The Apprentice (UK series six)

The Apprentice UK

◄ ►  Series Six

The Candidates Name Left Show       Stella English Week 12 Chris Bates Week 12 Jamie Lester Week 11 Joanna Riley Week 11 Stuart Baggs Week 11 Liz Locke Week 10 Laura Moore Week 9 Christopher Farrell Week 8 Sandeesh Samra Week 7 Alex Epstein Week 6 Paloma Vivanco Week 5 Melissa Cohen Week 4 Shibby Robati Week 3 Joy Stefanicki Week 2 Raleigh Addington Week 2 Dan Harris Week 1 Hired Runner-up Fired Resigned

Series Six of The Apprentice (UK) was a British reality television series, which was broadcast in the UK during 2010 from 6 October to 19 December on BBC One;^[1] like the previous series, the final episode was aired on a Sunday. Unlike previous series which began in March, the series was postponed by the BBC to Autumn that year, so as to avoid raising any conflicting issues with the 2010 General Election being held that month and Lord Sugar's ties to the government at the time.^[2] The series was won by Stella English

Following a web-based application, along with regional auditions and interviews that took place during July the previous year, in London, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham, about 75 candidates were called back for a second round in London, before the final sixteen were picked and shooting took place in Autumn that year.^[3] The house used by the candidates in this series, was located on Bedford Square in the heart of London's West End.^[4]

Following the decision by Margaret Mountford to stand down as an advisor for Alan Sugar during the previous series, her replacement was revealed as Karren Brady, who made her first proper outing on the The Apprentice during this series; she initially began in her role as advisor to Lord Sugar during the first series of Young Apprentice .^[1][5] It was revealed during week 11 that Margaret remained in the show, as an Interviewer of the remaining candidates. In addition to the change of advisor, the companion show You're Fired also saw Dara Ó Briain revealed as the new host of the show, after the departure of Adrian Chiles following the end of the previous series.

The 2010 series featured new editions of two returning specials, which ran alongside it during the final weeks - "The Final Five" on 9 December (following Week 10), and "Why I Fired Them" on 16 December.

Candidates

Sixteen contestants took part in this series, and as usual, were initially divided by gender. The women chose the name Apollo for their team name, while the men chose the name Synergy. Two candidates - Raleigh and Joy - never got the chance to be a project manager.

Weekly results

     The candidate was on the winning team; for Week 11, they managed to pass the interview stage.

     The candidate was on the losing team.

     The candidate was hired and won The Apprentice.

     The candidate was the runner-up.

     The candidate won as project manager on his/her team.

     The candidate lost as project manager on his/her team.

     The candidate was brought to the final boardroom.

     The candidate was fired.

     The candidate lost as project manager and was fired.

     The candidate left the competition.

Episodes

Week 1: Bangers

• Synergy: Dan (Project Manager), Stuart, Raleigh, Alex, Jamie, Shibby, Chris and Christopher.
• Apollo: Joanna (Project Manager), Stella, Laura, Paloma, Joy, Melissa, Sandeesh and Liz.
• Task: Make unique sausages, then sell them upon the streets of London. Most profit made, wins.^[1]
• Task Review: Synergy focused on making cheap sausages, while Apollo decided to make gourmet sausages with a higher meat content. Despite a slow start, Apollo successfully sold their premium sausages to city professionals and to a restaurant, shifting all their stock before the end of the day. Synergy enjoyed good sales at their market location, though Dan's roaming team did very poorly. Eventually, the men had to resort to selling all of their remaining packs for a set figure, right before the deadline. Despite their vastly higher costs compared to Synergy, Apollo secured victory by selling well and just making more profit.
• Result: Apollo had a profit of £321.16, while Synergy had a profit of £305.90.
• Winner: Apollo - By £15.26
• Reward: Champagne and barbecue served at the candidates' house.
• Brought into the boardroom: Dan, Alex and Stuart
• Fired: Dan - For his dictatorial leadership, barking orders, refusing to listen to his team, and for his poor selling despite his background as a sales director.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: John Torode, Jenny Eclair and Mark Frith
• Notes:
  • Lord Sugar felt that the narrow winning victory did not reflect the team's performances, describing Synergy as "shambolic" and saying that the strong sales figures of Christopher and Jamie on their market stall were the only thing that gave the team any shot at victory. On the other hand, Sugar deemed Apollo's performance to be one of the best-ever for the first task of a series, the only major criticisms being that Stella sometimes appeared to lead the team more than Joanna did, and that Melissa, despite impressive sales figures, often clashed with the other women.
  • Dan's leadership was criticised by every member of Synergy (particularly Alex, Raleigh and Stuart), the consensus being that he had just given out orders while they did most of the work. Lord Sugar acknowledged that his decision to fire Dan was influenced by the fact that no one came to his support, which "told him something'. Dan got off to a bad start in the boardroom when he had to be asked to sit up straight before the results were announced.
  • After the firing, Lord Sugar admitted that he had considered firing Stuart alongside Dan, as Stuart sold only slightly more than Dan and made several ridiculous boasts in the boardroom. Alex was also given a severe warning, for being the only person on either team who sold nothing whatsoever.
  • Dan and Stuart particularly clashed during this task; Dan often told Stuart repeatedly to "Shut up" and "Speak when you're spoken too." whilst Stuart believed that using cheap ingredients to make sausages would mean they would be "pushing essentially crap" and would taste rancid.

Week 2: Beach Accessory

• Synergy: Stella (Project Manager), Stuart, Alex, Jamie, Shibby, Chris and Christopher.
• Apollo: Laura (Project Manager), Joanna, Paloma, Joy, Melissa, Sandeesh and Liz.
• Task: Design a new beach accessory and pitch it to three retailers. Most orders received, wins.^[6]
• Task Review: Synergy at the suggestion of Christopher and Jamie, designed a towel and pillow set that would keep drinks cool. Apollo struggled for ideas and went with a book stand at the very last minute due to Joanna aggressively pushing it. Despite the prototype being seen as flimsy and needlessly complex, the book-stand was praised by all three retailers, with Boots wanting an exclusive offer; Laura, however, declined as she did not want to make such a commitment. Meanwhile, Synergy's product was not well liked by two retailers, unimpressed with Chris' dull pitch, but the third, KIT2FIT, praised it, being the only retailer to place an order.
• Result: Synergy received 100 orders, while Apollo received 0 orders.
• Winner: Synergy - Outright win, due to results.
• Reward: An evening at a golf club with a professional teacher
• Brought into the boardroom: Laura, Joanna and Joy
• Fired: Joy - For lacking assertiveness, making no significant contributions to either of the tasks, poorly defending herself in the boardroom and for having little presence within her team.
• Notes:
  • Before announcing the task, Lord Sugar informed the teams that Raleigh had had to leave the program following an emergency family matter. It was later revealed on You're Fired! that his older brother had been badly injured by a bomb while serving in Afghanistan.^[7] As a result, Stella was moved over to the men's team and appointed project manager by Lord Sugar. This was the earliest occasion in any series that someone was assigned as team leader. This was also the first time in the main version of the UK show that a team failed to secure any orders.
  • Lord Sugar, Nick and Karren were extremely impressed with Stella's leadership; Lord Sugar and Karren commented in the You're Hired special that her performance here cemented her as "the one to beat."
  • Apollo's performance in this task was blighted by near-constant argument. Despite being solely responsible for the loss for turning down a high end retail offer, Lord Sugar sympathized with Laura for having to deal with an “unmanageable” team. At one point whilst preparing their pitch, Laura walked out close to tears, and had to be calmed down by Joy.
  • Laura initially chose to bring back Joanna and Sandeesh, resulting in all the women (apart from Liz and Joy, the latter of whom only spoke up in an effort to calm the others down) getting into a massive argument. This was eventually broken up by Lord Sugar, before Karren berated Apollo for setting a bad example to potential businesswomen. She subsequently expressed shock at how rapidly the team had fallen apart after their strong showing the previous week.
  • Even though Joanna was very disruptive and responsible for the poor idea, Lord Sugar decided to give her another chance, along with a stern warning to adjust her attitude immediately.
  • Although it was agreed Joy was not directly responsible for the loss, Lord Sugar felt that Joy had been too much of a passenger on both tasks and this lead to his decision to fire her over Laura. After Joy's firing, neither Laura or Joanna shook her hand, or even talked to her.
  • The majority of the You're Fired audience disagreed with Lord Sugar's decision to fire Joy, feeling that Laura was the most deserving out of the three to be fired.

Week 3: Bakery

• Synergy: Melissa (Project Manager), Stuart, Stella, Alex, Joanna, Jamie and Christopher.
• Apollo: Shibby (Project Manager), Laura, Paloma, Chris, Sandeesh and Liz.
• Task: Bake an array of goods, then sell them on the streets of London as well as to business clients. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Apollo began by overestimating their capabilities, agreeing to deliver almost double their initial offer to a four star hotel after Paloma upsold it, and horrible communication between the pitchers and manufacturers made things worse. Meanwhile, Synergy were lambasted by the same hotel for being unprepared and unprofessional behaviour, but secured a deal with a chain of coffee shops after Alex stepped in to rescue negotiations. Apollo botched a deal with their second client after Shibby made a faux pas by revealing their existing contract with another hotel. Synergy's production line excelled under Christopher's direction, while Apollo's was handicapped by Sandeesh, who ignored Shibby's directions and constantly complained about the high value orders. Both teams failed to meet their client's demands, with Apollo agreeing to pay compensation after they delivered just over 1% of the bread ordered, while Synergy obtained only half their expected price after their muffins were deemed to be of poor quality. Both teams then took to the streets of London, where Apollo seemed to pull in good sales, while in Synergy it was a mixed result; Melissa's sub-team struggled due to her poor management, while Stuart's enjoyed good sales. Ultimately, Apollo's higher costs and the compensation proved their undoing.
• Result: Synergy had a profit of £859.57, while Apollo had a profit of £665.99.
• Winner: Synergy - By £193.58.
• Reward: Dinner at a restaurant specialising in Eastern cuisine, followed by entertainment provided by Arabian Dancers.
• Brought into the boardroom: Shibby, Paloma and Sandeesh
• Fired: Shibby - For his horrible leadership, poorly communicating with his team, unnecessary compensation to the client and for making poor excuses in the boardroom.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Oliver Peyton and Jane Moore
• Notes
  • Lord Sugar commented in the task briefing that there had been a lot of "arguing" and "cackling" and so mixed the teams, having Shibby and Chris exchange places with Joanna and Melissa.
  • Paloma and Sandeesh viciously attacked Shibby in the final boardroom, with Paloma calling him "a joke" and saying that he had "the business skills of a schoolboy". Lord Sugar considered firing Paloma because she did not acknowledge her mistakes and had attacked Shibby for most of the boardroom rather than defend herself. Paloma survived after Karren spoke strongly in her defence, but was warned about her attitude.
  • Sandeesh came under fire from Shibby for her poor attitude and lack of effort, highlighted by sales figures of only £62. However, she was able to convince Lord Sugar that she needed the opportunity to prove herself as project manager.
  • During a discussion in one of the cars on task, Paloma spoke of how she thought Sandeesh had contributed little so far. When Shibby brought up this point in the final boardroom, she denied ever saying it. When Paloma was questioned in her appearance on You're Fired, she admitted that she had lied under pressure, fearing Sandeesh would team up with Shibby to get her fired.
  • Despite the victory, Melissa's management received an awful reception from her team and Nick Hewer, with Nick citing Alex's rescue of the pitch, Christopher's production management and Stuart's selling as most deserving of credit. It was heavily implied that if Synergy had lost, she would have been fired.

Week 4: Selling to Trade

• Synergy: Jamie (Project Manager), Stuart, Stella, Joanna, Melissa and Christopher.
• Apollo: Chris (Project Manager), Alex, Laura, Paloma, Sandeesh and Liz.
• Task: Chooses two products, then sell them to trade customers. Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: Apollo chose a temperature-sensitive baby outfit and a slimming T-shirt. Synergy also chose the baby outfit, but were rejected, owing to Stuart's irritating behaviour, and so went with a gardening tool and a shower head. Trouble quickly ensued when a pre-set appointment with Debenhams revealed they could not stock their products, and they did not offer a satisfactory price to a major plumbing store. Melissa compounded this by annoying prospective buyers with constant repetition, angrily refusing to listen Jamie's criticism. Both PMs did not supervise their other sub-team, who performed poorly; Melissa continued to hamper pitches, worsened by a faulty demonstration unit for their shower head, while one deal was invalidated for being at a lower price than what the manufacturer had set. On Apollo, a major spat arose between Paloma, Laura and Sandeesh over who should take credit for an exclusivity deal with one shop, which was thrown out regardless. Apollo's victory was sealed thanks to a stellar pitch at the largest retailer by Liz, earning an order of £99,000 for the baby outfits.
• Result: Synergy made sales of £76,518.90, while Apollo made sales of £122,625.60.
• Winner: Apollo - By £46,106.70.
• Reward: Day at a spa.
• Brought into the boardroom: Jamie, Stuart and Melissa
• Fired: Melissa - For failing to demonstrate the sales skills that she claimed to possess, her awful sales pitches, being disrespectful towards Jamie in boardroom and for her poor performance as Project Manager the previous week.
• Notes:
  • Chris, Alex and especially Liz were given praise for their strong performances in the sales pitches. By contrast, the sub-team of Laura, Paloma and Sandeesh was strongly criticised for constant infighting and contributing very little after their disallowed sales were removed. Lord Sugar indicated any one of them would've been fired had Apollo lost. The sales gap between the Synergy members was even more pronounced, with the sub-team of Stella, Stuart and Melissa bringing in just £897 (not counting Stella's disallowed sale).
  • At the end of the internal review, when Jamie was asked who he would bring back, he explained he had no intention of choosing Joanna or Christopher, feeling they had been the most effective contributors. Lord Sugar then warned him to make a decision immediately. He ultimately chose Melissa and Stuart since both had claimed to be excellent sellers and yet sold little.
  • Jamie came very close to getting fired, as Lord Sugar considered his lack of control over the sub-team to be the primary factor behind Synergy's defeat. In the end, Lord Sugar warned him to have better control over his team the next time he was Project Manager, whilst Melissa was fired due to failing both as a leader in the previous task and as a salesperson in this one. After her firing, she spitefully accused Jamie and Stuart of ganging up on her, refused to shake hands with them and told them to "save your skins and come out of my face". After she was fired Melissa also said to Jamie and Stuart "Well done ganging up on me. Horrible people."

Week 5: Fashion

• Synergy: Liz (Project Manager), Stella, Joanna, Jamie and Christopher.
• Apollo: Paloma (Project Manager), Stuart, Alex, Laura, Chris and Sandeesh.
• Task: Choose two designer labels, then sells the clothing in the Trafford Centre in Manchester. Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: Both teams wanted to sell designer dresses from the same brand, Licorice, although Synergy's enthusiasm meant they were awarded the opportunity, as they deemed Apollo the inappropriate figures to represent their products. Apollo instead went with a high-priced brand that sold recycled clothes. On the sales day, Apollo found themselves with a poor site for their promotional stand (more than 10 minutes walk from their store), due to Alex's prior rush to select locations, who then compounded this mistake by scaring away customers and irritating Paloma with what she considered to be unimportant issues, but somewhat redeemed himself by securing a television advert that would continuously play in the food court. Synergy had an uninviting store, opened 45 minutes late, and did not appear to respond to Apollo's television advert, but had a critical advantage in that their products were more reasonably priced and easier to sell, which ultimately proved decisive.
• Result: Synergy made sales of £3,760.37, while Apollo made sales of £3,223.43.
• Winner: Synergy - By £536.94.
• Reward: A day in a VIP box at a racecourse.
• Brought into the boardroom: Paloma, Sandeesh and Alex
• Fired: Paloma - For being too hostile, brutally attacking Alex and Sandeesh for no reason, failing to secure the dresses from Licorice, and for her blatant attempts to scapegoat Alex from very early on in the task.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Marcus Brigstocke, Jo Elvin and Nick Hewer
• Notes:
  • Before the briefing ended, Stuart changed places with Liz; the latter was then appointed as PM, along with Paloma.
  • When asked who to bring back, Paloma instantly chose Alex, but admitted trouble in choosing the second person, as everyone had worked hard and done well; her choice of Sandeesh was put down to past performance.
  • Although her team-mates and Karren were quite positive about her overall leadership, Paloma's last minute out-burst attacking both Sandeesh's and Alex's working backgrounds, along with further personal attacks on Alex that included discrediting him for securing the TV advert, prompted Lord Sugar to finally lose patience, saying that "you talked yourself out of this".
  • Despite surviving, Alex received criticism for his multiple mistakes, lack of focus and "irritant" personality in the boardroom; Nick disagreed on the latter. While Lord Sugar commented that he "sounded like a disaster", he gave him another chance.
  • Sandeesh was lambasted in the boardroom for her lack of contribution in the prior tasks, and questioned, along with Paloma, about the claim that Alex's poor choice for the promotional stand single-handedly cost the team victory. After the firing, Lord Sugar stated how unhappy he was with her by stating that she got "reported as doing naff all".
  • In the Why I Fired Them special made later in the series, Sugar strongly indicated that had it not been for Paloma's last-minute outburst, he would probably have fired Sandeesh. The Panel on You're Fired agreed that while they would have fired Sandeesh for her weak efforts and unfairly blaming Alex, Paloma's outburst justified her firing.

Week 6: Advertising

• Synergy: Christopher (Project Manager), Stella, Joanna, Jamie and Liz.
• Apollo: Alex (Project Manager), Stuart, Laura, Chris and Sandeesh.
• Task: Creates an advertising campaign for a brand of kitchen cleaner. Best campaign made, wins.
• Task Review: Apollo branded their cleaner "Germinator," and made an advert featuring a young boy called the aforementioned brand, who used his detergent to clean up kitchens. Synergy's cleaner was called "Octi-Kleen," and their campaign centred around the idea of making it seem as if whoever used the cleaner had eight hands instead of two. Both campaigns were felt to be quite poor, and Synergy's advert in particular was accused by both the advertising executives and Lord Sugar of being sexist; however, their campaign did at least make the key points the agency wanted, and the bottle design they came up with was more in line with that used by existing products. Apollo's campaign, despite a better-realised advert and a better pitch by Sandeesh, was felt to be a total failure in getting across the key features of the product, as well as having an unattractive bottle and carrying what was considered an even more inappropriate message (children using cleaning chemicals), than Synergy's advert. As a result, Synergy were named the winners.
• Winner: Synergy - For a better bottle design, and highlighting the brand's key-points.
• Reward: A private karaoke night.
• Brought into the boardroom: Alex, Chris and Sandeesh
• Fired: Alex, with regret - For his poor leadership, refusing to acknowledge that his team's campaign was worse than Synergy's, and for bringing Sandeesh back into the boardroom instead of Laura.
• Notes:
  • During the task announcement Lord Sugar insisted that those who had yet to be Project Manager put themselves forward. On Apollo, Alex was selected on the basis he had experience with advertising. In Synergy's case, Christopher got the position by default, being the only person who had not led a task. Joanna (who ran a cleaning business) strongly implied she would have put herself forward had this not been the case.
  • Despite the general feeling that Laura had been the least effective contributor to the task, Alex decided to bring back Sandeesh based on her prior track record in the competition. Lord Sugar decided that this was not a valid reason, and sent her back to the house partway through the final boardroom, leaving Alex and Chris facing dismissal. However, Lord Sugar was still unimpressed by Sandeesh's performance, noting that aside from the pitch, she had again contributed little.
  • Although Chris was held responsible for Apollo's poor branding decision which single-handedly cost them the victory, he survived by accepting responsibility for his mistakes and, primarily, for his past performance.
  • In the initial boardroom, Alex kept insisting his team's campaign was not as bad as Synergy's. Lord Sugar was baffled by Alex's denial, and warned him to discuss only his team's performance, though Alex continued.

Week 7: DVD

• Synergy: Sandeesh (Project Manager), Jamie, Chris, Liz and Christopher.
• Apollo: Stuart (Project Manager), Stella, Joanna and Laura.
• Task: Create and sell greenscreen film experiences to shoppers at Westfield London. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Apollo shot footage at Brands Hatch to create a racing experience video. Despite Stuart's abrasive leadership and lack of organisation, their stand enjoyed good custom, though sales were hurt by the fact that some of the DVDs were incorrectly edited, and had to be sold at a discount, while a number of customers failed to return to collect and pay for their DVDs. Synergy initially chose to theme their video around a skiing experience. However, this failed to attract customers, and halfway through the day they changed their strategy, instead selling their own driving experience video for a lower price. They were also held up at the start of the day after Sandeesh decided to swap Liz and Chris, who had originally been trained to use the editing equipment, with Jamie and Christopher, delaying the team's start by an hour while they were given the required training. This, combined with a severe overspend on blank DVDs and the lack of a clear pricing strategy, cost Synergy victory.
• Result: Apollo had a profit of £262.50, while Synergy had a profit of £222.97.
• Winner: Apollo - By £39.53.
• Reward: Champagne tasting session.
• Brought into the boardroom: Sandeesh, Chris and Liz.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Andy Parsons, Colin Wilkinson and Carol Vorderman
• Fired: Sandeesh - For not organizing the team properly, lacking a pricing strategy, not bringing Jamie back into the boardroom, and for her generally poor track record throughout the competition.
• Notes:
  • Before the briefing ended, Lord Sugar had Stella and Joanna change places with Sandeesh and Chris, then appointed Sandeesh and Stuart as PMs.
  • Although Jamie was accused of not contributing to the task by Karren, most of the other members of Synergy and even Sandeesh herself, she chose not to bring him back because she considered the salespeople, Chris and Liz, to be the most responsible for the task's failure. Lord Sugar considered this to be a fatal mistake, as Sandeesh had delivered by far her best performance in this task, and he could have easily justified firing Jamie instead. Although Chris and Liz's track records saved them, Lord Sugar warned them that they appeared to be coasting off their success in the fourth task, and that he expected more from them.
  • After Chris and Liz returned to the house, Stella said that Apollo did not deserve to have won the task, clearly implying that Stuart was more deserving of being fired than any member of Synergy; although Stuart stated after the results, despite his leadership, that he was proud of his team.
  • While Sandeesh was not shown to be fired with regret on the main episode, it was revealed on You're Fired that she was.

Week 8: Crisps

• Synergy: Chris (Project Manager), Jamie, Liz and Christopher.
• Apollo: Stella (Project Manager), Stuart, Joanna and Laura.
• Task: Create new crisp flavours, then sell them in the city of Hamburg. Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: In addition to selling to independent retailers, the teams had two major clients set up by Lord Sugar, and were allowed to set up their own sales appointment. Christopher on Synergy arranged a 9 AM appointment with a major chain of hotels, but later rearranged it for 1 PM, which allowed Apollo grab the 9 AM appointment and make a large sale, making Synergy's appointment worthless. Apollo continued to do better with face-to-face sales than Synergy, partly due to a better reaction to their flavours, and partly because the Synergy members got fewer appointments and wasted their time talking to people who were not in a position to buy anything. Both teams didn't fare well at Karstadt, as they wanted to trial the crisps (although Apollo got a bigger order), while Apollo's sale for their order from Mike's Sandwich, was thrashed by Synergy who got double it.
• Result: Synergy had total sales of €17,995, while Apollo had total sales of €19,327.
• Winner: Apollo - By €1,332.
• Reward: Spending spree at a top fashion designer.
• Brought into the boardroom: Chris, Christopher and Jamie.
• Fired: Christopher - For his fatal decision to reschedule a major sales appointment, being too much of a "backroom man", and for lacking a "spark" that Sugar was looking for in the candidates.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Ed Byrne, Kelvin McKenzie and Sarah Willingham
• Notes:
  • Chris came very close to getting fired, due to the fact that Sir Alan and his advisers felt that he had taken a backseat as a leader, and focusing too much on sales to effectively led his team, as well as appearing in the boardroom for the third consecutive time, but survived because of his strong sales figures and his strong defence. Likewise Lord Sugar considered firing Jamie due to his lackluster contribution and poor track record, but spared him as well because Sugar still saw potential in him. However, they were both warned that they were on their last chance.
  • The majority of the You're Fired audience, combined with the panel, disagreed with Lord Sugar's decision to fire Christopher; while it was widely agreed (including by Christopher himself) that he had made the biggest individual mistake in the task, the general consensus was that Chris or Jamie would have been more deserving of dismissal due to their poor record (as Lord Sugar himself pointed out when warning them).

Week 9: Discount Buying

• Synergy: Jamie (Project Manager), Stuart and Chris.
• Apollo: Liz (Project Manager), Stella, Joanna and Laura.
• Task: Buy ten required items from a list, in the space of ten hours. Lowest amount spent (including fines), wins.
• Task Review: To start with, Apollo stayed at the meeting place and got on the phones to start locating items, whilst Synergy went straight on the road and phoning from there. This almost backfired as they had trouble locating the bluebook and the Indian gold, but when they did, they got them at fair prices. Chris and Stuart used a strange technique of telling (what Karren later described as) "half-stories", to get the prices they wanted, while Jamie's persistent negotiation made up for his failure to locate 3 items. On Apollo, their initial research paid off as they got all 10 items, including a 4-metre wooden worktop that they'd ordered over-phone. However, their failure to negotiate hard meant they spent much more than Synergy on items. Stella and Laura got the tartan for triple the amount the boys spent. The most criticised mistake occurred when the two spent way more for truffles at a restaurant in Knightsbridge. To top it all off, Joanna and Liz were late getting back to the boardroom, which gave them a fine as a result, while Synergy were fined for missing three of the items required.
• Result: Apollo's total spend was £1,094.40 (including fines), while Synergy's total spend was £1,020.50 (including fines).
• Winner: Synergy - By £73.90.
• Reward: Weekend trip to Paris
• Brought into the boardroom: Liz, Laura and Stella
• Fired: Laura - For overspending on the truffles, making several excuses for her failures, and for her generally lackluster track record throughout the process.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Martin Lewis, Sarah Millican and Alvin Hall
• Notes:
  • The difference in the team's negotiation skills was shown by the fact that had Synergy managed to purchase the remaining three items, even at a discount of just one pence each, their victory margin would have been at least £313.87. Lord Sugar accused Apollo of not making a real effort in negotiation, and being concerned more with getting all ten items whatever the cost.
  • When reviewing the items that Apollo had bought, both Nick and Lord Sugar pointed out that the price on the truffles played a major role in their loss. It was firmly agreed that, had they successfully negotiated the price strongly enough, they could have won even with the late fine. The panel of You're Fired also discussed the choice of locating a restaurant for such a deal; the restaurant, having already bought the truffles at market value, would have to sell them on at a much higher price for any deal to be worthwhile.
  • Although Lord Sugar agreed that Stella tended to be "wooden," he indicated that he let this pass this due to her employment history in a Japanese investment bank, in which the cultural atmosphere demands such an attitude. Lord Sugar was also impressed by her boardroom defense, but still made the point that the position he was offering required a less 'corporate' persona.
  • Lord Sugar indicated Laura's firing was somewhat overdue, noting had it not been for Joy's lack of presence in Week 2, and Alex's refusal to bring her back in Week 6, she would've left the process much earlier than her current departure.
  • After Liz and Stella returned to the house, both Chris and Liz expressed a hostile attitude towards Stella, with the latter citing that "Laura will be missed."
  • This episode marks the first occasion the teams are shuffled back to single genders (outside the first task) This happened again in Series 9 before the interviews and Series 11 for the second and third tasks.

Week 10: London Tours

• Synergy: Joanna (Project Manager), Jamie and Chris.
• Apollo: Stuart (Project Manager), Stella and Liz.
• Task: Offer a 'tour experience' through London to the general public. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Apollo created an "East End" tour, while Synergy went with a "Ghosts and Ghouls" theme. The teams were allowed to negotiate with the Trafalgar Square tourist office for the right to have their tickets sold, and they ultimately went with Synergy after Chris offered them 20% of their total profits, as opposed to the 25% on tickets sold at the office that Stuart had offered. Despite a number of factual errors in his commentary, Jamie did well as Synergy's tour guide, engaging the customers with his horror stories, while Stella did poorly for Apollo, getting lost in the East End and struggling to hold the customers' interest. While both teams had good custom for their first tours, both Apollo's second tour and Synergy's third each had almost no customers. In the end, Apollo's poor tour and failure to secure the deal with the tourist office resulted in their defeat.
• Result: Apollo made a profit of £834.30, while Synergy made a profit of £1,099.33.
• Winner: Synergy - By £265.03.
• Reward: Trip to Jersey, learning how to catch oysters, and then a meal in a Michelin-starred restaurant.
• Brought into the boardroom: Stuart, Stella, and Liz
• Fired: Liz - For failing to display any skills other than sales, her 4-week losing streak, and for not being much of a risk taker as Stuart.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Sean Lock, Vanessa Feltz and Paul Latham
• Notes:
  • It was strongly implied that Chris offered the tourist office 20% of their total sales by accident, and that he had actually just meant to offer them 20% of the sales from that office. Upon discovering exactly what Chris had done, Joanna attempted to renege on the deal the following day, but the office insisted that Synergy honour it, pointing out that the deal that Joanna wanted them to accept was actually less than what Apollo had originally offered them.
  • This episode marks the second time a rival team has tried to sabotage the winning team when Stuart who was the project manager of Apollo tried to steal customers from Synergy's pitch resulting in an argument between Chris and Stuart which was eventually broken up by Joanna.
  • Lord Sugar contemplated firing either Stuart or Liz as he felt Stella had been "steady" throughout the tasks, and had taken on board Nick's constructive criticism about her corporate persona. Lord Sugar was inclined to fire Stuart due to his consistently bad, spitfire attitude and noted that he sold less than half the tickets that Liz sold despite claims that he was a fantastic salesman; even Stella admitted she would fire Stuart over Liz, despite their mutual animosity following the previous week. However, Sugar felt that although Stuart's pleas were immature and naive, he could take risks with the business. Lord Sugar also noted that despite her performance in this task, Liz seemed to have been in a downward spiral since Week 6, having lost every task since then and making several critical mistakes along the way, while Stuart appeared to have been improving prior to this task.
  • The majority of the You're Fired audience, combined with the panel, disagreed with Lord Sugar's decision on firing Liz, feeling that Stuart should've been fired out of the three. While Liz was not shown to be fired with regret on the main episode, it was revealed on You're Fired that she was.

Week 11: Interviews

• Semi-Finalists: Chris, Jamie, Joanna, Stella, Stuart
• Task: The five remaining candidates must undergo a series of interviews by four of Lord Sugar's business colleagues; Margaret Mountford, Bordan Tkachuk, Claude Littner and Alan Watts.
• Candidate Reviews: All five candidates received either mixed or poor reviews for the four advisers. Out of the five, Stella received the best overall reports from the interviewers, with her only major weakness being that the interviewers felt that she was more suited to a corporate environment than Lord Sugar's organisation, though Nick and Karren noted that she had been trying to break out of this mould during the tasks. Joanna was given credit for starting a business from scratch, but attention was called upon her relative lack of business knowledge, and that she showed no desire to expand her cleaning company, which was seen as demonstrating a lack of confidence. Chris was also given good credit due to his academic achievements, but the advisers were put off by how he wrote about them in his CV; some were not happy with the change of courses in his career, and his ability to focus was also called into question. Jamie got very poor reviews from after his CV was riddled with incorrect information and inappropriate answers, while, despite a background that would have been suited to Lord Sugar's property holdings, he was further accused of being unable to own up to his mistakes and being a bad long-term planner. Meanwhile, Stuart received a lot of criticism for his arrogant attitude and ridiculous claims; the most critical error that Stuart made was inflating the information on his CV by claiming to own a fully licensed telecommunications company, when in fact he only owned an ISP, which had no regulatory requirements beyond an easily obtainable £350 licence. Though the interviewers noted that he was the only candidate with a technology background and appeared otherwise knowledgeable about the industry, his poor excuses and ethics deemed him an inferior candidate.
• Final Decision: In the boardroom, Stuart was immediately fired by Lord Sugar, who realized that he had used the lie on his CV to ensure his survival in the previous week, before dismissing Joanna as he felt that she needed to let her cleaning company grow and develop, though he gave Joanna words of encouragement for doing so well despite her relative inexperience. Stella's strong interview and boardroom responses ensured that Lord Sugar make her the first finalist, while, in the end, Jamie was the last candidate to be fired after Lord Sugar felt he had the least to offer.
• Fired:
  • Stuart - For making empty promises, and for lying his way throughout the entire process, including in his CV.
  • Joanna, with regret - For lacking basic knowledge about principles in business.
  • Jamie - For his awfully weak CV, making a variety of excuses to make up for his shortcomings, and for losing the confidence he displayed earlier in the process.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Karren Brady, Mark Frith and Ed Byrne
• Notes:
  • Despite her showing a clear gumption of wanting to do well and having prior success without relative experience, Lord Sugar felt that Joanna needed to grow her cleaning company before taking on the sort of job he was offering.
  • Lord Sugar was outraged after learning that Stuart had lied about his communications licence right from the start. Having spoken to every other candidate about the feedback he had received, Lord Sugar explicitly told Stuart what the advisors thought of him before furiously showing him the door. Lord Sugar also stated that he was particularly upset that Liz (who had been seen as a serious contender for the final) had lost her place in the competition and implied he would've almost certainly fired Stuart instead of Liz, had he discovered the lie sooner.

Week 12: The Final

• Finalists: Chris and Stella.
• Stella's team: Stella (Project Manager), Joanna, Paloma, Melissa and Christopher.
• Chris' team: Chris (Project Manager), Alex, Jamie, Shibby and Liz.
• Task: Create and launch a new alcoholic drink, then pitch them with a market campaign. Lord Sugar decides the winner based on performance in the task.
• Task Review: Stella's team decided to create a brand of bourbon that would appeal to female customers (the drink being a traditionally male one), and named their drink "Urbon.", while Chris's team, on the other hand, created a rum and pomegranate based spirit called "Prism," which was packaged in a pyramid-shaped bottle. While "Urbon" was felt to have a rather overpowering taste, due in part to Stella relying on Christopher and Melissa for the taste testing since she didn't drink spirits, Prism was deemed to taste better, but the pink colour of the drink (stemming from Liz and Shibby ignoring Chris's instructions) was felt to be unappealing, and their television advert was deemed to be very poor compared to "Urbon"'s; this was from Chris wasting too much time getting the right opening shots. In the boardroom, Lord Sugar reviewed, both the feedback from the critics, and the performance of the teams. While Stella had had issues from her team mostly from Joanna, despite controlling it well, and her drink's strong taste, had much a better campaign and appeal to it, that were felt to be remarkably good. Chris, meanwhile, despite leading much better and having a more attention grabbing drink, was criticised for his leadership and the drink's unappealing marketing. In addition, past experiences in the task and their CVs, further decided Lord Sugar's mind.
• Runner-Up: Chris - For producing a drink with limited market appeal, focusing too much on directing an advert that was generally poor, and having a generally less impressive CV and track record compared to Stella.
• Winner: Stella - For having a well-rounded and well-executed marketing campaign, an exceptionally solid and consistent track record throughout the series, and her impressive business knowledge and experience.
• Notes:
  • Joanna displayed an openly hostile attitude toward Paloma throughout the task, even attempting to drag Stella away while Paloma was discussing the bottle design with her. Despite admitting to her poor attitude towards her former team-mates earlier in the series, even Paloma was unsure as to what she had done to provoke this reaction.
  • While Stella was hired, Chris was told that if he ever found himself needing a job, Lord Sugar would be willing to provide one. Chris was only the second runner-up that Sugar made this offer to.

Criticism and controversy

Candidates

Christopher Farrell

Before the series aired, it was reported that in September 2009, Christopher Farrell had admitted to two charges of possessing an offensive weapon after police discovered an extendable baton and knuckle-duster in his car following allegations he had hit his wife with one of the weapons. Farrell was re-arrested on 4 August 2010 and bailed until 27 October 2010 on charges of fraud with regard to alleged financial irregularities relating to a false representation made via cheque or credit card.^[8][9] Farrell was fired from his job at Mortgages4Plymouth over the alleged fraud and was believed to have gone into hiding in Spain.^[10] The Sun newspaper reported that Farrell had been sacked from a previous mortgage company in Saltash, Cornwall for misconduct after viewing internet pornography.^[11]

Dan Harris

Former candidate Dan Harris who was fired in Week 1 for his dictatorial leadership was also alleged to have even terrorized staff at his own company, even making masks of his own face and forcing staff to wear them. One of his employees called him "a bully and an ogre. He would strut around calling himself Dan the Man but his real management style was to shout abuse at people." and also called him "hideous". ^[12]

Joanna Riley and Shibby Robati

Contestant Joanna Riley was found to have been convicted for racially abusing three taxi drivers in October 2005, while it was also alleged that contestant Shibby Robati had received a string of complaints while working as a junior doctor for St George's Healthcare NHS Trust; the latter received a formal warning from the General Medical Council for "unprofessional behaviour".^[10][13]

Results

Week Four

In week four, Teams Synergy and Apollo drew in the two biggest sales figures in the show's history at the time, yet the show drew criticism from viewers after it was revealed that the orders placed in the programme were not genuine.^[14]

Ratings

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.^[15]

Specials

See also

• Junior Apprentice
• The Apprentice USA

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Apprentice (UK)

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Sir Alan Sugar

• The Apprentice (UK series six) at BBC Online