I've only watched the episode once but I'm nearly certain that when Philippe and Daniel bought the skeleton, they were so convinced of their cleverness that when the other team questioned them on the phone, Daniel said "this is on us" if LS didn't accept it ? If I'm remembering it correctly then I can't believe that Mark or Katie didn't bring that up. Mark basically said to Katie after they got off the phone that if it backfired, it was nothing to do with them, as Daniel was so adamant about it.

I think Daniel was so desperate to prove himself this week, not just to LS but also to the rest of his team, especially Mark, that he loved being able to ring Mark, the big negotiator and tell him about his fabulous deal. He let Mark and Katie tell their story about getting the rope for free and then jumped in with the great skeleton deal. He really enjoyed taking the wind out of Mark's sails and despite Mark's reservations about it, he was so enthusiastic and sure of himself that he convinced the other two it was a valid deal. To be fair to Mark, even though he was peeved at Daniel taking his thunder, he did acknowledged that he had given Daniel a hard time over the last eight weeks but if he pulled this off he deserved a pat on the back.

It would explain why although Mark and Katie had reservations, they didn't push it. Daniel got caught up in the idea that they were thinking outside the box that he didn't want to hear anything else. Daniel backed the idea and pushed it as much as Philippe but did a complete u-turn in the boardroom and placed the blame squarely at Philippe's feet. Philippe is smart but weak with confrontation and instead of saying that Daniel was on board as much as he was, he took full responsibility for the deal and as such, was always the one going to get fired.

People give Mark a hard time, saying he was sneaky but Daniel was far sneakier this week than Mark has ever been. He must have a serious business plan because I can't for the life of me understand why he is still here.

Yes he did say that. But so what? As far as I could see, he didn't backtrack on that. Yes, he may have put the blame on to Felipe but he didn't blame Katie or Mark, except to say that they knew about it - which they did! Anyway I still firmly believe they should have won, the skeleton should have been accepted.

Omg! Daniel TOTALLY backtracked. He might as well have said it was Felipe's decision and he knew nothing about it!

But to answer your question he DID say that.

Yes he did. He placed the blame firmly at Philippe's feet and never once said that he thought it was a great idea. When Katie and Mark were pulled up for not speaking up about how unhappy they were with the skeleton, Daniel didn't say "Lord Sugar, they tried to talk me out of it but I told them that as PM I thought it was a brilliant idea, I had made my decision so there was no point talking to me and if it backfired, it came back to me".

Daniel was quite happy to keep quiet when Mark and Katie were asked why they didn't object more, which is the complete opposite of what he said on the phone.

Thank you. I thought I was having a complete brain fart when the boardroom was happening and no one mentioned it! It seems strange that Nick never said it and was more than willing to paint Mark and Katie as passive villains, when in actual fact, they had expressed concerns but had been shot down.

Maybe it wasn't mentioned to make the boardroom seem more dramatic? It was obvious Philippe was for the chop and possibly Daniel, so they had to dream up some reason to have a go at Mark or Katie.

Yes, and Mark and Katie were the first to say brilliant work Felipe and were as over the moon about the deal as the other two.
If you watch it back Mark's words on the phone to Daniel justified Felipe's decision to Felipe. That confirmed to Daniel and Felipe that Mark and Katie were happy with it.
If there were doubts on Mark's part, then that was the time to bring them up, so as to make Felipe reconsider whether they should go looking for a skeleton again.
But Mark and Katie's words over the phone would have sent the message to Felipe that he should feel reassured and that that particular job had been completed.

Alarm bells should have been ringing when he told them he got a skeleton for £14 . It seems all the members of Tenacity were on a charm offensive with each other and took their eye off the ball .

I knew straight away it was a ridiculous purchase and LS would never accept it .

Daniel's face in the board room told the whole story . At the start he couldn't stop grinning as he thought he definitely had the winning of this task in the bag . Then the grin slowly disappears as he learns about the other team and their purchases . LS rubs further salt into the wound when he asks him how much he paid for his diamond, then the sink, then the rope fiasco, and the final kick in the ba*ls, was disallowing his star purchase .

Yes, that was a great bit of editing in that last boardroom.

To say anyone in that team had or expressed any real concern is laughable. They were patting Felipe on the back down the phone and all had his back, until it became a loss and the only thing near Felipe's back then were the sharpened knives of some vicious, desperate folks.

Yep, exactly this. The most infuriating thing I've seen this series.

You're welcome Mary. I think Nick sort of alluded to it when he said something like "I'm feeling rather uncomfortable watching Daniel trying to peel himself away from this"...

What's surprising is dippy Mark didn't jump on it and neither did the Sunderland whinger!

I did think Daniel's second choice in the boardroom was totally pointless. There was absolutely no way Mark or Katie were going, and he must have known it. I half expected LS to send Katie straight back to the house.

How is this sneakier than lying about what your work is to secure the project manager role over Lauren?

But what is he supposed to do then? He had to bring 2 back so one of those 2 had to be either Katie or Mark. Katie was sub-team leader so by default it should be her explaining what went on.

That's not to say I think that Katie or Mark did do anything wrong (other than not cut the rope), just that that was why Katie was there.

I think once in the US apprentice someone asked if they could just choose one person to bring back.

To be fair Nick also said "They knew" in relation to Mark and Katie's knowledge of the "dodgy deal"

Oh, true. Though I did think it would have been interesting if he had struck a heroic pose and said he would only bring back Daniel, because the others had done nothing wrong. He MIGHT just have got points for courage. Or of course LS might have told him to stop being a dick.

When Katie was saying it was 50/50 on her and Mark so why did he choose just her? Daniel did ask at that point if he could bring 3 people back in but either Sugsy didn't answer or the answer was edited out.