Who’s going to be hired in The Apprentice?

Animated characters shown clapping despite having any hands (or feet), candidates limiting the amount of water guests were being served in the desert, and Shrek-green slime exfoliator that stains your skin.

It’s been a vintage year for comedy on The Apprentice.

This series, the 17th for anyone who’s keeping count, kicked off in the New Year, with 18 overly keen candidates vying for £250,000 of Lord Sugar’s dosh.

They began selling and running bespoke tours on the Caribbean Island of Antigua.

However, senior account executive Emma Browne earned the dreaded Apprentice wooden spoon as she became the first person to leave the process.

Before the next task had even began, bridal boutique owner Shannon Martin dramatically quit the show, while Kevin D’Arcy was also booted out after failing to flog enough bao buns.

Gregory Ebbs and Denisha Kaur Bharj got their marching orders in weeks three and four after the cartoon and Brighton buying tasks, while Shazia Hussain followed after the electric motorbike challenge.

In week six, another candidate was forced to quit. Theatre school owner Reece Donnelly left due to ‘health reasons’, although rumour has it that he had one too many on the flight to Dubai.

Once in the UAE, safari guide Joseph Phillips failed to impress and was shown the door by Lord Sugar.

The lunchbox design challenge came the following week, with Sohail Chowdhary deemed the odd one out, and he was followed by pest control company owner Mark Moseley, who failed to impress during the immersive events in Shropshire.

Arguably the most embarrassing gaffe of the entire series arrived in week nine when the candidates designed a new men’s skincare product.

It’s safe to say that Team Affinity’s Anti-Venom won’t be on the shelves anytime soon.

When project manager Bradley Johnson asked Avi Sharma and Rochelle Anthony to create a green solution, the pair went overboard in the lab and the product turned the testers’ skin green.

Bradley was brutally sent packing before he’d even come back into the boardroom, while

Avi soon followed him in a double sacking.

The season’s 10th show saw the remaining candidates creating and branding a new pet food before pitching it to major retailers.

Of course, they made a real dog’s dinner out of it and another candidate was sent for walkies.

Then, in last week’s interviews, a few familiar faces returned, as the final five entrepreneurs were interrogated by Lord Sugar’s trusted advisers, who uncovered fictitious figures, crazy concepts and absurd ambitions.

And now, to win the tycoon’s £250,000 investment, each finalist is launching their business.

They have three days to create a brand for their company, produce a digital billboard, direct and edit a TV advert and design a metaverse, before pitching to Lord Sugar and industry experts at a black-tie event.

As is usually the case, a few of this year’s fired candidates are also back to help them out.

Bearing in mind some of their gaffes over the past 11 weeks, the two finalists may be wise to take their advice with a sackful of salt.