I think she has serious hangups about looks and the fact that she's brought it up on a few occasions throughout the show, and barely been called on it, has been extremely unfair on Kate who has only this past week or so, showed that she's a bit pissed off by it. And even at that, it's been mild in comparison to Lorraine's blatant snidey comments about her.

As I've said on another post, I think Lorraine is quite scheming and manipulative. She often has an idea at the beginning, like others have when they are all brainstorming. And then goes with the majority vote until SA brings up why they didn't go for such and such an idea.....and that's where Lorraine has piped up that she had that idea to begin with and nobody went along with it. Hence the whole Cassandra image and hype that she's some kind of genius. When in fact, all she's done is manage to manipulate something in the past to her advantage. Unfortunately for her, even Margaret has caught on to her gameplan. I also think the whole 'looks' thing with Kate is to garner a sympathy vote or 'poor me, nobody every takes notice'.

It's obviously worked in her favour given that Howard got the chop over her, due to the hype that's been built up about her.

No, Lorraine wanted to go with the dinosaur. Howard refused and settled on the craft set (which Lorraine was also keen on) because it would have been easier for Kate to demonstrate - that's what he said on You're Fired.

Absolutely. It's clear that Howard was the best out of the three. I thought Howard made the right decision in terms of pairing himself up with Lorraine though - she needed someone with her that could reign her in and he was the right man for the job. Kate was competent enough.

I thought Kate did well selling those two items. I mean who in their right mind would want to buy a cat to stick pins in (unless it's some kind of cult group) and that guitar....what the heck kind of choice was that?

Kate did well with what she had. As was said, it was a poor product choice and in hindsight they should have gone with the Dinosaur which would have been a more attractive sell (and in terms of demonstration it was the perfect choice). She flourished with the air guitar but it was perhaps the wrong target audience for that product.

Don't you think it's pretty sad and pathetic if you need somebody to reign you in? FGS she's on The Apprentice....therefore she shouldn't need a bodyguard.

I think Kate is used to people complimenting her.

What I meant was that Lorraine was quite shaky on her stint as a solo presenter but I actually think she did a very good job with Howard by her side. Maybe it's just me but I don't see how they could have done any better.

Is that a bad thing? No seriously?

I don't think Kate has been rude to anyone from what I've seen throughout the show......but on the contrary, I've seen Lorraine attack her behind her back and towards her on a few occasions.

Lorraine clearly is the one with the self-confidence issues, not Kate. So I hardly think Kate should be villified just because she has confidence in herself and has indeed been complimented...not just for looks but her overall persona.

On the contrary, it could've been a helluva lot worse had Lorraine been a solo presenter.

Her not being the centre of attention? I don't see any "team problem" with complimenting someone for something going better than expected. However, I could see from Lorraine's fulsome apology that PC nonsense has taken hold in parts of UK business.

Kate is looking for a TV career - look how she reacted with the air guitar. If she goes to the BBC, they will send Numpty Kerplunky's make-up artist round with a trowel. She sold nothing on the Manchester task.

Well I think we can both agree on that point.

For me Kate was one of my early favourites, but since then although she's made sensible comments she's not really stood out. I now rate her no higher than the others.

I agree she got the product choice right, but that's all. I don't agree that she did a good job of directing. Howard and Lorraine were the selling chips not the chip-maker, and not mentioning the phone or product number enough. I think that was a very hard thing for H&L to judge right, and exactly the kind of thing the control should notice and point out to them. I think if she had done a better job as controller they'd have sold more chip-makers.

Where's the proof that she's looking for a TV career?

As for the rest of your post, I don't understand it...i.e. 'Lorraine's fulsome apology' etc. What apology and when?

It depends on whether their predicted performance for the slot was based on the products they had, or on the products the channel would have put in the slot. I would expect the former, but I don't know. Obviously that stuff does sell else it wouldn't be in stock.

After she said howard had come across really well on TV and Kate had a "look at me" hissy fit and said it was detrimental to the team etc., Lorraine started on some "no offence" nonsense about how it went without saying that Kate was great on TV etc. to balance things out in an "All must have prizes" way.

No TV career? She is already sizing up somewhere in London with Phil.

Kate's had her moments but she's been subtle about it. Like last week, colluding with Howard that if they failed the task they had a reason to place the blame on Lorraine.

And, alongside Philip, completely undermining Lorraine when she was PM a few weeks back.

Lorraine, on the other hand, is usually very direct. She doesn't speak behind people's backs, but to their faces and it gets her into trouble sometimes.

To be fair, and you might have a point, but both were rubbish at controllers in that case. I.e. I thought that both Lorraine and Howard were practically non-existant as controllers when Kate was selling those cats and the guitar. I was actually cringing because she was blagging it the whole way on her own.

No not at all but Lorraine was correct in saying that Howard was the best in the practise session. It`s good to be able to give compliments as well as accepting them

Well I suppose this should also be considered within the context of them having never done it before. Debra was an anomaly - you wouldn't be asked to do this kind of thing in your normal job.

So I suppose in that respect they were too 'presenter-ish' and weren't selling the product enough. Howard and Lorraine gorging themselves on chips for example, or both of them laughing over Lorraine fighting off potential suitors.

They probably got too carried away in the role and Kate should have got them back on track. Debra was, surprisingly, brilliant at selling the product, responding to Yasmina and James in the booth, and also being quite personable on screen - which was a revelation.

Don't you mean Ben?

I'm sorry to disagree, but it's a case of Lorraine's underlying issues here with looks etc, that I seen way off at the start and long before Phil and Kate got together. I guess things have simmered in the background ever since and are now coming to a friction point between them. But IMO, it was Lorraine who started making it personal and not business with her snidey comments about Kate before she ever got with Phil.

And the fact that Phil and her never hit it off and he has since been fired, is a one-up to Lorraine. However, it hardly disguises her clear wanting to take a pop at Kate when she can. I.e. like the glaring look comment, and the bigging up of Howard etc. She's very very sly IMO. But it's obvious that her poor me personna has got some peeps hoodwinked, like it did Margaret until tonight.

I dont really get why AS was making such a point about that - phone nos are usually displayed across the tv screens

No I mean Howard. When Lorraine was struggling to operate the buggy for the baby show, he and Kate muttered something about it being an ideal reason to put her in the firing line should they fail the task.

Calling that "collusion" is stretching it a bit. Howard whispered it to her, and then the scene cut out. I also don't think she undermined anything when Lorraine was PM. she just did shit. Actually out of everyone on that team I think she did the best to give Lorraine genuine support on the first day. I think the closest Kate's ever come to being genuinely bitchy is when she and Howard were laughing about how awful it would be if James were PMing them, and the reception she gave him when he returned last week.

Meanwhile Lorraine called Phillip a dick-head in a to-camera interview, behind his back. After pretty much every phone-call in her first PM job she was bitching about the other subteam to Yasmina. She's occasionally SUPER passive-aggressive.

Neither of them have their hands clean. Nobody left does.

Don't you find it strange that Lorraine never compliments Kate's efforts.......and yet Kate has complimented Lorraine many times in this show?

What does that say about Lorraine?