I'm finding this year very difficult to call - no one really stands out.

If I had to call it, I'd say either Myles, Neil or Francesca. (Though Francesca looks way too much like Stella English from the 2010 season).

I don't think anyone's stood out enough to be able to tell. Usually by now (around the half way point) I've picked who I thought would be the winner and I've only been wrong twice (watched since series 3). Perhaps they're going for a deliberately close-run edit this year.

Rebecca had a good first 2 episodes but has had a bad edit in the last 2, her time as PM will make or break her,if her business plan is sound I can see her in the final 2.

I'm starting to warm to Alex, and again his time as PM will either be his moment or his downfall, if he has a good plan then I can see him in the final 4 at least.

Leah has been ok, nothing special I had her down to the last 4 but with the stunt she pulled this week, her cards could be marked.

Myles I think may make the last 2, he obviously has a business plan involving corporate hospitality or such like and I would assume thats right up LAS's street.

Neil. Alex and Leah probably stand a good chance too.

To play devil's advocate, what about Jason?

Though not one of life's market traders (or chefs) we have seen that Jason is level-headed, organised and hard-working. He is also creative -- his farm shop cartoons and slogans may have met with jeers from his colleagues but quirky food packaging is actually quite common in slightly upmarket brands.

I did think Leah was going to win after the first few episodes but her bad edit this weeks makes me now question that. Also if we assume her business is something medical (it may well not be) then LS may want to avoid that minefield.

I am going to go with Louisa as the winner.

As much as I would love to see Jason get to the final and perhaps win, he'll be gone as soon as LS gets the opportunity. He has a record of firing posh candidates even when they didn't deserve to be fired (Ben over Syed series 2, Raef over both Michael and Clare series 4). That and we have yet to see any stand out promise from Jason.

I'd have to say Jordan or Francesca at the moment seem like the most likely candidates for the win but I'm not really convinced by either of them at the moment.

I think Leah is way too pouty.

Alex is going to be interesting to watch over the next few weeks - will his business talents outweigh his eyebrows?

I have no idea as to who might win but I would speculate that the final 5 might be: Jordan, Myles, Rebecca, Leah and then ... could be Jason, or Neil, or Francesca. Hard to call the 5th.

Jason.

What's your definition of posh? If it's being educated at a top independent school and graduating from Oxbridge (which Ben, Raef and Clare didn't), then the poshest candidate has to be Simon Ambrose. He attended Westminster School, has a double First in Economics from Cambridge University and his father and grandfather were both very successful entrepreneurs. Didn't stop LS from hiring him.

Btw, Jason wasn't educated independently but he did graduate from Oxford Uni. I don't regard him as posh, just a highly-educated and well-spoken guy.

Jasons ok, but I do find him a bit "bumbling" wethers its because of the edits or the way he's been treated on some tasks I don't know. But the candidates when off task seem to like him a lot, and he seems to get on well with people and doesn't speak down to them, a skill the other candidates could learn from him!

Everyone seems to be forgetting about Luisa for some reason

Miles? How? All he has done is stand about in the background for the first few episdoes and to be fair, his team only won because of his sub team. Had it not been for them, the long wait for the flag would have nailed his coffin shut.

I guess with him being so fit, he could run to the cafe and fetch Sugar Monster a coffee each time he needs one.

I reckon the final 4 candidates would be (in a normal non business plan/ partner Apprentice)-

Myles (winner and the most credible candidate from what I've seen so far )
Neil
Rebecca
Leah

In this version where the winner gets him as a partner, I reckon it will be whoever has the best business plan that will make the most money (with the caveat that they don't make a complete fool of themselves in the process of course).

Are we watching the same show? Neil in final 4? Seriously? He should have been fired last week. Being pm and letting the others make all the decisions and then blaming them when it all went wrong.

And the Miles who has not actually done much other than lead a team to victory thanks to his sub team.

Ha ha, yes I think we're watching the same show but I think perhaps you and I look for different things.

If Neil reigned in his ego just a bit (aka a lot) and learned to deal with others around him better he'd be an even stronger candidate.
Other than that he's clearly bright (I doubt he'd think a cow was a horse, or not know what a carrot was for example), he's eloquent, has a business head on his shoulders, confidence and ability in things such as pitching to clients etc. IMO he has many of the attributes needed in many aspects of business today.

Myles, shares all of the above qualities also but he has an air of gravitas about him to go with it and less of an overt ego. He seems to be able to deal with people a lot better overall (see his overruling of Luisa in the farm task), hence he would be my choice by quite some distance at the moment.

It's a tv reality show though and none of the above necessarily apply. This is after all, just my opinion

Luisa is an unknown quantity IMO as her businesses appear to be run by her estranged husband. His own business Totally Fitness went bust in 2011 with debts of over £1m.

Against this backdrop (and whatever else that may be on the Jewish biz grapevine), I think that LS, as a businessman, is likely to be very cautious about going into biz with Luisa.

Myles does deal with people pretty well and he's made the odd good decision (the farm task one being the main case in point) but overall he's dropped some clangers as well.

His decision to supply batteries in the first task was a bad one and he made two carp decisions as PM in the last task - waiting for the flag therefore wasting time and not dealing with the boss on the matter of the plant. At other times he's been shown doing not an awful lot.

I wouldn't say he definitely wasn't a candidate to win but I can't see what he's done to put himself in front. Middle of the pack at best I reckon.

Luisa looks fairly solid if she can back up her competence with a decent business proposal. She seems to have fair business credentials too. I just wish she'd stop ditzying around and talking like a sketch show character. I keep waiting for her to say "Computer says no" or some other such pearl of wisdom. She's obviously bright and shrewd - why does she have to speak like a bimbo?

Acting thick tends to get the nations vote (Jade Goody, the other crazy woman who won a few years ago and the black guys who Big Brother, and all the cast of TOWIE) and to be fair, I don't think she actually wants to be The Apprentice / Business Partner. Even if she does not win, she will get to have her own celebrity chat show or programme. But good for her. She obviously went in with a plan.

Myles is a shoe in as far as I'm concerned. He's not my favourite but can see him sailing through.

As the winner now is the person whose business proposal most appeals to Sugar it's impossible to judge who is going to win based on their showing in the weekly tasks. Kurt won't be winning as his business idea is poor.

I couldn't tell you because most of them I think have nothing that special about them.

The trouble with "ditzy" is that while it is cute on young women, it does not age well: middle age + ditzy = thick. Luisa really needs to drop it soon.

I think you are wrong about this; or at least, not quite right.

Probably all of the candidates' proposals will appeal to Lord Sugar. There were thousands and thousands of applicants, remember, not just the 16 we see, so it should have been easy to weed out the complete undesirables.

What Lord Sugar needs to determine over the 12 tasks is which candidates will be best at actually implementing their business plans.