The Apprentice: You're Fired!

The Apprentice: You're Fired! (sometimes named You're Fired!), is a comedy companion discussion programme that is broadcast alongside the current run of reality TV hit The Apprentice. The programme was commissioned by the BBC, after they commissioned a second series of the main programme, with the initial series airing on BBC Three in 2006, with subsequent episodes broadcast on BBC Two since 2007. Each series consists of 12 episodes, with its format is similar to that of Big Brother's Little Brother and Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two, in that following each episode of The Apprentice, You're Fired! interviews the fired candidate over their performance on the show.^[1] When the final episode of each series is broadcast, it is renamed as The Apprentice: You're Hired!, and involves interviews with both the winner and the runner-up of the show, along with Lord Sugar himself, and a reunion with all of the former candidates;^[2] since 2008, You're Hired has been aired on BBC One, as part of the main programme's final episodes.

The programme is hosted by Rhod Gilbert,^[3] but has been previously hosted by Adrian Chiles (2005-2009), Dara Ó Briain (2010-2014),^[4] and Jack Dee (2015), with Romesh Ranganathan being part of its tenth series as a regular panellist.

History

Following the decision by the BBC to commission a second series of The Apprentice, plans were made by the broadcaster for spin-off to run alongside the programme, who made an announcement on 10 December 2005 that they were working on setting up a companion discussion show under the subtitle of You're Fired!^[5] With the programme effectively confirmed to be in the works, Adrian Chiles was brought in to become its host during its first run on BBC Three, alongside the second series of the main programme, beginning right after its first episode on 22 February 2006. After the spin-off's first series, the BBC decided to move it to BBC Two, after making the broadcaster decided to move The Apprentice to BBC One so it could be aired to a mainstream audience.^[6] Chiles remained as its host until the end of its fourth series, when he decided to leave the BBC upon signing a deal with ITV. Following his departure from You're Fired!, the broadcaster unveiled Dara Ó Briain as his replacement, whose first tenure as host was in the show's fifth series, remaining in this role until the ninth series until leaving the programme to focus upon a comedy he was planning.^[4]

After Ó Briain's departure, the programme's production team undertook work to improve the show's set, redesigning it to be brighter, incorporating more audience space created, while changing the large boardroom styled-table used by those on the main stage to a large desk shared between just the host and interviewed candidate. Along with the broadcaster unveiling on 11 September 2015 that Jack Dee would be the new host following his predecessor's departure, it also unveiled that Romesh Ranganathan would feature throughout the tenth series as a regular guest panellists for each episode of its run.^[7][8] This setup was used only for the tenth series, as Dee quit the show after one series, announcing his departure on 15 March 2016 and citing that work commitments on other comedies and a radio show had been the root cause behind his decision.^[9] After his departure, the production staff chose to no longer use the format of a regular panellist after Ranganathan revealed his work schedule meant it would be unlikely for the next series, while they also switched back to the original layout of the set, although retaining some of layout used in the tenth series' set with some slight modifications. Dee's replacement, Rhod Gilbert, was unveiled by the BBC in September 2016, around a month before the twelfth series of The Apprentice was set to be aired.^[10]

Format

Each episode always begins with the host conducting an introduction to camera, after entering the set. The initial format saw the first host, Adrian Chiles, addressing the camera from the audience before making towards the main stage of the set and the table he sat at, but this was format was changed early into O'Briain's tenure, who simply made his address upon being seated at the table, only on rare occasions doing so from the audience. During Jack Dee's short tenure on the show, his introduction was done upon him standing in the centre of the set, before he took his place at the desk he used, but after his departure, the format of introduction was reverted to that from O'Briain's tenure. The general setup of the introduction is that the host explains about the content of the upcoming programme, and often uses at least one humorous highlight taken from the recent episode of The Apprentice, before eventually introducing the guest panellists. Although there is some variation, the panel is typically composed of a journalist, a businessperson, and a comedian, and on some occasions, one of Lord Sugar's aides (either Nick Hewer (until his departure after the tenth series), Karren Brady, or Margaret Mountford (Until her departure after the fifth series)) are present.

Before the interview of an evicted (or winning/runner up) candidate is made, the host often links to a video of the moment that the candidate was fired/hired, before they are introduced onto the stage and sat down next to the host. At this point, both the host and the panellists interview the candidates; in the case of a multiple firing, each candidate from that firing (or if one is runner-up and one is winner) are interviewed separately. During these interviews, candidates air their views on their performance and any issues they had in the task they failed in, whilst a mixture of "never before seen" footage from the task and footage that was aired in the episode are seen, and a filmed interview of Lord Sugar provides the candidate and viewers his reasons for why that person had to leave, which often also includes views by other candidates about the recently fired member; the latter segment isn't used when the runner-up and winner are being interviewed. Often, the family of the fired candidate are also interviewed during this time. The interviewed candidate, host and the celebrity guests also discuss about their favourite moments from the night's show, as well as any other notable ones from the contestant's time on the programme, and also who impressed them and why.

At the end, the guests are asked whether they agree with Lord Sugar's decision, before the studio audience are asked to vote on whether the candidate should have been fired, by holding up the appropriate card (a red "FIRED!" card or a green "HIRED" card); this is not used in the final episode. The evicted candidate is then shown their "best bits" — montages of video clips that reflects their time in the competition. This is usually accompanied by a popular music track, in the style of Big Brother Live Eviction, with the contestant's reaction to the clips shown in an inset. The host often presents the fired/hired candidate with a parting gift at the end of this, which is something appropriate to one of the candidate's memorable moments on the show. Except for the series finale, a preview of the next episode is then shown before the end credits, often with additional material the main show didn't show in its preview.

The show has had a few notable parts to it:

• In the final episode of each series, Lord Sugar appears alongside the winning candidate, usually after the winner has been introduced, and both he and his advisers are shown highlights from the process (serious and humorous). In addition, candidates who were fired during the process, appear amongst the audience.
• In the fourth, fifth, eighth, tenth and eleventh series, a regular feature was introduced called "The One That Got Away", recapping the contribution of a candidate who appeared to be a likely prospect for firing that week, but who survived into the next round.
• In the fifth series, a feature called "Quote of The Week" was introduced, which recapped the best quote from that week's show.
• In the tenth series, Dee usually makes a pun about the weeks' task before apologising giving a humorous excuse related to the task that week.
• The eleventh series had a beginning sketch known as "Apprentice News" in which Gilbert highlights humorous moments from a task that week.

During the 2009 and 2010 series, a longer edit of the show was used for the late-night repeat, though unlike other programmes with extended versions (such as QI and Have I Got News for You) the longer versions were not explicitly promoted as such and did not appear on iPlayer. As of 2011, late-night repeats of the show have been discontinued. In addition, no episodes of The Apprentice: You're Fired! were made to accompany Young (formerly Junior) Apprentice.

Transmissions

References

External links

• The Apprentice: You're Fired! at BBC Programmes
  
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! on IMDb