What was that all about?

A big lead up to nothing. All three of them should've been fired the way Sugar was going on at them.

I though it was going to be all 3 as well and would've made sense because of what he said and a first for Apprentice.

That's what he seemed to be leading us to believe and I agree it would've been a first which I think would've been a good shake-up for the show itself and also the other contestants.

Personally I would have fired all 3 of them.

Apart from Jade the girls are awful this year

Jenna should have gone she sounds like Helen Skelton off Blue Peter it must be the accent.

Compared to last year, the girls are terrible this year. They are also unlikeable. Last year, there were some annoying girls but they were more capable.

Last year was ok with Helen and Susan and even Melody and Zoe but the year before was better with Stella, LIz and Laura.

This year's girls have struggled so far but will improve. Remember last year the boys lost in the first two weeks but Tom still won the final against all the odds. Jane, Jade and Gabrielle could still do well but Jenna doesn't impress.

Billyana last week and Maria tonight were harshley fired Katie should have been in the boardroom tonight for the way she sulks around and if not then Jenna should have gone rather than Maria.

Personally I think Jane should have gone as well, if only for the sheer cheese factor of her bringing up the fact that her son was crying on the phone ... :yawn:

Strange enough - last time Bilyana couldn't keep her mouth shut and get fired, this time Jane didn't keep her mouth shut and get her second chance. Bilyana should take note.

I don't think Jane would stay long anyway

If he fires too many the BBC can't milk the show for 12 weeks! They would run out of candidates. Sugar has to be careful how many he fires!

I thought he might as it was such a poor episode

I couldn't believe it when she said that. It was actually disgusting but I thought like Bilyana last week she was about to talk herself into a firing. Unfortunately not


For a mad moment I was thinking they might bring in a replacement like they do in Big Brother

The double fire tease is kind of my favourite thing about the firing music. So good at building up anticipation. It's the "sh*t's going down" theme. And that was a hell of an unpredictable boardroom. Maria was just about the only person I wouldn't have fired. Iffy call from Sugar, and it's a shame Jane's still in the bloody contest, but very cool stuff. Almost carnage - really ramped up the tension. Jane and Jenna were both very lucky. My guess is he just didn't fancy halving the girls' numbers two weeks into the contest.

Incidentally! Favourite bit of boardroom carnage. Very much reminded me of this week. Spoilers for series 4, but this came straight on the heels of a fairly savage boardroom in the previous week - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w5LC3whEGdY&t=4m00s

Context, if anyone doesn't know and doesn't mind the spoilers --

I agree! When she said that, all I could do was face palm myself! She should know sympathy isn't going to work with old Al!

They managed to get rid of the strongest woman last week. Although after her boardroom performance, I'm not surprised. The rest just don't match up. When was the last time we saw the men solidly beating the women in the early tasks where they are split by gender?

What was worse was that she stated that she's more interested in the Apprentice than her son and him being upset, sums the horrible woman up.

That was an awful thing to say!

They have quite a lot of flexibility built in. They need at least 2 for the final and therefore at least 3 for the penultimate round. There are 10 tasks before interviews, and they start with 16, so they can afford 3 extra firings.

Eg they could have fired all three candidates this week, have a double firing next week, and still have three in the penultimate round. (If they don't fire a few extra, they'll have 6 in the penultimate round, but that works too: they can fire 2 or 4 depending on how many they want in the final.)

In practice they are less likely to use this flexibility early in the series because they don't know if someone will quit. I don't think anyone has quit after the second task, though.

On this occasion, it seemed that Jane saved herself by knowing what to say about the numbers, so I guess Jenna wasn't in that much danger.

I cringed at that and then shouted "What she said!" when Maria gasped at Jane's cringeworthy attempt to emotion-blackmail Sugar.

I think Jane would have gone if she hadn't made her last speech. Taking responsibility and making it clear that she understood her mistake & wouldn't make it again seemed to be the right course of action.

However, they do have to allow for candidates leaving the process prematurely for health or family reasons. This has happened a couple of times.

Unfortunately I also think the fact that it was the ladies again stopped him from the double firing. Wouldnt have got rid of 3 ladies in the first 2 weeks or it would start to get pretty imbalanced for tv purposes they like to keep boys/girls numbers pretty even for as long as they can imo. :sleep:

They've fired 3 men before firing any women before. They did it last year (Edward, Alex, Gavin). In series, 3, it even happened in the first two tasks (Andy, Ifti, Rory) albeit with Ifti quitting rather than a double-firing. Nor are the women favoured. In series 1, we had Adenike, Lindsay, Miranda and Adele all fired before the first man was fired. So that's 3 out of 7 series with an early imbalance; it's quite common. It works itself out eventually.