Sport Relief Does The Apprentice

Sport Relief Does The Apprentice is a celebrity version of the British reality television series The Apprentice, produced in 2008 to raise money for Sport Relief. Five male celebrities and five female celebrities took part in the show to complete a business-themed task. The show aired on BBC One on 12 and 14 March 2008.^[1]

Overview

Candidates

Women's team

Men's team

Synopsis

• Women: Jacqueline Gold (Project Manager), Kirstie Allsopp, Clare Balding, Louise Redknapp, Lisa Snowdon.
• Men: Lembit Öpik (Project Manager), Hardeep Singh Kohli (Project Manager), Nick Hancock, Kelvin MacKenzie, Phil Tufnell.
• Result: The women's team worked together efficiently and harmoniously for the most part, though Kirstie Allsopp stormed out of a planning session on the first night, feeling that project manager Jacqueline Gold wasn't properly exploiting Kirstie's contacts list. By contrast, the men's team was in complete chaos for most of the task. Hardeep Singh Kohli initially voltuneered to lead the men, but after half an hour the other men began complaining about his overly autocratic leadership style, and when Kelvin MacKenzie off-handedly told him that "You're not flamin' Hitler," Hardeep flew into a rage, demanded that filming be stopped and threatened to walk off the show. He ultimately agreed to stay, but refused to continue as project manager and was replaced by Lembit Öpik. By the end of the first day of the task, the women already had over £100,000 pledged to their team, but the men had no pledges whatsoever. By the final day it looked as if the men were heading for a humiliating defeat, as the women continued to secure large donations, while the men had earned very little. Near the end of the day the men were given a last-gasp chance at victory, as Kelvin's contact, Tamara Ecclestone persuaded her father Bernie Ecclestone to attend their event, and he made the biggest donation earned by either of the teams. Unfortunately for the men, the gap was too big to make up and they ended up with £316,013, while the women made £412,121, winning them the task.^[2]
• Winner: The women's team
• Brought into the boardroom: Lembit Öpik, Kelvin MacKenzie and Hardeep Singh Kohli
• Fired: Hardeep Singh Kohli - for quitting as project manager early in the task, which plunged the men's team into a state of disarray that they were never able to recover from. In addition, he was also judged to have been difficult to work with after stepping down, and brought in the least amount of money in the task.
• Notes:
  • Despite claiming that Nick Hancock and Phil Tufnell had spent most of the day joking around with each other and hadn't brought much in, Lembit Öpik decided to bring back Hardeep Singh Kohli and Kelvin MacKenzie, largely due to their argument on the first day. Sir Alan didn't feel that Lembit had been an especially good project manager, but conceded that the task would likely have ended up in an even worse failure with anyone else leading the men.
  • Kelvin MacKenzie was heavily criticised for his part in sending the team into so much chaos on the first day of the task, and also accused of taking a backseat considering he should have had the biggest contacts list of the celebrities.

See also

• The Apprentice
• Comic Relief Does The Apprentice

References

External links