The Apprentice (UK series four)

The Apprentice UK

◄ ►  Series Four

The Candidates Name Left Show       Lee McQueen Week 12 Claire Young Week 12 Alex Wotherspoon Week 12 Helene Speight Week 12 Lucinda Ledgerwood Week 11 Michael Sophocles Week 10 Raef Bjayou Week 9 Sara Dhada Week 8 Jennifer Maguire Week 7 Jenny Celerier Week 7 Kevin Shaw Week 6 Lindi Mngaza Week 5 Simon Smith Week 4 Ian Stringer Week 3 Shazia Wahab Week 2 Nicholas de Lacy-Brown Week 1 Hired Runner-up Fired

Series Four of The Apprentice (UK), a British reality television series, was broadcast in the UK during 2008 from 26 March to 11 June on BBC One.^[1] Production of the series took place the previous year between September and October,^[2] with auditions and interviews reported to had taken place in London, Glasgow, Manchester and Bristol during the first two weeks of July 2007,^[3] with a record of 20,000 applications made for participation on the show to be on the show that year.^[4] Sixteen candidates took part,^[5] and the two teams were named Alpha and Renaissance throughout its run, with Lee McQueen winning the series.

Four specials were aired during 2008 - "The Worst Decisions Ever" on 3 April, "Motor Mouths" on 18 April, "The Final Five" on 2 June, and another edition of "Why I Fired Them" on 8 June.

Candidates

Weekly results

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

     The candidate was on the losing team.

     The candidate was hired and won The Apprentice.

     The candidate was the runner-up.

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

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

     The candidate was brought to the final boardroom.

     The candidate was fired.

     The candidate lost as project manager and was fired.

Episodes

Week 1: Fishy Business

• Original Air date: 26 March 2008
• Renaissance: Alex (Project Manager), Raef, Michael, Nicholas, Lee, Ian, Simon and Kevin.
• Alpha: Claire (Project Manager), Sara, Lindi, Helene, Jenny, Lucinda, Shazia and Jennifer.
• Task: Sell £600 worth of seafood at a choice of London market locations. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Alpha quickly decided to set up their seafood stand in Islington. They had difficulty in identifying seafood and correctly pricing them, as customers bombarded their stand before they had even begun. Despite this, the team managed to sell large orders to groups of people, increasing their earnings. Meanwhile, Renaissance wasted a lot of time deciding on their team name and leader, and did not get started until just before midday. They also decided to set up in Islington. Like Alpha, Renaissance struggled to identify seafood; Nicholas badly blundered by pricing some items much cheaper than they should have been; lobsters were selling for less than a quarter of the recommended retail price. The team lost even more money when Michael panic-sold £100 worth of fish for barely half that amount.
• Result: Alpha made a profit of £153.98, while Renaissance made a profit of £32.69.
• Winner: Alpha - By £121.29.
• Reward: Dinner cooked by Michelin-starred chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.
• Brought into the boardroom: Alex, Nicholas, and Raef
• Fired: Nicholas - For incorrectly pricing the fish, poorly defending himself in the boardroom despite his legal background, and for admitting he was unable to get on with "less educated" candidates.
• You're Fired Panel: James Martin, Karren Brady and Rufus Hound
• Notes:
  • While Alpha won the task, Sir Alan remarked that their profit was not especially impressive upon hearing it.
  • Sir Alan remarked that had it not been for circumstances, both Alex and Raef would have been fired. Although Alex avoided this, primarily for stepping as PM when no one else would, issues were raised for his lack of sales strategy and being less concerned over the split in the team that he oversaw. Despite giving a stronger defence, backing Alex up when questioned about his education, and stating he would work with someone irrespective of their background or interests, Raef was held responsible for costing the team money incorrectly identifying several of the fish as cheaper varieties, while his "Prince or Pauper" was considered by pompous by both Sugar and Alex.
  • The You're Fired panel agreed to Sugar's decision to fire Nicholas, purely because of his poor defence; even Sugar's aide Margaret admitted to being shocked by this, considering his legal background. The panellist did note that he was legitimately right to object to this because of Alex's vague instructions on pricing, and correcting a number of errors on the task that he eventually spotted, but his talk on a "cultural divide" in the team and not wanting to work with those who liked football did little to help him, particularly in regards to Sir Alan's working-class background and the 11 years he spent as chairman of Tottenham Hotspur.

Week 2: A Dirty Job

• Original Air date: 2 April 2008
• Renaissance: Raef (Project Manager), Michael, Alex, Lee, Ian, Simon and Kevin.
• Alpha: Jenny (Project Manager), Sara, Claire, Lindi, Helene, Lucinda, Shazia and Jennifer.
• Task: Using an industrial laundry machine, set up a washing service. The biggest profit wins.
• Task Review: The teams sourced business from a variety of customers businesses and homeowners. Alpha had problems setting a reasonable price, attempting to charge a hotel £4,990 for £200 worth of washing, and the fishmonger £15 for £60 worth of washing; whilst they had success in finding businesses with dirty laundry, they had little luck going door-to-door. In addition, they were late getting started, did not finish by the end of the night and lost two items, which they were fined £50 for; Shazia, who had the task of keeping track of items, left early in an unsuccessful attempt to get the steam irons at the house, which Renaissance had already removed. Renaissance's performance was virtually flawless; they targeted large companies and got several orders by going door-to-door. They made big earnings from both areas, and finished their washing and pressing before the laundry had to close. No articles were lost, meaning no penalties; Raef's management of the task and Simon's co-ordination at the laundry received high praise.
• Result: Alpha had a profit of £195.55, while Renaissance had a profit of £328
• Winner: Renaissance - By £132.45.
• Reward: Tea at The Ritz.
• Brought into the boardroom: Jenny, Lucinda, and Shazia
• Fired: Shazia - For leaving the laundry early and allowing items to get mixed up, an error Sir Alan deemed unforgivable.
• You're Fired Panel: Michelle Mone, Gerry Robinson and Claire Balding
• Notes:
  • One of the key points mentioned in Alpha's sales pitches was their "24 hour hotline," which would allow their customers to check on the progress of their order. The idea was scorned by Sir Alan in the boardroom, as he felt that nobody, especially domestic customers, would ever be concerned enough to need such a service. The team's strategy of pressuring their customers into giving tips also came in for heavy criticism, and was not particularly successful because of the various mix-ups by the team.
  • Although he did not hold her responsible for Alpha's loss, Sir Alan raised doubts about whether Lucinda was emotionally strong enough to continue in the process, after Jenny turned hostile against her by the halfway point of the task on the belief that wasn't working fast enough, berating Sara when she stood up for her, while remaining hostile throughout the boardroom. While Jenny was lambasted for her many errors, including her lack of involvement in the pricing strategies, her appalling behaviour towards her teammates, particularly to Lucinda, earned her a warning she would be fired if she acted in this way again.
  • Both Lindi and Jennifer narrowly avoided being brought back to the boardroom because of Jenny's decision to bring back Lucinda. Sir Alan felt that both should have been brought back, as Lindi was responsible for many of the errors in Alpha's strategy and openly dismissing any criticism of her performance, while Jennifer was accountable for the bad sales pitches, despite acknowledging her mistakes.
  • Almost the entire audience of You're Fired disagreed with Sir Alan's decision. While the panel agreed that Shazia had performed poorly in the boardroom, giving Jenny an opportunity to save herself, her actual work on the task was felt to have been competent, especially since the laundry mix-up only occurred after she left.

Week 3: Cooking with Gas

• Original Air date: 9 April 2008
• Renaissance: Ian (Project Manager), Raef, Michael, Alex, Lee, Simon and Kevin.
• Alpha: Sara (Project Manager), Claire, Lindi, Helene, Jenny, Lucinda and Jennifer.
• Task: Devise and run a themed food day in a pub with no previous history of serving food, using listed wholesalers for supplies. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Alpha chose a Bollywood theme. The team managed to arrange all their printing for free, but had to cancel their lunch service due to the food not being prepared properly. However, their strategy of selling admission tickets for £5 that were redeemable against dinner, as well as their better purchasing, meant that they were in profit before they had even served a meal. Renaissance decided upon an Italian theme, but spent so much time trying to brand and price their themed day that they left it too late to buy from the wholesalers and had to resort to purchasing their supplies from Tesco, resulting in substantially increased food costs; they also produced 200 flyers at £1 each. Whilst their services were smoothed out following a shaky start, they still suffered from a lack of supplies and even had to resort to cutting pizzas in half. The team took more money, but had higher cost overruns.
• Result: Renaissance had a profit of £301.97, while Alpha had a profit of £604.27.
• Winner: Alpha - By £302.30.
• Reward: Cooking lessons at the Eckington Manor Cookery School in Eckington, Worcestershire.
• Brought into the boardroom: Ian, Kevin, and Simon
• Fired: Ian - For his almost non-existent leadership, having no strategy with pricing and profit margin, denying the occurrence of Kevin's pep-talk, refusing to admit any fault for the loss, and for failing on a task he was qualified to lead.
• You're Fired Panel: John Torode, Jo Brand and Mark Frith
• Notes:
  • For this task, Sir Alan chose the project managers - Ian because of his early experience when working in his family's pubs, while Sara was chosen to prove she could lead a team to success.
  • Renaissance's performance was deemed as one of the worst seen by Sir Alan (at the time), who felt no one had proper knowledge of running a profitable business after it was revealed that their expenses were three times that of Alpha, despite their income being greater. Although Lee and Michael repeatedly voiced concerns early in the task about the need to think about profit margins, both Ian and Kevin paid little heed to this, with Michael being later heavily criticised for his decision on the prices without any knowledge of the team's costs, but defending himself against this by pointing out that Ian had consistently refused to give him this information, and that the team would have otherwise missed the deadline for printing their menus.
  • Although Sugar praised Alpha for their focus on lower costs and marketing that proved decisive in their victory, he raised a number of issues in regards to Claire, who proved difficult to work with during the task after her initial idea for an English theme was shot down, and then later attempted to blame Sara when the lunch service was cancelled.
  • On the Why I Fired Them episode, despite having serious concerns with the three candidates in the final boardroom, Sir Alan noted that Ian's fate was sealed by his complete arrogance he displayed to him. This was due to him making the bizarre lie that Kevin had not held a motivational talk with the rest of Renaissance outside the pub, towards the end of the day, which was contradicted by Kevin and Simon as it had been recorded on the film crew following them.
  • Despite making several basic errors in calculating ingredient quantities and orders, particularly considering his bank manager background, Kevin survived mostly due to the fact that he was the only person who tried to organise and motivate the team for most of the task. While Sir Alan felt that Simon had mainly shown proficiency at physical tasks and thus was an unconvincing possibility to win the competition, along with never giving any solutions to Ian's decisions that he complained about, he ultimately spared him because of his loyalty and dedication. Before he left, Simon offered to put himself forward as PM for the next task.
  • The majority of the You're Fired audience and two of the panellists agreed with Sir Alan's decision; Torode disagreed, as he thought that Kevin should have been fired.

Week 4: Photo Finish

• Original Air date: 16 April 2008
• Renaissance: Simon (Project Manager), Sara, Michael, Claire, Jenny and Alex.
• Alpha: Helene (Project Manager), Raef, Lindi, Lee, Lucinda, Kevin and Jennifer.
• Task: Run a photography business in the Bluewater shopping centre. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Alpha hired a David Beckham lookalike, but communication issues between the shop floor and the production room caused lost orders. Alpha had problems operating their software, caused mostly by Helene assigning Lucinda to work the computer, despite her lack of technical knowledge, and then refusing to allow anyone else to swap when it became clear she was unable to meet the orders. Despite this Alpha still managed to get the majority of their orders sent. Renaissance, meanwhile, opted for a "glamour and beauty" theme; like Alpha, communication issues caused lost orders, only they were hurt more seriously. Simon clashed with his teammates about ideas, particularly him insisting to have people take pictures in public. As a result, the team got very few orders sent and failed to earn back their costs.
• Result: Alpha had a profit of £145.10, while Renaissance had a loss of £73.81.
• Winner: Alpha - By £218.91.
• Reward: Dinner aboard a luxury yacht, on trip to the Isle of Wight.
• Brought into the boardroom: Simon, Alex, and Claire
• Fired: Simon, with regret - For coming up with a poor theme, not being able to control the strong personalities of his team, poor communication with the production team, and because Sir Alan felt he was out of his depth.
• You're Fired Panel: Terry O'Neill, Kirsty Allsopp and Trevor Nelson
• Notes:
  • During the task, Claire was particularly insubordinate, showing little respect for Simon, ignoring his orders, and constantly butting heads about his ideas. In the boardroom she continued to berate Simon and did not take any responsibility, even going so far as to interrupt Sir Alan while he was trying to give his final deliberations. An infuriated Sir Alan ordered her back to the house for her rudeness, and told her that she would lead the next task, strongly implying that she would be fired if she lost.
  • Despite Alpha's victory, Sir Alan was not happy with either team's performance, and in particular had heavy criticism for Helene's leadership, even questioning whether she had deliberately tried to make her team lose to get rid of Lucinda, something that Helene insisted was untrue. Lucinda repeatedly told Helene she was not prepared and asked if someone could switch, but Helene refused and accused Lucinda of being lazy, resulting in Lucinda snapping at her. The panel on You're Fired pointed out that the members of Alpha admitted they had little confidence in Lucinda's abilities, effectively undermining her contribution; it was agreed that had they lost, Helene should have been fired.
  • Simon initially appointed Alex as sub-team leader, but later appointed Claire to the role after Alex shirked the responsibility, accusing Simon of deliberately trying to abdicate responsibility by "diluting his position". Although he was not blamed directly for the loss, Margaret berated him for stepping so far back "you were practically out of the room", while he also received allegations of being a backstabber when he tried to gang up on Claire alongside Simon.
  • The majority of the You're Fired studio audience, combined with two of the panellists, disagreed with the decision, feeling that Claire should have been fired for her complete lack of respect, although Simon himself said that he deserved to be fired. Sir Alan would later go on to say that he kept Claire as she still had more potential, even if her attitude was lacking.

Week 5: Mid-Series Sales

• Original Air date: 23 April 2008
• Renaissance: Claire (Project Manager), Sara, Michael, Jenny, Alex and Kevin.
• Alpha: Lucinda (Project Manager), Raef, Lindi, Helene, Lee and Jennifer.
• Task: Develop three new flavours of ice cream at specialised farms, then choose two to sell directly the trade market in London. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Alpha decided on "Avocado and Chili" and "Toffee Apple" flavoured ice creams after a focus group meeting. Their orders included those from a group of pubs and a cinema chain that Renaissance had contacted first, but the manager decided to take Alpha's product instead. However, the manager asked for exclusivity for three months, to which Lindi and Jennifer agreed, violating the task rules. Time was also wasted because Jennifer and Lindi arranged appointments with ice cream shops that made their own products, resulting in many dead-ends. Renaissance, on the other hand, arrived 30 minutes late to their focus group and found nobody there, thus their market research came from two drinkers at a local pub, and opted for "Very Berry" and "Cider and Elderflower" (nicknamed "Scrumplelicious") flavours. They struggled at first, even having a major deal broken because the cinema chain preferred Alpha's, but secured a large order from a designer restaurant at the last minute.
• Result: Alpha made a profit of £1,273.64, while Renaissance made a profit £1,455.45.
• Winner: Renaissance - By £181.81.
• Reward: A helicopter trip to Bowood House in Wiltshire.
• Brought into the boardroom: Lucinda, Jennifer and Lindi
• Fired: Lindi - For her poor sales tactics, refusing to accept responsibility for her faults, violating the task rules with the exclusivity deals, and failing to live up to her many claims.
• You're Fired Panel: James Averdieck, Carol Thatcher and Mark Price
• Notes:
  • One suggestion for Renaissance's ice cream was based on cocktails, such as "Vodka and Coke" and "Sex on the Beach", but this idea was vetoed after Michael expressed concerns about how these would be received by families, thus making it impossible to secure any cinema deals.
  • Sir Alan openly stated his disapproval of Alpha's sales to the cinema and pub chains being done on an exclusive basis, stating that their deals were supposed to open up new markets for farmers and thus he would have disqualified them if they had won, while he also criticised the team for choosing shops that made their own ice cream, feeling it showed a lack of strategy. On You're Fired, the panel notably mocked this mistake.
  • In order to determine if criticism against the women was justified, Sir Alan appointed both as project managers for this task. Claire, who reined in her aggressive side in response, earned praise from her team and Nick, while Lucinda received surprisingly good feedback about her leadership, even impressing Margaret. Of the two, Sugar held reservation that Lucinda lacked force of character to put her foot down, after she backed down from a suggestion to have manufacturers on both of Alpha's sales teams, hoping they could convey enthusiasm, when she was met by silence from Jennifer, Lindi and Raef.
  • While Jennifer spoke against the positive feedback on Lucinda's leadership during the results, she was openly challenged by Lee in the losers cafe for not voicing any concerns during the task, while Sir Alan did not hold Lucinda responsible for the team's loss, pointing out that both Jennifer and Lindi had made many of the mistakes in the tasks, including their poor judgement in sales tactics. While Jennifer was not fired, mainly because she had contributed more in the past four tasks than Lindi had done, she was warned that she was now on her last chance.
  • On You're Fired!, just over half the audience were against the decision to fire Lindi, with the panel feeling Jennifer should have been fired instead, and that Lindi had merely been unlucky since she had been second-in-command on the task.

Week 6: Yours Truly, Angry Mob

• Original Air date: 30 April 2008
• Renaissance: Kevin (Project Manager), Sara, Claire, Jenny and Alex.
• Alpha: Michael (Project Manager), Raef, Helene, Lee, Lucinda and Jennifer.
• Task: Create a new "occasion" for a range of greetings cards, then pitch them to three prospective retailers. Most orders received, wins.
• Task Review: Alpha came up with the idea of a "National Singles' Day" to be held on 13 February, and produced a range of cards intended as an alternative to Valentine's Day cards for single people. Alpha's first two pitches were relatively unsuccessful due to objections over the date, and so Michael removed it from their pitch to the Celebrations Group. This proved a smart move as Celebrations ordered a considerable number compared to the other retailers. On Renaissance, Jenny suggested an environmental card, and then forced it on the team by not doing any research for their other ideas. The retailers questioned whether environmentally conscious consumers would want to express their views by sending a card, and Kevin's aggressive pitching alienated Celebrations and in particular Clinton Cards, who accused him of "preaching" to them after he likened their unenthusiastic reception of the cards to the U.S. not doing enough to combat global warming. Kevin's pitch to Tesco was less aggressive and secured an order but neither of the other two ordered any at all.
• Result: Alpha received 22,500 orders (19,500 from Celebrations, and 1,500 apiece from Clinton Cards and Tesco), while Renaissance received 6,000 orders (from Tesco only).
• Winner: Alpha - By 16,500 orders.
• Reward: A private piano recital from Myleene Klass.
• Brought into the boardroom: Kevin, Claire, and Sara
• Fired: Kevin - For his awful sales pitches, refusing to allow Claire to pitch (despite her experience), allowing Jenny full control on creating the card, taking no responsibility for the loss, bringing Sara back in the boardroom in an attempt to scapegoat her instead of Jenny and for his overly arrogant attitude throughout the process.
• You're Fired Panel: Jessica Huie, Nick Hewer and Lorraine Kelly
• Notes:
  • During the task, Michael spent 3 hours debating how to correctly spell "National Singles' Day", including where to put the apostrophe, and even went so far as to attempt the editor of The Daily Telegraph for advice, which was later mocked by Nick on You're Fired. In the boardroom, he was strongly castigated by Sir Alan for overly-celebrating after Alpha's victory was announced.
  • Jenny was heavily criticised by Sir Alan and Margaret for not only coming up with a poor idea for their cards, refusing to take any responsibility for the loss, and blatantly trying to scapegoat Sara, but also for suddenly declaring during the Clinton Cards pitch that she no longer bought greetings cards because of their environmental impact. Sir Alan was appalled that she could not see the inherent contradiction in her word in regards to the team's product.
  • When questioned over why she did not step up to do Renaissance's pitches, Claire answered that she would have been happy to have done so at the start, but felt she was set up as a scapegoat after Kevin was initially dead set on doing so, but asked her later on in the task to take over. Sir Alan doubted any pitch of hers could have been worse than Kevin, after noting that the theme had doomed the team, but advised her to step up if a similar situation arose again.
  • Following the task, Sara became the subject of a heated debate at the house between several candidates over her perceived laziness - primarily Lee, Jenny and Alex - with only Raef jumping to her defence in the argument and Claire pointing out that Kevin had been to blame for her team's loss; Lucinda also defended her, though this was not included as the final edit of the episode. In the You're Hired special at the end of the series, Lee expressed regret over comments he made in this debate after being heavily critical of her, despite Sara baring no ill-will towards him after the next task.
  • Both the audience and the You're Fired! panel agreed with the decision to fire Kevin, who even agreed himself that he deserved his fate. On Why I Fired Them, Sir Alan strongly implied that had Jenny been brought back, Kevin would have just only received a final warning, but this mistake was the last straw.

Week 7: Marrakesh

• Original Air date: 7 May 2008
• Renaissance: Jennifer (Project Manager), Michael, Claire, Jenny and Alex.
• Alpha: Lee (Project Manager), Raef, Sara, Helene and Lucinda.
• Task: Buy a set list of items in the marketplaces of Marrakesh, Morocco, negotiating for lower prices. Least amount spent (fines included), wins.
• Task Review: Alpha, despite wisely spending their time to source items before setting off, initially had difficulty when they arrived at the market - particularly Lee, Lucinda, and Sara. However, the team managed to collect all ten items without penalties, with Helene and Raef bargaining well for the cow hide and obtaining a second-hand Santos orange juicer in the last few minutes, despite buying it for a fair price. Renaissance's execution, on the other hand, was a shambles; Jennifer decided to go straight to the market, paying little attention to the dossier, which quickly resulted in disorganisation and mistakes, including have to go back for a green mosque alarm clock after she, Alex and Claire failed to realise they had bought a white one until later in the task. In addition, Jenny and Michael attempted to sabotage Alpha's efforts, by offering a sports store a bribe if they would incorrectly string a tennis racket that Alpha were in the middle of purchasing, which was promptly refused. Renaissance were fined for purchasing unbranded tajines and a halal chicken instead of a kosher chicken.
• Result: Renaissance's total spend was £603.59 (fines included), while Alpha's total spend was £413.61.
• Winner: Alpha - by £189.98.
• Reward: Hot air balloon flight around Leeds Castle
• Fired (during internal review): Jenny - For lying about the Kosher fiasco to try to get Michael fired, attempting to sabotage Alpha's efforts, her terrible attitude towards the other candidates, and for her generally average-at-best track record throughout the competition, despite her promising CV.
• Brought into the boardroom: Jennifer, Claire, and Michael
• Fired (during final boardroom): Jennifer - For her poor and disorganized leadership, not paying attention to the dossier, and rushing to the marketplace.
• You're Fired Panel: Michelle Mone, Alvin Hall and Vanessa Feltz
• Notes:
  • Claire, hoping to speed up Alex's negotiations for a rug, complained about being tired and wanting to return to the hotel, in order to pressure the seller into dropping the price faster. This idea backfired, as Alex was forced to buy it when the price was frozen instead. Sir Alan indicated that had Renaissance lost the task by a narrower margin, he would have fired Claire for this, while later stating that, despite his single mistake with the unbranded tajines, Alex had done far better than the rest of the team.
  • Sir Alan felt he could no longer put up with Jenny's exceptionally dishonest behaviour in recent tasks when Renaissance were sent off to the loser cafe, especially after the bribery attempt she and Michael tried to instigate was exposed for what it was to the rest of the team, with both Nick and Margaret adding that their opinions of her had changed due to her dishonesty and poor attitude. Sir Alan subsequently fired Jenny, after she attempted to change the story on the Kosher chicken incident a second time so as to shift the blame on Michael and get him fired.
  • Although questioned at length about his role in the bribery attempt, and his claims of being "a good Jewish boy" on his application form despite neither displaying knowledge of Kosher, or recognising the Hebrew greeting L'Chaim, Sir Alan decided to keep him, stating that Jenny had been the main instigator in the bribe and that he could recognise an element of "youthful exuberance" in Michael. Jennifer, angered by this, effectively gave an ultimatum to be fired if he would not fire Michael, which enraged Sugar, but did not influence his decision to fire her as he put that down to her poor leadership.
  • The audience on You're Fired unanimously agreed that Jenny deserved to be fired, but were more divided on Jennifer. While the panel decided that she deserved her fate, they also agreed that dismissing Michael would have been justified. While Jennifer was not shown to be fired with regret on the main episode, it was revealed on You're Fired that she was.
  • This episode featured a number of firsts in the British version's history: the first time more than three candidates came back to the final boardroom; the first time a candidate was fired outside of the final boardroom; and the first time a project manager did not have a choice on who to bring back to the final boardroom.
  • After the world economy experienced a severe downturn following this series, Sir Alan admitted that it would be inappropriate for the series to continue to be filmed in exotic locations, such as had been used in this task. Production staff subsequently filmed later series within the UK, and within the European Union on rare occasions, until the ninth series on the Dubai task.

Week 8: Wedding Hell

• Original Air date: 14 May 2008
• Renaissance: Helene (Project Manager), Sara, Michael and Alex.
• Alpha: Lucinda (Project Manager), Raef, Claire and Lee.
• Task: Select and sell wedding dresses and accessories at a wedding exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: Alpha decided to look at the dresses and accessories in separate sub-teams; Lucinda chose dresses by high-end designer Ian Stewart on Raef's recommendation, and this secured Alpha their accessory choice of bridal lingerie. Although the team had difficulty selling dresses at the start of the day, towards the end of the show, customers returned to make purchases. Praise was given to Claire's sales on the dresses, as well as Lee's work in selling the lingerie. Alpha sold three dresses, and good amount of lingerie as a result. In contrast to Alpha, Helene had both Renaissance sub-teams look at dresses and accessories. Despite Michael and Sara recommending the Ian Stewart dresses, Helene refused to consider them owing to their high price and instead went with a mid-range supplier. They also wanted the bridal lingerie, but lost out to Alpha and so instead went with wedding cakes, Michael and Sara's first choice. Renaissance sold five dresses almost solely through Alex, but failed to sell any cakes, mainly due to Michael and Sara's highly aggressive sales technique.
• Result: Alpha had total sales of £5,752.99, while Renaissance had total sales of £1,925.
• Winner: Alpha - By £3,827.99
• Reward: Luxury spa visit.
• Brought into the boardroom: Helene, Michael, and Sara
• Fired: Sara - For her aggressive manner towards customers, her inability to listen to others, not selling any cakes, and her general lack of contribution throughout the previous tasks.
• You're Fired Panel: Mary Portas, Mark Frith and Jane Moore
• Notes:
  • Although Sir Alan felt she lost the task right at the start by deciding to go for cheap dresses, and Margaret was extremely critical of her leadership, Helene was given a second chance as Sugar felt she had been impressive on most of the prior tasks.
  • After Sara's firing, Sir Alan appeared to be on the verge of firing Michael also. However, Michael was allowed to make the case for his survival, and Sugar agreed to let him continue, before sending Michael and Helene back to the house. Lee was, at this point, the only candidate who had not appeared in the final boardroom.
  • In spite of the choice of high-end dresses turning out to be a correct decision, Sir Alan and Nick expressed the view that Raef had been fortunate that it had turned out that way, since his choice had not taken into account any business justification outside of the high price.
  • A majority of the You're Fired! audience, combined with the panel, disagreed with the decision, though like Simon, Sara said that she did deserve to be fired. The general consensus for the decision was that Helene or Michael should have gone.

Week 9: Tissues

• Original Air date: 21 May 2008
• Renaissance: Raef (Project Manager), Michael, Claire and Helene.
• Alpha: Alex (Project Manager), Lee and Lucinda.
• Task: Create a new brand of tissues along with television and print advertisements, then present them to a panel of advertising executives. Best brand and campaign made, wins.
• Task Review: Renaissance created a smart aesthetic design for their tissue box, branded "I ♥ my tissues". Michael and Raef were meticulous in directing their television advert, and hired weather forecaster Siân Lloyd to appear. Crucially however, in the editing suite their advert proved to be too long, and most of the material showing the product itself was removed in order to bring it down to the required length. In contrast, Alpha's efforts with both their tissue box design and advert were deemed relatively poor, and Lee was ill-prepared for their presentation, in contrast to Claire's professional one. In the boardroom, though Sir Alan deemed Renaissance's campaign to be "much, much better", he declared them the losers as no-one knew what their advert was about. Whilst telling Alpha that they had a "horrible campaign" and a "horrible box", their brand name, "Atishu!", was praised, and their advert and campaign were deemed attention-grabbing and, in stark contrast to Renaissance, gave a clear message about the product.
• Winner: Alpha - For a better brand name and advertising campaign.
• Reward: An after-hours shopping spree at Harvey Nichols (London).
• Brought into the boardroom: Raef, Claire, and Michael
• Fired: Raef - For losing focus on the requirements of the task due to his creative flair, editing out the close-up of the product in the commercial and because Sir Alan felt he got as far as he had through luck.
• You're Fired Panel: Louise Redknapp, Nick Howarth and Jo Elvin
• Notes:
  • During the reward, all three members of Alpha admitted that they had expected to lose the task. Their advert, which involved parents discussing the use of the tissues for their ill child, was later discussed on You're Hired as being humorously flawed on a number of points - the child being sent to school when she was ill; one parent pinching the child's nose and thus likely to spread their illness; the mother appearing dazed; and the product appearing to have been chucked out of the back of the car into a flower bed.
  • Siân Lloyd's involvement in Renaissance's advert was criticised for having little relevance to the product or the events in the advert, and also for the very brief duration of her appearance in the edited version. Lloyd herself admitted on camera being unsure why she had been cast as a mother, considering she is single and has no children. Renaissance's brand name was also criticised by Sir Alan, who said he could not imagine anyone "loving their tissues". Nick Hewer commented that it would probably have worked as a tagline, but not as a brand name.
  • Before firing him, Sir Alan respectfully told Raef that he conclusively thought he was nothing but "hot air". Michael and Claire were both given final warnings afterwards; Claire for not attempting to help with the editing, and Michael for his third consecutive appearance in the boardroom.
  • The majority of the You're Fired studio audience combined with the panel disagreed with the decision to fire Raef, and also with Alpha winning the task. The panel felt that Michael most deserved to be fired out of the three in the final boardroom, and that all three members of Alpha would have been equally deserving of being fired; Alex for being unconvincing as project manager; Lee for his terrible presentation; Lucinda for contributing little and being uncooperative.

Week 10: Re-inventing the Wheel

• Original Air date: 27 May 2008
• Renaissance: Michael (Project Manager), Claire and Helene.
• Alpha: Lee (Project Manager), Alex and Lucinda.
• Task: Rent out a set of luxury sports cars. Most sales made (by rental), wins.
• Task Review: The teams had a chance to review the available cars, before the project managers had to choose two for rental sale. Renaissance decided to choose the Ferrari and Spyker. Alpha chose the Aston Martin, and the risky and rare Pagani Zonda, with a price tag of £2,750 for just one day of rental. Claire and Helene had almost no difficulty attracting customers for the Spyker, but it was Claire who made the sales. Michael fruitlessly searched around for customers to rent the Ferrari, with one almost taking the offer. Alex and Lee struggled to find customers, but Lee eventually made deals to a few. Lucinda fared even worse as sales were not her natural area. After unsuccessfully asking Alex and Lee to help, Lucinda mistook the Aston for the Zonda, and sold nothing as a result. At the square, Claire and Michael got a few more buyers, but for hours not days. Meanwhile, Lucinda finally made a sale after shadowing Lee, and Alex struck a couple of large deals on the Zonda, including one just before the 6:00pm deadline.
• Result: Renaissance made sales of £2,114, while Alpha made sales of £11,815.
• Winner: Alpha - By £9,701
• Reward: Wine tasting at a Mayfair hotel.
• Brought into the boardroom: Michael, Helene and Claire (the rest of Renaissance).
• Fired: Michael - For picking a poor market location, failing to deliver on his promises, his consistent attempts to take advantage of the others, appearing in the final boardroom four times in a row, and for his generally poor track record throughout the process.
• You're Fired Panel: Vicki Butler-Henderson, Trevor Nelson and Ruth Badger
• Notes:
  • Six luxury sports cars were featured - the Koenigsegg CCX, Pagani Zonda S, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, Spyker C8, Aston Martin V8 Vantage and Ferrari 360 Spider.
  • While Lucinda won, she was criticised for her minimal contribution, particularly as the only deal she made brought in £65. Meanwhile, despite being brought back, Claire was told that she was in no immediate danger of being fired, as she had been responsible for the majority of her team's revenue.
  • Helene came perilously close to being fired due to her failure to make any sales, along with suspicions by Sir Alan and his advisers (particularly Margaret) that she had consciously decided to take a backseat due to her having the least sales experience of the three members of Renaissance, but was saved by the fact that Sir Alan felt she had been one of the strongest candidates prior to her three-week losing run, and decided to give her a chance in the interviews. The You're Fired panel, while agreeing with Michael's dismissal, felt that firing Helene instead of (or even alongside) Michael would also have been justifiable.
  • This episode set new records in the show's history in regards to the performances of both teams throughout the series - Alpha holds the record for the team with the most wins, while Renaissance holds the record for the most losses.
  • On Why I Fired Them, Sir Alan reflected that he probably should not have given so many chances to Michael and that he was drawn in by his youth, even acknowledging that he did not always get it right.

Week 11: Interviews

• Original Air date: 4 June 2008
• Semi-Finalists: Alex, Claire, Helene, Lee, and Lucinda
• Task: The five remaining candidates undergo a sequence of intense interviews by four of Sir Alan Sugar's business colleagues; Paul Kemsley, a property developer; Claude Littner, Sir Alan’s former "global trouble-shooter"; Karren Brady, the managing director of Birmingham City Football Club; and Bordan Tkachuk, the chief executive of the computer and IT firm Viglen, one of Sir Alan’s companies. The interviewers then report their impressions of the candidates back to Sir Alan to help him choose the finalists.
• Candidate Reviews: Claire was accused of being too talkative but otherwise got the best reports from the interviewers, with Karren Brady even offering to employ her if Sir Alan did not. Lee was considered to be a good all-round candidate, but got caught off-guard when asked to do a humorous impression by Paul, which backfired when he was told this demonstrated he did not seem to take the interview seriously. He was also reprimanded for exaggerating on his CV, lying about his length of time at university. Helene was also considered to have a good set of skills, but faced criticism for not having demonstrated any progression in work outside of her current company, and was accused of having a poor attitude after she repeatedly made insulting remarks about the other candidates (calling them "gobshites" and "amateurs"). Alex continuously came under fire, with his CV being highlighted as boring. While he argued that this was because he was only 24 years old, both Karen and Paul insisted that this was not an excuse, stating that they had achieved more than him by his age. However, he did earn some praise for his accomplishments as a salesman, particularly the fact that he had managed to earn a living purely from sales commission. Lucinda got the worst reports, as she was praised for being intelligent and an excellent team leader, but heavily criticised for being a "handful". The interviewers questioned her motives for wanting the job, and felt that her teamwork skills were weak.
• Final Decision: In the end, Lucinda was the only candidate everyone agreed was totally unsuitable for the job, but there was no clear consensus on who else should be fired. As a result, Sir Alan fired Lucinda and put all of the other four candidates through to the final.
• Fired: Lucinda, with regret - For being "too zany", having a degree unrelated to business (in aromatherapy), and for giving doubts over how much she desired the job.
• You're Fired Panel: Rachel Robertson, Michael McIntyre and Claire Balding
• Notes:
  • Only one candidate was fired, despite the fact that Sir Alan had previously said that three people were going to get fired. This was because he felt that he could not separate the four finalists based on what he had seen so far, so he chose to have them face one last test to help him with his final decision. In the episode, Lucinda was not shown to be fired with regret, however, in the Why I Fired Them episode, she was.
  • After the end of one of her interviews, Lucinda started to question whether she really desired the job. In the boardroom, Alex picked up on this and brought it up in the boardroom, damaging Lucinda's chances of remaining in the competition. He was accused by the You're Fired panel of being a snake, and was mocked for his extremely defensive responses to the interviewers' questions. Michael McIntyre also mocked his CV.
  • The majority of the You're Fired audience combined with two of the panellists agreed with Sir Alan's decision, even Lucinda herself thought it was fair and the right decision to make.

Week 12: The Final

• Original Air date: 11 June 2008
• Finalists: Alex and Helene, Claire and Lee
  • Claire and Lee's team: Michael, Jenny and Simon.
  • Helene and Alex's team: Raef, Kevin and Jennifer.
• Task: Develop an original fragrance for men, and then market it at an industry event. The best concept wins, and from the winners, one will be hired.^[6]
• Task Review: Helene and Alex's team struggled for name ideas, and it was eventually left to a product designer to suggest a bottle design, which eventually evolved into their brand, DUAL. The first day of the task saw the team struggle to work together, as Helene constantly argued with Alex and their team-mates and did not contribute many ideas, causing Alex to have to rely on Kevin for help with most of the key decisions. The team dynamic greatly improved on the second day, and they pulled everything together in time for the presentation. Meanwhile, Claire and Lee's team named their fragrance R0ULETTE, playing on associations with gambling and James Bond. They replaced the 'O' on the name with a '0', representing the 0 on a roulette wheel. At DUAL's presentation, while the design of the bottle was innovative, including a detachable smaller bottle, it was more expensive to produce and therefore not fitting the given retail price of £29.95, but despite the major error, the experts loved the smell of the fragrance, which smelled of caramel and chocolate; although it was also pointed out that it was a (seemingly accidental) copy of a fragrance that Helene normally wears, Angel. Meanwhile, at its presentation, R0ULETTE was criticised by both an industry representative and Sir Alan, as likely to be unpopular with women buyers due to the gambling connotation. The experts also stated the fragrance was "retro 50", as in "boring". Sugar expressed that although Claire's question and answer skills were excellent, it does not help sell fragrances. Despite the fact that several of the team-members (most notably Claire and Simon) hadn't gotten along in the past, the team worked together well. In the end, Sir Alan felt that despite the theme of Claire and Lee's fragrance being a turn-off for female buyers, the design of DUAL's bottle proved fatally flawed, costing Helene and Alex greatly.
• Task Winners: Claire and Lee - For a concept that was not heavily flawed, despite the theme's issues.
• Fired: Alex and Helene - For a costly bottle design, plus the following additional reasons:
  • Alex - For his overly defensive nature, failing to show other skills than selling, and for having the least impressive track record and CV of the final four candidates.
  • Helene - For her highly negative attitude throughout the process, taking a backseat during the first day, and for trying to shift responsibility for the bottle's price onto Alex.
• Final Boardroom: Left with Claire and Lee, Sir Alan contemplated on who had done better, and eventually made his decision based on his views of the final two:
  • Runner-Up: Claire - For giving doubts about employing her in the long-term, despite Sir Alan complimenting her on the improvement she had shown over the course of the series.
  • Winner: Lee - For being "very resilient" and "very convincing" and for improved his presenting skills by "100%".
• Notes:
  • This is the first time two candidates were fired simultaneously, as usually Sir Alan would fire one candidate and then proceed to fire a second candidate; only the nature of this final created the situation for doing so and consequently Alex and Helene appeared on You're Fired! together instead of being introduced separately (although Helene was interviewed first).
  • Helene spent her exit interview badmouthing Alex, accusing him of being solely responsible for the loss because he was the one who accepted the bottle design; she subsequently retracted her remarks on the You're Hired special that followed the episode. By contrast, Alex,who had his own taxi, was tearful and didn't say much beyond lamenting that he had been "so close, but so far."
  • To date, Lee is one of two people in the British version's history to make it to the final, without being brought back to the final boardroom; the other to hold this achievement is Paul Tulip from Series 2, though of the two, Lee is the only one to achieve this and go on to win.

Related programmes

Four additional hour-long specials accompanied Series Four; The Apprentice: Worst Decisions Ever, The Apprentice: Motor Mouths, each revisiting candidates from the previous three series and two candidate profile programmes entitled The Apprentice: The Final Five and The Apprentice: Why I Fired Them.^[4]

An Apprentice version of the Weakest Link also accompanied the series, with major characters from all four series competing for their chosen charities. The contestants were (in order of elimination):

• Kevin Shaw (Series 4)
• Paul Torrisi (Series 1)
• Katie Hopkins (Series 3)
• James Max (Series 1)
• Ian Stringer (Series 4)
• Tre Azam (Series 3)
• Jenny Celerier (Series 4)
• Kristina Grimes (Series 3)
• Jo Cameron (Series 2)

Despite being the strongest link in the penultimate round, Jenny was eliminated. Jo defeated Kristina in the final and donated £11,550 to her chosen charity.

Criticism and controversy

Helene Speight

Former contestant Helene Speight alleged that The Apprentice "turns people into monsters" and stated that the show "made her life a nightmare." revealing that during filming she collapsed with stress and had to be rushed to hospital but still had to face Sir Alan "wincing in pain". Speight also stated that being on the show was the biggest mistake of her life as she nearly "lost her life and sanity". During Week 8 she started getting sharp abdominal pains and managed to hold on by taking painkillers. In response the producers took Helene to the Princess Grace Hospital in London's West End where she was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome. On her diagnosis Speight said: "The doctors said it was all due to the pressure of the show and the diet I was eating. Hours later I was getting a boardroom grilling from Sir Alan after the wedding task." and added "I was shaking with nerves convinced I was about to throw up all over Sir Alan and his sidekicks Nick and Margaret."^[7]

Nicholas De Lacy Brown and Alex Wotherspoon

Former contestant Nicholas De Lacy Brown claimed to receive death threats from watchers of the show and he says that "the messages said they want to kill or injure me." with one reading "something like: 'If I see you, I'll hurt you'."" however he remained defiant and said he would not be intimidated by the messages and said that his "ego is bigger since I went on The Apprentice because of all the attention. In fact, my ego is huge now."" ^[8] De Lacy Brown was also claimed to have failed 18 job interviews.^[9] Apprentice finalist Alex Wotherspoon also reported receiving death threats, one email being under investigation from the BBC.^[10]

Michael Sophocles and Lindi Mngaza

Contestant Michael Sophocles has been the subject of some controversy, firstly for being a self-confessed "arrogant" person, and secondly, most notably, for claiming to be "a good Jewish boy" on his application to the show, but under closer questioning not knowing either the meaning of "kosher" or the common Hebrew toast "L'Chaim" (translated "to life" as per the Fiddler on the Roof song of that name), likewise when going into the boardroom he was shown doing the sign of the cross.^[11] The ineptitude of Sophocles, who read classics and history at Edinburgh University, prompted Margaret Mountford (herself Cambridge-educated) to opine that "Edinburgh isn't what it used to be".^[12] Sophocles was also reported to have been dating fellow candidate Lindi Mngaza, despite the latter being in a committed relationship at the time.^[10][13]

Jenny Celerier

Jenny Celerier became the subject of controversy after she was accused of bullying several fellow candidates (most notably Lucinda Ledgerwood and Sara Dhada) in her series, even being compared to Series 3 candidate Katie Hopkins.^[14] Celerier stirred up more controversy after it was revealed she suffered meningitis during the filming of the programme, and was reported to have cheated on ex-boyfriend, Marc Sugden. The same article reported that she left her son, Simon, alone to play by a hotel pool whilst she was sunbathing, engaged in bondage games and boasted of a three-in-a-bed sex romp with two other men.^[15][16]

Simon Smith

Five years after he left the Army former contestant Simon Smith was reported by Digital Spy to have an addiction to cocaine and that the habit affected his marriage and eventually led to the breakdown of his marriage especially in 2002 on his honeymoon where he put his addiction over his then-wife Debra. He had joined the Army at the age of 17 and nine years later when he left, he found himself struggling to adjust back to civilian life and used the drug to ease his pain.^[17]

On the addiction he said "As soon as I got off the plane there were people offering me drugs. So I spent the whole holiday wasted," Simon told the Sunday Mirror. "I left my wife in the room and sneaked out at night - on my f***ing honeymoon! Disgusting. I blew over £20,000 on cocaine in five years. I was completely selfish. My whole life revolved around getting wrecked. The same competitive streak you saw in The Apprentice meant I felt I had to out-drink everyone, take more drugs than anyone else. I completely ripped my ex-wife's life apart. There is not a day goes by without me regretting how selfish I was. I broke her heart."

Ian Stringer

Candidate Ian Stringer became embroiled in controversy after his ex-wife Kirsty branded him a loverat after he left her just three weeks after she gave birth to their second child. Stringer claimed on the show "There are two types of people in the world - winners and... I don't know how to spell the other word. I can't even say it." But Kirsty claimed that he really was a loser for abandoning his toddler son and daughter in a quest for fame on the show. She claimed that Stringer had left her struggling financially after he gave up his job and £35,000 salary to go on the show.^[18] Stringer was also reported to have hid in a pub cellar to avoid being beaten by the boyfriend of ex-air hostess, Angela Rawson, whom he had dated despite Rawson being a committed relationship at the time.^[19]

Ratings

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.^[20]

Specials

References

External links

Wikiquote has quotations related to: The Apprentice (UK)

Wikiquote has quotations related to: Sir Alan Sugar

• The Apprentice at BBC Online