The Apprentice - series 5, ep 11: Kate and Yasmina in the final

Kate and Yasmina will contest the final of The Apprentice after James, Lorraine and Debra were fired at the gruelling interview stage.

In keeping with previous series, with this being the penultimate week, the five remaining candidates were grilled by some of Sir Alan's businesses associates.

Tough cookie Claude Litner was joined by Bordan Tkachuk, chief executive of Viglen Computers, Karren Brady, MD at Birmingham City FC, and city litigator Alan Watts.

Before the interviews, Kate and Yasmina said that they were good at them and were looking forward to it.

But Lorraine looked anything but confident as she arrived at Viglen, the interview venue.

It was James who was the first to be put under pressure, though, as Claude ripped into his CV for being full of jargon such as “rate-busting NGN”.

Kate found it easier going in her face-to-face with Bordan and returned down the stairs with a Cheshire cat grin.

Then Yasmina explained her restaurant background to Karren but had her figures torn apart by Claude.

She seemed surprised Claude had managed to get a hold of her business accounts even though it is a public document.

And finance manager Yasmina compounded her uncertainty by mixing up gross profit and net profit, and lost track of her turnover.

It was a haunting repeat of her poor mathematical performance when she and Paula decided to use sandalwood instead of cedarwood in the cosmetics task.

Not that she let the other candidates know of her grilling, unconvincingly suggesting Claude was a “nice man” (*See UPDATE).

Lorraine continued to remain nervous before facing Karren who asked her about her now notorious intuition, which was referred to as a “unique gift” on her CV.

Then Karren dropped a bombshell by uncovering that Lorraine had put the wrong start date of her most recent employer down.

Lorraine attempted a defence of this by suggesting it could be a misprint but this does not seem likely.

She had put May 07 down instead of May 08 – hardly something she would have struggled to remember correctly!

On returning to the seats in the foyer with the other candidates, she called her interview performance “horrendous”.

When the youngest of the hopefuls Debra, faced Claude, he suggested that she could not be relied upon as a team player.

But Debra launched a passionate defence of her style.

James could not do the same, however, as Claude struggled to take him seriously.

He revealed James had written on his CV that his role is “to put a leash on people who spunk money up the wall” and that he could bring “ignorance” to a job with Sir Alan.

Alan Watts became next to provoke a reaction from James by suggesting he was a little immature for a 31-year-old.

On his return, James described his experience as like being “turned inside out”.

Claude and Karren picked up on Kate’s statement on her CV that she would struggle to work in a female-dominated workplace.

Kate suggested that women are too emotional – that they moan and whinge too much.

But this is exactly what Kate did when Karren brought up the touchy subject of Philip distracting her in an earlier task.

Debra, meanwhile, had two horrific references read out to her by Alan Watts and Karren.

And then Alan highlighted the huge risk Yasmina had taken when persuading her mother to remortgage her house for the restaurant’s start-up costs.

In her interview with Karren, Lorraine spoke about some of the difficulties in her life – a divorce and a sickly child – and her failure to develop relationships with the other candidates.

But, other than her problem with a female workforce, Claude admitted he struggled to find any holes in Kate’s CV.

Kate denied she was “Little Miss Perfect” and, equally, denied she was too robotic and not passionate enough herself.

On the following day, Sir Alan’s associates spoke with him about the interviews in the boardroom.

The first candidate to be assessed was Lorraine.

Alan Watts thought she would drive Sir Alan mad with her incessant chatter while Karren and Bordan were sceptical of her “unique gift”.

Margaret Mountford defended Lorraine somewhat by recalling she had often been right during the series but Claude still doubted if she could cope.

Yasmina was next up for discussion.

Claude defended her entrepreneurial spirit but, once again, criticised her figures and her risky decision to get her mother to remortgage her home.

Sir Alan, Nick Hewer and Karren defended Yasmina on this latter point.

But Sir Alan remained concerned about why she wanted a position with him when she already has her own business.

James united opinion from the panel.

All of them considered he was too much of a joker and his final illusion about Sir Alan as Willy Wonka proved to be the death-knell for Karren.

She and Alan Watts also picked up that he was touchy when his immaturity was brought up and said he became completely fazed.

Margaret defended James’s team leader record but Nick suggested he had been extremely lucky to get that far.

Kate also drew similar comments from the boardroom but this time they were more positive.

All of the interviewers were impressed by Kate’s cool performance but worried if her unflappability made her too robotic.

Finally, Debra was bashed for the brutal references which she had provided herself and failed to convince Alan Watts or Bordan who considered her a risk.

But Claude and Karren were more impressed by her bolshie style and believe she can tone herself down as she is still young at 23.

After thanking his advisors, Sir Alan invited the final five back into the boardroom to defend their interview performances.

No one seemed keen to start but James eventually took the plunge and gave another unconvincing defence of his light-hearted style.

Debra repeated she had taken on the negative feedback she had received over her abrasive style.

And Kate once again defended herself against accusations of being robotic.

Moving onto Lorraine, Sir Alan agreed that she was strong for overcoming problems in her life.

But he remained worried about her failure to communicate well with her colleagues.

He also said he was still bemused by Yasmina’s desire to move away from her own business.

But there was a clear weak link in the final five and it was the last standing male candidate.

Sir Alan said: “James, I’ve taken on board what you’ve said and there’s nothing wrong in someone being light-hearted and making people laugh a lot. You’ve made me laugh a lot in this boardroom.

“I think that you’re a corporate man – that environment doesn’t exist in my place. So, with regret, you’re fired.”

James was probably the most popular candidate among his compatriots and tears were shed at his exit by the others.

Sir Alan asked the others to leave to regain their composure and, on their return, he revealed there were only going to be two finalists.

He again ran through each hopeful’s strengths and weaknesses but it was Lorraine’s character flaws which stuck with him.

Sir Alan said: “You’ve had altercations with people, after-the-horse-has-bolted statements. I feel I have seen that in you at least three times.

“I have to balance what I think is going to be suitable for my organisation. So, I’m going to have to say to you – you’re fired.”

And so there were three – Kate, Debra and Yasmina.

Kate was given early cause for celebration as he decided she was definitely going through to the final before deciding which of the others to fire.

It was a tough call for Sir Alan but, in the end, he felt he could not take the risk on Debra though he did ask her to keep in touch.

He said: “Debra, you should be proud of yourself.

“I’ve made my decision and I wish you the very, very best of luck and I know that you’re going to be successful in the future. Debra, you’re fired.”

So, an all-female final for the second time in the history of the show – there was also one in series two.

But it was never likely that James would prevent it.

Kate will start as the favourite but this has not always been the best position.

Highly-fancied Ruth Badger and Claire Young in previous series were both runners-up. The final on Sunday at 9pm will reveal if it happens again.

*UPDATE: the BBC has since admitted production company Talkback Thames used the wrong edit following Yasmina's interview with Claude. She had actually said, "Guys, that was just terrible - a really awful interview". She has accepted an apology.

The Apprentice - series 5, ep 10: Howard's end

Howard fell agonisingly short of the interview week after Sir Alan fired him for his failure on the TV shopping task.

Ignite suffered a surprising loss having failed to sell their high-value products for as much money as Empire sold their cheaper stock.

As project manager for Ignite, Howard made an inauspicious selection of a pet craft kit (£16.99) and an infrared toy air guitar (£14.99) along with Lorraine.

But their companion Kate went for the high-end products, a chip fryer (£139.99) and some real leather metallic jackets (£149.99).

By contrast, Empire's highest-priced product, chosen by team leader Yasmina - working with James - was a leaf-collector called the Grabosaurus (£29.99).

Yasmina and James also chose a remote control car (£13.99). Debra, working alone, plumped for some hideous-looking polo-neck ponchos (£9.99) and hair clips (£17.99).

In the practice for the live television presentations, Lorraine for Ignite was not convincing at all while Kate also seemed to lose her nerve somewhat.

Nevertheless, and despite criticism by Lorraine, Kate was named as the solo presenter with Howard and Lorraine working together once again.

On Empire, Debra was named as the soloist based on Yasmina's belief that she works better alone, leaving Yasmina to work with James.

Yasmina and James were first to present, showcasing the products chosen by Debra who was in the director's chair.

Ignoring Debra's directions to announce the price of the remote control car, Yasmina and James then went completely off-topic in between presenting their two products.

Perhaps still distracted, Yasmina then gave the wrong price for their second item - the hair-clips - pricing them at £9.99 when they were £17.99.

This was corrected by James and the pair noticeably relaxed, particularly James who provided some quality comedy sales patter.

Team-mate Debra presented without any hitches.

But her items chosen by Yasmina/James - the polo-neck ponchos and the Grabosaurus leaf-collector - left Sir Alan wondering if the cautious approach of aiming for low-price products would work.

Sir Alan expected Ignite would do so much better with their high-value items - some hideous metallic-style leather jackets and the fryer, selected by Kate.

But, due to the rules, they were presented by Howard and Lorraine.

The pair did a fine job of showing off the items but failed to mention the product number, telephone number and website anywhere near enough.

Kate struggled unsurprisingly to present the pet craft kit, and admitted later it was "not the most exciting thing to demonstrate".

But she did better and loosened up to show off the infra-red air guitar in brilliantly entertaining fashion.

It was still not enough, however. Empire, with sales of £1541.88, beat Ignite who recorded £1376.73 despite their higher-priced items.

Empire's Debra, so often at odds with the other side of the boardroom desk, received high praise for her ability to present the shabby ponchos - selling over £900 personally.

Nick Hewer said: "She took to it like a duck to water. She was exceptional."

Her reward along with James and team leader Yasmina was a thrilling private jet aerobatics session - the loop-da-loop and kamikaze dives ensuring this was easily the best prize of the series.

But Ignite were back in the boardroom to face Sir Alan.

On the one hand, they had suffered from poor product selection (the pet craft kit and air guitar) by Howard and Lorraine.

And, on the other hand, they suffered from the poor presentation - again by Lorraine and Howard - of Kate's high-value products (the jackets and the fryer) which should have ensured victory.

Sir Alan informed the team of some damning stats. They sold less than 10% of what was expected in the period for the air guitar.

Worse again, they sold less than 5% of what was expected on the leather jackets.

Lorraine was criticised by Sir Alan for not following through her instincts after she favoured a lizard toy which was not selected.

Lorraine defended herself by stating this selection, although once again ignored, showed her "natural flair" for the vacancy.

Sir Alan also slammed Kate for her wooden presentation, accusing her of being "like a programmed robot" and he compared her solo figures to Debra's.

But it was team leader Howard who took the most stick in the boardroom.

He was then blamed by Sir Alan for not being willing to take the risk with Lorraine's novelty toy lizard and it was suggested he was risk-averse - no more than a "steady-eddie".

Even Nick Hewer bashed Howard, stating his actions suggested he was "not a brave warrior".

And so, in a decision which Sir Alan described as being "very tough but a sign of the times", he sacked nice-guy Howard and kept Kate and Lorraine.

He said: "All three of you have come a long way in this process but, as you all know, it has to come to an end for one of you today. Howard, you're fired."

In the cab, Howard was clearly disappointed but remained in his calm, philosophical self.

He said: "I'm gutted, really gutted. There is no denying that. I really wanted to go all the way through the process.

"But if Sir Alan thinks that I'm risk-averse then I will take on the feedback and maybe I need to be a bit more maverick.

Howard's departure leaves James as the only male candidate to make the interview stage, a point his female rivals were not slow to notice back at the penthouse.

He will be up against four women - Debra, Kate, Lorraine and Yasmina, the first time so many females have made the penultimate week.

The Apprentice - series 5, ep 8: Mona sinks at the seaside

Mona became the latest candidate to get fired as Empire failed in their bid to rebrand Margate for the gay community.

Mona never really warmed to the idea and, in particular, found it difficult to work under project manager Debra in unchanged teams.

Debra had somewhat forced her way into the position in the first place, denying Howard the chance to lead for the first time since week one.

But Howard retained an important role and rejected Mona's original suggestion of aiming for children and families in the brainstorming session.

Instead, he strongly encouraged James's idea of targeting the gay market.

Ignite, led by Yasmina in her first project manager role since week two, came up with the more standard concept of attracting families to the faded seaside town in Kent.

The task set by Sir Alan required the teams to pitch their ideas to a set of brand experts and then to the people of Margate themselves.

They also needed to produce a poster campaign with a slogan and a leaflet for their pitches.

For Empire, Mona and James headed to the coast and spoke to residents over the likelihood of success in rebranding Margate as a gay hotspot.

But asking the public about their campaign was something with which Mona was clearly ill at ease, especially when she talked with a pre-op transsexual.

Meanwhile Howard and Debra held auditions to find two male models for their posters.

Over at Ignite, Yasmina and Kate were also casting for two people to appear as 'mum' and 'dad' in their posters as Lorraine and Ben developed photo ideas by walking around the town.

Ben came up with a cringeworthy catchphrase - 'shellebrate family fun' - before Lorraine restored some sense with her 'See Margate through children's eyes' tagline.

But Empire struggled to come up with a memorable catchphrase and it would be a lack of clarity which would cause their ultimate downfall.

Howard warned Debra that they had too much text on their poster but she ignored him, and their whole campaign proved far too subtle.

Meanwhile, Mona and James took photographs intending to show the gay scene which for the main were rather vague, except for a decent shot of two men holding hands on the beach.

Ignite's plan of a large beach shot was originally scuppered by thick fog.

But once the fret cleared, Ben made sure they got the shots he wanted by framing everything between his fingers.

Not that team leader Yasmina was pleased.

When the photographs came through, she worried that Ben's framing had left minimal blank space for their text to be put over the photograph.

And once Lorraine returned with Ben, she argued petulantly with Yasmina over the quality of their final posters and leaflet.

But at least Ignite only suffered from some minor tiffs.

Empire had left the leaflet until the last minute and, short of time, their rudimentary effort ended up being a mish-mash of blank space and random photographs.

So it was not a surprise when neither the branding experts nor the Margate residents were impressed and they both marked Empire just four out of 10.

Ignite's campaign was far less revolutionary and their poster and leaflet front cover were devoid of any pictures of children to fit with their slogan.

But, on the whole, it was executed better and received seven out of 10 from both pitches.

And so, Yasmina and her Ignite team were duly rewarded with a day out driving round the Lotus racetrack.

But for Debra, Mona, Howard and James, only the boardroom awaited.

Sir Alan accepted Empire had been brave in targeting the gay scene but accused them of "whispering the message".

He blasted Debra and Howard for producing confusing and wordy posters and leaflets, which he thought looked like something from "a bunch of loonies".

Sir Alan said: "I looked at those posters and they tell me nothing!"

Then he turned his attention Mona, who lives in Kent, accusing her of a lack of creativity.

And James, not for the first time, was labelled as being on the periphery.

It also became apparent that Debra had lied during the pitches about the embarrassing blank space on their leaflets by suggesting it would be used by local advertisers.

Sir Alan advised her that it would have been better if she had told the truth and, after her clash with Nick Hewer last week, it looked as if she might get fired.

But at least Debra recognised Howard's efforts during the task and brought back her Margate-based sub-team of James and Mona instead.

It turned out to be a wise choice.

Mona's lack of creativity and support in the task were highlighted once again by Sir Alan and this overshadowed James' lack of input and Debra's tendency not to listen.

Sir Alan said: "Mona, I do not see any creativity and I have to start thinking about where you would slot into my organisation.

"You spoke about the pier in Margate and it looks to me that you might be right at the end of the pier in this process.

"Mona - with regret, you're fired."

In the cab, Mona disagreed with Sir Alan's decision and said she believes she is a better candidate than both Debra and James.

She added: "I have always been a fighter so this is not the end of me. I'm not going to cry over it.

"I did my best and I'm proud of what I have done."

Mona became the first candidate in the series to be fired "with regret" and certainly had her highlights.

Most notably, she demonstrated textbook negotiation skills as recently as the previous week when selling expensive sleeping bags in Manchester.

But, unfortunately for her, Sir Alan later revealed he believed she was too much of a one-trick pony, leaving just seven candidates remaining.

The Apprentice - series 5, ep 3: Maj fails the fitness test

Quiet man Maj became the third Apprentice candidate to be fired as Ignite enjoyed a clear victory over Empire in rearranged teams.

Before the task began, Kim and Kate moved from Ignite to the formerly all-boys’ team Empire with Noorul and Phil moving the other way.

For the third task, Sir Alan asked the teams to invent a piece of portable home fitness equipment and pitch it to three retailers.

The team who took the most orders would be declared as the winners.

Empire, led by James who narrowly escaped being fired last week, made the better start.

They quickly came up with a product aimed at exercising various different muscles but faltered on choosing its name - even considering The Bingo Buster and The Wing Worker.

Ignite, managed by abrasive team leader Debra, were lost in a whirl of indecision until Philip came up with a rival to the Swiss Ball at the last minute.

Empire finally came to their senses, dropped the daft names and branded it as the Home Multi-Toner.

But it was a brand as bland as the product’s appearance.

Unsurprisingly, they struggled to pitch their black box of tricks to the three retailers – Powerhouse, John Lewis and Totally Fitness – with the latter also criticising it for effectively being a cheap multi-gym.

Meanwhile, Ignite leader Debra’s main worry, even as they headed in a taxi to their first pitch, was the ability of Lorraine to sell their product.

But, after an uncertain start, Lorraine improved and it was Yasmina who nearly made a major mistake during the John Lewis pitch.

The result was a clear win for Ignite, however. Indeed, it was one of the clearest in Apprentice history.

They still received 10,000 orders from John Lewis to put alongside their 80 from Powerhouse and 100 from Totally Fitness.

Empire received only 500 orders in total, all of them from John Lewis, and Sir Alan was even more scathing than usual in his attack on the losers.

He shouted: “You totally missed your target audience. You totally missed what the market wants.

“You came up with some lump of wood and you're sitting here wondering why you didn't get any orders.

"I know why you didn't get any orders! The whole thing sucks!"

As Ignite enjoyed a private recital from Katherine Jenkins, James found himself fighting for his Apprentice existence for the second successive week.

He brought Ben and Maj back into the boardroom and criticised the appearance of his own team’s product after the changes made to it by these colleagues.

Sir Alan suggested James was not heavily enough involved in the task while aide Margaret Mountford that Empire had lost focus on their target market.

James, who seemed constantly on the verge of tears, remained on dodgy ground throughout the boardroom confrontation.

And this was even more so the case after Ben accused him of making a lot of noise for little end product.

Ben successfully argued that he was the only team member to come up with an idea and was absolved by Sir Alan.

But, in an unexpected twist, Margaret defended James’s management style. She told Sir Alan that it was nothing like his occasionally loutish behaviour in the boardroom.

Suddenly the attention turned to Maj for his laidback attitude.

And he reinforced the perception by struggling to put up a defence, admitting later that he was unprepared for being under attack.

Even in the black cab after his firing, Maj only said: “I feel as if Alan Sugar didn’t get to see the best of me.”

Back in the boardroom, Sir Alan explained: “My instincts are that I can’t really have someone that is perceived not to contribute and you may not agree with this – but Maj, you’re fired.”

Sir Alan’s three firings so far have all suggested he has been getting rid of some ‘dead wood’ before the main competition begins.

And Sir Alan left James in no doubt as to his uncertain position after his second narrow escape.

The Apprentice - series 5, ep 1: Empire cleans up

A typically explosive start to the new series of the Apprentice ended with the boys' team Empire coming out on top and Anita as the first candidate fired.

Empire beat the girls' team, Ignite, by making a profit of £239, despite a smaller turnover.

It was an altogether unexpected victory for the boys who started a man down after one candidate, Adam, inexplicably withdrew from the competition before it had even started.

Sir Alan asked his teams to set up any type of cleaning company and both teams set up a car cleaning company with the boys also setting up a shoe-shine service. Mona (Ignite) and Howard (Empire) volunteered for the role as team leaders.

Even as they returned to the boardroom, the boys seemed unsure if they had got their tactics right.

Some of them were still arguing that the shoe-shine business was more profitable even though they abandoned it halfway through having spent ages cleaning just their first car.

Margaret Mountford said: “Never in the history of car washing have so few cars been cleaned by so many people.”

It did not matter, though, as the girls spectacularly failed to adhere to simple business rules despite starting late.

They only made a profit of £160.55 despite making £10 more than the boys after spending almost the entire £200 budget on costs.

Sir Alan said: “It’s a classic business message. They just simply overspent.”

The boys celebrated their somewhat fortunate victory in boisterous fashion at their cocktail-making (and drinking) session.

But the unexpected loss for the girls meant they completely fell apart in their inquest that followed and it was even more confusing when team leader Mona argued the toss with Anita and
Deborah who she had brought back to the boardroom with her.

Ultimately, though, the error was laid at the door of Anita who held the calculator as their budget was splurged.

Sir Alan said: "You showed no initiative in spotting that you were heading for disaster. And on that basis, you're fired."

Anita, in her fairness, said: "I'm bitterly disappointed but I accept that I was not particularly stellar."

It’s good to have The Apprentice back on our screens and reassuring to find that the programme-makers have not changed its successful format in what is now its fifth series.

With so many talking heads, it was difficult to see who might make the biggest impression. But, as Adrian Chiles pointed out on sister show The Apprentice: You’re Fired, Deborah stood out as the possible ice-maiden of the series as long as she continues to be reprieved.