It's true. When I think of previous series of The Apprentice, who do I think of?

1. Saira and Paul Torrisi
2. The Badger and Syed
3. Tre and Katie
4. Sara (so gorgeous!), Raef and Sophocles
5. Kate and Pantsman
6. Baggs, but I do remember Stella; that one is the exception.

Junior Apprentice - Zoe

From this series, it'll be Susan I remember most.

So I am not alone in not remembering the winners, but could easily pick out the entertaining losers?.

You have got to agree, the people who choose the candidates have clear ideas on selection, but the first one isnt business acumen......

Well, if I told you trampoline, reverse pterodactyl and sandalwood then I think you will know who won those series.

Can´t blame anyone for not remembering the other winners (the first two were before the shift to BBC1 and Stella is an exact kopie of Helen from the current series).

Could be a clone, couldn't she?

Except for the facts that she:

Is shorter
Is younger
Has a completely different physiognomy
Has a different build
Has a different hair colour
Has a different accent.

But apart from that, an exact copy.

Stella had a certain edge and a possible dark side to her. Whereas Helen is just nicey-nice, and I don't think I could picture her having humorous banter and an entertaining love/hate relationship with someone like Stella had with StuBaggs.
Stella had a strong personality, but it's hard to describe anything about Helen's personality. All you can say about her so far is that she's competent at business, that's about it.
If she is going to win then I'd like to know more about her. The editors suck.

Totally agree with you. Stella did have a dark side to her, that glare she used to do gave me the creeps. Remember that little argument she had with Liz Locke?

Helen is cool, but too plain. There is no drama about her, and she doesn't really come across as entertaining.

Whilst the programme is undoubtedly supposed to be about entertaining the BBC audience, the contest is supposed to be about finding someone with real business talent.

Real business people do not need to be entertaining.

That's what the contest is supposed to be about, but it isn't is it? Would LA have kept Jim in if that was the case? Would Susan really still be there?

Not sure about Jim but Susan, yes. She has shown several clear business insights that her team mates have missed.

She's not a rounded individual which is unsurprising given her age but I'm sure she is capable of a great deal.

Stella has dark memories from her childhood. Whereas she has carved an adult place in the sun by dint of effort, her injuries and memories would haunt her from time to time.

Helen has not been rattled once because she was always winning, and even when her team was near defeat Helen herself was never in danger of facing a boardroom inquest. Helen has never faced credible opposition the way Liz Locke and Stella did. We would need to see Helen under stress to see her quality.

Having said that, when the Frenchwomen said the child car seat was too pricey, Helen was in immediate danger of losing the sale. Without crumbling on price, Helen spoke in English and with one sentence ("We care for your children, we care for the safety of your children") turned the whole position 180 degrees. The Frenchwomen ended up liking her as well as her product. Helen looked effortless. Either she thought fast on her feet, or she had anticipated the weakness and prepared a response. Very impressive.

Character wise

And they were actually around the same age (Stella was 31 I believe and Helen is 30).

There was also the time on the rubbish task when it looked as if they were going to run out of time for one of the deals. Definitely a possible task loser and as PM she would certainly have been in the firing line. You could see her mind racing but she stayed completely calm and composed. She didn't start trying to deflect blame. She just issued some words of encouragement and got on with what she was doing.

I'm in awe of your ability to determine Helen's character from the minute amount of screen time she's had.

It take me a lot longer and I need to see someone in a far greater range of situations.

Susan
Jim
Tom

The others have not really made much impact on me and I never like the pushy shovey types. Mind you Lord Sugar isn't exactly a barrell of laughs either.
By the way I loved Leon on Your'e Fired.

Susan or Jim.

I think "Do the french like their children" and "Do the french drive" have sealed this for Susie..she already has facebook groups