[AUK] The Final (Season 5)

(Note: The season finale of this show has been called "The Final" before and so the brackets are to avoid ambiguity).

TV Programme: The Apprentice (UK)
Season: 5
Episode: 12
Date I watched this episode: 07/06/2009
Time since I last watched this programme: 3 days.
Hired: Yasmina

Well, we're at the end of another year. And the season finale of The Apprentice is always quite gripping, in its own way. This time, we had the same format as ever before (and incidentally Yasmina seemed overly surprised at this - how fake) which was kind of fun, but not very interesting. I've got to say though that this season has been mostly enjoyable. I'd say it's the worst season so far, but it hasn't been awful.

The task: to make a new brand of chocolate. Actually this wasn't particularly exciting, and I think last year's perfume extravaganza was better. Well, maybe they needed to cut costs. Anyway, it feels strange to see only two left, especially when they leave the house in the morning. But, gotta get on with the job at hand.

5 candidates did not return for the final: they are Anita, Maj, Paula, Noorul and Mona. I'm most surprised about Paula actually since I thought she had more to offer. Rocky, on the other hand, who was pretty weak and fired earlier on than Paula, was in the show. He certainly was disheartened when he was last to be picked. Most of the candidates who didn't return, did appear on "You're Hired".

The selection process seemed a bit strange. Kate's first two picks were clearly good choices - namely Ben and Debra. In fact, Debra turned out to be Kate's star player (having come up with the theme, pointed out how rubbish the original name was, and chosen the ingredients for the chocolates). Yasmina, on the other hand, picked Howard (not the exciting personality she seemed to be pushing for on this task) and Lorraine (whom she knows is hard to work with).

In general I felt that Yasmina ran a fairly bad task (admittedly not entirely her fault) which slipped into accuracy. The original idea of chocolates for men (which incidentally was championed by Lorraine "Amazing Instinct" Tighe) was rubbish. They stuck with it for too long, needing two focus groups before relenting. Phil was banging on about it, comparing it to Pants Man (not the best idea), and was generally being a bit of a nutter in this episode (see the choreography scenes). Secondly, the taste of the chocolates was altogether described as being awful, and it was perhaps quite funny that the actors were looking shocked during the advert; generally shocked at how disgusting they were.

Kate ran a very good task and I think, based on this task alone, she deserved to win. She really bred creativity in the brainstorms, and managed to keep Ben under control (easier said than done). She came up with much tastier chocolates than Yasmina, and in general a much more cohesive theme. I wonder whether she was let down by the fact that Yasmina knew her figures off-by-heart whereas she hadn't given them quite so much thought.

I think though there was one key thing which stood out for me and that was the presentation. Yasmina went for the lighting, the dancers, the whole experience which worked really well whereas Kate went for a fairly un-passionate experience with just a presentation. This lack of passion is what's caused me to favour Yasmina over Kate in the past, and from that point of view I think Sir Alan made the right decision.

There isn't much criticism in the final, not so much "fighting their corners", and I think they both came up with very good boxes and adverts to say the least. Alan is careful not to have a go at them too much as he hasn't made the final decision at time of filming. You can see this when they play the clip of Yasmina being hired; she looks a bit fake and not genuinely overwhelmed with joy.

Sir Alan said that this was "the most difficult decision [he has] ever had to make in this boardroom". I think he says something similar every year, and I wonder whether it was quite as hard as the choice between Michelle Dewberry and Ruth Badger. However, I think he made the right choice overall, the right choice for his business.

As for his business, he has hired Yasmina into his AMScreen division, run by his son I think. Lee McQueen also works in this area. It seems a little bit of a letdown, and Yasmina certainly seemed a bit disappointed on the "You're Hired" show. I can't see there being much scope there, but that's for Sir Alan and Yasmina to sort out now.

Overall this has been an okay season but I wonder when looking back whether we will really see the real characters (Paul Torrisi, Tre Azam, Lucinda Ledgerwood, Michael Sophocles, Lee "That's what I'm talking about" McQueen or Ruth Badger). Then again, I felt the same at the time of watching season 4, and I just named three people from that season who stick in my mind, so you never know.