Apprentice final: Great to see a diamond in rough win

Iinitially I had no idea how this was going to work and I actually thought we may get two winners this time.

It was widely covered by the press last year that Kristina had indeed been offered a job after finishing runner-up.

Perhaps she was not the only one. It would be interesting to know if Ruth Badger had been offered something similar before she ventured on her new careers both in TV and business that have no doubt been even more lucrative than the £100,000 prize money.

Being aware of what some of the candidates from both my series and the two previous series have gone on to earn since leaving the show, it could be that this is the only competition where second place is more coveted than first.

Think about it - you can be Sir Alan's lapdog for a year. Or you can go on to have a proper job with a modern company or a media career for a similar wage.

The final itself was a task that the whole show should be made up of - a real business task. Demanding tasks like this are the kind of thing to challenge the candidates.

I was lucky enough to take part in last year's final, where we designed a landmark building in central London and presented our design to a room of top property developers.

If you want to test today's smartest business brains these are the kind of tasks to do that.

There were many elements to this year's final task - come up with a brand name, design the packaging and bottle, invent a new scent and come up with an advertising campaign, all the while keeping an eye on costs and potential profit margins.

Unfortunately, neither team looked at the key business principle of making money and controlling costs.

They did, however, both do well on the "art farty stuff", as Sir Alan puts it.

Dual, the brain child of Alex and Helene's team, was a great brand name and great concept.

A two-stage bottle - one of which that could be taken out and was small enough to put in your pocket and use on the move - was a great idea, although it appeared the idea really came from the designers rather than the candidates.

They were criticised for having high costs on manufacturing the bottle- but surely they should have countered by pointing out that consumers would use three or four times as much as they could keep re-applying the scent while out and about.

That meant their truly innovative product would have sold far more to their target audience and should have been the winning design - never mind the advert, which they also did better with.

The other team's gambling advertisement was like something that had been dragged kicking and screaming from 1979. The Dual advert was fresh, modern and really sold the benefit of the product.

It seemed to me that the audience also preferred the scent of Dual, one saying it was reminiscent of AMEN, a popular new aftershave.

For me the final boardroom scene was a farce. The problem is that it is purely opinion-based rather than the earlier tasks where one team earns more money than the other.

It was clear to see that Sir Alan's top two candidates were Clare and Lee - no matter what the other two had done, the decision had been made.

The major positive that I take from Lee winning is that unlike last year's winner Simon who had been educated at Westminster School and Oxford and came from a very wealthy family, Lee is the exact opposite.

He is from a very humble background - his father was a milkman, although he has been seemingly out of the picture for some years.

He didn't have a great education and has not been given fantastic opportunities, although he does have ability.

For me this is what the Apprentice should be, a diamond in the rough, not an Ivy League graduate.

Those guys have "daddies" with big wallets and contacts, they can get their own £100,000-a-year job.

People like Lee, who have the ability but perhaps not the contacts and wealthy family, should be given the chance.

That's what the Apprentice should be - a chance for all those who weren't given the best starts in life but have the drive, tenacity and ability to succeed if only someone will give them a chance.

How many times do you see a job advertised that you think you can do but you don't have the necessary qualifications, or you think you could do your boss's job but you don't have the prerequisite university degree?

It doesn't mean you wouldn't be just as good or even better, it's just the stupid system that we operate in this country, an education system that revolves around exams that only demonstrate one kind of intelligence, memory recognition.

It's such a small part of someone's measure of intelligence and Lee proved that despite not having recognised qualifications he does possess determination, drive, enthusiasm, emotional intelligence, ability to get along with people and a shrewd business sense.

That's why so many entrepreneurs set up their own businesses and do so well - they can't earn that kind of money working for someone else because they never even get an interview.

Let's hope next year's show is full of diamonds in the rough.