I'm surprised about the support that Myles has garnered here. I can think of more mistakes his made than positives. I honestly don't think he'll be around for long.

I don't even think it's cute on young women and never did (even when I was a young woman). However, it seems as if I am in a minority. I wish it was otherwise.

At the moment I would say either Neil or Jordan.

Jordan's edit has pretty much been positive all the way, and I think Neil is on a bit of a redemption arc now. As for the women, Leah pretty much killed her chances this week, Francesca is too invisible, as is Rebecca, and although I do think Luisa has a good shot, I reckon she'll just miss out.

I do see a man winning again this year.

Leah for the win. Assuming Dubai was and will be her worst performance, with the clashes with Zee regarding strategy, then I think she has got away with it and any problems there will have been atributed to Zee and/or Natalie.

Leah looks to be the strongest of the women so far. Rebecca has been shown only strong in sales, which may be misleading but should keep her in the process. Natalie looks weak and neither Francesca nor Luisa seems strong.

On the chaps' side, Lord Sugar has noted Myles and Kurt making errors in Dubai (and because Zee brought back the wrong people, the case for the defence may have gone by default), Jason has done nothing of note, Neil is another Zee waiting to happen insofar as he seems uninterested in anyone else's view. Alex looks solid. Jordan too if he can tone it down in the boardroom.

So Leah to beat Alex in the final.

You are not alone. I don't find anything endearing about someone pretending to be a moron.

Agree, she meant to be a business Women running 3 companies, she acts like a 16 year old out on her own for the first time.

Remember that two of them are the same business, one's just online, so it's really only ~two businesses.

Alex's edit is rather interesting. You'd think the show would have been making a mockery of him as he's clearly a rather unusual character, yet it's been like 95% positive. I can only think of when he and Zee were getting at Jason as his lowest moment, but apart from that everything he says is amusing and usually right. Plus his brash, boorish sales technique has been viewed very positively. Other things like getting Neil's name wrong in the boardroom of the first task and knocking the product on the floor helps warm the viewers to him rather than make him seem incompetent.

It could be a bit like Ricky from the last series, where we were aware that he was kind of arrogant and that the other candidates weren't too keen on him near the start, but there was hardly any evidence shown on-screen for that. Probably so as not to alienate the viewers against him.
Alex clearly has the potential to be a show-dominating character, but the positive things are being concentrated on so far. I'm not sure if that will make him the winner or if he's being set up for a sympathetic firing.

I think Alex will end up being this year's James McQuillan, a likeable eccentric.

Rebecca's been largely anonymous for the last two weeks, which is often a good sign as it means she could be in for the long haul.

I think it was notable that Lord Sugar called Alex's chair the best product designed ever on the Apprentice. If thats at all relevant to what he is proposing, that will matter. Alex, amongst his absurdities, is also making a lot of calls right both before and after the event. Does he have a decent proposal or a house of cards though?

Rebecca is almost invisible of late, but she has made a good, initial showing at selling - if thats what she needs to prove.

Leah is competent, but I don't feel good vibes on her ability to get along with him, or on her producing a politically acceptable product - unless it has a charitable angle which takes her to a win.

Neil sounds like a junior Brittas, but Lord Sugar has a track record of flawed, rather unimpressive, male winners. He's involved in football, and, if his proposal makes sense, I can see Lord Sugar finding it very attractive and familiar?

Luisa has displayed skill at presenting, selling, and having the only good idea in her team the furniture task . As PM she had the ability to spot the good ideas on offer and go with them, and to adjust her strategy accordingly. Her instincts seem good. The question is if that has been noticed , and her luke warm praise as PM was smokescreen or a failure to spot that. The question then is could he beinterested in anything she might propose?

Most of the others are not dead in the water either. Though its difficult to see what Myles, Jason or Jordan are proposing, and how in some cases it wouldn't be politically unacceptable if its based on their day jobs..

I just posted this on another thread, then realised that this one existed:

' I have a few ideas... I initially really thought Natalie was strong, but she has gone downhill a bit. Still, I'm very glad that she didn't get fired on the latest task, maybe she's headed for a redemption arc.

I'm probably alone on this, but I actually think Francesca has a good chance. She really messed up the figures in Week 2, but that's really the only thing we've seen her do wrong. Other than that, she's been fairly consistent. I think she may be a bit of a dark horse.

Leah comes across as very good, but I think that her edit is a little too positive - more the likes of Kate/Helen. I think she seems more like a runner-up than a winner, the winners don't usually stand out as being really good right from the off (although a few have). They are usually not so noticeable early on, unless you're consciously looking out for them and then you see that they're doing well.

Rebecca seems very good, but possibly too much of a high-flyer already. Still, I think she has a good chance.

I think Jordan has done well, apart from on the latest task when he was criticised by Karren. He was very much praised for his PM win in Week 3.

I think that a woman will win this series. Even though the girls lost the first three tasks, I think that there are more women who stand out as strong candidates individually than there are men. Also, there hasn't been a female winner on the main show since the format was changed.'

I agree with what people have said about Alex as well. Forgot to mention him.

I assuming Myles's idea will be something to do with corporate hospitality or fantasy days/lifestyle holidays, like driving a Bentley for a day or something along those days. If it is LAS will go for it big time, it's the sort of thing he'd like.

Myles' plan is corporate hospitality-focused, he said so in the Dubai task (which is why he volunteered as PM).

Neil's plan was mentioned in the first ep when LS asked some of them what their plans were: his is an online estate agency. He's a regional sales manager for some kind of football store.

Natalie's is fashion-centric (mentioned in task 3 BR). She's in recruitment at the moment (from the subtitle of the candidate's name and their job).

Kurt's is something to do with milkshakes (mentioned in week 4 BR). He does make and sell shakes as part of his job so I presume it would just be an expansion of his current business.

^^ Think those are the only ones from the remaining candidates that have been mentioned at all. But here's a guess at what the others might do, based on their industry:


Leah: something medical-related. She has her own business which offers aesthetic treatments for women. So might be an expansion of that.

Alex: I don't know on this one. He's listed as a company director but it's never made plain what kind of company he is a director of.

Luisa: probably to do with one of her 3 (but really 2) businesses. I can't see LS wanting to invest in her cupcake business so perhaps it's the electronics business that he's interested in.

Rebecca: again, I've got no idea. She seems to have been in many jobs and is currently a medical sales rep.

Jason: have a bit of an inkling. Besides his education (currently studying for a PhD at KCL) Jason is also listed as a property entrepreneur. So something along those lines perhaps.

Jordan: seems to be a technological/creative sort of person in a similar style to Tom P. Could be anything (although he's currently listed as a business analyst).

Francesca: she runs a dance academy so may be something to do with that.



^^ I think Neil, Luisa, Jordan and possibly Alex, Jason or Francesca have ideas which LS will want to keep.

Welcome back George!

Men

My personal favourite so far is Jordan who I think is well in with a shot of reaching the Final, his main mistakes have been boardroom faux pas. He did excellently as PM, made the task winning negotiation this week and came up with the brilliant buffalo meat idea in Week 4. His performance on tasks are, at this stage, unrivaled.
I like Alex as well, but we need to see him as PM soon. He has done well in a supporting role and has been one of the best creatively as well as being the one who recognised what the oud was last week.
Neil is competent but I just don't like him personally. I don't think he was as bad as argued as PM on the Farm Task.
Myles has done well as PM and did well on the Farm Task, but needs to show more before I seriously consider him in terms of a long-term contender.
Kurt was one of my personal favourites before last week, but with several key mistakes recently, he badly needs to improve. He has done well so far and was a good PM on the Beer Task, but he nearly tanked the Farm Task for Endeavour and did poorly with the cm/Inches screw-up.
Which leaves Jason, who, lets face it, has no chance of winning, but is such good TV that I hope he stays in for as long as possible. In fairness, he was good this week and did some solid negotiations. He'll be out the moment he hits the boardroom, but its good to have him in whilst he's winning tasks.

Women

You aren't alone on Francesca who is my personal favourite woman at this stage. She's been in the background, but has made very astute observations and comes across as being very intelligent. How she PMs this week will be key.
My second favourite, Rebecca has done very little since Week 3, but was probably the best performing woman in those three tasks. The fact that she has been invisible since she's been winning tasks doesn't bode well, though and, again how she does as PM soon will probably determine her long-term fate.
Oh, Leah. I liked her before Dubai, but she was so sullen and awful last week and seemed so annoyed that she wasn't PM that it seemed as though she was desperate for Endeavour to lose. However, it cannot be forgotten that she has made a significant large sale in every episode bar the last one. I can certainly see her getting a redemption arc, though, especially with her PMing this week.
Until this week, I really disliked Luisa, but since she stopped being horrible and scapgoating team members, she's become more likeable and did alright this week. I can see her getting far just because she's a good villain. Competence-wise, I haven't seen much from her, especially as PM win in the Farm Task wasn't really down to her.
Natalie is the weakest candidate left in my opinion and, since she's gone the next time she hits the boardroom, I don't think she'll be around for much longer. Whilst she didn't deserve to go last week, I think she should have gone for the Flatpack furniture task.

Contenders

So, my final four so far would be Jordan, Alex, Francesca and probably Rebecca/Neil, but we're only five weeks in and with four candidates left to PM, its difficult to draw conclusions just yet.
So far, I'd pick Jordan to win, particularly as his business plan is likely to appeal to Lord Sugar.

Thanks! Good to be back, I've missed it.


Jordan is probably the strongest man. Unless he does something very stupid in the next few weeks, or is just in the wrong place at the wrong time like Duane, I'll be surprised if he doesn't reach at least the final six.
Alex has been surprisingly good... waiting a long time to be PM has never done badly for anyone either. It's been fine for Michelle, Simon, Lee, Arjun, Tom and Zara. I suppose the only way that could backfire on him is if he's in the next boardroom.
Neil is very aggressive, and doesn't come across as a nice guy. Although when the candidates were announced, I seem to recall someone on these forums announced that they know him personally, so maybe they'll provide us some insight as to what he's really like.
I think Myles is a contender. To determine if someone is a contender, you need to consciously watch them and see what they're doing if the focus isn't on them. As I've said before, I looked out for Helen from the off and I thought she was by far the best in the early weeks, even before they showed a lot of footage of her.
I haven't noticed Kurt a huge amount really.
Jason currently comes across as useless, and has been lucky to be on the winning team every time. Although in all fairness, the same was said about Adam at this stage last year, and he had a redemption arc - who knows what will happen?
It's a shame that Francesca is PMing against Leah, as they are both strong contenders. I think Leah is more likely to win as PM than Francesca, but I hope Francesca doesn't go; I'd like to see more of her.
I thought Rebecca was unfairly picked upon, but I'm not sure she comes across as that likeable. Perhaps I'm being unfair, but I like people I can warm to and I haven't really warmed to her. In fairness she's an exceptionally good saleswoman, but I'm not sure that she is really the sort of person he'd go for. Maybe I'll think differently in a few weeks, I'm keeping an open mind.
Leah, as I said, appears to be getting an overly positive edit. Even on the Dubai episode, it appears that she was completely right and Zee was completely wrong. I like her and I think she's very likely to get as far as interviews, but I don't think she'll win because I think she's the obvious one. The only time the obvious winner has won was in Series 6 with Stella.
Can't make my mind up about Luisa. She seems all right. I didn't think her PMing in Week 4 was that bad; it wasn't great by any means, but it wasn't dreadful.
Disagree with you about Natalie, I think she's stronger than she comes across and she's been a bit unlucky. I actually thought she was a good PM in Week 3. The initial product idea was quite good and she recognised that, it was just trying to take everyone's views on board that was her mistake - and even though it didn't work out, I like it that she tried to do that, it shows integrity. She recognised who would pitch well and let them do it, and didn't make the mistake that many make of glory-hunting and insisting on pitching herself. In the boardroom, she was praised by the team, and there was an interesting bit of dialogue with Sugar where he said he wasn't sure about her not going to the big pitches, and she said, 'I did go, I just felt there were people who could pitch it better', and Sugar sort of retracted and conceded that that was fair enough. Whether she gets much further depends on whether she can prove her strengths.

My ideas for the final four would probably be Jordan, Francesca, Leah and either Alex or Myles.
Last edited by george.millman : 04-06-2013 at 22:48

Interesting...

I wonder if I've been swayed against the women because they lost so badly in the first few tasks?

I think the top four will be....

Alex = Winner
Rebecca = Runner Up
Luisa
Leah

Impossible to say who the winner might be . I think Rebecca and Alex could be in the final three . All depends how they fare as PM .

I've just realised recently that so far, there has never been a winner who has been in the boardroom in the first two weeks, or who has been PM in Week 3 or Week 6. Just a fun fact...

So that would count out:

Francesca
Rebecca
Jordan
Natalie
Leah


So Luisa would be the only female left that could potentially win under those criteria.

I doubt that that will remain the same with this series. I think that the winner will be one of those five - or possibly Alex or Myles, but I think it's more likely to be a woman.

I think Myles or possibly Alex - I didn't like him at first but he seems to know his stuff.

To be fair, Siralan doesn't really take much notice of the business plans. Remember Tom 'the inventor' from a couple of series back? His plan involved some kind of chair, IIRC?

LS forgave Tom for being in the bottom 3 in the boardroom pretty much every week, made him the winner, and then championed his Stylfile nail file that had already been invented.

I loved that series - I always wanted to visit their pie shop MyPie!!

Hang on a minute- IMO the reason he saved Tom was purely down to his business plan and clear ability as an inventor surely?

If his success had been based on how he performed in the tasks he'd have been out way before!

This is my only issue with the change in format. I preferred it when the candidates were effectively going for a job as opposed to being a business partner with their own business plan, as I think Sugar's judgement is clouded on occasion by this.

Lord Sugar didn't go with Tom's business plan, he went with Tom himself. The business plan was changed; they didn't use the chair business.

I don't think that Tom performed that badly on the tasks. He wasn't a good PM, but I think he was a good team member. He was unlucky to be on the losing team so much, in my mind. I think it's telling that he was on the losing team for the first five tasks, but wasn't in the final boardroom for any of them. I think that being on the losing team but not being brought back says more about you than being on the winning team. If you're on the winning team, you might just be sailing through on luck - like Jason from this series, for example. If you're on the losing team and not brought back, you yourself must at least have been impressive enough not to be in the firing line.

In Tom's series, the change of format seemed to happen part-way through the series, so Lord Sugar's judgement could have been swayed by business plans that had not yet been written. In any case, the nail file was not mentioned in Tom's business plan. Remember that although Tom lost a lot, he was not taken back in to the final three which means, first, that his PMs did not blame him for defeat, and second, that Lord Sugar could not have fired him.

Helen would doubtless have won the old prize but iirc the cloud had a silver lining and Helen was taken back by her old employer with a big promotion and salary increase.

Now, Lord Sugar has, we are told, approved all of the business plans, so the question is whether he thinks each person is capable of successfully implementing their plan and making a profit.

On one of the Dragons Den end of series roundups, it was said that in most cases, the people are more important than the idea. If you look at the Dragons themselves: Theo owns shops; Duncan has gyms and nursing homes; Deborah ran a holiday camp. Nothing new or innovative there.

So we should take the boardroom at face value. The question is not whether (say) Kurt's milkshake idea can make money but whether you'd be prepared to trust Kurt to run it and not spend a quarter of a million quid on napkin-sized flags or flag-sized napkins.