"she’s really switched on, and I’d love to see her in the final.”
Harpreet Kaur revealed who she’d love to see in the final as series 20 of The Apprentice begins to intensify.
The fifth episode saw the candidates tasked with selling flowers to the public and corporate clients to make a profit.
Rothna Akhtar and Vanessa Tetteh-Squire were project managers of their respective teams.
The episode saw the latter’s team fail to sell all of the flowers they ordered and the corporate client was disappointed with their floral wall creation.
As a result, Rothna’s team scored a landslide victory and according to series 16 winner Harpeet, she was confident of the win as soon as Rothna decided on her approach.
Harpreet, who is working with Sky Vegas, exclusively told DESIblitz:
“From the beginning, as soon as the groups were announced, people were saying, ‘Oh, I want country garden [flowers]’ and the other was saying, ‘Oh, I want tropical [flowers]’, I immediately knew I would have gone for the country garden flowers.
“I had my win pinned on Rothna’s team, and I was literally screaming at the TV when the other team were choosing the tropical.
“The reason was simple – there were so many business reasons why country garden flowers made sense.
“I do think it came close in how the task was going, but ultimately, I was disappointed with Vanessa’s approach to leading her team.
“I felt they needed more direction, and she could have taken more accountability and honesty.
“Rothna, on the other hand, absolutely deserved the win.
“She made the right decision from the start – choosing a product that was easy to sell, with high margins and low cost. She focused on the business sense, not on which flowers looked prettiest.
“That’s why she deserved to win.”
After losing the task, Vanessa decided to bring back Lawrence Rosenberg and Pascha Myhill, a decision that had Tim Campbell telling Lord Sugar there was no good reason for Pascha to return to the boardroom.
On this, Harpreet said: “I think Vanessa was probably struggling to bring in anyone for the task.
“At the end of the day, she had to scramble and think, ‘Who can I bring in?’ That was likely the reason for the choice she made.
“On the other hand, whoever she brought in, the outcome would have caused some uproar – that’s just how it works.
“Sometimes there are things happening behind the scenes, and maybe someone isn’t contributing as much.
“But at the end of the day, there can only be one person who goes home each week. As part of the process, you have to make those decisions. Vanessa made hers as project manager.
“It’s just like in business – you can’t avoid making tough choices just because colleagues or others might disagree.
“I do think she was probably just figuring out the best way to manage the situation and see what Lord Sugar thought.”
Vanessa ended up being fired and as The Apprentice series 20 moves to episode six, Harpreet revealed some of her standout candidates.
She explained: “I thought Lawrence was good. He was a sub-team leader on Vanessa’s team, and I halfway thought he was the project manager for the task – that’s how much he put himself out there.
“He didn’t shy away in the background, and his side of the team ran smoothly. He was great with customers, whether in the shopping mall or elsewhere.
“He caught my attention this week for the first time, and I’m hoping he goes far. It’s not often males make it far in the process – I know we had a male winner once, but usually females dominate.
“My favourite week in week out has been Karishma.
“She might not have shone as much in this episode, but she’s really switched on, and I’d love to see her in the final.”
Task six will see the candidates travel to Egypt to provide corporate away days.
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