The Final Five The Apprentice

Ten weeks ago, 16 of Britain's most ambitious entrepreneurs

arrived in London.

Their aim -

prove themselves worthy of a quarter-million pound investment

and a business partnership with Lord Sugar.

This is an unbelievable opportunity.

Skills were scrutinised...

-Oh, Alex! Oh, my God!

-Jason, will you be quiet?

..Stragglers struck off.

You're fired. You're fired.

I don't want to see your face any more.

You're fired.

Now, just five remain, with everything to play for.

-Three, two, one...

-Action.

-Neil Clough.

-I believe I've got a business plan

that will bring us a fruitful return.

Sometimes you have to do a bit of schmoozing, like.

Luisa Zissman.

I am impatient, but I do make decisions.

-We've now sold 174.

-ALL: Wow!

Francesca MacDuff-Varley.

You give me an advert to do, done, in my time period, in the day.

-That's a nice little sale.

-Leah Totton.

We knew exactly what we were doing. Any decision on location,

where we were selling, was made totally by me.

-So this is a multifunctional chair...

-And Jordan Poulton.

I am the best person in this process.

Just two weeks stand between them and the opportunity of a lifetime.

Tonight, we take a break from the boardroom

and look beyond the bluster...

..to reveal just who are the final five.

From day one, each was convinced they had what it took.

I'm firm, I'm fair, I'm feisty, and I'm very determined.

My motto in life is go hard or go home.

I'm only 25. I've got three businesses.

I turned over a million, it wasn't enough.

Turned over 2 million, that's not enough.

I'm independent, I'm successful, and I know what I'm doing.

When it comes to business, I'm fearless.

Where other people see risk, I see opportunity,

and that means there's no limit to how far I can go.

I'm a proven academic as well as a savvy business mind,

and it's that combination that sets me apart from the rest.

I'm passionate, I'm hard-working, I'm committed,

I've got an ambition to succeed, I'm a born winner.

In five years' time, I'll be sailing around the Caribbean on my yacht,

enjoying the millions that I've made with Lord Sugar.

But Lord Sugar's ten gruelling tasks tested all five to the limit.

-Good morning! ALL:

-Good morning, Sergeant Neil.

32-year-old regional sales manager Neil Clough.

-A bit spicy, oh-ho!

-Confident.

-He's committed business suicide.

He appointed me as another project manager within the team,

-and we went and blew them away.

-Controlling.

All right, I don't want to think about it,

just go with what I'm saying, we're running out of time, yeah?

And ultra-competitive.

I came here with one objective, to win, that's what I'm going to do.

Neil's probably the most competitive person I've ever met.

Do you like the ring of the name? A Bit Of This?

I came up with that, personally.

You know, he is here to win, he is not here to make friends.

From a young age, Neil's ambitious nature was clear

to friends and family.

He was just a mischievous little boy, always into something.

He was loud when he was born, he was loud as a boy,

and he's certainly even louder now.

He grew up in Warrington, Cheshire, as the youngest.

As a child, I'm probably exactly the same as I was now,

very competitive, to the fact where if I got beaten in anything,

I would cry until I could actually have another chance to actually win.

A football fanatic, Neil always hated losing.

I was the school captain for football

and I was captain of the club that I played for as well.

If it didn't have a football behind it, I wasn't really that bothered.

Football was truly his life, rain or shine, every Sunday morning,

we'd be all there on the sideline cheering him along.

And, yes, he was loud at that, too.

After GCSEs, he carried on at school,

spurred on less by studies, more by sport.

There was about six of us that stayed on, we said,

"We'll stay on at school for a year

"so we can actually play in the football tournament,"

because we'd be older than the people that we'd play, so we knew we'd win.

That's how competitive I was. Or am.

A drive to beat others not lost on Neil's current amateur team.

Neil is competitive everywhere he goes.

I think if he was even in a supermarket, with a trolley,

he'd probably be racing the person next to him. He's...

..he's always driving to succeed and be the best he can.

My dad was very competitive,

and I think that's where I probably get it from.

Dad wanted me to become, I feel, a good, good football player.

Got to the point where I was playing semi-professional football,

chasing the dream of becoming a professional,

but unfortunately, I never delivered it.

My dad passed away from cancer when I was 18 years of age,

so, a really, really tough time for me.

He dealt with things that really, a young boy of his age,

18 years old, really shouldn't have had to have dealt with.

The loss of his father would prove a turning point.

When he passed away,

I quickly realised that it was actually him pushing me

to do something, it wasn't really me that wanted to do it.

So, I set upon my business career.

My first kind of thing that I saw after pestering my sister

to give me a job, was I saw a guy actually driving a Porsche,

and the first thing I did was ask my sister, "What's this guy do?

"How do I get one of these things?"

It turns out he was a sales director, made money through sales.

A pound a pint! Just for the last five minutes!

Where else would you get that in London?

With a successful career carved from selling...

I've got 14 years' sales experience,

I've got 14 years of a proven track record.

Hello, nice to meet you.

When it came to reeling in buyers, Neil emerged as the man to beat.

I can actually sell you two of these together for £40.

If you'd like to come through, I'll sort this for you.

Neil's a fantastic salesperson.

Milkshakes, milkshakes, milkshakes.

-He's got bags of confidence.

-Would you like a milkshake?

He could sell ice to Eskimos.

-We've done really well in the sales here, we've sold out.

-Well done!

Neil's a great salesman. He understands the customer.

-It's called the sales orgasm, three yesses.

-Right.

So, you get them to say yes three times,

and you know they like the product.

He goes right for the jugular.

What we hope to gain from today is that you're going to put in

a very, very big order.

He actually knows, not only how to sell, but how to close.

My team sold every bit of stock that we had for that day.

So, I probably should have led the whole task.

Week seven.

A super-sized sales job, and for Neil,

a chance to show how it's done.

A great salesman can sell anything, including camper vans.

The folding camper, which initially we thought wasn't going to be

the best option, is actually the one that's sold the most.

He understood the market, he listened to the market.

All right, are we all agreed, folding camper?

And there he was, he pitched up in an environment

he's never known before, with a product he didn't know.

This is a perfect balance, obviously, between the caravan and the tent.

-Takes five minutes to put it up, it's really...

-Five minutes?

-Yeah.

Five minutes, yeah.

And he managed to bring in the biggest sales

of anyone in this process.

Thank you, sir.

Well, I'm pleased to tell you, Neil,

-cos you look like you've had a sleepless night worrying...

-I have.

..they sold three of the folding campers.

Oh, they were accepted, were they?

Yeah. Making their total £33,650.

Very good. Very, very good indeed.

Three years ago, Neil closed his biggest deal to date

when he married his partner, Catherine.

When I first met Neil, I remember seeing him in a club.

He had like this bleach drip in his hair, and I'm thinking,

"Oooh..." He did stand out from the crowd,

but I remember just thinking, you know, he loved himself.

With the big day perfectly project-managed by Neil.

Neil organised the whole of our wedding.

In fact, the only thing that he let me do was choose my dress.

I think he even had an influence on my hen do, to be honest.

He's that controlling.

From the start, it was clear Neil saw himself as the boss.

Jason, you need to control this as a project manager.

Listen, so, listen.

Jason's made me a leader of a mini-team already,

I think that says a lot about who the real leader is here.

Neil started off very much being a back-seat driver.

Morning. I'm Neil from Endeavour.

He was totally confident, incredibly direct with the other candidates.

You tell me where we're going to go if we don't sell this now.

He wanted to control the process from behind.

If you give me it for five quid a bag, I'll take the lot.

-Whoa, whoa, one second there. That's quite a low price.

-Exactly.

Neil, of course, made an early...

impression, and the impression he gave was that,

"I'm in charge here,"

whether he was project manager or not.

What about something like "A Bit Of This", like a bit of this?

Do you want a bit of this? Do you know what I mean?

That would be the advert, think about the vision.

A forceful guy, a very forceful guy.

We are going with pretty much everything that I'm coming up with.

I'd say behind every good project manager, there's a Neil Clough.

PEOPLE CHANT "GO, NEIL, GO!"

Back home in Cheshire, Neil's self-assured style

has won him an army of fans.

ALL CHANT "GO, NEIL, GO!"

Everybody is 100% behind Neil. He's...

..he's been a great guy all the way through the process

that we've seen so far, he's staying true to himself.

We're Team Clough, you know, we've got a Facebook page,

there's Twitter, there's people in T-shirts.

In the community, there's a lot of people behind him.

We want uncle Neil to win this much.

-BOTH:

-Behind every project manager is a Neil Clough.

Go Team Clough! Go Team Clough! Yes!

It was on the farm shop task that Neil first stepped up

to take the top job.

I don't want any arguing, I'll have the final say on it.

-Can I just say something?

-I don't want to talk about it any more.

Finally, coming from the back seat, he got to drive the car himself.

Push the milkshakes, the highest margin is on the milkshakes,

so just keep turning over the milkshakes.

Uzma, keep moving around, because...

-We're not allowed to go there.

-Just do it.

And his team lost.

And I think he realised, actually,

to be a team leader is much harder than it appears.

His first loss automatically landed him in the firing line.

Comes into the boardroom, overconfident.

I've been the strongest candidate in the first three tasks.

Where was that written? Is that your opinion?

It is my opinion, it is my opinion, and that's what I'm giving, so...

Quickly spotted, I might add, by Alan Sugar.

There's a fine line, you know, between confidence

-and being a bit cocky.

-I do get that.

And do you not feel that you're a bit cocky in thinking that

what you say goes and nothing else, and everybody else's wrong?

No, I don't believe that.

So, it was a very bruising boardroom for Neil.

And I think that at the end of it, it dawned on him,

go quiet, be more careful, don't be so cocky.

From then on, Neil took a more measured approach to the boardroom.

I do say a little prayer before I go into the boardroom every time.

I'm certainly not asking God to let me win,

albeit it would probably be a good thing to do.

But I'm just asking for strength, and just to make sure

that I do the best of my ability when I go in there.

It's worked so far, and I hope that continues.

Task six, a corporate awayday.

Now, as one of the troops, Neil put his bravado to one side.

We tried to come up with a theme we could run throughout the day

with mediaeval, we drew a blank, so we've actually moved to army.

-Oh, no.

-No, that's diabolical!

ALL: Left, right, left, right!

-When project manager Leah struggled, Neil came to the rescue.

-Croquet.

We've got balls, and we're really going to try and utilise

your teamwork skills, communication, and listening skills as well.

-Is that clear? ALL:

-Yes, Sergeant Neil!

He stepped up.

-He galvanised people, he brought the whole thing together.

-Oooh...

ALL CHEER

And he delivered an exceptional motivational speech.

My motivation comes from when I was 18 years of age,

and my dad passed away from cancer.

It kind of made me realise that there's Neil, the arrogant salesman,

very male, dominating character,

but there's also Neil, the human being.

I believe that everybody should always have one key motivation

they are pushing for every single day.

Make sure that you do everything you can to go out and get it.

I have to tell you that I spoke to the client afterwards,

they were very impressed with you, Neil.

-Thank you.

-Very impressed indeed.

Good.

For Clough, it was indeed a game of two halves.

After the "we'll fight them on the beaches" speech,

it all changed for him.

-Three, two, one...

-Action!

In terms of the flavour, still at the same cost,

we can actually add to the flavour of the Caribbean chicken

and make it exactly what you need.

That's something we're willing to do if you want to put the orders in.

They believed Neil when he said he would improve the recipe.

2,500 packs.

Well done, everyone.

He now looks truly... A man to put money on.

-Well done, everyone!

-Thank you!

-I understand we have a doctor in the house, is that right?

-Yes.

Leah Totton.

-Hello, how are you?

-Determined.

Guys, I'm sorry, I'm calling this, I really can't go with schools on this.

-It's history.

-Persuasive.

I've had a look at your bar, there's nothing similar to this, guys.

It really is just jumping out at me.

And academically gifted.

I'm really good with finance, really good with figures,

I can convert the currency really easily.

I adore Leah.

Her strengths are definitely her intellect, she's very quick,

very intelligent, and very, very capable.

You're in charge of thinking about our locations,

so if you start thinking about where we're going to offload the water,

it's going to be about the water.

The one thing we have to know about Leah,

she might be the brightest academically,

but she has the least business experience.

But junior doctor Leah's lack of commercial clout

hasn't held her back.

So, I did identify that, Leah, you'd be quite good

-at leading a sub-team if you're happy with that.

-Yeah.

Right from the starting gun, Leah was an operator.

We've both ascertained you're quite strong in sales.

She was a sub-team manager and sold very, very well,

remember Jaz's appalling leadership.

Task two, got more for her beer than anybody else.

We sold them both at 90 each.

All: Yes!

Task three, oh, miracle of miracles, she shifted 100 Tidey-Sideys.

-I think 100 would be a nice starting point.

-Yes.

Bearing in mind that she's a doctor,

not a profession noted for its pushy sales techniques,

she must have some talent to be able to do that.

Wonderful. OK, guys, thank you very much.

It's been lovely to do business with you.

Born and raised in Northern Ireland,

Leah's academic ability was clear from a young age.

I had a fantastic education.

I went to an amazing school, which is Foyle Londonderry College,

and you know, I really, really blossomed academically there.

Leah is naturally academic.

She has a photographic memory, which is very good to have.

I wish I did.

I think I was really lucky

in that I didn't need to do much preparation at all

and I would get, you know, As, A Stars, across the board.

Leah got the Academic Cup in both GCSE level and A-level

and she also got the Biology Cup.

So, you can imagine how smart she was.

I used to get a lot of stick off my friends for not doing any revision.

I think some of them thought I was actually lying,

but I really, really didn't.

Growing up with Leah, she loved going out,

she was really sociable, and she's such a fun person to be around.

She was always glammed up,

really enjoyed socialising with all her school friends,

and there was never a dull moment with her.

I think I had the best of both worlds, really.

Great social life and great grades.

At 18, straight As launched Leah up to university to study medicine.

I am the first person in my immediate family to go to university.

-I think my parents were really, really proud.

-Typical Leah!

Even at university, she got the top grade, she got a distinction,

which she got a special mention in her graduation,

and we're just so proud of her.

It was just such an amazing day.

Now a qualified doctor, she works in a busy London hospital.

Life as a junior doctor is very tough.

The shifts are long, often 13 hours,

and dealing with frustrated patients, vulnerable patients,

and often very sick patients,

Leah keeps her head, she keeps calm.

For instance, on a night shift, a cardiac arrest patient,

these patients arrive with often very little warning,

and as team leader Leah would be someone I would depend on

to follow commands and act quickly,

and she's impressed me in that setting.

Potatoes, £2 a bag!

I have particularly enjoyed seeing her selling.

I've never seen her do that before and I've been really impressed.

I think they're going to take one. I really do!

Leah, fundamentally, is an academic.

She has a great brain, but she also has a great personality,

and she's found a way to mix those two things together

and produce great sales.

And that's remarkable really, for someone who's never done it before.

Thank you very much.

I'll just write you a wee receipt.

Leah is really good to work with on tasks.

She's a great person to have around.

She's very on top of numbers, very good at sales.

-I think it's ideal for you, guys.

-Yes, please.

-OK. Fantastic!

But, the thing with Leah is

she will only speak when it's necessary to speak,

she won't speak for the sake of speaking, unlike someone like Neil.

Leah can be quiet, but she is definitely not a pushover.

If it's something she feels strongly about

and she thinks they are wrong and she is right,

she will still let you know.

Week five. Dubai.

And in a team facing failure, Leah made her stand.

OK, so we've got, listen, let me divide these sub-teams.

I'll go to the mall with my sub-team.

-Your... Your sub-team?

-Yes, I want to be sub-team leader.

-You'd like to be.

-Yeah, definitely.

I heard that, but I haven't said anything about sub-team leader yet.

I think I'm not a particularly confrontational person,

I am very quiet, you know,

I had been very quiet leading up to the Dubai task.

-Can I just speak to Neil, quickly?

-Pardon?

Can I speak to Neil, quickly?

He can hear what you're saying.

Stop trying to appease Neil, and just focus on the task.

-Was he a good team leader?

-Terrible.

We definitely saw an indication of what Leah had inside of her

when we were in the boardroom.

All you've done the whole thing was complain and be a pessimist.

-You've been no support whatsoever.

-See, see?

Let's talk about facts here.

Because I'm a good judge of character,

and I could see from the offset Zee did not have a clue.

It's almost like infuriation fuels her to speak.

She was so infuriated at Zee, and so angry,

and being told she was the one at fault,

I think really sparked her to fight back

and find that sort of inner Leah

that just wasn't taking any grief from him.

Unfortunately, you proved me right. You didn't have a clue.

So, having cruised, some might argue,

through the first four tasks, we find ourselves in Dubai,

she takes on Zee, fought him hard in the boardroom.

But it was that point, Alan appointed her, of course,

as project manager, going into six,

which was corporate awayday.

Not a great task for me. At all.

This session is on conflict resolution.

Any difficult problems, any conflicts you have...

The main problem we've had today has been lack of focus.

Which she won, but not really.

You won, Leah.

I bet you're wondering how you did that.

And then she thought, "Hmm" and she sank back again

into a sort of flatlining, sort of position.

I personally don't have kids,

I don't know really what's out there on the market for them.

-OK.

-OK, fantastic.

Under the guise of these deadly dinners, making...

Brussels sprouts become zombies' eyeballs.

When ready meals went wrong in week nine,

she found herself in the firing line.

Alex, you're going to bring two people back into this boardroom.

I am only going to bring in Myles.

I asked you to bring two people back into this boardroom.

Then the only one I can bring in would have to be Leah.

Right, OK. I'm glad you brought Leah in,

because I've got a few questions to ask her, not just on this task here,

but also about what you think you've contributed in the last nine weeks?

When Alan said, "So, who are you, exactly?

"You've gone very quiet," and the rest of it,

we heard one of the great speeches from the dock, from the accused.

I don't think you can say that I haven't performed.

And my word, did it take our breath away.

I am a sensible person.

I deliver task after task after task in any role that I'm given.

And I have performed in every single sector that you need me to perform in

to be a business partner.

Suddenly, she came alive.

I am the most reliable, consistent person in this process.

I am the person that will deliver. I am the type of person

you would give a quarter of a million pounds to

and think, "She isn't going to go off and do something crazy with this."

And we knew that we had something coming up fast on the rails.

Leah...

You've spoken up in this last few moments,

see a different person there.

When she was in the boardroom and she was under pressure,

she rolled up our sleeves and she said, "Do you know what?

"Don't discount me. Yes, I'm an academic,

"but I am a businesswoman and I'm going to show it to you

"and I'm going to tell you what I think and why I shouldn't be fired."

And I think we were all really impressed.

Now, Northern Ireland is backing its local girl to make it all the way.

There's such a buzz.

We've got posters up, it's been in the papers,

it's just fantastic, the support she's got.

The newspapers are full of Leah's name and just the school,

everyone's talking about it.

The fact that Leah could be partners with Lord Sugar,

there's a big buzz round Derry, everybody's heard about it,

everybody knows about it, everybody's supporting her.

We're not one bit surprised at Leah at all,

wanting to go into business, because Leah never settles at one thing.

She's always pushing, always trying to achieve,

and she will get there, no matter how.

Go, Leah! Team Leah! Northern Ireland, we're behind you.

-Have a hug!

-I know, I'm delighted!

Next, Luisa Zissman.

Group hug!

-Jordy!

-Energetic.

Good morning, boys. Wake up! Wake up!

Capable.

We're going to have the burgers at £95, the fillet for £24...

From day one, she's delivered.

280 for everything. Great to do business with you.

Maybe we can call it 325...

Can we call it 310?

-Because then we've got... Yeah?

-Let's shake on 310.

-Thank you.

Right from the off, Luisa established herself

as perhaps the strongest businessperson in the process.

I do this every day, I run three businesses, all of which are sales.

No offence, you're a doctor...

How dare you, you cannot possibly say that.

But, she does put people's noses out of joint.

You need to let me speak!

We need pumps, we need a banner. I'm going to draw a banner now.

-OK, you draw the banner, and let me carry on.

-OK, do it then.

But at the end of the day, this is a business task.

And she gets business right on the nail every time.

And some of the others don't.

Week four. Farm shop. And Luisa took her team by the horns.

We're going to have our buffalo meat,

and then we're going to get vegetables, potatoes, and fruit.

Don't worry too much about the jacket potatoes.

Jacket potatoes, epic fail.

Strategy for the last hour is a bag of potatoes, £2.

We paid 38p per kilo, so we're still making profit,

and we're flogging them.

Cheers, everyone! Here's to a first Evolve win, led by me.

ALL: Cheers!

And the caravan show gave Luisa another chance to shine.

I'd love to have this on our stand.

It's great value for money and the quality is so strong.

Of course, business at exhibition centres

is to do with product selection...

It's a box with a lot of oomph.

I feel really confident that me and the team can sell it.

-She picked and fought for the bike.

-We've seen the bike.

We can potentially make a lot of money from them.

And on the day, she sold and sold and sold and sold.

Hi, guys, ever thought about owning an electric bike?

-Do you want to do the deal?

-Yes.

-Perfect.

-I like it.

-Yeah? Deal?

Thank you so much. There you go, thank you so much,

I hope they enjoy it.

To the extent that when the figures were totted up,

her sales eclipsed all the sales of the opposing team, all on her own.

949. Thank you. Thank you, bye.

Amazing.

Yes!

Luisa's forceful approach runs in the family.

My mum is an amazing, amazing role model to me. I love my mum.

I mean, I've been called strong and argumentative in the boardroom,

my mum would eat every single candidate in here for dinner.

And I think she's always instilled in me, "Be very strong."

As a businesswoman, people probably wouldn't initially see

the softer side to her,

and it can come across as being very aggressive,

but I like to call it assertiveness rather than aggression.

Luisa was brought up in Buckinghamshire

with her older brother.

She had a very varied, and I think enjoyable, childhood, actually.

Luisa was very bubbly,

was always dancing around the house with her friends.

My husband and I were both career people.

You know, I certainly wasn't a stay-at-home mum,

so when they finished school, they were on their own.

And sometimes I wouldn't get home till really late,

so they did have to be very independent.

With careers in IT and banking,

Luisa's busy parents were her inspiration.

I used to have meetings on a Friday with my staff at home,

and I think she was intrigued, because we would all sit there

having a meeting, and writing things down

and I think that she used to look through the dining room window

and wonder what we were all doing, and it looked very important to her,

so I think in a way, that could have spurred her on to think,

"I want to be like that when I'm older."

Resourceful from an early age, at 16 Luisa went out to work.

We said, "We will buy you a horse but if we do,

"you will have to pay for his upkeep and his stabling."

That taught me a lot about responsibility, I think,

having to look after him and pay for him and make sure he was kept.

I worked in a supermarket on the check outs, in a pet shop,

in an estate agents, and when I got to 17, I was just like,

"God, this is what I want to do." I love having my own money,

I love the independence and I want more of it.

Hungry for success, Luisa struck out on her own.

I didn't like being employed.

I did not like being told what to do,

especially when I thought I was right and the people I was working for

weren't running their businesses properly, I was like,

"Do you know what, I could do a much better job of this than they can."

She always had her own opinions on how things should be done,

which lends itself to have your own business,

because otherwise you're not going to get on working for a boss.

Today, Luisa has three thriving businesses.

A consumer electronics company, a baking website,

and a cupcake shop.

She's very inspirational.

When she's putting her all in, you're there with her,

and there's been times when we've been here till

ridiculous o'clock at night because neither of us

have noticed the time, because she's just on her train-path of working,

and I'm along with her, like, "Yeah, let's do this."

Alongside her business life,

Luisa is also mum to two-year-old daughter, Dixie.

As a career woman and a mother,

you also suffer from this pull of guilt,

you know, am I spending enough time with my child?

And Luisa is not unlike any other mother in worrying about that,

and that's why she makes sure when she isn't working

that she does spend quality time with Dixie.

And that shows in how happy Dixie is.

Being a mother is the hardest job in the world,

and as a working mum, I think you feel constant guilt.

But I want her to have a lovely life and I want to provide for her.

Week eight.

Jason, we really have to make a decision.

How about, a light purple and, sort of, the grey?

And with the online dating task, up popped Luisa's pushy side.

We have to make a decision and go.

If we spend all day like this, we're going to get absolutely nothing done.

I had the dubious pleasure of following Luisa and Jason

on the dating task.

That was a bumpy old day. He was project manager.

-Make a decision, stick with it, we have to go.

-I want flowers.

Give me a couple of oranges and yellows for flowers.

You just have to make a decision sometimes and go with it, Jason.

And I don't like that, so I want to have a little bit more time.

OK, if you want to go, that'll go.

And what about... Can we have the flowers in really bright yellow?

I accept...

That Jason was a ninny.

-You've just made it look worse.

-Can we try in black and white?

-So it's got a border of black...

-Jason, this is absolutely ridiculous.

Look at what you've just done!

The other one looks like a funeral parlour.

You're giving me a headache.

She hounded the poor boy.

Jason needs to make a decision,

whether he continues to be project manager...

I've never heard anything like this in my life.

I would like to be project manager.

Jason, I think you've lost it.

Job done, Luisa, you're project manager from here on in.

I feel really, really bad, but I took over from Jason to be

project manager because he had no confidence in his own abilities.

He was never going to lead us to victory.

Despite Luisa's best efforts, the team lost.

In the boardroom, she faced the firing line.

Luisa, I...feel that you browbeat this fellow.

You wore him down.

Alan gave Luisa a really stern warning in task eight.

That's what worries me about you.

You know, are you just somebody who doesn't get their own way,

immediately, it's no good.

You're not going to wear me down, I promise you.

And you know what? She listened.

She adapted, and she absolutely understood

that if she wasn't going to be a team player,

-it was over for her.

-Happy? Me, too.

Neil, give me a cuddle!

There's no in-between with me and you, is there?

-No. We love each other or we hate each other!

-A love-hate relationship.

High five.

By week ten, she was beginning to actually operate

as a proper, successful businessperson.

Quantity, quantity, quantity. Stack 'em high, sell it cheap, theory.

And anyway the process is all about learning. It's all about changing.

Sort of an east London vibe. We were thinking of a tweed flat cap.

I think, definitely, I've learned how to work with other people

and how, you know, I can't always get my own way.

What about berets?

-I've seen a lot of people walking round in berets.

-Crochet berets.

I think I've learned so much about other people.

I think I'm going to send you out again.

The hats and the scarves are our best sellers by far.

-We just need to keep rolling, keep shifting.

-Yeah.

Sometimes I do have to take a step back and listen.

-Finally, the girls win!

-Yeah.

Week ten, she's a winner. Two weeks to go, wow. The final furlong.

Not many horses left in this race, you know.

Come on, Leah. We've closed. What a good day.

And in Luisa's hometown of St Albans, she's headline news.

Luisa's very much the name on everyone's lips locally.

You go in the street and people are talking about her progress.

She's sort of fired up St Albans.

As Luisa's local newspaper, we've decided to come out and say,

we're backing you all the way.

Writing about Luisa has kind of become my baby.

I've been covering it every single week, watching the show,

then we get stories up straightaway after it's finished.

I mean, we already knew that she made fantastic cupcakes,

but now she's just doing so well on The Apprentice,

and we're just loving watching her.

I think absolutely Luisa was one of the most successful people

I've ever encountered in local business.

She's 25, she's running three different businesses,

all of which are a success. You know, we want you to win.

So, you go and get them, girl.

We get so many customers coming in every day asking about

-whether she's won or how far she's gone.

-At school, everyone is...

..there's a definite pro-Luisa crowd going on.

I think Luisa does have charm. She's got a feisty charm.

And I think that's really good as a businesswoman.

Luisa is certainly very pretty

and attracted a lot of attention because of that

and maybe she'll work her charm,

but I don't think it will work on Lord Sugar.

He is a very special man.

Get in!

Entertainment entrepreneur Francesca MacDuff-Varley.

Here we go!

Straight talking.

If I'm going down, I'll go down in flames,

but at least I'm decisively in flames.

-Hard-working.

-Half pint or a full pint? Half a pint.

It's £2.50, is that OK?

No-nonsense.

We have to have things in hand by five o'clock, right? Finished.

We are not going to make it to an upholsterer's

to get the product made by that point.

Francesca probably is the fairest person in the group.

She listens more than everyone else and she's very unselfish,

and she never pretends to be something she's not.

We're not trying to reinvent the wheel, it's a box on wheels.

However, you can keep things tidy

and the colour of it could basically go anywhere.

She's very open when she thinks she can do something,

and also very open when she thinks she can't,

and I think that's a really good quality in someone.

-Can I ask, did anyone do chemistry, or anything?

-No.

-Ah.

I love watching Francesca and all her quirky little things

that she does on her face, her expressions,

I think they're brilliant.

Francesca has a...

..a knack of not saying what she wants to say,

but her face says it all.

She just looks and you know what she instantly thinks.

I'm always genuine and I would never say anything to anyone

behind their back that I wouldn't say to their faces.

And you're going to run through the agenda of the day.

Let me just finish, let me just finish.

I'm just true to myself.

So, Francesca's sort of contribution to the process has been

the voice of reason.

-Did we try there?

-ALL: Yes.

I think we need to stop jumping around and try and like...

I feel like it's going a little bit into disarray now.

I just feel like it's gone a bit kamikaze

and a bit crazy at the moment.

So, just clarify for me, what is it we're doing?

I find her...

..uncomplicated.

What you see is what you get, and that's no bad thing these days.

Week four.

-Corn on the cobs.

-20p.

-And how many of those do you have?

-100 in there, I thought.

The job, stock and set up a farm shop.

To get enough produce to actually make the shop look like

it's got something in it, we need to spend £150.

It's too much.

The turning point for me for Francesca was task four.

She is very domineering, Luisa, and she told Francesca,

you will not buy any of the goods that Francesca wanted to buy.

Just sort of use a bit of logic, like,

I only really want you to spend about £40 here.

And you know what, Francesca said,

"Well, I'm not going to listen to that."

-Engage brain, yeah?

-We will do, now we know we have...

-Corn on the cob.

-I can't even speak to her any more.

Luisa, I think, has been my Achilles heel this whole process.

DO you see why we've lost tasks?

I think she's a bit like Marmite. You love her or you hate her.

Genuinely, without this bulk of stuff,

we're going to look like we have an empty shop.

We saw who she was, as a person, as a businesswoman.

-Are you OK?

-Francesca fought her corner.

Five pounds that will be, in total, thank you.

And the team secured its first win.

Amazing feeling.

That win was really, really important for us,

and for me as well, on a personal level,

to sort of know that decisions I'd made were really instrumental.

Thank you very much.

From an early age,

doing things her way made Francesca stand out.

Francesca...

..highly independent as a small girl.

Did not like being told what to do.

I always had my own mind.

I was that annoying child that asked why about everything,

why is that, why is this?

My mum was always working, she worked a lot of hours.

We were never particularly well-off.

I had to work all the time.

I was often out of the house before she was up for school,

and more than often, she would be in bed before I got home.

She just worked really, really hard for everything, really.

I think my mum always wanted me to go to a private school

and get a better education, but we couldn't afford it.

It was outside the classroom that Francesca discovered her first love.

Francesca was a little girl, about four and a half years old,

she couldn't walk in a straight line without falling over,

so, I enrolled her for ballet classes.

And she took to it like a duck to water. She loved it.

She didn't ever want to not be there.

I'd always wanted to be a dancer, since I was a child.

My mum refused to let me do it unless I got straight As,

so I was lucky that I was very academic, so top set for everything.

She would study and study and study. As she got older,

when other children were out playing, Francesca wasn't with them.

She was dancing or doing homework.

Aged 16, despite gaining ten top-notch GCSEs,

Francesca left school to turn her passion into a profession.

I immediately got a contract on a cruise ship to go and dance,

so I had the most amazing couple of years,

travelling the world, being paid to do what I loved, and earning.

I can't have asked for a better a few years.

I felt a little bit lost after I came back from the ships,

because, when you've had just a goal at one point all the time

and then you've done it,

and I was only 21 and I felt like I'd done everything I wanted.

I proved I can dance, I proved I can get my grades at school,

and it kind of really geared me on to, "What am I going to do next?"

And that was really the main decision that made me start my own business.

With just a credit card and a laptop,

Francesca formed her first company.

She was dancing during the day,

she was working in a call centre in the evening,

she hated it, but she did it because knew what she had to do.

I think my business acumen just came from survival instincts,

more than anything.

I didn't study it, I didn't necessarily set off expecting

to do this, but, I needed to pay my rent and I needed to eat and...

..I needed to survive, and the way to survive was make money.

Today, Francesca runs three businesses.

A dance troupe, a lookalike agency, and a studio.

Two, and two! One, two, switch! One, two, switch!

Francesca's definitely worked hard to get where she is.

She started out in a tiny little office with one computer,

one desk, one chair, and now she's almost running an empire.

I've always done what I've known

and made money out of what I know I can do and what my strengths are.

And in the awayday task,

she spotted a chance to play to those strengths.

PM at last. I'm glad that I held out

and I intelligently pulled back from some other tasks.

I am Mrs Corporate.

On the unhappy awayday task,

it fell to Francesca to be project manager.

They lost. There was so much business-speak.

-Sorry, what was the point of this?

-It's all about experiences.

You know, at the end of the day, that's what you guys supply.

It turned into a mush of nothingness, in the end.

So, for you, to have all different experiences

and working out how things are relative to you.

I found it exhausting.

I think the poor people that had to endure the awayday

found it exhausting.

Everyone happy?

It was...awful.

A lot of the comments in here are saying

that these people were trying to take us as mugs.

They told us that they started off some school thing here,

and they said it was... You were blagging them,

constantly telling them what this was all about, but it was a blag.

One of Francesca's most attractive...

..qualities, I guess, is that when she's knocked down,

she gets herself up and dusts herself off, and carries on.

Having survived the awayday, Francesca fought back.

We are doing it today, especially for 99.99.

We've been working very hard. Just a little bit more animated...

-Three, two, one...

-Action.

-Three, two, one...

-Action.

In week nine, dance-crazy Francesca got dumped in the kitchen.

It's exactly like you'd cook a stir-fry, yeah?

Stop, stop. I don't cook stir-fries.

If it sticks, it's ready. There it goes, done. Can you burn chicken?

Yeah.

I'm not afraid to get dirty, I'm not afraid to work hard.

OK, my name is Francesca, I'm from Evolve.

I'm just a doer. If it needs doing, I'll get it done,

and I'll do it to the best of my ability.

One thing Alan has based his whole life on, like me, is hard work.

The ability to do the things that need to be done

when they need to be done, whether you like it or not.

And that actually sums up Francesca.

Fran, go, go, go.

Five. Five, and four of these.

-Do you like this one? No?

-No.

And hometown Leeds is cheering her on.

Francesca's a Yorkshire girl, she's got a bit of spirit

and a bit of attitude and a bit of fight,

so it's good to see Yorkshire girls doing it.

Doing us proud, I think.

-How much do you sell those for?

-Tenner.

-Is that all?

-They look really good.

-Thank you.

I absolutely love Francesca,

because she's so hard-working and she's from Leeds,

so it makes us all really excited and she's just a really nice person.

Me again! Quickly, can I have five of these? There's 100. Thank you!

I think on my feet and I think fast and hopefully that's why I'm here.

They're looking really good now.

We've got a great little system going.

-Finally, business analyst Jordan Poulton.

-Aaah!

-Intelligent.

-1,000 is flavour mix, right?

-Yeah.

-So 2.04ml of orange and 2.04ml of chocolate.

-Yeah, that sounds great.

-Individual.

-Jordan's just putting his sarong on.

-Oh, my God!

-It's not a sarong, it's a kikoi.

And brimming with ideas.

I'd like to make a case for nettles as a flavour,

because I think it's adventurous, I think it's exciting, daring, unusual.

Jordan came into the process armed with his Oxford degree

and I guess identified the fact

that his creativity would carry him through.

That would be his battering ram. He would be thinking outside the box.

I reckon something like buffalo meat.

I think you can get a lot more excitement around a meat

that someone's not tried before, especially if it feels unusual.

Yes, he had some quite good ideas. Buffalo meat being one.

Quality costs money.

Don't be afraid to tell them that quality costs money.

-Altogether, that's £105.

-OK.

I want to change the world and all of my life drive is that

I get a thrill from changing the world in any small way.

There's a really interesting quote by Steve Jobs.

He said, "I want to make a ding in the universe."

And all you need to make is the smallest ding

and then it's a life well lived and that's kind of how I live my life.

Remember, it's not a steak. It's an award-winning buffalo steak.

It's worth a lot more than normal.

Jordan had a globetrotting childhood. The second of three sons.

Being from a military background

has really defined a large part of my life.

My family have moved round quite a bit.

I lived in different countries when I was a child

and then started boarding school from a really young age,

largely because my dad was being sent around to different countries

and it would have been really difficult for us to go with him.

Every Poulton seems to go down one route and that is...

Army, RAF, Navy, police.

I would say it's probably just almost a family tradition.

It's expected, as a Poulton, as you grow up,

that's one of the four choices you make.

I did a training course with the Marines

to try and get a Marine scholarship.

It really wasn't for me at all. I just never fit.

My character just isn't built for the military.

I'm very anti-authoritarian. It never felt right.

So I'm really the black sheep of the family.

I was always a bit of a problem child.

I used to get in a lot of trouble at school.

My teachers were always very frustrated

that I was getting C for effort and A for attainment.

It always wound me up that my teachers expected me to care

when I was doing fine anyway and when I had other things to do

that I thought were more interesting and more important,

like playing sports and making money.

At primary school, Jordan revealed early business flair.

He was very precocious.

Our cat had kittens.

I don't know how he managed it,

but Jordan managed to get a school trip for his playgroup class

to come to our house, look at the kittens,

buy a kitten each for £20 and he'd made himself 160 quid.

It's at that point, you think, well, if that's a story you can tell

about a five-year-old, what's it going to be in the future?

Chalking up three As at A-level, next stop for Jordan,

a top university.

Being at Oxford has been really instrumental in the years since

and really, for all the wrong reasons, I think.

I went there to study Spanish Literature and Philosophy

and I actually spent all my time in the Entrepreneur Society,

helping people start businesses.

I think while Jordan was at Oxford,

he was a lot more focused on entrepreneurial ideas

than his academic work.

When Jordan became president of it, it was his life.

He was up at 5.00am, reading emails on his laptop in bed.

And he would do it until midnight every day,

seven days of the week. He loved it.

I've always known what I wanted to be and that's an entrepreneur.

I get a thrill from turning ideas into businesses

and that was the same at Oxford, as it was throughout my childhood.

Degree in hand, Jordan won a job with a telecommunications giant.

He took the skills that he had

and the knowledge he'd built up from working in the society

at university and quickly transposed them into the workplace

and did really well actually bringing those across.

-First place is Jordan with 19.85.

-Woo!

Jordan is also a high achiever in the boardroom,

with the best record in the process.

Seven victories and just three losses.

Come on! Get in!

I'm actually very proud of the fact that nobody in this process

has decided to take me into the final boardroom

and I think that's testament to the fact

that whatever I'm doing in any team, I am a key asset.

Week three.

If people want to take just 30 seconds each

to kind of explain an idea that they've had.

If you don't have one, let's just keep moving efficiently.

The flat-pack task. Team player Jordan's first chance to lead.

If we say this is a chair,

there'll be a spring release pin you pull out to loosen this part.

Jordan led the team on the folding furniture.

Old Sparky, remember Alex's chair? Piece of genius, I thought.

If I was sitting down there, it's more about the 450,

which means it's about 500mm.

But when it comes to difficult decisions,

how about pitching for instance?

To go to the key retailer. No, you do it.

We're going to have Neil and Myles leading the pitches

at the major retailer and the catalogue chain.

The Foldo gives a solution

to that common problem of people running out of chairs.

Lovely to meet you. Thank you for your time. This is something you can put together in ten minutes.

You were going to win this task on those pitches.

But the two people that I introduced you to

are two massive organisations

that have got the capability of placing very big orders

which could make other orders pale into insignificance.

-Absolutely, Lord Sugar.

-You don't think you needed to be there?

I agree that it would have been good for me to be there,

but I think I put my trust in the guys for their sales

-and I wouldn't have added any value in the sales.

-We'll find out soon.

So he stood back. So what does that mean?

It means he was relying on his PM role to carry him through,

but if it went badly wrong,

then at least he would be excused for failing to make sales.

The online dating task.

And Jordan's hands-off style came unstuck.

Jordan's a great delegator.

And there are some strengths in being able to delegate.

But on the dating task,

I began to question whether he could actually do anything

as opposed to delegate everything.

I think Alex is really strong on the web and tech side of things

and I think you two go really nicely

working with people through the market research.

-He didn't direct the ad.

-Action.

-I had really high hopes for this one.

-I'm not liking this at all.

Totally went wrong. This is wrong.

He didn't pitch it to the client.

We've come up with cufflinks for people who don't have time

for bad dates.

What did he really deliver?

-Jordan, good project manager?

-Yeah.

-Very good.

I've had some feedback that you tend to be the great statesman,

but actually don't like to dirty your hands.

As a manager, I think that enabling the team to function well

and enabling people to shine

and have their opportunity to shine is really important.

If and when you do choose me to be the winner of this process,

then I would have to manage a team of people and I want to show that.

Before that occasion,

I need to satisfy myself that you're not somebody who I would say

kind of cleverly stands back and lets someone else do the work.

Alan challenged him. What can you do? How can you do it?

What kind of person are you? And he stepped up to the plate.

I'm excited to be doing my first pitch. I think it's way overdue.

Lord Sugar's given me grief for it,

so I'm really excited to be able to step up cos I'm really quite good.

The ready meal task, I think it was probably the moment

where I thought, "Wow, Jordan's a real contender."

In this market, you're actually selling to two people.

You're selling to what we call the purchasing manager, so the mum or the dad of the house.

And then secondly the children themselves,

and so we had to work out something that both catered to the parents

and also catered to the children at the same time.

He pitched Deadly Dinners to a retailer so forcefully,

so eloquently, so persuasively.

Well, they did like the product.

They placed 1,000 orders on a trial basis. 1,000 orders.

And that suddenly...

Yeah, Jordan can sell.

Phew! He left it late!

-Bye-bye.

-Bye.

But when he was on his own...

-So £80?

-OK.

-All right, good man. Thank you very much.

-What is he actually doing?

-He's done a crap deal for 25 quid.

..Jordan's judgement looked fragile.

-How much was this?

-£70.

I've got to say, that's disappointing.

Task ten, lost. In the boardroom, the final three for the first time.

How lucky was he!

Because when got there, he began to sort of...well, frankly, fall apart.

Jordan, why should you remain in this process?

I should remain in this process,

because I am the best person in this process.

My business plan is phenomenal. It's genuinely innovative.

What is it?

It's an online platform that allows both hobbyists, normal people,

like the three of us, and brands, to create games for mobiles.

I'm not the software engineer, I'm the strategy, sales, marketing.

It's not me alone. There is another person.

-So there's three of you in this partnership?

-Yes.

How does that all split up?

Obviously, if and when an investment is made,

then those discussions happen, but the honest truth is...

What discussions happen?

Discussions about percentages and how it would split...

Er, no discussion there, mate.

And suddenly, a large question mark rose slowly

from the top of his head and hovered over him.

A big question mark over Jordan.

I have had you here for ten weeks to work out

whether you've got a brain in there.

I have a brain, Lord Sugar, but would you rather I said,

"Here's my idea, I'm going to screw this guy over?"

-That's your problem.

-It's up to me to look after that person.

-Absolutely, that's your problem.

-That risk...

-It's not my problem.

If he's going to go any further,

he's going to have to answer those questions

in a far clearer manner than he has done to date.

If I'm able to convey to Lord Sugar the real strength

of the opportunity that I'm offering,

I will win The Apprentice, but it will be on

whether I can deliver that clear and concise message.

All five, business plans in hand,

now face the full force of Lord Sugar's toughest taskmasters.

We've got five candidates left.

They all have great strengths and they all bring something different.

But right now, it's down to the strength of the business plan.

I deserve to be Lord Sugar's business partner because my business is

genuinely innovative and it will be a market leader.

I'm someone who has performed across the board.

I can brand, I can market, I can pitch, I can sell face-to-face.

And I am the most worthy candidate

and the most worthy winner of this process.

I think I've been the most consistent performer throughout.

I'm really confident in my business plan and I know how to deliver it.

All I need now is Lord Sugar's backing.

I may have started out in this process,

people thinking I'm a bit of a bimbo, I'm a bit ditzy

and I don't really know what I'm talking about,

but I have definitely proved that I do know what I'm talking about.

I am a little bit of an underdog and people need to stand up

and take note.

I truly believe I can win and I truly believe I can work with Lord Sugar.

I know I want this more than all of the rest of them.

Ten tasks down.

Five candidates left.

Two weeks to go.

I think it's wide open.

Good morning.

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