The Apprentice - No More Gentleman James

So gentleman James got the boot last night from a very reluctant Sralan (you can always tell the ones he really likes) and it will be an all-female final between Yasmina and Kate.

There is no doubt that James was the star of the show and all the girls with the exception of Robotic Kate had a tear in their eye when he left the table. Sralan was shrewd to keep him in right up until the end as he made great TV but to be honest you could tell that he really liked him and was hoping he was a serious contender.

Unfortunately the interviews demonstrated very quickly last night that James was not at the races. Claude queried him on his written claim that he could bring ‘ignorance to the table’. I wanted to stand out he explained. By being a prat? retorted Claude. In James’s defence, Claude did say that the second half of his interview focussed on his career to date and that James demonstrated that he is not completely without aspiration. He showed last night that when he cannot perform (as he had been doing for ten weeks) that he struggles and at times he looked shell-shocked by the experience. However he will no doubt be the most remembered of this year’s candidates.

Lorraine was the other obvious one to get the boot last night after the interviews. It was clear she was punching above her weight for some weeks and last night she made the ultimate mistake by lying on her CV regarding the duration of her latest job. Again she looked a bit gob-smacked by the experience and also rather flaky when she starting harping on yet again about her amazing intuition and her ability to read minds. Ya right! As is always the case with candidates she came across very well on the You’re Fired programme and was a hit with Jo Brand who complimented her on representing the ordinary woman.

Kate was obviously going to make the final so Sralan’s real choice last night was between Debra and Yasmina and I felt, despite him not being a fan of Debra’s personality, that he would go for her rather than Yasmina. Wrong! Yasmina got his vote despite his concerns over her business. Again Debra acquitted herself very well on You’re Fired and demonstrated that she has learned from the experience. I had forgotten how young she was which might explain some of her behaviour.

So who’s going to get the job on Sunday night? Kate has barely put a foot wrong all series but for me her turning on poor old Phil in the boardroom displayed her ruthlessness and she was the only one indifferent to James’s departure so my money’s on Yasmina!

Bree Treacy