One thing that has always intrigued me about Series 8 is the popularity of Tom Gearing. I'm not sure if many people can remember him now, but at the time he seemed like he was flavour of the month with the Apprentice-watching community. I don't understand why this was, as I found him hard to warm to, and I didn't see what was supposed to be so special about him. Of course, he was a pretty strong performer, I can't deny that, but he wasn't the only one. I would say that Nick and Jade were definitely stronger than him. Also Ricky, Adam, Gabrielle and Jenna were all pretty strong performers, though I think as far as they are concerned, comparisons with Tom are just a matter of opinion.

Does anyone have any idea what it was about Tom that gave him such popularity? I can't say that he was especially entertaining either, so the only thing that I can think of is that he was arguably one of the most good-looking of the male candidates (although I hope that the viewers aren't as shallow as that.)

I think they may be
I think the women (and gay men) loved his looks , TBH.

He also wasn't very nasty, pretty fair, and competent.

But I definitely know what you mean. He was hard to warm to - he was never one of my favourites, and I too struggle to understand his popularity.

OMG, he really was popular - have a look at this!

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showt...rite+candidate

In terms of looks, I would say Gabrielle comes up tops for that series! Even if you're not interested in women in a sexual sense, I think there is no denying how beautiful she is. Such a lovely smile!

I think that most of the positives about Tom can just as equally be applied to Nick, if not more so...

Gabrielle was extremely beautiful, I was absolutely GUTTED when she was fired, I literally had a lump in my throat. I think her absence is one of the reasons I find Episodes 11 and 12 of Series 8 SO unwatchable. Literally when I watched Series 8 a few weeks ago, I got 10 minutes into it and stopped and moved onto series 7, because the final five of Series 8 were so bland and unlikeable bar Nick.

I am gobsmacked that Tom was more than half of the voters' favourites!

I actually don't think that Jade, Ricky or Adam were bland. Unlikeable - debatable. I found things to like about all of them. Tom - I'll give you that one.

Tom I'm convinced was popular with some viewers because he was a very good looking lad and wasn't nasty as such. Personally I found him competent but really cold, had a very 'dead behind the eyes' look about him.

Probably because in the second half of the series there were not many likeable or competent candidates left (and Nick was always in the background and Ricky in the boardroom). It was a bit like series 4 were a few of the likeable candidates failed to get to the end stage and people winded up voting for Clare to win. Duane and Katie were very popular and most of their votes probably went to Tom.

I don't think that's right though. I remember people backing Tom as early as Week 3, which was before he'd even appeared much in the edits.

Besides, in addition to Nick, I think that Gabrielle was very likeable and even Jenna grew on you. Adam had a niceness to him as well. They were all easier to warm to than Tom, in my opinion anyway.

Ok, perhaps more competent (instead of likeable). Jenna and Gabby were nice girls, but not much else businesswise. As for Adam, he was only likeable during the wine tasting imho (which was the week before he got fired I think).

BIB1: I don't think that that is entirely fair on them. Gabrielle didn't start out as especially brilliant, but she had great creativity. The wine glass/rose logo she created was very heavily praised. Jenna led a good team in Week 6, and she is one of the few managers on a food task to create a good-quality gourmet product and still make the best profit. Both also seemed to be good saleswomen - on selling tasks, they were often the strongest sellers in the team. I find the suggestion that they were purely 'nice girls' pretty insulting actually.

BIB2: It was two weeks before he was fired.

I had some contact with Tom towards the end of the series (I wrote some stuff for his website) and he seemed like a genuinely nice guy, which immediately elevated him above most candidates in the show's history. He wasn't the warmest or biggest character on the show, but he was honest, honourable and (most importantly) competent and driven.

I was one of the ones who backed him early on. In the edits of the first couple of episodes he was shown only briefly but always in a positive light (very similar to Tom Pellereau the year before), but it was the week 4 junk shop task which really moved him to the top of the order - he PM'd well without shouting at people.

If I remember correctly, he slipped a few times later on (e.g. wine drinking with Adam), just as Ricky started to come on strong.

I wouldn't say that it puts him above most candidates in the show's history. The more memorable ones possibly, but certainly not most. There have been numerous nice people in the series, plus some who were nicer than the edit made them out to be. I think some people found Zara (who I personally really liked) a bit cold, but I emailed her once and she replied and was really friendly, which I think says a lot about what she's really like.