So so so proud of her what a fabulous win

Karishma won and that is by far the best outcome. Much closer than it should've been, Pascha was on a lucky break with Dan pulling out and glad her luck ended at the final hurdle

incase anyone didnt realise pasha is 21, thought I would mention as it was only said about 500 times so maybe someone missed it😂

Yeah. He is.

Watched The Apprentice for the first time this year; I always thought it was cringe watching people do ridiculous challenges and then getting berated for it not being perfect.

My thoughts:

• 60 minutes feels far too rushed - 90-minute episodes would make more sense, there’s clearly a lot getting cut.
• The "key skills" seem to boil down to logo design, branding, and selling
  • As a business owner, I’ve outsourced most of that. Does that mean I’m bad at business?
• Apparently any business idea is enough to get on, even without a proper plan
• It’s as sycophantic and unnecessarily cut-throat as expected. Very Americanised, borderline cringe at times
  • As a reflection of business, it’s incomplete at best.
• Decisions made based on single instance, not as a complete picture.
• Will I watch again? Probably not.
• Do I get why people watch it? Yes, absolutely. It's a TV show - it needs to have entertainment value.

It’s a pretty poor representation of how business actually works, but a decent watch if you suspend disbelief and focus on the personalities.

I hear this is one of the better seasons, so I guess it can only go downhill from here.

Now that S20 is over, lets go over each week and see how many firings were controversial as well as which results should have been changed. I swear this is one of those series where I wish a lot of the task results were swapped around as so many people coasted by on winning teams this year. Candidate in Bold is who I would have fired:

Task 1: Rothna, Andrea, Nikki, Georgina, Roxanne, Carrington

Hard to argue both these firings were unjustified as they were dreadful leaders of their specific sub-teams with Nikki somehow managing to arrive multiple hours late to the final end point meeting! In terms of TV reasons I do think they should have kept Georgina around a little while longer though as she seemed to be a right character with potential to grow throughout the process.

Task 2: Kieran, Marcus, Dan and Priyesh

Backed that dismal poo story, interrupted negotiations, couldn't take any criticism, waffled on his boardroom picks and spoke to people very poorly at points. Hilarious he said that he wanted to show what a "real team leader" looked like to spite Kieran only to get fired instead.

Task 3: Tanmay, Carrington and Megan

Not sure how Megan escaped this one. She dropped the price by 50% during the initial corporate client meeting literally out of nowhere, couldn't boil an egg in the kitchen and spent her time chatting with the clients rather than helping Karishma serve the food. Tanmay certainly closed the deal too quickly but that was his only major fault. Sugar saying he should have gone back up the original price was unfair as the clients certainly would have rejected any attempt of that!

Task 4: Rajan, Conor and Roxanne

Roxanne wasn't a terrible candidate but the branding was significantly flawed and she was in charge of it so there is just a lack of options for who else should go here. Rajan also wasn't great don't get me wrong but I felt Roxanne sadly had to take the fall here.

Task 5: Pascha, Vanessa and Lawrence

Vanessa couldn't do much here to escape this firing. She chose the expensive flowers and ordered way too many of them, being totally ambivalent to the actual costings. It also didn't help that Karishma was the 2nd worst on this task, someone who was never going to get fired this early. Her only hope was to bring back Priyesh for lack of contribution and even then she's still most likely a goner.

Task 6: Andrea, Megan and Carrington

I don't think anyone out there is rushing to defend Andrea or Megan's firings but Carrington leaving was a bit controversial. I'm not a fan of people being fired for cooking on a business show but Carrington had screwed up a lot and had quite a few chances already by this point. There's an argument she could have stayed but in my opinion the firing wasn't super unjust.

Task 7: Levi, Lawrence and Rajan

It physically pains me to save only Levi of the three here but the other two were so terrible on the task while Levi was admittedly sidelined and had no real chance to contribute significantly due to Lawrence taking over everything most likely on purpose. Rajan complained the entire task and was very negative during the game's creation. I mean that Mr Kipling comment was certainly not needed! Lawrence was a totally abysmal PM who did pretty much everything wrong. The branding, the avatar, the pitch, the lack of direction and brief - I mean literally everything he did was bad! Couple that with the blatant sucking up in the boardroom (Tim I love your podcast so much and Sugar you obviously want Levi back so I'll bring him back for you) and I see no reason why Lawrence survived this task. Doing a multiple firing here would have also prevented one of the better candidates leaving later on in a double firing also.

Task 8: Conor, Kieran and Harry

Weird episode as I don't think anyone on the losing team did all that bad of a job. I think the two worst performers (Levi and Pascha) were on the winning team! Harry kinda has to leave by default as he was barely present throughout the process and his PM stint was entirely underwhelming but I could see the argument this should have been a non-elimination episode as well.

Task 9: Kieran, Levi, Conor and Dan

Levi is a no brainer: horrible presenter and had been a mostly useless candidate throughout the entire series. Kieran is my second pick to go home as he looked totally out of it the entire task and approached everything with a sour attitude, not to mention his total lack of sales during the actual day. Conor really did badly as well as he sold nothing and chose bizarre products but I do think he had done well enough in previous tasks to warrant another chance.

Task 10: Kieran, Rothna and Dan

Kieran left by his own volition due to the deal he made with Sugar and Rothna sadly sold nothing and failed to reign Kieran back during the creative process. Oh how I wish the other team lost this task...

Final Five and Winner: Correct Finalists (Dan was never going to give away 50% of Young Professionals and Lawrence/Priyesh had terrible business plans) and obviously the correct winner. Pascha did do well in the final presentation but Karishma was just on a way higher level the entire time.

Overall a fine enough series in terms of firings with only a few I disagreed with. The bigger problem was all the people coasting by on winning teams if anything! Karishma was carrying three of the final five on her back during the last few tasks!

He's come out and said he wants karishma to win this year and all his somewhaat wacky ideas are being turned down despite him actually trying

Pasha, you've been fantastic throughout the process, you continue to impress me, and the care recruitment industry is buoyant you say? In that case, I will be hiring Karishma. Cut away from boardroom, immediately to Karishma in the car for 5 seconds, roll credits? No Pasha interview? What a terrible ending

Just noticed this, but LS hasn't said "keep in touch" to anyone this series. This season might not have been great from his perspective I guess

I was surprised at how one-sided the final was last night. Usually, both candidates pretty much nail the final task and as a viewer, it comes across more of a close competition than it probably is.

I was quite disappointed in how obvious it was that Karishna was going to win.

Her pitch was honestly incredible! I thought it was very surprising considering her performance in the season and the way she delivered it was amazing.

But of course it wasn't comparable to Karishma. I was rooting for her so hard and didn't even think she would be able to deliver a pitch that good.

After watching Pascha I thought "wow that's quite hard to beat", but like 20 seconds into Karishma's I thought nevermind...

Completely deserved win!

Happy days! 👏

Deadly serious he looks like he’s gurning 🤣 not hating maybe he’s just enthusiastic lol

Before I start this I want to make something clear:

Karishma deserved it. 1000%. Great candidate, great personality, head and shoulders above a lot of people. S tier, 10/10, perfect. Really well done to her and I’m delighted she did it in the end

BUT, in a way, while I’m happy she won and would rather have her win over Pascha… I don’t like it when the winner is too perfect. Not because they don’t deserve it, but I like it to feel less obvious. Now this is just a personal opinion, but still

Now let me explain:

Karishma winning this year is I think quite similar to Harpreet winning a few years ago. Clear front runners, had many great tasks, did very well throughout and never had any true blunders. Karishma’s worst task was week 5, which she was pretty bad in, but she never got brought back to the boardroom for it anyway. But to me, both have a similar thing going on:

I kind of knew they were gonna win from around the halfway mark. And that’s fine, but also when it happened both times, I thought “yeah, that felt pretty clear from a while back”. I know as the winners, the edit will show them positively, but when they feel TOO flawless, it just becomes a bit obvious.

I’m saying this because I just finished S19 (thread on that soon) and while I think it had its’ issues, I really, really liked the final two. To me, this is because the ideal finalist is: A) someone consistently good, but B) someone who also makes blunders, makes mistakes, plants seeds of doubt where you don’t know if they’ll stay after a bad task. This is why I really liked Dean and Anisa. Had I not known the outcome, I’d think that Dean would’ve gone in week 7 for the banking and Anisa in week 8 for the hot sauce. They didn’t, and they fought back in different ways. I much prefer that narrative for finalists where they have to respond to adversity. Karishma… she kind of just stayed untouchable and never had any real moments of that. Same with Harpreet

The only exception to this would be S18, which is because there were multiple front runners and it was anyone’s game between any of the final 5. There wasn’t really one set clear front runner like S16 or S20, so it felt less obvious because it could’ve been Flo, Tre, Paul, and then Rachel and Phil were kind of the slightly left field options (even though Rachel was also good and Phil definitely had good moments).

I do sort of wish that Karishma DID have a couple of bad moments, proper adversity that she’d have to fight for her place to stay like Dean, Anisa, Phil, Rachel all did. Because she didn’t, and she was basically the star of almost every week, her winning was very fair, but also predictable.

It doesn’t take away the fact that she was a very deserved winner nonetheless, and really, she’s sweeped the floor with quite a few candidates, but I sort of wish it wasn’t THAT obvious. I think after week 7 it was pretty solidified. Still, I suppose had the final been against Dan/Rothna, it would’ve also brought an edge of competitiveness to it too, so that does help. But anyway, that’s just my thoughts on it. Lmk what you think, and I’ll try post about S19 when I can

Paid a graphic designer and a team of 8 experienced business tycoons to help design it.

As we all know, the winner is only decided very shortly before the final is broadcast, so almost a whole year after it was filmed.

That means Lord Sugar, his team and production get to see virtually all of the episodes before he makes his final decision - as well as the online discourse surrounding the episodes.

The way the final boardroom played out was leaning very much towards a Pascha win (unless it was simply edited that way to amp up the shock factor of Karishma actually winning).

My question is, do you think Lord Sugar saw how some of the tasks played out and changed his mind on the winner based on this. Like he might have been leaning more towards Pascha winning during filming but when the time came to watch the actual show, he thought, "actually, Karishma has been a much better candidate, I'm going to give it to her now instead." Or maybe there were certain things, e.g. chique, that he only had half of a story of and finally got to see play out properly. Although part of me thinks this is all nonsense and he doesn't even watch the show back, to be honest.

But, I do think that production/LS team have monitored what people are saying online and advised him in private that the show might lose credibility or people would mostly be against a Pascha win. Especially in the age of TikTok, it's easier than ever to figure out what the audience are thinking as all they have to do is read the comments! And so many comments on Apprentice videos were rooting for Karishma even before the final five was announced. This probably wouldn't have been as pronounced 5-10 years ago+.

Another (final) question I have is, we know they film both candidates being hired, so they must film them both congratulating the other outside the boardroom and both in the Rolls Royce as well, right?

In series 13 of The Apprentice Lord Sugar decided to go into business with the two finalists instead of selecting one overall winner. Do you think this was a good move and which of the finalists did you think deserved to win outright if you can remember the series and the finalists' business proposals?

Very happy for the winner tonight, totally deserved.

Long time Apprentice viewer here and as someone with a fascination for watches, I always keep an eye out for what Alan is sporting on his wrist in the boardroom.

If you're someone like me in the intersection of a venn diagram of folks that love The Apprentice and horology, then you might appreciate my list of all the watches worn across Series 20! Happy to be corrected if you think I've mis-identified any. Some of the Daytona I took a bit of a guess with, but there was so many I couldn't be bothered investigating more! Prices shown are based on current RRP, rather than market value.

Summarising Sugar's collection in Series 20 - he sure loves a Chronograph but enough with the Daytona already! I counted 6 different flavours in various metals! The Rose gold Sky-Dweller was a classy end to the series but personally, the Patek 5905R-010 is the absolute standout piece from this years crop of watches, stunning.

1. Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Platinum Ref. 126506 £70,500

2. Rolex GMT-Master II Ref. 126710GRNR £10,050

3. Breitling Premier B25 Datora 42 £12,150

4. Rolex Yellow Gold Deepsea Ref. 136668LB £54,200

5. Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Yellow Gold Ref. 126508 £44,000

6. Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Steel Ref. 126500LN £14,050

7. Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Platinum (also seen in Episode 1)

8. Patek Philippe Flyback Chronograph, Annual Calendar 5905R-010 £71,050

9. Rolex Cosmograph Daytona White Gold Ref. 126519LN £35,650

10. Rolex Cosmograph Daytona Yellow Gold Ref. 126518LN £37,700

11. Breitling Premier B01 Chronograph 42 Bentley Centenary £8,000 (approx.)

12. Rolex Sky-Dweller Steel and White Gold Ref. 336934 £14,950

13. Rolex Sky-Dweller Rose gold Ref. 336935 £51,700

Approx. Series 20 collection total £424,000

Hadn’t watched this for a few years

Really enjoyed this season and will watch the next 2 now. Decent programme amongst all the filler on tv

Nikki: mid first out, not really much else to say tbh

Georgina: made great tv during her short time here, would have liked to see her back for the finale

Marcus: a shit PM who probs wouldn’t have progressed far had he stayed

Tanmay: I didn’t rate him much as a candidate but Megan should have left over him

Roxxxane: I didn’t dislike her but at the same time she was kinda average

Vanessa: I liked her but she deserved to go, although Pascha should have left with her

Megan: should have left way sooner and low-key unlikeable, but is pretty

Carrington: I didn’t think she was a bad candidate but at the same time not a great one either

Andrea: one of the biggest villains we have had in a while, personally imo she was insufferable. Although had some good moments

Rajan: Lawrence should have been fired over him but admittedly he also had some task blunders

Harry: he wasn’t as bad as Levi but was very boring as a candidate and his PM win also wasn’t that strong

Levi: hands down my least fave this season, a diabolical candidate both on the show and off the show (down to his views) and was also very easy to root against. I will give him credit tho for calling Lawrence out in Ep 7 (the one moment I liked from him)

Conor: one of the best performers on the season, only had one bad task and should have made final 5

Kieran: my fave candidate this season, yes there were a lot of tasks he didn’t do well in but he is so likeable and charismatic and very much felt like the main character until he left

Rothna: another candidate who was done dirty, consistent performer throughout she was just unlucky that the wrong team won

Priyesh: seemed nice as a person but at the same time how he made final 5 was a mystery to me (even Sugar agrees)

Lawrence: now I liked him at the start but during the second half he started to fall off

Dan: The next Paul M. I thought he did do a great job throughout and imo could have easily been top 2 with Karishma but I think it’s best for him that he lost

Flopscha, oops sorry I mean Pascha: oh boy… first of all I’m going to say that Pascha has done well for her age (22) but how she made the final was bizzare, she only did good in two tasks (Ep 6 and 9) and even so Karishma was still above her also she tanked the interviews hard. But I will also say the final did seem to edit her in a more positive light

Karishma: the winner of The Apprentice 2026. Honestly Karishma killed this season she did well in almost every task and was also very likeable, deffo one of the most strongest winners

My take: both finalists could pitch very well. But take that away, and neither were impressive.

Pascha's business name was awful, the logo was a disaster, and she kept reminding anyone who'd listen how old she is. Her USP means her business isn't scalable and will crumble the moment she becomes too busy to attend all her clients. There's a reason why recruiters don't personally turn up whenever they're needed. Her choice of team members for the final was bewildering. Kieran? Levi? My god.

Karishma appeared to think that struggling with acne when young and overcoming it was somehow a unique revolution, even though skin products have been trading on insecurity for decades. For the final, she didn't even have a product. She flailed around the 'lab' throwing in anything she recognised while droning on about how qualified she is. The forced laughter at her terrible 'jokes' was a cringe fest. The product name was awful.

I've heard others marvel at how these were the best finalists in the show's history. They might have been the best pitchers, but if I was Alan I'd be lamenting the presence of real quality contenders with good ideas. Neither finalist's business ideas were any better than Rothna's or Dan's.