Lord Sugar has been accused of 'giving away' the winner of The Apprentice a week before the final, as fans worked out that Marnie Swindells had triumphed thanks to an 'obvious' clue from the business mogul, which they argued the BBC should never have allowed to be shown.
While the new series of the long-running BBC show has been criticised by some viewers for not being a vintage year, the final once again proved to be compulsive viewing as new champion Marnie battled it out with Rochelle Anthony to become Lord Sugar's new business partner and earn a £250,000 investment from him.
Sticking with Apprentice tradition, Marnie and Rochelle were given one last opportunity to make their business pitch in the finale, which saw this year's unsuccessful candidates brought back into the fold to join of the two teams. As ever, Lord Sugar's aides Karren Brady and Tim Campbell looked on, as both finalists had an early struggle with what to name their companies.
Right before credits rolled and, having listened to both women state their case, Lord Sugar delivered his last boardroom verdict of the series and, choosing Marnie as the Apprentice winner and person he wanted to go into business with, the show's head honcho, remarked: "Two very excellent candidates. But I’ve always been known to be a gambler, I’ve always been known to try new horizons so I’m going to try a new horizon… Marnie, you are going to be my business partner.”
While millions were left waiting with baited breath to find out Lord Sugar's decision, others claimed to have known Marnie was the winner from the end of last week's episode. And, for the second year in a row, it was all down to the direction Lord Sugar was seen pointing his finger in a preview for the final, in a clip which was also widely circulated on social media in the days leading up to the final.
Homing in on the indication of who won, one viewer tweeted: "Marnie wins it? She's sat to the left of Lord Sugar and he points to the winner with hsis left hand." Hitting out at the BBC for allowing the 'give away' clue to air, a second posted: "Why show the finger at the end? It's clearly whoever is sat on the left"
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