Considering it's week 5, she has won as project manager, and broken an Apprentice record (most amount of money in terms of sales for a pitch). Plus, she got a special mention from Nick in week 1.

It's usually the silent but deadly ones who win, and she has a quiet demeanour.

Is she a too obvious winner?
Or do people still not rate her ability, because I think she could walk it...

Liz hasn't put a foot wrong yet. What impresses me about her most are her interpersonal skills.

However, whilst she managed to secure the most sales for an item in Apprentice history, I do think the Babyglow was an easy product to sell.

I'll be interested to see how she fares on a task involving selling cars or something!

Too early to dub her the strongest candidate to date is what I'm trying to say.

I thought I was the only one that picked up on that..So she happened to be the candidate pitching while holding a hot product (that was bound to sell like hot cakes anyway)..Suddenly that means she got the job in the bag? I admit shes a contender but ppl around here are so easily fooled by selective editing..

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Nope, a lot of people on here have made this observation.

I'm not sure that she hasn't put a foot wrong. She got the right product to sell this week (again), but I think the other team did almost everything else much better than her.

I think her real test is when she gets taken into the boardroom and has to fight for survival. This is where so many of the candidates either open their mouths and say the wrong thing or show their true colours.
At the moment I have her in the final three.

She has enough sense thus far to let others shoot themselves in the foot. She's promising. And why did they secure the sparkly frocks? Because Liz charmed the designers. Compare and contrast Paloma.

Yep, I think Liz is a potential finalist.

Hope she continues to do well.

Liz was mediocre at best as Project Manager. Her shop looked much worse and opened late. If the other side had not landed itself with the overpriced recycled suits and ties she would have lost hands down.

At the end of the day though Liz's team secured those flashy, classy and affordable dresses which effectively won her the task.

Therefore she succeeded in project managing and is still my favourite to win the whole thing.

Liz's run so far looks good on paper, but I don't think she'll win because Lord Sugar doesn't seem to like her already lol
He's never liked a suck up, and he abruptly corrected her on two things she said in the boardroom.
When she said she stepped forward as team leader (Lord Sugar: Err no, I chose you for that), and when she said there was a short delay in the opening of their shop (Lord Sugar: 45 minutes isn't a short delay!!!)

I think Liz is a bit too nicey-nice for Lord Sugar. She'll be runner-up I think.

I hear you. I'm liking her a lot at the moment. Like you say, she hasn't put a foot wrong yet.

It will be interesting to see how she fares with a more challenging product. But I do like her. She seems very capable.

Liz won't win , she's a media wannabe.

Actually, you make a fair point there.

I didn't think that she put a foot wrong, but you are quite right.

On reflection, there was the lack of marketing, they were late and their decoration was just the flowers. I'm not sure that having people in the window helped either.

Just shows, that a good product will sell itself, in the right environment.

Still like her, but yes, the pitch/product won it for them.

Answer to the OP, NO, no way is she the strongest candidate to date. Lots of others have been better performers. Ruth Badger though I didn't like her personality much, James Max was pretty good too to think of two.

Liz was lucky yesterday. Yet again, they had to compete for the same goods to sell and her team got the goods. Paloma's team did mess up not looking very interested in those goods though.

I think we need to see Liz under pressure in a harder task as PM and then lets see how she does.

She seems like a nice person but I don't think we've seen all sides to her yet but hopefully their isn't any nasty surprises about her.

I agree she wasnt great as project manager. No marketing, crap shop layout. Not to mention they opened so late, some bloke had to come and see them. Having said that she has more to lose than others. Getting candidates to stand in the shop window was a stupid idea...what was she thinking?

Her stock has gone down this week, probably more than any other candidates.

Chris on the other hand, seems to be doing better and better each week.

No, Liz was a rubbish project amnger this week, she would of been fired if her team lost. (Well I would of fired off). Shes over rated jsut like stella

What I think is making Liz stand out so much is so far she hasn't come across as getting flustered when things aren't going right. Even if she wasn't an great PM this week (in some people's opinion) when it wasn't going right she stayed calm and gave the impression of being self assured. When you compare her to the other candidates who would start going into an slight panic mode or start being critical of other people in the recorded pieces to the camera, she comes across better.
How was standing outside the shop saying Alex this, Alex that dealing with the situation in hand? You didnt get that kind of thing with Liz. So far Liz is the only one of the candidates I would feel happy working under knowing they were my manager. When the ex-army guy, Christopher(?) is PM I'll be interested to see how he does.

I thought Liz was doing well but some of her project management this week made me think she does have some weak/blind spots.. so far she and Stella seem almost the same tacticswise, silent but deadly, quiet and under the radar.

but I was way more impressed with Stella's PM skills, the way she whipped the boys team into shape was impressive.

I dont think I can see liz in the final four but maybe i'm wrong!

Faffing about with the shop-opening was poor. Especially since it came over a bit cheap'n'nasty. But she had landed the sparkly frocks.

She did well with direct selling but she doesn't have the gravitas to manage much more than a paper bag.

But how many of these tasks are direct selling? Things do seem to be in her favour.

I think Liz has been VERY lucky so far.

It's true anyone could have 'sold' that babygro...it sold itself.

And then I agree with a previous poster, she was useless in the shop task..and would have been sacked if they'd lost. If her only skill is going all girly over some dresses then fine, but she let herself down over the late opening, poorly decorated store, lack of initiative of getting publiciity and generally doing not much aside from managing to have herself filmed getting into one of the dresses.

She's just on this show for publicity - she just wants to be spotted by a modelling agency, or get a presenting job. At worst she's set her sights on FHM!

The calibre of candidates this year is frankly shocking, and I'm afraid the Apprentice is turning into yet another show which is all about launching nobodies into media careers.

I don´t agree as in both cases, last week and this week, it was Liz who won the task for her team (Chris, Paloma and Sandeesh totally missed Liz´s enthusiasm and interest in the product this week).

Sure, you can say that anybody could have done it (though Chris, Paloma and Sandeesh couldn´t), but we will never find out.

Besides, it was unclear to me who was in charge of what in the store or who put Stella behind the window.

Wasn't it mentioned on You're Fired that both teams had people in their windows periodically all day? Seems like a task-mandated thing to me.

I don't think Liz is totally background. She's one of the people (along with Joanna) that Laura is shown repeatedly telling to calm down and shut up in Week 2 and she was quite bolshy in charge of the bakery to Shibby over the phone (although not as much as Sandeesh was). I don't find her nearly as background as Stella, but I do think the programme is deliberately taking some of the edge off her personality. She's a champion face-puller for instance : almost rivals Nick.

Might not have been mandated. Could have been one team copying the other. I think Stella went into the window to create some interest, there not being a lot inside. I mean show that they were open and not just refitting a shop.

Face puller? Not in the Jennifer Maguire or Yasmina league?
Hope so, cos so far this series hasn't grabbed me. Doesn't flow, too many things feel set up cos they provide a tv segment with no explanation of how they occured (eg 16 rolls). Doesn't feel (to me) that anyone is taking it as seriously in the way we have seen in the past. Btw they don't use the same production crew for each series. Perhaps they got the newbies in this time?