The Apprentice viewers spot problem with final BBC still hasn't fixed

After 12 long weeks and a pile of fired candidates, the final of The Apprentice 2025 has arrived and tonight Alan Sugar will tonight name his next business partner. Aircon installer Dean Franklin will go head to head with bombay pizza mogul Anisa Khan in tonight's series 19 finale.

Some familiar faces like Mia Collins, Melica Moshiri and Liam Snellin are set to return on Thursday night at 9pm on One as the two finalists make one final bid to convince to take a stake in their business in return for £250,000. But fans are already making their feelings known about a huge problem with the final this series, a problem which they say has been present ever since the format of the show was changed away from a £100,000 a year job to a £250,000 business investment.

The problem, say viewers, is that the format still examines candidates on their business acumen week in week out, but in the end, the finalists are picked based on their business plans, not on how well they did throughout the process.

@wlee168 said: "You can win every task and be the best PM, but if AL doesn't like your business plan/idea, you're fired. So what is the point of the process?#

@daviddjfrancis said: "might be overthinking this, but, #TheApprentice is completely flawed. There are some good candidates who get to the interviews and are fired for a bad business plan, then others who were fired for bad tasks may have great plans. So, what's the point in the tasks?"

@jpearcejourno said: "May be time for the BBC to revamp #. So much of it feels tired, especially the interview stage. It is just absurd.

This year the best candidate was fired before the final five. One of the final three has a £20k business and made up logo wins."

@lordwongmonthly said: "I don't get #TheApprentice. You spend eleven weeks giving kids silly tasks to do, which have nothing to do with their business plan at all. Then in the semi-final, Sugar gets a few wise old heads to show him that all the proposed investments are crap. Why?!"

@teamtoff said: "Just like last series, one candidate with constant losses through to final, but you have to admit in the end it was the business plan that did it. "

@thewilkmaid said: "I'm really disappointed in her business plan" well why not take 15 minutes to look through it before you humiliate them for 10 weeks..."

The Apprentice, though, remains one of the most watched shows on the BBC - and the final will be shown at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer followed by spinoff show You're Hired.