Hello!

There was a thread about this a few days ago and I was going to take part when I wasn't so busy, but I didn't get around to it. I thought rather than add to it now, I'd create one with a slight difference. It's still best and worst from each series, but with separate categories for men and women.

Obviously I can't force anyone to stick to my criteria, but the aim is to rank on task performance only (as opposed to other things, like personality, business plan, boardroom defences, were they right for Lord Sugar etc.)

Here we go!

Series 1:
Best male: James
Best female: Miriam
Worst male: Matthew
Worst female: Lindsay

Series 2:
Best male: Ansell
Best female: Ruth
Worst male: Mani
Worst female: Alexa

Series 3:
Best male: Lohit
Best female: Katie
Worst male: Rory
Worst female: Gerri

Series 4:
Best male: Lee
Best female: Claire
Worst male: Michael
Worst female: Lindi

Series 5:
Best male: Howard
Best female: Yasmina
Worst male: Noorul
Worst female: Anita

JA1:
Best male: Arjun
Best female: Kirsty
Worst male: Rhys
Worst female: Hibah

Series 6:
Best male: Chris
Best female: Joanna
Worst male: Christopher
Worst female: Melissa

Series 7:
Best male: Tom
Best female: Helen
Worst male: Edward
Worst female: Zoe

YA2:
Best male: Harry H
Best female: Zara
Worst male: Mahamed
Worst female: Gbemi

Series 8:
Best male: Nick
Best female: Jade
Worst male: Stephen
Worst female: Jane

YA3:
Best male: Steven
Best female: Lucy
Worst male: Max
Worst female: Amy

Series 9:
Best male: Jordan
Best female: Luisa
Worst male: Jason
Worst female: Uzma

Series 10:
Best male: Mark
Best female: Katie
Worst male: Scott
Worst female: Sarah

Add your own, and feel free to question me on mine! Some of them were hard to choose, and a couple of the series I was really unsure about and couldn't quite remember certain bits, so feel free to challenge me if you disagree as well.

EDIT: Actually, change of plan. In Series 10, I'm going to change best female from Katie to Roisin, because Katie didn't perform well in Task 10, and Roisin was pretty consistent across all of them. But it's very close between the two.

I can't remb them all off the top of my head, so forgive me for going through one series at a time.

Series 1.

I agree with James (although it would be close with Tim).
Miriam? I barely remember her tbh, so she may have been capable but not flashy.
Matthew I can agree with.
Worst female has to be Adele or Rachel IMO.

Miriam was the woman who was really good at selling on TV, and was fired in arguably the most unfair firing of all time.

I see your point on Adele, but I chose Lindsay because I think Lindsay made a single major mistake on Secret Signals, whilst Adele, whilst not being great on any of the tasks, didn't make a major cock-up on any of them. Rachel I fundamentally disagree on. She messed up Task 6 with her mood board and her dancing, but in the previous five tasks she seemed to be a pretty solid performer.

I agree Lindsay made the fundamental error wanting the cards, I gave it to Adele though, because IMO she never performed at all. That's how I felt about Rachel, she was nothing to write home about, and then when she did move to the limelight it was cringeworthy.

Aaah Miriam was the one that went home against that twonk Torrisi?

Yes, that's the one. I was hoping she would win. She's one of my favourite candidates of all time, because she's the typical 'first series of a reality TV show' favourite - not interested in fame, really wants to win, really bright, doesn't hog the limelight... an ordinary, pleasant woman, who is very capable.

I thought that Rachel was a good Project Manager in the art task (the week before she was fired). They lost, but not because of her. And in other tasks she'd done well - she had the robot idea that Lindsay vetoed in Week 2, for example.

Yeah, that she didn't instantly spring to mind to me shows that she was consistent. So I can't argue with her being best female that season.


As I said, my memory isn't great in regards to this season, so I'm willing to drop her as worst. I'd have it between Lindsay and Adele then, and I've no probs with Linds coming out on top, although I felt she had more to offer than Adele.

I'm completely happy with Adele or Lindsay. It was a tough choice between the two for me as well, I just thought that Adele seemed to have more common sense and her issues seemed to be more personality and stress than actual poor task performance.

George would you really rate Lee as the best in S4 over others? My pick would be Raef, criminally sacked after a string victories.

Got to agree with Rory for S3 - arguably the worst candidate in the history of the show and certainly Mohamed in the kid version was truly woeful.

Interesting... for some reason Raef never really stood out to me. I know he's one of the most popular characters of all time (when I'm chatting about it with friends, his name is always mentioned) but I never saw what was so memorable about him. Having said that, I never really had any issues with his performance. I'd understand why someone else would pick him.

What do you think of my other choices?

Well, my criteria would differ somewhat from you I feel, for me, it's entertainment value first, ability second, so Tre would be a clear best male for series 3 with Katie for best female.

In series 6, Stuart Baggs is streets ahead of everyone else in that series, although I will concede, never winner material.

Also I would have Harry M for best male in the YA series (all three of them) as I found him to be a very gifted future businessman hounded at every turn by the rest of the jealous candidates

Really? Why do you think Harry M was so good? I didn't think he was so bad that he deserves the international all-time worst performance record, but I also thought he was very lucky to get as far as he did. He had some good tasks, but he made some pretty major errors as well. The child's taylor thing in Week 6, his pretty bulldozing PMship in Week 5. I don't think he was awful, but I disagree that he was better than the likes of Harry H, James, Arjun and Steven.

i remember james in series 10, definitely worst male.

It's arguable, yes. However, I thought there were a couple of good things he did - he seemed to be able to sell and came up with the catchy Big Dawg name (though I really didn't like him at all), which puts him above Scott in my book.

ARGH! I think I'm the only one who'd rank Katie above Roisin. She was my personal favourite of last year. Katie did mess up slightly in week ten, but Roisin made quite a few mistakes that were overlooked.
*In week three, she sold candles at less than half the price they were supposed to be - despite the fact that she is an accountant.
*Week nine, decided to spot a skeleton on the street to buy.
*In week ten, she gave minimal effort to Daniel (who was p***ing annoying I'll admit) and Solomon, and was a kind of mediocre PM
*Her business plan was good, but the financing was atrocious. She's an accountant, for God's sake! (Then again, I'm one of those "the process is irrelevant if the plan is crap" people)
I agree with most of your choices, though would still pick Debra over Yasmina

Series 1
Best male: James
Best female: Saira
Worst male: Matthew
Worst female: Miranda

Series 2
Best male: Paul
Best female: Ruth
Worst male: Samuel
Worst female: Nargis

Series 3
Best male: Tre
Best female: Kristina
Worst male: Andy
Worst female: Gerri

Series 4
Best male: Lee
Best female: Claire
Worst male: Nicholas
Worst female: Jenny

Series 5
Best male: Howard
Best female: Yasmina
Worst male: Noorul
Worst female: Anita

Series 6
Best male: Chris
Best female: Stella
Worst male: Dan
Worst female: Melissa

Series 7
Best male: Tom
Best female: Helen
Worst male: Alex
Worst female: Felicity

Series 8
Best male: Nick
Best female: Gabrielle
Worst male: Michael
Worst female: Maria

Series 9
Best male: Neil
Best female: Leah
Worst male: Tim
Worst female: Sophie

Series 10
Best male: Solomon
Best female: Roisin
Worst male: Robert
Worst female: Sarah

I just liked him, I think he had a flair for business and seemed less childish than the others and had to fight back when he was ganged up on. Sugar definitely rated him and was very regretful to have to fire him

Fair enough! I didn't actually think that he was as mature as some of the others, like the other Harry, Zara and Lizzie. I thought that he got so flustered when anyone disagreed with him that people felt uncomfortable (even though he did sometimes make some reasonable points), but I of course respect your opinion.

Series 1
Best male: James
Best female: Miriam
Worst male: Matthew
Worst female: Lindsay

Series 2
Best male: Ansell
Best female: Ruth
Worst male: Mani
Worst female: Nargis

Series 3
Best male: Adam
Best female: Kristina
Worst male: Paul
Worst female: Gerri

Series 4
Best male: Raef
Best female: Lucinda
Worst male: Michael
Worst female: Jenny C

Series 5
Best male: James
Best female: Yasmina
Worst male: Noorul
Worst female: Anita

Series 6
Best male: Chris
Best female: Liz
Worst male: Dan
Worst female: Melissa

Series 7
Best male: Jim
Best female: Susan
Worst male: Vincent
Worst female: Natasha

Series 8
Best male: Nick
Best female: Katie
Worst male: Stephen
Worst female: Maria

Series 9
Best male: Alex
Best female: Leah
Worst male: Kurt
Worst female: Uzma

Series 10
Best male: Solomon
Best female: Roisin
Worst male: Scott
Worst female: Sarah (Amazing character though!)

Not sure about Solomon being the best male in Series 10. He might just have been the best candidate whose name began with S. 2014 was a low point in that category with the likes Sanjay, Steven, Scott, and Sarah as competition.

Steven was actually quite a good performer. His overall points were generally spot on, it was his social skills that let him down. He expressed himself in such a confrontational manner that people just stopped listening to him, regardless of what he was saying.

of all of the "BEST OF" that people are naming how many were actually winners ?

Can't remember them all but my favourites are Tre, Rafe and Susan.

Least favourite Jenny Celery and Alex who was 24. Actually most of the horrible people who progressed in Series 4.

Six out of mine. Lee, Yasmina, Arjun, Tom, Zara and Mark.

Just because I think someone was the best task performer, doesn't mean that I think that they should have won. There are a lot more factors in that than just being a good task performer.

He probably had skills, just not the right ones for The Apprentice. He certainly meant well, but he was delusional. He thought he was easy to get on with when he clearly wasn't. He thought he was perfect when he clearly wasn't. He thought he could pitch well, but how can you pitch to people if you annoy them? Like most candidates he talked a fantastic game but couldn't live up to it.

I've no idea how became a social worker with social skils like his. Maybe one to one he was good. But business is rarely one to one.

Yes. I think he came across as a pretty intelligent guy (his instincts were normally spot on) but he had very little social awareness. When he said, 'I'm not arrogant because what I'm saying is all true' I think he genuinely believed that. A lot of people say 'I'm not here to make friends' and that is of course true, but at the same time in business you do need to have a personality that people are going to want to work with. You don't need to be everyone's best friend, but I think it is important to be pleasant and approachable, which Steven wasn't.

Agree with you, it is baffling how someone with so little social awareness became a social worker.