The Apprentice (UK Series Four)
All you want to know about The Apprentice (UK Series Four)
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Series Four of The Apprentice was a reality British television series, which was won by Lee McQueen. The series began on BBC One on March 26, 2008,[1] and ran for twelve weekly episodes. Auditions and interviews are reported to have taken place during the first two weeks of July 2007 in London, Glasgow, Manchester and Bristol.[2] A record 20,000 applications were received.[3]
Sir Alan Sugar reprised his role as the boss,[1] and Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford again served as his advisers. 'Frances', Sir Alan's boardroom 'receptionist', also returned.The shows spin-off, The Apprentice: You're Fired!, was again hosted by Adrian Chiles.[4] Filming of the first episode of The Apprentice: You're Fired! took place on March 25, 2008.[5]
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Production
Production of the fourth series took place in September and October, 2007.[6] On October 19, 2007, filming took place beside One Canada Square with candidates seemingly advertising an "Aston Martin Roadster Experience".[7]
The candidates were based in an impressive 7,000-square-foot (650 m2), £5million warehouse conversion in Candahar Road, Battersea. The luxury duplex conversion, The Glass Factory, is owned by ex-Formula One racing driver Johnny Dumfries, the seventh Marquess of Bute.[8]
Candidates
- See also: The Apprentice candidates, Series Four
There are sixteen candidates taking part in this series,[9] and they were initially separated into two teams by gender. The women chose the name Alpha for their team, while the men named their team Renaissance.
The candidates are:
* as of the date of the programme.
Challenges
Week 1
- Project managers: Claire (Alpha) and Alex (Renaissance).
- Task: To sell fresh fish at a market location of choice. The team that makes the most profit wins.
- Result: Both teams were given a van containing £600 worth of fish and a choice of London market locations from which to sell. Both teams chose to sell in Islington, with the women's team, Alpha, making this decision earlier in the day. Renaissance wasted a lot of time deciding on their team name and leader, and so didn't get started until just before midday. Both teams had problems identifying the fish and pricing it correctly (in particular, Renaissance were selling lobsters for less than a quarter of the recommended retail price). Alpha made a profit of £153.98 whilst Renaissance made £32.69.
- Winner: Alpha.
- Reward: Dinner cooked by Michelin-starred chef Jean-Christophe Novelli.
- Brought into the boardroom: Alex, Nicholas and Raef .
- Who gets fired: Nicholas, for incorrectly pricing the fish and admitting that he was unable to get on with "less educated" candidates.
Week 2
- Project managers: Jenny (Alpha) and Raef (Renaissance).
- Task: Running an overnight laundry service. The team that makes the most profit wins.
- Result: Both teams were given use of an industrial laundry for the night. The teams sourced business from a variety of customers including a hotel, a fishmonger and homeowners. Alpha had problems setting a reasonable price, attempting to charge the hotel £4990 for £200 worth of washing, and the fishmonger £15 for £60 worth of washing. Renaissance finished their washing and pressing before the laundry had to close, but Alpha were late getting started and hadn't finished by the end of the night. They suffered problems due to mix-ups with customers' clothing, including two lost items for which they were fined £50 in the boardroom. This was blamed on Shazia, who had the task of keeping track of items, but left early in an unsuccessful attempt to get hold of the steam irons at the house, which Renaissance had already removed. Alpha made a profit of £195.55 whilst Renaissance made £328 exactly.
- Winner: Renaissance.
- Reward: Tea at The Ritz.
- Brought into the boardroom: Jenny, Lucinda and Shazia.
- Who gets fired: Shazia, for leaving the laundry early and allowing items to get mixed up. The majority of the You're Fired studio audience disagreed with the decision.
Week 3
- Project managers: Sara (Alpha) and Ian (Renaissance).
- Task: Running a themed restaurant in a pub. The team that makes the most profit wins.
- Result: Both teams had to devise and run a themed food day in a pub with no previous history of serving food. Alpha chose a Bollywood theme and Renaissance chose Italian. The teams were given a list of wholesalers to use, but Renaissance ran out of time and had to resort to purchasing their supplies from Tesco, resulting in substantially increased food costs. Renaissance also produced 200 flyers at £1 each, whilst Alpha managed to arrange all their printing for free. Alpha had to cancel their lunch service due to the food not being prepared properly, but their strategy of selling admission tickets for £5 that were redeemable against dinner, as well as their better purchasing decisions, meant that they were in profit before they had even served a meal. Renaissance took more money, but because of cost overruns they made only £301.97 profit against Alpha's £604.27.
- Winner: Alpha.
- Reward: Cooking lessons at the Eckington Manor Cookery School in Worcestershire.
- Brought into the boardroom: Ian, Kevin and Simon.
- Who gets fired: Ian, for his "disastrous performance" as project manager.
Week 4
- Project managers: Helene (Alpha) and Simon (Renaissance).
- Team reshuffle: Claire, Jenny and Sara move to Renaissance and Kevin, Lee and Raef moving to Alpha.
- Task: Running a photography business in Bluewater shopping centre. The team that makes the most profit wins.
- Result: Alpha hired a David Beckham lookalike, whilst Renaissance opted for a "glamour and beauty" theme. Communication issues between the shop floor and the production room caused lost orders for both teams —particularly Renaissance — whilst Alpha had problems operating their computer (caused mostly by Helene assigning Lucinda to work the computer despite her lack of technical knowledge and then refusing to allow Raef to swap in for Lucinda when it became clear she couldn't do the job) and were unable to meet the orders. Alpha made a profit of £145.10 and Renaissance lost £73.81.
- Winner: Alpha.
- Reward: Dinner aboard a luxury yacht, on trip to the Isle of Wight.
- Brought into the boardroom: Simon, Alex and Claire.
- Who gets fired: Simon, with regret, for being out of his depth.
Week 5
- Project managers: Lucinda (Alpha) and Claire (Renaissance).
- Team reshuffle: Kevin moves to Renaissance to even the teams at six candidates each.
- Task: Inventing new flavours of ice cream and selling to the trade market. The team that makes the most profit wins.
- Result: Both teams had to develop three new flavours of ice cream at farms that specialised in making ice creams, and then choose two to sell direct to the trade market in London. Alpha decided on "Avocado & Chili" and "Toffee Apple" flavoured ice creams after a focus group meeting. Renaissance's market research came from two drinkers at a local pub, and they opted for "Very Berry" and "Cider & Elderflower" flavours. Alpha's orders included those from a group of pubs and a those from a cinema chain that both teams had attempted to sell to. Renaissance struggled at first but eventually secured a large order from a designer restaurant at the last minute. Alpha made a profit of £1273.64 whilst Renaissance made £1455.45.
- Winner: Renaissance.
- Reward: A helicopter trip to Bowood House in Wiltshire.
- Brought into the boardroom: Lucinda, Jennifer, and Lindi.
- Who gets fired: Lindi, who lost money for the team by promising exclusivity to potential buyers.
- Notes: Sir Alan said in the boardroom that if Alpha had won the task, he would have disqualified them and handed victory to Renaissance due to Alpha's sales to the cinema and pub chains being done on an exclusive basis, as the whole point of the task was to open up new sales for the farmers, which would be limited by the exclusivity deals.
Week 6
- Project managers: Michael (Alpha) and Kevin (Renaissance).
- Team reshuffle: Michael joins Alpha.
- Task: Create a new "occasion" for a range of greetings cards to pitch to prospective retailers. The team that makes the most sales wins.
- Result: Alpha came up with the idea of a "National Singles' Day" to be held on February 13th, and produced a range of cards intended as an alternative to Valentine's Day cards for single people. Renaissance's theme, as suggested by Jenny, was a "save your planet" day, with a series of cards carrying messages about green issues. The teams pitched their ideas to general retailer Tesco and specialist card retailers Clinton's and the Celebrations Group. The retail buyers 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's, who accused him of "preaching" to them. Doubts were also raised about the wisdom of stocking a range of "Singles' Day" cards at the same time as so much selling space was given over to Valentine's cards, resulting in Alpha removing the date from their final pitch (to Celebrations). Alpha sold to all three retailers, gaining orders totalling 22,500 cards, 19,500 of which were from Celebrations. Renaissance sold 6,000 cards to just one retailer, Tesco.
- Winner: Alpha.
- Reward: A private piano recital from Myleene Klass.
- Brought into the boardroom: Kevin, Claire and Sara.
- Who gets fired: Kevin, for his mismanagement, poor sales pitching and his decision not to bring Jenny into the boardroom.
- Notes: Back at the house, Sara was the subject of a heated debate between several candidates over her perceived laziness. Raef was the only one shown on screen to jump to her defence on this matter, although it has been said that Lucinda also defended her off-camera.
Week 7
- Project managers: Lee (Alpha) and Jennifer (Renaissance).
- Team reshuffle: Sara moved to Alpha, whilst Jennifer and Michael moved to Renaissance.
- Task: Buy a set list of items in the marketplaces of Marrakesh, Morocco. The team that spends the least wins.
- Result: Alpha collected all ten requested items, without penalties. Renaissance struggled to find a mosque alarm clock, after previously purchasing one in the wrong colour, and incurred penalties for purchasing unbranded tagines and a halal chicken instead of a kosher chicken. Renaissance members Jenny and Michael attempted to sabotage Alpha by offering a sports store a bribe if they would incorrectly string a tennis racket that Alpha were in the middle of purchasing; the store's employees refused to accept the bribe, however.
- Winner: Alpha.
- Reward: Hot air balloon flight around Leeds Castle.
- Brought into the boardroom: Jennifer, Alex, Claire, Jenny and Michael.
- Who gets fired: First - Jenny, for lying about the kosher chicken mix-up. Second - Jennifer, for failing to control the team during the task.
- Notes: This episode marked the first occasion ever where the project manager did not have the option of choosing the two candidates who would also face Sir Alan in the final boardroom. After Jenny's firing, Alex was sent back to the house and Claire, Jennifer and Michael were brought into the boardroom to face a second firing. This was the second time in any of the UK series where two candidates were dismissed outside of the final interviews. In Why I Fired them some weeks later, Sir Alan stated that while he was not happy with Jenny's attempt at bribing the sports store, it did not factor into his decision to fire her (since the bribe had not been successful), and that her firing was solely down to her lying and trying to blame Michael for the error over the chicken.
Week 8
- Project managers: Lucinda (Alpha) and Helene (Renaissance).
- Team reshuffle: Claire joins Alpha, Sara and Helene join Renaissance.
- Task: Select and sell wedding dresses and accessories at a wedding exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham. The team that makes the most money wins.
- Result: The teams visited various suppliers of wedding dresses and wedding merchandise. Alpha selected a range of high-end designer dresses and a collection of bridal lingerie. Renaissance chose a collection of mid-range dresses, and also wanted to sell the lingerie range. However, the lingerie supplier chose Alpha over Renaissance due to the cachet of their designer brand, forcing Renaissance to take their second choice of wedding cakes. Alpha sold three dresses for a total of £5105 and £647.24 worth of lingerie, making overall sales of £5752.99 [sic]. Renaissance sold five dresses for a total of £1925, but failed to sell any cakes.
- Winner: Alpha.
- Reward: Luxury spa visit.
- Brought into the boardroom: Helene, Michael and Sara.
- Who gets fired: Sara; for her argumentative manner, her inability to listen to others, and her general lack of contribution to the tasks in previous weeks.
- Notes: After Sara's firing, Sir Alan appeared to be on the verge of firing Michael also, however, he and Helene were sent back to the house.
Week 9
- Project managers: Alex (Alpha) and Raef (Renaissance).
- Team reshuffle: Raef and Claire are moved to Renaissance, and Alex is moved to Alpha.
- Task: Create a new brand of tissues along with television and print advertisements, then present them to a panel of advertising executives. The team deemed to have created the best ad-campaign wins.
- Result: Renaissance created a smart aesthetic design for their tissue box, branded "i ♥ my tissues". Raef and Michael 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. However, their brand name, "atishu!", was praised, and their overall campaign was deemed to be attention-grabbing and gave a very clear message about the product. This secured their victory in the task.
- Winner: Alpha.
- Reward: An after-hours shopping spree at Harvey Nichols (London).
- Brought into the boardroom: Raef, Claire and Michael.
- Who gets fired: Raef, for losing focus of the requirements of the task due to his artistic flair (Sir Alan said that he had concluded Raef was nothing but 'hot air').
- Notes: 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 to the 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".
Week 10
- Project managers: Lee (Alpha) and Michael (Renaissance).
- Task: To select and hire out a set of luxury sports cars.
- Result: The teams had a chance to review the available cars, before the project managers had to choose two for rental sale. Alpha took a risk with the rare Pagani Zonda, with a price tag of £2750 for just one day of rental, and the Aston Martin. Renaissance decided to choose the Spyker and Ferrari. Renaissance made sales of £2114, almost all of which was earned by Claire. Alpha made sales of £11815, with Alex contributing £8000 and Lee £3400 (Lucinda was credited with £65 of total sales).
- Winner: Alpha.
- Reward: Wine tasting at a Mayfair hotel.
- Brought into the boardroom: Michael, Claire and Helene.
- Who gets fired: Michael, for his consistent attempts to take advantage of the other candidates, and a poor track record of appearing in the final boardroom four times in a row.
- Notes: Six luxury sports cars were featured, namely the Koenigsegg CCX, Pagani Zonda S, Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder, Spyker C8, Aston Martin V8 Vantage and Ferrari F360 Spider.
Week 11: Interviews - Semi Finals
- 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. The interviewers then report their impressions of the candidates back to Sir Alan to help him choose the finalists. The four interviewers were Paul Kemsley, a property developer; Claude Litner, 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.
- Result: 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 Karren and Paul insisted that this was not an excuse, stating that they had achieved more than him by his age. Claire was accused of being too talkative. Helene faced criticism for not having demonstrated any progression in work outside of her current company. Lee was caught off-guard when first 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. Lucinda was praised for being intelligent, but criticised for being a "handful". The interviewers questioned her motives for wanting the job, and felt that her teamwork skills were weak.
- Who gets fired: Lucinda, as she was considered "too zany", and because there were doubts over how much she desired the job.
- 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 all of the four finalists were worthy of the job and wanted to put them through one last test to help him with his final decision.
Week 12: The Grand Finale
- Finalists: Alex, Claire, Helene, and Lee.
- Task: Develop an original fragrance for men, and then market it at an industry event.[11]
- Teams: Claire and Lee with the help of Michael, Jenny and Simon. Alex and Helene with the help of Kevin, Jennifer and Raef. The two members of the losing team will be fired, and one of the winning team will be hired.
- Result: Claire and Lee named their fragrance Roulette, playing on associations with gambling and James Bond. Alex and Helene struggled for ideas, and it was eventually left to a product designer to suggest a bottle design, which eventually evolved into their brand, Dual. While the design of the Dual bottle was innovative, including a detachable smaller bottle, it was more expensive to produce and did not fit the given retail price of £29.95. Roulette was criticised, by both an industry representative and Sir Alan, as likely to be unpopular with women buyers due to the gambling connotation. However, the budgetary problems caused by the Dual bottle were felt to be a more serious flaw, resulting in Claire and Lee being named the winners of the task.
- Who gets fired: Alex and Helene, for losing the task. They had not taken costs of production into account when designing their bottle, which would cost more than it would retail for.
- Runner-up: Claire. Sir Alan complimented her on the improvement she had shown over the course of the series, but expressed doubts about whether he'd want to work with her in the long-term.
- Who is hired: Lee, who was viewed by Sir Alan as "very resilient" and "very convincing".
Weekly results
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Related programmes
To date, four additional hour-long specials have 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 [3].
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)
Jo defeated Kristina in the final and donated £11,550 to her chosen charity.
References
- ^ a b "So you think you can be Sir Alan's next Apprentice?". Fremantle Media. Retrieved on 20-07 2007.
- ^ "The Apprentice Series 4 online application form". Fremantle Media. Retrieved on 20-07 2007.
- ^ a b "The Apprentice – Let the boardroom battle commence!", BBC Press Office, March 18, 2008
- ^ "Digital Spy: Adrian Chiles to return for 'Apprentice'". Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
- ^ "Lost in TV: The Apprentice: You're Fired!". Retrieved on 2008-02-28.
- ^ "Simon Cox : lighting cameraman". Retrieved on 2008-01-08.
- ^ "Scoopt Gallery". Retrieved on 2008-01-08.
- ^ "Inside the £5m converted warehouse that will be the Apprentices' new home". The Daily Mail (20th March, 2008). Retrieved on 2008-03-20.
- ^ "Meet this year's boardroom...". Metro (Associated Metro Limited). Retrieved on 2008-03-18.
- ^ "Job Description of Global Pricing Leader".
- ^ The Apprentice Magazine, June 2008
External links
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