Its not as if he has expicitly threatened them or anything. He's doing what he should in the Apprentice which is come to the forefront and be forceful.

I agree he is good at it, only Natasha has noticed it and I think who else does if anyone if significant as to how the rest of this pans out

I kind of agree with this. I just didn't like how downright unpleasant he became when he was confronted in the boardroom. All 'Irish charm' and smarm in front of the potential customers, very manipulative and domineering when the gloves are off.

I don't think the others being intimidated by Jim is the issue here.

Sugar was looking for Jim to hold his hands up and admit he made a mistake with the product name and idea.

He's now seen by Sugar as a bit of a weasel, a game-player, and he doesn't like that.

I agree with this.

And also, i think Vincent made the right decision not bringing him back in the boardroom. The reason he was 'scared' to bring him back is that he actually had nothing on him. The only criticism he would have had, as higlighted by the Sugar, Karen and Nick, is that he came up with the original idea. BUT, Vincent agreed with him, and loved it, so he knew that's what Jim would keep coming back with.

Plus, is it really fair to bring someone back to the boardroom, or fire them, based on that fact that they came up with one idea (which everyone else backed) despite probably making the greatest contribution in the task. I think this whole point about "didn't bring back Jim" was dwelled on far too much, and would not have amounted to anything - there is no way in hell Jim would have got fired, Vincent was always gonna be gone (and he knew it).

I think the reason they seem to be coming down a bit hard on Jim is because the producers have become aware that he's becoming the obvious winner too early on, and thus the suspence of the show is being diluted - usually they expect some of the less serious contenders to last a bit longer but they all seem to be showing their stupidity far too early in this series!

I see where you're coming from, and you may be right. But by Jim admitting to a mistake would have given Vincent the green light to bring him back. He was in a position where Vincent had backed his idea so Vincent had no grounds to bring him back, and by doing so Vincent would be admitting he too was at fault for passionately backing the idea and should also be fired.

Jim was basically very smart, and played the game perfectly. It doesn't necessarily suggest he wouldn't own up to his own mistakes in a real business situation. This is a competition, a game show, and Jim is demonstrating he is a very smart fellow.

Alan Sugar must realise this, and i think he does. He's always saying how he wants someone "dead shrewed". He likes these qualities, and even mentioned he kind of "respects" Jim tonight for the way he played it. Nah, Jim is a definite winner.

It depends if Jim is in it just to get as far as he can or to actually win. Sugar is after someone who is shrewd at business not necessarily good at playing mind games in the boardroom.

One things for sure, he's wary of Jim now. He is questioning Jim's character.

In the boardroom he was happy to say he came up with the idea, and Vincent confirmed it was Jim's idea (with Jim not saying otherwise).

Lord Sugar picks his winning team and suddenly Jim doesn't want him name anywhere near that of the brand. Now there is the problem. First it was his idea, then not.

His voice is so calm but his mind is so scheming! He's creepy!!!! Scares me.

Exactly. As soon as they lost he was weaseling his way out of taking ownership of the idea.

"It was just a name!"

If you're really good at mind games and are dead shrewed generally, and you then fully apply yourself to business, then if follows that you're likely to be shrewed in business. And all those qualities: shrewedness, being smart, being 'manipulative' as some have called it (other's might call it being very influential), are strong qualities to have in business.

You're right, the impression they're giving is that his cards are marked. But i think that's only because if they don't this is show is becoming far too predicatble. Pretty much everyone who watches this who i've spoke to so far thinks Jim is the clear winner, and he's had a very strong performance so far. So you can't blame them for wanting to add a bit of suspence to the show!

Yes I find him creepy too. I preferred Gavin out of the two.

Sorry, but I also really found the whole Jim thing quite creepy tonight. Never been keen on manipulative/controlling people. And 'scared'? That's scary in itself.

He's a fantastic salesman and up til now I've really liked him, I thought, fair enough, he is great at building relationships so that people don't want to let him down - but I didn't like the way he behaved in the boardroom at all. (and I can't stand Vincent, btw. He was an idiot for not bringing Jim in - although frankly he would still have gone if he had)

It's the whole 'everyone wants Jim to like them' thing,they all have to be in his gang. And if they're not....Ugh.

Also there was something disrespectful about the way he spoke to Karen in the boardroom imo. Think he thought he could dominate her - which thankfully, he didn't.

But how is any of that actually Jim's fault? He didnt ever form a "gang". He just proved to be a good candidate and they all playing up to him. Not his fault. He's hardly gonna turn round and tell them to start criticising him is he?

Come off it. He's a manipulator. He's very very good at it, and as I say, that's what makes him a good salesman. I agree with you that he is a strong candidate. But he has mainly demonstrated that he is exceptionally strong at manipulating people - esp through loyalty, that's what I mean by "gang" - and has used that to keep in the dominant position.

People are 'scared' of him - that's a bit weird, don't you think? It's fascinating to watch, but in my view it's started to get a bit creepy, and you see a different side of him in the boardroom (and the house too) The really dominating side.

BIB: What did he do wrong in the house?

I found nothing wrong with Jim tonight and Vincent was right not to take him into the boardroom.

There is a point though that I've yet to see anyone mention and I would have thought Jim would have brought it up when asked about the name. It was Vincent that came up with the concept that the dog food should be for all dogs.

He mentioned it first in the brainstorm then again in the taxi he said "I don't want to go into the boardroom and say we've developed a product only for small dogs or big dogs. we want to hit everything" It was then Jim said "I've written the word every, what about everydog"

Even though Jim came up with the name, he came up with a name to match the concept that his PM had given him and I don't think there is any way he can be blamed for that.

As for the way Jim talks to people, I think he's just doing exactly what the guys on YF were telling Ellie she should have been doing.

Is spot on and it's his own fault for being daft enough not to accept the criticism. He should have learned last week when Nick shut him up.

Jim's biggest problem as far as I can see is that he is abit overconfident. I don't think this is a consequence of the praise he got for the negotiation task either, the signs were there in the Internet product task.

Two tasks involving products have seen him make two fairly big errors which have hindered his team. In the internet product task he came up with the name Slang-a-tang and wrote the product summary which was panned by Sugar and the feedback they had. The feedback was that no one knew what the hell he was trying to sell, whereas the girls got it spot on.

This week he came up with the EveryDog concept and seems to have played a massive role in ignoring the feedback from the experts. I know Vincent had a role in this as well but he seems to have deferred to Jim's opinion and when Jim took credit for the idea in the boardroom he obviously thought it was a winner. Well he got that one badly wrong.

There's nothing wrong with confidence and self-belief, you need to succeed on the apprentice but overconfidence will lead you to poor decisions and eventually the boot and he's showing signs of it every week now. The here's come on the cavalry comment when he flogged £14 last week was another sign of it.

If Jim was aware of the expert feedback and still went with and took credit for the Everydog concept, which he clearly did, he should have been in that boadroom over Ellie and Natasha, as that is the fundamental error which cost them the task. Natasha did a good job of the advert and it's the one part of the team's performance which got praised by LS. Ellie might have been quiet, hence the firing, but she did not back a losing idea like Jim or Vincent.

It would then be a case of determining whether Vincent or Jim were the most culpable and perhaps the third person who was in on that as well, which I can't recall. Tom and Natasha clearly claimed to have no idea of the feedback they received with the idea of selling to all dogs. It's what lost them the task.

But he was right. It was Vincent's idea to go for a food for all dogs. Jim then said he had the perfect name, everydog. The concept was Vincent's, Jim provided the name to match.

Jim's reaction was understandable, because it seemed like Sugar was trying to pin the whole concept and strategy on him, not just the name itself.

Natasha was also in the room when the vet told them it was a bad idea, she was also in the taxi when Jim came up with the name Everydog, infact she also came up with the name Totaldog (this was easy to miss but I watch with subtitles). The only difference between Natasha and Jim (apart from the advert) was Vincent decided to go with Jims idea instead of Natashas. Neither of which came up with the concept. It was Vincent that decided on the concept at the start of the task and the others just went along with it and brainstormed ideas to match that concept.

Tom was the only one that questioned the concept, everyone else went along with it.

Since it was the concept that cost them the task the only person responsible for that was Vincent. Vincent knew this and knew he would be going no matter who he brought into the boardroom. LS just got rid of Ellie too as she hadn't contributed much in any of the tasks. Perhaps if Vincent knew that two would be getting fired then he may have chose differently but then again I don't think two would have been fired if Ellie wasn't there.

It's still only week 5 and manipulation is presently King, they want us all to think this perhaps? If this was a show where the public picked the winner then yes, it would be Jim. But it isn't. Not saying he won't win, just that it's far from that clear-cut.

A good manager doesn't just hector people into making decisions. I don't think Jim has the right skills to work in collaboration with others from what we've seen so far. If the prize is working with Lord Sugar, then someone who has the skills to work in partnership with others is better suited to being the winner.

What does "shrewed" mean? Is that what happens when you get done over by a shrew?

Or did the people who wrote this mean shrewd?