I have to confess to being slightly addicted to The Apprentice this series. Despite managing to resist Alan Sugar’s beardy charms for the first two iterations, I’ve been powerless this time.

Up to now, I’ve managed not to blog about it, but I’m slightly stunned and can no longer keep from mentioning what must surely be the BBC’s flagship reality TV offering. Fans of the show will know precisely why I’m stunned: Katie removed herself from the competition at the last possible moment!

For anyone that doesn’t watch the show: Katie has bitched, back-stabbed, pouted, and schemed her way through the entire series. She has a face like a smacked arse, and yet has the most mesmerizing eyes. She’s eminently dislikable, and yet somehow difficult to not be impressed by. And, when faced with the prospect of being in the final, she turned it down because it wasn’t fair to ask her children and parents to support her in the endeavor.

You’d check first, wouldn’t you? Before even applying for the contest, you’d make sure Mum and Dad were OK with the implications of you winning. Unless, of course, you never intended to win. Did Katie just plan on becoming famous, then walking out at the last moment? Perhaps she intends to follow in the footsteps of previous pantomime reality TV dropouts, like Nasty Nick and all the other useless types whose names have long since dropped out of the accessible recesses of my memory, never to return.

Who knows. But it was a twist I didn’t see coming, and perhaps the reason why The Apprentice is a cut above the usual reality TV nonsense. Next weeks final sees the essentially useless Simon up against the impressively organisation Kristina. It’s a forgone conclusion, but the show is always so enjoyable that it really doesn’t matter.