You asked why Sir Alan keeps throwing Lorraine a lifeline. I would’ve thought the answer’s obvious.

Lorraine’s a chess player, calm under fire, and who’s got a knack for making the right call and knowing exactly how to repel any attack from any other candidate. She’s proved she could play dirty if she had to, and has asserted to her own rivals that she’s not going to – and she’s kept her word on that.

These traits may well be more desirable to Sir Alan, than the raw ability of Debra to sell, or James’ ability to raise a giggle.

A lot of people thought Lorraine could be ignored, isolated, subjected to “dirty tricks” and run out of the competition, and over the past ten weeks they’ve started to wake up to the reality.

They play the “let’s make it impossible to work with Lorraine, and then whinge that Lorraine’s impossible to work with” card, because is the only one they’ve got left. And it is a pretty desperate card to play.

Howard insulted her in spite of her TWICE complimenting him on the day and saying almost nothing to upset him. In contrast, she said nothing bad to him, and certainly didn’t bad-mouth him, even in the boardroom.

Phil’s already admitted Lorraine was the first candidate to talk to Phil candidly about him being distracted by Kate. We don’t know if she’d tried to threaten him, or help him, by discussing that relationship. But in any case, that was his motive for the vendetta.

Lorraine could’ve dragged out her ace card from the outset, but she didn’t – she *calmly* sat by in the boardroom, and let Phil rant his way into the firing line. Which suggests she’s actually far better at “reading people” than her critics seem to think.

As for the revelation of Phil and Kate’s fling – it came too late in the boardroom to inflict any damage on Phil, so why did she play that card then, instead of leaving it for another day when revealing it could be far more damaging to Kate?

Well, the warning she gave upon the return to the house made that clear.

She used it so that all the other candidates would realise that she had sat on enough knowledge to send Kate and Phil down the river – without them having the faintest idea that she was capable of playing such a devious game.

Message received and understood.

Sir Alan criticises her for being a “slow burner” but have you ever watched a professional chess match? If you’re planning five moves ahead, you take your time. Of course, a layman might think you’re just dithering…