I disagree. Stella and Jo worked very well together through the series and I think she was always going to be Stella's first choice.

Since the final task has no relevance at all to who gets hired, I'm guessing they just chose the people they got on best with.

I would have left Liz until last. Chris effectively threw his winning the toss away at that point, as he guaranteed that he'd get only one of the three people you could trust implicitly to work hard to a brief (Jamie, Joanna, Christopher). What he gained was someone whom Stella was rather unlikely to pick and who was known to combine unmanageability and getting on with things quietly: I was not surprised when he ended up with a pink drink.

that is very true, i thought the questions asked were actually quite lame, i would have really put them on the spot with questions like whats actually inside the drink, what can it be mixed and taste good with, how much does it cost to produce the bottle, how do you expect the product to be cost effective compared to rival simialr drinks, where do you see the product being placed on a bar or in a supermarket, so many other questions that could have really tested each candidate

I think so too. The first few picks didn't surprise me at all. Chris got on well with Jamie and thought well of him; Stella was the same with Joanna. Liz was probably the best on offer, but was maybe not as close with either finalist as their first pick. Once these three were gone, Christopher was probably the best team-worker left.

I would have actually expected Paloma to be next choice after that. Maybe Chris picking Alex first wasn't so bizarre, but Melissa and Shibby? Paloma might have been difflicult at times, but nowhere near as bad as Melissa and Shibby was one of the all-time bad PMs.

Me too! . It didn't help being academically strong, either. Just more reasons for the bigger girls to throw a netball in my face or whack me with a hockey stick.

Anyway, back on thread. It's always cringey, but I'm thinking that this reflected more of the relationships built up in the house and way from the tasks. Paloma must have been a supreme cow to be picked last, as she is a pretty smart lady. I did like the supportive comments made by the teams in the boardroom, though. I don't care whether it was for the cameras - it still got an 'aw, bless!' from me.

I'd have taken Alex first, don't think he should have ever been the Apprentice but he is a good team player and would genuinely work hard for the win. He does also makes some good contributions, he was actually doing well in the task Paloma was PM- was very glad when he was picked before her.

Not surprised Paloma was picked last or to put it another way, wasn't picked, full stop. It's quite fitting and satisfactory that Alex beat her good & proper. Twice.

My top picks would have been Joanne, Alex and possibly Liz - I'm not convinced Chris instructed the sub team the colour of the drink was to be clear. In any case, you want people who will work their @rses off regardless of any stupid politics - and all 3 demonstrated that throughout.

I don't understand this.

It's hardly confidence building to know that you could/would have been fired if someone else ( in this case, Paloma) had just kept quiet in the boardroom. I'm sure anyone with an ounce of self esteem wouldn't have felt all so good in that situation. So really, there's no sort of "winning" in that sort of situation, especially considering Alex was fired a week later after miserably failing in a task which he's supposed to be an expert at.


This was further substantiated by the fact Lord Sugar implied Alex would have left if Paloma had kept quiet in the "reason why I fired them program?"

And, with regards to the final, wasn't Alex on Chris's team, the losing team? And Paloma was on the winning team?
If I remember correctly, Paloma helped Stella write her pitch which was pretty good and subsequently pushed Stella to the win.

Why doesn't that surprise me?

I was surprised by Melissa, but not Shibby. Paloma made every mistake Shibby made when he was PM, and added some more of her own. She also spoke against exclusivity with Boots, made another deal exclusive when she didn't have the right thus causing two sets of sales to be lost. On a personal level, she lied in the boardroom, and was forever criticising the other candidates.

She was a nightmare. I don't understand why she was so popular.

Do you remember last year?
Kate and Yasmina final
Kate and Phil were an item and it became obvious Kate didn't wat him on her team, as he would distract him.
Phil and someone were the final two (Rocky?) and Yasmina was picking she could screwed over Kate there and then and left her with Phil but did the honorable thing and took Phil, solely because of that I didn't mind Yasmina winning it was a really decent thing to do.

Where was she popular? She certainly wasn't here on DS!

I agree with some of your criticisms, but not all. Paloma didn't make quite every mistake Shibby did; he behaved rudely when turning down an order, which she didn't (though her mistake would have been worse, as she wanted to take the order, which they couldn't have met, but still)

She did lie in the boardroom, but I think this was reasonable in the circumstances. We discussed that to death earlier, though, and we couldn't agree on that. No point in going there again. I don't agree, though, that she was forever criticising the other candidates. Offhand, outside the boardroom I can only recall her criticising Alex and Shibby. In the boardroom, she also made some very mild criticisms of Sandeesh.

Just to correct something up-thread, Stella got asked two questions : one about the fact that the bottle gave off "mixed messages" by being both masculine and feminine, and also that it alienated non-urbanites with its name.

I thought it odd that Stella picked Paloma last, and yet was I'd say clearly leaning on her the most out of her team for the task. Maybe Paloma learnt how to behave herself when there was no prize on the line? She seemed a lot less fractious and "out for number one" than she was as a contestant.

The only thing that really surprised me was Chris picking Jamie over Liz, and only because Liz and Chris seemed like a real unit for a lot of the series, and they seemed to work well together with a strong rapport (Baby-Grow task, Germany, selling DVDs). I don't remember Chris and Jamie ever really teaming up at all. Seems an odd pick, unless he KNOWS Stella isn't going to pick Liz because of their issues towards the end of the run, and he knows Stella's going to want Jamie.

I love the team pick...