Apprentice star Syed perhaps not the high flier he claims!

Fans of the BBC's "The Apprentice" will be more than aware of the impression Syed Ahmed has made on the show. A TV gem, in the biography section of the show's website, Syed states that "£100,000 salary is not enough but it’s a good place to start".

Although we don't often link to The Sun on Bytestart - an article published a few weeks ago makes interesting reading.

According to ex-colleagues, Syed isn't the "entrepreneur" he claims to be. The tabloid reports that, just one year ago, Syed was earning £25k as a consultant in a small firm.

Back on the profile section on the BBC site, Syed claims to have spent the last two years working as a director of his own IT recruitment company with a turnover of £1.6m.

This may sound impressive to many, but the turnover of an IT recruitment company is based on gross fees charged to clients - so this "£1.6m", in fact, represents the gross billings of, perhaps just 10 to 20 IT workers!

Whatever the "facts" behind Syed's business background, there are few doubts about his star status on the TV show. Following his survival on last week's show, on his departure from the boardroom "firing" session, Syed said "thanks for this opportunity" to Sir Alan in a sycophantic tone.

In reply, Sir Alan then uttered "cheeky bastard" in a rather knowing tone... It's probably safe to say Syed will be staying in the show for quite some weeks yet.