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 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 2: Ignite burn bright as Empire implode

The girls’ Ignite team pulled off a fine maiden win of the series after the boys’ Empire team imploded disastrously and made a loss.

Sir Alan asked the teams to provide a corporate catering service to business professionals. Ignite chose Yasmina as team leader while the ludicrously-named Rocky stepped up for Empire.

Having a restaurateur in charge, rather than a sandwich chain owner, seemed to me to leave Ignite in a favourable position for the second week running.

But, unlike week one when they failed to capitalise on their numerical advantage, the girls looked far better organised straightaway in coming up with their Mediterranean food idea.

Empire ended up plumping for a rather vague Olympics 2012 idea with their food representing the five continents of the world and the five Olympic rings.

And they only made it worse when they decided it was a good idea to wear togas to the evening event and to make peanut butter sandwiches!

Poor Country Durham lad Philip was left with the hopeless task of selling to the client at the ridiculous price of £60 per head on Rocky's instructions after a brief conversation with Howard.

Philip had to back down to £15 per head in one of the most cringe-worthy scenes of the series so far - even Philip himself called it "hideous".

Not that Ignite were much better in selling.

Sir Alan's aide Margaret Mountford rubbed her brow as Kate struggled to remember the most basic details about their menu.

And while Empire did not manage to get any lunch orders as compared to the Ignite's two offices, they proved a hit when selling their food on the South Bank to tourists.

But this task was only ever going to go one way even though Ignite's lunch suffered from a lack of variation, had no salad dressing and even contained a hair!

On the evening, Empire wore their tacky togas and covered the tables in a gold sheet, making it look "like a brothel" to Philip who had easily the most awareness.

And Sir Alan's aide Nick Hewer, who followed Empire, said: "Generally speaking, the togas have not gone down very well.

"Some of the older women are more appreciative but the younger ones find it more of a turnoff."

Despite the cheapness of their food, the lack of any chicken in some of the chicken wraps and the serving of some of the largest bruschettas known to man, Ignite at least steered clear of the peanut butter.

Their presentation was better and, unsurprisingly, their kitchen was run with military precision by restaurateur team leader Yasmina.

In all, Ignite made a tidy profit of £651.43 even after their client paid a reduced fee of £500, down from £750, for the evening service.

Empire clearly did not take heed of the girls' over-spending in week one and splurged more than £800.

Much of it went on their horrific presentation, which lost them more money after their client halved the fee to £375 for the evening service.

It meant a loss of £160.76 and so while the girls enjoyed learning how to play polo at Ascot Park, Empire were summoned back to see Sir Alan.

Sir Alan rebuked all of the boys for their failure as Rocky brought back James and Howard to the boardroom.

In the cafe and again in the boardroom, team leader Rocky blamed James for a perceived lack of work-ethic and for having a big mouth.

James gave a passionate defence, thumping the table as he did so, which only served to rile Sir Alan even more.

Rocky, whose youth career at Middlesbrough FC was cut short by arthritis, pleaded for more time to learn from his mistakes, but Sir Alan considered the disastrous outcome - a loss - and fired him.

He said: "Rocky, you're only 21 but one cannot ignore a series of what I call immature mistakes.

"Your career at Middlesbrough was halted. You got taken off the pitch on a stretcher. This time you're off the pitch in a black cab."

In the cab, Rocky said: "I'm going to take it on the chin and make sure that I do very well for myself."