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 9: Brash Ben fired after failing at the Baby Show

Brash Ben became the latest candidate to be fired from this year's competition after failing to impress in the Baby Show task.

Errors over product selection cost Empire dear as they struggled to sell birthing pools and rocking horses to niche markets.

Sir Alan had laid on prime sites for the teams at the Baby Show at Earls' Court in west London.

And he named the two parents from the remaining candidates as project managers.

James was tasked with leading Ben, Debra and Yasmina for Empire against Lorraine in charge of Kate and Howard for Ignite in re-arranged teams.

But their first task was the choose the two products which they would need to sell the following day.

On Ignite, Lorraine, who had been to the Baby Show before, suggested they need to focus on a high-end product and an impulse purchase.

Meanwhile, on Empire, James and Ben clashed over the logistics of seeing each of the presentations.

To be fair to the teams, not many of the choices were particularly appealing.

Two of the pitches which they received were for babies' high-heel shoes and a cardboard cot.

The teams stayed clear of those but it was undoubtedly Ignite who did better with the rest.

Lorraine was highly impressed with the collapsable pushchair which looked ideal for parents who travel or have a busy lifestyle.

On her sub-team, Kate and Howard went for baby head-guards with Kate explaining they could play "on the guilt factor" of the parents.

Empire had rejected both of these products. James thought the pushchair was nothing special while Ben and Debra derided the head-guard as being xxxx.

Instead, Ben and Debra - in particular - was completely taken in by the prospect of selling rocking horses.

This was despite the obvious high-risk strategy in that they were priced between £1700 and £4000, and the owner admitted that his custom was often royalty.

Meanwhile, James and Yasmina chose the birthing pool even though the statistics showed only 2.2% of women have home-births, something which Lorraine had noticed.

But the exhibition centre, Igntie suffered some bad news even before the set-up.

A rival stall was selling the same the pushchair. Worse than that, it would later emerge that they were selling for £35 cheaper.

Lorraine was also having a right battle royale, still struggling comically to put up and collapse the pushchair despite a night of practice.

They even resorted to asking a punter how to do it.

Nick Hewer said: "This pushchair looks to me like the most complicated thing when, in fact, if done properly it is the simplest thing with a great selling point.

"She's making a complete horlicks of it."

Empire realised their main chance of victory was to sell a single rocking horse but the price tags on display deterred potential buyers.

Once the tags were removed, the horses received much more attention but punters continued to be put off once the prices were revealed.

As the day came to a close, Empire nearly stole victory when Debra almost sold a rocking horse to a collector.

But, unable to reduce their price below £1700, the collector walked away leaving Empire staring defeat in the face.

The results were not a surprise - Ignite had made £1600 on their pushchair and head-guards while Empire managed only £722 on the discounted birthing pool.

No rocking horses had been sold and so it was no surprise when James hauled Ben and Debra back in the boardroom with him.

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.