She is good at what she does and she is the only one that is actually nice (Apart from Jordan but he`s not very good )

Couldn't agree more. They're my two. But then I have no business sense at all. But I like 'em.

For me she is by far the weakest candidate left in the process and should have gone a good few weeks before now.

I agree she seems nice though.

I like Francesca but I think she's too nice to win

I want Leah to win, but i reckon she will be out tonight after Jordon (who lets be honest...has NO chance)

Neil will win. -__-

Francesca has come across as a bit too 'sneery' for my liking. That said, I'm not sure who I want to win so please carry on!

I think Luisa will win, but I too would like to see Francesca win.

Her only notable Apprentice moments have been mistakes, and yet it was revealed on The Final Five that Francesca runs three businesses, so perhaps she ran over the editor's cat on the way to the auditions.

I don't know if we've seen enough of her to assess her strength or weakness

Dark horse or donkey?

Can't see it after that....

She did well. Should have got a regrettably.

Don't know why people don't get someone to draw up their figures for them before they go in though.

Well she didn't make an 'ass' of herself (sorry that's terrible I know!) but for me personally, I'd seen enough to think she was lucky to get to the final 5. Agreed she seems like a genuinely nice person but not the business partner I'd choose.


And for this reason alone she couldn't possibly have won. I don't dislike her, far from it, but I was more embarrassed for her in the interviews with her figures than I was by Jordan's Rubik's cube.

In a tv show about business, specifically concerning setting up a new business and pitching for a partner coming in 50 50, that is unforgivable and loses her all business credibility.

Not meaning to sound harsh but it should be the first thing they make sure they know even before they get to interview stage and know they are going to be quizzed on it.

Must agree with you. Instead of looking at the tasks I look at what they have achieved in real life. And she has done far more than Neil who to me seems to have achieved absolutely nothing. I would add his head doesnt even seem to be screwed on.

She is the only one who wants to expand what she is already doing. The others want to go into 'new' territory. It seems LS doesnt trust her to operate a 'large' organisation.

I do understand that unlike other 'angels' he wants the company to run without his input only his money, but that may be a mistake. He has the staff and he should offer help if its needed. It is really in his interest.

I really feel sorry for her. I hope some other 'angel' will come to her rescue. She does deserve it.

The other threads have all already forgotten her. Well that is the nature of the show. LS could have been a lot nicer to her and so could Karren and Nick. A real crying shame.

I feel sorry for Fran too. As I mentioned on another thread, helping people keep fit and dance is more laudable than filling their faces full of Botox. Yes, it's a business show and Fran isn't the best at business but she has drive and knows her field. She may have needed more help in business than, say , Luisa but she would have been easier to work with than some of the others. I hope she still gets to fulfil her dream.

I don't have a favourite in the process now as I don't like Luisa as a person but I don't like Leah's business proposition.

You started the post off well but you spoilt it with the bit in brackets.

I really liked Francesca's idea hers would've worked. I thought he'd choose her over Leah since hers is about botox or body image stuff.

I'd rather Luisa won
How does she get away with putting down that 5 million figure 'off the top of her head'?? Seems a crazy thing to do

I thought Fran might win, I dislike both Leah and Luisa. Luisa more, though.

Francesca is clearly poor with figures. As she said on YF, that isn't fatal; you can hire someone to do this. But she needed to get it clear when doing up her business plan; admitting she made her turnover up was nearly as embarrassing as her orange dress.

It was clear from Francesca's earlier conflation of profit and turnover that she did not know what the word actually means, but even so ...

What all three fired candidates had in common was a fundamental flaw in their business plan that would surely have leapt off the page if only they'd got someone to check it before starting this process.

I'm not sure she actually did but was too slow (embarrased ?) to actually tell Claude she assumed 100 sites with 100 members at £500 pa fee.

She did say on You're Fired she could only do simple maths

Being brutally honest, I thought Francesca's performance in the interview stage was cringe-making and unprofessional.

Any person wanting to get a £250,000 investment but can't tell the difference between turnover and profit, can't provide company figures for the last three financial years and has the cheek to make up some turnover figure - 5 million (!) - doesn't deserve to win. I assume the 5 million was 'projected' turnover for her new dance company, not for the current business she runs.

She came over as quite pleasant but terribly naive. If you're going on to a show about BUSINESS then you need to know your BUSINESS and that, at the very least, should include the profit and turnover stats.

I do recall Yasmina confusing turnover with profit but she won the show! She must have had luck on her side.

Spot on.

Embarrassingly unprofessional in the extreme.

It happens on Dragons Den. A person says "I have this product, please invest in me" and the dragons ask "what was your turnover and profit for the last three years?" - or they ask: "what are the projected profit and turnover figures for the next three years?" and the person "umms" and "ahhs" and makes it all up. It can be embarrassing to watch. It's the easiest way to kill your pitch.

As soon as you don't know your own figures, the actual money going into and out of your company, you lose all credibility. I think Sugar was quite charitable with his comments. Had he been a bit of a rotter he could have said "I fired Francesca because she was clueless about her figures."

Beyond unprofessional - it's plain dishonest. How can someone not know how much money their business made last year if they are paying tax and NI? What did she put on her tax return? What accounts did she send to IR (which have to show turnover and net profit)?