In all my years of telly watching I have not seen such an injustice. Forget Spurs losing the Worthington Cup Final to Blackburn in 2002, forget Rhydian Roberts being mugged in the X Factor.

For Rafe Bjayou to be dismissed this week represents one of the grossest miscarriages of justice in the trivial TV age.

I can ACCEPT that Rafe and his team fundamentally did not fully advertise their product.

I do NOT accept that that alone should have lost them the task

Lee's pitch was absolutely APPALLING! Sugar didn't say enough about how bad it really was, it was like a child who couldn't read. Even worse than Kevin's and that's saying something.

Claire's pitch on the other hand...was very good.

Second. Their box design was clearly worse, with Lucinda costantly at odds with her team mates about it.

Sugar is quite happy to be sucked in by Alex's adverts because they shoved their lousy box into the picture, BUT he ignored the fact that the advert was like something out of the 1970's, happy crappy nuclear family discussing tissues liberally over breakfast - it was utter hogwash.

YES Rafe's ad ignored the product, but their advert was far superior in essence and I think overall, Alex's team was far worse, Lucinda even knew it before they entered the boardroom.

I think Alan just 'said' they lost, we have no idea what those people were referring to when the feedback came in, he just wanted to get it down to three a team

So fine, have Rafe's lose...but for gods sake...don't actually FIRE Rafe! Are you bloody mad! He has consistantly, week on week, provided the most level headedness, the most professionalism, the most successful risks and the most integrity, more so than all of the other candidates put together.

When he was the PM the first time, his side cruised to victory in the laundry task, no-one had a bad word to say about the man. Last week, even after being forced into a bear suit by the BBC he still had the balls to push for expensive wedding dresses, in which the selling of two was enough to win his team the task.

So when Raef finally makes an error, he gets fired on the spot. Almost as if Sugar was waiting to get rid of him purely because of his hair or something.

That little scab Michael, who was been the pioneer of failure three weeks running has actually NOT been fired, even though he has already attempted bribery and lied to Sir Alan. Neither of which Raef would ever dream of.

I was watching as Raef killed Michael in the boardroom, telling him exactly what we all thought of him, that was a plain and simple liar, he was squirming, he was gonna get fired...surely....but no, Sugar saved him, and told Raef HE was the one who had hot air...this after Michael begged to stay last week.

It just goes to show how far brown-nosing gets you in business and how much actual talent does not.

Yes Raef should have been in the BR, but why wasn't he given at least one more chance? Michaels had two, Claire's had two. Sugar plays favourites, Sugar is a SHAM! I'm disgusted with him tonight. He should be stripped on his knighthood forthwith! My intelligence is insulted beyond repair

A DISGRACE!

I feel your pain...

eta: my problem with advertising tasks like these is that they are purely subjective, we have no idea which would actually have generated a more positive response with the public. That's why I think they should stick to tasks with measurable results.

Excellent post.

I was utterly astounded that Raef went tonight.

I don't care who wins now

You've literally taken the words right out of my mouth (although I still think Same Difference should've won The X Factor!)

It was a shocker.

I reckon even John Terry would have stopped bemoaning his luck when he found out about this.

Dreadful dreadful decision.

Raef was fired??? Damn, I must have missed that episode.

I'm glad you all agree

And I haven't even mentioned Rafe stepping in and saving Sara from the flock of abuse that the others were handing her, one of these sh**s is now gonna work for Sir Al, I hope they screw him over royally.

I think they won't need to.... Sir Alan has screwed himself!

What a plonker.

There's a poll over on the Heat site where almost everyone seems to have voted that Michael should have been fired and virtually no one has voted for Raef... so it's not just DS.


http://www.heatworld.com/Article/572...ight/5#votebox

I hate watching Sir Al on You're Fired and watching him try and justify keeping his mini me in the show. Out-effing-rageous.

I agree on both counts

First Simon and now Raef...it makes you wonder whether there's any room for honesty and decency in business

Go Lucinda!!!!

Aww, Raef's Best Moments clip is up on YT....

http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=g1T2we4GJmU

I liked when Adrian said that with a lot of candidates they struggled to get even 30 seconds of footage together but in Raefs case that wasn't ever going to be a problem...

Everyone on that show was stunned that Rafe was removed. Even Adrian looked angered. He knows the score.

Wholeheartedly agree Rhydler! I said two weeks back the only nice ones were Sara, Raef and Lucinda. Now we've lost two of them in two weeks and it looks like one of the nasty, incompetent candidates will win. We shouldn't be surprised really; Michelle over Ruth? Simon over Kristina? Sir Alan always makes bad decisions.

It was a shocker...but it did demonstrate that he easily gets wrapped up in all things artistic and aesthetic rather than going about it in a business manner.

He was one of the stars of the series though.

Evening Norris

I've just watched the whole debacle on iplayer, and I can't believe it!

Why is Raef still being nice about that tosser Michael?

I hope Lucinda wipes the floor with the rest of them, but SAS is crap with his choices, as demonstrated this evening (and last year). I really wouldn't be surprised if bladdy Michael won (Where's the steam coming out of ears smiley when you need it?!)

I'd say presentation is important in business, Alan was literally telling him to direct shit. Sugar showed himself up today as a slipshod lazy businessman tonight. He thinks he;s the star of the show, but he f**ked up royally tonight.

I think the fact he called Michael 'an odious little tw*t' was a good indication of that. I agree there was an air of disbelief about proceedings this week....

I honestly think that SAS and co under estimated how much people would take to Raef...it's madness to get rid of the person who is probably the most popular in the show at this stage!

Mutt - it's not even that he was popular, he really was the best person, by FAR the best person, my god, that is so obvious!

Because he's a decent fellow...I think he disapporves of Michael as a candidate but likes him as a person. He has some harsh words for Michael in his exit interview...


http://www.bbc.co.uk/apprentice/news...e/cid/158.html

I've really liked Raef all the way through, but it is clear that he made some stupid decisions this week - there was no point in the "celebrity" endorsement and it wasn't clear from the ad what he was selling.

Ultimately, I think both Raef and Michael were equally to blame for the failure and Raef went because he was the PM.

Oh come on! I know that you like Raef but for goodness sake the man missed the whole point of the task - to advertise a box of tissues with an anti-bacterial effect. Simple task really and he turned it into a puff for himself and how wonderful he was at drama. Give me strength!

Sugar will be watching that and realize that he shouldn't have fired him

Always one.

No, you give me strength, are you forgetting his success rate in the rest of the series, funny how past form is an issue for Al's fave's, but not for ones of different social stratas?

He was talked into editing out the close-up of the box by Michael. This was shown on screen and it was the only mistake Rafe has made in the entire series - it was Michaels 500th.

It's a FACT that Rafe shouldn't have gone.

Hi DB - feels like a reunion

I thought SAS was being a bit of an inverted snob, going on about Raef's ad being 'artistic', tbh. It WAS crap, but it wasn't artistic, and it certainly wasn't as crap as the other ad!

I remember SAS being annoyed when his Orange mate did obscure ads, which didn't blatantly (ala Cillit Bang) get in your face, so I can see why he preferred the other ad (even though it was like a very poorly acted scene from Terry & June). Maybe Raef should have employed Barry Scott (or Terry Scott - is he still alive?!)