About The Apprentice

About The Apprentice

Published: 27 September 2016
  • BAFTA Award-winning business series, The Apprentice, has previously had eleven successful series as well as three series of the Young Apprentice.
  • As well as a wealth of loyal fans, The Apprentice has received critical acclaim and won numerous awards including a BAFTA in 2006 for Best Feature. It has also walked away with top TV gongs including accolades at the TV Choice Awards, National Reality Television Awards, BANFF World Media Festival Rockie Awards, BPG TV Awards and The Televisual Bulldog Awards, as well as nominations at the National Television Awards, BAFTA Craft Awards and BBC Radio 1 Teen Awards. The show has also received a Press Guild Award for series six and a TV Choice Award for Best Reality Show for series seven. In 2012, Young Apprentice won a BAFTA in the Reality & Constructed Factual category.
  • Last year, the eleventh series of The Apprentice aired as 12 episodes on BBC One pulling in a consolidated average of 7.2 million viewers each week. Joseph Valente became Lord Sugar’s new business partner, with Claude Littner joining the line-up as Nick Hewer’s replacement to observe the teams.
  • Series ten was won by Mark Wright, who set up his digital marketing agency. Highlights of the series included: the first triple firing of Steven Ugoalah, Sarah Dales and Ella Jade Bitton, which led to no candidates returning to the house after a task and Lord Sugar having to call the remaining candidates to inform them of the news; James Hill’s uninspiring sing-a-long with customers on the coach tours task; and Claude Littner dismissing Solomon Akhtar’s business plan before he could even talk through it during the interviews episode.
  • Series nine was won by Leah Totton who launched her range of skin clinics after beating Luisa Zissman in the final. Top moments of the series included Neil Clough’s popularity as ‘the right man with the wrong plan’, Luisa Zissman taking over PM role from Jason Leech mid-task for the first time in the series’ history and Myles Mordaunt fighting it out in inflatable sumo wrestling costumes.
  • Series eight was won by Ricky Martin, who launched his recruitment consultancy after beating Tom Gearing in the final boardroom. Moments such as Azhar Siddique leading the ‘Groove Train’ and Adam Corbally’s market stall patter kept viewers glued to their screens as Lord Sugar searched for his second Apprentice business partner.
  • The memorable catchphrases from some of the candidates have put smiles on the faces of millions of viewers, including Ricky Martin’s “I truly am the reflection of perfection”, Jaz Ampaw-Farr’s “I’m half machine. I can process things at a speed that is out of this world!” and Stuart Baggs’ “I’m Stuart Baggs ‘The Brand’ - I’ve got a certain type of charisma.”
  • There have been two Comic Relief specials and one Sport Relief special of The Apprentice, all featuring stellar celebrity line ups. The Apprentice has spawned a number of columns and blogs in the national press and has been spoofed by comedians including French & Saunders, Charlie Brooker, Harry Hill and Dead Ringers.
  • In 2007, the BBC Two show Kombat Opera spoofed The Apprentice with Kombat Opera Presents...The Applicants. In 2009, renowned YouTube artist Cassette Boy created Cassette Boy vs The Apprentice, which has attracted over 6.2 million hits on YouTube to date. In 2013, The Brett Domino Trio created a new song to introduce the Series 9 candidates, with a later version in which they were joined by BBC Radio 1’s Dan and Phil – the two videos combined have had over 140,000 hits on YouTube to date.