have you seen how LS is being mocked about Louisa on twitter?
they're sending him that uncensored topless pic of her with the question 'is this why you hired her?'
and this is before she's won

If Neil wins it will feel a bit of a rehash of last year's 'arrogant guy comes good'. But Neil has received a much worse edit than Ricky ever did, an edit he's still struggling to redeem himself from now.
I'm thinking only Jordan or Leah are other possible contenders, as they both started strong, faltered a bit in the middle, then the spotlight is suddenly back on them at this crucial time.

Luisa has been way too villainous, Francesca far too clumsy and Myles far too drab.

It should be Neil or Luisa on the grounds Lord Sugar laid out this week . They are both capable, with business sense, and confident and safe enough in their own abilities not to need constant monitoring. I think he's more likely to make a mistake than she is. The problem is we don't know if Luisa's figures hold up. If they do, she has an ongoing business, and has shown she can do it, wheras Neil has an aspiration in a new, and specialist field. If Luisa's companies don't hold up ......she's toast , but as she's just been nominated for a retailing award they may well be the real thing.

The other problems are that Jordan is an unknown, and Leah may have a social angle that makes her proposal attractive. He's been pretty invisible and got negative comments about letting others do the work, and he's annoyed Lord Sugar, but he may have a super proposal that offers more money. Leah meets most of the criteria Neil and Luisa do - she talks a bit too long when she gets going for him. though. if Leah offers breast implants and saggy bottom upholstery, her proposal may be politically unaceptable. If she offers lips to kids with cleft lips, or cosmetic help to afghan heroes, and accident victims, it looks a great thing to back regardless of anything else this series.

I tend to rule out Myles and Francesca. Myles hasn't done much that well, and has question marks over his buying, selling and marketing.Selling to rich foreigners, and the tax exile base, make him a politically difficult winner. Francesca seems to have a good ongoing business that might be backable, but she's not been seen being that successful on the show. And not tasting her own food seemed to get enough attention to suggest its a fatal error, for what it suggests..

What? Why is Francesca even being considered as a potential winner? She's weaker than everyone else! She's did nothing for the first few weeks - really quite invisible and then when she becomes PM, she does a horrible job of it! Bad leadership skills, bad team leader, horribly careless.

She was terrible on the dating site task too - producing a cringe, horribly patronising add with absolutely no spark of genius. She also convinced me that she's not even a nice person as was evidenced by her interaction with Jason in the boardroom - really horrible attitude. Then this task she again does nothing for the ninth week running and doesn't taste her food after cooking it!!!

Shocked...absolutely shocked how she's even still in the process! She's so bad! And people think that this woman is even capable of winning????

I'm finding this one impossible to call, I wonder if he will withdraw the prize.

Jordan has come across as very polished, much too polished for the SugarDaddy.
Luisa is too problematic, regardless of possible acumen.
Myles has failed at marketing, top end selling (caravans), and all the other things he's supposed to be good at. How can you invest in him? I don't think SirAl would like the possibility of him disappearing off to Monaco with his money either.
Fran is incompetent.
So that would leave either Leah or Neil and I don't see SirAl getting involved in plastic surgery. However Neil has had too much positive coverage - after a bad start - to be the winner for me, it wouldn't provide enough drama. Plus I think his idea will be dull, he seems a bit of a plodder.

So basically I'm still none the wiser, I just think the field is too weak to give anyone £250k to! I'm just looking forward to the interview episode, wish they'd cull Fran and then give us a couple of episodes of interviews, they're generally great to watch.

Jordan's also been very unpolished at times in the boardroom - but Lord Sugar didn't like it. He hasn't done much to attract praise.His website suggests he will sound as comprehensible as Melody or Edna presenting his proposal - and he seems to be researching an approach- which doesnt look like Lord Sugar's cup of tea at all.

The do what you know argument he applied to Alex would seem to apply to Neil. Everyone else is offering what they know and do.

The news headline with Myles, unfair or not, would be Sugar backs tax exile.

Fran seems to have a good business and knows what she is doing there - but dancing isn't an obvious field for him if thats her proposal.

As you say cosmetic surgery isn't that good as PR for him.

He never has risked someone like Luisa after he was warned that Debra, Saira and Claire and Ruth would be difficult to work with, or unsuited to the target customers. Luisa though doesn't have to work with his staff , and if her business is good she , by definition , doesn't have problems with her staff or customers. She's also, I think, less headstrong and risky than Neil. The question is will he make the plunge finally after backing off before. Or will he be put off by the press coverage and go for someone blander, or someone more difficult, with less press attention? Or did he decide months before the show aired?

I'm starting to think that it may be between Neil and Jordan.

Neil seems the obvious winner - started off badly, followed by redemption arc, but never made out to be incompetent. He's had some positive moments, he's also had some negative moments. He's had a 'Ricky' style-edit, but Ricky (and Tom P actually) was made out to be an underdog last series, and that's something that can't be said for Neil.

Jordan seems to be doing similar to how Tom G did last series - quiet first couple of weeks, then a good win as PM followed by another good couple of weeks, then went downhill a bit before getting back up just before the end. I'd say Jordan's edit has been much more subtle though, and he's getting good again at an earlier point than Tom did. He hasn't really had a 'doubt' ep so far (and I'd say the same for Neil as well), so how he does this coming week may be the key as to whether he still has a chance.

Luisa has been quite variable for me - some weeks I find her likeable (weeks 5 and 7), others I loathe her (weeks 6 and 8 mainly). If she was going to win then I think her edit would have been toned down more. You can't deny that she is one of the most competent people there, but it would take a major redemption arc for her to get to the last 2 and it may be too late for her. She could still get there provided she does a good job as PM this week and comes across better.

Leah started off well, but has gone downhill from week 5 and hasn't made much inroads since. Again, she's very competent, but doesn't come across well. She can't rely on her earlier successes any more, but having said that, she's definitely a better prospect than Francesca.

Francesca and Myles are definitely the cannon fodder - it's a shame that one of them will get to the interviews (confirmed to be week 11 this year) as I don't think either of them deserve it. Fran should have been fired in week 6, and hasn't done much since then to justify why Rebecca was fired instead. Myles has been very lucky to be on the winning team most weeks, and perhaps ought to have gone instead of Alex.

That's why I think it might be Neil and Jordan as the final 2 - neither of them have come across negatively to the extent that the other 4 (maybe excluding Myles from that one, but he's done nothing a lot of the time) have done, and both seem to be doing well at just the right time.