Sneak is gutted to learn that the beautiful friendship between those two titans of modern office life, Ricky Gervais and Microsoft, has come to a sticky end. They really were so well suited: one's a globally recognised comedian with a bit of middle-aged spread and a rampaging God complex, and the other's Ricky Gervais.

Apparently Gervais is less than happy that a training video he and comedy partner Stephen Merchant created for his erstwhile corporate backer three years ago has been leaked onto various video websites. The comedian had originally only agreed to do the video, in which he stars as the infamous David Brent, on the condition Microsoft would never release the material.

According to one report a spokeswoman for Gervais said he was concerned the release of the videos could make fans think he had gone back on his decision to retire Brent. Which may be the case, but could the uncharacteristically reticent Gervais also be fearful that confirmation he was willing to take the Microsoft shilling doesn't really chime with the countless interviews he has given claiming he wants to avoid over exposure and stay true to his comedic genius.

A great example of which appeared in last week's Saturday Guardian where in a fawning puff piece Gervais was quoted as claiming "You have to discipline yourself and you have to ration yourself. I can get sick of someone I like within the space of a weekend if I see them on two quiz shows and then in the Sunday paper".

Well Sneak just hopes Microsoft staff aren’t sick of Ricky's training videos because it doesn’t look like they're going to get an updated version any time soon.