Lord Sugar will pick who he wants, ultimately. Obviously he is where he is and we are not there, so he must have some clue what he's looking for

If Stuart's claim that his parents gave him nothing other than the original £10 for yo-yo's to sell when he was at school is true, then I can see why Lord Sugar would keep him. He has his own company which turned over 3m this year, I assume they would have checked that before the start of the show. Clearly, he believes Stuart has the same fire in his belly that he had, and he stated that he thinks the rough edges can be smoothed.

I do think though, that Stuart is going to be in for a VERY rough ride at the interviews - can't wait

Think Stuart "The Brand" Baggs should have done over Liz tonight but this is an enterainment show. Rest assured he's been saved for next weeks interview prog and will be ripped to pieces in it. Personally will be happy for the sacrifice to see him get his just desserts next week. IMO it had been evident for the last few weeks that Liz was great at selling but lacked the other neccessary additional characteristics to be "The Apprentice". Yes, she was dealt a raw deal tonight but I guarantee come 10pm next week most people will be glad she left this week so that they were able to see Stuart in the interviews next week.

Liz is a typical business degree graduate really imo,
very good on the theory / selling / presenting
but lacking real word experience and the ability to think out side the box.
If it hasn't come out of a text book she does not know.

Not many entrepreneurs feel the need for degree's they just get on with it. It carn't be taught imo

The only thing I'm surprised about is the overreaction to tonight's firing.

OK, Baggs isn't the best candidate, but Sugar clearly sees some kind of potential in him and wants to see how he does in the interviews.

Liz, on the other hand, is a one trick pony. She can sell - very well too - but Sugar has, in every series, stated that he doesn't just want a salesperson.

I think he knew that Liz wasn't for him, so got rid of her for that reason.

It could be said that the last 2 weeks have seen someone fired, not because of performance on that particular task, but purely because Sugar doesn't think they've got what he's looking for.

But none of them have shown those skills and everyone else has made more catastrophic errors and/or is difficult and can't do what Liz can do as well.

That may be just because the tasks are so bad that they neither show or develop ability, but even then you don't sack the uninspired but competent before you sack the obviously useless and problem ridden.

The only factor that jumps out about the last 5 is that 4 of them dropped out of education without getting a degree. We have selection by similarity with the bosses CV. Thats simply not acceptable when most of the population that is able enough is now going to university and working hard to get there.

This is a brilliant post. How incredibly well said

Really not trying to promise you fields of ponies, networkbabe, but I am loving this post too.
I never cease to be amazed by LS's ridiculously contradictory approach to analysing the candidate's competence... I just think this completely sums up/exposes LS's 'logic' this week.

Come on! Who didn't want to see Stuart in the interviews?

Sugar's job obviously isn't based on sales so you can see why Liz was at a dead end. After last week's episode I lost all sympathy. Of course she was 100x more competent than Stuart but I still want to be entertained, sorry.

Sorry guys but I was thrilled that Stuart is still in the show.
He is unbelievably entertaining and cracks me up.
Stuart's comment on the urine smell as they passed what looked like a multi storey car park was funny.
I was disappointed that it was not picked up by "The Apprentice, You're Fired" programme.
I think Stella should have gone.

Good decision, Sid.
Liz? Knock, knock, anyone in?

Why does this always happen with female candidates?

Liz seemed to be on autopilot though. Like the rest of us she assumed she couldn't be going.

But you could tell LS was prodding her a bit this week, hoping to get mroe of a reaction from her but all she did was smile and act demure.

She didn't realize she was being asked to put up a fight and show some mettle this week.

All that said, her firing is LS's loss and the contest is weaker for it. She's probably too good to end up flogging cheap Amstrad tat anyway!

I will miss Liz's eyes, legs and beautifully made up face but to be honest she gave a poor account of herself in the boardroom. Why didn't she bring up her track record in the competition. She said herself on You've Been Fired, she physically shrunk under the Baggs bombardment. He may be a terminal bullshitter, but give him his due, he fought like a tiger whereas the lovely Liz just simpered.

I cannot agree with you. Liz could not stand up for herself in the Boardroom and had to go. Simple as that.

I actually thought the correct person was fired.

Liz stared off great but she has been fading away and for someone who has a Business degree, to get the ticket prices so wrong andnot to step in soon enough wasn't so good on her part. Both Stuart and Liz were at fault but Stuart's save me plea was what saved him and sealed Liz's fate.

Joanna and Stella are much better candidates than Liz.

No one has touched on this but the similarities with Kate last year are there.

I think he suspected Kate was going to do very well anyway and didnt need the job and would make more money than this anyway and so it has proved.

I suspect he knew tha Liz would be again the glam candidate that the media would require and the seeds are starting to show towards this already.

I suspect he knew even IF she won she was never likely to stick around.

Liz will make more money than the rest of them because of this, and didnt really need to win, although sadly there are parallels with Big Brother etc here

Couldn't agree more! I'm quite surprised that so many people were shocked because Liz was fired last night - I only saw it as further proof that Lord Sugar is not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He is a blustering idiot who 'made it' through sheer good luck and a fair bit of hard graft in the early days, but when you look at his companies in depth it's clear that the man is sitting on a house of cards.

I snorted out loud when he thought it 'innovative' of Chris to hand over 20% of their profit. How ridiculous can you get?

I have never (not once!) agreed with any of the winners he's picked, and in all honesty that makes me feel relieved!

He is as much of a joke as a businessman and recruiter of business talent as Baggs is as a candidate. Sugar has always been like this from the beginning, indulging male candidates from Paul onwards, through idiots like Syed and now Baggs while dismissing talented female candidates like Liz. It is sad that the BBC sees fit to have a throwback like him fronting such a programme and to put this out as a flagship business programme transmitting to women the message that however educated and talented you are, you are never as good as the merest idiot male who makes a show of himself with bombast in the boardroom - and who only managed to sell half of what you sold.

If you give Liz a project to lead and a target to make a million she'll do just that.

Give Stuart the same project and the same target and he may well make ten million, he may just as easily lose two million.

That's what saved him this week, but he won't get any further than the interviews.

Joanna and Stella will contest the final because they get things done.

They probably should and in that case it will tun into a battle of the journeys from humble beginnings.........

There's a big issue lurking though called Chris. Chris the banker. Chris with the first class degree. Chris who attracts no comments on his education or banking past. Chris who has been kept when others who mucked up less than him went. Chris who got praise for good decisions when he was probably floundering. The similarities with Simon even down to degree class are striking.

very true

I think it was a very good decision- I think Stuart comes across as the kind of character that people might not like on a personal level but who can operate well on a professional level. What he did last night is pretty much standard in business, you don't just let your competitor sell and hold back because of good manners. You get in there, question their assertions and try to give the customer a second option. Worst case scenario is they go with the original offer and you have not lost anything. Best case you take the customer.

I can't see how people can claim he is useless- he is clearly not. Some of the most insightful comments have come from him (along with some very stupid ones)

Liz would have made LS a good profit on exisiting products and campaigns, she can sell very well (much better than I) but she is not going to innovate. Stuart might not come up with anything decent but atleast he is looking at new ideas, he understands that new streams of revenue need to be explored and he isn't afraid to put his neck on the line.

He is shrewd, he knows what to say to appeal to Lord Sugar-

I don't understand why people say he can't sell- he just sold himself to the main man with a great speech, you might not like it but you were not his target, LS was- and LS bought it.

I think he was right in saying that Liz was good, but nothing special. Personally I always felt she was over-rated due to her good looks, and that record sale, but aside from that, she didn't do much.

And StuBaggs' speech was absolutely hilarious.

I don't think it was because of that; it was more that Raef had had a fairly good record up to that task, whereas Michael had by then left a long trail of screw-ups behind him. And on that task, Raef and Michael were really both equally culpable; they made all the mistakes together. The only reason that made any sense for firing Raef was that as PM he was the more culpable.

Brilliant post . Sugar has lost all credibility for the past few series especially when it comes to the latter stages of the Apprentice.

I'm totally baffled why some of the candidates are prepared to leave excellent jobs to come on this show which has been totally devalued for the past few series.

LS is acting very odd this series (wonder if all that BS with the BBC and the show being delayed because of the election is playing some factor).
or hes just going for people he knows will make good TV as the 'job' isnt that important.

do the former winners even still work for him?