The Apprentice (UK Series Four)

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For other Apprentice (UK) series see: Series One; Series Two; Series Three.

Series Four of The Apprentice is a British television series which began on BBC One on March 26, 2008.^[1] It will run for twelve weekly episodes. Auditions and interviews are reported to have taken place during the first two weeks of July 2007 in London, Glasgow, Manchester and Bristol.^[2] A record 20,000 applications were received.^[3]

Sir Alan Sugar reprises his role as the boss^[1] with Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford again serving as his advisors. "Frances", Sir Alan's boardroom "receptionist", also returns. Frances is in fact played by Sam Moon, who works for producers TalkbackTHAMES.^[4] The show's spin-off, The Apprentice: You're Fired!, is again hosted by Adrian Chiles.^[5] Filming of the first episode of The Apprentice: You're Fired! took place on March 25, 2008.^[6]

Contents 1 Production 2 Candidates 3 Challenges 3.1 Week 1 3.2 Week 2 3.3 Week 3 3.4 Week 4 3.5 Week 5 3.6 Week 6 3.7 Week 7 3.8 Week 8 3.9 Week 9 3.10 Week 10 3.11 Week 11: Semi Finals 3.12 Week 12: The Grand Finale 4 Weekly results 5 Reception 6 Related programmes 7 References 8 External links

[edit] Production

Production of the fourth series took place in September and October, 2007.^[7] On October 19, 2007, filming took place beside One Canada Square with candidates seemingly advertising an "Aston Martin Roadster Experience".^[8]

The candidates were based in an impressive 7,000-square-foot (650 m²), £5million warehouse conversion in Candahar Road, Battersea. The luxury duplex conversion, The Glass Factory, is owned by ex-Formula One racing driver Johnny Dumfries, the seventh Marquess of Bute.^[9]

[edit] Candidates

See also: The Apprentice candidates, Series Four

There are sixteen candidates taking part in this series,^[10] and they were initially separated into two teams by gender. The women chose the name Alpha for their team, while the men named their team Renaissance.

The candidates are:

Name	Age*	Occupation
Raef Bjayou	27	Entrepreneur
Jenny Celerier	36	Sales Manager
Nicholas de Lacy-Brown	23	Trainee barrister, Artist and Property Developer
Sara Dhada	25	International Car Trader
Lucinda Ledgerwood	31	Risk Manager
Jennifer Maguire	27	Marketing Consultant
Lee McQueen	30	Recruitment Sales Manager
Lindi Mngaza	22	Business Liaison Manager
Kevin Shaw	24	Bank Manager
Simon Smith	35	Satellite Television Engineer
Michael Sophocles	25	Telesales Executive
Helene Speight	32	Global Pricing Leader [11]
Ian Stringer	26	Software Sales Manager
Shazia Wahab	35	Mosaic artist and Company Director
Alex Wotherspoon	24	Regional Sales Manager
Claire Young	28	Senior Retail Buyer

* as of the date of the programme.

[edit] Challenges

[edit] Week 1

• Project managers: Claire (Alpha) and Alex (Renaissance).
• Task: To sell fresh fish at a market location of choice. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result: Both teams were given a van containing £600 worth of fish and a choice of London market locations from which to sell. Both teams chose to sell in Islington, with the women's team, Alpha, making this decision earlier in the day. Both teams had problems identifying the fish and pricing it correctly (in particular, Renaissance were selling lobsters for less than a quarter of the recommended retail price). Alpha made a profit of £153.98 whilst Renaissance made £32.69.
• Winner: Alpha.
• Reward: Dinner cooked by Michelin-starred chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.
• Brought into the boardroom: Alex, Nicholas and Raef .
• Who gets fired: Nicholas, for incorrectly pricing the fish and admitting he was unable to get on with "less educated" candidates.

[edit] Week 2

• Project managers: Jenny (Alpha) and Raef (Renaissance).
• Task: Running an overnight laundry service. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result: Both teams were given use of an industrial laundry for the night. The teams sourced business from a variety of customers including a hotel, a fishmonger and homeowners. Alpha had problems setting a reasonable price, attempting to charge the hotel £4990 for £200 worth of washing, and the fishmonger £15 for £60 worth of washing. Renaissance finished their washing and pressing before the laundry had to close, but Alpha were late getting started and hadn't finished by the end of the night. They suffered problems due to mix-ups with customers' clothing, including two lost items for which they were fined £50 in the boardroom. This was blamed on Shazia, who had the task of keeping track of items, but left early in an unsuccessful attempt to get hold of the steam irons at the house, which Renaissance had already removed. Alpha made a profit of £195.55 whilst Renaissance made £328.00.
• Winner: Renaissance.
• Reward: Tea at The Ritz.
• Brought into the boardroom: Jenny, Lucinda and Shazia.
• Who gets fired: Shazia, for leaving the laundry early and allowing items to get mixed up. The majority of the You're Fired studio audience disagreed with the decision.

[edit] Week 3

• Project managers: Sara (Alpha) and Ian (Renaissance).
• Task: Running a themed restaurant in a pub. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result: Both teams had to devise and run a themed food day in a pub with no previous history of serving food. Alpha chose a Bollywood theme and Renaissance chose Italian. The teams were given a list of wholesalers to use, but Renaissance ran out of time and had to resort to purchasing their supplies from Tesco, resulting in substantially increased food costs. Renaissance also produced 200 flyers at £1 each, whilst Alpha managed to arrange all their printing for free. Alpha had to cancel their lunch service due to the food not being prepared properly, but their strategy of selling admission tickets for £5 that were redeemable against dinner, as well as their better purchasing decisions, meant that they were in profit before they had even served a meal. Renaissance took more money, but because of cost overruns they made only £301.97 profit against Alpha's £604.27.
• Winner: Alpha.
• Reward: Cooking lessons at the Eckington Manor Cookery School in Worcestershire.
• Brought into the boardroom: Ian, Kevin and Simon.
• Who gets fired: Ian, for disastrous performance as project manager.

[edit] Week 4

• Project managers: Helene (Alpha) and Simon (Renaissance).
• Team reshuffle: Claire, Jenny and Sara move to Renaissance and Kevin, Lee and Raef moving to Alpha.
• Task: Running a photography business in Bluewater shopping centre. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result: Alpha hired a David Beckham lookalike, whilst Renaissance opted for a "glamour and beauty" theme. Communication issues between the shop floor and the production room caused lost orders for both teams —particularly Renaissance — whilst Alpha had problems operating their computer and were unable to meet the orders. Alpha made a profit of £145.10 and Renaissance lost £73.81.
• Winner: Alpha.
• Reward: Dinner aboard a luxury yacht, on trip to the Isle of Wight.
• Brought into the boardroom: Simon, Alex and Claire.
• Who gets fired: Simon, with regret, for being out of his depth.

[edit] Week 5

• Project managers: Lucinda (Alpha) and Claire (Renaissance).
• Team reshuffle: Kevin moves to Renaissance to even the teams at six candidates each.
• Task: Inventing new flavours of ice cream and selling to the trade market. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result: Both teams had to develop three new flavours of ice cream at farms that specialised in making ice creams, and then choose two to sell direct to the trade market in London. Alpha decided on "Avocado & Chilli" and "Toffee Apple" flavoured ice creams after a focus group meeting. Renaissance's market research came from two drinkers at a local pub, and they opted for "Very Berry" and "Cider & Elderflower" flavours. Alpha's orders included those from a group of pubs and a those from a cinema chain that both teams had attemtped to sell to. Renaissance struggled at first but eventually secured a large order from a designer restaurant at the last minute. Alpha made a profit of £1273.64 whilst Renaissance made £1455.45.
• Winner: Renaissance.
• Reward: A helicopter trip to Bowood House in Wiltshire.
• Brought into the boardroom: Lucinda, Jennifer, and Lindi.
• Who gets fired: Lindi, who lost money for the team by promising exclusivity to potential buyers

[edit] Week 6

• Project managers: Michael (Alpha) and Kevin (Renaissance).
• Team reshuffle: Michael joins Alpha.
• Task: Create a new "occasion" for a range of greetings cards to pitch to prospective retailers. The team that makes the most sales wins.
• Result: Alpha came up with the idea of a "National Singles' Day" to be held on February 13th, and produced a range of cards intended as an alternative to Valentine's Day cards for single people. Renaissance's theme, as suggested by Jenny, was a "save your planet" day, with a series of cards carrying messages about green issues. The teams pitched their ideas to general retailer Tesco and specialist card retailers Clinton's and the Celebrations Group. The retail buyers questioned whether environmentally conscious consumers would want to express their views by sending a card, and Kevin's aggressive pitching alienated Celebrations and in particular Clinton's, who accused him of "preaching" to them. Doubts were also raised about the wisdom of stocking a range of "Singles' Day" cards at the same time as so much selling space was given over to Valentine's cards, resulting in Alpha removing the date from their final pitch (to Celebrations). Alpha sold to all three retailers, gaining orders totalling 22,500 cards, 19,500 of which were from Celebrations. Renaissance sold 6,000 cards to just one retailer, Tesco.
• Winner: Alpha.
• Reward: A private piano recital from Myleene Klass.
• Brought into the boardroom: Kevin, Claire and Sara.
• Who gets fired: Kevin, for his mismanagement, poor sales pitching and his decision not to bring Jenny into the boardroom.
• Notes: Back at the house, Sara was the subject of a heated debate between several candidates over her perceived laziness. Raef was the only one shown on screen to jump to her defence on this matter, as it has been said that Lucinda also defended her off-camera.

[edit] Week 7

• Project managers: Lee (Alpha) and Jennifer (Renaissance).
• Team reshuffle: Sara moved to Alpha, whilst Jennifer and Michael moved to Renaissance.
• Task: Buy a set list of items in the marketplaces of Marrakech, Morocco. The team that spends the least wins.
• Result: Alpha collected all ten requested items, without penalties. Renaissance struggled to find a mosque alarm clock, after previously purchasing one in the wrong colour, and incurred penalties for purchasing unbranded tagines and a halal chicken instead of a kosher chicken. Renaissance members, Jenny and Michael, attempted to sabotage Alpha by bribing a sports store to incorrectly string a tennis racket that Alpha was in the middle of purchasing.
• Winner: Alpha.
• Reward: Hot air balloon flight around Leeds Castle.
• Brought into the boardroom: Jennifer, Alex, Claire, Jenny and Michael.
• Who gets fired: First - Jenny, for attempting to sabotage the other team and lying in the boardroom. Second - Jennifer,with regret, for failing to control the team during the task.
• Notes: This episode marked the first occasion where the project manager did not have the option of choosing the two candidates who would also face Sir Alan in the final boardroom. After Jenny's firing, Alex was sent back to the house and Claire, Jennifer and Michael were brought into the boardroom to face a second firing. This was the second time in any of the UK series where two candidates were dismissed outside of the final interviews.

[edit] Week 8

• Project managers: Lucinda (Alpha) and Helene (Renaissance).
• Team reshuffle: Claire joins Alpha, Sara and Helene join Renaissance.
• Task: Select and sell wedding dresses and accessories at a wedding exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. The team that makes the most money wins.
• Result: The teams visited various suppliers of wedding dresses and wedding merchandise. Alpha selected a range of high-end designer dresses and a collection of bridal lingerie. Renaissance chose a collection of mid-range dresses, and also wanted to sell the lingerie range. However, the lingerie supplier chose Alpha over Renaissance due to the cachet of their designer brand, forcing Renaissance to take their second choice of wedding cakes. Alpha sold three dresses for a total of £5105 and £647.24 worth of lingerie, making overall sales of £5752.99 [sic]. Renaissance sold five dresses for a total of £1925, but failed to sell any cakes.
• Winner: Alpha.
• Reward: Luxury spa visit.
• Brought into the boardroom: Helene, Michael and Sara.
• Who gets fired: Sara; for her argumentative manner, her inability to listen to others, and her general lack of contribution to the tasks in previous weeks.
• Notes: After Sara's firing, Sir Alan appeared to be on the verge of firing Michael also, however the two were sent back to the house.

[edit] Week 9

• Project managers: Alex (Alpha) and Raef (Renaissance).
• Team reshuffle: Raef and Claire are moved to Renaissance, and Alex is moved to Alpha.
• Task: Create a new brand of tissues along with television and print advertisements, then present them to a panel of advertising executives. The team deemed to have created the best ad-campaign wins.
• Result: Renaissance created a smart aesthetic design for their tissue box, branded "i ♥ my tissues". Raef and Michael were meticulous in directing their television advert, and hired weather forecaster Siân Lloyd to appear. Crucially however, in the editing suite their advert proved to be too long, and most of the material showing the product itself was removed in order to bring it down to the required length. In contrast, Alpha's efforts with both their tissue box design and advert were deemed relatively poor, and Lee was ill-prepared for their presentation. However, their brand name, "atishu!", was praised, and their overall campaign was deemed to be attention-grabbing and gave a very clear message about the product. This secured their victory in the task.
• Winner: Alpha.
• Reward: An after-hours shopping spree at Harvey Nichols (London).
• Brought into the boardroom: Raef, Claire and Michael.
• Who gets fired: Raef, for losing focus of the requirements of the task due to his artistic flair (Sir Alan said that he had concluded Raef was nothing but 'hot air').
• Notes: Siân Lloyd's involvement in Renaissance's advert was criticised for having little relevance to the product or the events in the advert, and also for the very brief duration of her appearance in the edited version. Lloyd herself admitted to the camera being unsure why she had been cast as a mother, considering she is single and has no children. Renaissance's brand name was also criticised by Sir Alan, who said he could not imagine anyone "loving their tissues".

[edit] Week 10

• Project managers: Lee (Alpha) and Michael (Renaissance).
• Task: To select and hire out a set of luxury sports cars.
• Result: The teams had a chance to review the available cars, before the project managers had to choose two for rental. Alpha took a risk with the rare Pagani Zonda, with a price tag of £2750 for just one day of rental, and the Aston Martin. Renaissance decided to choose the Spyker and Ferrari. Renaissance made sales of £2114, almost all of which was earned by Claire. Alpha made sales of £11815, with Alex contributing £8000 and Lee £3400 (Lucinda was credited with £65 of sales).
• Winner: Alpha.
• Reward: Wine tasting at a Mayfair hotel.
• Brought into the boardroom: Michael, Claire and Helene.
• Who gets fired: Michael, for his consistent attempts to take advantage of the other candidates, and a poor track record of appearing in the final boardroom four times in a row.
• Notes: Six luxury sports cars were featured, namely the Koenigsegg CCX, Pagani Zonda S, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, Spyker C8, Aston Martin V8 Vantage Roadster and Ferrari F360 Spider.

[edit] Week 11: Semi Finals

• Semi-finalists: Alex, Claire, Helene, Lee, and Lucinda.
• Task: The five remaining candidates undergo a sequence of intense interviews by four of Sir Alan Sugar's business colleagues. The interviewers then report their impressions of the candidates back to Sir Alan to help him choose the finalists. The four interviewers were Paul Kemsley, a property developer; Claude Litner, Sir Alan’s former “global trouble-shooter”; Karren Brady, the managing director of Birmingham City Football Club; and Bordan Tkachuk, the chief executive of the computer and IT firm Viglen, one of Sir Alan’s companies.

• Result: Alex came under the spotlight, with his CV being highlighted as boring. While he argued that this was because he was only 24 years old, both Karren and Paul insisted that this was not an excuse, stating that they had achieved more than him by his age. Claire was accused of being too talkative. Helene faced criticism for not having demonstrated any progression in work outside of her current company. Lee was caught off-guard when first asked to do a humorous impression, which backfired when he was told this demonstrated he did not seem to take the interview seriously. He was also reprimanded for exaggerating on his CV, lying about his length of time at university. Lucinda was praised for being intelligent, but criticised for being a "handful". The interviewers questioned her motives for wanting the job, and felt that her teamwork skills were weak.
• Who gets fired: Lucinda, with regret, as she was considered "too zany" by Sir Alan, and also because there were doubts over how much she actually wanted the job.
• Notes: Only one candidate was fired, despite the fact that Sir Alan had previously said that three people were going to get fired. This was because he felt that all of the four finalists were worthy of the job and wanted to put them through one last test to help him with his final decision.

[edit] Week 12: The Grand Finale

• Finalists: Alex, Claire, Helene, and Lee.
• Task: Develop an original fragrance for men, and then market it at an industry event.^[12]
• Teams: Claire & Lee wih the help of Michael, Jenny & Simon. Alex & Helene with the help of Kevin, Jennifer & Raef. The two members of the losing team will be fired, and one of the winning team will be hired.
• Result: Unknown
• Who is Hired: Alex
• Notes:

[edit] Weekly results

Candidate Week Result 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Alex PM B B PM Claire PM B PM B B B B Helene PM PM B Lee PM PM Lucinda B PM PM Fired in Week 11 Michael PM B B B PM Fired in Week 10 Raef B PM PM Fired in Week 9 Sara PM B B Fired in Week 8 Jennifer B PM Fired in Week 7 Jenny PM B Fired in Week 7 Kevin B PM Fired in Week 6 Lindi B Fired in Week 5 Simon B PM Fired in Week 4 Ian PM Fired in Week 3 Shazia B Fired in Week 2 Nicholas B Fired in Week 1 Candidate 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Result Week

Legend Finale Interviews Renaissance Alpha PM Project manager B Brought back to boardroom

[edit] Reception

[edit] Related programmes

To date, three additional hour-long specials have accompanied Series Four; The Apprentice: Worst Decisions Ever and The Apprentice: Motor Mouths, each revisiting candidates from the previous three series and a candidate profile programme entitled The Apprentice: The Final Five.

An Apprentice version of the Weakest Link also accompanied the series, with major characters from all four series competing for their chosen charities. The contestants were (in order of elimination):

• Kevin Shaw (Series 4)
• Paul Torrisi (Series 1)
• Katie Hopkins (Series 3)
• James Max (Series 1)
• Ian Stringer (Series 4)
• Tre Azam (Series 3)
• Jenny Celerier (Series 4)
• Kristina Grimes (Series 3)
• Jo Cameron (Series 2)

Jo defeated Kristina in the final and donated £11,550 to her chosen charity.

A further special is also due to air during the series run; The Apprentice: Why I Fired Them .^[3]

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• The Apprentice at bbc.co.uk

v • d • e The Apprentice UK Series Series One (2005) | Series Two (2006) | Series Three (2007) | Series Four (2008) Featuring Sir Alan Sugar | Nick Hewer | Margaret Mountford | The Candidates | Adrian Chiles Notable candidates Timothy Campbell | Saira Khan | Paul Torrisi | James Max | Michelle Dewberry | Ruth Badger | Simon Ambrose | Kristina Grimes | Katie Hopkins | Lucinda Ledgerwood Production Mark Burnett | talkbackTHAMES | Dru Masters Related programmes The Apprentice: You're Fired! | Comic Relief Does The Apprentice | Sport Relief Does The Apprentice | The Apprentice (franchise) | The Apprentice USA