That Alan Sugar. He’s such a hard-ass isn’t he? With his big boardroom and his two old assistants and his rubbish e-mail telephones that nobody wants.

If the makers of The Apprentice had brought in a fat goat in a top hat and a monocle to fire people, the show would still be the best thing on TV. In fact, it’d be the best thing ever in the universe.

But Sir Alan does lend a big helping of steely business analysis that the goat probably wouldn’t, in fairness. He can see through complex problems and cut straight to the heart of the matter, identify what went wrong and deal with it. Except for last week, when he didn’t fire Saira. The idiot.

So the news that big Al has rehired contestants that he’d already shown the door comes as a surprise to everyone.

Apparently, four ex-Apprentice hopefuls have been working for his businesses for six months.

What does it all mean? There’s more on the story at This Is London.

[story by Stuart Heritage]