Raphael Bjayou (born 8 June 1980) is a British entrepreneur and television presenter who was fired in week 9 during series four of ''

The Apprentice (UK) ''The Apprentice'' is a British business-styled reality game show created by Mark Burnett, distributed by Fremantle and broadcast by the BBC since 16 February 2005. Devised after the success of the American original and part of the internati ...

''.

Education

Bjayou was educated at two

independent school A private school or independent school is a school not administered or funded by the government, unlike a State school, public school. Private schools are schools that are not dependent upon national or local government to finance their fina ...

s in

Hertfordshire Hertfordshire ( or ; often abbreviated Herts) is a ceremonial county in the East of England and one of the home counties. It borders Bedfordshire to the north-west, Cambridgeshire to the north-east, Essex to the east, Greater London to the ...

: at Westbrook Hay School in

Hemel Hempstead Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England. It is located north-west of London; nearby towns and cities include Watford, St Albans and Berkhamsted. The population at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 cens ...

, where he was school captain, and then

Haileybury and Imperial Service College Haileybury is a co-educational public school (fee-charging boarding and day school for 11- to 18-year-olds) located in Hertford Heath, Hertfordshire. It is a member of the Rugby Group and enrols pupils at the 11+, 13+ and 16+ stages of edu ...

Hertford Heath Hertford Heath is a village and civil parish near the county town of Hertford in Hertfordshire, England. The population at the 2011 Census was 2,672. Geography It is located on a Heath (habitat), heath above the River Lea valley, on its south ...

(near

Hertford Hertford ( ) is the county town of Hertfordshire, England, and is also a civil parish in the East Hertfordshire district of the county. The parish had a population of 26,783 at the 2011 census. The town grew around a Ford (crossing), ford on ...

). He later attended the

University of Exeter The University of Exeter is a research university in the West Country of England, with its main campus in Exeter, Devon. Its predecessor institutions, St Luke's College, Exeter School of Science, Exeter School of Art, and the Camborne School of ...

, where he studied History and Politics and was a committee member of the university's debating society.

Life and career

After graduating from University, Bjayou spent some time in

Ethiopia Ethiopia, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country located in the Horn of Africa region of East Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the north, Djibouti to the northeast, Somalia to the east, Ken ...

engaged in work for the charity, The

Addis Ababa Addis Ababa (; ,) is the capital city of Ethiopia, as well as the regional state of Oromia. With an estimated population of 2,739,551 inhabitants as of the 2007 census, it is the largest city in the country and the List of cities in Africa b ...

Irrigation Project. He spent just over a year there before spending a further year in the

British Virgin Islands The British Virgin Islands (BVI), officially the Virgin Islands, are a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean, to the east of Puerto Rico and the United States Virgin Islands, US Virgin Islands and north-west ...

, selling property. After returning to the UK, he immediately set to work establishing his own import and export company distributing, at first, magazines from the US and then furniture from the Far East. This quickly led to pharmaceutical distribution in Africa, namely the

West Africa West Africa, also known as Western Africa, is the westernmost region of Africa. The United Nations geoscheme for Africa#Western Africa, United Nations defines Western Africa as the 16 countries of Benin, Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, The Gambia, Gha ...

n countries of

Gambia The Gambia, officially the Republic of The Gambia, is a country in West Africa. Geographically, The Gambia is the List of African countries by area, smallest country in continental Africa; it is surrounded by Senegal on all sides except for ...

and

Senegal Senegal, officially the Republic of Senegal, is the westernmost country in West Africa, situated on the Atlantic Ocean coastline. It borders Mauritania to Mauritania–Senegal border, the north, Mali to Mali–Senegal border, the east, Guinea t ...

. The principal product in this distribution portfolio is a home HIV testing kit, which Raef hopes will one day be distributed throughout the continent.

The Apprentice

Bjayou struggled in the first episode of the series, getting called back to the boardroom after misidentifying some fish, but he led his team to victory in the next task and soon became one of the favourites to win. He became popular for his distinctive dapper appearance, mannerisms, and sayings such as "The spoken word is my tool", as well as his defence of Sara Dhada when other candidates in the house ganged up on her. He also earned praise from Sir Alan Sugar as a "really nice chap", and Bjayou in turn claims to have an e-mail "rapport" with Sir Alan.

Post-Apprentice

After being dismissed in Week 9 of the show, he suggested to the press that he would like to pursue a career in the media. To this end, he has appeared in an episode of the comedy panel show, ''

8 out of 10 Cats ''8 Out of 10 Cats'' (stylised as ''8 out of 10 CATS'') is a British comedy panel show that aired from 3 June 2005 to 17 January 2021. It was first broadcast on Channel 4 from 2005 to 2015, then More4 from 2016 to 2017, and finally E4 from ...

'' and was a reporter for the ''

Richard & Judy ''Richard & Judy'' (also known as ''Richard & Judy's New Position'') is a British television chat show presented by the married couple Richard Madeley and Judy Finnigan. The show originally aired on Channel 4 from 26 November 2001 to 22 Augus ...

'' show. He was a contestant on the second series of ''

The Underdog Show ''The Underdog Show'' is a six-week television series presented by Julian Clary and his dog, Valerie. The series was produced by the independent production company Splash Medi Format The show on BBC2 featured celebrities Julia Sawalha, Anton du ...

'', but was eliminated in the fifth week and has also appeared on ''

Ready Steady Cook ''Ready Steady Cook'' is a BBC daytime TV cooking game show. It debuted on 24 October 1994 and the last original edition was broadcast on 2 February 2010. The programme was hosted by Fern Britton from 1994 until 2000 when celebrity chef Ainsley ...

'', where he beat fellow ''Apprentice'' contestant Claire Young. Raef took part in

Come Dine with Me ''Come Dine with Me'' is a British reality series that has aired on Channel 4 since 10 January 2005 and is narrated by Dave Lamb. Format The original format features five amateur chefs who live in the same town or area, who each host a three-c ...

, where his friend

Ben Duncan Ben Edmund Duncan (born 12 November 2002) is an Australian professional soccer player who plays as a centre-forward for the club Ehime FC. Club career A product of the Central Coast Mariners organization, it was announced that Duncan had sign ...

(who later competed in Big Brother) cooked some of his food for him and the pair also took part in TV series

Celebrity Coach Trip ''Coach Trip'' is a British reality game show that began airing on Channel 4 on 7 March 2005. The show's premise sees four to seven pairs of tourists undertaking a coach tour principally of continental Europe between twenty and fifty days, whil ...

. In 2011 he turned his hand to acting with a small role in an episode of the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

children's show

M.I. High ''M.I. High'' is a British action television series produced by Kudos for CBBC and created by Keith Brumpton. The series focused on a team of undercover teenage spies working for the fictional British secret intelligence agency MI9 who had to ...

. In 2012 Raef appeared in an episode of Celebrity Wedding Planner on Channel 5 where he planned a wedding for a young couple alongside fellow Apprentice star Stuart Baggs. In 2014, Raef founded Zephyr:Media, a multi-platform PR, arts and media portal based in Mayfair, London.

Selected filmography

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bjayou, Raef 1980 births Living people Alumni of the University of Exeter The Apprentice (British TV series) candidates Businesspeople from London English people of Portuguese descent People educated at Haileybury and Imperial Service College