Somehow I found and find it very hard to warm to this year's contestants.

Someone in another thread asked if someone was tense as Sir Alan was pondering at the end of the last episode. I did not really care one way or the other.

In short, for the first time of the series I did not have a favourite.

How about you?

I started off liking Raef and Simon the most, then I warmed to Lucinda later on. From then on it was Raef and Lucinda all the way.

The rest I just did not care about.

Simon, and then Raef....now nobody!

Yes, now that both posters have mentioned it, those two did jump out for me. Although I started to warm to Raef as the show went on, not in the beginning.

At the very start I liked Simon and Michael, though Raef I was starting to like just for his boardroom comment! Then in the 2nd week Raef became a firm favouritel. And Lucinda a week or so later. After Week 6 I then started disliking Michael as a person but still liked him for his comedy value. And now they are all gone, I like Claire. =)

Jenny M was my favourite, followed by Raef and then Simon.

Out of the current crop I don't have a firm fav so no-one really has my backing. Although I'd like Helene to win.

Right from the start I liked Lucinda and she has been my favourite all the way through. In fact she is my favourite Appentice candidate ever

I also quite warmed to Lee, Raef and Simon but have slightly gone off Lee in the last couple of weeks. Not particularly bothered about the rest though and I don't really care who wins the final next week...

I've never watched The Apprentice until this season and this only from half way through. But my favourite has always been Claire. Although I haven't got a clue why ? Probably cos she's so gobby and confident And I liked Raef too.

Oh, anyone she reminds you of?

Actually, strangely, that also describes another person I don't particularly care for - how bizarre is that ??

Yep I have no favorite. They (Raef, Simon and Lucinda) have all gone.
I wanted Kristina to win last year. I don't particularly like any of the final four but just as long as Alex doesn't win then I'm happy.
Tre was also very entertaining. He was arrogant but funny with it. This year they are just arrogant and sly.

From the very begining it was Raef. Never doubted his character. In fact he is my favourite Apprentice ever, closely followed by Simon and Tim Campbell.

Babeth

The problem is, it depends so much on the task. I've said before that if the project is the property portfolio as has been speculated as opposed to a product launch etc etc, the entire skill-set (how I hate that word, but it does serve a purpose!!) will be competely different in each instance.

I wouldn't want any of that bunch managing my properties, whether they be student lets or retail parks.

I'm not totally sure I'd want them selling lollies to kids either.

It all goes back to my main gripe about the show - Sir Alan doesn't want an Apprentice, despite having contestants who clearly could not just walk into a senior position within any of his enterprises. He doesn't want anyone with an analytical, logical background (read lawyer, analyst, accountant, I guess, blah blah) but questions whether a candidate is a one trick pony for their sales abilities.

Next year,please give me a show which tests business abilities as opposed to the ability to ride a storm and stagger out the other side!! Or at least do a (minimum) three question test - what is turnover? What is cash flow? How does turnover relate to profit and what will you do to influence that?

Blooming sales people (and I am one!)....no clue about that ' boring stuff'!!!

From week 1, Raef was my favourite and as weeks went by, he became my best apprentice candidate of all time.

A 100% ditto for me!

Simon and Lucinda were my faves from the early weeks. It's a shame these two never got the opportunity to work together as I think they would have made a good team.

I wanted Raef to be in the final.

He should have been in it - I think the programme lacks something without his presence.

I don't think we saw the best of him as he went too soon.

Sara was my favourite. After she went, Raef and Lucinda were the only ones I liked and now they're gone too. Of the four left, Claire is my favourite, but she's not so much the one I like best as the one I dislike least.

Raef was my favourite by far, and his firing is the only one that I've actually been annoyed by.

I liked Simon, I liked Jenny M, but I could see why they went when they did, they weren't that great.

Unlike others, I didn't like Lucinda that much - at the start, she was one of the few that stoof out as likeable/pleasant people, and I still think she is... she just began to irritate me more and more as the series went on. But, she was still a likeable person.

As for the ones left... I've liked Lee the whole time, and Claire has grown on me - probably because she actually seems to be the most competent, and has been for the last few rounds now.

I liked Raef in ep 1, but then he faded quickly and hardly registered in ep2 even though he was leader.

I liked Claire from early on, and still like her.

I didn't notice Lee to begin with, but he's become one of my favourites (although he almost blew it by lying on his CV and then again in the interview).

I like Sara, and Shazia although we didn't see much of her.

I'm neutral towards Helene, although in practice I come across as a rabid fan because I spend a lot of time defending her.

The only surviving candidate I don't like is Alex, who I disliked from ep1.

Simon, Raef....were initially the most likeable of a bad bunch. Lucinda was rather highly strung but was at least an honest character.

I actually don't mind Claire either.

I had a few favourites; mainly Raef, Lucinda and Sara. I don't think I had a clear favourite above all other candidates though. I also liked Simon, and I also liked Jenny M after a few weeks. I think I would've liked Shazia but we'll never know because she didn't last too long.

Lucinda Ledgerwood

To be honest I couldn't stand any of them and wondered what the selection process actually was that managed to sort this lot into wheat rather than chaff! As the series progressed I was more incensed by the dirty tricks played on the perceived weaker candidates rather than by any flashes of genius.

This series has been a tremendous disappointment for me. I've learnt nothing and admire no-one, something that I didn't think I would have said before the series started. The only piece of "hard ball" negotiations we saw was by someone to whom the candidates were supposed to be selling. On reflection that one scene showed that we have been sold lemon in terms of the candidates being drop dead shrewd business people.