I love Tom, but one thing I don't understand is that he seems very keen to draw attention to his mistakes in the boardroom. The other candidates are covering their arses, but he goes in there saying "Here's what I did wrong." It's like he's wearing a big target and dancing around in front of LS singing "Fire me! Fire me!" He's just always so humble.

As much as I love him though, there has to be something massive falling in his favour in the next couple of weeks to justify him winning.

If Tom wins - which seems unlikely - then I think it's been rigged because most weeks Sugar finds fault with the guy. There's only so many times Sugar can say "you keep saying what you will do blah blah blah" before it gets a bit repetitive. Based on Sugar's comments, there's no way he should win but you never know, perhaps Sugar is convinced Tom is the man. I can't see it though! If he wins it will be a shock.

My real issue with him this week is that he didn't actually do anything that positive, but still acted like a hanger on. The task wasn't really about testing selling but reinvesting skills - Tom banged on about how he was finally selling when in fact he needed to go and reinvest himself. On the other team when Natasha failed to understand the task, Susan went off and bought more products herself, and Jim the following day eventually got Natasha to agree to let him buy umbrellas. Both showed initiative even with a poor project leader.

Tom didn't do any of the restocking. Did he even go to the warehouse? If not, why not? Instead he was just doing a sales job for two days of products supplied by others. At this stage of the game, that lack of participation in the management of the task is extremely weak. All 3 team members should have a view on strategy. If he realised that the nodding dogs were so key, he should have either got them himself or made Melody get them. Instead he let the task fail and then acted like "Not my fault guv, I just sell the stuff". Anyone can do that. The fact that he has never volunteered to be project manager is staggering. Does he really want to lead/run a company (which is surely what the prize requires) or just be an ideas man?

Excellent points, tornado.

If Tom wins it will make a mockery of the program,but I have a funny feeling he will.Right at the begining of the series Nick said (on you're fired I think) that Tom is one to watch.But he has done nothing but say with hindsight we should have done this and that.
He has been on the losing team 8/10 times and never contributed anything significant to any of the tasks like the others have (Helen's baby chair pich - Susans bracelets - Jim's Harry Potter pitch last week etc)
If it was anyone else he would have been fired weeks ago.I think as soon as Lord Sugar saw his CV he wanted him as his winner.

And his kissing of Lord Sugars ass is starting to become pathetic.It's like Mr Burns and Smithers for Christs sake !!!

Good point well made tornado.

Even the week that he was forced to be PM by Shuggy, he so obviously didn't want to do it when in the taxi he realised he was the last of them to step up.

He must have a nailed on moneymaking business plan up his sleeve as ordinarily he would have been fired long before now.

Dare I say it ? Anyone can sell 3 nodding dogs to children in half an hour. Nothing special about that.

Tom would be great as a analyst/tech type.

Not a front man.

Going against the team leader is a sure fire way to get yourself in trouble and if you haven't noticed, this is the Apprentice. You can't make anyone do anything even if it is the most sensible thing to do! You can't say it's Tom's failing as a person, because Jim being the strong presence that he is couldn't act in his situation without Natasha's say so and wasn't able to convince her to see sense by reinvesting. Susan is always pressing points but nobody listens to her either. It's a false belief that in a competition like this, where most of the contestants have egos and are trying to cover their own a***s, you can convince someone to do something by making a good case and if you don't manage to that you're 'not pushing it hard enough'. Tom is probably aware more than anyone it's a waste of time telling these people they're wrong because they never do listen whereas Susan hasn't learnt this and forces her opinion (to no avail) to be heard. And when candidates do this, they're accused of being disruptive.

Today was a perfect example where Tom's advice was ignored. On top of that people are blaming him for something he had no control over seeing as he wasn't even at the warehouse. In a real life situation, Tom is the strongest candidate for starting and running a business and Susan comes second. The rest are only good at selling which isn't the same.

Susan goes by instinct and goes in a shop and buys accessories/jewellery behind her PM's back.

Tom sells his stock and twiddles his thumbs because he knows he can put the blame on Melody when things go pearshaped.

And yet it's Susan that gets the flak. What gives?

It was shocking how long he managed to leave being PM. If i remember correctly he was PM by default that week too, since everyone else in his group had already had a turn. Tom's reaction at being told he would have to be PM was pathetic, he looked full of dread before the task was even under way ffs!

I used to think Tom was a front runner early on but his arm chair critic routine after the fact has been really irritating me of late. At first i thought Tom could never express these task saving idea's of his during an task because no one gave him a chance or listened to him, but as the weeks have gone on its become more and more apparent that he is listened too he just doesn't say anything during a task. Its only when he's had some time to reflect on a task before a boardroom that he's pin pointed what they could have done differently. Nothing illustrated this more than when he was PM, where he didn't have the PM's failed strategy to nit pick at instead having to argue over appointments. :sleep:

Tom is definitely the weakest candidate left, he has done absolutely nothing thus far.

I have written endless criticism about Tom. Tom's fans just think he's brilliant.

I thought Tom was quite rude to Melody too in the boardroom, when saying that no-one knows what it is she actually does - made me feel a bit sorry for Melody at that point.

I thought he was a bit rude too but he was going to an extremity to try and prove a point - think he's been sitting on that one for a while.

But no-one does know what Melody actually does! I'm still mystified even after YF! Tom made a perfectly reasonable comment IMO

But it was spot on and it might have help LS to make up his mind about a firing at that point. Behind all that name-dropping what was actually left of Melody? She cracked when she wasn't supported by the team of which she herself was never a part anyway through her own behaviour of not listening to anyone but herself.

Tom worked his arse off for the team last night and proved he could sell.

Sugar must really like his business idea, for him to have kept him in this for so long.

i like Tom, hope he wins.

A goldfish in the lions den

On paper, perhaps, but you have to judge the candidates on their performance on the show. Most weeks Sugar has a go at Tom for doing relatively nothing, for not speaking out. It's not as if he's been a dynamic candidate. He must have some great business plan and Sugar has been taken in by all the millions Tom's product is going to bring in. Stuart Baggs was the same last year. He convinced Sugar he'd make him millions but sooner or later the penny dropped and Sugar fired Baggs for lying about his telecommunication business.

I started off unimpressed by Tom, but now he's starting to look like the winner to me. He's by far the most intelligent candidate there, and he has creativity and integrity.

Never posted in the apprentice forum before even though I'm an avid watcher, just wanted to say I love Tom, maybe its because he is slightly geeky, maybe it's the glasses/stubble combo, maybe because he keeps losing and god I love a trier, maybe the bumbling awkwardness, but I am a fan. Loved him last night, selling nodding dogs to those kids tickled my ovaries

Every year there seems to be one candidate about whom most people keep asking: "How the hell is he still here".

It's just that every other year the candidate in question has seemed obnoxious to the majority of people.

This year you wonder how the hell Tom has made it this far when he keeps failing over and over again. (His selling was very good this week, though. But he still failed to get an important message across). But because he's a very likeable sort of person it's nowhere near as frustrating as in previous years.

I can only assume Tom's business plan includes the invention of a perpetual motion machine. On the evidence of the tasks he really should've gone by now.

It was pure desperation on his part

LS isn't a fool. I don't buy this whole idea that Baggs pulled the wool over his eyes until being caught out at interviews.

IMO, LS wasn't a fan of Liz anyway, wanted to keep Baggs for another week for the interviews and was given a reason to do so by the 'field of ponies'. Firing Baggs the way he did was nothing more than theatre.