Ahh, the episode in which three (count ’em, THREE) people get fired in one go. There was no task this week, as such, but instead a “gruelling” interview process which saw each candidate being grilled by three top businessmen. I’m never a fan of this task…whilst undoubtedly it’s a great way to test each candidate, it doesn’t really make for great telly. And hey, The Apprentice is a television program, I want to be entertained!

So, nothing particularly interesting from the interviews themselves. Nor the feedback given to Sugar. Lohit was the first to go – unsurprisingly. Nice, but not quite Apprentice material. Tre was also fired for his personality; a bit too temperamental at times. But Tre was fired AFTER Sir Alan had said that Katie was in the final…and this is the controversial part of the episode.

Now, I’m not a Katie fan at all, and certainly wouldn’t have picked her to go into the final if I was Sugar. Genuinely, I  believe that Kristina and Simon are better candidates. But she was one of the people Sir Alan picked, so be it.

But then what happened was rather extraordinary. About to decide on the other finalist, Alan Sugar noticed Katie “didn’t act like someone just chosen to be a finalist”. (I’m slightly paraphrasing there.) Quite caring of Alan, all of a sudden. Katie then decided that she wasn’t 100% sure whether or not she’d be able to uproot herself and her two young kids, as well as her “support network” (family, I presume) from her current home to London. Fair enough, I assume that that’s not a decision to be made lightly. But what I don’t understand is why she had only just come upon this realisation at that point. If she really was someone so driven, someone so capable and suitable for the job, surely this was something to have considered a long time ago. Why be in the show if don’t believe you’re going to be chosen as The Apprentice?

So really, Katie wins all round. She was actually chosen to be a finalist, but she made the choice to turn it down. And now she’s the only one that can truthfully say she could have been The Apprentice, because we will never know for sure what would have happened had she been in the final.

And all this talk of her doing it for publicity, and a way in for a career in media. Hell yes. I don’t doubt that for a second.