How do you think the candidates will do at the interviews. Just on their general credentials - we have no way of guessing about their business plans.

Obviously one will not make it that far. As the next task is one where Sugar can choose a winner he can obviously get rid of whomever he wants by giving the win to the other team. (Possibly inexplicably. ) I suspect he will get rid of Natasha.

However, for the final five at the moment:

Helen: Should do well. She's extremely good at making a case and there is very little chance that she will have exaggerated her CV. I'm sure she's given a great deal of though to her disadvantage in not having started a business yet and will have that angle covered. Will, one hopes, have got to grips with the relationship between wholesalers to retailers.

Jim: May not do well. He's very good when he's doing the driving but I think he'll struggle if wrong footed by an interviewer.

Natasha: May struggle when questioned on gaps in her experience. She seems to do reasonably well with things with which she's comfortable but takes longer to get to grips with those with which she's not which, on these short tasks, often gives the impression that she's not up to scratch.

Susan: Will do well - unless there's something dodgy about what she claims about her company - which doesn't seem all that likely. She's done what needs to be done to set up, run, and grow a business .

Tom: Same as Susan.

Presumably, with Helen giving up being a lawyer, Claude will be pushing the you can't stick at it line a la Chris. Hope she has a better reason for giving up than she gave on Thursday's programme.

Yep, I thought that as soon as they mentioned it on Thursday. I expect them to be quite unforgiving of her partygirl-waitress stage.

Yes, it didn't make much sense as told as there are many branches of law.

Maybe she had a particularly nasty experience getting someone off something really unpleasant whilst being sure they were guilty and that put her off the whole business.

I can't think of any other explanation.

Helen will do well

Jim will get a battering but should be ok

Natasha will get battered

Susan will be torn apart and may cry

Tom should be ok but will get a going over.

Yes, the interviews should be good.

Helen: Will face tough questioning concerning the fact she has never started a business and the fact that she is essentially a PA. Her business idea could be some sort of rent-a-PA service, where top business-folk pay money for an efficient PA (in charge of note-taking, coffee-making, meeting-planning) on a monthly, weekly, hourly basis. This concept is likely to be torn to shreds as it is a terrible idea.

Jim: Aside from being exposed as being three midgets in an overcoat, the best we can hope for is that Jim is exposed as a blusterer, with little business nous beyond the yack-yack-yack. His business idea is most likely to be something excruciatingly dull - like paperclip/post-it note storage or shoe-shining.

Natasha: Mostly likely to experience a marginally grown-up form of playground bullying. Like the twitter hate-mob, but in first person. Business idea - a business which allows people to rent out 'extras' for real-life events. So if you're worried about low attendance for your wedding/funeral, simply hire a crowd to fill out the venue.

Susan: I feel that fairness will come into play. She will be accused (fairly) of being a glorified Avon lady. Business - something convoluted and inexplainable. It'll be something that I could care less about.

Tom: May struggle in the interviews. Business idea - You'd of thought it'd be something wacky like edible scarves or bungee-jump shoelaces, but alas no. Tom will find a way of capitalizing on his appeal (and marketability) to women. I'm not suggesting something crass like male prostitute, but something tasteful, like a range of greetings cards with Tom's noggin on them.

It always surprises me when the candidates are so unprepared for the interview stage.

Helan I expect will remain calm and matter of fact , but has the party girl phase to explain properly and the no business weakness

Jim will blarny stone his way around , but I dont think has the substance behind him to do well ultimately

Natasha will surely irritate the interviewers as much as she seems to have irritated a large proportion of the viewing public and does seem to slow to understand difficult concepts

Tom will either do really well and stand up for his beliefs or will crumple and be a real whimp hence loosing it at the final hurdle

the same goes for Susan , I suspect from her time in the boardroom she may come out fighting but they may dismiss her for her youth

I agree.....giving up being a lawyer to be a waitress??? This is odd.

I believe she didn't give up anything. She was qualified as a (trainee) solicitor but decided not to work as one.

I thought her decision (didn't want to defend the guilty) was odd, but I like to believe she was joking. I'm inclined to believe she wasn't interested in it as she thought she was. It's quite common. 40% of law graduates didn't work in legal fields after all.

I believe the difference is that she completed her law studies and Chris switched courses half way and abandoned his job months after getting it.

She might be the one that shock does poorly in the interviews when they try to break her

40%??? No wonder so many people complain about the quality of university graduates in this country these days.

It may surprise you to learn that the majority of university graduates do not work in fields directly related to their degree.

Law/medicine/engineering have higher rates than most other disciplines.

Those would sell very well in my office!

I think that Susie and Tom will be fine in the interviews. One on one they'll actually get listened to and they can talk about all their relevant business experience.

Natasha...eh...I don't think she'll be there.

Jim will be defensive, although i'm very interested to see what his business plan is.

Helen will be an interesting one. What struck me about task 10 is that Helen really didn't handle the pressure well once things were going badly. All that cool maturity just evaporated. So she could interview quite badly.

I don't think the cool maturity vanished. She remained quite calm when she was having problems with the wholesaler.

Her problem was this wholesale/retail thing and that is seriously weird.

I was just so puzzled by Helen and the way she went about things this week: Look at the attempted coup. It was unnecessary. She and Tom seem close so if she'd sat and explained what she wanted to do with regards to the task (even though we know her tactics were wrong) he'd probably have listened. They could have tackled Melody together and suggested a different tactic. Instead Helen went in all gung-ho and got nowhere.

But the wholesale/retail thing was a worry - I puzzled over the task but I at least got that the margins selling to retailers were poor and it was a no-go.

I would have loved to see them picking apart Melody's CV. Ah well we won't ever find out exactly how much truth was in those incredible awards she has earned.

Helen will have some huge business idea and really aim high and LS will be scared she will blow the whole 250K. I believe she doesnt appreciate someone else's money and treats it as if it were monopoly money. I am sure she will have the 'biggest' idea of all. It wont be crazy, but not one LS will sink his money into. I dont think he trusts her.
Jim will have some hair brained scheme. His will be the most entertaining to watch.
Tom will not be telling us what his weird invention is going to be. He cant very well do that. It may be copied before he has made it. His interview will be mainly of his past exploits. Again LS wont sink 250K into him.
Natasha will most likely have a good business plan, and I wont be surprised if she wins. So far I know too little about her.
Susan will not be able to express herself well. I dont think her business plan will have been thought out properly just a vague idea. Give me the 250K and I will see what to do with it. I will run round buying necklaces and lookoing for other goods for you. You saw already I was better at choosing goods than you. Dont worry youre safe with me.
I think he would be safe as well, So far she hasnt disappointed. She does know the value of money.

Maybe Helen qualified but the firm didn't keep her on? That happens a lot...

I did not watch last Thursday's programme. Is there going to be an interview after all?

http://tellymix.co.uk/2011/reality-t...tice-2011.html

Yes. The final.
Last edited by Jepson : 10-07-2011 at 08:53

It`s also been mentioned Margaret is returning for the interviews on a few sites.

Helen will have a plan, whatever it may be, that will be meticulously researched and superbly planned with great attention to detail.

I've no idea where you get this 'monopoly money' idea.


Jim will have a sensible plan and will be relying on having created an impression of being really good with people so that he can be trusted to put it into practice.


Tom may not tell us exactly what the invention is (assuming his plan involves an actual invention rather than being, for example, a business that facilitates other inventors), but obviously Sugar will know. However, the fact that he's been kept in the process for so long when he keeps making the same mistake over and over again suggests Sugar may well already be aware of his idea and want it.


Possibly. Natasha seems good with things she understands but loses focus in the short term when she's out of her depth. That doesn't exclude her, though, as in the real business the person running it will have time to get their act together.


Susan probably wants to do more of the same and she has a track record of starting a business without help. She's demonstrated more basic business instincts than just about any candidate in any series. Off the cuff communication seems to be her one weakness and it's not a killer.

Plus, as she's in a line in which Sugar has already expressed an interest she is an extremely strong candidate.

I think that Helen will give quite a smooth performance and react quite well to the interviewers' interrogating. I think they'll be impressed with her, though Sugar might not be so keen after the coup.

They'll take a disliking to Jim, who will end up accidentally insulting/offending them. They will interrogate him thoroughly and might be able to chip away at him.

They won't be that interested in Natasha. They might admire her confidence but might find her a bit aggressive and hard to get on with.

I think they'll be impressed with Susan's achievements, especially at a young age. They might argue that she's too young but if she doesn't mess it up by becoming whiny and childish she should be a contender.

They'll find Tom too nice and weak, I think, much as I love him- unless he can show some strong business nous.

Good news -is this confirmed?

Havent been on the forums for a week or two, and the word then was that the interviews had been dropped.

I think Susan will do the best at interview, Tom is too much into waffling and fawning whilst Jim is too much bullsh!t, he won't get away with that with Margaret, Bourdon, Claude & Co. Helen is a bit of an unknown quantity, because she won so many tasks we haven't seen her challenged or in a high pressure situation very much.

Not spending too much energy wondering how Natasha will do at interview as I doubt she'll be there