After a tired Michael lost the spirit for a fight in the boardroom, what was there left to him?

His boardroom badgering — a mixture of begging, bragging and belligerence – had kept him in the show against all the odds for at least three weeks longer than could have been reasonably expected.

But even he lost the will to go all the rounds this week, resulting in his inevitable exit.

He seemed completely washed out, yawning through the exercise and seemingly unable to sit up straight in his chair in the follow-up show with Adrian Chiles.

This is the man who had pestered would-be brides into buying his wedding cakes and who had chased a businessman down the road in a vain attempt to persuade him to rent a Ferrari.

What happened to that energy?

That was not the only surprise about Michael. The man who said he could fake interest in anything, including passion, was not so fake as we may have been led to think. At the beginning of the task he admitted hating cars and showed no interest or knowledge in the supercharged vehicles.

The only energy he seemed able to muster in the Adrian Chiles show was the malevolent looks he threw Ruth “the Badger” after the former candidate and saleswoman extraordinaire said he should have been kicked out weeks ago.

So it looks like a final between Anonymous Alex and Clanging Claire. There’s no way Sugar would put up with Lucinda in his organisation, despite her coming up with some of the best ideas during the series and being a great team leader.

I admit I have a bit of a soft spot for her (not the hats though). She seems to annoy her team mates while encouraging sympathy among mainly women viewers.

What appears as whingeing to some, appears as victimisation to others — her strengths, ideas and concerns ignored and shunted to the sidelines.

But my views about the group as a whole remain unchanged — this must be the weakest group ever to appear on the Apprentice.