Has Alan Sugar lost his mind?

Well, I really wasn't expecting that.

No, not Ashley dying in Coronation Street. I had a strong suspicion that was going to happen - he'd do anything to get out of moving to France - and his fate was sealed as soon as Claire left that soppy message on his phone, which of course he had to listen to before heroically trying to keep up the bar roof and save his pals, then disappearing beneath the rubble.

No, the big surprise of last night's TV viewing was Liz Locke being fired from The Apprentice.

What on earth was Alan Sugar thinking? She was my tip to win the show. She's clever, she's a hard-worker, she's a nice person and gets on with people, she's pretty and she's a Midlander. What more could you possibly want?

A stupid turn of phrase, clearly. That's what wins over Suralan every time. Forget breaking The Apprentice sales record by getting an order of almost £100,000, what Suralan wants is for candidates to spout nonsense.

You could tell he was won over by Staurt Baggs as soon as he said: "I'm not a one-trick pony, I'm not a 10-trick pony, I'm a whole field of ponies - and they're literally all running towards this job."

How on earth is he still there? I understand that Suralan (yes, I know he's a lord now but he'll always be Suralan to me) sees himself in the young whippersnapper (he's only 21, you know), but keeping him in over excellent candidates like LIz is madness.