If LS remained completely unaware of what he was investing in until he has made his choice of the winning candidate ? Say, for example, announcing it to him live during the post final You're Hired Show. That way he can't base his judgement on the candidates Biz Plan, which he certainly did this series. He seems to me to be playing it totally safe in his choice due to too much advance knowledge of them. Business investment is, and should be, a gamble.

Have lost a lot of interest for the show this year personally, seems a tad contrived. LS seems to be losing the plot.

He already is taking a gamble, in choosing one of the two business plans offered to him in the finale. What you're suggesting would likely just replace one "problem" with an even bigger problem, in that candidates with legitimately good plans could get passed over in favour of someone who has a complete joke of a plan, but just happened to do well in ten weeks' worth of tasks (and the finale).

Would it be better if the show completely reverted to its Series 1-6 format and had Lord Sugar and the winner coming to a mutual agreement on a business plan after the end of the series? Perhaps. But it'd still leave open the possibility of Sugar ending up with a Neil or Roisin, who is otherwise credible but fanatically dedicated to a business plan that simply isn't in any way viable. And Series 1-6 still had their fair share of unfair firings, so nixing the business plans in-show isn't going to help there.

They could independently cull all the non viable plans at the castings stage and then give him a choice of his final two regardless . That would mean he would not be able to cherry pick, and preserve, the most return for least effort bids, and, if the best contestants were offering dance clubs or restaurants, with normal profits, he would have to take one. That would be fair, logical, and consistent with what the show is claimed to be about.

The problems though kill the idea. What's viable isn't clear . Bianca, Roisin and Luisa all have backers who think their plans can be made viable.Susan was backable with more research. Its a matter of doing enough research, sector knowledge, risk, investing more, and putting in more effort, or not. Lord Sugar also can't objectively pick his best performers, as he's not objective, and there's no agreed scoring system. Interviews would lose their bite with no plans to expose. . The show would also lose some of the hopeless cases,and some of the few star performers who had no real plan to offer - it would have fewer foul ups, and fewer moments of brilliance. .And he would still be able to cherry pick by just reading their CVs, noting what they were doing, and extrapolating from what's there . All of the winners, and Susan, are doing what they were doing, and Leah's cosmetic training ,and Tom's nail file, may just jump out of their CVs anyway.

There's no way around the problems with the job prize. He has no adequate spare, jobs, and certainly none for high-flyers. And whoever offers the job, the job dictates the winner. If you want luxury houses sold you want Liz, if its TV advertising screens to underground bosses you don't send them Katie H. If its art, its not Tre, and if it requires subtlety, or experience, or advanced presentation skills, or technical skills, the winners list is very short from day one.