Synopsis The Apprentice sees fourteen candidates, competing against each other for a position at Lord Alan Sugar's company. Each week the candidates take part in a task set by Lord Sugar. Each team will have a Team Leader who managers that group for that task. The team that performs the best will win a reward and avoid the boardroom. The losing team will be summoned to the boardroom where their team leader will be forced to pick two people in their team who we join them in the boardroom and a chance to be fired.
Lord Sugar is very busy so he has Nick and Karen, who act as his eyes and ears, to inform him of what's going on. Season 3. Similar shows. Good Morning America. Judge Judy. They have two days to source, buy and prepare meals to sell at the Thames Festival. The remaining ten candidates are given the task to promote a card that grants the bearer money for private jets. When they need a private jet, they use the card to show that they have the money.
This week, the nine remaining candidates are given the task to sell second-hand cars. With only a hour time limit, they need to convince as many customers as possible to part with their hard earned cash. With Sir Alan and Top Shop owner Phillip Green paying the candidates a surprise visit, how will they cope as they try to find a way to appeal to the teenage fashion market? As the series enters the second half, Sir Alan arrives at the house to tell the contestants that they must sell goods to traders.
As only six contestants remain, each team must let property. As usual the team that brings back the least amount of money, will lose, and one member, will get fired. With only 6 people left, Sir Alan will set another challenging task. The winning team will all be fine and receive a treat but one member of the losing team will be fired.
On Week 11, the remaining 4 candidates are going it alone as they go into interview process again with 3 of the best of the people to help Sir Alan to make his decision on which two people to get fired. Competition to win a highly paid job with multi-millionaire Sir Alan Sugar. The two finalists stage shows at Tower Bridge. The Apprentice returns with 16 brand new contestants, who will battle it out week-by-week for the chance to win a six-figure salary as Sir Alan Sugar's new apprentice.
To start of the season, Sir Alan gives the apprentices the task of selling coffee out on the streets of London. With one candidate fired last week, the remaining 15 are given the task to design products for dogs. These ideas must then be presented to three pet stores.
But will any of the stores approve of what Sir Alan's potential apprentices have to offer them? As usual, this week, the candidates need to make as much money as possible. However, in a test of entrepreneurial skills, the candidates are free to do whatever they want from a small starting fund given to them by Sir Alan. What drastic measures will the two teams have to take in order to make the largest profit and win the task?
It's time to see if the teams have a sweet tooth, with this weeks task involving the manufacturing and selling of sweets at London Zoo. The teams must decide which target market to aim for - parents or children - as well as integrating within the zoo and it's main animal attractions. The candidates get a chance to earn thousands of pounds for Sir Alan by choosing and selling art photographs. The remaining ten candidates get a special treat from Sir Alan, as they take a trip across the Channel.
However, this will be no holiday, as the two teams are set the task to make as large a profit as possible by selling British food to the French. It's time to see how well the candidates can negotiate, as they have to buy ten items for the lowest amount of money.
It may seem to be a relatively simple task, but Sir Alan has asked for one particular item that the teams may have to look extremely hard for. The candidates have to create their own brand of trainer. They are then required, with the help of first class advertising agencies, to market their new product by producing a poster and TV advert. The candidates have to choose from a selection of innovative products which have never been seen before in the UK market. They are then required to sell as many of the three products they have chosen to retailers.
It's time for the candidates to practice their sales technique once more, as they have to sell live on TV to the public. However, this task is not as simple as it may seem, as the teams are also required to choose which specific products they want to sell. Who will sell, and who will make the worst cock-up? It's time for the five remaining candidates to face the interview process. Three candidates are set to face the chop, as Sir Alan looks to choose the best of the best from the final five.
The final week and only two candidates remain in the compitition. This time however, the final boardroom will reveal who has been hired. To start of the new season, Sir Alan sets the task in which two teams, separating into the girls and the boys, have to sell fish out on the streets of London. There was much talk of the boys' team splitting into two factions: the first of these contained Alex, Simon, Lee and Ian while the second consisted of Raef, Michael and Nicholas.
Coverage was shown of all members of the boys' team; however, some members of the girls' team notably Shazia, Lucinda and Jenny had almost no coverage in this week's episode. Sir Alan Sugar puts 16 applicants through the job interview from hell. After an exhausting first task, the applicants are challenged to set up an overnight laundry business. They persuade customers to part with their washing including hundreds of sheets from a hotel chain then clean into the early hours.
The following morning, following Sir Alan's warning not to lose a single sock, they return the clothes. Sir Alan's aides Nick and Margaret watch, and a second applicant will be fired. The teams must take over a pub and turn it into a themed restaurant - however, the pub kitchens in which the teams will be based, have never served food before. Four weeks into his search for an apprentice, Sir Alan challenges the teams to set up their own photography business at a busy shopping centre on the outskirts of London.
Charged with taking and selling photos, the teams must work together to rake in the money. But with tempers flaring and the pressure rising, will the candidates come unstuck at the first hurdle? It's down to the farm for our Apprentice wannabes, as the teams take on an ice cream making challenge. Alpha and Renaissance must make three new flavours, and then launch two of those products into the untapped London market. The team which secures the most orders, by value, will win. This week the two teams have to create a range of greetings cards for a new occasion.
Three members of the loosing team end up in the board room with Sir Alan where one of them will be fired. The candidates set off on a two-day business trip to Marrakesh, where they are challenged to find the best deals possible when buying 10 items in the city's markets.
The budding entrepreneurs race against time and tempers flare as the deadline approaches. Margaret Mountford and Nick Hewer report back to Alan Sugar, who will cross-examine the two teams before dismissing another contestant. It's all about satin and sequins as Sir Alan Sugar sets both teams the challenge of selling wedding dresses at a wedding show at the Birmingham NEC. The candidates have just one day to visit specialist bridal businesses and select gowns that will be popular with brides-to-be at the show.
Success in this task will depend on choosing the right products to sell - and with more than exhibitors at the show, the competition is tougher than it's ever been before. The candidates must design their own brand of tissues, and create both a TV commercial and printed advertisement in order to promote the product. Sir Alan gives the teams a choice of supercars and challenges them to rent them out to members of the public.
It's not hard to turn heads with such high-end merchandise, but interest soon dries up when the teams reveal the price tag to passers-by. 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 remaining four candidates are split into two teams to develop and present a new type of fragrance.
The teams are joined by former candidates, and with only the winning team able to get the chance to work with Sir Alan, they must overcome this final hurdle in a bid to become the next Apprentice. The sixteen new candidates meet Sir Alan for the first time and receive their challenge. They have to start cleaning companies and make as much money as possible. At the end of the show the first of the hoepfuls is fired.
After a punishing first task, there is no let-up for the candidates, as Sir Alan challenges them to set up a catering service for busy professionals in the City of London. In tough economic times, the teams must agree a distinctive identity to stand out from the competition and win new customers.
This week the two teams have to create a new piece of portable gym equipment and create a poster advertising it. They then have to demonstrate the equipment. At the end of the show one of the candidates from the loosing show is fired by Sir Alan. Week four of Sir Alan Sugars search for his apprentice. Sir Alan Sugar challenges the teams to set up their own cosmetics business. The candidates are given the task of a new breakfast cereal with a brand identity including a name for the cereal, design for the box and film a TV campaign that will appeal both to the parents and the children.
The candidates are tasked with taking a collection of items given to them by Sir Alan Sugar and selling them for the most proffit. Alan Sugar sends the candidates to Margate on the Kent coast, where they are challenged to produce an eye-catching series of posters and leaflets designed to attract tourists to the seaside resort. They then have to pitch their campaigns to tourism industry experts, residents and dignitaries, with one of the losing team members ending up in the firing line.
The teams interview suppliers of baby equipment, select two products, and sell them on to a potential 10, customers at the country's biggest baby show. The teams must select products which they believe will sell the best during an hour of live television. They must then sell these on-screen themselves. There's no place to hide as the final five candidates face four of Sir Alan's trusted advisors in face-to-face interviews.
The two finalists have just three days to create and brand a new box of chocolates with original flavours before launching them to an audience of industry experts. Lord Sugar meets a fresh batch of candidates in his search for an apprentice, as another series of the business-based reality TV show begins. The first task for the candidates is to produce a range of sausages ready for sale the next morning.
They are given a crash-course in crafting the perfect sausage, before hitting the streets at the crack of dawn in the hope of selling their stock, under the watchful eyes of Nick Hewer and Karren Brady. At the end of the day, one candidate will be fired. Following an early morning call summoning the candidates to Heathrow airport, hopes are high for a sunshine getaway.
No such luck for the candidates, though, as Lord Sugar sets the task of designing and creating a brand new beach accessory. The task is centred on creating something completely original for the nation's sun worshipers, along with an eye-catching poster to promote their product. Candidates must then pitch their product to three big retailers in the hopes of securing orders and avoiding a place in the boardroom.
A surprise result leads to a fierce boardroom battle, where one more candidate is faced with hearing Lord Sugar's immortal words "You're fired". The candidates seize the opportunity to impress Lord Sugar as they take over an industrial bakery. The teams are each given a market stall from which they try to tempt hungry customers with their baked goods, and they go head-to-head to pitch for the business of a high-class hotel, a restaurant and a coffee shop.
Nick and Karren keep an eye on proceedings as the teams work to keep up with orders, and when the teams face Lord Sugar in the boardroom, one candidate is fired. The teams are at the Science Museum, where they have to select two innovative new products to sell to trade.
One of the members of the team which loses the challenge is failed by Sir Alan at the end of the show. It is week five, and the candidates boldly enter the world of fashion. Lord Sugar ups the ante when he challenges the teams to open pop-up shops at the Trafford Centre in Manchester - one of Europe's largest shopping centres. The teams must select ranges of clothing from some of London's most up-and-coming designers, and are tasked with charming the fashionistas to allow them to represent their brand at retail.
Under the ever-watchful eyes of Nick and Karren, the teams swap their business suits for some cool clobber and use every trick in the book to market and promote their stores. In the boardroom, one candidate on the losing team faces a serious dressing-down from Lord Sugar, who is in an unforgiving mood.
The battle to become Lord Sugar's next apprentice intensifies as the remaining candidates reach the series' half-way mark. After a rude awakening from the boss, the candidates are set to work creating branding and advertising for a new multi-purpose household cleaner. The teams are tasked with producing a spotless TV and radio advertising campaign, and try to clean up when they pitch to ad agency heads and industry experts. As Nick and Karren look on, the campaigns cause raised eyebrows as some of the candidates lose focus.
It gets messy in the boardroom, as Lord Sugar wipes the floor with the losing team. Another of this year's prospects discovers it's the end of the road as Lord Sugar sends them packing with the words 'You're Fired'. The remaining candidates head to Pinewood film studios in Buckinghamshire, where they are challenged to create personal movie experiences that give consumers a chance to star in their own feature films.
Both teams stretch their creative muscles and put together car races, rollercoaster rides and encounters with sharks, before visiting Westfield shopping centre in London to promote their creations to the public. The teams must represent British crisp companies hoping to break into the German market. Alan Sugar summons the seven remaining candidates in the heart of the City and challenges them to purchase a series of unusual items at bargain prices.
The teams are split into boys and girls as Karren Brady and Nick Hewer oversee their efforts to find the best deals. Alan Sugar challenges the remaining candidates to set up their London tour company and provide open-top bus excursions for tourists. The budding entrepreneurs also have to map out walking routes to show visitors a lesser known side of the capital, and bid for a potentially lucrative deal with a travel agency.
Lord Sugar's search for an apprentice reaches its penultimate week, and the five remaining candidates face a different type of challenge: they each have to face a gruelling interview process on their own. There is nowhere to hide as they are grilled by four of Lord Sugar's trusted business colleagues, one of whom is a very familiar face.
These advisors then feed their opinions back to Lord Sugar, and three candidates are fired in the boardroom as he decides who is worthy of a place in the final. After eleven gruelling tasks of the job interview from hell, it's finally time for Lord Sugar to choose his next Apprentice. The two finalists are faced with the final task of launching and presenting a new premium alcohol drink to an audience of over one hundred industry experts.
Dara O Briain then presents the first opportunity to hear from the winner, as well as the boss himself, in front of an audience including all of this year's candidates. The stakes are raised higher than ever in this series of The Apprentice, as this time there is no six-figure salary job on offer.
Lord Sugar wastes no time showing the candidates he means business, using the first task to challenge his potential partners' entrepreneurial skills. Packed off to New Covent Garden Market, the teams race to buy the best produce at the cheapest price and set to work adding value to their haul by making juices, fruit salads and soups, and pasta to tempt London's hungry workforce.
With the pressure on to exploit both the lucrative breakfast and lunch trade, it's not long before the tension rises and the blame game begins. The highly competitive candidates desperately attempt to sell their stock, bring back the highest return and avoid the firing line in the boardroom.
But for one candidate, business dreams are crushed as they are the first to hear the dreaded words 'You're fired'.
An early morning delivery sends the candidates into the fast-paced world of technology. Lord Sugar challenges the teams to think big and go global as they must design, launch and promote a new mobile phone application. In the battle for downloads, the teams must create a mobile app and pitch it to three influential technology websites to become 'App of the Day', as well as attempt to convince a huge crowd of bloggers and software experts at a major gaming fair to support the application and increase downloads.
With their apps downloadable for 24 hours, a dramatic result leads to a fierce boardroom battle, and one more candidate faces Lord Sugar's immortal words: 'You're fired'. The candidates are called to meet Lord Sugar at London's famous Savoy Hotel to be briefed on their next task.
Following a million pound refurbishment, the hotel requires a number of last-minute items prior to its grand reopening. The business hopefuls have nine hours to source ten products, and their powers of negotiation are pushed to the limit as they attempt to track down everything on the hotel's unusual shopping list and purchase them at the lowest possible price.
Nick and Karren watch on as the candidates get increasingly desperate in their attempts to find quality items at bargain prices.
With the deadline looming, tension reaches fever pitch as last-minute deals are struck. Both teams are faced with a dash to the Savoy to have their purchases inspected by the scrupulous eye of the hotel's general manager. Missing or incorrect items are subject to penalty fines, and this leads to a dramatic result in the boardroom.
The losing team gets a grilling from Lord Sugar, and the blame game begins before one of the remaining candidates hears the fateful words: "You're fired! Lord Sugar gathers the candidates under the statue of Aphrodite at the British Museum, and reveals their next task: to set-up beauty treatment businesses in Birmingham.
At the briefing, he re-balances the teams and personally appoints the project managers. The British beauty industry is worth 14 billion pounds annually, with the best margins in hands-on treatments, so Lord Sugar demands both teams offer these and sell cosmetic products off the back of them.
After a choice of professional treatments have been offered to the teams, followed by a short wrangle over total body spray tan, the teams choose two treatments each and get down to some hands-on training. But one of the boys feels that touchy-feely beauty challenges his masculinity, and could worry his girlfriend. Under the watchful eye of Nick and Karren, the teams take their choices to Birmingham.
One team goes for the city centre, while the other chooses an out-of-town mall. From now on it's a race to capture customers and get them into the treatment rooms. Products turn out to be easier to shift than getting the public to strip off, but in a desperate struggle to make money, juggling jobs and slashing prices puts profits at risk. In the boardroom the battle to survive gets ugly, until Lord Sugar calls it to order and declares: "You're Fired! In a pre-recorded briefing via a giant screen flanked by Karren and Nick, Lord Sugar has called the candidates to an advertising agency.
Their task will be to create, brand and pitch a new pet food. But before they start Nick has a message from the boss - once again he picks the team leaders. One team chooses dogs, the other cats. Both teams split - one half to Lincolnshire to create the food, the other half staying at the agency to name and brand the product.
Supported by Britain's biggest pet food manufacturer it looks like a breeze, but soon the teams are making some fateful decisions, sweeping aside advice from pet-loving focus groups and inventing product names so leftfield that even teammates can't understand them. Professional packaging for their products restores confidence momentarily, but the next job - to make commercials - plunges the teams into more confusion as they try to get creative. Animal auditions prove tricky and casting a male voice for a sexy female cat puts an actor on the spot.
As the results are pitched to pet food experts and ad-men, optimism turns to cold reality. Analysis is fed back to Lord Sugar and the boardroom battle begins. No amount of barking or begging can save the doomed when it comes to the master's fateful command - 'You're fired'. Alan Sugar calls the candidates to a rubbish dump, and challenges them to form junk-collection businesses. One half of each team has to haul the rubbish themselves while the others offer quotes on big clearances.
Profits prove hard to come by with Cockney scrap dealers and quick-witted builders giving them a run for their money, and one project manager is reduced to tears by the grueling work. The teams are called to gleaming offices in Fleet Street, home to London's oldest newspaper district. Lord Sugar informs the candidates they'll be creating and publishing a free magazine.
But first he shuffles the teams, appointing the project managers. Free magazines earn money by selling advertising, but advertisers only buy space in titles with a surefire market.
As such, the teams must choose a hit subject, produce appropriate editorial content and convince advertisers they will reach a big audience. As Karren keeps notes, one team is led downmarket by their editor with a low-brow lads' magazine. The other team, accompanied by year old Nick, goes for the oldies market, and on the way comes up with some patronising names causing raised eyebrows from Nick! But despite some research with sprightly over-sixties, it soon descends into stereotypes.
Karren winces as the lads' mag embraces innuendo and photoshoots get racy. Spot research on the street sends signals that the lads' mag may be off-course, but the magazine editor continues to push the boundaries. At the pitches, one team doesn't know what it's selling, while both teams fail to negotiate until it is almost too late. In the boardroom the final ad sales surprise Lord Sugar, leaving the losing team bickering in a blame game. But when the final page is turned, the end words are: "You're fired!
The venue for the candidates' latest briefing is St Pancras International. With the next Eurostar about to leave, there is just time for Lord Sugar to brief and re-balance the personnel, and then it's off to Paris for half of each team. The others must stay back and choose some new British designs to sell to the French.
It is a classic export task, with Lord Sugar on the lookout for proven ability to do business abroad. While the candidates in Paris arrange sales appointments for tomorrow, the London-based groups are treated to quirky products by entrepeneurs wanting a slice of the French market. There's everything from toys to top-end bikes. It is immediately clear that some of Lord Sugar's budding business partners know very little about the French, and even less about what they will buy.
To help, he sets them up with a major French retailer, but the teams must fix all the other pitches. Street-based research gets lost in translation.
Candidates struggle to describe in stuttering franglais items they haven't seen, while one candidate proves fluent in French, yet hopeless at diplomacy. When the teams regroup in Paris, the selected products look less attractive than they sounded. Squabbles ignite, but selling must begin. Paris retailers, baffled by the stumbling pitches, prove tough customers. Lord Sugar's top-end French chain store is characteristically stoney-faced.
Back in the boardroom the teams are subjected to more hard-faced stares, this time from Lord Sugar on hearing that someone decided to employ a playground game to decide who would pitch. And one team discovers it picked a winning product with some blockbusting sales figures.
But the losers face an inquisition and then the verbal guillotine: "You're fired! The candidates are enjoying their day off when Lord Sugar turns up at the door. Suddenly it's down to work after he tells them to make, brand and pitch a new type of upmarket biscuit. Project managers get picked in one case reluctantly and then it's time for the teams to split up, with half off to a biscuit development lab in Swansea.
The teams have two days to get the baking done and packaging designed. In Wales there are sharp elbows in evidence in one team as two of the candidates vie to get their idea made, whilst the other team goes straight for an after-school treat. The ultra-competitive team's focus group munches its way through lots of crunchy offers without a favourite emerging. No-one likes ideas suggested by fellow team members and in the end the decision is a compromise.
On the other team, the branding for kids ends up losing precision and no-one can understand its selling point. Hard work in the development lab produces professional looking biscuits. Packaging is equally impressive but the names and invented straplines make for confusing pitch rehearsals and plenty of backstabbing.
At the pitches one team tries to create a mini-drama, changing the script twice and still failing to communicate the idea. In the end both teams stumble through pitches that are as crumbly as their biscuits. The hard-nosed buyers from some of Britain's biggest supermarkets appear not to bite. They report back to Lord Sugar who reveals the outcome in the boardroom - the result is a shock to Lord Sugar and to both teams. On the losing team the culprit is uncovered. After some spirited defence and a few regrets it's a close call Called to a north London wholesale warehouse, the teams are met by a nostalgic Lord Sugar, who tells the teams that it was from places like this that he started out buying low to sell high.
He gives both teams a pallet carrying pounds' worth of wholesale goods. They must find out what sells best, then re-invest in those products. It is a simple exercise in following the money and increasing sales. The pallets contain cheap nodding dogs, pricey pressure washers, duvet sets, cut-price sunglasses, brollies, watches and more. The prospects for the task look good, and there are quick volunteers for the team leader roles. They have the whole of London to sell to: street markets, houses door-to-door, offices and maps to help find more.
The trick is to match the products to the potential market, but some get it badly wrong, taking tacky stuff to snobby areas, or high-priced goods to East End pound shops. For some selling comes naturally, but for others it's a humiliating struggle. In the battle to sell, the teams start to forget the challenge.
One team wantonly under-invests, while the other returns to buy an even wider range of products. Arguments about how best to accumulate cash spilt the candidates, leaving both teams in disarray.
Lord Sugar nurses hopes for high returns, but in the boardroom they are dashed by dismal results. Turning on the losers, he vents his fury on their performance - particularly their logistics - and the backstabbing begins. In the end there is little to choose between the final three, then the decision is made and an emotional loser hears the words "You're fired!
At a shopping mall in the City of London, Lord Sugar points out to the teams the wide range of successful fast-food chains and tells them to invent their own outlet, develop a unique cuisine, open it to the public and pitch the concept to him and experts from the fast-food industry.
The teams get two brand new sites in the centre of the West End to turn into protoype fast-food outlets. One team goes for Mexican meals, the other for British pie and mash. Both teams split - one half to cook, the other to make the branding match the concept. The Mexican restaurant gets called Caracas because it sounds like maracas, while the pies get named after historic Britains; except that, once the branding has been done, Nick casts doubt on the British credentials of Christopher Columbus.
When the restaurants open to the public the customers wait for fajitas and nachos to emerge from the kitchen - cold! Pies, mash and gravy served piping hot in cardboard boxes causes a rethink on presentation, and by the time the two-hour trial run is over there is plenty to fix before Lord Sugar turns up.
The teams pitch to the experts who mark both business concepts out of ten in four crucial categories: customer service, the meal, branding, and whether the idea could work on the high street. Marks are revealed in the boardroom. The winners go straight to the final.
The losers face the firing line, and their concept gets shredded. In the end, Lord Sugar places his order: "You're fired! After eleven tasks, it's finally time for Lord Sugar to choose his business partner. The four finalists each have to face a gruelling interview process on their own. There is nowhere to hide as each of them is grilled by four of Lord Sugar's trusted business colleagues and advisors.
Each candidate will also have their business ideas tested to destruction, as their plans for their business with Lord Sugar are put under the microscope. It's the ultimate test of character, as every aspect of their personal and professional lives is scrutinised and judged by the influential interviewers. After they have made their assessments, Lord Sugar's four advisors feed back their opinions and explain their verdicts to him in the boardroom. As the candidates take their turn to plead their case, three will have their dreams shattered as Lord Sugar delivers his final ruling on who will become his business partner.
Sixteen candidates begin their fight for one-life changing opportunity - a quarter of a million pounds to start up a business with Lord Sugar as their partner. In the first task, the boys compete against the girls. Each team must buy blank goods, add value by printing a design onto them and then sell them from stalls on the streets of London. It is a test of the candidates' creativity, marketing and salesmanship.
Lord Sugar calls the teams to the Victoria and Albert Museum. Their task is to invent a new household gadget, create a prototype and pitch for orders to some of the country's biggest retailers. Lord Sugar decides to mix up the teams for the third task, which is to come up with a new condiment; one team goes for a Mediterranean-style ketchup, and the other a chilli chutney.
Half of each team head to a condiment factory in Essex to make their product while the others stay in London to design brands and set up sales appointments. Lord Sugar asks the teams to set up second-hand shops in London's fashionable East End, home to a thriving market in retro and refurbished household goods.
The teams must source second-hand stock from auctions, junk shops and car boot sales, and resell at a profit during a one-day-sale from their respective shops.
Lord Sugar turns the candidates' attentions towards the highly profitable keep fit industry. The teams have two days to devise and brand a new fitness class that reflects recent popular trends like Zumba or Body Pump, which attract gym members to classes in big numbers.
They must then pitch their routines to leading health and fitness chains, who will pay for the rights to run them if they like what they see. It is week six, and Lord Sugar sends the candidates to Scotland, where they must make gourmet grub and sell it on the streets of Edinburgh.
The teams decide on Italian meatballs and Scottish stew, but before heading north there is a spot of market research at one of London's fancy street food fairs. It is clear from what is served up that there is more to this business than dishing up a burger and chips. The teams are called to a warehouse in Essex; Lord Sugar tells the candidates that this is how he started out, buying wholesale goods and selling them on for a profit.
Both teams are given pounds to spend on products of their choice, with Essex as their selling ground. Products are purchased and hopes for big profits are pinned on a collection of mops, MP3 players, fake tan and false eyelashes. The eighth task starts with an early morning trip to Waterloo Station, but the teams are not going anywhere; underneath the railway arches is a big screen with a message from Lord Sugar.
He tells the teams to take a look around; they are surrounded by graffiti, and this is what they will be selling next. The teams have one day to meet and convince up-and-coming urban artists that they are the right team to represent them in a one-off gallery sale.
The longest champagne bar in Europe at St Pancras International is the venue chosen by Lord Sugar to launch the latest task. But he is not buying the teams bubbly; he is setting them the challenge of raising awareness of English sparkling wine, which rivals champagne in quality, but not in market dominance.
It is a real issue for the industry - can the teams devise a brand and identity for the British product to compete with cava, prosecco and champagne? Their marketing campaigns will be judged on merit by discerning wine industry experts. The candidates are called to meet Lord Sugar on a rooftop overlooking the City of London, where countless financial deals are done on a daily basis. For one day only, the teams will be representing an online daily deals website that offers Londoners exclusive deals in hotel stays, beauty treatments, posh dinners and premium products.
It is a test in the teams' negotiation skills; they must strike the right deal, get a good discount and deliver their offers to the website by 7pm that evening.
Nick and Karren watch on as the teams get increasingly desperate in their attempts to secure quality deals at the right price. Businesses are bemused as candidates try to negotiate offers on everything from candles and teeth whitening to five-star meals and fish pedicures. With the deadline looming, tensions and negotiations reach fever pitch and both teams face a final dash to the website's HQ to have their deals approved; only those that meet the website's exacting standards will go live for twenty four hours.
In the boardroom there is a landslide victory, and the losers mount a desperate bid to stay in the running; it seems that no-one is safe from those fateful words: 'You're fired'. He spells out that in the current economic climate Britain still has a taste for the finer things in life, but they should come with an affordable price tag. He reveals that the candidates' latest task is to consider affordable luxury retail markets and come up with a new product range.
The final episode of this series sees Lord Sugar name his business partner. The final four candidates are called to the Institute of Directors in the City, where Lord Sugar asks them to pitch their business concepts to him right there on the spot. Lord Sugar's four advisors scrutinise the candidates' suitability to go into partnership with the Boss.
Each team is given a shipping container of imported products at midnight and has until 4pm to shift it all. The candidates are tasked with developing a flavoured beer; two candidates who want Lord Sugar to invest in the drinks business go head-to-head to prove themselves. The candidates must come up with a unique piece of flat-pack furniture, before producing prototypes and pitching their products to retailers.
The hopefuls swap their high heels and city brogues for wellies as they set off to source stock from farms across the South East. One team decides to specialize in pricey buffalo produce, while the others try to churn a profit from premium milk. The teams divide to search the Home Counties for farm fresh produce, but some are left high and dry when they are sent shopping on a shoestring; and there is trouble for others as they find out - with minutes to spare - that stock levels are dangerously low.
On sales day, the candidates set up shop in trendy east London; one team finds their takeaway's soups and spuds tricky to shift, while the other team finds there is an appetite for milkshakes.
One candidate takes a gamble by using the task to prove their business idea for Lord Sugar works. In the boardroom, even the winning team gets a telling off. The losing team leaves Lord Sugar with a dilemma, but eventually one candidate faces the firing finger and hears the words 'You're fired! The candidates face an early start, as a pre-dawn call informs them that they are off on a business trip to Dubai.
Bags are quickly packed, and then the teams are straight off to Gatwick and the UAE. In the almost-finished foyer of a new multi-million pound hotel, the candidates discover their task: find and secure items needed for the hotel at the lowest possible prices. One team tries to use local knowledge to their advantage by scouring the souks for bargains, while others want to track down items fast and they head for a mega mall.
But in the heat of Dubai, it's not long before the candidates start to sweat; mistakes with measurements leave one team with a big problem, while waiting time costs others dearly. Negotiation skills are pushed to the limit, and identifying the items proves tricky as some of the candidates get lost in translation. As darkness falls there is a final dash round Dubai, before racing back to the hotel where the hotel manager casts a discerning eye over their purchases. In the boardroom there are surprises in store and a true boardroom battle commences, but the holiday is over for the fifth candidate as Lord Sugar sends them packing with the words 'You're fired!
Called to Guildhall in the City of London, the candidates are given their latest task: putting on a corporate away day for two major clients. With a budget of 5, pounds, they must put on a team building event for a day, but the fun and games start early when one team spends so much time thinking through themes that they are late to meet their client.
The teams set off in search of food and activities, but by mid-afternoon panic sets in for some as they realise they don't have enough to fill the day, and they wrestle with whether to make a last minute booking that could prove risky.
The next day, the teams must put on their events; one decides on an army theme, but they come under fire when the rain sets in.
The others settle on back to school, but will their pricey activities get top marks? To win, teams must balance profit with customer satisfaction - but in the boardroom there are surprises in store and one unhappy customer, as Lord Sugar points the finger at someone and tells them 'You're fired! The candidates are called to the Tower of London, where Lord Sugar tells them that their latest task is to sell products at the Motorhome and Caravan Show, and they are left with no doubt that he expects them all to impress.
Half head off to test drive camping accessories and win over suppliers, but when both teams choose the same products, there is disappointment in store for some. Both project managers head straight to the show to select a high ticket item worth thousands, but matching products to punters proves a tricky task and piles on the pressure for both teams.
On sales day, the teams divide, with half pushing must-have accessories, from electric bikes to rooftop boats, while the rest try to pull off showstopping sales of top end trailers. There is love is in the air this week as the candidates are called to London's busiest registry office in Marylebone Town Hall.
They learn that this week's task is to come up with a new online dating concept backed up by an original advertising campaign. One of the candidates from the losing team is fired by Lord Sugar at the end of the show.
The candidates are called to the restaurant at the top of the Gherkin in London, where they learn that their latest task is to create and brand their own ready meal.
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