The Apprentice (UK series ten)

The Apprentice UK
 
 

Series Ten

Series Ten of The Apprentice (UK), a British reality television series, was broadcast in the UK during 2014 from 14 October to 21 December on BBC One; the BBC's decision to start the show in the middle of Autumn was to avoid it clashing with both the FIFA World Cup and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow that were taking place in Summer that year.[1] In addition, while the series opened in the same manner as the previous series with the first two episodes a day apart from each other, the final episode was not aired during the Christmas week but on the Sunday before it, to avoid clashing with the BBC's Christmas schedule. The series was Nick Hewer's final as Lord Sugar's aide, after he officially announced his decision to depart that year, while the show marked its tenth year by involving 20 candidates instead of the usual 16, making it the largest number of candidates to appear in a series within any incarnation of the program worldwide. Furthermore, Ricky Martin, winner of Series 8, returned to the show as an interviewer for Week 11 in the place of Margaret Mountford.

Owing to the show being ten years old, a special episode called "Ten Years of The Apprentice", was shown on the 13 October before the series began, which looked back over the previous nine years of the show. Two more specials were aired alongside the series, towards the final weeks, and were new editions of "The Final Five" on 16 December, and "Why I Fired Them" on 18 December. Like the previous series, the final episode was merged with You're Hired to form a two-hour special on BBC One, which was shown on a Sunday.

Candidates

20 candidates competed for the chance to go into business with Lord Sugar, ten men and ten women.[2] The decision to have 20 candidates without increasing the number of tasks meant that double or even treble firings could occur during tasks on more than one occasion. The initial men's team was named Summit, while the initial women's team was named Decadence, which was changed to Tenacity in the second task after Lord Sugar disapproved of it. Six candidates - Chiles, Robert, Lindsay, Steven, Jemma and Lauren - never had the chance to be Project Manager.

Candidate Background Age Original Team Result
Mark Wright Sales Manager - Digital Marketing 24 Summit Winner
Bianca Miller Owner - Personal Branding Company 25 Tenacity Runner-up
Daniel Lassman Director - Pub Quiz Company 27 Summit Fired in week 11
Roisin Hogan Accountant 32 Tenacity Fired in week 11
Solomon Akhtar Technology Entrepreneur 22 Summit Fired in week 11
Sanjay Sood-Smith Senior Manager - Banking 27 Summit Fired in week 10
Katie Bulmer-Cooke Fitness Entrepreneur 27 Tenacity Fired in week 10
Felipe Alviar-Baquero Lawyer 33 Summit Fired in week 9
James Hill Multiple Business Owner 26 Summit Fired in week 8
Lauren Riley Solicitor 28 Tenacity Fired in week 7
Pamela Uddin Assistant Brand Manager 23 Tenacity Fired in week 6
Jemma Bird Operations Manager 26 Tenacity Fired in week 5
Ella Jade Bitton Business Management Graduate 23 Tenacity Fired in week 4
Sarah Dales Former PA and Hypnotherapist 32 Tenacity Fired in week 4
Steven Ugoalah Social Worker 29 Summit Fired in week 4
Nurun Ahmed Marketing Officer and Fashion Retailer 36 Tenacity Fired in week 3
Lindsay Booth Owner - Swimming Academy 29 Tenacity Fired in week 3
Scott McCulloch Clinical Development Strategist 24 Summit Fired in week 2
Robert Goodwin Marketing Manager 25 Summit Fired in week 2
Chiles Cartwright Company Director 35 Summit Fired in week 1

Weekly results

Elimination chart
Candidate 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Mark IN IN IN IN IN IN LOSE IN IN BR IN HIRED
Bianca IN IN IN IN BR IN WIN IN IN IN IN RUNNER-UP
Daniel IN BR IN IN WIN BR BR IN LOSE IN FIRED
Roisin IN IN LOSE IN IN IN IN BR IN WIN FIRED
Solomon IN BR IN WIN IN IN IN IN IN IN FIRED
Sanjay IN IN IN IN LOSE IN IN BR WIN FIRED
Katie IN IN WIN IN IN IN IN IN BR FIRED
Felipe LOSE IN IN IN IN IN IN WIN FIRED
James IN IN BR IN IN WIN IN FIRED
Lauren IN IN IN IN IN BR FIRED
Pamela IN IN IN IN IN FIRED
Jemma IN IN IN IN FIRED
Ella Jade IN IN IN FIRED
Sarah WIN IN IN FIRED
Steven IN IN IN FIRED
Nurun IN WIN FIRED
Lindsay IN IN FIRED
Scott IN FIRED
Robert BR FIRED
Chiles FIRED
     The candidate was in the winning team; for Week 11, they managed to pass the interview stage.
     The candidate was in the losing team.
     The candidate became Lord Sugar's new business partner 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: Ten Years of Selling

Week 2: Wearable Technology

Week 3: Home Fragrance

Week 4: Online Video Channel

Week 5: Coach Tours

Week 6: Board Game

Week 7: Advertising - New York

Week 8: Country Show

Week 9: Ten Years of Discount Buying

Week 10: Premium Pudding

Week 11: Interviews

Week 12: The Final

Criticism and controversy

Candidates

Inclusion of twenty candidates

Right from the start, there was criticism at the inclusion of having 20 candidates, which was a remarkable jump from previous series and the highest number of participations in any incarnation of the show worldwide. Many viewers remarked there was less room for getting to know the candidates and some, like Jemma Bird, had almost no screen time whatsoever despite remaining in the competition for weeks at a time. Viewers also complained that this was leading away from the business side of the show, and was instead becoming more "reality" by inducing "shock firings".

Solomon Akhtar

It was revealed midway through the series that contestant Solomon Akhtar had allegedly made a sex tape with an ex-girlfriend. The revelation was made by a friend of Akhtar on social media site Twitter, however this was later deleted. Akhtar initially admitted to the BBC that the revelation was true,[10][11] but since then, he has denied the rumours.[12]

Following his firing Solomon reportedly stated that he could never be Lord Sugar's business partner, even after Lord Sugar fired him because Lord Sugar was "boring" and had "no personality", he also claimed that Lord Sugar wanted to go into business with someone as equally bland as him. He said “Lord Sugar just wants somebody who is boring, who is going to do what he tells them to do and is not very risky. I think I was just too much fun. Lord Sugar is boring. He wants to make money, he’s very money-orientated. I want to make money having fun and having a personality in business, Lord Sugar doesn’t have a personality, he’s just very bland. I think that’s why me and Lord Sugar didn’t get on." Solomon also lashed out at finalist Bianca Miller stating "Bianca has this weird, boring, no personality, persona. So they will literally love each other till the end of time, because they’re exactly the same. They both have this public facing image, that’s corporate and really boring, they’ll get on really well."[13][14]

James Hill

Candidate James Hill became embroiled in controversy after it emerged he had a criminal record, having been convicted of assaulting two men back in 2008. He received a six-month jail sentence and was ordered to pay £500 in compensation, and £775 in costs.[15][16] Hill created even further gossip after it was revealed that he had been in a relationship with fellow candidate Lauren Riley during the filming of the programme.[17]

Daniel Lassman

Contestant Daniel Lassman was shown to have spent almost £30,000 at a bar in Essex after the competition. He was pictured with a group of women, while his fiancée sat on his lap pouring drinks down his throat. In the same report he described other contestants as "a bunch of tossers".[18] He was later caught spending 130,000 out of his 200,000 wedding budget on a Ferrari.[19]

Sanjay Sood-Smith

Openly gay candidate Sanjay Sood-Smith reportedly received homophobic abuse, primarily on Twitter, during his time on the show. Sood-Smith also complained about the "outdated attitudes" from other candidates regarding the matter.[20] It was also revealed Sanjay had been attacked at university for his sexuality and had to move schools as a result of bullying including being nicknamed "Sad-Gay Sod Smith" when he was eight years old.[21][22]

Pamela Uddin

Candidate Pamela Uddin was reportedly bullied as a child owing to her Pakistani heritage and her mother said that she was picked on because of her stammer. The bullies reportedly attacked her and called her a "Paki", her mother Regina told the Sunday Mirror her daughter’s troubles began when she split from the toddler’s Pakistani father and they moved from their home in Germany to Waterford, Ireland. And to add to her bullying she was unable to read until the age of 12.[23]

Results

Week Seven

In Week 7, James Hill thought up the name of Big Dawg for his team's energy drink. After the episode aired, it was revealed that there was already an energy drink in the United States with that name. While it was acknowledged that production knew about this, they chose to let the team use it anyway as there was no British trademark. They also stated that the candidates could not have known about the name as they are unable to access the Internet.[24]

Week Nine and Felipe Alvair-Baquero

The decision by Lord Sugar to revoke the paper-made skeleton bought by Tenacity, raised controversy amongst fans of the show moments after Week 9 was aired. His decision, which resulted in Summit winning the task after Tenacity were fined for their purchase, was deemed by fans to have been unfair while being bias against Felipe Alvair-Baquero, who was subsequently fired for taking a gamble on the purchase. Fans argued that Tenacity's skeleton technically fitted the task's briefing because there had been no proper specification made by Lord Sugar about what kind of skeleton that the teams had to purchase.[25][26] A similar view about this decision was revealed on Gogglebox, a popular program which looked at the current week's popular television shows, in which its viewers reacted negatively to Lord Sugar's decision and also thought that it had been unfair.

The following series saw a similar issue arose when, in direct contrast, Lord Sugar allowed a team to win with its purchase of a rubber dinghy despite it not being the genuine article required.

Ratings

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.[27]

Episode
no.
Airdate Viewers
(millions)
BBC One
weekly ranking
1 14 October 2014 8.22 3
2 15 October 2014 7.50 6
3 22 October 2014 7.79 5
4 29 October 2014 7.63 5
5 5 November 2014 7.72 4
6 12 November 2014 7.80 6
7 19 November 2014 6.77 8
8 26 November 2014 7.04 7
9 3 December 2014 6.66 9
10 10 December 2014 7.31 4
11 17 December 2014 7.17 7
12 21 December 2014 7.22 6

Note: During the 2-hour final, the show was shared with the The Apprentice: You're Hired, and as a result the figures are lower than expected. The first hour was the main show whereas the second hour was You're Hired. Original overnights for the final put the first hour at one million viewers more than the 2-hour average.[28]

Specials

Episode
no.
Airdate Viewers
(millions)
BBC One
weekly ranking
Ten Years of The Apprentice
13 October 2014 N/A N/A
The Final Five
16 December 2014 N/A N/A
Why I Fired Them
18 December 2014 N/A N/A

References

  1. Jefferies, Mark (29 October 2013). "The Apprentice: Next series pushed back until autumn 2014 to avoid clashing with World Cup 2014". Mirror Online. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 28 July 2014.
  2. "A hypnotherapist, social worker and pub quiz director...Meet Lord Sugar's latest batch of Apprentice hopefuls". Mail Online. Associated Press. 7 October 2014. Retrieved 7 October 2014.
  3. "The Apprentice SERIES 10 - 2. WEARABLE TECHNOLOGY". Radio Times. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved 14 October 2014.
  4. "The Apprentice SERIES 10 - 3. HOME FRAGRANCE". Radio Times. Immediate Media Company. Retrieved 15 October 2014.
  5. "BBC Two - The Apprentice: You're Fired, Series 10, Episode 10". BBC.
  6. http://katiebulmer.com/
  7. "The Apprentice interviews: Margaret Mountford's out, Ricky Martin's in". Digital Spy.
  8. "BBC Two - The Apprentice: You're Fired, Series 10, Episode 11". BBC.
  9. http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s108/the-apprentice/interviews/a618140/apprentice-bianca-miller-interview-did-lord-sugar-pick-the-wrong-winner.html#~oZvah29YvmqhNN
  10. "New Apprentice storm as it emerges Solomon Akhtar made a sex tape". Mail Online. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  11. "The Apprentice 2014: Is Solomon Akhtar's sex tape about to be leaked?". Metro. Associated Press. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  12. http://exeter.tab.co.uk/2014/10/29/its-all-bullshit-apprentice-star-slams-sun-sex-tape-expose/
  13. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/6192818/Axed-Apprentice-star-Solomon-blasts-boring-Lord-Sugar.html
  14. http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/apprentices-solomon-akhtar-hints-could-4830517
  15. "Apprentice 2014: Contestant James Hill outed as convicted criminal". The Independent. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  16. "THE APPRENTICE 2014: Derbyshire man James Hill has a criminal record". Derby Telegraph. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  17. "The Apprentice 2014: Lauren Riley reveals steamy fling with fellow hopeful James Hill -". Metro. Associated Press. Retrieved 29 October 2014.
  18. "Apprentice's Dan Lassman slams his fellow contestants at Essex nightclub 195". Mail Online. Associated Press.
  19. "Dan Lassman's fiancée fears big-spending Apprentice star will blow his entire fortune... as he splashes out on £130,000 Ferrari". Associated Press. 30 November 2014.
  20. http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-apprentice/news/a616267/apprentice-candidate-suffered-homophobic-abuse-online/
  21. http://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/celebrity-news/the-apprentice-candidate-sanjay-sood-smith-opens-up-about-shocking-homophobic-attack-at-university-9918031.html
  22. http://www.heatworld.com/2014/12/the-apprentice-star-sanjay-sood-smith-head-butted-in-horrific-homophobic-attack
  23. http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/apprentice-candidate-pamela-uddins-torment-4551840
  24. "Apprentice collared for Big Dawg blunder: BBC left red-faced after dreaming up new energy drink... which already exists". Mail Online. Associated Press. 22 November 2014.
  25. "The Apprentice: We're really angry with Lord Sugar - are you?". Digital Spy.
  26. Emma Daly. "The Apprentice: Was Lord Sugar right to disallow the flat pack skeleton?". RadioTimes.
  27. "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  28. "Twitter". UK TV Ratings.

External links

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