The Apprentice (UK series three)

The Apprentice UK

◄ ►  Series Three

The Candidates Name Left Show       Simon Ambrose Week 12 Kristina Grimes Week 12 Katie Hopkins Week 11 Tre Azam Week 11 Lohit Kalburgi Week 11 Naomi Lay Week 10 Jadine Johnson Week 9 Ghazal Asif Week 8 Adam Hosker Week 7 Paul Callaghan Week 6 Natalie Wood Week 5 Sophie Kain Week 4 Gerri Blackwood Week 3 Rory Laing Week 2 Ifti Chaudhri Week 2 Andy Jackson Week 1 Hired Runner-up Fired Quit

Series Three of The Apprentice (UK), a British reality television, was broadcast in the UK during 2007 from 28 March to 13 June; it was the first series to be shown on BBC One, after the broadcaster moved it over from BBC Two, though it retained its usual timeslot as before.^[1] This series attracted 10,000 applicants and promised "tougher tasks and better people" than before, with Lord Alan Sugar (then Sir Alan at time of broadcast) commenting that he believed that this would prevent the show morphing into a version of "Big Brother on wheels."^[2] For this series, the number of candidates was increased to sixteen, and the two teams named Stealth and Eclipse, with Simon Ambrose winning the series.^[3]

Two 90-minute specials were aired during the series run. The first programme was titled The Apprentice: Beyond the Boardroom and featured information about the personal lives of each of the semi-finalists. The second, The Apprentice: Why I Fired Them, featured Alan Sugar revealing his reasons over why he chose to remove each candidate from the programme.

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 on this task.

Episodes

Week 1: Coffee to Go

• Original Air date: 28 March 2007
• Eclipse: Jadine (Project Manager), Tre, Paul, Rory, Adam, Ifti, Simon and Lohit.
• Stealth: Andy (Project Manager), Sophie, Gerri, Naomi, Katie, Kristina, Natalie and Ghazal.
• Task: Sell coffee in Islington. The team that makes the most profit wins.^[4][5]
• Task Review: Eclipse opted to use both a fixed coffee stand and a mobile coffee van, making a good start and selling well throughout the task, yet made initial mistakes with some of the stock they purchased. Meanwhile, Stealth opted for the same sales strategy, but while selling well, they purchased too much stock, particularly milk, while setting up their van in an area already served by many low-price coffee outlets. Their mistakes overshadowed those of Eclipse, thus effectively costing them victory.
• Result: Eclipse had a profit of £360.97, while Stealth had a profit of £111.92.
• Winner: Eclipse - By £249.05
• Reward: A trip to the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden.
• Brought into the boardroom: Andy, Gerri and Sophie.
• Fired: Andy - For his poor leadership on the task, and allowing Sophie and Gerri's mistakes to occur.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Sahar Ashemi, Ruth Badger and Mark Frith.
• Notes:
  • The night before the task, the teams were instructed to choose project managers and come up with team names. While Jadine immediately volunteered to lead the women, none of the men particularly wanted to be project manager, but eventually went with Andy because of his more extensive sales experience. On the day of the task, Sir Alan had Andy and Jadine switch teams, while telling the boys to change their name after the original was found to be the name of a company that Tre had previously worked for. This series is the first in the show's history to not feature a "battle of the sexes", as teams were mixed throughout the entire process.
  • Jadine caused considerable problems throughout the task, coming into conflict with Simon and Tre, after they claimed they had enough time to stay on a red route within a highly lucrative sales area before they needed to move on to avoid being fined for overstaying, while openly berating others for failing to emphasise the team's branding, after insisting on using it on their cart and van to make them stand out from other vendors. In the boardroom, Sir Alan claimed the use of branding would have had little effect. He also stated that, despite making an unproven claim that several members were unwilling to be led by a woman, attacking her team before the results was a bad idea.
  • Sir Alan stated that all three candidates in the final boardroom were to blame for the loss, but ultimately decided that Andy's poor leadership outweighed Sophie's overspending and Gerri's poor location. Andy pleaded with Sugar to change his decision, without success; he had to be told twice that he was fired.

Week 2: Doggy Designs

• Original Air date: 4 April 2007
• Eclipse: Rory (Project Manager), Tre, Jadine, Paul, Adam, Ifti, Simon and Lohit.
• Stealth: Katie (Project Manager), Sophie, Gerri, Naomi, Kristina, Natalie and Ghazal.
• Task: Design an innovative dog product and pitch it to three retailers. Most sale from orders, wins.^[6][7]
• Task Review: Eclipse were forced to go with designing a dog-owner utility belt, due to Rory opting for it against the advice of his team and feedback from the market research. While he caused further problems with his leadership, the team managed to secure orders from two of the retailers. Meanwhile, Stealth went with a design for a dog wardrobe, and focused on pitching it to the largest of the three retailers. This proved a decisive move, as while it was the only retailer to make an order, the amount they ordered gave the team a considerable win on the task.
• Result: Eclipse made £565, while Stealth made £5,000
• Winner: Stealth - By £4,435.
• Reward: A luxury meal at The Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair.
• Brought into the boardroom: Rory, Tre and Ifti.
• Fired:
  • Ifti, with regret - For admitting to being unable to focus and contribute to tasks due to missing his family.
  • Rory - For his dictatorial leadership, designing a poor product, ignoring the research team's advice, and attempting to evade responsibility for the loss by deflecting blame onto Tre.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Maggie Philbin, Toby Young and Mary Portas
• Notes:
  • Stealth's revenue out-grossed Eclipse's by a factor of 8.8:1 in the task, making it the biggest victory in the history of the UK version of The Apprentice at the time the episode was broadcast; the record has since been surpassed.
  • In his column in that week's Daily Mirror, Sir Alan commented that had the show not changed its format to allow multiple firings, which was influenced by a number of factors in the last series, he would have had to keep either Ifti, despite his clear lack of motivation, or Rory, despite his awful leadership. Sir Alan fired Ifti as soon as the final boardroom began, before informing Rory and Tre that the boardroom would continue, and a second firing would take place.
  • Tre was very critical of Rory's performance, and was shown to have little respect for his leadership. Although Sir Alan warned Tre about his behaviour, stating that he "did not know when to back down", he did not hold him responsible for the loss, and saw no reason at all to keep Rory, who found it difficult to defend himself in the boardroom. By contrast, Tre had to be explicitly told to keep quiet to let Rory speak.
  • This task and its failings were shown on the spin-off episode The Worst Decisions Ever with guests criticising Rory's leadership heavily and his product even more-so, saying "such an item doesn't exist because nobody needs it". Tre even said that the belt could make users look like "a terrorist", while Adam derided it by saying that it "should have been called the Poo Pouche" in a parody of its name "The Pooch Pouch."

Week 3: Start-up Service

• Original Air date: 11 April 2007
• Eclipse: Tre (Project Manager), Paul, Adam, Katie, Simon and Lohit.
• Stealth: Naomi (Project Manager), Sophie, Jadine, Gerri, Kristina, Natalie and Ghazal.
• Task: Starting with £200, generate profit through whatever means. Most profit made, wins.^[8][9][10]
• Task Review: Eclipse opted to run a gardening business during the day, before organising a pub-singing service in the evening. While Tre's leadership was highly aggressive and the team had a slow start, they performed well and secured a good profit from their effort. Meanwhile, Stealth chose to run a face painting service for children in the day and a kiss-o-gram service in the evening. While the team had a slow start as well, they also lost a lot of custom due to mismanagement on their location, while Jadine, Gerri and Ghazal refused to participate in the kiss-o-grams, which earned considerable criticism. Their performance and evening idea ultimately drew in a small profit that could not win them the task.
• Result: Eclipse had a profit of £189, while Stealth had a profit of £65.
• Winner: Eclipse - By £124.
• Reward: A night out in a Cuban bar and restaurant in London.
• Brought into the boardroom: Naomi, Jadine and Gerri.
• Fired: Gerri - For a lack of contribution in all three tasks, her poor choice of location on two of the tasks, and for admitting she was "biding her time" before putting in a full effort.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Jo Cameron, Karren Brady and Rufus Hound
• Notes:
  • Both teams were given a list of 200 business ideas, approved by Richmond council, that they were allowed to choose from for this task.
  • Only Kristina and Natalie were willing to give out kisses, causing Sir Alan to point out how ridiculous it was for Stealth to choose to run a business that five of the seven team members were not willing to take part in.
  • Jadine believed Naomi was a bad leader and openly questioned her decisions at several points in the task. Although Sir Alan agreed that most of Naomi's decisions had been poor, he acknowledged that she was at least a hard worker, whereas Gerri seemed content to stay in the background. Jadine was subsequently retained for her potential, having been warned about her attitude again.

Week 4: Sugar Rush

• Original Air date: 18 April 2007
• Eclipse: Adam (Project Manager), Sophie, Katie, Natalie, Simon and Lohit.
• Stealth: Ghazal (Project Manager), Tre, Jadine, Paul, Naomi and Kristina.
• Task: Manufacture sweets and sell them at London Zoo. Most profit made, wins.^[11][12]
• Task Review: Stealth opted to manufacture chocolate lollies with an animal design and bags of fudge, but struggled to manufacture enough stock that led them to effectively being out of stock an hour before the task was finished. Meanwhile, Eclipse went with orange flavoured lollies and chocolate lollies, the latter with a paw design, yet while the team had plenty to sell, they struggled to offload the orange lollies due to them being mistakenly labelled as 'natural'. In addition, they resorted to reducing their prices close to the task's deadline, eventually giving their remaining stock away for free, but could do nothing to prevent themselves losing the task.
• Result: Stealth had a profit of £994, while Eclipse had a profit of £983.
• Winner: Stealth - By £11.
• Reward: A night out Bowling.
• Brought into the boardroom: Adam, Sophie and Natalie.
• Fired: Sophie - For lacking passion, selling the least and for her naivety about the business world.^[13]
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Vanessa Feltz, Trevor Bish-Jones and Nick Hewer
• Notes:
  • Sir Alan commented after the results that he did not feel that Stealth were deserving winners, and was further annoyed by Ghazal's cocky attitude and failure to acknowledge her mistakes in the boardroom; Tre ended up doing this for the team. The panel of You're Fired also agreed that Stealth got lucky and had they lost, Ghazal should have been fired.
  • Although Natalie was not fired, she was given a severe warning after she repeatedly lied to Sir Alan about who was responsible for the labelling error, even blaming Adam, when it had been her mistake.

Week 5: Fish, Lips and Horses

• Original Air date: 25 April 2007
• Eclipse: Natalie (Project Manager), Adam, Katie, Simon and Lohit.
• Stealth: Kristina (Project Manager), Tre, Jadine, Paul, Naomi and Ghazal.
• Task: Choose photographs from two different artists and then sell them in a fashionable east London gallery. Most sales made, wins.^[14][15]
• Task Review: Stealth opted for artwork from artists, whose themes included horses and fish. Although Tre felt uncomfortable around the pictures, some of which depicted nipples, the team took to conducting the hard-sell with customer, earning favourable sales. Meanwhile, Eclipse went with artists whose work related to lips, Morocco and Colombia, and which had higher price ranges. However, one of their artist queried Natalie and Katie over how the team had laid out their gallery, which damaged their sales strategy, while their softer sales approach backfired, the latter effectively losing them the task.
• Result: Eclipse had sales of £1,599.78, while Stealth had sales of £4,702.
• Winner: Stealth - By £3,102.22.
• Reward: A pampering session at a Champneys, a spa.
• Brought into the boardroom: Natalie, Adam and Lohit.
• Fired: Natalie, with regret - For lying in the boardroom, not bringing Katie back, and because Sir Alan thought she was out of her depth.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Brian Sewell, Alvin Hall and Fi Glover
• Notes:
  • A critical factor in Natalie's firing was her poor explanation over her decision to bring back Adam and Lohit, both of whom had done nothing wrong, although the latter had sold nothing. Her cause was not further helped by her falsely accusing Adam of lying about his preference of artists in the boardroom, when in reality he had liked one set of pictures, but had expressed reservations over how well they would sell. While she didn't openly challenge Natalie, Margaret pointed out that Adam had been telling the truth when the final three were sent outside.
  • It was implied that Katie should have been brought back and possibly fired for missing the point of the task, along with her failure to sell anything, and for mocking Adam when attempting to ask when she had failed to ask them herself.

Week 6: The Sausage Saga

• Original Air date: 2 May 2007
• Eclipse: Lohit (Project Manager), Tre, Jadine, Naomi and Simon.
• Stealth: Paul (Project Manager), Adam, Katie, Kristina and Ghazal.
• Task: Buy high-quality British produce and then sell it at a French farmers' market in Arras. Most profit made, wins.^[16][17]
• Task Review: Eclipse chose to sell smoked fish, marmalade and tea. While the team found it difficult to sell their tea due to them being in a predominantly coffee-drinking nation, their fish and marmalade sold very well, greatly assisted by Simon's fluent French, with the team securing a healthy profit despite not sell everything. Meanwhile, Stealth opted for sausages, chutney, and cheap processed cheese bought at the last minute from a cash and carry. However, despite their sausages selling well, the team suffered major problems throughout the task; the team had to pay for an incorrectly translated banner due to arriving late and a communication error, lost sales due to trying to use tin with lighter fuel instead of a camping stove, and had no fluent French speakers on their stands when Paul and Katie left to sell to trade very early. These issues, coupled with their failure to sell hardly any of their cheese, left the team suffering a decisive loss.
• Result: Stealth had a loss of £225, while Eclipse had a profit of £410.
• Winner: Eclipse - By £635.
• Reward: Indoor skydiving in a vertical wind tunnel.
• Brought into the boardroom: Paul, Kristina and Adam.
• Fired: Paul - For his horrendous decision-making, accepting no responsibility for the loss, and for bringing Kristina back into the boardroom instead of Katie.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Jean-Christophe Novelli, Mark Frith and Nick Hewer
• Notes:
  • For this task, the teams were reshuffled to ensure they had French speakers on both side - Eclipse got Naomi and Simon, along with Tre who knew some basic French, while Stealth got Paul and Katie, along with Kristina who had a loose knowledge of the language.
  • Despite Simon earning praise from Sir Alan for Eclipse's performance in the boardroom, the team's execution of the task was not trouble-free, as during the task he was involved in a major spat on the ferry between himself and Jadine over referring the team as "guys". In addition, Lohit committed numerous gaffes while selling in the streets of Arras due to a poor grasp of French.
  • Both Nick and Sir Alan criticised Stealth over their decision to sell English cheese to the French; the former stated that no-one would ever "find an English cheese, never in a month of Sundays", while the latter dubbed the choice as "coals to Newcastle".
  • Although Paul, Katie and Ghazal attempted to blame Adam for the team's loss due to his overspend on their banner, Sir Alan noted that, while this had been a mistake, the team's choice of product had doomed them even before they had started selling. He also made it clear that he didn't hold Kristina responsible, as she had correctly identified flaws in her team strategy, secured the gas cooker that picked up sales, and was the only one to openly disagree with Paul during the task.
  • Paul was quick to vigorously deny claims from Kristina that he and Katie were in an "inappropriate relationship", after Adam stated that he had been "too close" to her to bring her back into the boardroom. While Sir Alan explained he didn't mind relationships between co-workers if it did not interfere with work, he warned Paul he would be out of the process if it proved to be the case. Although Katie defended him strongly, she was shown to disagree with several of the decisions Paul made in the task, including buying the cheese and using the improvised burner.
  • Before making his final decision, Sir Alan indicated that he considered Paul to be a better overall candidate than Adam, but deemed Paul's bad decisions and refusal to take responsibility to be unforgivable; these decisions were later featured on the spin-off Worst Decisions Ever. Although Adam survived, Sir Alan questioned whether he could succeed in the competition before he was asked by him to be Project Manager in the next task.
  • When Kristina and Adam returned to the house after Paul's firing, they did not receive cheers from the other candidates as before they returned, Katie and Ghazal had effectively framed them for the task failings. Katie also made personal attacks on Kristina, largely because she had been the only person who objected to Paul's decisions.

Week 7: The 97 pence Victory

• Original Air date: 9 May 2007
• Eclipse: Simon (Project Manager), Tre, Jadine, Naomi and Lohit.
• Stealth: Adam (Project Manager), Katie, Kristina and Ghazal.
• Task: Purchase a set list of ten items, negotiating for low prices. Least amount spent, after addition of fines, wins.^[18][19]
• Task Review: Eclipse mostly rushed into deals without having enough time to make negotiations, primarily from Simon's erratic leadership which caused tension amongst the team, while they had confusion over the nigella seeds, and were fined for buying second-rate tiles. Meanwhile, Stealth managed to negotiate well on a number of items, thanks to Katie and Kristina putting aside personal differences, though were confused on the seeds as well and were ultimately fined for not purchasing them. Despite performing better, the team narrowly lost out on victory due to their spend and fines.
• Result: Eclipse's remaining money was £459.68 (including fines), while Stealth's remaining money was £458.71 (including fines).
• Winner: Eclipse - By 97p.
• Reward: A racing car driving day at the Bedford Autodrome.
• Brought into the boardroom: Adam, Ghazal and Katie.
• Fired: Adam - For his poor leadership and organizational skills, failing to buy all the items despite the smaller fine it would occur, appearing in the boardroom four times in a row, not bringing Kristina back into the boardroom and because Sir Alan felt he was out of his depth.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel:Michelle Mone, Jon Culshaw and Dominic Littlewood
• Notes:
  • The items that the teams were required to get, included: a car battery, 3 kg of nigella seeds, a square metre of marble tiling, hair-removal wax, a house plant, leather trousers, a bin, a wetsuit, a white rabbit and a unicycle.
  • The victory margin in this episode is the smallest margin ever made on the show's history. If Adam had bought all the items, the fine for lateness would have been smaller and would have resulted in Stealth winning by £29.03.
  • When Adam, Katie and Ghazal were asked to wait outside the boardroom, Margaret criticised Adam's decision to bring Katie and Ghazal back into the boardroom as being "very silly", as she suspected he brought them back for personal reasons, although both he and Ghazal had made serious mistakes during the task. Whilst Katie's performance helped her to avoid being fired, Sir Alan gave her harsh criticism over her poor performances, her CV, and for continuously interrupting Adam in the boardroom, and thus warned her to improve her work.
  • Sir Alan seriously considered firing Ghazal, sharply criticising her for failing relay information about the nigella seeds after realising what they were by the halfway point, whilst also questioning her level of experience. However, he agreed to give her one last chance after she asked to lead the team on the next task. While he admitted that Adam probably didn't deserve to be in the final boardroom as often as he had been, Sir Alan felt that he made too many mistakes in both his turns as project manager to be allowed to continue.
  • It was revealed behind the scenes that, during the task, complications with the camera crew following Katie and Kristina meant that the pair were delayed for over an hour while a replacement crew was sent out, and so were given an additional hour for the task to make up for the delay.

Week 8: Brand-a Trainer

• Original Air date: 16 May 2007
• Eclipse: Jadine (Project Manager), Tre, Simon and Lohit.
• Stealth: Ghazal (Project Manager), Naomi, Katie and Kristina.
• Task: Create a brand logo, poster and video advertisement for a new style of trainers. Best campaign made, wins.^[20][21][22]
• Task Review: Eclipse branded their trainers "Street", with a campaign around a "reclaim the street" message and a promise to donate 10% of the sale price to youth charities. While the campaign was good, advertising executives felt it was a bad move to name the specific amount the charity would receive. Meanwhile, Stealth branded their trainers as "Jam", with their campaign focused around an urban music theme, though Ghazal ignored Naomi's advice on it while having Katie direct the TV advert. While this was well made, the executives criticised it for lacking a message and failing to make it clear what was being advertised, ultimately declaring that the campaign barely resembled a trainer advert, thus effectively costing the team victory.
• Winner: Eclipse - For a campaign that remained focused on the product.
• Reward: A lesson at "Cocktail school" in The Savoy Hotel in London. On their way back, Eclipse saw a poster of their Street trainers on a bus stop.
• Brought into the boardroom: Ghazal, Katie and Naomi.
• Fired: Ghazal - For her very poor leadership, trying to force Sir Alan to fire Naomi by bringing Katie back, her cocky attitude, lacking business experience and for her generally poor track record.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Trevor Nelson, Karan Bilimoria and India Knight
• Notes:
  • In the initial boardroom, Ghazal attempted to pin the blame mostly on Naomi, claiming she made no contribution despite her experience. Although her ideas were felt not to have been especially better than Katie's, Naomi quickly denied she was responsible, with Nick agreeing by making it clear that both she and Kristina had been sidelined in the task. Ghazal made a further attempt to sway Sir Alan to fire her by bringing Katie back with her, but this backfired after he saw through this. In regards to her firing, he stated that Ghazal was "all talk and no do" and that she "argues for the sake of arguing".
  • Katie, despite her poor track record, avoided being fired due to being the best performer on the task, refusing to assist Ghazal's plan to get Naomi fired, and for her overall defence in the boardroom. However, Sir Alan warned her that, despite this, she was now on her final chance.
  • Tre did not attend Eclipse's treat, partly because his religious beliefs prevented him from drinking alcohol, but mainly because as he was upset at the likely prospect of Ghazal being fired.

Week 9: Feeling The Strain

• Original Air date: 23 May 2007
• Eclipse: Tre (Project Manager), Jadine, Simon and Lohit.
• Stealth: Katie (Project Manager), Naomi and Kristina.
• Task: Interview representatives from five nations, choose three items from one nation, and then sell them to the trade. Most sales made, wins.^[23][24]
• Task Review: Stealth chose to market Canadian goods, including a "Rug in a Box" set, a portable light therapy device and a set of sport shoe insoles, but failed to make appointments after spending too long being briefed by the Canadian Trade Commissioner, and so were left to make appointments the following morning. Despite the setback, they performed well, with their items proving to have a high market value and thus making more. Meanwhile, Eclipse chose a set of Swedish products, a lamp with a built in air purifier, vacuum cleaner heads and a set of microwavable soft toys, but also spent too long with Commissioner as well. While they performed well, the team had trouble getting sales appointments, meaning that low sales, coupled with a fine for being late to the boardroom, ultimately cost them a win.
• Result: Stealth made £2,226.59, while Eclipse made £1,344.29.
• Winner: Stealth - By £882.30.
• Reward: A £500 voucher to spend, with the aid of a personal shopper, at Selfridges.
• Brought into the boardroom: Tre, Jadine and Lohit.
• Fired: Jadine - For losing focus during much of the first day, admitting that she was unable to contribute to the task due to missing her daughter, and for making an unconvincing argument on being kept over Tre or Lohit.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Vijay Patel, Karren Brady and Felicity Lee
• Notes:
  • Two days before this episode was broadcast, the Cutty Sark was badly damaged in a fire. The ship was used in this episode as the location for the teams' briefing.^[25]
  • Sir Alan told Jadine that, although she was not ready yet, he felt that she could be a truly great businesswoman one day.
  • After Jadine was fired, Lohit was informed that he would have been fired if it had not been for her problems. While he had sold the most on the team and defended himself well in the boardroom, Sir Alan was now certain that he was not suited to his organisation. In addition, Tre, despite his strong track record prior to the task, was heavily criticised for choosing products with a low retail price and failing to bring back Simon, whose poor research had hindered both sub-teams in making sales appointments, with Sir Alan making it clear that he considered him primarily responsible for the team's loss.

Week 10: Selling On TV

• Original Air date: 30 May 2007
• Eclipse: Simon (Project Manager), Tre and Naomi.
• Stealth: Kristina (Project Manager), Katie and Lohit.
• Task: Select and sell a variety of items on the Ideal World teleshopping channel. Most sales made, wins.^{[26][27][28][29]}
• Task Review: Stealth chose to sell chocolate fountains, foot spas, slimming pants and steam mops, and although Kristina's vacuum cleaner demonstration went badly wrong, Lohit and Katie managed to work well with selling the slimming pants, and sold reasonably good quantities. Meanwhile, Eclipse chose to sell foldable wheelchairs, decoupage pads, trampolines and leg shavers, yet the team struggled as Simon gave very few instructions to Tre and Naomi while in the producers' gallery, while making a spectacle of himself with the trampoline and having his choice on the wheelchair being questioned. Overall, the team drew in less sales and ultimately lost the task.
• Result: Eclipse made £921.79, while Stealth made £1,339.10.
• Winner: Stealth - By £417.31.
• Reward: Trip to a Turkish Bath.
• Brought into the boardroom: Simon, Tre, and Naomi.
• Fired: Naomi, with regret - For her selection of poor products, being disrespectful towards Simon, and for a generally average-at-best track record, despite her great presenting skills.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Vanessa Feltz, Allisaon Keenan and Mark Frith
• Notes:
  • Despite much boardroom hilarity at the on-screen antics, Sir Alan was not pleased with either team and was reluctant to tell Stealth their reward; complaints from Ideal World viewers described the candidates as being "rubbish" and "a waste of time".
  • Although he committed many errors, Simon avoided being fired because of his enthusiasm, his impressive track record, and for his choice of products contributing around £880 of the money raised by Eclipse, with Sir Alan defending him against Naomi's attempt to blame him for his presenting on the task and failing to sell her choices of the trampoline and decoupage pads. While Tre lacked the same enthusiasm as his teammate, and contributed little input, Sugar believed that Naomi was more directly at fault for the loss and that she had a far more inferior track record than him.
  • Kristina's performance was badly received; Sir Alan was not remotely amused by the "comedy" of Lohit selling slimming pants, and was amazed Kristina had managed to sell any vacuum cleaners at all, sarcastically suggesting the customers should be put in straitjackets.
  • A majority of the You're Fired studio audience disagreed with the decision and felt Simon should have been fired.

Week 11: Interviews

• Original Air date: 6 June 2007
• Semi-finalists: Tre, Lohit, Katie, Simon, Kristina.
• Task: The five remaining candidates undergo a gruelling interview process from three interviewers - Paul Kemsley, Claude Littner and Bordan Tkachuk. Sir Alan decides on which two proceed based on the feedback.^[30]
• Candidate Reviews: After the interviews, Katie, Simon and Kristina stood out amongst the five remaining candidates, with Kristina being the only one to receive positive reports from all three interviewers. Lohit received very few positive comments from the interviewers, while Tre was seen to lack maturity, as well as being argumentative and difficult, despite being a strong candidate. Simon was praised for being academically gifted and for knowing more than the other candidates about Sir Alan's companies, yet his track record came under fire for appearing too woolly, making it hard to understand where he was going with his career, while doubts were expressed over Katie's motives for entering the show. Of the five, Sir Alan immediately fired Lohit, followed by Tre, while Katie, despite being made one of the finalists, was beset by doubt and chose to stand down after Sir Alan advised her that she would have to make an absolute commitment to the job should she get it, effectively leaving Simon and Kristina to proceed to the final.
• Fired:
  • Lohit - For being too nice and for having the worst CV of the final five.
  • Tre, with regret - For performing poorly in the interviews, his argumentative manner and for his lack of maturity.^[30]
• Left: Katie - Resigned, citing potential difficulties in making childcare arrangements should she be offered the job, despite a place in the finals.^[31]
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Kirsty Walk, Nick Hewer and Michelle Dewberry
• Finalists: Kristina and Simon.
• Notes:
  • Sir Alan noted that Lohit's firing was overdue, and that he would have been fired after the ninth task if not for Jadine's inability to continue in the process.
  • In a one-off special, The Apprentice: Why I Fired Them, broadcast a few days later, Sir Alan Sugar expressed his opinion that Katie had never really been interested in working for him but had entered the competition merely for the kudos. He said that he felt he had been hoodwinked, and that if Katie had not voluntarily stood down he would have reversed his decision and fired her after all.

Week 12: The Final

• Original Air date: 13 June 2007
• Finalists: Simon, Kristina
• Kristina's team: Paul, Naomi, Adam and Natalie.
• Simon's team: Tre, Jadine, Rory and Lohit.
• Task: Each finalist must put together a proposal for a redevelopment site that is both profit-making and has an iconic design, and demonstrate it in a presentation with experts. Sir Alan decides who is hired, based on design and performance.^[32][33][34]
• Task Review: Simon's proposal for the redevelopment was an ambitious building with an "organic" design called "The Wave", while Kristina offered a building called "The Phoenix", to symbolise the regeneration of the site. Both finalists offered well received presentations, with Sir Alan finding both candidates to be very employable. In the end, he felt that Simon was more of a risk taker, and thus declared him the winner.
• Runner-up: Kristina - For playing a little too safe in task, despite a superior track record in the series and prior career to that of Simon.
• Winner: Simon - For being more of a risk taker than Kristina, as well as his intelligence and insight on Sir Alan's business background.^[35][36]
• Notes:
  • The site to be developed on London's South Bank, which Sir Alan purchased for £120m, was originally occupied by the IBM Building.
  • The final boardroom scene shown in this episode was one of two different boardroom showdowns that was filmed, each portraying a possible result. In reality, Sir Alan took the finalists out for lunch and revealed to them who had won, close to the episode's air date.^[37] Sir Alan himself admitted that he was "taking a risk" hiring Simon.

Criticism and controversy

Candidates

Adam Hosker

On 8 August 2007, police questioned Adam Hosker over allegations of him being involved in a fight over a spilt drink, with 21 year old Stuart Haworth, a radio operator for the Territorial Army. It was alleged he had pushed him before being dragged away by friends, and received a formal complaint afterwards against himself, despite Haworth not requiring hospital treatment for his injuries.^[38] His exit from the show also generated controversy when it was implied that there was a "North-South rift" between other candidates; the implication was particularly noted by Adam, who said that fellow candidates, Paul Callaghan and Katie Hopkins, had felt offended that he was working class, Northern and had a background in the motor industry.^[39][40]

Gerri Blackwood and Tre Azam

Following her appearance on the show, Gerri Blackwood claimed that the allocation of showers in the house where the candidates stayed, had appeared to been manipulated in such a way as to force the female contestants to shower together. Along with claims made during her interview with the Daily Star that both Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford fed the candidates misleading information so that they would fail the tasks, and that Alan Sugar's boardroom diatribes were re-filmed to make them look better,^[41] she noted in her claim on the shower allocation matter that:^[42]

"One of the bathrooms was used by the film crew, but two of the others were closed off with 'Out of Order' signs on them. That left two bathrooms to share between 16 people. I am not sure whether it was deliberate or not, but you can imagine they wanted us to share showers".

In addition, her fellow candidate Tre Azam also criticised the editing of the programme, claiming he was worried that his portrayal would be "dumbed down", after he felt that he made some of the other candidates "look too weak" when compared against him.^[43]

Paul Callaghan

Following the sixth episode, controversy emergedwhen it was revealed that Paul started a romance with Katie Hopkins while competing on the programme, which generated much coverage from the tabloid press.^{[44][45][46][47]} The relationship was cited as one of the reasons for Paul's firing after the sixth task, as other candidates had complained about the situation by stating that it affected the performances of previous tasks.^[46]

Results

Week Six

Following the broadcast of the sixth episode, wholesale chain Makro and manufacturer Wyke Farms both criticised the programme over negative comments made about its cheese. In the episode, Paul Callaghan was verbally blasted by Alan Sugar for taking the inexpensive product to sell in France,^[17] which led both parties to refute the belief that the cheese was not popular in the country. Richard Clothier, the Managing Director of Wyke Farms, was quoted in regards to the matter by stating: "Alan Sugar, you know a lot about electronics, but not that much about cheese, and for that reason, you're fired!"^[48]

Week Eleven

Following the broadcast of the eleventh episode, several organisation, including the Trades Union Congress, the Liberal Democrats, The Equal Opportunities Commission and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, accused Alan Sugar of sexism and breaching the 1976 Sex Discrimination act, in regards to him only questioning contestants Katie Hopkins and Kristina Grimes about their child-care arrangements, and not Tre Azam who was a parent himself; the accusations were made, regardless of the fact that the two were single parents at the time of the interviews, compared to Azam who was married,^[31][49][50] and that Hopkins resigned from the programme in this episode after declining Alan Sugar's initial offer of being one of the finalists for the series following his questioning in the boardroom.^[51][52] The incident was well documented within the media.^[53][54][55]

In response to this, Sugar defended his actions, informing Fiona Phillips of GMTV that he was aware of all rules regarding sexual discrimination within the workplace,^[56][57] with fellow candidate Simon Ambrose denying claims from internet conspiracists that Katie's exit from the show was fixed and that the segments were re-filmed and edited in later, insisting that nothing had been changed with the final edit of the episode.^[58]

Ratings

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.^[59]

Specials

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Apprentice (UK)

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Sir Alan Sugar