After being mightily annoyed since Simon 'won' and ranting and raving on here in several places, I've finally realised that Kristina didn't win because she's too good. After reading on here in another thread Sir Alan is considering giving her another role in the company the penny suddenly dropped.

Kristina is not an 'apprentice', she's already the finished product. She's management material, the 'apprentice' is beneath her. She doesn't need moulding, she doesn't need coaching or training, she just needs to be given a management role and left to get on with it.

I hope that's the case anyway. If so, I don't understand why Sir Alan didn't point that out last night. Then again, maybe he did - I was so disgusted, I didn't watch the aftermath on BBC2.

Kristina is the winner. She was the best by far. As far as I'm concerned, she did win, the 'apprentice' role was just beneath her outstanding capabilities.

Was it my post you read?

I'll quote it here.

More than likely One and Only. I've been all over place this morning so I can't remember exactly, but yes, if I have seen your post it would have definitely triggered the penny drop. Thanks for that.

She really isn't THAT good.She sells well yes.But in terms of potential-and hence the ability to overtake in due course-Simon was the better candidate.Which isn't to say he was the best of the bunch, but he was better than her

Were we watching the same show? Kristina showed time and time again she is a good leader and manager whereas Simon only showed he was incapable and couldn't project manage or lead - if it wasn't for his team members taking the lead on that last task Simon's project would have fallen apart.

Kristina was FAR better than Simon all the way through. Hence the reason that she didn't win. The job truly is beneath her.

Fully agree.
His idea of a boat for the shape of the building (ooops sorry, that was another of Tre's ideas wasn't it) would have sunk like the Titanic
He didn't have a clue

Kristina didn't get the job because that silly slapper from last year put him off taking on women - saying that SAS went way down in my estimation after picking her over the badger last year.

more likely she didn't get the job as SAS thought Simon would give him the commitment he was - especially after that daft tart last year quit after only a few months

Get over it!

I think that people misunderstand what a Project Manager does. A true project manager does not have all the ideas and all the answers. A true project manager hears all the ideas of those around and then makes a decision based on what's been said.

That is what appears to have happened here with Simon.

What a true project manager should also do is recognise the input from the team and offer credit where it is due - which I do not think Simon did.

This is true but if I remember the show correctly Simon went with the boat idea originally because it was what Tre was selling and then he agreed to go with the other team's idea on the basis of a vote, not because he recognised it as the best idea and being willing to put his authority on the line with that decision.

If Simon surrounds himself with capable people he will do well because he is a pleaser, he is engaging and charming and he will be able to get people to do their best for him for that reason. But he's as 'drop dead shrewd' as my cocker spaniel and if it wasn't for the fact that SA will probably be willing to put up with any amount of incompetence rather than suffer the humiliation of losing another apprentice after a few months, I'd have put money on Simon being gone from Amstrad within the year.

I think if Srallun offers Kristina a job anyway, it'll cheapen the whole show. The point of this is 1 job, 1 chance. Not 1 job, well maybe 2 if you're good but come second.

Didn't we have asimilar situation with Tim and Saira.

Tim won, Saira was the finished product and a few months later he offered her a job, or so I heard.

Why didn't they have Saira on you're fired this year, she is usually brilliant on that show!

That was an initial idea though. If he was an incapable project manager then he would have run with it regardless of the opinion of his other team mates. (Like Rory in Week 2) However he accepted that his team wasn't taken with the boat idea and therefore went with the other idea.

It's down to personal opinion of what a good leader is, especially as there's so many different leadership styles.

The only person to have any remote type of negative feedback in the boardroom about how they led was Kristina from Adam. Simon's team were all happy with him - so he really can't have been all that "incapable" as a PM.


It does seem people are letting the shopping channel task cloud their judgement of Simon. This show is edited into about 40 minutes of actual task footage from up to 12 hours of task time (72 hours in the case of last night). It's impossible to judge completely objectively how good either of the candidates were.

It's not just the shopping channel task though. When he had to negotiate , he was rushing and panicking and so due to that he didn't secure that many good deals. Oh...and it's actually Sir Alan who portrays what a PM should do as he so regularly fires them for not managing and coming up with ideas.

Two things:

1. I believe Simon had already won weeks ago. Take the shopping channel task for example, Simon caved in completely. He didn't lead, he didn't guide, he came up with no great ideas, he went into a shell, and yes, he duly inserted his head right up Tre's back passage as per usual.

If anybody else had been so incompetent, they'd have walked without a shadow of doubt. Unfortunately Naomi was made scapegoat despite being the best performer in that week. It was obvious from then on, that SAS had a sweet spot for the young lad.

The building project was the final straw. Again, Tre lead the task and collectively they designed mother, father and baby slug, peeping out of the London underground.

2. Simon got the job because he was a "yes man". He was humble, in awe of SAS, and almost wanted his children.
Furthermore, the contrast between Simon and Kristina is clear. Simon is like a soft piece of play-doh. He's young and inexperienced, and clearly SAS was endeared to the fact that he can easily be shaped into the person he wants. After all, this is the apprentice - it's about training someone and raising them to be a professional.
Christina on the other hand was the piece of clay that had done it's time in the kiln and had set. Whilst she was by far the more complete product, it's arguable whether SAS would have been able to mould her into the character and position that he had lined up.

All that said, you then wonder why there's a need to show "leadership" and prove "ability". After all, it appears that the real demand from SAS is for "potential".

Your use of this phrase becomes ever more boring and literally pointless. If you are only able to continually spout this phrase you are wasting everyone's time. The forum is for opinion and debate not totally pointless (in its truest meaning), childish taunts.

Yes but we all know Sir Alan moves the goalposts week by week depending on which candidate in the final 3 he wants to get rid of.

And Sir Alan can have his own opinion of what makes a good leader - however there is nothing to say that the person most like his idea of a good leader will actually win the task each week.

And Sir Alan did tell Simon he thought he was a bad leader. I just personally feel in terms of the final task, Simon led his team better than Kristina.

I tend to agree, but some people would look at it as though Simon was weak for being swayed by opinion.


Adam was the only one to say anything. Just because Simon's team didn't slate him doesn't mean that they all thought he was wonderful. None of them were likely to say anything nasty, with the exception of Tre, who always speaks his mind, but likes Simon, so wouldn't have had anything bad to say about him. And some people like to have team leaders who are easily manipulated.


Simon had a bad task on the shopping task. I've seen others get fired for far less. Sir Alan was fuming when he watched their presentations and was clearly furious about the wheelchair being picked. The fact that it sold was due to luck, not picking a good product. But Sir Alan suddenly seemed to do an about-face when faced with Simon v Naomi in the boardroom (it was obvious that he wouldn't get rid of Tre). In that task, Naomi did far better. Simon went to pieces. Yes, it was only one task - but Sir Alan has been a lot harsher for a lot less.

Poor Kristina,if Simon was better than her she should give up.Remember him as producer in the shopping channel show???????????

She cannot be that good, she just got fired from the Met Office and given her performance on the apprentice she is going to have a hell of a time getting another job.

You're talking about Katie, we're talking about Kristina. Unless I missed something.

That's Katie, this thread is Kristina.

Not necessarily one job. One APPRENTICESHIP.