I know with 18 candidates we are not due as many multiple firings as last year, butt there should still be a few. Both this weeks and last weeks episodes could of, and possible should of daily been double firings with Natalie and Vana also being fired.

Do you reckon Sugar is told which weeks to do double firings from a production perspective, maybe each task is designed for a specific number of candidates?

This week could have been a double elimination at least. Vana and Elle were dreadful

I think there are 13 episodes, which should mean at the end of week 11 you are left with 4 candidates for the interviews in week 12.

So I think that means 3 double firings somewhere down the line, or maybe even all 3 one week.

I suppose he is hanging on for a week when a double firing is really justified.

No, there are twelve weeks. For most of the series, the interviews have been in Week 11 and the final in Week 12. In Series 7 and 8 this was briefly changed so that the interviews were moved to Week 12 and were the final, but since Series 9 it has gone back to the old format, with Week 12 being the chance for the final two candidates to launch their businesses. I think it's safe to assume that this year will follow the same process as the last two.

One of the reasons that I'm not happy with more than 16 candidates is that it compels at least one double firing to happen. With 16, it gave him the freedom to, but it wasn't compulsory. As it is, he can't avoid it.

I would have fired both Aisha and Natalie last week. This week I wouldn't have done a double firing, but I'd have kept Jenny and fired Vana.

I am glad he's holding off this year. The triple firing in Week 4 last year was very unnecessary tbh. We have more time to get to know the candidates if he holds off for a while.

Or he could hold off the double firings till near the end, pull a Trump and fire an entire team

Very unlikely I know. I expect 3 lots of double firings, including one next week.

He did that towards the end of the second series of Young Apprentice, and I doubt he'll do it again. He was heavily criticised for it, and the fact that the format changed slightly the following year makes me think that on that occasion the criticism was listened to.

I could see a triple firing if some team does so bad its stupidly silly. But knowing he has a rough idea (or more) of the business plan he might just find 3 of his no hopers lined up nicely and pull the finger out.

Don't think there will be one next week, pure on the basis of the Radio Times preview (it would still be too tempting to hint at it if it happened).

Think that the first one will probably be in week 5 or week 6 (or he perhaps just fires everybody in the final boardroom like last year, saves him doing a double firing later in the series).

I agree, it wasn't a good idea to fire an entire team based on the loss of one task, regardless of individual performances.

Doubt people would have complained if e.g the entire losing team in the series 4 Marrakesh task had been fired. Although that would probably have been impossible with the number of candidates and the number of weeks they had left.

I think people would have done. It really wasn't Alex and Claire's fault that they lost.

Trust me, nobody at the time (on the DS forum) would have minded

Were they really considering the values of each candidate intellectually though, or were they just hoping for drama at that stage?