I think you need leadership skills if you're heading up a business, as well as the big ideas. You need to be able to lead and manage your workforce, suppliers, distribution outlets etc to ensure your business plan goes ahead, even for day-to-day tasks like chairing a meeting.

If Lord Sugar was looking for an Apprentice, then leadership skills won't be so important. However, whoever wins won't be working for Lord Sugar this time around with Lord Sugar ultimately in charge. This need to be able to take charge on a number of issues.

Maybe Tom is a good leader in real life, but he's not really demonstrated it in this process, which is why I wish he stepped up and volunteered. I would love to have seen this side to him.

Saying that - I think he's got great business acumen. He's been spot on more often than not. And I think he has that creative spark that's so important. I would happy if he won, although I like all the finalists and would be happy if any of them won (for once!!)

I agree with you in some respects, but remember what Nick said in last Thursday's programme - this is a partnership and Tom would have the ideas and business acumen, while Lord Sugar would have the backbone (or other part of the anatomy, if you prefer). I think Tom's greatest asset, particularly in working with Lord Sugar, would be his ability to recognise his own strengths and weaknesses. He's currently my favourite to win, but so long as Jim doesn't, I'd be happy with Helen or Susan as well.

No doubt that Tom is the most popular candidate in the eyes of the public. However, thank god that the decision will not be made based on public voting.

It won't be complete nonsense, since Tom has contributed greatly to every task, as far as I've seen.

Tom contributed to tasks and apart from in leadership issues where he didn't man up enough at times, he got a lot right.

if he had stuck with his gut instinct and not accept MElody's BS, he would have won at least one more task. compare that to Natasha's blaming out and minimal contribution for much of the series.

I like Tom. A very impressive candidate imo.

This isn't strictly true. The whole set up of the show and having 'project managers' is based on the fact the apprentice will project manage i.e. lead, one of LS' business projects.

People say Tom should be more forthright but when you get a talented (and threatening) candidate who pushes their points you end up in Susan's situation and get accused of being disruptive and never letting a point go. Last night's episode was evidence enough of this. I think after last week, Helen is quite clearly threatened by Tom...this week he finds his voice and comes into his own and Helen didn't like it one bit, making a snide comment in the boardroom because Tom dared open his mouth.

Think people need to appreciate the situation they're in, and he's shown himself to be clever doing enough to keep himself in the competition and conceding where he needs to so he doesn't ruffle any feathers.

Week 1 : sold some stuff - finished third at best out of a sales team of four
Week 2: : did nothing
Week 3 : sourced some items which Gavin did the negotiation for
Week 4 : was told to sell people treatments - didn't do it
Week 5 : did nothing
Week 6 : followed Jim around picking stuff up
Week 7 : followed Helen round pulling prude faces
Week 8 : sold nothing, turned being PM into a glorious holiday of complete dithering inaction, played rock-paper-scissors and lost
Week 9 : did some role plays, made some crap biscuits, came up with "two biscuits in one" idea that got no positive feedback from the retailers being sold to
Week 10 : treated selling on his own like it was climbing Mt Everest
Week 11: Finally, after two and a half months, significantly contributed to what was actually done on a task in a meaningful way.

He's had a lot of good ideas, which haven't happened. He's had a few good ideas, which have happened, which have also occured to the other team, which they implemented better (such as hunting for metal, which they went about in a practical way, and Tom did by pestering housewives and trying to steal their bbqs) Too bad for him. He's actually done precious little apart from busy-work and adding up.

The broader point Kaen made is that this year Lordalan wants someone who can take charge, be in control, and run things. Tom ran a nodding dog stall for half a day.

If he's made Apprentice on the grounds that he's a smart guy, with good ideas, who can be very productive when he's managed properly and has the right people to get on with implementation, then fair enough, that's all true. It's Lordalan's money, any winner's a valid one, I'm sure there's every chance Tom's curly nail-files will turn out to be a succesful business. Just don't feed us all the guff about wanting someone who can "just get on with things" and "run their own business", because Tom hasn't demonstrated that at any point in the process.

I don't think you can say he would have won. Firstly he would have had to persuade the booster seat supplier that his team was a better bet than Helen/Susan.
In the unlikely event he won the booster seat he would then have had to sell it to La Radoute - given his complete failure to sell the lamp (starting off with 10 units!) I can't see why he would have done any better with the seat.
Also even without La Radoute Venture outsold Logic on the streets.

You said...


... which implied you thought that 'not having leadership skills' would count against Tom. Given that Lordsralan isn't looking for a 'leader', my point is that your point is irrelevant!

Tom has been defended to the highest degree on this thread, and rightly so. He deserves his place in the final, and does have intelligence and a broad mind which just doesn't always get listened to.

In the real world he wouldn't always have to work with some of these dominant two-faced loudmouths to create and sell something, etc. in such a short space of time, he'll have even more time, with a team to trust, and think things through extensively which is what he'll excel at.


You have short memory.

Instead he was able to focus on the branding,etc. of Mypy, which with the help of Helen that made a briliant duo, got them 7/10

The reality is, what Tom doesn't deserve, is a thread like this.

I have a suspicion that you may be correct on all counts. I've been thinking the same for weeks. I will be very surprised if anyone else wins.

The trouble is, if Tom wins, it makes a nonsense out of the 12-week process, because in black & white terms, he has a dreadful record on the show. Now I like Tom, and actually think he'd be a good investment for LS, but that's not what this show is (usually) about. I can see why LS might not automatically go for the person who's won most times, but to pick the one who's actively lost most times would just stretch the credibility of the process too far, and make it too obvious that it was just the business plan that matters.

I think it's going to be Susan - she's won enough times to be credible, her backstory will resonate with LS, and though she needs some coaching, she's got time on her side, and her ideas are usually sound...

Nope .......... that'll be Jim Nasty and Dim.

BIB possible contradiction. The whole process is a means to an end, you don't score points in it as such, and Sugar will use it to gauge what potential candidates will be like to work with in the real world - this is not necessarily reflected in the zany world of television, especially when it has had the hell edited out of it. There are no rules about whom he choses - its entirely his choice. Everything in between is just fluff for people like us to talk about the next day.

The fact that Tom has made it through to the final despite a high number of losses shows how highly Sugar regards him. In fact out of all the candidates that started the show I would bet that out of all of them Tom was an absolute certainty to reach the final.

You could add that in week 9, he adds cheapness to the requirement without seemingly telling anyone - making the biscuits unsellable. Thats significant because when he does do things on his own, he goes off on destructive tangents. This week he goes off all over the place on the British theme, and then ends up being specific with facts he gets wrong, and doesn't even question . He still seems unable to spot a hole without falling in it - which I think is roughly what Nick said in the RT.If you gave him 250000 you would have to pop in every day and check what had happened to the idea you approved yesterday. You would also be afraid that, if any issues turned up, he would have solved them by giving in to anyone who asked him, or by playing scissors, rock paper with them.

LS has already pointed out to Helen that she didn't win 9 times - she was just on the winning team.

Likewise, Tom didn't lose 8(?) times - he was just on the losing team.

Yes I agree.


I agree that its hard to see why people dislike him, But the side swipe about what it says about FMs undermines your point for me, which I think is a shame.

Er... isn't it already successful? http://www.stylfile.com/ Stocked by Superdrug, Boots etc. sounds quite successful to me? I think Tom & Susan have the advantage over both Helen and Jim, in that they've a measure of success with their own businesses, when Helen and Jim, however good, have only ever been employees.

No, Jim edges it for me...

Admittedly his record of wins/losses is incredibly poor, and Lord Sugar does love his stats to support his decision of the winner (Stella had a very strong win/loss record, Yasmina won a record-breaking 3 times as PM, Lee was never brought back into the boardroom and also had an incredibly strong win/loss record). I don't think it completely decides the winner but it certainly contributes.

But this series is different, so hopefully Lord Sugar has enough confidence in Tom simply from his character and what he has to offer. Unfortunately I don't know if Tom is able to instill that confidence in Lord Sugar in the boardroom.

Everyone seems to think that because he's a nice guy that he deserves to win, wrong.

You don't have to be a c*** to win but you can't just rely on being nice. He's lost 8 of 11 tasks and really hasn't done anything memorable apart from point out the mistakes of others.

I agree, but I maintain it makes a semi-nonsense of the 11 weeks leading up to the final - if actually winning & losing tasks (or being on the winning or losing team) makes no difference, then what are we watching? It's like taking a random team from the premier division and giving them the top prize for playing well, even though they didn't top the league...

Now obviously this has always been the case, inasmuch as the show has always been about LS's opinion and not (for instance) a public vote, but the prize in this series throws it into a sharper relief than when it was "just a job," and a win for Tom would disappoint me, notwithstanding that I like him and think he has a good future...

I disagree, I think it's how you interact with fellow members of the team which decides whether or not you become The Apprentice. I will always remember Tim (first series) sticking up for a contestant in the BR and thinking Lordsuralan looked very impressed with that.

Remember, Lordsuralun has to work very closely with the winner which is why a lot of the "forum" choices rarely win this competition. We only see the very heavily edited H/Ls so we can never say for certain why it is that A was chosen over B.

The weeks leading up do have a point though - they get rid of the 'worst' performer each week. If someone loses every task but performs well, they survive - like Tom.

It may not be the best system, because you end up with people like Natasha in the final five who has been average at best throughout, but so far, the overall best performers have made the final two. S4 excepted. Maybe.