Yeah. He says to the interviewers, before firing anyone, about maybe this will give her her a kick. Translation being that she wasn't going to be fired but he is tied between her and someone else, wanting her to beef up her game. He thinks she wasn't performing at max capacity and the team wasn't see fully what she can do. He wants to see how much she wants the job. He has been far more scaving of Lorraine, James and Debra. Basically Kate needs to up her game in the interviews and he thinks that she is "cruising" a bit too much. That was my interpretation. She was never in any danger going last night though. His comments made that abundantly clear when he pretty much told the interviewers she had to up her game. If she needed to up her game, then she would need another chance. He also was critical of Lorraine yesterday, He was critical of all three of them.

Yeah. Im interested too as just rewatched it and saw missfrankiecats quote, but not yours. Was that on the you're fired show or something?

That was my thought too. I thought Sir Alan simply wanted to avoid making Kate's victory look too certain.

(Could be wrong though, and I definitely don't rule Yasmina out)

Really? The news reports last weekend saying her life had been wrecked by going in the show, she had lost 2 stones in weight, was rocked by the rumours of swinging, and that she wished she had never gone on the show at all, hardly paint her as a Winner.

If they weretrying to present Lorraine in a sympathetic light, why has every single guest on You're Fired slammed her in vitriolic terms, often beyond what's reasonable or fair?

I think she's the Lucinda for this year, the victim who bests her bullies to make Final Five, but ultimately is incompatable with Siralan's values. The problem is that last year Lucinda got out of control and became the Fan Favourite, making their Final Four look bad for beating her (especially Lee, who was clearly supposed to be the fans choice). They don't want that to happen again, so they've been tempering the public desire to back the underdog with really negative commentary.

It's a shame, because Lorraine is so much a better candidate than Lucinda as to be ridiculous.

How was Kate mean to her? She clearly disliked the way Lorraine raised the subject of people's appearances, and made her feelings plain. But she didn't do it in a "mean" way.

Kate completely overreacted to Lorraine's comments. Why can't Lorraine say that Howard looks good on camera etc. without Kate taking it as a slight. They were there to discuss who came across best on camera and it was decided that it was Howard. I think that showed a level of immaturity on Kate's part.

Well, apart from the mistake over sandalwood/cedarwood oil - but Paula took the rap for that!

How much does Sir Alan actually work with the new apprentice? Do they get handed over for "training" with another manager or do they work directly with SA? Does he really boss them about or get someone else (like Nick or Margaret) to do it?

That wasn't the comment Kate was reacting to. It was when Lorraine followed it up with a remark about Kate's looks that Kate commented that this wasn't helpful.

Must of been that time of the month

Seriously though it's getting extremely competitive now, factor in their recent past it's understandable Kate was on a short fuse with Lorraine.

Could be both. Might be because he expects her to do better. Might be because he's looking for an excuse to move to someone else ( perhaps due to the Michelle factor)

There's also a big question mark about whether SAS follows his own logic. He was pretty clear about what most needed to be done (picking the right goods) in that task and he pretty clearly indicated what were the right and wrong choices. He also said it wasn't about who could present on TV.

On the matrix of who did what Kate picks not one but two "right" items and he notes they were the "top" choices available - she couldn't get any more marks on the test as he had described it. Howard and Lorraine make the wrong choices and get a second dose of blame for not selling the right picks. Blaming them for choosing unsaleable things for Kate to sell ought to make it difficult too for him to blame Kate for not selling. Yasmina and Debra play safe which is exactly the same word he uses to describe and sack Howard - though they save the day selling well .

On what the task is meant to be about in his description of it Kate scores most but in the comments he says she was disapointing at her TV presenting and not selling and praises Debra for her TV presenting - what he said wasn't what he was looking for.

Either he changes his mind what he wants continously and makes it up as he goes along or he's disapointed Kate isn't as good as he thought or he's taking to someone else or he's confusing the story to make its end more surprising.

He would look stupid taking Lorraine. She randomly has right gut feelings or dud ones. You can't employ someone on the basis that they will spot the blindingly obvious at a tactical level every now and again. Strategically she just doesn't create alternative ideas - she just spots what could go wrong whether it will or not.

If he wants someone to innovate Yasmina and Debra are both more intelligent and have a good sense of the basics and lots of drive - they just make mistakes. Kate is very intelligent and is the one who has made the best calls on what risk strategy to follow and what will sell - Lorraine's record has been awful from the catbox to the cat doll. SAS doesn't strike me as someone who is going to go for unreliable intuition over good business sense and analytical ability.

James is pretty weak and although he's gone for not very bright or not very outstanding people recently he's going to look extremely wrongheaded if he takes one of his least capable males over three very capable females.

I dunno.. the more I think about it the more I think Lorraine may be the shock dark horse winner this year.

I keep thinking back and Lorraine is interesting in so much as in the tasks, she has one idea which everyone thinks is rubbish including us at home. And then when you get into the board room.. she sticks to her guns and as it turns out, Marg/Nick/SA seemed to like the idea too. Cue everyone else looking shocked and interestingly Lorraine never seems to rub that in or go for the others and back stab them. She just quietly accepts it.

And Lorraine has been spot on more than once now.. I think it's at least three times now where she has gone against her group and has been right. Granted, she struggles in some areas.. demonstrations.. sales.. but maybe SA isn't looking for that type of candidate this year.

And when you think of the other contestants left, who out of that lot has impressed SA more than twice? Debra with her sales figures certainly. But SA traditionally doesn't hire the sales people. Yasima and Kate.. I'm not so sure they've stood out really. They sail along and do quite well but have they really made an impression? When can you recall Marg and Nick complimenting Yasmina or Kate?

Lorraine.. it's crazy to think it.. but maybe she could pull it off. Maybe she is a good match for the role he has in mind for the winner. He normally slots them into a specific role within the company.. a special project. Maybe the next special project for SA is finding the next new big product.

Can't see any similarity. Lucinda was smart and eccentric and could get on with people. Lorraine is not very smart, even more of a accident waiting to happen and can't get on with anyone. Its signiicant that despite their rows Yasmina and Debra can work together and Kate can work with both of them without any problem, but no one can work with Lorraine

In terms of their role, they're exactly the same. They're both "victims", both underdogs, both eccentric voices who are unfairly ignored and marginalised. Apart from Lucinda being protrayed as a good leader, and Lorraine as a mediocre-good one they fulfil exactly the same role in the show.

You can tell, because the way viewers talk about them as characters (as opposed to how people talk about their business merit and skills) is more or less exactly the same. Either they're weak, useless, disruptive, and playing the victim or they're intuative, intelligent, interesting, and unfairly picked on. That's the decision.

It's like how Claire and Debra fill the same niches, because you're being asked as a viewer to decide for yourself whether their skills sufficiently make up for their aggression and belligerance. People fall either side of the fence (as people do with Lucinda and Lorraine) but the question the show is asking you to have an opinion on is, at heart, the same.

Their business merit is a different discussion, and one I probably shouldn't have introduced in the end.

Although neither of them really strike me as being creative. There have been some hints he is looking for a creative person, and of the remaining candidates I'd say that was Lorraine and James.

On the advert task, Kate didn't seem to be creative herself but then that wasn't her role, and she was good at moderating Ben and James' creativity. That may be more important.

I personally think it's down to Debra, Kate or Yasmina, but the original poster is right in that a case could be made for all of them. So much depends on what Sir Alan wants. I'd never have predicted Simon would win s3.