Stuart should have gone for that cringe making creep. He may however believe it in which case he should be shot as a kindness.

Last year there was a discussion about the blue eyes. Conclusion it's the reflection from the back drop. It's not caused by the radient blue light coming from Karren's arse. That is of course claret now. With stripes in a 70's disco way.

I actually thought that the women (with the exception of the selfish and antagonising Melissa) all seemed very competent - especially Joanna, who managed the team/project very well.

The men just seemed like a bunch of testosterone-fuelled imbeciles, and the only 2 who appear to have anything going for them are Jamie and Christopher.

Sad that Dan went so early, as I think he would have been fascinating to watch for a few more episodes. But looking like a short-haired Katie Hopkins just worked against him a little too much.

The posh bloke must stay in though.

Was it still Francis on the other end of the phone?

That's debatable. Up until this series, the PM who lost in the first task got fired 2 times out of 5, or 40%. The PM who lost in later tasks got fired 22 times out of 45 tasks, or 49%. So if you are going to lose as PM, it was better to lose in task 1 than later.

That's changed with this firing, of course. Now the losing PM has a 50:50 chance of being fired regardless of when they lose.

It's worth noting that if the losing PM doesn't get fired immediately, they tend to do very well. They've been finalists twice, and got to task 8 the other time. PMs who win the first task do even better. So it's actually a pretty good gamble to offer to lead in the first task.

The points you mention about working out the other people, etc, apply to both teams, so don't make you more likely to lose. The point about Lord Sugar having fired the worst ones is actually an argument for being PM early, while there is still plenty of deadwood to be eliminated. At least, if you think you have any talent. Probably the most important part of being PM is being able to identify candidates who are worse than you, so you can bring them into the boardroom and convince Lord Sugar to fired them first.

Dan got fired mainly because he failed to do that, but it's important in any task. It should be easier when there are more bad candidates around. Especially as you shouldn't be basing it on past performance. If you identify the weakest candidate before the task starts, and set them up to fail, there's a good chance you'll get rumbled, and no-one likes a leader who sabotages their own team.

I noticed that Dan never bothered to address him as Lord Sugar.

Perhaps that's why he's now an ex candidate