Was this ever mentioned before last night's show? I must say I'm quite surprised - and quite happy, too. It's nice to know that all of these straight-backed "no-nonsense" business people are all earning less than the lovely, eccentric posh girl with the bright pink beret.

Obviously she's nowhere near as disruptive or incompetent as they've made her out to be on this programme.

Well it puts paid to the unemployable tag that has been used to describe her by some.

I have to admit to being surprised; the way the programme has been edited I just assumed that Helene was the top earner. I do think it accounts for a lot of the behaviour towards Lucinda. There are a lot of "top dogs" in this year's group so for her to be earning more than all them probably put more than a few noses out of joint.

To be honest I've always seen through that part of the editing - I think she's very competent and a lot of the time that she has appeared to be negative I think she's really playing devil's advocate. It might be because I see a lot of myself in her (I'm a Psychology Grad too, although I'm doing further training and don't want to go into that type of business environment) and think I'd take a similar approach to her. It might also be because my Dad has been a very sucessful project manager for many years (delivering multi-million pound contracts for well known services people use every day) and I am privy to his shrewd observations and tutelage.

Whatever the case, I think people are fooled by her appearance a lot of the time - they see someone who is a bit eccentric and think they're probably a bit scatty and less competent than the other candidates. I'd say you have to watch out for someone like this - if she really was as people assume her to be then she wouldn't have got through the selection process in the first place! And on the other side of the coin she must be bloody good in order to get away with being such an eccentric because you can bet some organisations wouldn't keep her on if she didn't fit in with them in attitudes and skills!

I found the item about her on the Monday night programme fascinating. She refused to talk about her childhood at all revealing only that she felt it best to cut her family out of her life completely. I'm sure the tabloids are working hard to find what's behind it even as we speak.

To be honest I'm quite surprised she's the highest earner, don't know why.

Anyone know what her salary is? what the heck is a risk manager anyway?

I heard a clip from tonights show in the radio this morning and she says that she has always contracted.

Maybe this is why she is the highest earner, as Contractors going into company's do sometimes get a paid a lot of money by the hour.

This is true.

At that sort of level you also have to be well above average to actually get employed as a contractor.

If you don't perform you're straight out of the door.

For the best people it's a lucrative way of working but it certainly isn't an easy option.

This girl gets more impressive by the day.

I still don't think she's apprentice material, though.

If shes Contracted as a Bussiness Analyst then i would not be susorised if she is already on more then 90,000 if not 100,000 already if she has a good sucess rate and rep.

This will probably mean she have Troubleshooting Skills and alot more Skills then the other remaining 4.

In my business a contractor tends to make 3 times as much as the equivalently skilled salaried person, so that explains why she was so high. It's because the balance of risks is so different. It costs a lot more than a salary to employ someone permanently.

I hadn't realised she was a contractor. It immediately made her a flight risk for me.

I wonder if the earnings they had for her were from her profit and loss accounts, or based solely on her charges. If the latter, the figure would be inflated in any event as the contractor would be the one providing the materials and covering the expenses.

Lucinda has been my preferred candidate for a while - she actually seemed to have the ability to lead a team, rather than just play games.

she's one of the few that I would consider were I wanting an apprentice.

efficient, assertive (!) and individual. just my kind of employee.