I was just wondering something... I've been watching this process assuming that, like Series 7 and 8, it will be a four-person final. That generally seems to be the way it's done now, and I don't see any reason to change that.

However, on You're Fired! last night, Dara asked the panel who they expected to see in the final, and they all mentioned only two people. The way they spoke seemed to suggest that it would be a two-person final. Which makes me think, do they know something we don't? I can't see why they'd change it back now...

What do you guys think?

I never seem understand this. Everything till the final has already been filmed. Even though they have been fired I am sure they know what went on in the next episodes. They must have some agreement to tell each other right from the beginning. so how can they now be asked. Or are they just pretending

Well actually they didn't ask Alex, they just asked the panel. I'm pretty sure they're obliged to keep quiet about it though. I remember seeing an interview with Helen Milligan's sister that said that even she didn't know how far Helen got, they have to keep in very hush-hush. Although in the old days, most of the candidates would know who gets to the final because they came back to help.

Possibly. It looks likely that So unless he pulls a series 4, it might well be.

Given what we know about week 11, I'd rather it be a two person final anyway. I don't like it when people are autofired for losing a task.

He asked for only two people. I expect he didn't ask for four names because it would take too long and be too dilute. There's only eight left.

He could have asked for their single favourite, but asking for two names is more interesting. It lets them pick one for likeability and one for competence, or one an obvious front-runner and one a dark horse, and generally lets them hedge their bets a bit.

Answer within:

Anyone know what happened to Matthew Riley?

A two man final would be silly given the prize. It would need a final task to fill a show with only two people, but you can't do that now live. Its going to be a long boardroom with 2 if its a whole show. .However he would be going into the final having looked at the 4 or 5 options and decided if there were two equally better, or one best and one better than the rest. Better to decide with all four there, and get it over. Unless he's got a final task thats scored objectively (how do you fit it in) he's going to go for who has the best proposal for him, or who looks best for him and the show regardless of who did better in the last task or had he best proposal. He can just pick up the second proposal later if he wants it.

Maybe the final task will be designed to test the actual business proposal? That would be interesting, especially if each candidate had to do something different...

I would like to see a two man final. But I am still worried about the idea of some kind of feminist rule that prevents this to happen.

You're reading too much into Dara's question. He was just asking panelists to name two they would like or expect in the final. There's no reason to suppose the final will not be the usual interview process.

A task based on two very different proposals would be very hard to design and a rather limited way to determine who Sugar had to invest in.

The Radio Times have their listings for July 10th up and they indicate they're going back to the old way of organising the end of the series.

So there's interviews week where we lose 3 of 5 week 12

And a final task where he picks who he wants out of 2 - regardless of anything he wants to not regard. week 13
.
And the end of show 13, or the beginning of show 14, is where we have the only newly filmed bit which is the final choice? And the final episode, 14, is meet the winner and the runner up?

The final show is a bit empty if he doesn't keep the reveal till then - there's only 2 people left to talk to and his lordship himself.

Show 13 seems odd. How does he, usefully, test, say, cake selling, or face lifting versus selling whatever Myles wants to sell? And what does he do if the person he wants in week 12 fails in week 13 , or if the person he wants in weeks 12, and we see do well in 13, is a problem now the show has been shown?

Either it's

11 : Final Five Profile programme
12 : Interviews
13 : The Final
14 : You're Hired

or

11 : Final Five Profile programme
12 : Interviews
13 : Why I Fired Them
14 : The Final

I forget how they numbered them last year - it'll probably be the same.

Looks like it's the second one - going by the BBC Website on how the eps were numbered last series.

"Why I Fired Them" is on Thursday 11th according to RT.

I really fail to see the point of Why I Fired Them. Anyone who is interested enough in the programme to watch it will probably watch You're Fired!, and will have already seen why each person was fired. The Final Five gives an interesting insight into the backgrounds of the candidates. Why I Fired Them is a pointless recap of the series.

Fills a prime time slot cheaply with pre-existing material though. Also gives him a chance to rewrite history and make up for mistakes - as with Katie or Liz/Stuart - or just do some damage limitation, or damage?

I love the Why I Fired Them shows. If you can't be bothered to watch a whole series then just find that episode and watch the highlights. Hearing Lord Sugar's hindsight opinions are also interesting.

Interesting. Sorry, George, seems you were right all along. Still tinkering with the format then.

Yet a final task between two teams (as of old) seems an odd way to choose in the current format. He's actually going to be deciding on which business plan is better, so whoever does better in any final task is irrelevant. If it's a trial run of setting up each proposed business it's still potentially odd. One business plan be much more attractive to Sugar and so win despite trial for the other business apparently going better.

To be fair, they had a similar prize to the current one for Young Apprentice, and that still ended with a final task. They didn't go into the business plans so deeply on that though; they briefly mentioned them at the end of the programme, but they didn't explore them properly like they do on the main show.

It could also potentially be really boring. Who wants to see someone set up a wine hedge fund or a call centre?

I don't think it's going to be any worse than it always was. After the final task, the finalists would work with him for 9 months or so and it's hard to believe their performance over that period didn't influence his choice, so the final task has never been important (in my view).

I also don't think he would pick the candidate with the best business plan if he thought they, as individuals, would balls it up. Really he's betting on the candidate, not their plan; whether they have come up with a good plan is just another way of assessing their business skills. There have already been cases where he rejected the business plan but gave the win to the candidate anyway.


I doubt it will be. It'd surely be too difficult for the production. They'd either have to plan 16 final tasks in advance, or else plan 2 final tasks the day before they were executed. Remember The Apprentice has a tight shooting schedule, tighter than the 1 week per episode it's broadcast at.

But that leaves you with a final task that can't reveal much about their ability to perform their 2 different proposals - and can't lead to a firm winner as that may undermine the outcome of the comparison of the business plans It would also stop him picking a different winner now if he's been put of by the media coverage since , or any other information. It might also lead to the leaking of the winner - which is what they try and avoid by not actually telling them till late. Seems a task for no purpose - unless it shows the winner in a winning light

But isn't that the point? Sadly, the signs are pointing to one winner.