But who will secure the life-changing opportunity?
The Apprentice’s Lord Alan Sugar has whittled down this year’s contestants to the final five, with more nail-biting challenges still to come – including those fiery interviews.
On tonight’s episode, the teams were tasked with creating and branding a vegan alternative to cheese, with industry experts tapped to offer their thoughts on the proposals.
Following another heated boardroom, Lord Sugar delivered a double elimination that brought the total number of contestants down to that all-important number, which signifies the final phase of the process.
The unlucky candidates who were fired this week were Foluso Falade and Steve Darken, with the former falling short on her much-touted branding skills and the latter taking blame for an unappealing flavour.
That development leaves recruitment consultant Flo Edwards, dental group owner Dr Paul Midha, pie company owner Phil Turner, fitness studio owner Rachel Woolford and music and wellness entrepreneur Tre Lowe as the final five.
Paul described learning of his success as “probably one of the best feelings I’ve ever had in my life”.
He continued: “Sometimes you look back in life, and you remember certain moments as being the pinnacle of an achievement that you made and that was one of them for sure.
“I remember when we were in task ten, in the boardroom, and we found out that myself, Phil, Flo, and Tre had made it into the final five by winning that task. I just couldn’t stop smiling and I don’t think I stopped smiling for the next few days.”
Flo admitted to having some “imposter syndrome” when starting the process, which came from being one of the few candidates who didn’t already own their own business. She said the cheesecake task gave her confidence to push forward.
“I think that task and the positive reaction to my motivation gave me a lot of external validation as to why I was there,” recalled Flo. “That was my favourite week, it really motivated me for the rest of the process.”
Some viewers might be surprised that Phil has made it this far given his involvement in “so many losses” over the course of the season – but he’s not counting himself out yet.
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“I feel as if I’ve probably had the toughest route to the final five that maybe any candidate has ever had,” he revealed. “I feel really proud of myself.”
While many of us couldn’t think of anything worse than facing the likes of Claude Littner and Linda Plant in a job interview scenario, but Rachel said she’s “really excited” to talk about “what I know best”.
Last but not least, Tre revealed he had a suspicion he would make it this far, but admits it was “far from easy” with a number of other talented people on this year’s line-up.
He added: “Deep down I always knew I would make the final five though, I am far too competitive and determined not to, but I know the real challenge starts now. I feel grateful to have made it through with this talented group of people.”
The Apprentice continues Thursdays at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer. Check out more of our Entertainment coverage or visit our TV Guide and Streaming Guide to find out what’s on.
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