That makes little sense, especially as she had Chris Farrell on her team for the final

I quite agree. As I put on another thread, she was robotic, automaton, and her vocal intonation had a similar range to Chris - who was often ridiculed for having a lack of inflexion in his voice.

The traits she displayed I felt were false. I have my doubts about how long she will last in the new role. Still with £100k she can afford the best nursery for her small kids.

There's nothing robotic about Stella whatsoever. Even her critics Nick and Karen on TA admit they got the wrong end of the stick concerning that.

I'd bet my bottom dollar that Stella wil stay the full year and maybe even longer. She is going to be doing a pretty important and high profile role at Viglen.

I think she is really mistaken. She is going to look after the 'big' accounts and make sure she earns a profit for LS. She has no idea of IT, (not that his other aide has re Stuart), how can she possibly 'pitch' to large accounts. This is a very cut throat business, and now in times of recession they will all be looking for cheaper products. I am quite sure LS is aware of this and has something else entirely laid up for her. She may have been working there for six months, but I was in university a lot longer to learn about IT. She seemed to say she was like 'fed up' with banking and needed a change. I am still not convinced she was high up the ladder there.

She has said she will not be 'pitching' (selling).

Her position will be more concerned with things such as purchasing (not truffles, one assumes), inventory, scheduling and logistics.

"Her position will be more concerned with things such as purchasing (not truffles, one assumes), inventory, scheduling and logistics"

May I ask you. If you had an IT company would you employ someone with no knowledge of IT for purchasing, which is not that different to selling.
Inventory perhaps, but does that need 100 grand.
I am not sure what scheduling and logistics mean here but would think it would need an IT person.

I wonder all the time how has he managed without these CORE jobs till now. Its not like opening a new department.

Yes.

Someone operating at her level will not need to know anything about the technicalities - she will have well qualified people to advise her on that.

Her tasks will be more business related matters such as discounts, service level agreements, delivery schedules, and backup suppliers.

Building 1000 computers for the most profit is not a matter of buying 1000 disk drive, processors, motherboards, etc in one go and assembling them.

For example, there are enormous savings to be made by 'just in time' purchasing - and enormous losses to be made if you don't have contingency plans for all circumstances.

I think it's an area where Stella will excel.

I think the opposite. The men underestimated her. The women had worked with her more and knew her strengths.

Wasn't it Chris Bates who said she needed to be taken down a peg? He was only on the same team as her for the second task. He saw that she was on the winning team a lot, but didn't see what she did to deserve it. Even on the second task, although they won, they had her modelling in a bikini, which is not exactly respectful.

My view is pretty much the opposite of the conventional "threatened" one. They like the stronger candidates. They help them win. They make good allies. Whatever provoked Liz's outburst in task 9, I don't think it was feeling threatened.

It's hard to figure out all the currents that flow in that house. Laura was upset because Stella took her pitch on the German task. Liz is apparently a friend of Laura (judging by her reaction when Laura was fired). So perhaps Liz's perception of Stella was coloured by Laura. Laura liked Stuart, who didn't get on with Stella. Laura could be quite personable, and her opinions may have had more influence with the others than we realise. Although she whinged, she was often right (and just whinging to the wrong person).

I have already written I think Stella was a passenger for most tasks. She let the others get on with it. When she was alone like making the DVD's which I believe was her fault or on the tour where she didnt do the 'walk' in advance only looked at books she didnt come out very good at all. She was with Laura and didnt control her on the buying task or seem to negotiate well. Stuart did say all the time he was trying to get her into the boardroom and I think that is what chris meant. She is older and more 'stable' than the others. Apart from being able to control the others, and thinking quickly, and being able to answer well, I dont really see her business strengths. I think in the IT world she will be out of her depths, and as LS is getting her for nothing, he may still lose money on her. I have said all the time that Joanna was the strongest candidate in every possible way and I am sure she could do a much better job than Stella can for LS. Even though Stella talks about passion, she came across to me all the time as the one with least passion. As though she wasnt really interested in winning only to get on TV. I still think so and believe that what she says she will be there for 5 years is bluff. Next year she wont see any 100 grand however good she is. I notice on twitter that she has signed up for LS's PR company. I think this is significant. As I have written LS knows better than me that she is not suitable for the production line and has really a different role for her. I suggested PR and now it seems to be true.
My view is that in this case, non of the boys liked Stella least of all chris and wanted her out.

I used to think that, and I still think we didn't get to see her contributing much. However, given that she won, and that she always seemed to impress Karren and Nick, I suspect now that her contributions were edited out. (Despite that, she was always in my top five.)

Sorry it means nothing, all the previous winners did that. Sugar doesn't have his own PR company, he uses Frank PR. Someone has to handle the flood of media inquiries etc,that come from winning TA, it might as well be Frank PR.