The Apprentice: You're Fired!

The Apprentice: You're Fired!, sometimes named You're Fired!, is a spin-off show from the reality TV hit The Apprentice, and was first shown on BBC Three before moving to BBC Two in 2007, with a few episodes having been shown on BBC One. In 2015, Jack Dee fronted the programme, with Romesh Ranganathan as a regular panellist.^[1] Following Dee's departure, it was later announced that Rhod Gilbert would host the show in 2016.^[2] It was previously hosted by Adrian Chiles from 2005 to 2009 and Dara Ó Briain from 2010 until 2014 and, with no fixed regular panellist. The programme airs in a 30-minute slot after each episode of The Apprentice finishes.

Its format is similar to that of Big Brother's Little Brother and Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two, in that candidates fired following a task are interviewed over their performance in The Apprentice.^[3] When the final episode of each series is broadcast, it is renamed as The Apprentice: You're Hired! and involves interviews with both the winner and the runner-up of the show, along with Lord Sugar himself, and a reunion with all of the former candidates.^[4]

History

Following the first series of The Apprentice, plans were made to create a spin-off to this show, leading to the initial announcement for the sister show, You're Fired!, being made on 10 December 2005.^[5] Presented by Adrian Chiles (who hosted the show's first four series), its first run accompanied the second series of The Apprentice, when it began on 22 February 2006, and upon its conclusion, it was announced that You're Fired! would move from BBC Three to BBC Two, alongside the decision to move The Apprentice from BBC Two to BBC One, prior to the latter's third series,^[6] whereupon its second run began on the same evening for the beginning episode of the third series, on 28 March 2007.

The fifth series (accompanying the sixth series of the main program) was the first to be presented by Dara Ó Briain; he was brought in to replace Adrian Chiles, who had left the BBC upon signing a deal with ITV. Ó Briain hosted five series of the show, where during his tenure, the BBC devised each series finale to be aired on BBC One, and linked into following the final episode of The Apprentice. In 2014, Ó Briain left the show to focus upon a comedy he was creating,^[1] with Jack Dee unveiled as his replacement on 11 September 2015 by the BBC, who also revealed that the tenth series would feature Romesh Ranganathan as a regular panellist throughout the series' run.^[7][8] Prior to the tenth series, the host, the candidate(s) from that week's episode of The Apprentice who had left or reached the final, and the guest panellists, all shared a large table between them, with the set receiving only minor cosmetic changes, but the tenth series saw it receive it extensive facelift to brighten it up, with the audience circling behind the main stage, and only the host and candidate having a table between them while the guest panellist sat across from them. Dee only hosted the show for one series, before announcing on 15 March 2016 his departure from the show, due to work commitments on other comedies and a radio show, adding that it had been a tough decision for him to depart.^[9]

Following his departure, the BBC unveiled Rhod Gilbert as the new host for the eleventh series of the spin-off show, with the series returning the set's layout to its previous arrangement, and Ranganathan no longer featuring as a regular panellist.^[10]

Format

Each episode always begins with the host conducting an introduction to camera, after entering the set. The initial format saw the first host, Adrian Chiles, addressing the camera from the audience before making towards the main stage of the set and the table he sat at, but this was format was changed early into O'Briain's tenure, who simply made his address upon being seated at the table, only on rare occasions doing so from the audience. During Jack Dee's short tenure on the show, his introduction was done upon him standing in the centre of the set, before he took his place at the desk he used, but after his departure, the format of introduction was reverted back to that from O'Briain's tenure. The general setup of the introduction is that the host explains about the content of the upcoming programme, and often uses at least one humorous highlight taken from the recent episode of The Apprentice, before eventually introducing the guest panellists. Although there is some variation, the panel is typically composed of a journalist, a businessperson, and a comedian, and on some occasions, one of Lord Sugar's aides (either Nick Hewer (until his departure after the tenth series), Karren Brady, or Margaret Mountford (Until her departure after the fifth series)) are present.

Before the interview of an evicted (or winning/runner up) candidate is made, the host often links to a video of the moment that the candidate was fired/hired, before they are introduced onto the stage and sat down next to the host. At this point, both the host and the panellists interview the candidates; in the case of a multiple firing, each candidate from that firing (or if one is runner-up and one is winner) are interviewed separately. During these interviews, candidates air their views on their performance and any issues they had in the task they failed in, whilst a mixture of "never before seen" footage from the task and footage that was aired in the episode are seen, and a filmed interview of Lord Sugar provides the candidate and viewers his reasons for why that person had to leave, which often also includes views by other candidates about the recently fired member; the latter segment isn't used when the runner-up and winner are being interviewed. Often, the family of the fired candidate are also interviewed during this time. The interviewed candidate, host and the celebrity guests also discuss about their favourite moments from the night's show, as well as any other notable ones from the contestant's time on the programme, and also who impressed them and why.

At the end, the guests are asked whether they agree with Lord Sugar's decision, before the studio audience are asked to vote on whether the candidate should have been fired, by holding up the appropriate card (a red "FIRED!" card or a green "HIRED" card); this is not used in the final episode. The evicted candidate is then shown their "best bits" — montages of video clips that reflects their time in the competition. This is usually accompanied by a popular music track, in the style of Big Brother Live Eviction, with the contestant's reaction to the clips shown in an inset. The host often presents the fired/hired candidate with a parting gift at the end of this, which is something appropriate to one of the candidate's memorable moments on the show. Except for the series finale, a preview of the next episode is then shown before the end credits, often with additional material the main show didn't show in its preview.

The show has had a few notable parts to it:

• In the final episode of each series, Lord Sugar appears alongside the winning candidate, usually after the winner has been introduced, and both he and his advisers are shown highlights from the process (serious and humorous). In addition, candidates who were fired during the process, appear amongst the audience.
• In the fourth, fifth, eighth, tenth and eleventh series, a regular feature was introduced called "The One That Got Away", recapping the contribution of a candidate who appeared to be a likely prospect for firing that week, but who survived into the next round.
• In the fifth series, a feature called "Quote of The Week" was introduced, which recapped the best quote from that week's show.
• In the eleventh series, Dee usually makes a pun about the weeks' task before apologising giving a humorous excuse related to the task that week.

During the 2009 and 2010 series, a longer edit of the show was used for the late-night repeat, though unlike other programmes with extended versions (such as QI and Have I Got News for You) the longer versions were not explicitly promoted as such and did not appear on iPlayer. As of 2011, late-night repeats of the show have been discontinued. In addition, no episodes of The Apprentice: You're Fired! were made to accompany Young (formerly Junior) Apprentice.

Transmissions

You're Fired!

You're Hired!

References

External links

• The Apprentice: You're Fired! at BBC Programmes
  
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! at the Internet Movie Database