I was sad to see him go, but not surprised. As the marketing guy on YF said, he went into total Kamikaze mode this week - He went so crazy in that boardroom and on the task that I'm surprised he didn't also scream "TENNO HEIKA BANZAI!".

He allowed a weakness that was exposed last week to be exposed again - he once more proved that he was not as smart when it came to marketing as he thought he was. He also didn't lead or manage the creativity with enough focus for the product or Ad to mean anything to anyone.

Laura did have a few good points, and it may be true that she worked hard behind the scenes as Alex said. But really, she was terrible on this task, imo. She did not push her ideas through and was not able to get others to listen to them without being her usual whingey self. Also, Sugar clearly doesn't have a lot of time for her.

Had Alex picked up on that and brought her back, as well as carve out a decent argument, he probably would have stayed. But he blew it and went out of control in the BR. If he hadn't he would have got to Week 10 or the interviews. Though I've never believed he could win.

To be fair to Laura and Alex though, that team in general was poor. Chris was lucky to escape, due to the fact that his performance before has been liked by AS - though I personally don't rate him that highly. And Stuart may have proved he's good at silly voices but he did not contribute to the creative process. Sandeesh was her usual competent but unexceptional self. So in some ways, Alex was very unlucky as well as responsible for his own downfall. Nice guy, not a bad candidate, but it was right he went this week.

I think he blew it even before he commited seppuku in the BR. He should have pushed Laura up from, as she was the teams "expert" on all things marketing.

Excellent post and almost word for word paraphrased from Chris's analysis in the boardroom.

The only bit I disagree with is the part of Chris being lucky to escape. Lord Sugar is hardly going to eliminate an exceptional candidate when idiotrs like Alex are in the boardroom. Chris made one mistake in a situation when there was no alternatives proposed.

I think Alex quite rightly got fired, and had Laura been in the BR too, the result would have been the same. She would have ripped him apart! He knew it too admitting as much on Youre Fired. I dont agree with Lord Sugar that Chris taking over was a sign of arrogance. I think he stepped in because he needed to, Alex was so out of his deepth! I think Alex was always the one that would have ultimately got fired. His blithering antics even outweighed Baggs only doing voices and sandeesh doing zip all.

Alex never delegated the roles effectively thats what it came down to I feel. He thinks he's better than he is, hence why he never even considered Laura's sound advice on the child in the ad. He couldnt manage his team at a basic level and then even worse actually allowed himself to be walked all over throughout the project. Lets see, then there was his distinct lack of creativity in the task, i mean c'mon he deserved to be fired!

He kept adapting his views in the BR too, which i dont like. Praising Laura first, then upon hearing what Lord Sugar was saying about her he quickly changed his original view to join in the attack. Its very transparent and Lord Sugar always notices it. He did it last week, when Lord Sugar gave him some cliche on people making mistakes. It was only then Alex admitted he made one. Yet this week he showed he went back to not accepting he ever made any, despite losin the task! I mean, really Alex? Really? He even lied about what he did and what he tried to do. I was seething watching the lies pour out last night. It was also a little crindgeworthy watching when he decided to start shouting over Chris to be heard. He even bragged on Youre Fired thats his management style? Dear me! If thats how he thinks you should act in order to be heard, then it certainly explains why the word "unemployed" was listed before his occupation on the show! Really unprofessional and overall really poor.

Ive come to the conclusion Sandeesh has nine lives. Ive never know anyone who has done so little getting this far!

I was quite impressed with the fact Baggs was willing to step up and be PM, and then despite losing out he never sulked! Like some others have. JAMIE!!

Overall i think this team is in trouble next week if Lord Sugar doesnt mix it up a little, the boys will have to contend with a passenger and a negative influence otherwise.

He did what Paloma did last week, praised Sandeesh but still bought her back into the BR

I'm not saying he shouldn't have been fired - it was fair enough considering his performance last night and who he brought back. But he has performed well on previous tasks (when he's helped out with the pitches and came up with the beach towel brand), and if he had made a good argument from that, he may have tipped the balance. And yes, Laura did have good points, but she didn't act on them. And don't forget, she partially contributed to the colours and design of the bottle, along with Alex. And if she was an "expert" in marketing, why didn't she put herself forward in the initial discussion? Why didn't Stubaggs contribute ideas either? Though it would have been interesting to see him as PM.

Was it? Sorry if it was. I try to make my analyses as original as possible, and that one was based pretty much on what I thought.

I also don't agree that Chris B is a strong candidate. In my opinion, his win as PM and sale of tie and cloth dress were more down to luck than ability. And his baritione voice still annoys me . As PM he largely won because he wisely kept quiet and let Liz get on with pitching - on the other hand though, he did choose the right products. But I doubt he'll win.

To be brutally honest, it was a poor show by both teams. To be fair to all concerned, I think it's a very hard task.

I assume cleaning product manufacturers have months to develop new products, they don't decide brand names, bottle designs, create adverts, do pitches in two days! It's the one task in the Apprentice that is almost certain to fail because the demands are so great and the time is so short.

The adverts always look poor and childish and the candidates are always in "I don't think our product was any worse than the other team's product" mode. Alex was more or less screwed as soon as Chris came up with Germinator. Had Alex been a little stronger he could have said "no, this won't work. Women can't relate to The Terminator so let's not make a cleaning product in that vein" but he and the rest of the team couldn't come up with any better ideas. It was a creative wasteland. It seems to be one of those tasks that is destined to fail or destined to be mocked by Sugar. Whatever you come up with, the chances are it's going to be ridiculed.

You don't expect Saatchi & Saatchi in a day or two but you don't make the basic error of having a kid 'promote' a cleaning spray. This was pointed out big-time and Alex said "On my head be it". And so it came to pass. Fair enough.

Alex went to a supermarket with Laura and they studied the cleaning product offerings from all of the Majors.....SCJohnson, P&G, Reckett etc.
Having noted that all the colouring of the trigger bottles were pastel.......why would you possibly think it was smart to deviate away from what the 'experts' in the market, who have spent ££millions developing their brands are doing.

Maybe he thought they had all been 'zagging' and he should do some 'zigging'

My Liege, Lord Sid had no alternative but to tell him to "Zag Off"

I do think Sandeesh is being made a scapegoat by being brought back into the boardroom because they feel LAS is not very impressed with her.

Both teams were horrendous last night, lazy thought processes they both went with something without actually thinking it through.

Laura's idea on Blitz with a nice icey blue bottle would have been much better but Alex did'nt want to listen to her, he also did'nt listen to her objections to having a child around dangerous cleaning chemicals.

Both teams were lazy last night imho with the exception of Laura who was talked over by Alex who thought he knew the answers but did'nt.Glad he was fired.

Alex was a fool in this task deserved to go -listened to no one!!