware and accepting and upfront about her mistakes. Whereas he's flown so far under the radar I'm struggling to remember anything exceptional. Certainly the only thing worth commenting on is SOME of his performance in the Margate-rebrand. But even that wasn't 100k worth of good.

Yasmina has made some huge mistakes and has an abrasive, autocratic management style. She seems more effective as a team member under someone else's direction than a PM. She wouldn't be my apprentice.

It'd be a Lorraine / Kate final for me. With Kate winning.

I can envisage James being an HR manager.

But he doesn't seem to have the business savvy needed to go all the way on The Apprentice.

I find him a bit limp if I'm honest.

James is probably an asset for whoever he works for and a good business man. It's only on the TV/media he seems dull and weak.

I doubt if any of the 'winners ' will be as reliable and in long term employment, they will be too busy chasing the fame.

I'm not sure he's the weakest - I'd hire him over Debra and Lorraine because honestly, business is about getting on with people, at least as far as I'm concerned. But yes, he's slightly weak...but something tells me he's just happy to play second fiddle a lot. In the weeks between his back-to-back boardrooms he kind of disappeared and let the rest of his subteam do things most of the time. That's not apprentice material, but it's sensible; if the 'young, strong ones' want to take charge...let them. He probably does a lot on the side we don't see, or I doubt he'd still be there.

In a real life situation, I'd employ James before I'd employ Debra or Ben. The latter two would sell their own grannies and then vehemently deny it in the boardroom to try and save their own skin.

It is not question of him seeming dull or weak as a person. I mean 'weakest' in the sense of after 9 weeks the candidate with having the least amount of positives/good performances in comparison to the rest. I find James far from dull, he is very amusing, but overall he has not done anything in the competition impressive or noteworthy and the tasks that he has lost when PM have depended alot on the decisions he has made which is a weak trackrecord going into week 10 when most of the fodder has been kicked off.

I want to see Howard do something before saying whether James is the weakest candidate left.

Good point. I almost forgot that Howard existed.

He has done plenty over the course of the last 9 weeks and does not have two losses as PM behind him like James. I can give a reasonably detailed summary of Howard's positives but what has James done well in the tasks other than make people laugh and come up with the occasional cracking quip?

To be honest with you, Howard hasn't stood out for me at all out of all the candidates. That's probably down to editing and could well be a good thing, I don't know. Only to me, he hasn't shone at all and even though if he has indeed performed better in sales etc, then I would never have noticed because he just sort of fades into the background to me.

Editing? Probably.

Fair enough. I disagree but there you go. Out of interest, can you find any reasons why James is any better other than his personality. Because even his biggest fans don't seem to champion him as winner material just entertainment.

It's coincidental that you should ask that when I've just this second responded to another post agreeing about James being capable, and how he does seem to articulate himself well in the tasks etc.

However, in the boardroom he seems to be in stagefright and terrified of SA himself.

what was James' previous job before the Apprentice? i've only been watching for a couple of weeks so not quite up to speed. he's very funny but does look like he's about the burst into tears sometimes!

I agree James is weakest of those left - not weak, just weakest. I've not been a fan of Lorraine, but she did OK this week, and James does have two losses as leader against him.

Debra is probably next. I think she's stronger than James, but doesn't seem to be learning and isn't good enough to overcome Nick and Margaret's dislike of her.

I do like Howard but he really needs to step up and lead again. Kate and Yasmina have hardly put a foot wrong.

I find it hard to believe that James is employed in a managerial position! It must be in the public sector as I doubt he would last in the commercial world , he comes across as way too weak. I do like him though (he also looks tall) as he says the strangest things and looks on the verge of tears and incomprehension most of the time.

I'm not bothered who wins this year as they all seem inept

A calumny there on the public sector.

Actually, James indicated on the show he works in a corporate environment, which I wouldn't tend to think of as meaning public sector.

I don't know; James made a big mistake as PM in the fitness task by taking no interest in the actual product until it was too late to change it. But he's not really made many others. I'd pick Lorraine as weakest, to be honest - she can't sell or present well, and seems unable to get on well with people.

I agree with this. I think there is a lot to James - maybe this kind of role is not the one he is best suited to. But I think he could be an excellent worker. I would not hire Debra or Lorraine, because whatever people say, it is important to have people who don't get everyone else wound up.

I agree that James is probably the weakes candidate left. The other contestants have been saying that he'll go soon for a few weeks now.

However, James is my favourite. I find him one of the nicest people on the show, and he makes the Apprentice hilarious. He may not be the best, but he doubles the entertainment on the show, and for that reason, I really want him to get to the interviews.

I don't rate James as amazing. But I would say he is creative, gets on well with people and has a strong business ethic. However, he is one of the weakest left.

But Howard, I would put down there too. He isn't one of the more creative left, he isn't one of the best sellers, he isn't someone who comes across as a leader who brings out the best in people, he doesn't take the lead in tasks (eg. Kate seemed to be leader of the subteam last task whether it was supposed to come across like that or not). I also haven't seen evidence of strong negotiation skills.

But he does seem to have a strong business ethic, stays out of arguments, keen to learn, works well in a team and talks common sense. But I would never put him above the likes of Kate, Yasmina or even Lorraine (and I'm not a fan of hers).

This week was a week for James and Howard to shine. With such small teams now; you can't hide in the background. And yet Howard still managed to look as if, even in a two man team, Kate was running their team. James had the most difficult team to manage in terms of 3 strong personalities with two of them known to do whatever it takes to place blame elsewhere. James for me isn't the strongest candidate, but he did make decisions yesterday and did try to get the best out of them. but when you have two people who want things their way all the time, it must be difficult. However, a leader needs to be able to manage anyone and the fact people don't respect him enough for him to lead by example will probably be a reason he wouldn't be hired.

The only two people who I have seen actually respected by the team and truly followed are Yasmina and Kate.