First of all it was pretty clear early on that Azhar would end up in the boardroom in the first place. The whole editing and camera shots were aimed at him.

They also ensured that we heard 'strategy' from his lips and nothing else (i.e. ensuring whatever else he had to say was cut off). And to back up that the word 'strategy' was being over-used, we had Jade and whoever else would listen to her, how pissed off she was with Azhar and his strategy........even though none of them were around when he said it to her.

We then get the usual boardroom strategy as to who is not to blame and leaving the only two quieter ones.

We then get Jade giving a big show that she supports all of her team apart from Azhar.

She then has the very difficult decision of whom to bring in with her to the boardroom.

So not Laura, who she needs to keep sweet as another female, but fierce contestant.

And not that other idiot market trader whom is nothing but a mouthpiece and should stick to his day job.

So she brings in the most, whom I'd consider the most qualified out of that whole team. but the quietest contestants.

Jade then turns to Tom and apologises for bringing him in. Immediately showing her favouritism over Azhar. I.e. trying to get him onside with her against Azharr.

It was pretty obvious to me that SA favoured Tom over Azhar. But to keep Jade over him is simply dumbfoundingly unbelievable.

Did SA notice any of this? You bet he did. That's what infuriates me more about the fact of what Azhar said in the taxi even more.

So does SA blatantly....i.e. obvious, promoting of ganging up on and tactical playing now? At least in previous shows he did his best to not be aware of it.........at least for the cameras.

and I agree with your whole post Mary, particularly about the over-playing on strategy. I reallyt thought when I turned over to You're Fired, that we'd have some shocked panelists. They agreed with Sugar but the audience didn't. Jade is vile, sexy we're hearing the men say! Please, but each to their own if you like her type. I don't see any redeeming qualities in the girl at all.

Me too madetomeasure. Though the whole 'hired / fired' thing ended up more green...i.e. in Azhur's favour.

In fact, when was the last time SA got it right with this whole 'hired / fired' thing?

Just goes to show really that SA and his TV corporates care more about ratings than any reality that SA will do for candidates that deserve the title.

But as per usual....SA and types like him...I..e. the Simon Cowells of the world, have an overblown and inflated sense of importance about themselves and therefore truly don't give a shit. It becomes all about power and presence when the money no longer matters.

I think Mary, I'll switch to the US version. I used to watch it. The UK version has just become a joke now. You sometimes wonder don't you is it just me?

You do indeed.

I'm glad that at least one other person agrees with me, madetomeasure. That at least tells me that it's not just me that's insane or out of kilter with any majority

But hopefully some others will also agree with us.

oh absolutely. I don't think we'll be changing our opinions any day soon - old dog and new tricks and all that, well relatively old in my case I speak on what I see

I agree with your entire post OP.

From the second the camera switched to the "reaction" shot of Jade after she realised that she had lost, she looked like a frightened rabbit, and must have realised that she should go for her (frankly) non existant leadership ability in this task.

LS though must prefer her business idea, because Azhar got the boot instead of her. Jade was so far out of her depth it was making me cringe to look at it, as she absolutely no people skills whatsoever.

How about the viewers knowing what each of their business plans are and us being reminded each week? ie when a PM steps forward, let's have a recap and see whether how they perform is in line with what they're proposing: are they capable of carrying forward the proposal, is it feasible etc. It seems to me that the viewers are kept in the dark until the end - certainly seemed the case last series and then all of a sudden Tom's chair came out and his past peformances were insignificant. I just read that an FM said something's wrong with this series and I tend to agree.

Thanks for that Tourista.

As for her business idea? Judging her whole performance tonight, I'd be apt to think it was written by someone else other than her.

Certainly far more FM's are thinking this now than any previous year (imo), because many of us (including me) gave last years series the benefit of the doubt regarding the change in the prize.

What is stupid, is that LS knows the candidates plans, so what possible reason is there to keep the viewers in the dark?.

You're on to another idea here, madetomeasure. A spin-off from the now defunct Apprentice. (IMO of course)

As to Jades "performance" (or rather as I see it non performance) in this task, I cannot understand how she could do her actual job (business devlopment manager) with the appalling people skills she displayed on Wednesdays show.

I am no "fan" of Azhar, but based on THIS task, Jade should have gone without a doubt.

You're going to think this is so crazy, Tourista, but I honestly didn't even notice Azhar until last week in some kind of spot of ridiculousness.....and then this week. But especially the targeting this week.

As for Jade...despite her win as a PM, if she won, I'd have her down as the dumbest Apprentice winner ever.

I think of Jade as the bumbling fool. She could be the slightly more 'classy' version of Vicky Pollard for her indecision.

Someone has probably already spotted this but old Shuggs (as Piers Morgan calls him on Twitter) has already mentioned that he doesnt like candidates that have a plan. Its in one of the intro clips. Its the equivalent of office politics which I detest.

since this is my first post on here I would like to say that I have been following the Apprentice and this forum since Series 4 and cant help but point out a slight similarity between Claire Young from Series 4 and Jade in the current one. Maybe its just me but I cant help but think they are similar.


I also think that since changing the format the show as lost its edge. Its blindingly obvious that Shuggs is only firing those who dont have a feasible business plan. So the whole mystery and credibility of the show has now dwindled. If the original format was bad then how come the US Apprentice hasnt changed its format?

We were shown what Azhar's problem with Jade's strategy was fairly clearly. He said that she should have split the products between the stalls such that one had much more than the other at the beginning, and that Jade shouldn't have abandoned her market stall to come and sell in the shopping centre with the rest of the team.

It has changed its format. It's now just pointing and laughing at celebrities raising money for charity by writing jingles and phoning up their rich friends. It hasn't been the same show as it was at the beginning for a good 6 years now.

I agree with the sentiment, but not necessarily on the details. I don't think that Azhar had a worse treatment editing-wise than many other contestants being voted off over the years. Sure, the editing has emplified the "strateg-ey" issue, but the editing is done post-result: they are only highlighting this so that people at home understand the result (which, like so many people here, I still don't understand either, but I'll get back to this)

The bit where I agree with Azhar though is that clearly he's been a victim of a game in the boardroom. I think he's misguided when he thinks it was several candidates trying to get him fired because they saw him as a threat (not so sure about that, unless there were many instances where he made an important contribution to the tasks that we weren't shown).

What I do believe, however, was that he was a victim of a clever manoeuvre by Jade who knew she was already half way through the door (as she acknowledged when she said as PM she was probably accountable) and quickly recognized that Azhar was the other weakest link and the one she would probably had the best chance against: he had given her an angle at which she could attack him, and she couldn't possibly lie the blame on Tom (obviously) or Adam (who was definitely in his element this week). Remains Laura but I think she was shrewd enough to recognize that she may not to survive against Laura who would surely not hesitate to fight dirty if she had to

Then the question was about who to bring back with Azhar. What persuaded me that it was all planned by Jade was when she said that she brought Tom back because she was taken by surprise: she's clearly taking everybody for idiots since she had the whole trip to and back from the Cafe of Gloom to think about it, so she clearly can't use that excuse (and I am surprised LA didn't call her on that)

My guess is that, again, she figured Laura could turn against her in the boardroom agressively and tip the balance against her. Adam could have as well, and he had his good performance to back him up. That left Tom: everybody knew that he would be in no danger whatsoever so he wouldn't need to actually fight to stay on, and he's demonstrated so far a remarkable (in my books at least) unwillingness to start hurling accusations and making ridiculous self-aggrandising declarations and, more generally, to speak all over people (btw it will be interesting to see what he does when he actually has to fight for it). Which pretty much left Jade only Azhar to deal with. And we all saw how that turned out

In a sense, you have to admire her for being shrewed enough to do what she needed to in order to stay in the process (anything else and she would have been a goner, given how badly she managed that task and her track-record isn't exactly exceptional either). However, the way she fought her way was neither pretty nor something to be proud of, and I do agree that the result was wrong - even if Azhar had to go (which is debatable) she definitely had to go too based on the task this week

Azhar was the biggest gameplayer there.

Almost all apprentices who were offered the job in the past have left Alan Sugar's business for whatever(they say) reason. So it could be to save money on salaries LS now changed his "strategy". Why pay salary of £100K pa if he can invest in share capital £250K and make someone to earn him profit for the rest of the life(of that business).
US show is much more grand. I have not heard of anyone who got to work in a Trump's business leaving him a year or so after the win.
I personally prefer to watch real life enterpreneurs trying to make money from the scratch. What could be more interesting? The only thing is very annoying is this EDIT the producers are using. As so many people here said this edit makes the show less reality, and more just for our entertainment.
Last years Tom is still there but whether he has made any money for LS remains a secret.