Hi darl ...not like me to be watching TA on Wed after a few drinks but with AI and Eurovision tomorrow needs must!!

Raef is still being nice about Michael because he's a decent guy

I'd have steam coming out of my ears if Tossophocles won, but that goes for almost all of them

If we lose Lucinda it would be like watching ManUre and Chelski in the European Cup final...who cares who wins because the options are loathsome

Raef went because SAS fancies Michael.

Oh I agree with that, and when he came out with the ' Mr Elegant and Mr Perfect' line.....I was like, WTF are you on about, SAS?

I always love FACT on DS in block capitals

(I agree with you BTW )

Hiiiiiiiiiiiiiii Mutts

What are you implying?

Hi there!

Lol..well at the very least he has a 'man crush' on him....

It's the only thing that makes sense!!

Reunion extraordinaire

I just wish Raef wasn't so forgiving. I don't think he realises, even now, just what a tosser Michael is. Michael, clearly, couldn't give a stuff about anyone, other than himself, yet Raef still kind of stuck up for him (although he did mention the rat jumping a sinking ship).

I really, really hope that Michael makes the interview stage, and is exposed for what he is!

Somehow I think Raef will be ok, he is and was clearly the star of the show and there is no doubt he will do a lot better for himself by not winning.

It's not the last we have seen of Raef in the media, I have no doubt about that.

Maybe thats why Sugar is keeping him in, so his dad Kemsley can destroy him.


So in that case, fire Claire. NOT the best candidate EVER>

Oh dear God, I had to watch that bollocks this evening Put those handbags away, girls (having said that, if I was the one that got 'smacked', I'd have done the other one for common assault )

Back on topic - Raef is too nice, and too 'posh' for his own and SAS's deluded good.

Everyone left, bar Lucinda, is a waster, so he's bound to employ some dunderhead like Lee or Alex

I agree with you there, I think Raef will ultimately do far better than the other candidates one way or another. He will have the last laugh, as it were.

Did you get my pm mutt?

It's ironic that the candidate that has occasionally been labelled a 'toff' should ultimately prove to be the victim of snobbery, especially when he has shown himself not to be snobbish in the least!

No, I disagree. Sir Alan has now had many weeks to assess the character and relative merits of each of the candidates. It's a safe bet, that in his own mind, he has already decided who his apprentice will be.

I was sorry to see the departure of Raef. He was entertaining and likeable, and will be missed. Just for his defence of Saira alone ( when attacked by Alex, Lee and Jenny ) he got my vote. His performance tonight was poor, because he took his eye off the ball - and so had to go.

I've previously stated, that Michael Sophocles has already had his card marked, and will soon be fired. I doubt Sir Alan would want to employ someone who can't be trusted, as Michael has shown on numerous tasks. Michael is also very likely to upset most of Sir Alan's existing staff.

I actually think Lee has a good chance. I think Sir Alan likes him.

The best candidate never wins!!!!

In agreement with the majority of all here.

OT to the OP: I still think Leon won over Rhydian anyday of the week

i honestly tought alex was going this week but "raefs team" generally made the biggest mistake when they invited sian lloyd over to pitch there profuct but did not use her talents.

Alex's team had the best name- i was shoutung it at the screen whilst they were brainstorming and finally they picked it.#
The box and the add were dreadful and they should have listened to lucifer ///oops sorry lucinda, who for despiter her incessent moaning was right.

the acting was atrocious but the ad stuck out so badly that you would remember the product and the ad did mention all the things that they were required to do .

Raef was quick to dismis this Ad as a pile of rubbish as he honestly belived that his team had one and i think this "arrogance is what had him fired".

they should have used sian and a weather map and used the pollen count and instead of giing it going to be ihigh etc here done something like it will be sneezy here here and here but dont worry because we also have ilove my tissues here here and here.The add focused too much on the story of the little boy and his "friend" and missed the point of the product . the name of the tissues was also not very good. I Think they were trying to rip off another trademark name and not spenidng enough time being original thought there box was subtlehad great use of colours etc it other than the name didnt give me any idea what was in the box and would be easily missed if i looked on the shelf where as the yellow monstrosity left me with no doubt.

this task was down to the advertisers to pick the best product and althought lee had a extremely cringeworthy presentation the name was inspired and that coupled with the fact you were left in no doubt as to wat they were selling won the advertisers over.


so out of the four of them this week sas had a very difficult descision becasuse as he said he was left very frustrated they had done 95% of the work. claire - realy came into her own on this task and for once made me like her she worked haed drove the team and was the real project manager. michael was -very clever again this week as raef sat in the cafe with his charm offensive and did not really think that the others were going to crucify him but alas this is both business and reality tv so no-one is going to be that nice if its you or them up for leaving.

I honestly belive based on tonights task alone sas made the correct desciion and as with any business you are only as good as your last pitch or last sale . Advertising is a tough market it doesnt matter that you have a good reputation if you miss the brief on this product/

THe team of four had an excellent oppurtunity to thrash the team of three but spent too much focusing on the relatioshop side and not enought on the product.

A lovely interview with Raef in today's Sun newspaper. He doesn't have a bad word to say about any of his fellow contestants and realises he probably left because he was too nice.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle1193255.ece


Even Katie Hopkins has some kind words for Raef in her blog and was sad to see him go.

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage...cle1192423.ece

Raef was definitely the nicest person in there - after Simon left - but not the best candidate for SAS's apprentice. Of the three in the boardroom I reckon Sir Alan wants Michael to reach the interview stage and be lulled into belief that he can win (as he did last night, his face when he realised he was on the losing team was wonderful) and then unceremoniously dropped from a very great height. I think Claire is one of the potential winners so on that basis Raef was always the one who was going to be fired last night. If Raef had brought Helene into the boardroom he may have had a chance to survive another week or two perhaps but no more.

Yes, I think you have a point. If Sir Alan is automatically disinclined to anyone posh, Raef's confidence will have really rubbed him up the wrong way.

Although how anyone could be irritated by Raef is beyond me. The guy is seriously one of the loveliest, most honourable people I've seen on telly, let alone The Apprentice.


If that ad idea is yours, it's bloody great!

I agree with your analysis about the task and who should have gone.

I'm GUTTED Raef has gone. I thought it should be him and Lucinda in the final, and he's certainly someone I could work for.

But, and this is a huge but, I've had time to reflect on his performance last night and on the comments of Sir Alan and Nick. And I realise that I haven't actually seen Raef delivering results in the same way as, say, Claire has, week in week out. I see him being a lovely guy, a professional team-mate, an articulate speaker and a great colleague, and I think that's massively important and a major asset to someone managing people. But I don't see him delivering a knock-out performance each week that demonstrates commercial savvy, strategic thinking, business intellect, understanding of markets/clients/suppliers, etc. And if you're going to receive a salary of 100,000k and project manage something substantial, they're the kind of competences you really need to exhibit.

I think if the Apprentice role was about leading a team, Raef or Lucinda would be dead certs. And rightly so. Raef ticks all the right boxes in that respect. But it's probably not that kind of job. It's probably about managing the development, marketing and/or selling of something. In which case, Raef isn't the man for that job as much as it pains me to admit it. To that end, Sir Alan and Nick's ultimate assessment was correct.

I hate to admit it but I think that was the case - Raef though should not have gone over Michael - Michael had his chance last week and he clearly went into back stabbing mode in the BR which Raef pulled him up on and SA turned a blind eye to. Yes it was an artistic ad (I much preferred it and their box design to the other garish trash) but it didn't blatantly make it clear what was for sale - so the right team went in (and the other time were very very lucky) but Raef is a gentleman, he has impressed me in this series, and he is good - perhaps he is a bit too posh for SA I don't know - but SA made a mistake keeping Michael and Clare over Raef in my opinion.

It's about time Sir Alan was fired.

I was disgusted when he said to Michael that he wouldn't be PM, even though he had begged him to, and that Raef woulde be.

It was obvious that he knew that if Michael was PM and his team failed he would have to fire him

That was naughty (!) and shows that it is about time SirAlan was replaced with someone who wouldn't let his favourites cloud their decisions.

Whether Raef should have been fired or not because of his performance as PM is irelevant when SirAlan pulls a stunt like that.

yes I had forgotten that - why did he decide not to make Michael PM? He should have explained that in the vt afterwards - let's hope he chooses Michael to be PM next week

OMG I am absolutely gutted that Raef went! SAS has made the worst ever decisions this year! what a mistake! why that tw*t Michael is still there I don't know!

first michelle over the badger and now micheal over raef. has SAS ever make a good business decision?