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), a British reality television series, was broadcast in the UK during 2010 from 6 October to 19 December on BBC One;^[1] whereas previous series began in March, the BBC were forced to postpone until Autumn 2010, in order to avoid any conflicting issues with the 2010 General Election being held that month owing to Lord Sugar's ties to the government at the time.^[2] It is the first series to feature Karren Brady, who replaced Margaret Mountford after she stood down as an advisor for Alan Sugar; Karren made her initial appearance in the role during the first series of Young Apprentice, while Margaret remained in the show, but mainly for the 'Interviews' stage of the process.^[1][3] Filming took place in Autumn 2009, following a web-based application, regional auditions and interviews during July of that year, and a second round of interviews and assessments in London and the final selection were picked.^[4] The sixteen candidates who took part, named their teams Apollo and Synergy, with Stella English winning the 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, and "Why I Fired Them" a week later on 16 December - with the BBC airing the final episode on 19 December to avoid disrupting its Christmas TV schedule.

Candidates

Performance Chart

Key:

     The candidate won this series of The Apprentice.

     The candidate was the runner-up.

     The candidate won as project manager on his/her team, for this task.

     The candidate lost as project manager on his/her team, for this task.

     The candidate was on the winning team for this task / they passed the Interviews stage.

     The candidate was on the losing team for this task.

     The candidate was brought to the final boardroom for this task.

     The candidate was fired in this task.

     The candidate lost as project manager for this task and was fired.

     The candidate left the competition prior to this task.

Episodes

Week 1: Bangers

• Original Air date: 6 October 2010
• 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: Apollo decided to make gourmet sausages with a higher meat content, and while their start was slow, things picked up after they sold their product to city professionals and a restaurant, with the team shifting the rest of their stock before the end of the day. Meanwhile, Synergy focused on making cheap sausages, and enjoyed good sales on their market stand. However, their roaming team fared poorly, and the men eventually had to resort to selling all of their remaining packs for a set figure. Overall, the team team lost the task as their profits were undermined by high costs.
• 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 work background.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: John Torode, Jenny Eclair and Mark Frith
• Notes:
  • Lord Sugar felt that the narrow margin of 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, with his only criticisms being that Stella sometimes appeared to lead more than Joanna, and that Melissa, despite impressive sales, often clashed with the others.
  • Every member of Synergy, particularly Alex, Shibby, Raleigh and Stuart, were critical of Dan's leadership as the general consensus between them was that they did most of the work while he just gave out orders. Along with having to tell him to sit up straight before the results were announced, Lord Sugar acknowledged that his decision to fire Dan was influenced by the fact that no one came to his defence.
  • During the task, Stuart clashed with Jamie briefly about his selling technique, but mostly clashed with Dan, who became hostile in response to his behaviour after he disagreed to the use of cheap ingredients. Lord Sugar admitted that he was close to firing Stuart alongside Dan, as he had sold only slightly more than Dan and made several ridiculous boasts in the boardroom. In addition, Alex was also given a severe warning, as he had been the only person on either team to have sold nothing whatsoever.

Week 2: Beach Accessory

• Original Air date: 13 October 2010
• 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.^[5]
• Task Review: Synergy designed a towel and pillow set that would keep drinks cool, but while the product was not liked by two of the retailers, both unimpressed with Chris' dull pitch, the third praised it and placed in an order. Meanwhile, Apollo designed a book stand, after Joanna aggressively pushed for it when the team were struggling for ideas, but while the prototype was seen as flimsy and needlessly complex, all three retailers praised it. However, Laura refused to accept an exclusivity agreement with one retailer, effectively giving the team no orders and thus causing them to lose the task.
• 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
• Left (Before the task's briefing): Raleigh - Due to an emergency family matter that needed his immediate attention.
• 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 teams' task, Lord Sugar informed them 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.^[6] Because of his departure, Stella was moved over to Synergy and appointed as project manager for the team by Lord Sugar, whereupon she impressed him, Nick and Karren with excellent leadership on the task. On You're Hired, both Sugar and Karren commented that her performance in this task cemented her as "the one to beat" in this year's process.
  • In the boardroom, Apollo were deemed an “unmanageable” team by Lord Sugar, after their performance on the task was blighted by near-constant argument. Sugar sympathised with Laura for having to deal with this, especially when the women broke out into a massive argument, with the exception of Liz and Joy, when she initially chose to bring back Joanna and Sandeesh. After it was eventually broken up, Karren berated the team for setting a bad example for potential businesswomen, while was subsequently shocked at how rapidly the team had fallen apart after their strong start on the previous task.
  • While Laura was held most responsible for her team's loss, particularly when she turned down a high end retail offer and broke down in tears before her team's pitch, Lord Sugar's decision with Joy was influenced by his belief that she had been too much of a passenger on both tasks. In addition, despite being very disruptive and being responsible for the poor idea, Joanna was given another chance but warned by Sugar to adjust her attitude upon leaving the boardroom. Neither she or Laura shook Joy's hand or even talked to her after her firing.
  • The majority of the You're Fired audience disagreed with Lord Sugar's decision to fire Joy, with the panel feeling that Laura was the most deserving out of the three to be fired.

Week 3: Bakery

• Original Air date: 20 October 2010
• 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: Synergy secured a deal with a chain of coffee shops, after they failed to secure an order from a four star hotel. While the team's production line excelled well under Christopher's direction, they failed to meet their client's demand due to poor quality muffins, yet managed only managing to get half their expected price. Attempting to sell on the streets, the team had mixed results, as Melissa's struggled due to poor management, while Stuart's pulled in good sales. Meanwhile, Apollo's execution was poorly handled, as while they sold well on the street, they suffered problems in other areas; Sandeesh compromised their production line by ignoring directions and constantly complaining about the high value orders, Paloma upsold a deal they made with the same hotel that double the amount they ordered, Shibby botched a chance to secure a second deal, and poor communication occurred between the pitching sub-team and the manufacturing sub-team. Ultimately, the team agreed to pay compensation to the hotel when they delivered only just over 1% of their order, which was enough to lose them the task.
• 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, giving 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, having commented in his briefing on the previous disorder amongst the teams, had Shibby and Chris exchange places with Joanna and Melissa for this task.
  • 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", while Shibby retaliated against Sandeesh for her poor attitude and lack of effort, particularly as her sales figures amounted to just £62. While Sandeesh gave a convincing argument to Lord Sugar, even asking to be given the opportunity to be a project manager to prove herself, Paloma narrowly avoided being fired after Karren spoke strongly in her defence, but was warned about her attitude.
  • During a discussion in one of the cars on task, Paloma spoke of how she thought Sandeesh had contributed little up to that point in the process. When Shibby brought up this point in the final boardroom, she denied ever saying it, but when questioned during 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.

Week 4: Selling to Trade

• Original Air date: 27 October 2010
• 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 to sell a temperature-sensitive baby outfit and a slimming T-shirt. While the team arranged an exclusivity deal with one retailer that was later disallowed, Liz helped them to secure a large order on the baby outfits, due to an impressive pitch she made with one of the larger retailers they met. Meanwhile, Synergy went with a gardening tool and a shower head, after initially wanting the baby outfits an losing out on them. However, the team faced problems, as one retailer revealed they couldn't stock their products, while another was not satisfied with the price they offered, and a third was invalidated for being at a lower price than a product's manufacturer had set. Melissa further compounded problems by not listening to criticism from Jamie, and hampering pitches that were made. The team effectively lost the task due to the combined issues they had.
• 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 her awful sales pitches, failing to demonstrate the sales skills that she claimed to possess, being disrespectful towards Jamie in the boardroom, and for her poor performance as project manager on the previous task.
• Notes:
  • Chris, Alex, and Liz most of all, were given praise for their strong performances in the sales pitches, while in contrast, Laura, Paloma and Sandeesh were strongly criticised over their performance, with Lord Sugar indicating that any one of the three would've been fired if their team had lost, due to their constant infighting, and the fact that when their exclusivity sales had been disallowed and thus not counted, they had contributing very little on the task. In comparison, Stella, Stuart and Melissa were just as bad, as their total sales figures was just £897 after one of Stella's sales was disallowed.
  • Although Jamie was not fired, Lord Sugar warned him to have better control of his team if he was project manager again, after he considered the lack of control on Melissa's sub-team to be the primary factor behind his team's defeat. After she was fired, Melissa spitefully accused him and Stuart of ganging up on her, despite the fact that she had sold little, and that both James and Lord Sugar had failed to see her prove her claims of being a good salesperson; James also believed that Stuart's claims were also unproven. She thus refused to give both men a hand-shake before leaving.
  • While both teams drew in the two biggest sales figures in the show's history at the time of broadcast, the show drew criticism from viewers after it was revealed that the orders placed in this episode were not genuine.^[7]

Week 5: Fashion

• Original Air date: 3 November 2010
• 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: Synergy earned the right to sell designer dresses from Licorice, though while they had an uninviting store and opened 45 minutes late, their products were reasonably priced and easy to sell, securing very good sales. Meanwhile, Apollo went with a high-priced brand that sold recycled clothes, after being deemed inappropriate to represent Licorice. While Alex secured a TV advert that would continuously play within the shopping centre's food court, he compounded the team's performance by rushing to select a location and thus giving them a poor site for their promotional stand, and scared away customers, with the team making less sales than Synergy and ultimately losing the task.
• 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:
  • Despite receiving positive feedback from her team and Karren about her overall leadership, Paloma's last minute out-burst, which included attacking both Sandeesh's and Alex's working backgrounds along with further personal attacks against Alex, sealed her fate after it prompted Lord Sugar to lose patience in her.
  • While both Sadeesh and Alex avoided being fired due to Paloma's outburst in the boardroom, neither escaped scrutiny. Sadeesh's past performance was greatly lambasted, while she was also questioned over why she made a claim that Alex's poor choice for the promotional stand had single-handedly cost the team victory. Alex, despite Nick defending him from Paloma's accusation that he was an irritant, received criticism for his multiple mistakes on the task, along with his lack of focus.
  • On You're Fired, the panel agreed that, while they would have fired Sandeesh for both her weak efforts and for blaming Alex over the team's loss, Paloma's outburst justified her firing. On Why I Fired Them, Sugar strongly indicated he would have fired Sandeesh, had it not been for Paloma's last-minute outburst.

Week 6: Advertising

• Original Air date: 10 November 2010
• 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: Synergy branded their cleaner "Octi-Kleen", with their campaign centred around the idea of the detergent giving the cleaner eight hands to make their job easier. While their idea was felt to be poor and accused of being sexist, the team ensured that it highlighted the key points of the product, and came up with a bottle design that was in line with those used by existing products. Meanwhile, Apollo branded their cleaner "Germinator," and made an advert featuring a young boy who used the detergent to clean up kitchens and who was called the aforementioned brand. However, while they produced an excellent advert and Saneesh provided a good pitch, their campaign was flawed for not getting across the key features of the product, an unattractive bottle design, and for giving off an inappropriate message of children using cleaning chemicals, effectively costing the team victory.
• 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 briefing, Lord Sugar insisted that those who had yet to be project manager put themselves forward for the role. While Alex was selected on the basis that he had experience with advertising, Christopher got the position by default due to 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.
  • In the initial boardroom, Alex kept insisting his team's campaign was not as bad as Synergy's, which left Lord Sugar baffled by his denial. He was therefore warned to discuss only his team's performance before he could continue talking.
  • 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. Although unimpressed with her performance and low contribution, with the exception of the pitch, he decided to send her back, leaving Alex and Chris facing dismissal. Chris narrowly avoided being fired, after Lord Sugar felt that he had accepted responsibility for his mistakes, even though he single-handedly cost the team victory with the poor branding decision.

Week 7: DVD

• Original Air date: 17 November 2010
• 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, and while they enjoyed good custom, problems arose from Stuart's disorganised, poor leadership, with some of the DVDs being incorrectly edited and having to be sold at a discount as a result, while a number of customers failed to return to collect and pay for their orders. Meanwhile, Synergy initially chose to theme their videos around a skiing experience, but changed this to a driving experience of their own idea halfway into the task due to a lack of customers, with the team delayed at the start of the day for an hour after Sandeesh suddenly changed who was in the editing sub-team, forcing them to wait while the replacements were trained on how to use the editing equipment. These issues, along with a lack of clear pricing strategy and a severe overspend on blank DVDs, effectively cost Synergy any chance of a 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.
• Fired: Sandeesh - For not organising the team properly, lacking a pricing strategy, not bringing Jamie back into the boardroom, and for her generally poor track record throughout the competition.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Andy Parsons, Colin Wilkinson and Carol Vorderman
• 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 Karren accused Jamie of not contributing to the task, most of the other members of Synergy disagreed, yet Sadeesh's decision to not bring him back, believing that Chris and Liz were most responsible for the team's loss, was considered a fatal mistake by Lord Sugar as he believed that Jamie's performance could not be forgiven. While 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.
  • Although Stuart stated after the results, despite his leadership, that he was proud of his team, Stella commented that at the house, after Chris and Liz had returned, that Apollo didn't deserve to win the task, clearly implying that Stuart was more deserving of being fired than any member of Synergy.
  • 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

• Original Air date: 24 November 2010
• 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: Apollo opted for creating British flavours of crisps that the German retailers liked, and secured a large sale with a major hotel chain, with the team securing good face-to-face sales in the city, although while they got a large order from one retailer, they insisted on a trial run with their crisps. Meanwhile, Synergy focused on creating crisps with German flavours, but did not fare well with sales, as they wasted their time trying to sell to people who weren't in a position to do so, and made fewer appointments to independent retailers. Although they received an order from a retailer for double the amount than Apollo received, the decision to reschedule their appointment with the major hotel chain made it worthless, and ultimately cost the team a chance at victory.
• 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:
  • Although Chris avoided being fired due to his strong sales figures in the task and his strong defence in the boardroom, both Lord Sugar and his advisers felt that, apart from making his third consecutive appearance in the final boardroom, he had taken a backseat as a leader, particularly as he had focused too much on sales to effectively lead his team. Likewise Lord Sugar considered firing Jamie due to his lacklustre contribution and poor track record, but spared him as he still saw potential in him.
  • On You're Fired, the decision to fire Christopher was largely disagreed upon. While both the panel and Christopher widely agreed that he had made the biggest mistake in the task, the general consensus was that Chris or Jamie would have been more deserving of dismissal due to their poor record.

Week 9: Discount Buying

• Original Air date: 1 December 2010
• Synergy: Jamie (Project Manager), Stuart and Chris.
• Apollo: Liz (Project Manager), Stella, Joanna and Laura.
• Task: Purchase a set list of ten items in the space of ten hours, negotiating for low prices. Least amount spent, after addition of fines, wins.
• Task Review: Synergy focused on searching for the items while on the move, though the strategy nearly backfired as they had trouble locating two of the items, though managed to get them for fair prices when they did. While the team were fined for missing 3 items, they compensated for this with Jamie's persistent negotiation, along with unusual sales technique used by Chris and Stuart to get the prices they wanted. Meanwhile, Apollo opted to first research where to get all 10 items which paid off, with the team effectively ordering one item over the phone. However, they failed to negotiate hard on their purchases causing them to spend much more, with Stella and Laura particularly responsible for the overspend. These, coupled with Joanna and Liz earning the team a fine for lateness, proved costly mistakes.
• 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. As a direct result of this revelation, Lord Sugar accused Apollo of not making a real effort in negotiations and for being more concerned with getting all ten items regardless of 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. On You're Fired, the panel discussed the choice of locating a restaurant for such a deal, reasoning that as the restaurant had already bought the truffles at market value, they 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 due to her employment history, in which the Japanese atmospheres she worked in demands such an attitude, while being also impressed by her boardroom defence, but still made the point that the position he was offering required a less 'corporate' persona. In addition, both Chris and Liz expressed a hostile attitude to her when the two women returned to the house, with Liz citing that "Laura will be missed".
  • Lord Sugar indicated Laura's firing was somewhat overdue, noting she would have left much earlier in the process had it not been for Joy's lack of presence in the second task, and Alex's refusal to bring her back following the sixth task.

Week 10: London Tours

• Original Air date: 8 December 2010
• 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: Synergy opted to go with a "Ghosts and Ghouls" themed experience, and successfully secured the right to have the Trafalgar Square tourist office sell their tickets after offering them 20% of their profit. Although they secured no custom for their second tour, their first did well, with Jamie being an effective tour guide, engaging with their customers. Meanwhile, Apollo opted for an "East End" tour experience, but suffered problems; although they got good custom to start with, their tour was poor and had no customers for their third outing, with Stella being a poor tour guide, struggling to hold the customers' interest and getting lost in the East End, while Stuart failed to secure the tourist office as his offer focused on the profit made through the office sales. Their overall performance effectively led them to losing the task.
• 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 losing streak on 4 tasks, 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, when he had actually 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.
  • In the boardroom, it was implied that Stella was in no danger of being fired after Lord Sugar felt she had been "steady", as well as having taken on board Nick's constructive criticism about her corporate persona.
  • Lord Sugar was inclined to fire Stuart over Liz, due to his consistently bad, spitfire attitude, his immature and naive pleas, and for selling less than half the tickets she had sold despite his claims of being a fantastic salesman; even Stella admitted she would have fired him over Liz because of these reasons, despite having mutual animosity with him on the previous task. However, Sugar changed his mind after he felt that he could take risks with the business, and that had been improving prior to this task.
  • Liz's firing came down to Lord Sugar noting that, despite her performance, she seemed to had been in a downward spiral since the sixth task, after having lost every task since then and making several critical mistakes along the way. However, the majority of the You're Fired audience, combined with the panel, disagreed with Lord Sugar's decision on firing Liz, with the panellists 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

• Original Air date: 15 December 2010
• Semi-Finalists: Chris, Jamie, Joanna, Stella, Stuart
• Task: The five remaining candidates undergo a gruelling interview process from four interviewers - Claude Littner, Alan Watts, Margaret Mountford, and Bordan Tkachuk. Lord Sugar decides on which two proceed based on the feedback.
• Candidate Reviews: Stella received the best overall reports from the interviewers, whose only concern was that they felt she was more suited to a corporate environment than Lord Sugar's organisation, even though she was noted as attempting to break out of this image during the tasks. Joanna, despite getting credit for starting a business from scratch, was noted by the interviewers for having a relative lack of business knowledge, and demonstrating a lack of confidence by having no desire to expand her cleaning company. Although Chris's academic achievements were duly noted, the interviewers were put off by how he wrote about them in his CV, some being not happy with the change of course in his career, while his ability to focus was called into question. Despite Jamie having a background that would have been suited to Lord Sugar's property holdings, he received poor reviews after his CV was found to be riddled with incorrect information and inappropriate answers, and was further accused of being unable to own up to his mistakes and being a bad long-term planner. Finally, Stuart was deemed the more inferior candidate of the group for his poor ethics and excuses, as despite being the only one with a technology background and knowledge in this branch of industry, he received considerable criticism for his arrogant attitude and ridiculous claims; the most critical was a claim on his CV that he owned a fully licensed telecommunications company, when in fact he only owned an ISP, which had no regulatory requirements beyond an easily obtainable £350 licence.
• Final Decision: Stuart was immediately fired over his lie on his CV, as Lord Sugar realised it had ensured his survival in the previous task, with Joanna being dismissed next as he felt that she need to let her company grow and develop. While Stella's strong interview and boardroom responses ensured her place as the first finalist, Lord Sugar felt that Chris had more to offer, and so fired Jamie as a result.
• 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:
  • Lord Sugar was outraged after learning that Stuart had lied about his communications licence right from the start. After speaking to every other candidate about the feedback he had received on them, Lord Sugar explicitly told Stuart what the interviewers thought of him, stating that he no longer believed anything he said, while adding that he was particularly upset that Liz had been fired over him because of this lie, having considered her a serious contender for the final.
  • 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, though offered her words of encouragement for doing so well in the process.
  • During his interview with Stuart, Bordan Tkachuk commented that he knew a bit about technology by stating that an ISP was "an Internet Service Protocol" during discussion of what he was providing, unaware that the P actually stood for "Provider". Following the episode, many debated how he could make such a mistake from his claims that he knew "a little bit about technology" from the 25 years he spent running Lord Sugar's companies, with a blog on Alphr.com labelling him a "Blundering Bordan".^[8]

Week 12: The Final

• Original Air date: 19 December 2010
• Finalists: Chris and Stella.
• Stella's team: Joanna, Paloma, Melissa and Christopher.
• Chris' team: Alex, Jamie, Shibby and Liz.
• Task: Finalists launch a brand new alcoholic drink, pitching them with a market campaign. Lord Sugar decides on who is hired, based on performance in the task and the overall process.
• Task Review: Chris' team opted to create brand of rum and pomegranate based spirit called "Prism", designing a pyramid-shaped bottle for the drink. While the drink was more attention-grabbing and tasted good, the drink's pink colour was felt to be unappealing by the critics, who deemed their TV advert to be poor; this was due to Chris wasting time getting the opening shots right. Meanwhile, Stella's team decided to create a brand of bourbon called "Urbon" that would appeal to female customers, but while the taste was found to be overpowering, due to Stella relying on Christopher and Melissa for the taste tasting, their campaign was deemed to be better and more appealing by the critics. In the end, Lord Sugar felt that Stella's performance in the task had been better than Chris', based on feedback from the critics and the performance of the team, and that both her good reviews from the interviewers and her overall performance in the process made her the ideal choice for him, effectively declaring her the winner.
• 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 process, and her impressive business knowledge and experience.
• Notes:
  • Throughout the task, Joanna displayed an openly hostile attitude toward Paloma, even attempting to drag Stella away while she was discussing the bottle design with her. Despite admitting to her poor attitude towards her former team-mates earlier in the series, Paloma was unsure as to what she had done to provoke this reaction while she had been helping Stella in the finals.
  • While Stella was hired, Chris was told that if he ever found himself needing a job, Lord Sugar would be willing to provide one.

Criticism and controversy

Christopher Farrell

Before the series aired, it was reported that Christopher Farrell had admitted to two charges of possessing an offensive weapon in September 2009, after police discovered an extendable baton and knuckle-duster in his car following allegations that 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,^[9][10] with him being subsequently fired from his job at Mortgages4Plymouth over the alleged fraud. The same report that covered this also claimed that the BBC were seeking to contact him, and that he was believed to have gone into hiding in Spain.^[11] The Sun newspaper later reported that Farrell had been sacked from a previous mortgage company in Saltash, Cornwall for misconduct after viewing internet pornography.^[12]

Dan Harris

Following his appearance on the show, allegations were made against Dan Harris by a number of media sites, in which they reported that he had terrorized his staff at his former company. One employee anonymously revealed how he had made masks of his own face and forced his staff to wear them for a night out, describing him as "hideous" and "a bully and an ogre", adding: "He would strut around calling himself Dan the Man but his real management style was to shout abuse at people."^[13]

Joanna Riley and Shibby Robati

Before the series aired, it was revealed that Joanna Riley had been found to have been convicted for racially abusing three taxi drivers in October 2005, in which during the incident she also did £1000 of damage to their cars, yet the BBC commented that their check of her criminal record showed no irregularities to prevent her being on the show. In addition, it was alleged that Shibby Robati had received a string of complaints while working as a junior doctor for St George's Healthcare NHS Trust, and had received a formal warning from the General Medical Council for "unprofessional behaviour".^[11][14] Shibby, who was also a surgeon, also accused Lord Sugar of being "biased" against candidates with professional qualifications such as lawyers and doctors.^[15][16]

Jamie Lester

Contestant Jamie Lester was accused of brokering dodgy property deals in the disputed area of Northern Cyprus and sold the homes of Greek Cypriots who fled the country when Turkey invaded Cyprus in 1974 and occupied it illegally. Former Liverpool council leader Derek Hatton, who attended a conference at which Lester spoke, claimed he said it was OK to sell the homes. He said: "I remember Jamie. I disagreed with the morals and legality of his argument."^[17]

Stella English

Following the end of the series, Stella English, who had already been the subject of controversy from allegations that she had mixed with some of South-East London's most notorious crime families,^[18][19] quit immediately from the job she won, describing it as "a sham", before criticising Lord Sugar for his response of "I don't give a s***", when she complained to him. She later attempted to sue him on the basis of constructive dismissal, but lost the case after tribunal judge John Warren accused her of being less interested in "appreciating a job with enormous scope for advancement" and "more interested in a glamorous role, and travelling in private jets",^[20][21] whereupon she later claimed that she had gone broke following the case's dismissal, was forced to travel by bike after losing her cars to repossession, had been abused by strangers, and that her 2-year marriage broke down as a direct result.^[22][23] The events prompted both the producers and Alan Sugar to change the show's prize from a job to an investment as a direct result.

Ratings

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.^[24]

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