The Apprentice (UK series eight)

The Apprentice UK

◄ ►  Series Eight

The Candidates Name Left show       Ricky Martin Week 12 Tom Gearing Week 12 Nick Holzherr Week 12 Jade Nash Week 12 Adam Corbally Week 11 Stephen Brady Week 10 Gabrielle Omar Week 10 Jenna Whittingham Week 9 Laura Hogg Week 8 Azhar Siddique Week 7 Katie Wright Week 6 Duane Bryan Week 5 Jane McEvoy Week 4 Michael Copp Week 3 Maria O’Connor Week 2 Bilyana Apostolova Week 1 Hired Runner-up Fired

Series Eight of The Apprentice (UK) was a British reality television series, which was broadcast in the UK during 2012 from 21 March to 3 June on BBC One. The series was won by Ricky Martin.

The series saw two specials aired alongside it in the final weeks, which included the return of a new edition of "The Final Five" on 29 May, and the return of "Why I Fired Them" on 2 June. In addition, the final episode of the series, which was aired on a Sunday like the previous series, was merged with its companion discussion show You're Hired to form a two-hour special on BBC One, with the first hour focused on the Finals, before the second half focused on interviews with the finalists, runner-up and winner.

Candidates

Sixteen contestants took part in this series, and initially were divided by gender, as in every other series. The men chose the name Phoenix for their team, and the women chose Sterling. Unusually, it was not until week 10 that a project manager was fired. Three candidates – Bilyana, Maria and Michael – never had the chance to be Project Manager.

Candidate	Background	Original team	Age	Result
Ricky Martin	Recruitment team leader	Phoenix	26	Winner
Tom Gearing	Director of a fine wine investment company	Phoenix	23	Runner-up
Nick Holzherr	Technology entrepreneur	Phoenix	25	Third place
Jade Nash	Business development manager	Sterling	29	Fourth place
Adam Corbally	Market trader	Phoenix	32	Fired in week 11
Stephen Brady	National sales manager	Phoenix	33	Fired in week 10
Gabrielle Omar	Architect	Sterling	29	Fired in week 10
Jenna Whittingham	Beauty salon owner	Sterling	25	Fired in week 9
Laura Hogg	Bridal shop owner	Sterling	28	Fired in week 8
Azhar Siddique	Founder/director of catering and refrigeration company	Phoenix	33	Fired in week 7
Katie Wright	Editorial and research director	Sterling	26	Fired in week 6
Duane Bryan	Founder/director of drinks distribution company	Phoenix	29	Fired in week 5
Jane McEvoy	Co-founder of food manufacturing company	Sterling	28	Fired in week 4
Michael Copp	MD kitchen and bedroom furniture retailer	Phoenix	31	Fired in week 3
Maria O’Connor	Restaurateur	Sterling	20	Fired in week 2
Bilyana Apostolova	Risk analyst	Sterling	25	Fired in week 1

Weekly results

Elimination chart
Candidate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Ricky	IN	IN	BR	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	BR	WIN	HIRED
Tom	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	BR	LOSE	WIN	IN	IN	RUNNER-UP
Nick	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Jade	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	BR	IN	WIN	BR	FIRED
Adam	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Stephen	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Gabrielle	LOSE	IN	IN	BR	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	FIRED
Jenna	IN	BR	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	FIRED
Laura	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	BR	IN	IN	FIRED
Azhar	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Katie	BR	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	FIRED
Duane	IN	IN	WIN	IN	FIRED
Jane	IN	LOSE	IN	FIRED
Michael	IN	IN	FIRED
Maria	IN	FIRED
Bilyana	FIRED

     The candidate was on the winning team.

     The candidate was on 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: Blank Canvas

• Air Date: 21 March 2012
• Sterling: Gabrielle (Project Manager), Bilyana, Jade, Jane, Jenna, Katie, Laura and Maria.
• Phoenix: Nick (Project Manager), Adam, Azhar, Duane, Michael, Ricky, Stephen and Tom.
• Task: Print a unique design onto souvenirs, then sell them to tourists in London. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Phoenix created a line of teddy bears adorned with the Union Jack, along with bags featuring red buses; while the teddy bears sold well once the initially very high price was reduced, they had quality control issues with their bags. Meanwhile, Sterling sold customised products featuring a design by Jade, and additional messages that customers could pay for. The women's sub-team wasted a lot of time travelling to London Zoo, and while they enjoyed decent sales there, their attempt to sell off their remaining stock to a local shop went badly wrong when they intimidated the clerk by crowding around her; they were sternly talked to by the co-owner to the point of ejection. Worse still, Bilyana had led the sub-team so far out of their way that there was no time to find another shop to sell to; other factors in Sterling's loss were their overspend and lack of a pricing strategy.
• Result: Phoenix had a profit of £616.20, while Sterling had a profit of £214.80.
• Winner: Phoenix - By £401.40
• Reward: Art-themed cocktails at the candidates' house.
• Brought into the boardroom: Gabrielle, Katie and Bilyana
• Fired: Bilyana - For her poor leadership of the sub-team, her overly abrasive nature, and for repeatedly interrupting Lord Sugar during his boardroom deliberations.
• You're Fired Panel: Thea Green, Trevor Nelson and Jo Caulfield
• Notes:
  • To date, Phoenix's victory margin is the largest made in the show's history on the opening task.
  • Both teams were noted to have performed completely opposite; the men had poor designs but won with good sales tactics, while the women had very good designs but very poor sales tactics. Lord Sugar gave much praise to Jade for her design work, commenting on the Why I Fired Them episode that their products were by far better than Phoenix's, but achieved nothing due to the disorganization and bad pricing structure.
  • Lord Sugar confirmed on his Twitter feed after the episode that he was initially going to fire Katie for her lack of contribution. He had commented in the episode that Bilyana's sales figures were relatively decent and that Gabrielle was unfairly blaming her for everything that went wrong, but changed his mind and fired her after Bilyana repeatedly interrupted him in the final boardroom.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience disagreed with Lord Sugar's decision. Both the panel and Bilyana herself agreed that while she deserved to be fired based on her behaviour in the boardroom, Katie deserved to be fired based on the results of the task.

Week 2: Household Gadget

• Air Date: 28 March 2012
• Sterling: Jane (Project Manager), Gabrielle, Jade, Jenna, Katie, Laura and Maria.
• Phoenix: Azhar (Project Manager), Adam, Duane, Michael, Nick, Ricky, Stephen and Tom.
• Task: Design brand new household items, then pitch them to both Amazon.co.uk and Lakeland. Most orders received, wins.
• Task Review: Phoenix's designs were a tabletop compost bin and a set of dish-washing gloves, while Sterling's designs were a bathtub splash guard and a tap cozy, although concerns were quickly raised as to the ease of creating a universal tap cosy and Adam gave misleading information on the popularity of the dish-washing gloves; in any case both project managers opted for the former items. Both teams had issues when pitching, as Phoenix's first pitch by Stephen was poorly received (forcing Duane to step in and rescue it), while Laura's to Amazon went wrong when Jane bizarrely tried to sell one million units, with Sterling receiving strong criticism for this and for incorrect costings. While Phoenix got orders from both companies, Sterling only got only orders from Amazon which, despite being larger than the other team, could not prevent their loss.
• Result: Phoenix received 13,000 orders, while Sterling received 7,500 orders.
• Winner: Phoenix - By 5,500 orders
• Reward: Meal at The Ivy.
• Brought into the boardroom: Jane, Jenna and Maria
• Fired: Maria - For her sub-par contribution in both tasks, her aggressive nature, and falling asleep during an important discussion in one of the cars.
• You're Fired Panel: Grace Dent, Rob Law and Hugh Dennis
• Notes:
  • Despite their win, most of the men felt that Azhar had been a weak leader and that Duane deserved the most credit for the win, since he had been the main designer and advocate for the product that proved better than Sterling's. Nick also noted his rescuing of Stephen's pitch, causing him to openly wonder why Duane had not been assigned to do the pitches from the start.
  • The two teams were not allowed to design products for the same section/room of the house. Both teams' first choices were to design products for the kitchen; Phoenix had been the first team to reach and communicate this decision, so Sterling had to settle for their second choice of designing a product for the bathroom.
  • Karren labelled Sterling's splash guard as arguably the worst product she had seen on the show, saying that it would prove difficult to help a baby in the bath in the case of an emergency. On Why I Fired Them, Lord Sugar also felt that the product was "absolute garbage" and left the team "dead in the water," expressing surprise that Amazon even placed an order, let alone a larger one than they did from Phoenix.
  • Prior to the initial boardroom, Jane indicated that she wanted to bring back Katie, as she considered her to be the weakest team member overall. While Jane never told Lord Sugar that she wanted to bring Katie back, he picked up on her criticisms and told Jane that she should bring back whoever was responsible for either the product design (which was Laura) or the incorrect costings (which was Jenna). This led to Jenna being chosen alongside Maria.
  • After Maria's departure, Lord Sugar strongly implied that he was also about to fire Jane for her errors, but she was allowed to successfully plea her case and remain in the competition.

Week 3: Condiments

• Air Date: 4 April 2012
• Sterling: Duane (Project Manager), Gabrielle, Jade, Jane, Jenna, Laura and Nick.
• Phoenix: Katie (Project Manager), Adam, Azhar, Michael, Ricky, Stephen and Tom.
• Task: Create a new condiment, then sell it to the public and to the trade. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Phoenix created a spicy Italian table sauce, while Sterling created a pineapple and ginger chutney, yet both teams had production issues in creating their condiments' first version. Sterling's first version was inedible due to excessive chilli, which left them unable to offer a taster for a high-end grocery store lined up by Lord Sugar, while Phoenix produced only about 60% of their intended volume of sauce. While the two teams enjoyed relatively decent face-to-face sales, Sterling secured another appointment with the same grocer and earned a large order in the end, while Phoenix sold very little to the trade, hindered further by the fact that Michael turned down a potentially large order because the price was 4p per bottle lower than what he wanted. This, combined with their insufficient production run, cost them the task.
• Result: Sterling had a profit of £1,028, while Phoenix had a profit of £585.
• Winner: Sterling - By £443.
• Reward: Car driving experience at the Silverstone Circuit.
• Brought into the boardroom: Katie, Michael and Ricky.
• Fired: Michael - For mismanaging the trade sales sub-team, poorly defending himself in the boardroom, and because Lord Sugar considered him to be out of his league.
• You're Fired Panel: Levi Roots, Jenny Eclair and Claude Littner
• Notes:
  • When selling, Phoenix were told by potential buyers that the name Bellissimo had been misspelt as "Belissimo" on the bottle.
  • Jane maintained a negative attitude throughout the task after her suggestion for salad dressing was turned down, leading to animosity between her and Duane during the reward. Despite this, Nick Hewer revealed in the following week's You're Fired that he considered Jane to be the most deserving of credit for the team's win, due to her excellent organization of Sterling's production line.
  • While Katie was the losing project manager and had her third straight loss, it was noted that her sub-team accounted for nearly the entire team's income, which resulted in Lord Sugar giving her one more chance.
  • Ricky was held responsible for the production run chaos, which was initially seen as the main reason for the loss, but he vigorously defended himself and shifted blame to Michael, stating that he "underdelivered" and "sold rubbish sales figures."in addition to calling him "a passenger" Katie additionally noted that Michael had openly expressed surprise that Katie's sub-team had sold out when she called him at the end of the day, which in turn left Katie and Adam flabbergasted that Michael had failed to; even Tom, who was part of Michael's sub-team, openly derided the statement. Though Lord Sugar noted that selling the leftover bottles would not realistically have saved the task, he ultimately felt that Michael had contributed too little to be allowed to stay.
  • In the You're Fired! episode, it was revealed that Michael had been ill with gastric flu during the show, and this may have been a contributing factor to him not stepping forward very much. The audience were divided over to whether to agree with the decision (Dara O'Briain declared the result 60-40 in Michael's favour), though the panel (which included Claude Littner and Levi Roots) agreed that regardless of whether or not Michael was most at fault for the loss, he would likely not have gotten much further in the competition anyway. While Michael was not shown to be fired with regret on the main episode, it was revealed on You're Fired! that he was.
  • The winner of the last series, Tom Pellereau, made an appearance on You're Fired!, although only as an audience member. Tom announced that his "Stylfile" product (initial business plan), has now turned into a range of products, and that one of the products in the range is now called "Emergency File", inspired from his comedic-considered biscuit idea from the previous series.
  • This was the first time that Claude Littner was on the panel of You're Fired! and consequently was shown a series of his highlights from Series 6 and 7. Claude previously appeared on You're Fired! in 2009 after the interviews but was a member of the audience.

Week 4: Junk Shops

• Air Date: 11 April 2012
• Sterling: Laura (Project Manager), Duane, Gabrielle, Jane, Jenna, Nick and Ricky.
• Phoenix: Tom (Project Manager), Adam, Azhar, Jade, Katie and Stephen.
• Task: Buy second-hand furniture items, then re-sell them. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: On Phoenix, Tom decided to keep costs as low as possible, giving his purchasing sub-team just £200 and focusing on what he felt were quality goods. This led to their shop being somewhat sparsely stocked at the start of the day, but their items sold well and Tom sent his sub-team out to replenish their stock mid-day. In contrast, Sterling purchased much more stock, and also spent a lot of money on customizing the items. This resulted in them taking more money than Phoenix, but spending more than twice as much.
• Result: Phoenix had a profit of £1,063, while Sterling had a profit of £783.
• Winner: Phoenix - By £280.
• Reward: 1940s themed party and dancing lessons.
• Brought into the boardroom: Laura, Gabrielle and Jane.
• Fired: Jane - For selling very little, along with her generally very weak track record throughout the process despite her excellent CV.
• You're Fired Panel: Kelly Hoppen, Nick Hewer and Sean Lock
• Notes:
  • While Laura blamed Gabrielle and Jenna for the team's overspending, it was also revealed that they had been the top two sellers on the team, with Gabrielle selling the most. Laura still brought Gabrielle back, but Lord Sugar quickly assured her that she would not be fired.
  • Lord Sugar and Karren noted after the firing that, based purely on her pre-series track record, Jane may well have been arguably the strongest candidate ever to appear on the show. However, they felt she had severely underperformed on all of the tasks, which led to her departure over Laura, who it was agreed had been a weak leader and failed to adequately control the team, and what they felt was the reason that the team overspent on their inventory.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience disagreed with the decision to fire Jane, with the consensus that Laura should have been fired instead. Nick Hewer also felt that Jane should perhaps have been given one more chance, and reflected that it was Karren's comment on Jane's contribution that sealed her fate.

Week 5: Keep Fit

• Air Date: 18 April 2012
• Sterling: Ricky (Project Manager), Duane, Gabrielle, Jenna, Laura and Nick.
• Phoenix: Stephen (Project Manager), Adam, Azhar, Jade, Katie and Tom.
• Task: Create a new workout program, then sell it to gym chains. Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: Sterling's workout combined dancing and mixed martial arts, while Phoenix's workout was themed around the 1980s and made use of toys such as spacehoppers and hula hoops. The three retailers gave high praise to Ricky's sales pitch but hated the accompanying promotional video, as the unique martial art selling point was not put across. On the other hand, Stephen was heavily criticised for not knowing the cost of the accessories required for Phoenix's workout, and questions were raised on how the equipment would be stored, yet their promotional video (made by Azhar) got a large amount of praise. While Sterling got orders from two of the gym chains, Phoenix only got an order from one that was far larger than the total amount Sterling received, resulting in them winning.
• Result: Phoenix had total sales of £12,000, while Sterling had total sales of £7,900.
• Winner: Phoenix - By £4,100.
• Reward: Day at a spa.
• Brought into the boardroom: Ricky, Duane and Laura.
• Fired: Duane - For directing the poor promotional video, the ultimate cause of Sterling's loss.
• You're Fired Panel: Fred Turok, Katie Price and Simon Evans
• Notes:
  • While Phoenix won, the consensus was that Sterling were actually the better team and had made a better product. Lord Sugar implied he would given the win to Sterling had the task been based primarily on his overall opinion rather than profit. On You're Fired!, Team Phoenix were shown as "The Ones That Got Away".
  • After Duane's firing, Sugar warned Ricky he had Nick and Karren to thank for his survival, as both had given positive feedback about his leadership despite the loss. Sugar also strongly criticised Ricky's decision to bring back Laura, and felt Nick or Jenna should have been brought back (and possibly even fired instead of Duane) for not contributing ideas. Nick in particular had taken a backseat during Duane's direction of the promotional video.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience disagreed with the decision to fire Duane. While it was agreed that Duane was responsible for the poor video which cost Sterling the win, the panel decided that he had shown enough potential to continue and that of the final three, Ricky should have been fired for choosing to bring in Laura, and Nick could have gone had he been brought back.

Week 6: Street Food

• Air Date: 25 April 2012
• Sterling: Jenna (Project Manager), Gabrielle, Laura, Nick and Ricky.
• Phoenix: Adam (Project Manager), Azhar, Jade, Katie, Stephen and Tom.
• Task: Sell street food in Edinburgh. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Phoenix went with an Italian meatball dish, while Sterling decided on beef casserole. Despite Lord Sugar's instructions that the teams should focus on producing quality food, Adam elected to use cheap, low-quality ingredients, which were sold at a Hearts vs. Rangers football match. Jenna, meanwhile, had Sterling create a Scottish casserole using higher quality food, which was sold in the city centre. Sterling struggled at first, but sales greatly improved after moving their location, while Phoenix were cost dearly by overpricing their meatballs, resulting in far fewer sales than they anticipated, and a deal to attract customers from tour buses ended up failing to earn a single sale.
• Result: Phoenix had a profit of £298.04, while Sterling had a profit of £319.78.
• Winner: Sterling - By £21.74.
• Reward: A visit to a country club
• Brought into the boardroom: Adam, Katie and Azhar
• Fired: Katie - For picking poor sales locations, attempting to over-price the meatballs, and for her generally questionable track record throughout the process.
• You're Fired Panel: Fred MacAulay, Tracey MacLeod and Gino D'Acampo
• Notes:
  • Both football teams featured in this task were put into lower divisions soon afterwards; Rangers were demoted to the Scottish Football League's lowest division just a few months after the episode aired, while a year later, Hearts were given a fifteen-point deduction which eventually resulted in them being relegated. Ironically, had the task been set a year later, both teams would have struggled to make sales from low crowd volumes.
  • After choosing Katie, Adam decided to bring back either Azhar or Jade based on the sales figures and eventually chose Azhar based on lack of contribution. Lord Sugar was dubious about this; while he sternly warned Azhar he needed to speak up more in the boardroom, he also indicated that he considered Stephen, who set up the failed deal with the tour bus company, more directly responsible for the defeat, and more deserving to be fired over Katie had he been brought back.
  • After Katie's firing, Lord Sugar told Adam that he was lucky to survive, as despite the close margin, he served sub-par food, when he had been given clear instruction not to do so. Lord Sugar allowed Adam to continue as it was generally agreed he had potential and had taken responsibility for his mistakes, as well as his far superior track record over Katie.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience, combined with the panel, disagreed with the decision to fire Katie. Nearly all of them felt that Adam most deserved to be fired for his errors, and that had he been brought back, Stephen would also have been worthy of dismissal.

Week 7: Flip it in Essex

• Air Date: 2 May 2012
• Sterling: Nick (Project Manager), Gabrielle, Jenna, Ricky and Stephen.
• Phoenix: Jade (Project Manager), Adam, Azhar, Laura and Tom.
• Task: Buy £100 worth of goods, sell them in Essex, reinvesting profits in good sellers. Most amount of assets (remaining stock and cash, minus purchases), wins.
• Task Review: Sterling focused mainly on cosmetic products and sold in Romford, while Phoenix had a broader mix and sold in Ilford and Pitsea. Sterling enjoyed great success selling their fake tan, while Phoenix's selection made it difficult for them to focus their marketing strategy, though Adam's market stall experience helped the Pitsea sub-team sell all their stock quickly. Jade re-invested in exactly the same product mix despite her team's advice to focus on toy insects; Nick, however, instructed his sub-team to invest solely in fake tan, but heavy traffic meant the team spent significant parts of the day not selling anything. As the day drew to an end, Jade resorted to cutting prices significantly to the point where they made very little profit.
• Result: Sterling had total assets of £955.20, while Phoenix had total assets of £838.21.
• Winner: Sterling - By £116.99
• Reward: Cocktails made by the UK's Bartender of the Year
• Brought into the boardroom: Jade, Azhar and Tom
• Fired: Azhar - For being the least effective contributor to the task, poorly communicating with his team, and for wasting Jade's time by constantly complaining about her decisions.
• You're Fired Panel: Stephanie Flanders, Oliver Tress and Russell Kane
• Notes:
  • Jade was heavily criticised for bringing Tom back into the boardroom, when he had performed very well on the task. It was made clear early on in the final boardroom that Tom would not be fired, and Jade herself admitted that it was a bad decision made under pressure; however she was also adamant that Laura would not have been deserving of dismissal.
  • Lord Sugar had several reasons to fire Jade, including her poor leadership, not understanding the message of reinvesting in big sellers, and bringing Tom back into the boardroom instead of Laura. While the entire team had recommended Jade be fired, and Karren specifically noted that the task would likely have been a total disaster without Tom and Adam's strong efforts, Jade was saved by her relatively impressive track record and her valiant defence. By contrast, Azhar had been consistently accused of being a weak contributor, even on the two tasks that he was arguably most responsible for winning, as well as being described as "quiet".
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience disagreed with the decision to fire Azhar. Although Azhar's weak boardroom defence and lack of enthusiasm were noted, the audience and two panellists felt Jade easily deserved to be fired over him.
  • After being shown what Lord Sugar and other candidates had to say about Azhar the audience of You're Fired! responded with boos. Likewise on Why I Fired Them Lord Sugar called Azhar a "nice enough fellow but someone no-one wants to listen to."

Week 8: Street Art

• Air Date: 9 May 2012
• Sterling: Gabrielle (Project Manager), Jenna, Nick, Ricky and Stephen.
• Phoenix: Tom (Project Manager), Adam, Jade and Laura.
• Task: Hold an urban art exhibition, selling artwork to customers, including corporate clients. Most commissions made, wins
• Task Review: Both teams wanted the same artist (Pure Evil); in the end, he chose to be represented by Sterling, citing a lack of enthusiasm on Phoenix's part. This led to Tom hastily choosing to sell pieces by artist James Jessop, hoping his high prices would deliver a victory. Despite decent sales of works by their second artist, Copyright, as well as a large corporate sale, Phoenix failed to sell any of Jessop's works, which cost them dearly.
• Result: Phoenix's total commissions were £4,442, while Sterling's total commissions were £4,579.
• Winner: Sterling - By £137
• Reward: "Action Painting" on a giant-sized canvas
• Brought into the boardroom: Tom, Jade and Laura
• Fired: Laura - For selling the least amount of items despite her sales experience, providing an unconvincing argument as to why she should stay, and for her generally inconsistent track record throughout the competition.
• You're Fired Panel: Alvin Hall, Sarah Millican and Lawrence Alkin
• Notes:
  • While Sterling won, Gabrielle and Stephen were criticised for not asking their corporate client crucial questions, particularly about their budget, and for rudeness at the event, which resulted in them not selling anything. Lord Sugar disclosed that had they persuaded the client to spend their full £10,000 budget, Sterling would have taken double the amount that Phoenix made.
  • Tom was questioned on both his failure to secure Pure Evil as a client and choosing James Jessop instead. However, Lord Sugar respected the fact he took a risk and that he took responsibility for it, though he was warned to be more careful in future.
  • Although Jade was not seen as responsible for the loss, and was in the final boardroom purely because of Adam's superior sales, Sir Alan criticised her again for not making decisions quickly.
  • For only the second time this series, the You're Fired audience and panel agreed with Lord Sugar's decision to fire Laura. Even then however, the panel agreed that Tom was actually most at fault, and that Laura's dismissal was warranted more by her selling the least on top of her generally underwhelming track record.

Week 9: English Bubbles

• Air Date: 16 May 2012
• Sterling: Ricky (Project Manager), Gabrielle, Jenna and Stephen.
• Phoenix: Tom (Project Manager), Adam, Jade and Nick.
• Task: Devise a new brand identity for English sparkling wine, including a video advert and a website. Best concept made, wins.
• Task Review: Sterling decided to call their wine "Grandeur," which was considered an interesting choice owing to it being a French word. Despite Ricky's instructions to the contrary, Jenna and Stephen decided to produce an over-the-top, humorous advert. Their website got praise for its social network integration while Ricky gave an excellent pitch. On Phoenix, Tom and Adam were criticised for spending much of the first day sampling wine while Nick and Jade worked on the website. Their video, in contrast to Sterling's, was much more serious and informative, to the point where Tom thought it was slightly boring, while their website was also considered to be too focused toward existing customers, since the task brief specified targeting new ones. However, the judges and Lord Sugar all thought Sterling's video advert was so bad that it completely wrecked their campaign, handing victory to Phoenix.
• Winner: Phoenix - Having an advert that, despite issues, was much better overall.
• Reward: A session in a Jacuzzi overlooking the London skyline.
• Brought into the boardroom: Ricky, Jenna and Stephen
• Fired: Jenna, with regret - For directing the terrible advert which cost Sterling the task, and for ignoring Ricky's instructions on what the 'tone' of the advert should have been.
• You're Fired Panel: Lucy Jackson, Sara Cox and Andy Parsons
• Notes:
  • For this task, Phoenix were invited to choose someone from Sterling, as their run of defeats had reduced them to 3 against Sterling's 5. Phoenix chose Nick to join them.
  • This was the second time that Ricky had lost as a project manager, and the verdict on his team's performance was exactly the same: a well thought-out execution ruined by a poor video advert.
  • Stephen came dangerously close to being fired alongside Jenna for taking a backseat, giving her complete control of the video, and for his blatant attempts to scapegoat Gabrielle into being brought back instead of him, Lord Sugar commented on Why I Fired Them that is this point he saw a side to Stephen he was starting to dislike. However, during the final boardroom, Stephen vowed to win the next task as Project Manager. In response, Lord Sugar made Stephen the Project Manager for the following task, with stern warning that he expected him to win. Ricky was also questioned as to why he had not participated in the video advert himself, if he had realised how important it was.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience disagreed with the decision to fire Jenna. As with Duane, the audience felt Jenna had shown enough potential to continue and felt Stephen should have been fired for taking a backseat on the task.

Week 10: Discount Dealing

• Air Date: 23 May 2012
• Sterling: Stephen (Project Manager), Gabrielle and Ricky.
• Phoenix: Jade (Project Manager), Adam, Nick and Tom.
• Task: Negotiate discounts with high-end London businesses for a daily deals website. Most sales from orders, wins.
• Task Review: Stephen decided to get Sterling out early, and get multiple discount options from each business; Jade decided to have Phoenix take a more measured approach and focused on higher-end businesses. On Sterling, Ricky ended up wasting the whole morning with a restaurant, who, after giving him a guided tour along with a free meal (thinking he was to do with other business), made clear they were not willing to offer any discounts whatsoever. However, he did later secure a good set of deals at two further restaurants, while Stephen and Gabrielle got a number of discounts, but not for the high-end businesses specified. Meanwhile, on Phoenix, Jade managed to negotiate a 50% discount with a high-end spa, but had trouble getting appointments during the day and was criticised for her lack of preparation in the meetings she set up. While Phoenix only had 2 deals out of 6 accepted, compared to Sterling's 3 of 9, theirs proved more popular and more valuable, earning them victory.
• Result: Phoenix made sales of £14,563, while Sterling made sales of £6,440
• Winner: Phoenix - By £8,123
• Reward: Meal at a country house
• Brought into the boardroom: Stephen, Gabrielle and Ricky (all the remaining members of Sterling)
• Fired:
  • Gabrielle, with regret - For making the least contribution, and losing the passion she displayed earlier in the process.
  • Stephen - For a flawed strategy, not taking responsibility for his actions, and failing to deliver on his promises made in the previous boardroom.
• You're Fired Panel: Tobias Tschoetsch, Karren Brady and Ed Byrne
• Notes:
  • Both deals that Phoenix had accepted were negotiated by the sub-team of Jade and Nick; none negotiated by Tom and Adam were accepted. This caused Lord Sugar to tell Tom and Adam that they were lucky to be on the winning team, implying that one (or possibly both) would have been fired had Phoenix lost.
  • Ricky was given praise for getting two deals at once, but in the boardroom, Sugar pointed out he should have asked for more than 100 discounts on the 7 course dinner as they completely sold out with Karren stating that the website could have had around 250, which could have been enough for Sterling to possibly win. At the same time, he was criticised for wasting a whole morning with the non-negotiating restaurant; he admitted he thought the proprietors knew how the deals website worked and that he should have explained it in more detail. Ultimately, Ricky escaped being fired after Stephen's dismissal by virtue of the fact that he was responsible for almost all of Sterling's revenue (at £6,090), but was told that he was on his last chance.
  • This is the first time this series that a losing project manager has been fired for losing a task. Though this was mostly down to Stephen promising if he was project manager again he would win and Lord Sugar warning him to win.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience disagreed with the decision to fire Gabrielle, though two of the panellists did agree. Lord Sugar agreed both after the firing and on Why I Fired Them that Gabrielle was not to blame for the loss, but said he felt that she had lost the energy and passion she showed in the earlier tasks, though he stated that Gabrielle would be a successful business woman. The audience and panel unanimously agreed with the decision to fire Stephen, even Stephen himself agreed he should have been fired and had Lord Sugar not fired him he would have fired himself.
  • For Gabrielle's exit, a slower version of background music was played.

Week 11: Affordable Luxury

• Air Date: 30 May 2012
• Sterling: Ricky (Project Manager) and Tom.
• Phoenix: Adam (Project Manager), Jade and Nick.
• Task: Create a new luxury branded product. Best concept made, wins.
• Task Review: Sterling decided on male grooming products, while Phoenix created a line of alcoholic sweets and high quality chocolates. On Phoenix, Adam's leadership was weak, which led to Jade taking over most of the key decisions, while Ricky mostly focused on creating Sterling's actual products, leaving Tom to handle the business aspects. Sterling were praised for their well-considered long term plan, but their proposed retail space was felt to be rather unappealing. By contrast, Phoenix had a much more inviting shop design, but their prices were felt to be too low, and there were questions as to whether it was really a luxury brand. Sterling also gave a very solid presentation with thought given to the business aspects, while Adam struggled through Phoenix's presentation, which was too focused on the products and not the overall plan. Sterling were agreed by Lord Sugar and the experts to be the clear winners, due mostly to Phoenix's shaky presentation, lack of product focus and unsustainable pricing strategy.
• Winner: Sterling - For a concept that was well designed and well presented.
• Reward: No treat as Lord Sugar told the two of them they would be very busy now, presumably with finalising their business plans for the final.
• Brought into the boardroom: Adam, Jade and Nick (the remainder of Team Phoenix).
• Fired: Adam - For his inarticulate nature, lack of leadership, and for having the weakest overall track record in Phoenix.
• You're Fired Panel: Kelvin McKenzie, Angus Thirlwell and Ruby Wax
• Notes:
  • Lord Sugar considered firing Nick, feeling he also bore much of the blame for the loss and questioning whether he was too much of a backroom man, but he was saved by having the best overall track record in the contest out of the remaining candidates.
  • Prior to the final boardroom, Karren spoke very strongly in Jade's defence, saying that everything good about the task was her responsibility and that Adam and Nick "got literally everything wrong." Lord Sugar did agree that, while Jade had been the team's strongest member, she was responsible for the pricing decisions, and that she still had something to answer for.
  • When Adam was fired he left Lord Sugar a parting remark of "If you ever need a salesman, you know where I am." He was also the only candidate on the show to smile when he was fired as most other candidates have been fearful or in tears when they were fired.
  • On Why I Fired Them Lord Sugar praised Adam even further saying that even though Adam lost as Project Manager and was fired he was a man who had reached the end of "a great journey."
  • As Adam was fired, a slower version of the background music was played.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience and most of the panel agreed with Lord Sugar's decision but two of the panelists disagreed and felt that Nick should have been fired. Even Adam himself admitted on You're Fired! and a BBC interview that it was his time to go and he was happy to go.
  • This episode broke Nick's record of being the only candidate in this series never to be in the final three.

Week 12: The Final

• Air Date: 3 June 2012
• Finalists: Jade, Nick, Ricky and Tom.
• Task: Each finalist has to face a gruelling interview process on with the following - Margaret Mountford, Matthew Riley, Mike Soutar and Claude Littner. Each has their business ideas tested to be verified for Lord Sugar, who decides based on feedback.
• Candidate Reviews: Ricky fell into trouble early on as Lord Sugar couldn't grasp the idea behind his plan for an ethical recruiting agency. Further questions were raised by Matthew on his administrative skills and focus on business, while Claude sharply criticised him for making ridiculous claims in his personal statement. However, his overall plan was felt to be quite good on further analysis. Meanwhile, there were serious doubts about Jade's plan for a telemarketing business; she didn't offer critical financial figures in her plan, and wanted to spend the entire investment within six months in addition. The utility behind Nick's idea for an aggregate purchasing website for recipes was also questioned in interviews, while there were suspicions about his motives for wanting to go into business with Lord Sugar; Matthew found he already had a thriving business that could help fund his idea without Sugar's involvement, although he did get credit for his intelligence and entrepreneurial spirit. Tom came under fire heavily in interviews; while he was praised for being very successful for his age and for having a business plan (in fine wine) that was considered to be well-written, his only references came from his father, while he was over-ambitious in his plan by how much investment he would need (Lord Sugar's investment would be part of a fund of £25 million that he needed to start with).
• Initial Decision: As a result of feedback received, Jade was the first person to be dismissed, as Lord Sugar felt her plan was flawed badly with problems for him to invest in. Nick was next to, as he was generally agreed to have offered up the most complicated of the four business plans, and that it would require far too much effort for very little reward.
• Fired (Before final decision):
  • Jade, with regret - For a business with plan that would generate negative PR, and for having a weak grasp of her projected finances.
  • Nick - For having a narrow target market for his potential plan, while having unconvincing reasons for wanting to go into business with Lord Sugar.
• Final Decision: Lord Sugar was left with a choice between Tom's riskier but potentially lucrative plan, and Ricky's less rewarding but safer plan. In the end, given the age and experience of the two, he ultimately decided that Ricky would offer the better investment.
• Runner-Up: Tom - For having the riskiest business plan of the finalists.
• Hired: Ricky - For presenting a very solid business plan, and for sticking to the industry in which he was already an expert on.
• Notes:
  • Although there were many potential PR headaches in Jade's business plan, along with problematic financial figures, Lord Sugar did greatly admire her work ethic.
  • During the interviews, Mike told Jade that he owned one of the web addresses she claimed to own. It later transpired in the boardroom, that he had bought it after investigating her business plan and finding it was still available.
  • After the final, it was revealed that Nick had managed to independently secure funding to launch his online business, "Whisk".

Criticism and controversy

Laura Hogg

Following her firing, candidate Laura Hogg revealed in an interview with The Sun that during filming of the third task, she was informed that her former partner and father of her son had been murdered, which was a secret she had kept from the other candidates. She refused to withdraw from the show and stepped up as project manager the fourth task, but conceded that her head may not have been fully in the game by the point she was fired.^[1] In June 2012, she later appeared in a photoshoot in Nuts Magazine.^[2]

Maria O'Connor

Contestant Maria O'Connor who was fired in Week 2 for falling asleep in one of the cars reported that being fired in the second week of the show was nothing like the shock she received at the age of 17 when police raided her house in a drugs bust and arrested her and her boyfriend who was also a drug dealer. She was later released without charge.^[3][4]

In spite of breaking up from her drug dealer boyfriend after her arrest and being in a relationship with someone else, O'Connor was also reported to have a relationship with fellow contestant Duane Bryan but she denied the rumors stating "Duane and I get on really well but he's just a friend, there's definitely nothing going on. I'm in a steady relationship with someone else and although it's early days I'm very happy."^[5][6][7]

Ratings

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.^[8]

Episode no.	Airdate	Viewers (millions)	BBC One weekly ranking
1	21 March 2012	7.61	6
2	28 March 2012	7.51	7
3	4 April 2012	7.46	5
4	11 April 2012	8.05	6
5	18 April 2012	7.24	7
6	25 April 2012	7.62	7
7	2 May 2012	7.14	7
8	9 May 2012	6.96	2
9	16 May 2012	7.13	5
10	23 May 2012	7.23	3
11	30 May 2012	7.23	8
12	3 June 2012	6.99	9

Specials

Episode no.	Airdate	Viewers (millions)	BBC One weekly ranking
The Final Five
	29 May 2012	N/A	N/A
Why I Fired Them
	2 June 2012	N/A	N/A

References

1. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/4309602/Apprentice-reject-Laura-Hogg-reveals-her-secret-heartbreak.html
2. "Laura Hogg - UK Apprentice Nuts Sneak Peak June 18th 2012 - Babetastic".
3. http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/29/maria-oconnor-the-apprentice-drug-arrest_n_1387330.html
4. http://www.kentnews.co.uk/news/fired_apprentice_star_maria_o_connor_admits_i_knew_i_wouldn_t_win_1_1334534
5. http://www.digitalspy.com/tv/the-apprentice/news/a373843/apprentice-maria-oconnor-denies-duane-bryan-show-romance/
6. http://www.tyneandwear.dating-group.co.ukdatinggroup.co.uk/news/apprentice-stars-maria-oconnor-and-duane-bryan-set-for-romance$1516.html
7. http://www.tellymix.co.uk/reality-tv/the-apprentice/79411-the-apprentice-2012-maria-oconnor-denies-romance-with-duane-bryan.html
8. "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 16 September 2015.

External links

• The Apprentice (UK series eight) at BBC Online