TV review: The Apprentice: The Final

In what the veteran tycoon admitted was a leap into the dark, he is backing her proposal for a string of medical beauty clinics offering botox, skin peels and facial fillers – which sounds like something that requires a plasterer rather than a doctor.

It took 12 weeks, during which time 14 other candidates wound up at the wrong end of the famous finger, hearing the words: "You're fired." And we were left with Luisa Zissman, the loud, brash brunette who spent the first few weeks of the series managing to wind everyone up, and blonde Leah, the all-round nice girl.

In a stunning turnaround that must have had the programme makers in seventh heaven, the final episode came with a dramatic twist. Luisa suddenly transformed into a vulnerable, caring soul with a hitherto unsuspected ability to play well with others. Leah, on the other hand, unleashed her inner Alan Sugar. Demanding, exacting and sticking to her guns in the face of all opposition, Leah almost bulldozed her way to victory.

Given the chance to recruit some of the other candidates to their final teams, Leah got her four first choices while poor old Luisa found herself playing catch-up, beaten to it on two and definitely ending up with the B-team.

And yet, after a shaky start, Luisa's team turned into a loyal and supportive bunch prepared to give their all, even offering a comforting shoulder to their weepy leader after she thought she had fluffed her big presentation on her baking business.

Meanwhile Leah turned into Miss Bossy-boots, so intense it was scary at times. And the Lord help anyone who got in her way. With the scent of victory in her nostrils, she was taking no prisoners.

Even in the final showdown with Lord Sugar in the boardroom, Leah would brook no disagreement with regard to her business plans, or even the title of her new venture.

She wouldn't have it that "Niks" was a bad name for any business that involved people coming near someone's face while wielding very sharp surgical instruments. When Lord Sugar suggested that "Dr Leah" would be a good name, she still didn't like it. At this stage, millions of viewers must have been staring at the screen and screaming: "Shut up, smile, say yes and you've got it in the bag!".

As it turned out, she has given way on the name. £250,000 can be very persuasive.

But, as with all these programmes, Leah's victory was only the half-way point.

We were then subjected to a further hour of flashbacks and platitudes as everyone was nice to everyone else, after being thoroughly vile during the previous weeks. Luisa even apologised to poor, nice, much put-upon Jason.

Leah, meanwhile, seems to have celebrated her success with the world's loudest outfit – pink, orange and lime-green – and did I spot blue nail polish? And that blonde head of hair was even bigger than ever.

Of course, it's not really The Apprentice any more; It's more like Dragon's Den but with less dragons and more glamour.

It's all good fun but the crunch will come – as it so often has in the past – once the cameras and the make-up artists disappear. Then it stops being fun and games, and Lord Sugar will want to see Leah's ambitious profit figures become a reality.

Now that would be a TV programme I'd really like to see.

Simon Penfold