I thought it was odd that Karren thought being in the restaurant was a good idea at all. I'm sure candidates have tried that in previous years and been criticised for it. For a start it would probably be the most expensive place to buy any food. The only good reason I can see for going to a restaurant would be to ask the chef were he bought his fish from.

I'd say there is a difference between knowing somewhere because you have shopped or dined there in the past, even frequently and having a prior, personal relationship (particularly friendship) with a member of staff that would be senior enough to authorise discounts if seeing stock or buying a Product such as when they make a new brand of alcohol, food, or beauty product.

For example, there are several Restaurants and Hotels in Bournemouth where i often go and am on 'nodding' terms with the staff but my relationship is still professional - i pay full price for their product. There is one Restaurant and another hotel where i am a personal friend of the Owner and magaer in turn where I get 'mates rates' on the bill.

That's a crucial difference i think

If you go in somewhere just because you happen to have been there before and it is where the task is happening but you don't personally know the person you're negotiating with - fine.

If you go in somewhere you are likely to get a discount from before starting negotiating, just because it is you and they know you, that is an unfair advantage.

From what they said on YF, they left it so late to start trying to buy the fish, all the normal places like fish markets and mongers had closed so their only option (discounting supermarkets) was to go somewhere that would have already bought the fish for that evening.

I agree that the mark up from a restaurant would have been astronomical, especially if it was going to mean they had to cut lots of dishes from their menu which might impact on future sales - i probably wouldn't return to a fish restaurant if my choice was restricted in such a way.

Come to think of it, I recall that back in Series 1 there was a bit of a standing joke among the candidates that James and Sebastian (who were from quite privileged backgrounds) got special treatment from professionals because they 'knew everyone in London'. I'm not sure if there was any truth in that.

To be fair, we don't know what praise might have been edited out. But I think they fired the wrong person.

I don't remember that being commented on but i was thinking of somebody like James when i was talking about unfair advantages. Somebody like that, who was not only local but also will have a lot of important contacts due to the 'old boys network' of Public School, would have a huge head start if they were allowed to utilise those contacts. It would not be a even playing field.

I suspect with that, they probably meant more that they knew where tailors or milliner were (didn't they need to get some kind of specialist hat) due to being posh and having lived in London.

There will of course be a certain 'local knowledge' advantage that southerners have over those who don't know London well but usually that is more to do with knowing which way to run to get somewhere quickly rather than having to map read which can be shared and used to the whole teams advantage rather than the very personal thing of 'closing the deal' and making a sale which is marked down as an individual success purely because you've been to the place before where you're doing the deal.

I thought Karren looked unwell in last nights episode, wearing trainers, perched on a wall, and a constant expression of "I'm too old for this shiz".

Interesting. Maybe she actually was unwell, and that was why she was so ratty.

I wonder what they would do if one of the advisors got ill in the middle of the series? Would they temporarily replace them with someone else? It has never happened..

Now, you would know better than me, but wasn't there one edition last year when Karren was unavailable (business commitments) or did I dream it?

I don't think I can recall that at all?

Although contrary to popular belief, my knowledge is not infallible!

She did seem either pissed off, tired or unwell yesterday, with sitting on walls with her head nearly in her hands.

But again, editing, and even if she wasn't feeling the best, it doesn't mean her comments ween't valid. Perhaps her tolerance level was lower than usual for whatever reason, but it would be with all of them, not just one candidate. They aren't far enough into the process for her to have 'favourits' that she will defend or criticize no matter what, surely.

I don't remember that either. Perhaps for the Board Room (she could have emailed Sugar her observations) but not the 'shadowing' element. They would have had to get somebody else in to do it (as they often do in the American one) and i don't remember anybody but Margaret, Nick and Karren until this year.

Well, we didn't really see her say anything positive about anyone, did we? Not like she was positive about Richard last week, for example. So I think it's still entirely possible.

I'm positive that she was never called away from a boardroom scene. If there had been an empty chair next to Lord Sugar, that would be something I would remember, I am sure of it. But it is possible that she had to take time off from shadowing a team, and no one noticed it - there are other people Lord Sugar could ask for advice, as there are presumably producers following them. I would imagine that happens anyway, in fact, as there is only one advisor following each team, and the teams usually sub-divide, and the advisor can't follow both halves at once.