The detail that stuck with me about Karishma's story wasn't even the £250k investment. It was finding out that she'd lost a £25,000 shipment of products in a typhoon and that, when she launched her business, she'd checked her bank account and had just £7.42 left with rent due five days later.

That's a genuinely rough start for someone trying to build a skincare brand. I think it also explains why she seemed so determined to make the opportunity count. She wasn't pitching an idea she'd only just thought of for the programme. She already had a business she wanted to grow.

I'm want to see whether the investment helps Kishkin become the bigger brand she wants it to be. Getting Lord Sugar's money is one thing, but building a skincare brand in such a competitive market is a completely different challenge.

Do you think Karishma was the right winner over Pascha, and how far do you reckon Kishkin can realistically go with that investment?

Sometimes I feel like confidence gets candidates further on The Apprentice than actually knowing what they're doing. Some of them can talk their way out of almost anything in the boardroom, even when the task has clearly gone wrong.

I'd honestly have more respect for someone who admits they made a bad decision and explains what they'd do differently next time. If a product doesn't sell or the team wastes its budget, blaming everyone else doesn't exactly show good business sense.

Of course, you need confidence to pitch a business, but being able to take criticism matters just as much.

Do you think Lord Sugar is more likely to keep a confident candidate who defends every decision or someone who admits when they've got it wrong?

Anyone know where I can watch series two?

No one should ever forget this logo!

Dan made it to the final five, and I thought there was something promising in the business he’d built with Young Professionals. But the interviews raised serious questions about the numbers, and Lord Sugar was looking for a business he felt confident investing in. Was his departure justified by what we saw, or did he leave before we really got a fair picture of him?

In the tasks, some of them can barely explain what their own business does, then we are expected to believe they have a serious, investment ready plan. The interviews are probably the only part of The Apprentice where the business plans get properly stripped back and tested.

Nothing makes me cringe deeper into my sofa than watching two candidates stand on a live TV shopping set trying to pitch a useless plastic gadget for 15 minutes straight. Forgetting product specs, dropping items on live air, or total dead silence when the gallery producer tells them they have 3 minutes left to fill. It’s pure unscripted chaos. What’s your favorite live TV selling catastrophe?

This is probably my biggest issue with the show now. You can sometimes tell which candidates are actually good at business and which ones are just very good at avoiding being the person Lord Sugar fires that week. By the time you reach the final, those aren't necessarily the same thing. I'd love to see more weight put on actual business performance rather than who can argue their way out of a boardroom.

If you were forced to enter a reality TV competition based entirely on a random, useless talent or niche obsession you currently have, what would the show be called, and what's your signature winning move?

I can't imagine the show without him, but I do think it's a risk for the BBC to keep it built around one person. At some point they'll need a plan, and I'd rather they think about it now than be caught out.

I'd back a gradual handover, with someone else working alongside him for a series or two. Or do you think the show only works with him, and it should end when he does?

I'm looking for an episode, in my head it was either Karren's first series or certainly one of her early series. All I can remember is they were filming an advert or something like that and the men's team were dithering and talking about what to do and Karren told them off because they were keeping a pregnant woman waiting in the hot sun. I'm guessing she was an actress in their advert and in my memory it was on the deck of a boat or certainly somewhere outside hence the heat. I've googled so many variations of this and I can't find it.

Some of the tasks look like complete chaos from the moment the teams get started. Others actually seem like something you could manage if everyone stayed organised. Which one would you absolutely want to avoid?

@britishmemes

Genuinely curious here. I do love the show, have been watching since like 8-10 seasons ago. And something that always puzzles me is why everyone seems to desperate for Alan’s investment.

Now I’m aware the investment wasn’t always the prize and was changed around season 5/6? Which, I can completely understand, back in the late 2000’s, £250k would’ve probably funded a marketing campaign and ownership of a store/renting of smaller sites.

What I don’t get is why the money hasn’t increased? Like I feel like you’d need 500k for it to be considered a decent investment for what needs to be done to obtain said investment. In addition, regardless of its true or not, many candidates go into the interview process and say “oh my company is worth 3.2 million.” Surely you’re massively devaluing that company by selling half of it off for 250k?

In addition, I think we need to retire Alan soon, a man who made a bunch of computers nobody even remembers and this is also the man that keeps begging Elon Musk for his AI generated TESLA phones.

I do hope to go on the apprentice one day, make it to the interviews to meet the icon that is Claude Littiner and then tell Alan and Curran to either offer me a better deal, or piss off. (Think it’ll be good TV.)