The Apprentice final review: Lord Sugar’s decision provides vindication for a series whose integrity is in danger

The phrase “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” can certainly be applied to The Apprentice. Say what you like about BBC1’s besuited business contest, but 14 years on, the series is pulling in more viewers than it has in ages (around the 8 million mark). While this year’s run may have been comprised of more fame-hungry candidates than ever, it’s tough to deny it’s been a vigorously entertaining 12 weeks, thanks in large part to the editing team’s indefatigable efforts and Alan Sugar’s wry one-liners (the damning “you couldn’t give away prosecco at a hen night” being a particular favourite).

It’s Lancashire versus Yorkshire in the big final as Camilla Ainsworth, the self-branded modern-day milk lady, takes on swimwear designer Sian Gabbidon for Sugar’s £250,000 investment. Sian’s been running her company for three years, while business newbie Camilla set up her nut milk kitchen just three months before the process began. Considering Sugar’s willingness to embrace inexperience, though, their duel is by no means a predictable one.

The final task sees the duo challenged with the biggie: launching the business they’re seeking investment in. It’s painful, then, to watch an empowered Sian tell the camera she’s “never failed at anything [she’s] put her heart into” and then be lumbered with a hotchpotch of the series’ already fired candidates. The surprise of every single person when she latches onto the contentious Kurran Pooni during a playground-style team selection process is an episode highlight.

In fact, it’s Pooni’s appearance that imbues this otherwise formulaic final with a sense of fun. His pieces to camera and general interactions are all edited with the usual tongue-in-cheek style usually reserved for the worst of the worst. But this series’s key error was attempting to position Kurran as the butt of the joke, and the finale fortunately turns things on its head as the aspiring actor proves to be rather skilful after directing Sian’s swimwear video to success. That he goes on to compare himself – with no shortage of hubris – to Scorsese and Spielberg is precisely why Kurran will endure as the class of 2018’s most memorable, and misunderstood, candidate.

It’s scandalous how, even at this stage of the competition – with someone’s future so clearly on the line – the egos get in the way. Case in point: Kayode and Tom, who both film promo videos for Camilla’s nut milk brand and lock heads over which she should use. At one stage, it seems as if they’re convinced it’s them who are finalists. Camilla and Sian’s placement in the final is made sweeter knowing they’ve spent the past 12 weeks seeing off competition from cocksure blokes such as these (a thought quite clearly shared by Karren Brady who is smirking every time she appears on camera).

The battle of the north reaches a head in what could go down as one of the most heated final boardrooms The Apprentice has ever seen. In a last-ditch attempt to convince Sugar she’s the one he should choose, Camilla removes the gloves and makes it personal by highlighting Sian’s lack of renown after three years in business. It’s an unexpected blow for Sian, but one that makes her eventual victory all the more satisfying: throughout this run, the Beyoncé of business (her words) was an oasis of professionalism amid a sea of incompetence. Sugar’s decision provides vindication for a series whose integrity is in danger of waning.