It was noticed that Tom frequently spotted what was going wrong on tasks but got ignored by the team. Sugar praised him for this. Also Tom was rarely brought into the boardroom after a loss which meant he was safe. I don't buy the theory that Tom was always going to win because Sugar clearly thought Susan was also potential winner in the final, and she only lost out because her business plan was just too optimistic with no proper basis.

Yes I was baffled by him winning. Let's face it though this is a TV Show and most decisions on it don't bear up under scutiny. There must have been a reason why Sugar chose Lee over the others that wasn't perhaps obvious to viewers of the show. Its heavily edited so we have no idea or half that goes on.

From the tasks, Liz would have won - but like Lord Sugar said, he's not looking for an employee any more.

Liz? She was two years ago when the prize was a job. Maybe you mean Helen. Yes she was good employee material, not an entrepreneur. But then Sugar has never offered people real jobs anyway, so she was clearly better off staying with Greggs (until the Pie Tax anyway).

Helen getting to the final doesn't make "the process" wrong. She did well on the tasks and appeared to be great at business. But she couldn't produce an original plan. The winner needs both.

Yes sorry, Helen. Identikit strong employee.

Lord Sugar rejected both Tom's business plan and Susan's business plan. Yet Tom won the programme and Lord Sugar expressed an interest in working with Susan, which I read he is. He simply wanted an in on the markets where they had success.

So, the last series of The Apprentice did not set out what it was meant to do.

Agreed. But both times it didn't look good.

And how would that have happened, given that Lord Sugar had no opportunity to fire Tom until the 8th task. Are you suggesting his business plan is what stopped the team leaders bringing him into the boardroom? That's crazy.