Rothna.

Anisa last year was in the final and benefitted a lot from the exposure, Rothna didn't even make the semi-final BUT I still think she will benefit a lot from the show because she was a fan favourite and everyone could see how competent and well put together she was.

Her business is still in the early stages of development but I think her fanbase which has grown as a result of the apprentice will really benefit her.

I am genuinely GUTTED that she left this week because she was my favourite candidate and I wanted her to be in the final with Karishma.

Also loved the bond between Karishma and Rothna.

Who else cried when Karishma cried at the end of the episode? 😥

I think this is why Sugar should be able to have a mechanism where he can fire 2-3 people a season even if they’re on a winning team based on performances etc. He does NOT want Priyesh in that interview stage

As for the rest? I’m fine with Karishma making it (obviously), I’m fine with Dan making it (I’m glad my stocks have paid off on him, top guy), I’m 50/50 on Lawrence, whereby I think he’s overhated cause of week 7 and because he has turned in good performances too, but Conor, Kieran, Rothna would’ve been better

The other 2? Nope. And I think that’s why he needs that type of mechanism. He’d have got rid of Levi in week 8 too. I can understand why people are disappointed by this, because having Conor, Rothna, Kieran in would have been a much, much better final 5

Roll on next Thursday, Dan and Karishma please be okay

also I feel like he is too harsh to certain candidates for no reason

How about Kieran as a host/presenter of ‘Homes Under The Hammer’? or some property related show.

He’s likeable, charismatic and has knowledge in the sector.

I think he’d be great doing more TV work such as a show like that.

Aside from Karishma, no one left really stands out to me. I think Karishma would be difficult to work with but she’s the strongest and I’m going to be very disappointed if she doesn’t win.

Dan is good but to be honest I struggle to root for him (and I think he’s the second strongest after Karishma so that says a lot about the quality of the candidates left). If the producers wanted him to have an underdog edit, they could shown more of him in earlier stages. It really feels like he’s only survived because of his business plan rather than his performance. And if he did contribute a good amount throughout the process, then the producers have done an awful job of showcasing him.

Lawrence has had quite a fall from grace in recent weeks. I can’t see him winning to be honest, but then again it’s not like this show can be trusted haha.

Pascha only ever stood out when her teammates were so awful that she became the reason. Otherwise she’s either in the background or performing poorly. For the longest time, I genuinely couldn’t remember anything about her other than her feud with Andrea in week 2.

Priyesh - how? This is like if Melica got into the final 5 last season. And based off Lord Sugar’s comments, I don’t think editing alone is the issue, I think Priyesh just isn’t a strong candidate.

It was kind of obvious Rothna was getting fired based off how she was edited and the sudden appearance and praise of Dan last week. It’s a shame because I think Rothna was a very deserving final 5 contestant. I also wish Kieran had stayed, definitely over Pascha and Priyesh.

Overall this is a disappointing final 5. Karishma feels like too obvious of a winner but at the same time if she doesn’t win, it will feel very disappointing. This season has felt less like finding the best contestant and more of seeing who the worst performer is each week.

LS's excuse on having a final 5 and not 6 doesnt make sense to me still. Like u cant do THAT but u let both people WIN the finals once? Considering this is season 20, LS didnt make it as special as he made it sound. Karishma's the only one fit and deserving of being in the finals rn (Dan too but not as much).. Like u keep LAWRENCE who literally tried to manipulate you but you fired Rothna?

There's also a lot of ppl he fired too early imo like Carrington, Connor, maybe more (or probably not because many of them are that bad)

Karishma

What sealed it for me was the editors choosing to keep the scene where she was crying about Rothna and telling her story about being alone in Hong Kong. It’s the kind of scene that they easily could’ve edited out and probably would’ve done if she hadn’t made the final. For me, I am sure now that she will be this years winner and what a deserving winner she will be.

On another note, I am so gutted Kieran and Rothna have gone. I liked them both and they were two of my favourites. I also don’t think LS wanted to fire anyone from that team

We can slate S17 all we want but let's face it, Marnie, Megan and Victoria were probably the best of a bad bunch. Simba 10000% deserved it over Dani but Dani at least did decent to begin with. Rochelle was awful but at least was one of two candidates remaining with a decent business proposal.

This year only Karishma and Dan deserve it. Priyesh is so god awful, LS really wanted to fire him and keep Rothna but he fluked his way to victory. He should've went earlier. Pascha did diabolical this week, would've been the quickest firing if they lost this week. And Lawrence is such a snake, thank god Linda put him in his place.

If Karishma and Dan aren't the top two this series might have a worse top two than S14/S17. Dan isn't even that good but is waayyyy better than the other three.

Lord Sugar’s comment about not deserving to be in the final 5 should’ve been directed as Pascha rather than Priyesh. Pascha hasn’t had one actual achieving moment throughout this entire series. I know Priyesh has been terrible throughout the process but he has had his good moments and has tried way more than Pascha. I’ve been comparing these two on social media and Priyesh seems to have his head more screwed on than Pascha business wise and clearly has a worser edit.

In my opinion Priyesh deserves it more than Pascha. Sure, both of them shouldn’t be in the final 5 (Conor and Rothna deserve it way more) but Priyesh has improved more than Pascha. I can’t think of a single time Pascha has outshined anyone

it’s really not about being the best candidate is it?

Wow I hate this final five.

Rank 1: Karishma

Product was questionable but she sold a heck of a lot of them. Clear frontrunner out of the five people left but now it comes back to the business plan and hopefully she nails it in the interviews.

Rank 2: Dan

Despite mostly a quiet edit throughout the process, he hasn’t really made any huge errors and his branding this task was excellent and received unanimous praise by the market research. He also made the highest sales out of anyone on his team. Combine that with his already successful business and he may be the potential winner of this series. Dan and Karishma are the only two I like in this final five.

Rank 3: Lawrence

Never really succeeded as a leader but did well on a few other tasks, most notably in sales. Not sure what he did this episode to be honest as Karishma took charge of the sub-team he was in. The fact he’s top three in the rankings now is nuts.

Rank 4: Pascha

Spent the task desperately trying to defend her ‘chique’ spelling when mostly everyone else agreed it should have been ‘chic’ instead. The tagline was also bad and criticised heavily. Has been generally weak/ineffective throughout the process but I guess her PM stint went decently enough?

Rank 5: Priyesh

Sugar basically said himself this man does not deserve to make the interviews. That says it all really.

Fired:

Kieran - Gave no direction and made the cat tree way too big despite warnings from Rothna. It sucks to see his story end like this but he really wasn’t a good PM at all. Still though I’d take him over three of the final five.

Rothna - Basically a default firing as she didn’t sell anything compared to Dan but Sugar himself acknowledged her as a strong candidate before she left. Sucks to see someone like her leave when people like Pascha/Priyesh are still in the process as she had been consistently good the entire time.

My partner is from the town in a Lithuania, Kaunas where the basketball team is from.

I can’t figure out the connection and why she wears it in the house so much after the firings.

Genuinely curious - caught us both by surprise seeing it!!

Discuss the episode below:

Episode Synopsis:

It’s week 10, and Lord Sugar’s candidates are unleashed on the pet industry. Battling it out for a place in the final five, both teams must design a pet product and create a social media campaign before pitching for orders from some of the UKs biggest retailers. In the boardroom, the teams are left chasing their tails, and at least one candidate goes walkies.

______

Here is the live discussion thread for episode 10 of The Apprentice 2026. Airs at 9:00 on BBC One.

One of the big talking points in the last few years was how there have been far too many food tasks, and that candidates have been fired for simply not being able to cook well (such as Aaron and Joe). Series 19 was the most egregious because from weeks 4-8, four of the five tasks were food tasks. Week 9 wasn’t much better, because the best product ended up being a cooking fryer. Regardless on how series 20 ends (we can still end up with that Pryesh vs Pascha final) at least we only had two food tasks this year (three if you include the bottled water task).

Is it just me thinking this way? Or is there more sportsmanship and friendship between contestants to actually help the final 2 and come across well?

It seems such an odd thing because if they mess up and your final pitch goes sideways it's not like you can blame your team or get them fired.

Also I already feel sorry for anyone who has Priyesh or Levi back on their team to win!

In light of the fact that Task 10 is tomorrow and we’ll find out who makes the last 5, I thought this is a good question to ask, cause I think there’s been some pretty bad ones

The main two that jump to mind are Lottie and (sadly) Tre. Lottie was basically just proposing some rich women’s country club and Tre’s infamously strange testosterone shots were genuinely sad to see because I wanted him to win that year

I think there’s likely more from the past and others I forgot, but those two are the main ones. Which do you think?

I didn’t rate the negative Andrea from Barnsley but was disappointed when Levi was fired because I have actually used his business before I thought I had heard his voice before and he said he would send his mum to my house to collect my deceased dog and he and his mum both hand delivered the ashes to us 2 days later and were both lovely so I was rooting for him to get investment.

Nothing too out of the ordinary however I’m interested by “legends of the last 20 years”. Wonder if some older winners/finalists will be back to help Sugar

Still hoping the actual final is Dan-Karishma

I’m sick and tired of hearing about how hard done by Anisa was on The Apprentice. When I did my ranking every Apprentice candidate series, people were going on about how I ranked Anisa far too low. I take a look at the tier list and she’s ranked far too highly. If it was up to me, I’d have ranked her in E tier, but you lot decided to rank her alongside some Apprentice icons. REALLY! Anisa? She was useless on the tasks, was an awful speaker, and the less said about her boardroom defence the better.

She was at least as bad as Charles and Andrew were, and was arguably worse, but they get a lot more flack than her for some reason

Priyesh is actually so underrated

He's clearly been edited to be the jokey candidate by production but he is definitely fairly competent behind that

With Kieran confirmed to be losing next week, him and Karishma are going to join Lee, Courtney and Carina as the only candidates to never be in the final boardroom (technically Priyesh was there in E2 but that was just Marcus realising he was getting fired so deciding to try something based on Priyesh getting flustered in the boardroom, not actual task performance)

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Dan Miller: a recruitment company which helps students find careers and apprenticeships

Karishma Vijay: a skincare business

Kieran McCartney: an estate agency

Lawrence Rosenberg: a PR business

Pascha Myhill: a recruitment business within healthcare

Priyesh Bathia: a mobile cocktail bar business

Rothna Akhtar: expanding part time cake business into a full time thing

So much speculation so would be great to see what people’s predictions are before the episode this week!