The OPPrentice - Who will win?

Tom is in no way a leader. His passive demeanour in the face of other opinions leaves a hell of a lot to be desired. On the strength of that failing alone, he deserved to be fired several times over.

And yet - and this is admittedly an outside chance - we think that Tom could clinch it, despite his lack of force.

Is leadership actually the stated aim of the programme? Lord Sugar’s looking for a partner, not a leader. There’s already one larger-than-life leader destined for that partnership, and we can’t help thinking two would be a crowd. Tom has all the other business skills required, a proven track record, and, shockingly, is the only one of the lot who appears to have any financial smarts.

As demonstrated by the MyPy ‘dream team’ of Tom and Helen (drawing a hasty veil over the Columbus gaffe), a team led by an able manager who is prepared to delegate the right tasks to the right individuals, and is able to accommodate the quirks of a strongly creative individual, can actually deliver ideas and solutions considerably above and beyond what they could do alone.

If Tom is summarily dismissed without some kind of continuing relationship with Lord S, we may even offer to eat… well, not our hats exactly, but we might perhaps lick a curvy nail file…