The Apprentice - series 5, ep 12: Yasmina proves sweet for Sugar

Yasmina won the fifth series of The Apprentice, narrowly beating Kate in what Sir Alan Sugar described as his toughest decision on the programme yet.

Both candidates were praised for their abilities, which were again in evidence in the final task.

Sir Alan had asked Kate and Yasmina to create and launch a brand new box of chocolates. The finalists were also responsible for marketing, a television ad and a pitch to industry experts.

Several of the previous candidates returned to help out. Interestingly, Kate avoided choosing Philip with whom she is still in a relationship.

Instead, she chose Ben, Debra, Kimberley and Rocky while Yasmina's team was Howard, Lorraine, James and Philip.

At the ideas stage, Kate stole a march with a “sensual sharing” concept of his and hers chocolates suggested by Ben.

Old habits die hard for Ben, though, as he tried to force a ‘sex sells’ twist on the campaign which Kate rejected swiftly.

Instead, Kate’s box design fitted well with the concept with a tray for her, a tray for him and one to share.

In contrast to Kate’s quick start, Yasmina’s group was struggling to come up with a unique idea.

James’s suggestion of chocolates being bought by a woman for a man seemed to be their only option.

But when they pitched their thoughts to a group of men and then to industry insiders, they realised it was going to be quite a hard sell.

It was looking as if Yasmina might be headed to a half-baked disaster like ‘Pantsman’ (which Philip remarkably still tried to defend).

And so she focused on a brand name instead. She soon came up with ‘Cocoa Electric’ and decided her theme would be the creation of innovative flavours.

Their box would be a simple design which opened from both sides leaving a striking shocking-pink-coloured electric bolt in the middle.

With Yasmina finally on her way to a rounded idea, it was now Kate who was struggling, particularly in terms of a brand name.

Her choice, called ‘Intimate’, raised Nick Hewer’s eyebrows and Debra suggested that when put on a box, it made the product look like panty-liners.

Kate was wary of making last minute changes but Ben, who was on form during this task, scored with his suggestion, ‘Choc d’Amour’.

With both contestants happy about their idea and their box design, the next stage of the task was to move onto choosing their chocolates, directing their television ad and preparing for the pitch.

Kate had put Kimberley in charge of directing her TV advert but stepped in herself when she realised she was playing it far too safe.

Kate gave the ad a slightly kinkier twist – so maybe Ben was right after all about sex selling, though she rightly rebuffed his ‘69’ box design.

Meanwhile, Ben, Debra and Rocky set about choosing the chocolate flavours and hiring props for the launch presentation.

This left Kate with another major decision. The quality of the chocolates suggested by her team mates required her to put up her retail price to £13.

By contrast, Yasmina decided to use much cheaper flavourings, allowing her to set her price at a much more reasonable £6.

But her television ad had less of a narrative and one of the actors complained about the taste of his basil sweet.

On the other part of Yasmina’s team, Philip was allowed to express his creative side.

He worked with James and Lorraine to choreograph the dancers and draw up a poster for the launch presentation.

At first, Yasmina said she was looking forward to the pitch, describing it as being “more exciting than getting married”.

But, as time wore on, the nerves increased. She remained unsure of her presentational style during the rehearsal, suffering a last-minute panic.

Even Kate, usually so collected, feared stage fright against which she said no one is immune.

As ever, though, Kate performed confidently and her campaign was well accepted in the room.

The main concern from the industry reps was unsurprisingly about the price and her hope to launch her chocolates as a mass-market product.

Yasmina also had little to worry about in the end and gave a clear pitch. There was, however, scepticism in the room over her flavours and whether her chocolates would have staying power.

Back in the boardroom, Sir Alan repeated the one main concern against each product but said that otherwise the finalists had done brilliantly.

After thanking the other contestants for their help, Sir Alan also asked Kate and Yasmina to leave the boardroom while he discussed his decision with his advisors.

On their return, both hopefuls were given a final chance to convince Sir Alan to hire them.

Kate highlighted her consistency throughout the series, saying she had done well in the soap and cereal tasks in particular.

She said her main motivation for the job was she felt Sir Alan’s company was the best place to develop her career and her aspiration to be a director.

Yasmina also pointed to her task record and the fine achievement of three wins out of three as project manager.

She added that she now had a wider repertoire of skills – in terms of presentational style – than previously.

And she batted away Sir Alan’s continued concerns over her own business. He raised the spectre of her 20 employees becoming unemployed but she replied they would be in safe hands with her brother.

It was enough to convince Sir Alan as Yasmina upset the odds.

He said: “It is a tough decision. You are the best that I have ever had in the final in this boardroom – that, I promise you. My instincts are telling me – Yasmina, you’re hired.”

In a victorious black cab ride, Yasmina said: “I do wish Kate all the best – she’s such a nice girl – but I don’t feel guilty for winning.

“I worked so hard and I kept my head down and just kept going. I do think that I deserve to win.”

And so ends another series of The Apprentice. It has proved a brilliant watch since February and its popularity has held strong at just under 9m viewers throughout the series.

One of its strengths is the refusal to change the winning format which has been in place since its earliest airings.

Needless to say, I sincerely hope that the loss of Margaret Mountford for series six will not lead to a wider overhaul of changes for next year.

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 5: Kimberly fired for pants idea

Ignite team leader Kimberly paid the ultimate price for team-mate Philip's bizarre 'Pantsman' idea in an advertising task for breakfast cereal.

The task - to create a new brand identity for a healthy breakfast cereal - should have been ideal for marketing consultant Kimberly.

But from early on, Philip forced his pants concept on the rest of the team, which had remained unchanged from the last task.

Despite Lorraine's protestations, Ignite backed what was an obvious loser and the further the idea evolved, the sillier it got.

Philip continued to spearhead the effort. He branded the cereal as 'Wake Up Call' and invented a character, Pantsman.

Pantsman would point out that only superheroes are allowed to wear their pants outside their other clothing, and that eating Wake Up Call could prevent people making that mistake.

Lorraine remained unsure but this caused Philip to throw one of his now notorious tantrums and he accused her of being overly negative.

It took Howard to calm the situation but the arguments further undermined Ignite's efforts.

The lost time forced them to rely on the designer to produce their cereal box based on Kimberly's incredibly vague suggestions over the telephone.

Unsurprisingly, the finished product was a let-down with only the front panel of the box showing any design.

Empire, led by Kate, displayed the most impressive team performance of the series so far.

Unlike Ignite's mess, Empire's idea was clear and their whole approach seemed logical.

James came up with the concept of 'Captain Squak', a parrot dressed as a pirate, who would be used to market their cereal, branded as 'Treasure Flakes'.

Even the jingle for their advert was a relevant sea-shanty - in sharp contrast to Philip's horridly out-of-tune wailing for Ignite.

Indeed the only thing Empire were particularly criticised for was the execution of their advert as they threatened to over-complicate matters.

But, while Ignite's execution was seen to be better, the advert did not appeal to their child actors and it showed up the project's flaws clearly.

Sir Alan's aide Nick Hewer said: "Ignite has come up with a very strange, very bizarre theme involving Pantsman.

"Incidentally, the children don't think it is at all funny. But those involved in the production think it's hilarious"

In the boardroom, Sir Alan and his other aide Margaret Mountford praised Empire for their team-work.

Margaret said: "I think they worked very well as a team. It really was a good performance."

Their reward was a yoga and laughter therapy session, which was almost as odd as Ignite's idea.

But, even before the result had been confirmed, sparks were flying in the Ignite team.

Lorraine accused Kimberly of giving her "continuous mixed messages" while Sir Alan forced Philip to defend his invention of Pantsman, which he said looked more in place "in the middle of a Harry Enfield show".

And it was clear that the whole project had flabbergasted Sir Alan.

He said: "This is totally garbage. Absolutely garbage.

"How you can honestly believe that you could have an advertising campaign based around pants is beyond my comprehension!"

Kimberly brought back task troublemakers Philip and Lorraine back to the boardroom, allowing Howard, Mona and Noorul (again!) to escape.

Philip showed his disgust at being brought back while quieter members remained under the radar, even to the point of suggesting Kimberly should go for that decision.

In his summary, Sir Alan showed he had little time for Philip's cocksure attitude and compared his forceful nature to a bulldozer.

He also criticised Lorraine for her argumentative attitude but it became obvious that he had reserved his firing for Kimberly.

He said: "You remind me of the final scene from the Wizard Of Oz.

"You look very impressive but, in my opinion, behind the curtain there is nothing there. You're fired."

Unsurprisingly, Kimberly - who styled herself as a "rough, tough creme puff from New York" before the series - disagreed.

She said: "I think that Sir Alan definitely fired the wrong person today and he will see, he will see.

"If Sir Alan does not want me to be his apprentice, I am upset about it but there's nothing I can do about it.

"I'll find something else to do and I'll make the best of that."

With ten candidates left, there is still plenty of work for Sir Alan to do if he wants to find his "diamond in the rough".

And though some satisfaction could finally be had after a respectable performance from one of the teams, it was equally frustrating that some of the lurkers have stayed off the radar again.