It was so obvious last night, and I'm very annoyed because for the first time ever I felt that Alan kept someone in, not for their ability, but for entertainment. It was plain as day that he kept Jenny in to be this years "Katie the pantomime villan". The panel and the audience on BBC2 looked embarrised for poor Shazia as it was clear she was shafted.

Obviously, as a viewer I want to be entertained, but when things like last night happen, the "reality" aspect of the show go's out the window and you feel like Sugar is working off a script. The show has so many interesting characters this year, that we did'nt need to keep Jenny in just for conflict........you can be sure it's going to happen anyway with this bickering lot. I feel realy let down and sorry for Shazia. Alan even said that he had to hold Jenny FULLY responsible for the failure of the task.........yet obviosuly he did'nt.

Im not happy Sir Alan.

Agreed - my thoughts exactly. Although I suppose last week if he wanted to keep someone in for the pure entertainment value that de Lacy Brown (or whatever his name was) fitted the bill perfectly - I think SAS missed a trick by booting him out so early on in the contest!

Agreed, but last week was easy for Sir Alan, as all 3 in the boardroom had great comic/entertainment value. He coud'nt realy lose. Last night was a clear an "wrong" firing as you will ever see.

I do think that Sir Alan thought Shazia just sloped off home to bed, leaving the rest of them in the poo - he said so in the board room and in the you've been fired prog.
If thats the case then Shazia must take some of the blame for not forceably pointing out that she went to the house for a reason, and if it caused problems then it was Jenny's fault for not sending someone else back to get the irons.

Yup clearly trying to set Jenny up as Katie the second. They're just going to drag her through until the end, trying to make us think that she's some sort of master manipulator business person, when it's obvious to everyone that she's just nasty and shite :yawn:

Jenny is just a typical bully picking on one person to try to make herself look good,what did Lucinda actually do wrong last night apart from sleeping in.

The Scottish woman on the You're Fired! panel said Shazia didn't deserve to be fired in terms of her work but that she hadn't played it very cleverly in the boardroom, which is part of the game, and so did deserve to be fired, because part of what keeps people in is being able to play the politics in the boardroom.

Anyway she came across very well on the programme so I'm sure it will have done her some good.

I was a bit baffled by yesterday's decision too

At first, I was wondering whether Jenni was kept in as she would make good tv.

Thinking about Shazia's past, I wonder if Sir Alan was either scared of her actions or worried about her commitment to his company. Shazia has already sued a previous employer for over £1m! Well atleast the money keeps her in mosaic pieces!

The sad thing is you have to be willing to play the back stabbing game to make it in a lot of modern industry

Absolutely stupid decision last night.

Jenny was blatantly crap.
Shazia basically single handedly managed the washing, and had left enough info for anyone with a brain to sort out what was left before Jenny sent her home, yet somehow SAS decided her going home had ruined the task.

It makes me wish they would show SAS the footage in the boardroom rather than let the Project Manager basically lie.

At least this season Margaret and Nick are getting more involved.

I agree, it was quite obvious she was kept in for 'entertainment' value as opposed to any descernable talent she may have. The woman is a spiteful bully and I'm sure there'd be a full on revolt if she was every fully in charge of staff

we're all gonna go through this series thinking, that bi**h jenny should have gone ages ago, until sir alan comes to his senses.

i'd love to see an apology from sir alan, saying he got it wrong

That's exactly the reason why Sir Alan got rid of her. He'll never admit it. He's doing the same as happens in business come up with a 'thin' rationale of why he didn't employ. All this fury about Jenny not going is making me laugh. Yes - on the task she deserved to go & she will shortly but the first time Shazia was sat in front of Sir Alan she was a goner. When I watched last night it didn't make sense but when I saw the background to this girl it all fell into place. Is he wrong?? From a discrimination standpoint - yes but he's an experienced businessman & makes judgement calls. He made one last night. This has what has made him so successful. He wanted rid of Shazia as soon as he could as there was no way he was going to take her on in his company.

I've just watched it on iPlayer, and completely agree that on the merit of the ask alone, then Jenny shold have been booted oot.
if Shazia wasn't ever a real contender, then why on earth was she picked to be on it in the first place???

hit nail on the head - I don't think she stuck up for herself enough. her error was minor compared to Jenny's abject failure to lead. very unfair to shoot the foot-soldier when the general got it completely wrong. £5000 for a day's laundry? yer avin a laff!

Hmm, although this will never go on the scale of Jade and co in CBB6, I wonder if this could turn into a fairly big issue in the media - especially now Shazia's free to speak out. And Alan will have to say exactly why he didn't keep her.

He's said why. Doesn't need to say anything else. Lets face it nearly everyone on here bought his rationale & has spent the last day spitting feathers about Jenny. I suspect he felt if he left it any longer & she started to 'shine' in the show he would be in a more difficult situation. Personally I think there are far better Apprentice candidates anyway.

why on earth would it????

I would like to know why she was even in the show if she had that kind of background. Remember, this interview process would have been shot before the media got to anybody.

I think I've almost completely lost my faith in the show. Katie's relative success and the Simon's absolute success disgusted me last year - this year I could see sense in firing Nicholas on the bigger picture, but surely if you're going to set a tasks, the tasks should be the main accountability in the first few episodes before the general performances shine through. This has not been the case this year. Alex had some merit, Jenny (and even Lucinda to an extent) had none - both far weaker than Shazia (who's only offense was being quieter than the other two - not a bad sign in a worker).

Of course, the legal debate throws it all up again, but it's a shame that she was even ON the show in that case...

And therein lies the problem. Are we watching a game show or an interview? If it's a game show then yes Shazia played it wrong. If; however, we are watching an extremely tough and gruelling interview where your every move is scrutinised then it was a terrible decision, and the abilities of the observers/advisers has to be called into question. If SAS really didn't want Shazia then they could have come up with a better reason than the one given, or even edited the programme so she appeared to be incompetent. Last night was the first time where I genuinely couldn't see the "business" reason for firing someone over those who were left in the room.

What reason did Sir Alan give for firing Shazia, I was so annoyed I can't remember.

For leaving the washing machines 'unattended' when she had organised the affair and was therefore responsible to see it through to the end, as the rest of the candidates are far too stupid to, I don't know, call her and ask her if they couldn't understand what SURELY couldn't have been a difficult system?

Its not only that quiet has merits, its that by the time he gets to the end he has a record of choosing the least forceful candidate left.

What comes out of the apprentice is how poor is SirAlans judgement of people. We could make a long list of people who should have stayed.

The latest is probably his worst on the basis that Jenny was a clear candidate for the boot.

Considering he has his aides to help him it is a puzzling but as other posts have said there is the entertainment value of Jenny and this is an entertainment programme.