The Apprentice (UK series two)
Series Two of The Apprentice (UK) was a television series which was broadcast on BBC Two between 22 February and 10 May 2006. As in the previous series, Sir Alan Sugar continued as the boss, assigning the teams specifically designed tasks. Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford also returned as Sugar's advisers and observed the teams in action.
The series was won by Michelle Dewberry in the final episode broadcast on 10 May 2006.
This series premiered in Australia on 27 August 2008 at 9:30pm on Channel Seven, under the title Sir Alan Sugar: The Apprentice to distinguish it from the US version. Despite heavy promotion of the series during Seven's Olympic coverage, the series only rated 583,000 viewers nationally, which was third for its timeslot.[1] The following week, the series was moved to 10:30pm, and ratings have continued to decrease. The series also airs in Australia on pay TV channel UKTV.
Candidates
As in the first series, there were fourteen candidates and they were initially separated into two teams by gender. The women chose the name Velocity for their team, while the men named their team Invicta. Each candidate got to be a project manager on at least one occasion. The only other time this has happened so far on the UK seasons of The Apprentice was in the first series of Junior Apprentice.
The candidates were:
* as of the date of the programme.
Challenges
Week 1
- Project managers: Ben (Invicta) and Karen (Velocity).
- Task: Sell fruit and vegetables in Hackney.
- Result: Velocity obtained most of their fruit for little or nothing by asking for overripe products and acting flirtatiously toward the vendors. The entire Invicta team remained at Hackney market for most of the day, only selling fruit door-to-door in the closing hour. The Velocity team split up and sold both at the market and to small businesses. Velocity spent just £41 of the £500 they were given at the start of the task, and returned to the boardroom with £1,143. Invicta spent £300, over seven times as much as their opponents, but only made a profit of £781. While Velocity won the task, Sir Alan Sugar questioned their tactic of using their sex appeal and the women had to present an argument why they deserved the win. Ultimately, Sir Alan awarded them the victory on the basis that if Velocity had spent the same amount as Invicta, they would have still won the task with a profit of £884.
- Winner: Velocity.
- Reward: Celebratory champagne in one of the Vertigo 42 bars at the top of Tower 42 in the City of London.
- Brought into the boardroom: Ben, Samuel and Syed.
- Who gets fired: Ben, for being a poor leader and not organising his team properly.
- Notes: Although Syed escaped being fired, he was warned for trying to gain favour with Sir Alan in the final boardroom by claiming to come from the same background as him. Samuel nearly talked himself into being fired by admitting that he wasn't a natural salesperson, but ultimately defended himself by pointing out Ben's failures as a leader.
- The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Tim Campbell, Saira Khan and Polly Graham.
Week 2
- Project managers: Samuel (Invicta) and Nargis (Velocity).
- Task: Design, shoot and produce a calendar to raise money for Sir Alan's "favourite charity", Great Ormond Street Hospital, and then pitch it to three different purchasers; Virgin Megastore, Harrods and Calendar Club. The team that makes the most money from sales wins.
- Result: Velocity decided to go for a contemporary calendar featuring kitten photos despite numerous protests from Jo. Invicta decided on a calendar featuring "fun" photos of children dressed up in various costumes. Nargis's pitching went horribly wrong as she appeared to lose track of what she was saying and even snapped at the purchasers, while their calendar came under heavy criticism for not having any relevance to the charity, and having the dates printed so small as to render it unusable as a calendar (Ruth and Sharon had both complained about this while the calender was being produced, but Nargis did not listen to them). Despite this, Velocity manage to sell to all three retailers, with sales totalling 3,500 calendars. Mani's pitching for Invicta wasn't as bad, but their calendar also came under criticism for being badly designed, and they only managed to sell to one retailer, Calendar Club. However, that one retailer bought 6,000 calendars, which gave them a substantially greater profit than Velocity.
- Winner: Invicta.
- Reward: A session of caviar tasting.
- Brought into the boardroom: Nargis, Jo and Karen.
- Who gets fired: Nargis, for having a terrible sales pitch, being responsible for overseeing a poor product, and for bringing Karen back when she was not to blame for the loss.
- Notes: Unlike the corresponding charity tasks in the US series and the first UK series (which do not usually have rewards), the winners here were given a reward for their victory. It was revealed in the boardroom that the only reason Calendar Club bought any of Velocity's calendars was so that they could make a contribution to Great Ormond Street, and that if it had been a purely commercial task they would not have bought any calendars. While Karen was not in danger of being fired, Sir Alan disliked the fact that she didn't say anything in her defence, something which would come back to haunt her in the following episode.
- The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Paul Kemsley and Felicity Lee.
Week 3
- Project managers: Syed (Invicta) and Jo (Velocity).
- Task: Purchase a set list of ten items for prices lower than those asked by the vendors. The team which spends the least of their £1000 budget wins.
- Result: Both teams decided to split up into two smaller groups to procure the items. Invicta immediately got on with the task, but decided to do a lot of shopping around before buying (Syed attempted to find and buy the dinner jacket in East London). They managed to purchase all 10 items. Velocity wasted over two hours at the start of the day trying to come up with a strategy, and wasted even more time in the task by bargaining for items that were not even in stock. They also failed to purchase the tyre required on the shopping list, and the resulting penalty from this was enough to cost them victory, as Invicta won out by £8.
- Winner: Invicta.
- Reward: A day watching horse racing.
- Brought into the boardroom: Jo, Alexa and Karen.
- Who gets fired: Karen, for not saying anything in her defence for the second boardroom in succession, and for being "just another corporate lawyer." Also she was deemed to be partially liable for the team's failure to acquire the tyre.
- Notes: Sir Alan referred to Jo as a "bloody nutter" but admired her vigorous self-defence. Sir Alan agreed to give Alexa a chance to prove her abilities after she defended herself and asked to be the team leader on the following task. The majority of the you're fired audience disagreed with Sir Alan's decision.
- The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Sara Nathan, Duncan Bannatyne and Felicity Lee.
Week 4
- Project managers: Alexa (Invicta) and Mani (Velocity).
- Team reshuffle: Sir Alan asked for volunteers to be Project Manager of the opposing team. Consequently, Alexa moved to and led Invicta, while Mani did the same with Velocity.
- Task: To set up a food stall at the Thames Festival with a budget of £2,000 per team and make as great a profit as they could in a day.
- Result: Velocity decided to set up a Chinese themed stall, selling noodles. Mani didn't get on at all with the rest of his team, who accused him of hiding behind administrative tasks while they did all the work, but they kept their budget under control and had a good pricing strategy, leading to decent sales throughout the day. On the other hand Invicta's execution of the task was a total disaster. Alexa offered no leadership, Tuan made an unrealistic estimate that they could make and sell 500 pizzas (which Samuel later worked out would have required them to sell a slice every 9 seconds), and Syed used up the entire £2,000 budget buying expensive ingredients for the intended 500 pizzas, of which they only ended up making 90. On top of this, they sold few of their pizzas in the day, and had to resort to selling most of them off at vastly reduced prices at the end of the day. Velocity made a profit of £326, and Invicta made a loss of £807.
- Winner: Velocity.
- Reward: Dinner at the Oxo Tower restaurant.
- Brought into the boardroom: Alexa, Syed and Tuan.
- Who gets fired: Alexa, for her horrendous performance as team leader, failure to control costs, and inability to defend herself in the boardroom.
- Notes: In the final boardroom, Sir Alan said that were the option available to him Alexa, Syed and Tuan would all have been fired for the failure of the task; however, the show's rules in the first two seasons permitted only one firing per week before the interviews. Partly because of this, multiple firings were introduced in the third season onwards. To date, Invicta's loss of money was the worst made by any team in any incarnation of the show.
- The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Lucy Kellaway, Alasdair Jeffrey and Felicity Lee.
Week 5
- Team re-shuffle: Sir Alan tells Ruth to pick two fellows from Invicta to join Velocity. Ruth chooses Ansell and Samuel. Sir Alan tells Paul to pick two ladies from Velocity to join Invicta. Paul chooses Sharon and Michelle.
- Project managers: Paul (Invicta) and Ruth (Velocity) (named by Sir Alan)
- Task: To produce both a billboard and a short promotional video for Sir Alan's new venture: the Amsair Card, which allows easy booking of business jets and related services, with the advertising being made and shot at London Stansted Airport.
- Result: Paul's team had few ideas at the start, and eventually settled on a theme revolving around magic and card tricks. Ruth's appeared to have a clear strategy throughout, but Ansell and Mani misinterpreted the presentation they were given on the card's features, and told Velocity that its main feature was the concierge service rather than the ease of booking the jet. Sir Alan felt that Ruth's television advertisement focused too much on the concierge service and not enough on the card. Invicta's campaign, while clichéd and not especially impressive, was closer to what Sir Alan wanted.
- Winner: Invicta.
- Reward: Champagne reception and front-row seats at the London Fashion Show.
- Brought into the boardroom: Ruth, Jo and Mani.
- Who gets fired: Mani, for incorrectly briefing the team on the Amsair Card, for his arrogant behaviour and refusal to take responsibility in the boardroom, and for his poor performance as team leader the previous week (despite Velocity's win).
- Notes: Although Mani was blamed (and ultimately fired) for Velocity's advert having the wrong focus, it had in fact been Ansell that initially mentioned the concierge aspect to the team. Ruth later said that she bought Mani back in, because while Ansell had apologised off-camera for the mix-up, Mani blamed Ruth and went so far as to mock her in front of the rest of the team for the mistake.
- The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Vanessa Feltz and Keith Courtney.
Week 6
- Project managers: Sharon (Invicta) and Ansell (Velocity).
- Task: Sell second-hand cars for a commission.
- Result: After a bad start, Sharon's team managed to take a lead by selling the extras which carried a higher commission. Syed got into trouble for falsely claiming that the dealership offered a scheme which would allow buyers to sell their cars at a profit in a few years time, and the manager of the car lot told Syed that he would have been fired for his actions, were he actually employed there. Ruth managed to sell six cars alone, giving Ansell's team an advantage at the start. However, the failure of Velocity to sell the extras in high quantities, combined with Jo completely failing to sell anything and Samuel working in a team with Ruth rather than selling by himself, cost the team victory.
- Winner: Invicta.
- Reward: Boat trip down the River Thames.
- Brought into the boardroom: Ansell, Jo and Samuel.
- Who gets fired: Jo, for not selling anything, being difficult to work with, and for appearing for the fourth time in the boardroom in only six weeks.
- Notes: There was some confusion about who had made three of Velocity's sales, with Ruth and Samuel both trying to take credit. In the end, Sir Alan decided that Ruth deserved sole credit for all three, leaving Samuel without a sale to his name. The manager of the car lot branded Ansell's leadership "pathetic" and reported back that he deserved to be fired, but Sir Alan decided to fire Jo instead since she had been brought back every single time that her team had lost. However he told Ansell that he was "one more boardroom" away from dismissal. Sir Alan ended up having to tell Jo that she was fired three times, after she repeatedly begged for another chance. During the reward boat trip, an argument broke out between Paul and Michelle.
- The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Quentin Willson and Saira Khan.
Week 7
- Team re-shuffle: Michelle to Velocity.
- Project managers: Tuan (Invicta) and Michelle (Velocity).
- Task: Selling items for Topshop.
- Result: Invicta had a better display set up by Sharon (who initially refused to take part in the task after an argument with Syed the previous night), while Velocity lacked a clear strategy for much of the task. After getting off to a flying start, Invicta started to lose their 23% lead at the end of the morning. However, Michelle's unproductive time spent in the VIP Room drinking champagne for most of the morning and Samuel's lack of success at dragging in customers from the street led to Tuan's team emerging as victors. Velocity had a chance to win the task in the afternoon when Topshop owner Philip Green asked Ruth for £100 worth of clothing, but Ruth only gave him £65 worth and didn't try to sell him anything else.
- Winner: Invicta.
- Reward: A night in a top-class country hotel, with skeet shooting.
- Brought into the boardroom: Michelle, Ruth and Samuel.
- Who gets fired: Samuel, for his mismanagement of marketing and generally poor performances over the course of the series.
- Notes: Sir Alan felt that Michelle deserved to be fired for her poor decision-making, but added that he was "fed up with [Samuel's] excuses" as to why he could not contribute to the tasks. Along with his desiring to fire more than one person in week 4, this was a major factor in the introduction of multiple firings in the following seasons.
- The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Mary Portas and Mark Frith.
Week 8
- Project managers: Syed (Invicta) and Ruth (Velocity).
- Task: Buying a particular product from the designer and selling it on to the trade.
- Result: Both teams split up in order to sell their products in different parts of London. Velocity sold lighting kits and a designer coat stand, and managed to find more customers by asking for contacts from stores that they had sold to. Invicta had a fuel can with a flow control system, and a set of metallic shelves. Despite Sir Alan warning the teams not to bother trying to get sales from major chains, Syed spent most of the day trying to set up a major deal with a chain of petrol stations, and while he eventually secured the deal, the time spent and an accident in the middle of London made them two hours late back to the boardroom. Velocity made £3,237.50; Invicta made £3,840, but Sir Alan fined them 25% of Syed and Tuan's sales for being late, bringing them down to £3,140 and costing them victory.
- Winner: Velocity.
- Reward: A day at a luxury spa.
- Brought into the boardroom: Syed, Sharon and Tuan.
- Who gets fired: Sharon, for doing poorly in the sales negotiations, and for being "too nice" for the business environment. The majority of the You're Fired audience disagreed with Sir Alan's decision.
- Notes: Tuan told Syed to try to negotiate their penalty down to 20% in the boardroom, as this would have still allowed Invicta to win, but Syed ignored Tuan and accepted the penalty without argument, not wanting to risk angering Sir Alan and potentially getting an even bigger fine as a result. Sir Alan offered Syed Ahmed immunity from being fired because he was so impressed by his selling prowess. However, Ahmed refused this and put himself forward for firing with his team. The entire segment was edited out.[2]
- The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Duncan Bannatyne and Victoria Derbyshire.
Week 9
- Team re-shuffle: Ruth to Invicta, Paul to Velocity.
- Project managers: Tuan (Invicta) and Michelle (Velocity).
- Task: Rent out property in different areas of London.
- Result: With only three members on each team, Velocity split up and worked individually with Michelle keeping in contact with both Paul and Ansell. For Invicta's part, Tuan took a back seat role leaving Ruth and Syed to concentrate on sales. Syed made many mistakes including taking the wrong keys to properties on two occasions and mistaking a railway line for Wandsworth Bridge. Both teams closed six deals with commission earned in excess of £8500 (two each for Velocity, whereas in Invicta, Ruth closed five, Syed one and Tuan none). Invicta lost the task by approximately £250.
- Winner: Velocity.
- Reward: A day's tuition with chef Raymond Blanc.
- Brought into the boardroom: Tuan, Ruth and Syed.
- Who gets fired: Tuan for not managing to let out any properties, and for taking a back seat during the task again, despite being given a warning by Sir Alan the previous week.
- Notes: The one deal Syed had managed to close had been signed by punters in the street he had managed to draw in, the suggestion of which even the estate agent had scoffed and this played a large part in Syed's survival in the boardroom. Tuan did manage to let out one apartment, but it fell through due to the potential tenants not having the money for a deposit on the day. Moreover, Syed had a deal fall through in similar circumstances, meaning that Tuan was still the least effective salesperson on his team. Sir Alan went on to comment that Tuan had already given up on the competition, and described him as 'a broken man'.
- The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Ann Maurice and Paul Torrisi.
Week 10
- Project managers: Syed (Invicta) and Paul (Velocity).
- Task: Devise and promote a service available to passengers aboard the cruise liner, the Grand Princess, on her voyage between Istanbul and Naples.
- Result: For Velocity, Paul hit upon the idea of running and promoting a series of dance classes and a competition with a grand prize of £50 to the winners. For Invicta, Syed came up with the idea of an above-deck fun day with events taking place across the ship. The teams were told that success would not be judged solely on sales, but also on many other criteria including marketing, originality and customer satisfaction. At the end of the task, Velocity had generated £507, whereas Invicta had only made £191.50. Invicta's deficit was due in part to Ruth buying more bottles of Moët & Chandon champagne (distributed as thank-you gifts to staff) than was necessary. Moreover, Invicta's team organisation and customer satisfaction ratings were far below those of Velocity, meaning that they lost the task in every regard.
- Winner: Velocity.
- Reward: As the liner was docked in Naples on the coast of Italy, the winning team was sent to Rome to stay in a luxury apartment and spend a few days in the city.
- Brought into the boardroom: Ruth and Syed (only two team members remained).
- Who gets fired: Syed, who despite Sir Alan acknowledging as having "flashes of genius" was seen as "too much of a risk".
- Notes: Syed's firing was the first significant point in the series in which a key character was fired; Syed had become well-known, and (as with Jo Cameron) a different style of ending with higher, slower music being played over his "walk of shame" to the taxi to emphasise this. There was also an incident with raffle tickets where Syed lost the names of many people who had bought tickets and suggested going ahead anyway (the names were later found). Ruth came close to being fired after admitting that she hadn't read the task rules and thought they were being measured on turnover rather than profit, but Sir Alan decided that Syed was more deserving of being fired.
- The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Mark Frith and Jane Moore.
Week 11: Interviews
- Semi-Finalists: Ansell, Michelle, Paul and Ruth.
- Task: The four remaining candidates went through a series of interviews with each of three associates of Sir Alan. The interviews were based around the candidates' previous work and experience as well as their reasons and motivations for appearing on the show.
- Interviewers: Paul Kemsley, Claude Littner and Bordan Tkachuk.
- Result: Despite consistent success with previous tasks, Paul's underwhelming employment record was unearthed and he was heavily cross-examined by the interviewers. His overconfident attitude and cocky personality resulting in the interviewers delivering strongly negative reports to Sir Alan. He was described by one of the interviewers as a "door-to-door salesman". Michelle received better reports, but Sir Alan was confused by the fact that she already had a £100,000 salary and was self-employed. Ansell was described by all as a "nice guy", but there were questions over his limited experience in sales and how well he would cope in a more aggressive environment. Ruth had an impressive sales record over the series and generally she impressed despite Sir Alan having some doubts over the credibility of parts of her CV. Sir Alan spoke to Paul in depth for the first time in the series and despite Paul's record throughout the tasks, having been on the winning team seven times, Sir Alan was unimpressed with him and said he was merely "lucky" to be in the final four. Sir Alan then demanded a good reason why he should stay. Paul foolishly said that many companies would employ him if Sir Alan didn't, and was instantly fired. Michelle, when questioned, justified her cause and Sir Alan was impressed with her independent business nature and her apparent generosity with family and friends. He decided that she should stay. It was close between Ansell and Ruth, with Sir Alan torn between them. It was Ruth's intelligence, however, that led to her staying – both she and Ansell were strong candidates, but Ansell was deemed to be too nice.
- Who gets fired:
- Paul, for his arrogant behaviour and unimpressive CV.
- Ansell, (with regret) for being too nice and too focused towards sales.
- Notes: The majority of the You're Fired audience disagreed with Ansell's firing.
- The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Saira Khan and Nick Hewer.
Week 12: The Grand Finale
- Finalists: Michelle and Ruth.
- Task: Each were given the opportunity to select from six previous candidates – Syed, Sharon, Tuan, Paul, Ansell and Jo. They had to put on an evening event to be staged at London's Tower Bridge with a theme of their choice. While money was not the main issue, costs were monitored carefully.
- Result: Ruth chose to have a "Murder Mystery Theme" and hired actors to play the parts of various characters throughout the night. Despite Sir Alan having doubts about this, her event took more money than Michelle's and sold more tickets, mostly because of the way in which her team of Tuan, Ansell and Jo worked through contacts made throughout the series. Sir Alan, however, having himself paid a visit to both evenings, questioned her originality in that she had directly implemented his suggestions to her of can-can dancers. Michelle's night also came under fire for being almost identical to Sir Alan's suggestions when he had briefed the two on the task. She chose a casino themed 007 (James Bond) evening called '00Heaven'. Her team of Sharon, Paul and Syed was an interesting choice as the group had experienced many confrontations in previous weeks. They failed to work as efficiently as Ruth's – Syed and Paul sold very few tickets and clearly did not enjoy working together, and this led to conflict between Syed and Sharon. In the end tickets were sold for as little as £10, despite the original price being £65, although Michelle did manage to improve their sales by reorganising her team.
- Runner-up: Ruth. While Sir Alan acknowledged that she had been the clear victor in the final task, he had concerns that she was too aggressive, and questioned whether she would do well in an environment not focused around sales.
- Who gets hired: Michelle. Despite the result of the final task, Sir Alan considered her to be a strong all-round candidate.
- The Apprentice: You're Hired! panel: No panel as such, but Alan Sugar made a guest appearance, and all of the previous candidates were in the audience.
Elimination history
| Candidate |
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
10 |
11 |
12 |
| Michelle |
IN |
IN |
IN |
IN |
IN |
IN |
LOSE |
IN |
WIN |
IN |
IN |
HIRED |
| Ruth |
IN |
IN |
IN |
IN |
LOSE |
IN |
BR |
WIN |
BR |
BR |
IN |
FIRED |
| Ansell |
IN |
IN |
IN |
IN |
IN |
LOSE |
IN |
IN |
IN |
IN |
FIRED |
|
| Paul |
IN |
IN |
IN |
IN |
WIN |
IN |
IN |
IN |
IN |
WIN |
FIRED |
|
| Syed |
BR |
IN |
WIN |
BR |
IN |
IN |
IN |
LOSE |
BR |
FIRED |
|
| Tuan |
IN |
IN |
IN |
BR |
IN |
IN |
WIN |
BR |
FIRED |
|
| Sharon |
IN |
IN |
IN |
IN |
IN |
WIN |
IN |
FIRED |
|
| Samuel |
BR |
WIN |
IN |
IN |
IN |
BR |
FIRED |
|
| Jo |
IN |
BR |
LOSE |
IN |
BR |
FIRED |
|
| Mani |
IN |
IN |
IN |
WIN |
FIRED |
|
| Alexa |
IN |
IN |
BR |
FIRED |
|
| Karen |
WIN |
BR |
FIRED |
|
| Nargis |
IN |
FIRED |
|
| Ben |
FIRED |
|
- The contestant was hired and won the apprentice.
- The contestant was the runner up.
- The contestant won as project manager on his/her team.
- The contestant lost as project manager on his/her team.
- The contestant was on the winning team or managed to avoid firing (Week 11).
- The contestant was on the losing team.
- The contestant was brought to the final boardroom.
- The contestant was fired.
- The contestant lost as project manager and was fired.
- The contestant left the competition.
Ratings
Episode Viewing figures from BARB.[3]
| Episode No. |
Airdate |
Total Viewers |
BBC Two Weekly Ranking |
| 1 |
22 February 2006 |
3,650,000 |
2 |
| 2 |
1 March 2006 |
3,510,000 |
2 |
| 3 |
8 March 2006 |
4,200,000 |
1 |
| 4 |
15 March 2006 |
4,110,000 |
1 |
| 5 |
22 March 2006 |
4,030,000 |
2 |
| 6 |
29 March 2006 |
4,450,000 |
1 |
| 7 |
5 April 2006 |
4,260,000 |
1 |
| 8 |
12 April 2006 |
4,580,000 |
1 |
| 9 |
19 April 2006 |
4,760,000 |
1 |
| 10 |
26 April 2006 |
4,680,000 |
1 |
| 11 |
3 May 2006 |
4,980,000 |
1 |
| 12 |
10 May 2006 |
5,950,000 |
1 |
See also
References
External links