on last night's show. know he had a nightmare episode last week and maybe he set himself up for a fall, but I think he has had unfair stick on here throughout the series. Far superior to most of the other candidates, he has defintely looked after number one (to the detriment of others - but that is a true reflection of some aspects of business). generally he can back up his bluster though...

Anyway, last night he was very complimentary of the other candidates and that is probably a truer reflection of the guy. I hope he wins expect a Roisin v Solomon final though after the business plans

Thankfully Iplayer messed up and I had the pleasure of missing this arseholes vt, christmas came early

you must have shyte christmases in your gaff

Doesn't Mark have an atrocious record of being on the losing team? More than even Daniel?

And I largely put this down to Mark creating disharmony in the teams by trying to set someone up to blame in the boardroom, instead of focusing on winning.

He's not better than other candidates, he just has an air of credibility that gullible people find impressive.

get off your high horse pal. yes he has been in the losing team more often than he should have.. I suppose the high street chain representatives that bought the worst board game concept ever conceived are 'gullible'? some of us enjoy watching chancers play the game

Tom Pellereau had an even worse losing record than Mark. Moreover, unlike Tom P, Mark's never been brought back to the BR other than when they were down to a team of 3 or he was PM.

Sanjay and Katie like him and most notably, Katie had this to say about Mark (which his detractors have conspicously ignored):

"I think sales are definitely where his strengths lie, but I think he's also a great team player as well. Personally, I got on him very well and I think he created great team morale on all the tasks."

I think more people would have been praising him if he hadn't been doing it himself all series.
I think it's always better to let others tell you how great you are, if you tell them then they'll look for reasons why you're not.

cool mate. add the entire interview team and ams to that 'gullible' squad. you know your stuff

I like mark alot. Hope he wins

Indeed

All of the other candidates bar Daniel liked and got on with Mark, Nick and Karen liked Mark and yes now even all of the interviewers including Claude liked and admired Mark. The only people that didn't like Mark were posters who seem to love having a villain and decided Mark was to be that

I always liked Mark and have consistently argued his corner on here so am so glad (and a little bit smug ) to be finally proved right

I've liked him too. people get a bit righteous on here. he is in it to win it, end of story. he's been the most interesting candidate in the show for me. moreso after his debacle last week

I've always liked him too and can't stand Daniel.

Always liked Mark from the beginning. Yes he can be slightly arrogant, but he's not exactly the only one.

in a nutshell...

I can't take to Mark and find him rather disingenuous. He's figured out that self praise is not a winning strategy and has changed tactics; however, the old Mark sometimes rears its ugly head. Yet to learn the difference between being confident and being cocky and imo, would be a nightmare boss.

Now that was something that surprised me. I didn't realise that Mark was the worst performer out of the final 5.
He's so smooth he even managed to make me believe that he'd done better than he actually had.
His main skill appears to be his ability in how he presents himself, and as you say it can be quite effective at pulling the wool over people's eyes.

I'd marked Mark down as a contender early doors but got really pissed off with him when he kept dodging being PM

He has real credibility IMO - as does Bianca.

He choked last week, badly, but I stand by thinking the right person left and that Mark had something in him.

Seems LS agreed

I don't think he really is that great a salesman, the numbers were huge thanks to the hottubs, but the guy who bought 7 already had the holiday park, already wanted 7 hot tubs, had he been speaking to anyone else from the team ie if Mark had been with another customer, he still would have bought 7, Mark's "Sales ability" is not what sold 7 Hot tubs and gave him the massive numbers.

It was a fairly unfair task, the big ticket items, people are going to these fairs specifically and with the intention to buy, the sale of the smaller items are more impulse buys which actually require persuasion.

He seems to ignore his own faults and instead focus on others to bring them down to his level. Really hope Bianca wins on Sunday, even though she would probably be the worst winner yet.

He has the right down to earth attitude with a bit of self assurance to make people trust him. He is also quite astute and keeps his ego in check enough to be quite likable and a potential winner.

I respect his skills and find him ok as a personality. Go Mark!

of the 2 remaining, there is only one deserving winner and it ain't bianca. decent at presenting but pretty anonymous otherwise, other than her mistakes. from the vt clip of the final, mark seemed nervous so he may lose it again though. bianca would be without doubt the worst winner I have seen on the apprentice. only memorable for the 2 ridiculous sales attempts on the coach task then the debacle with exclusivity.

re mark's selling,it is without question he is the best on this year's show. too many examples to list

I like him much more as the series has gone on and he became more vulnerable and also he became more complimentary of others.

I don't know if he went on something of a journey too and learned you get more from people by motivating than cutting down or if he just became more and more confident in his own ability and was therefore better able to admit his shortcomings and others strengths.

In any event I'm happy for him to win as he's been brilliant tv and I'm sure he'll be a big success in his business idea if he does.

For me his proudest moment wasn't selling 7 hot tubs or storming the interviews, it was telling Daniel and LS that Daniel had been a fantastic project manager.

a bit of a coward,and a choker...but other than that he is credible.

I think it was decided from before the process started that he woukd be in the final 2.His business plan must be really impressive, otherwise with his personalty and performance week to week...he would have been booted by now

My other half is rooting for Mark in a big way but I'm not sure how successful his business would be. He's a great contestant though and comes across well. Certainly he seems a lot more than a year older than Solomon who was quite immature, I think. He'd be a great employee but I don't know how good he'd be running a business, especially one that's not in anyway unique.