Lohit stepped his game up majorly for me this week. So much so that he has suddenly risen to become my new favourite.

I think he's proven he has honesty and integrity.
He performs well on all the tasks.
He's proven he can lead.
No-one has a bad word to say about him.
He's articulate and can fight his corner in the boardroom.

Sadly, I think most of this has gone unnoticed by SAS. He was far too harsh on him in the boardroom. And to even contemplate firing him over Jadine or Tre at this stage was just LUDICROUS!

It's time for us to do what SAS failed to do, and give Lohit some credit when it's due.

Not entirely true

Well, I was referring to the candidates themselves with that comment. They all seem to like him, and they were the ones who had to live and work with him, so that scores him some big brownie points in my book. If you look at the interviews with the fired contestants, you'll see all the comments about Lohit were very positive.

I'm aware some viewers may not think much of him due to the poor edits he's been getting, but quite frankly, they don't know what their talking about.

I like him, he seems like the only one of the candidates to be a thoroughly decent person. But there's no way Sir Alan will hire him, sad to say - probably for the above reason.

He won his task selling in France and when he talked about the possibility of losing, he decided that it would be his responsibility which I don't think I've ever heard any other candidate say.

He's quietly competent, and performs well. He's certainly much better than Tre or Simon.

Without wanting to appear as a troll , I have to say that Katie said that too.

Although I agree that overall as an Apprentice he's better than Tre and Simon although for purely selfish reasons I prefer Simon over him!

He's the only one of the remaining candidates that I would want to work with.

He also looks impeccably smart all the time - bet he smells good too!

I was actually very impressed at the way he spoke up for himself in the BR this week, confronting Tre directly as to why he had chosen him over Simon - which I thought was a very fair point.

My only criticism of him in the past was that he has not had a lot to say for himself, but I thought he redressed that this week.

It is obvious though that Sir Alan hasn't taken to him, dismissing his protests as "well, you're very articulate..." (what??)

I think everyone had decided it was time for Jadine to go (her included). Tre was very lucky that Sir Alan let him off, Lohit shouldn't even have been in the BR - Simon was a waste of space on that task, and was saved by his buddy.

I like Lohit and he is the one I would want to work with the most of all those left, but Sir Alan doesn't seem to rate him so I don't think he'll get much further unfortunately.

I thought Lohit did very well in the BR. Sir Alan's attack on Lohit reminded me of his earlier attacks on Tre & Katie, two candidates he actually appears to like. He never really seems to get as agressive with the people he isnt interested in. I think he was trying to provoke Lohit to find out if there was more to him than just being competent.

He is one of my favourites

Lohit is good but he's quiet i'm not saying he needs to be loud or arrogant to get attention, i mean i agree what sir alan said about him, he need killer instinict (sorry don't know how to spell lol)

I agree he defended his corner very well. I didn't realise he could be so articulate.

I'm not too sure if SAS was just putting pressure on him just to test him though..... It did seem to me like he doesn't rate Lohit all that highly, since he didn't seem to give him any credit for ANYTHING whatsoever despite the fact that he'd performed very well both on the task and in the BR.

The 'too nice' argument just seemed like an excuse for him to pick fault at Lohit.

I agree. He did the same with Sharon last year and fired her when she clearly wasn't the worst on the task or out of the ones left.

Like everyone else I was impressed by Lohit's BR performance this week. It made a refreshing change to hear someone stand his corner in an articulate manner and without having to turn down the sound on my TV. I hope Jamie181 is right and SAS just put the pressure on him to test his mettle.

I know! I think it's just SAS's way of justifying that they aren't really his type of people. It's not a very solid argument.

ANd it's kind of ironic, really, to say he was "too nice", since Lohit was actually being the most ruthless and gutsy he's ever been in the way he defended himself. He was quite clear about why they failed the task, and wasn't scared to tell SAS about who he thought was at fault, even though Jadine was a very good friend of his.

SAS didn't seem to want to hear any of it though. I think he's already made up his mind about Lohit, sadly.

Unlike Tre . He should have picked Simon. I really hope it comes down to them two in the boardroom and then they'll realise that making friends to that extent in a competition like this and excusing their faults is a huge mistake.

Just thought I would rescue this thread from the doldrums, as it's seem likely next week will be the end of Lohit if SAS gets his wicked way.

Show him your appreciation while you still can! He did quite well selling with Katie on last night's task..........

Sir Alan said he thought Lohit looked embarrassed trying to sell women's underwear, but I thought he seemed pretty comfortable with it. Is Sir Alan too naive/backward/old to realise Lohit is gay?

Well, I'm gay too, but I don't think I'd be very good at selling ladies undies on the tv either.

Just because he's gay doesn't mean he has some kind speciality on the subject, less so infact.

Kristina was my favourite but Lohit has really impressed me in the past few weeks and has become my new favourite.

What I like about Lohit is the fact that he has worked hard on every task, getting on with what the team leader asks him to do without moaning or whining. He is also supportive of other members of his team during the task.

Reckon he would be an asset to any business, as if you are working alongside people, you need to be a team player and IMHO Lohit has certainly demonstrated that. Glad to say he's also quite capable of standing up for himself, should the necessity arise, so he's certainly no doormat.

Sadly, I think he's just not aggressive or pushy enough to appeal to Sir Alan.

Gorgeous and Gay! He couldn't have been better.

I think it’s a bit harsh everyone saying he is too nice - like Lohit said its not a bad thing to be nice and if getting the job means acting like those arrogant, "I am a millionaire", interviewers then I would say he is better off out of it anyway.

I think it’s a bad example to show youngsters that giving the perception to succeed in business you have to be a ruthless, arrogant git!

He is now a BT employee!

You’re hired, BT tells Lohit
--------------------------------
Thursday June 07th 2007. Posted: 08:00

Sir Alan Sugar’s famous line “You’re fired” may still be ringing in his ears - but for one apprentice, BT has said the words all prospective interviewees want to hear: “You’re hired”.

Lohit Kalburgi, one of the final five candidates - and one of three to be fired during last night’s (Wednesday’s) penultimate episode of the BBC reality programme The Apprentice - has joined the BT Retail consumer unit as a business solution designer.

He was chosen from more than 10,000 hopefuls to take part in the show to find an apprentice to join Sir Alan’s consumer electronics company Amstrad. The winner will work for 12 months on a salary of £100,000.

Lohit was working as a telecoms manager for text messaging company MBlox when he heard that he had been chosen to take part in the 12-week programme.

He said: “I was actually on my way home from my first interview with BT when I took the call telling me I had been picked as one of the 16 would-be apprentices. I had been a fan of the programme since it started, so I was thrilled to be picked.”

Born in Dubai to Indian parents, Lohit’s family moved to New Zealand when he was 13. Not afraid of hard work, Lohit went to the University of Aukland, taking two degrees in parallel - one in international business and the other in information systems - and working for a telecoms company part-time to gain business experience.

“Working through both degrees, I was easily experiencing 12 to 14-hour days, seven days a week,” he said. “But I was getting a lot out of the experience, so I persevered.” In 2005, Lohit moved to London to broaden his experience.

Life in the Apprentice house was “pretty tough”, said Lohit. “We were only allowed three phone calls home during the whole filming process – supervised, of course,” he said. “Our mobiles and wallets were confiscated as soon as we arrived and we were never allowed anywhere on our own.

“It was hard living and working with the same people 24 hours a day – especially when everyone was so competitive. Certain people watched everything you did, looking for mistakes they could bring up in the boardroom to make themselves look better.”

Inevitably, Lohit said it was impossible to get along with everyone in the house. But –surprisingly for the candidate who described himself as “the nice guy” – his closest friend has turned out to be Katie.

“The Katie you see on the programme is only about five per cent of the real person,” he said. “She’s a fantastic girl and we speak on the phone regularly.”

Because of the way filming is done, even Lohit doesn’t know who the winner will be. “Sir Alan is the only person who knows – and he’ll announce his decision live next week during the final programme,” he said.

Despite being fired by him, Lohit thinks highly of Sir Alan. “I never felt nervous going into the boardroom,” he said. “I don’t think Sir Alan is as gruff as he appears on TV.”

So does he have any regrets? “Absolutely not – it was an amazing experience,” said Lohit. “And I’m truly thrilled to be working for BT and looking forward to working on some exciting and challenging projects with great people across the company in the future.”

Source: http://www.btplc.com/today/art66025.html