I think what people have to realize is that this is a competition. The people are put under immense pressure to win and will say or do many things to win. Morally, whether that is right or wrong, is of course up to debate. But is Mark a genuinely bad person? No. Was he a good competitor is a better question. A worthy winner? Without question. He was one of the strongest candidates and I'm admitting that even if I didn't like him.

I didn't really think much of either finalist but, over the course of the series, I think Mark was a far more deserving victor.

Get over yourself Malkay. we are entitled to our opinion. Some of us thought Bianca had a good product that would definately cater for a market both in the UK and abroad.

Marks buiness plan is two a penny

The one thing he wasn't was sneaky. He was very up front about how he manipulated people. He persuaded people to do things his way. Shock horror.

^^^
This. Mark was cast as this year's pantomime villain. Is he as bad as some seem to think? I very much doubt it. I was impressed with the way he managed his team in this final task - much more so than Bianca, who shooed most of her team away and made it clear she wasn't keen on their input.

Wow, its ridiculous that people believe such horrible things about a person based on what they see on t.v... cant trust him, he's this, he's that. Where you saw an arrogant and smug guy Lord Sugar, who was actually present, saw a worthy business partner. Get over it.

I didn't like how he would talk about other candidates to the camera or in another person's ear. Came across as sneaky to me.

I just think it's a strange edit for a winner to have as it meant I could never root for him and so the final result feels underwhelming.
Fortunately I'll have forgotten all about it fairly soon, he's not my business partner.

Both finalists were portrayed as having flaws, in their business aims and in their personalities. So it was a difficult choice for the viewer. However, I did think that Mark deserved to win and wish him well.

If there is any truth to the claim that Bianca stole her idea from someone else then I am glad she lost. http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/a...-stole-4847525

I completely agree that Mark is a worthy winner. He was consistently a strong candidate and clearly managed his team much better than Bianca.

get over myself? ok. the hate for the guy is bizarre and ridiculously exaggerated. his business plan wasn't particularly imaginative but he is far more investable than Bianca. that was completely obvious unless you didn't want to see it

That's a reasonable thing to say but people aren't just defending one business idea against another. They are calling Mark unpleasant names and castigating his character. I was a Mark supporter from the beginning and was sure he would win due to his style and abilities but when I heard Bianca's business plan I became sure she would win. However, having seen the final I completely get why Mark won, because despite what people are saying on here he seems the most trust worthy where investments are concerned.

Did you see the way the tights were looking when Lauren/Filipe brought the pair to match Bianca's skin tone when she put her hand through you could hardly see that she was wearing tights on the hand, the skin matching is very good, if they maintain that quality and it doesn't ladder, I will definitely buy her product.

I wouldn't trust Mark to represent my interests, he will tell you he will but behind your back his telling that to your competitor as well, how can he represent two masters in the same area, the same Google advocating Mark's business instead they should have been saying but our search engine does optimise business by area already, this is just a waste of money, unless they are getting a cut of the money, 100% that must be happening, despite them doing the work already they are getting paid for doing it from firms such as Mark and Lord Sugar are going to have, so really why listen to the supplier here Google? Obviously its in their business interest so they would want Mark to get the funding.

I didn't particularly like Mark throughout the process, I thought that he was sneaky and often made bullets for others to fire, and assumed that Bianca would win. However, I changed my mind during tonight's show.

Bianca had a good idea but the start up costs would be way above £250,000. I don't know if she had already secured some capital but Marks idea seemed much more practical and do-able for that sort of layout.

Daniel, you have my sympathies

I get sales calls from these people at least 10 times a week. They barely get past the greeting before I make my excuses and end the call. It's a saturated market that companies are getting fed up of hearing from.

Lol...sorry Fisch....it was quite fresh when I wrote that; I've calmed down a bit now

Hahahahahah....yeah sorry about that....I wrote it minutes after I found out who won and I was really rooting for BIANCA!

I guess I shoulda been more clear lol

I think the point where Bianca lost was when she decided to ignore the team's market research and press on ahead with what she wanted to do, everyone else's opinion be damned. Leaving aside the fact that several people (including Pamela from this year) have been fired for doing exactly that, it would have raised concerns with Lord Sugar that Bianca was going to need constant supervision or else she'd just go off in her own direction whether or not it was a good idea.

Heck, with her unyielding obsession over making a high-end luxury product, it was almost as though she'd been possessed by Robert!

She didn't need their input. She had already been told about the cost and box issues. She produced some very good advertising with Katie. Its Bianca's expertise anyway, and she'd rightly spotted that Katie would probably give her the best advice - thats why she picked her first..

Probably the best advertising campaign seen on any of these shows was on a series of the US apprentice where the PM sent her team to bed, and did it all herself - so well that the car makers concerned actually used it to really sell the car.

You could argue that Mark, allowing Solomon and James anywhere near his key presentation, was foolhardy - Mark was the one needing help- as it wasn't his own field , and Mark was the one who ran short of time.

It didn't matter except in the sense she showed she would have needed advice. She showed she would listen to him - which was all he required., and she had adapted her plan by the end of the boardroom.

What matters is that he doesn't think its worth the time. effort, risk and potential cost compared with Mark - who is offering him a cut on his returns from doing what he does, now at minimal investment risk. Bianca needs an entrepreneur with more time, money and propensity to take risks, and probably someone who can estimate her potential in an informed way.

Based on what I seen of him in the series I didn't particularly like Mark but I thought he just about deserved the win tonight. He seems to know the business inside out and has a USP that a lot of other businesses in this industry seem to be missing. Bianca had a good concept but there seemed to be so many flaws in everything else, her branding was very bland imo and her pricing strategy seemed to be a sticky point for mist people.

He might be a snide old bugger, but face it he was a good candidate, he was determined and knew what he wanted, delivered most weeks despite being on the losing team about 7-8 times.

Looked a potential winner from basically the beginning.

The way the final was played out I think they made it look fairly obvious that Mark would win. Bianca didn't listen to what her team were telling her about pricing, market research and when it came to the ad campaign she told Felipe, Lauren and Dan to go home and didn't allow them to give an opinion on what her and Katie had come up with. Mark did at least utilise all of his team and managed them well.

I think over the course of the series, and it does pain me to admit it as I have gone off Mark over the past few weeks, but he has been a stronger candidate overall. Yes he blew the Tesco pitch but Bianca messed up on the boardgame task, giving exclusivity for the whole of Westminster for a relatively small order and during the coach trip task she messed up the final group sales pitch by telling the people there they were her 'last chance' for a sale so she then had to lower the price as they knew she was desperate to get rid of the tickets.

Now don't get me wrong, I am not a fan of Mark and I do think Bianca's idea definitely had more potential than his but Mark will need less hand holding and supervision. Bianca's product could be a huge seller but she will need to have someone with knowledge of the hosiery industry by her side at all times to make sure she's going down the right path, I think anyway.

I thought it was quite sneaky how he avoided responsibility by constantly hiding in sub teams when he really should have been stepping up to be project manager. Usually this tactic is noticed and penalized, but somehow Mark made it work.