Right Kristina you've done The Apprentice how about persuading Sir Richard Branson to put on another series of  "The Rebel Billionaire" which you could go into and win!

But seriously, I'd be surprised if Richard Branson wasn't deciding whether to offer her a job. After all it's rare that you get to see a potential employee put through their paces so you can evaluate them at your leisure. And one that almost everyone had tipped to win.

Plus, and I'm sure this will appeal to him as the ultimate PR animal, if he asks Kristina to come and see him for a chat that's news!

And as for Katie Hopkins...

Hopefully she's stopped talking about herself as a pantomime villain now and recognised that she's shot herself in the foot with the way she's behaved.  Sir Alan reckoned she was unemployable. I don't actually think that's the case. It depends on how she sorts herself out.

In Katie's case I'd say she's given the word articulate a bad name because she can talk smoothly about all manner of things - some of which she seems to think up and react to on the spur of the moment, rather like Simon Ambrose!

Anyway The Apprentice is pretty much over. I'll keep a weather eye on Simon and Tre (a good double act name), Kristina and possibly Katie and let you know anything I find that seems interesting.

After 12 weeks Sir Alan finally made up his mind.

Rather than polishing a tried and true older apprentice he went for the one who claimed he would be malleable because he was "not fully formed."

So Simon Ambrose becomes the third apprentice and Kristina Grimes grits her teeth, gets her hair done and smiles during the "You've Been Hired" programme.

Interestingly Katie Hopkins was in the audience at "You've Been Hired"  and Sir Alan suggested that she hadn't needed to resort to the tactics she did. If she'd wanted to get the job with Sir Alan I'd agree.

Anyway, the point is that Simon who has not demonstrated very much ability at anything except break dancing and, according to Tre, having a photographic memory gets the job.

Well done Sir Alan for popping Simon's belief that he's a good leader - no, I think not. Maybe in time, we'll see.

In the meantime I've got 38 weeks until the next Apprentice. So I'm looking forward to Tycoon on ITV with Peter Jones starting on the 19th June.

Yesterday I was talking with my brother Roddy about The Apprentice and he said that he "hated it with a passion." He believes it just doesn't reflect business.

As I said to him and others who commented in a similar vein, "it's entertainment, it's not business it's show business."

What I would also say is that Sir Alan makes it clear that "it's the job interview from hell." That's all it is, so it's rather like candidates going to an employer and taking tests to see whether they'll fit with the business.

So anyone who goes on this TV interview is effectively being interviewed by Sir Alan and a rather large number of other companies around the UK.

If you're good or even reasonable you become famous and as I said after the last series people like to work with famous people. It makes life slightly more interesting doesn't it?

Why else do you think Michelle Dewberry and The Badger were able to set up management consultancies and get work so easily? Why do you think Jo Cameron, the one we all thought was as mad as a box of frogs, could start up a HR consultancy and on and on...

 So if you'd like to open your horizons The Apprentice is the programme to go for. Apply now and let me know if you get accepted. I'll be rooting for you next year!

The BBC have really been out scouring their Apprentice archives to capitalise on this years Apprentice success.

Last Sunday, just before this season's final we had "The Apprentice: Why I Fired Them".

This was Sir Alan explaining his reasoning behind each firing. Some of which we'd already heard as voice overs when the candidates were fired.

That said it was intriguing and we got to hear his opinion on each candidate and what they should have been aiming for when they were running each task.

Interestingly enough whilst Sir Alan agreed that Katie wasn't very nice he also said that he didn't always employ nice people in his organisation.

Katie Comes Unstuck

I understand that Katie has been fired by the Met Office (why they need a global branding consultant baffled me anyway). Of course with Katie's exposure (as she planned) she can still go for her own global branding consultancy selling The Emperor's New Clothes or even back to the roots with a Management Consultancy to tell everyone else how to run their business.

Tre Fired At Last!

DigitalSpy has an interview  with Tre Azam and Lohit Kalburgi after they were fired.

Apparently Tre wanted to be fired because part way through the competition he realised that he didn't want to work for Sir Alan. Nice one Tre.

He also said that he did really like Simon but discovered he was two faced after watching week 11 and and that he was using hindsight to make himself look good. Which I think is actually a very astute comment.

I've already noted that Simon waffles in the boardroom until he can find some ammunition to throw at other people.

He also said that Simon had a photographic memory which should have helped him and his teams immensely.

Lohit's interview came across as being smug and boring.

Who Gets To Win The Apprentice?

We're left with Simon Ambrose and Kristina Grimes.

Their final task involves Sir Alan inviting previously fired candidates to work for one of them.

And remember some of the people who were fired needed some managing.

Having seen Simon as a project manager I don't believe he can bring his team together to win the day.

Also, previously Tre had supported, Simon but if Tre works for Simon I'd be surprised if Tre does very much to help someone he's called a "bit of a pr**k."

As Tre noted Simon is a "scatterbrain" and "logic and commonsense evade him a little bit."

Yes, I think we've seen that side of him.

Kristina is driven, she's no ties to hold her back and everyone says she's very loyal. Plus she's actually proven to be a reasonably competent project manager.

If it was me choosing I'd be tempted by Simon because he has potential that he's wasting. But then I'd wake up and realise that if he had potential why isn't he already using it?

And I'd hire Kristina.

Tim Campbell won the first series of Sir Alan Sugar's Apprentice. He wasn't the favourite to win because like Lohit he was "too nice". Well nice doesn't have to be boring does it?

I found this interesting video at a great short film site of him telling exactly how the Apprentice producers wanted him to act. He then also speaks about how he acted.

Put it this way - it's different to Katie Hopkins. Speaking of Katie... According to an article in last Sunday's News Of The World she thinks that the winner (ie her) of the Apprentice is not going to win it. Well the news is the winner is the person who Sir Alan hires. And Katie, here's some news for you - it ain't you. In the meantime check out Tim's video.

Check The Mirror for a story about how Katie has always wanted fame.

Certainly she appears to be keeping tight-lipped at the moment as the refused to do an interview with with another blog. One that ran interviews with all the other fired candidates.

Like I said, expect a new company announcement, a book serialisation of her time on the Apprentice and one on "How To Brand Globally."

I wonder how much Sir Alan's faith in human nature has been shaken?"

The final point the Mirror's Kate Jackson makes is:

Katie was yesterday unavailable for comment, with her representatives saying: "Katie is likely to sell her story to someone and hence won't be commenting."

After the interview round in week 11 Katie showed her true colours. She rabbited on about how she was going to move nearer to London. How her parents would probably fit in nicely by moving to be near to her and her sister to offer her support for her children. How she was committed... and on and on.

Then a few minutes later she realised that she'd just spouted a load of bullshit and didn't know whether her parents would move as she'd said. If they didn't she couldn't go anywhere for Sir Alan at the drop of a hat.

This really begs the question - why was she even in The Apprentice without resolving these issues first?

As she's told us she's the cleverest clogs in the whole wide world so yah boo sucks, she would have discussed the issuing of moving closer to London with her partner, her parents and any other of her "supporters."

So that means there are 2 possibilities:

1. she just flies by the seat of her pants, bull shitting all the time and doesn't consider the consequences of what she does, and therefore would be completely unsuitable for running any part of Sir Alan's business anyway
2. she planned it so that she would become famous to open her own business

Personally I think she wanted to become famous. Obviously that improves her brand image. I mean gosh she'll be able to start her own branding consultancy earning more than she could for Sir Alan.

What leads me to that thought?

For a clever person she's made some clearly outrageous statements that she must knew would be televised. She's become one of the best known of the candidates because of that, her back stabbing and flirting.

All I can say is watch out for an announcement around next week as The Apprentice concludes (to maximise publicity) as Katie tells the world she's formed her own global branding consultancy.

We're down to the final 5 candidates for a job with Sir Alan.

They are, in no particular order:

• Simon Ambrose
• Tre Azam
• Katie Hopkins
• Kristina Grimes
• Lohit Kalburgi

Let's do a reality check of who I would look at for the final. Will they be the same two as Sir Alan? Who knows...because the clever BBC editors are just giving us enough information so we form the opinions they probably want us to have.

Simon Ambrose

Simon is by all accounts very clever.

My thought is that he may be very clever but if his QVC showing is anything to go by he doesn't appear to think about what he does. For example:

• He chose a folding wheelchair to sell on QVC - why?  He needed more high volume, mid to high value items
• He didn't direct his team when they were on camera - which is one reason why they sold very little and looked so clueless
• He looked (as Sir Alan said) a "right pillock" because he was screwing the trampoline leg right in front of his groin so it looked very "odd"

Tre Azam

Tre appears to have managed to keep his temper in check more lately.  However, he does appear to sulk when things aren't going his way.

In week 9 ( selling imported products) he was on the losing team and as Sir Alan said "cocked it up royal." He's definitely a doer. However, that seems to be at the expense of very much planning. So it looks to me as though you could point him  at a task, tell him clearly what you required and he would do it

Tre was the project manager that week and made some very strange product choices. Particularly the air filter that seemed to give people who came close to it a shock.

He's also spent his time moaning about decisions when he's not project manager rather than getting on doing what he's been told. That despite being on the winning side the most times.

Katie Hopkins

Katie, Katie, the girl we all love to gasp in wonderment at as she outlines how people that rub her up the wrong way should be killed.

Katie - the flirt, personally I'd run a million miles before I got involved with her flirting, ugh!

Katie - the two-faced silent assassin - working on people to get them to point the finger at anyone else but her

Katie - the below the belt fighter. She took Adam on and made it seem as though he was a borderline alcoholic - when she drinks wine too

Katie - the global branding consultant who doesn't seem to understand branding or marketing

Personally I wouldn't trust Katie as fat as I could throw her. She's a complete snob which must mean she's making negative judgements about mass markets. And mass markets are those that Sir Alan is selling into.

Why is Katie going for this job if she's already a "global branding consultant" earning £90,000? She doesn't need the money, she thinks she's cleverer than almost anyone else in the world.

Kristina Grimes

Kristina has been very ambitious and aggressive in trying to become The Apprentice. She's resorted to underhand tactics to help her win - for example selling sweets to children at London Zoo so that parents have to cough up or risk a scene with their children.

She's also made sure that she's stood out at the expense of her team - as witnessed by her appalling presentation of the steam cleaner on the shopping channel task in week 10.

Lohit Kalburgi

Yay Lohit, level headed, nice, maybe too nice...

Lohit has quietly got on with the job all the way through this series. He sold when required, project managed when required and has kept completely calm at all times. Sometimes though he appears to lack any passion which paints him as bit of a grey man. And I suspect Sir Alan doesn't want a grey man on his payroll, he wants a mover and shaker.

The Final Two Prediction

The two people I'd take into the final task are Kristina and Tre. The reasons I exclude the others are:

• Lohit - too nice, not demonstrated any assertiveness
• Katie - back stabbing snob who thinks (wrongly) she's cleverer than the rest of the candidates and Sir Alan. Sir Alan wants shrewd, not clever!
• Simon - he lies, he talks BS and blathers

Tre has improved over the weeks and Kristina had been a steady performer. Either could probably do a reasonable job for Sir Alan.

 And so

to week 10's task...

This time the teams had to select a bunch of products and sell them on the QVC channel on TV.  

The teams split so they each had two people presenting and one person producing and then the person producing did the selling while the team's couple did the producing.

Kristina Grimes was the team manager for Stealth with The Silent Assassin (Katie Hopkins) and Mr Who? (Lohit Kalburgi). Eclipse was managed by Simon Ambrose (The Blatherer) and contained Naomi Lay (Miss Bland) and Tre Azam (Motormouth).

The whole point of this exercise was to demonstrate street smarts when it came to choosing their products for their advertising slots. And for an extra twist the couple and the singleton in each team had to sell products found by the other part of their team.

The Rubbish Products That Were Chosen

The products for Stealth were:

• Slimming corsets (Kristina)
• Chocolate fountain (Kristina) 
• Plastic footspa (Lohit and Katie)
• Steam cleaner (Lohit and Katie)

Eclipse's products were:

• trampoline (sold by Simon)
• Decoupage stickers (sold by Simon)
• Folding wheelchair (sold by Naomi and Tre)
• Leg hair remover (sold by Naomi and Tre)

Does Strategy Matter With The Apprentice?

And of course strategy...

Does anyone in The Apprentice understand the concept of sitting back and thinking for 5 minutes to get a much more effective bang for their buck?

And I don't mean Katie Hopkins laughable attempt to create a person that they want to sell to: Mavis a big-bosomed loser who has nothing to do but watch day time telly.  I hate to use the word snob but I really do think that Katie has a very superior view that anyone who doesn't move in her circles is the lowest of the low. Like I've said before I don't believe she wants a job with Sir Alan - after all he's only a minor multi-millionaire within the view of a global branding consultant.

Why didn't anyone ask QVC what their best selling lines were and also what products were best suited to total beginners? I suppose the problem then becomes that the candidates look as though they don't know everything!

Also choosing products that were difficult to sell:

• Electrical products - risk of not working - steam cleaner didn't work did it and was fiddly to set up
• Specialist products - if they don't know the market don't choose them - Decoupage stickers because they're usually part of a card making kit
• Risky products - as Tre said who's got £200 in their pocket and are simply waiting to buy a wheel chair?

The Winner Of The Worst Producer

The worst producer by a huge margin was Simon.

During training Simon had told Tre to talk about a red rug, so Tre talked about a different colour. The producer reminded Simon that he'd told Tre to talk about the red rug so Simon asked Tre to talk about the brown rug. Simon when you're producing you're not visible to the audience so there's no need for stage fright.

Simon didn't so much as not produce he basically blathered and didn't speak and looked like a rabbit caught in car headlights. I was surprised the QVC producer didn't just pull his team off their slot because he seemed incapable of helping his team. Unless of course that was his game plan. To leave Tre and Naomi without any useful information to impart to the audience and therefore not provide any benefits and so not to sell anything and therefore to be prime candidates to leave.

If the task had been to highlight the candidates ability to pull a team together Simon didn't just fail he failed "big style."

The Winner Of The Worst Presenter

Everyone except Naomi and Tre and to a lesser extent Lohit were cringe inducing.

Katie selling to Mavis was appalling. But at least she did what she was told to highlight the benefits of the products as Kristina told her.

I felt for Lohit as he tried to get included in the selling for ladies foundation garments. Trust me on this, men aren't interested in these types of garments and I suspect women don't want men to be.

Kristina went through her presentation of a chocolate fountain and came completely apart at the seams (including searing) as the steam cleaner proved more difficult to set-up or use than she realised.  She kept saying Ok and Alright - which is something her producer (Naomi and Tre) should have picked up on during training and it meant we all started counting the number of times she said each one (OK > 12, Alright >3, then I lost the will to live).

But Simon wins this award hands-down. If anyone had been tasked with doing a bad a presentation as possible Simon would have won. Firstly he just didn't know what one earth the decoupage was about, what it was for or its benefits. Clueless springs to mind. Then once he'd given up on that he went to the trampoline and proceeded to really muck that sale up too. He just looked too manic and as for screwing in the trampoline legs right in front of his groin area - laugh I nearly bust a button!

So Who Got Fired?

Simon got fired right?

Well actually, no.

In fact Naomi got fired for choosing the stupidest products - decoupage stickers and the trampoline. An interesting one that because Tre had mildly suggested that trampolines had had their day but didn't argue further when Naomi extolled their benefits.

After all the task had been about choosing the right product to sell.

Personally I'd argue that the only product that was the right choice for the candidates was the chocolate fountain. Everything else was aimed at a very limited market:

• Slimming corsets - people who are fat but want to appear slimmer 
• Chocolate fountain - still popular with people
• Plastic footspa - everyone appears to own one and not use it - limited appeal
• Steam cleaner - the number of people who want to steam their floor coverings must be limited
• trampoline - how many people really want to exercise at home with this?
• Decoupage stickers - these are usually sold to help people make birthday and special occasion cards - a small market
• Folding wheelchair - people who need a wheelchair usually have one
• Leg hair remover - It looked like an orbital sander and there was no clear benefits compared to wax, cream or shaving

And the nub of it all was that the product features were dutifully trotted out but no major benefit of owning any of them was given.

As an example: The Wheelchair

As Sir Alan said, "what brain-dead chose that?" But the team found a pocket at the back of the chair and said what a useful pocket it was for...something. Oh I know a mobile phone. No, that's not a benefit. Benefits of a portable wheelchair are many, here's 3 off the top of my head:

• It's lightweight so one person can easily fold it up and put it in a car without needing anyone else around
• When you arrive home it can be easily stored folded up so it doesn't get in the way
• If you've visitors who need a wheelchair it's easy to keep handy for taking them into the garden or to nearby shops

As soon as Sir Alan gave Simon an opportunity to blame the rest of the team he was on it like a ton of bricks. Naomi was flabbergasted and Tre kept fairly quiet as Simon laid into their lack of support - ammunition provided by Sir Alan's view of proceedings.

So Why Didn't Sir Alan Fire Simon?

The reason that Sir Alan didn't fire Simon was because he didn't see what a chump he was as a producer and team leader. You could see Tre didn't want to make too much of an issue of Simon's massive shortcomings and Naomi allowed Simon to get away with being a bad producer, choosing one of the worst products - the leg hair remover - and presenting the products really badly.

He'd also been reminded that Naomi had mucked up being a project manager on an earlier task.

As he said he had to look at who he thought he could work with and Naomi just didn't look as though she could. So she had to go. Unfair if you simply look at the task but fair if you look at the aim of the whole show - an Apprentice to work with Sir Alan.

PS: The Apprentice Camel Stays On

Adrian Childs in the "You've Been Fired" program after The Apprentice was searching for a look-alike animal to represent Katie Hopkins. He managed to produce a camel's face and compared it to Katies. I laughed...

It seemed so perfect. What do you think?