The Apprentice - The Final

After weeks of testing tasks 16 candidates have been fired down to a final two. Dr Leah and Luisa. You’d be forgiven for thinking at the beginning of the show the final may have a distinct male flavour, but as the weeks passed by the girls strengths shined through and their business plans grabbed them the final spots.

Week 1 – Split into the typical boys V girls team, tasked with selling an array of items ranging from Lucky Cats, to bottled water. Jason took charge of the boys team on paper however it was more a battle of who could shout the loudest. The girls team quickly fell apart with squabbling and bitching not forgetting the attempting to sell Lucky Cats in china town. The girls lost and in the boardroom we waved goodbye to Jaz. Not a great start for the women.

Week 2 – Lord Sugar felt the girls needed some male guidance so over moved Tim for the flavoured beer-making task. Egos emerged on the boys team and we developed our dislike for Zee and project manager Kurt became Neil Cloughs puppet. But over on the girls team things went from bad to worse with a number mix-up at the factory and poor Tim having no control over his team, or even his own decisions. The girls team (plus Tim) lost again and it was bye bye Tim.

Week 3 – It was invention time for task 3 with the teams having to design a flat-pack piece of furniture. Count Alex shined with his innovative easy to assemble chair, despite a few sizing errors. The girls attempted to re-invent the box, it had disaster written all over from the start, and what with Uzmas wonderful design skills, it got worse, even their best efforts at pitching couldn’t save them and it was another loss for the girls. In the boardroom Sophie was given her marching orders.

Week 4 – The teams were mixed and had to stock a pop-up farm shop. Kurt was dead set on his milkshake idea raking in the cash and contributed to his teams tunnel vision. Jordan, Luisa and Co decided to take a risk and opted for buffalo meat to draw people in, risky, but it definitely paid off. Winning the task easily. Kurt had to fight his corner in the boardroom but Uzma had been treading on thin ice since the start so she was given the fired finger.

Week 5 – Zees ego reared its over inflated head this week as the remaining candidates jetted off to Dubai to make the ‘here’s a list of stuff, go and buy it’ task even harder. Myles took charge of his team and despite a lengthy wait for a flag things ran fairly smoothly. Leah put herself forward as her teams project manager but was batted down in place of Zee and his ‘expert local’ knowledge. Thanks to a few peoples inability to add up correctly and Zees arrogance it was FINALLY Zee you’re fired!

Week 6 – Back on British shores it was time to get motivated with the task of organising a corporate bonding day. The school theme was touched on by both themes but over-ruled by project manager Leah who was convinced a historical theme was the way forward, however this was soon shot down after meeting their clients and a last minute Arm theme was pieced together by Myles and Neil. Francesca decided to go with the much enthused school theme but failed to be consistent and tie anything into their clients team building requirements. Thanks to Neil saving the day with the theme and an impressive motivational speech they won the task. Rebecca spending a chunk of money on a professional speaker presented her as the boardroom target and her taxi was called.

Week 7 – Caravan selling time. At the start of the task Lord Sugar gave Jason a warning, he had to do well, and do well he did! Up against Neil and a few patronising words it didn’t look like a task suited to Jason but he was a revelation, Jasons easy and slightly odd sales patter went down well with the Caravan crowd and he made his teams first big sale. Score. On the other team despite Kurts extensive customer research (looking who was driving caravans as they drove to their destination) they picked a product completely wrong for the target market. Myles normally could sell snow to an Eskimo but even he couldn’t tempt a sale, throughout Kurt never looks interested and after his team lost was fired. However it was double firing time and we waved goodbye to Natalie after she failed to shine.

Week 8 – A first in the history of The Apprentice this week as Jason stepped down (removed) as project manager half way through the dating website task, to be replaced by Luisa. After Jasons previous outstanding week this was a real downfall for him, unable to make fast decisions and cope with Luisa pushing him to do better it showed that even though he’s a very likeable guy, this process just wasn’t for him. Over on the other team our eyes will never be able to un-see Alex as Herbert, even so, the idea was original and the advert was very well produced and they went on to win. Boardroom time and there was only one way this was ever going to go, bye bye Jason.

Week 9 – 7 were soon to become 6 as the candidates were tasked with creating a microwave meal. Alex took charge of his team and soon conjured his own idea based around the Welsh word for microwave (it wasn’t all that bad) Myles was set on creating a brand and eventually pushed Alex into backing his ‘deadly dinners’ idea. Big Mistake. Over on the other team it was hard to tell who was projected manager with both Neil and Luisa forming into a business juggernaut ploughing on in perfect sync, poor Francesca, the self-confessed cooking novice was sent to create her team food fusion which unfortunately turned out to be the only real weak point in their product. Luckily for Francesca Alex and his deadly diners was a terrible idea. Myles putting his first real foot wrong in the process escaped and we waved goodbye to Count Alex.

Week 10 – Smell what sells was the motto for this weeks task, candidates had a small budget to fill a market stall of products, notice what their cash cow was and reinvest profits. The girls went for fashion and were off to a great start with Luisa in charge, recognising their best sellers ready for day 2, a pop up shop in Camden. The boys eventually decided on home ware and decided higher ticket items were the way forward, it wasn’t. With a limited variety of products they struggled to pick out a best seller making day 2 more trial and error. In a complete reversal from week 1 the girls stormed this task with Luisa showing real leadership qualities. Unfortunately it was time to say bye the Myles and his muscles (we didn’t agree).

Week 11 – The infamously dreaded interview week. This week rarely every goes well for any candidate, especially with Claude to face, however both Leah and Luisa really shined with Francesca also holding own. The boys however didn’t do so well, it wasn’t exactly a disaster for Neil, the consensus was he’s great, his idea wasn’t. Then there was Jordan (not entirely sure how he get this far) he, put mildly, had an horrendous time, the revelation that he didn’t even own the business he was proposing Lord Sugar take a percentage or as well as this secret other business partner didn’t go down well and Claude terminated the interview. No surprise Jordan was the first to be fired, followed by Neil (we always assumed he would make the final, damn that business plan) and finally Francesca. Then there were two.

Leah and Luisa, both commended for their original business plans, which had real prospects of making money. But who will walk away with a slip from lord Sugars checkbook?

From the beginning we thought Leah was in with a real chance, she remained calm under pressure and stuck to her guns, however there were a few blips half way through and we didn’t see a great deal from her in a few tasks. Leah’s business plan impressed everyone, with her enviable margins and expert knowledge, however Lord Sugar had doubts over the morals surrounding the cosmetic surgery industry.

We won’t lie, we weren’t huge fans of Luisa in the early stages, she seemed bitchy and abrasive but we have been proved wrong. Just over halfway into the process Luisa began to shine, making task winning decisions and proving she can harmoniously lead a team to success. Her business plan takes advantage of a gap in the market and much like Leah she has real knowledge of the industry,

It’s all going to come down to this final week. With barely anything separating them we can’t call it!

Tune in to BBC1 Tomorrow (Wednesday) 8pm.