The Apprentice (UK series eleven)

The Apprentice UK

◄ Series Eleven

The Candidates Name Left show       Joseph Valente Week 12 Vana Koutsomitis Week 12 Richard Woods Week 11 Gary Poulton Week 11 Charleine Wain Week 11 Brett Butler-Smythe Week 10 Selina Waterman-Smith Week 9 Scott Saunders Week 9 David Stevenson Week 8 Sam Curry Week 7 April Jackson Week 6 Mergim Butaja Week 6 Elle Stevenson Week 6 Natalie Dean Week 5 Ruth Whiteley Week 4 Jenny Garbis Week 3 Aisha Kasim Week 2 Dan Callaghan Week 1 New business partner Runner-up Fired Resigned

Series Eleven of The Apprentice was a British reality television series, which began broadcasting in the UK during 2015 from 14 October to 20 December. Due to the 2015 General Election being held in Spring, which Lord Sugar had ties with, the BBC decided to avoid clashing with it by postponing the series to later in the year. Like the previous series, it began airing with a two-episodes broadcast - the first on its usual timeslot of Wednesday evening, the second the day after on 15 October during a Thursday evening, before continuing to run weekly afterwards in its usual Wednesday timeslot, until the final episode, which was broadcast on a Sunday.^[1] The series was won by Joseph Valente.

Following Series Ten, the number of candidates for this series was increased to 18, which is two more than had been used in previous series prior to the tenth series. Following Nick Hewer's departure in the last series from his role as Lord Sugar's aide, this series saw his replacement being revealed as Claude Littner, who was primarily involved in the show during the Interviews Stage of the process as an interviewer of candidates;^[2] despite his new role, he remained an interviewer for this series. Sugar had promised that the series would include "more serious" candidates, most of which would generally be older.^[3]

Two specials aired alongside the series towards the final weeks, and were new editions of "The Final Five" on 9 December, and "Why I Fired Them" on 16 December.

Candidates

18 candidates competed for the chance to go into business with Lord Sugar, nine men and nine women. There were two teams, Versatile and Connexus. Five candidates - Dan, Jenny, Mergim, Natalie, and Ruth - never had the chance to be Project Manager.

Candidate	Background	Age	Original team	Result
Joseph Valente	Plumbing business owner	25	Connexus	Winner
Vana Koutsomitis	Social media entrepreneur	27	Connexus	Runner-up
Richard Woods	Marketing agency director	31	Versatile	Fired in week 11
Gary Poulton	Programme manager	34	Versatile	Fired in week 11
Charleine Wain	Hair and beauty salon owner	31	Versatile	Fired in week 11
Brett Butler-Smythe	Builder	28	Connexus	Fired in week 10
Selina Waterman-Smith	Events agency owner	31	Versatile	Fired in week 9
Scott Saunders	Senior account manager	27	Versatile	Quit in week 9
David Stevenson	Marketing company owner	25	Versatile	Fired in week 8
Sam Curry	Private tutor	23	Versatile	Fired in week 7
April Jackson	Boutique owner	26	Connexus	Fired in week 6
Mergim Butaja	Sales account manager	23	Versatile	Fired in week 6
Elle Stevenson	Operations executive	21	Connexus	Fired in week 6
Natalie Dean	Corporate account manager	25	Versatile	Fired in week 5
Ruth Whiteley	Training consultancy owner	47	Connexus	Fired in week 4
Jenny Garbis	Business management student	23	Connexus	Fired in week 3
Aisha Kasim	Inventor and hair extensions specialist	30	Connexus	Fired in week 2
Dan Callaghan	Fragrance retailer director	23	Connexus	Fired in week 1

Weekly results

Elimination chart
Candidate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Joseph	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	BR	LOSE	IN	IN	HIRED
Vana	IN	BR	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	RUNNER-UP
Richard	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	BR	FIRED
Gary	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	LOSE	BR	BR	FIRED
Charleine	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	BR	IN	LOSE	FIRED
Brett	BR	IN	IN	IN	BR	WIN	BR	IN	IN	FIRED
Selina	WIN	IN	IN	BR	IN	IN	IN	WIN	FIRED
Scott	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	LEFT
David	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	BR	IN	FIRED
Sam	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	FIRED
April	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Mergim	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Elle	IN	IN	BR	IN	IN	FIRED
Natalie	IN	BR	IN	IN	FIRED
Ruth	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Jenny	IN	IN	FIRED
Aisha	IN	FIRED
Dan	FIRED

     The candidate was in the winning team; for Week 11, they managed to pass the interview stage.

     The candidate was in 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.

     The candidate left the competition.

Episodes

Week 1: Fish Food

• Air Date: 14 October 2015
• Versatile: Selina (Project Manager), Charleine, David, Gary, Mergim, Natalie, Richard, Sam and Scott.
• Connexus: April (Project Manager), Aisha, Brett, Dan, Elle, Jenny, Joseph, Ruth and Vana.
• Task: Cook and sell products made of fish on the streets of London. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Versatile decided early on to sell fish fingers made of coley (a cheaper alternative to cod) and calamari, but while they bargained well for both, the latter was of poor quality. Whilst sales were good, they soon ran out of fish fingers late in to the day, and lost £150 worth of raw calamari when its container overheated. Meanwhile, Connexus went with salad and fishcakes, but despite warnings from her team, April purchased the required quota of fish from the first vendor she met. Delays in making the fishcakes, due to Dan having difficulties with ingredient quantities and Brett wanting them to meet the given brief, meant they missed most of the lunch rush trade and had less than a third of the stock they planned to sell. Initial sales struggled due to poor footfall, yet soon improved when the high price of the salad was lowered. However, many of the later sales were made under cost price, and thus wrecked any chance of a decent profit.
• Result: Versatile had a profit of £200.29, while Connexus had a profit of £1.87.
• Winner: Versatile - By £198.42.
• Reward: Eating fish prepared by a chef from a top Japanese restaurant.
• Brought into the boardroom: April, Brett and Dan
• Fired: Dan - For his poor work in the kitchen, selling nothing, poorly defending himself in the boardroom, and for failing to display any appealing business skills.
• You're Fired Panel: Romesh Ranganathan, Matt Edmondson and Thomasina Miers
• Notes:
  • For the first time since Series 3, Lord Sugar shuffled the single-gender teams for the first task, making Charleine, Natalie and Selina swap with Brett, Dan and Joseph.
  • While Versatile won, they encountered several problems, including a lack of volunteers to be PM, chaotic task discussions, and Mergim's bizarre attempt to sell to a vegan restaurant. The only undisputed successes were Natalie's negotiation for the squid, and Richard and Charleine's sales. Though Selina's leadership was patchy, as she took on the role only after admitting she was intolerant to a number of foods, Claude did credit her for keeping costs down.
  • Mergim received great criticism in the boardroom for stating how annoyed he was about people shying from the PM role, even though he also did not volunteer, stating it was "too early". This, along with the fact that he had sold the least on Versatile, indicated that he would have most likely been fired had they lost.
  • Although Dan was noted to have had a bad start in the process, from being told by Lord Sugar to take his hands out of his pockets during the initial meeting to his bizarre yet amusing suggestion that his team be called "The Sugababes", his performance in the task drew much criticism in the boardroom, where he was blamed alongside Vana for several miscalculations in the kitchen and was found to be the only candidate to have not sold anything. Dan tried to defend himself by claiming that he was more used to selling online rather than to the public but Lord Sugar countered this by explaining that selling regardless of the environment was part of the criteria for the winner. On Why I Fired Them, Lord Sugar revealed Dan's claim was what sealed his fate.
  • While Joseph's sales were the highest across both teams, and Ruth's technique was effective, despite Karren calling it "creepy", Connexus' profit of just £1.87 overshadowed this, being the lowest ever made in any show incarnation, with Karren describing it as "pathetic", whilst Lord Sugar described it as "disgusting", "abysmal" and barely any better than a loss. April was criticised for claiming that the products sold at a high margin, when in reality most items were only sold after the price had been lowered, while Vana was heavily criticised for the calculations on the required ingredients and her boasts of a £5 average sales price for salad when it was revealed she had only sold one batch.
  • Lord Sugar seriously considered firing April for her bad leadership and delegation, and failing on a task despite a background in food. Ultimately, he gave her "the benefit of the doubt", noting that had it not been the first week, she would have been fired alongside Dan. Brett was also warned for his lack of common sense in blindly following the fishcake specification with Karren stating there was no excuse for such error. Despite his portioning errors, Brett survived due to his otherwise good organisation of his team's kitchen.
  • While a narrow majority of the You're Fired audience agreed with Lord Sugar's decision only two of the three panellists disagreed. Of these two, the first felt that April should have been fired for her poor leadership, whilst the other felt it should have been Brett for lacking common sense and blindly following the fishcake specification.

Week 2: Cactus Shampoo

• Air Date: 15 October 2015
• Versatile: Richard (Project Manager), Brett, David, Gary, Joseph, Mergim, Sam and Scott.
• Connexus: Aisha (Project Manager), April, Charleine, Elle, Jenny, Natalie, Ruth, Selina and Vana.
• Task: Create an advertising campaign for a brand of shampoo made with cactus. Best campaign wins.
• Task Review: Connexus decided to go with Vana's idea of a product aimed at the over-50s, yet this led to problems as they had little knowledge of their target market. Aisha's leadership didn't help, as she called the product "Desert Secrets" despite opposition, and then went on to select unsuitable models for their billboard advert; the sub-team had to use Ruth as their model instead. Their TV advertisement was deemed fairly poor, whilst Natalie gave a dull and disjointed pitch, receiving dreadful feedback. Versatile aimed their product at men their own age range, with David suggesting the name "Western". Their smart and simple bottle design was universally praised, but the billboard was poor, as it did not include the product frequently or the end result. However, their advert was deemed far better, and despite Scott stumbling in his pitch, Lord Sugar labelled the campaign "one of the best" in the show's history of advertising.
• Winner: Versatile - For a campaign that was more cohesive and generally better executed.
• Reward: Gravity yoga class
• Brought into the boardroom: Aisha, Natalie and Vana
• Fired: Aisha - For her dictatorial leadership, constantly side-lining Charleine despite her experience in the hair industry, refusing to listen to her team, and for bringing Vana back into the boardroom for no good reason instead of Elle, April or Selina.
• You're Fired Panel: Romesh Ranganathan, Grace Dent and Zaid Al-Zaidy
• Notes:
  • Lord Sugar decided to switch the teams back to single-genders.
  • Although Aisha claimed that she was more suited to the products they were promoting, her leadership as PM received extensive criticism; after Charleine's ideas were overruled by a majority, Aisha did not involve her in the pitch, and ignored suggestions on a different brand. In the boardroom, Lord Sugar addressed these points and criticised the cactus flower used on the bottle, implying that more straightforward branding was needed.
  • Despite Charleine being sidelined during the task, her contributions, including her criticism of their advertising, were observed and received positively throughout, with Jenny backing her up in the boardroom. The men admitted afterwards that had Charleine led they would probably have lost, as she had experience running a hair salon.
  • Versatile generally worked together well, since Richard let everyone offer ideas, and gave every team member some responsibility. Despite this, Karren suspected he was trying to set up potential scapegoats and David, who came up with the concept and directed the advert, accused him of unduly taking sole credit for the win.
  • Connexus' digital billboard advert was the one aspect that was felt to be clearly better than Versatile's, getting near-unanimous praise from members of the public. While Lord Sugar had minor criticism for Ruth's performance in the advert, she was credited for objecting to the original choice of models and stepping up to star in it.
  • Despite Vana's previous poor performance, Lord Sugar heavily criticised Aisha for bringing her back solely because she had pushed for the over-50s market; this had not caused the loss, and he suspected Aisha simply acted out of spite. Vana further defended herself by implying that other candidates, particularly April and Elle, should have been brought back for not contributing ideas. Elle in particular was heavily criticised by Lord Sugar and Claude for constant negativity with no constructive feedback.
  • In the final boardroom, Natalie admitted that she had little enthusiasm for their product due to the poor execution. She denied that it affected her presentation, but Lord Sugar was unhappy with her explanation; Karren also took issue with her claim that the target market, women over forty-five, would be "scared" to try new things. Despite her somewhat impressive performance in the previous task, Lord Sugar warned her that she only narrowly avoided firing.
  • The majority of the You're Fired audience agreed with Lord Sugar's decision, though one panellist disagreed, saying Natalie should have been fired for her lack of enthusiasm and poor presentation. Aisha admitted on the show that she should have brought Selina back for directing the poor advert.

Week 3: Cross-Channel Discount Buying

• Air Date: 21 October 2015
• Versatile: Joseph (Project Manager), Brett, David, Gary, Mergim, Richard, Sam and Scott.
• Connexus: Vana (Project Manager), April, Charleine, Elle, Jenny, Natalie, Ruth and Selina.
• Task: Find and negotiate low prices for nine items, dividing teams into two to search both England and France. Lowest costs, including fines, wins.
• Task Review: Versatile's sub team in France had major trouble, as Richard was the only fluent French speaker, whilst they negotiated poorly for the cheese, bought nearly all the items needed for generally higher prices, and failed to purchase the snails. Brett's sub-team fared much better in England, with Gary in particular purchasing a child's inflatable boat, which did meet requirements, for a very low price. On Connexus, poor research meant each sub-team was searching for items that were only available in the other team's country. While there was much in-fighting on Vana's team in France, Elle's UK sub-team had major problems; not only did they have difficulty sourcing goods, Elle's indecisiveness resulted in them visiting the same shop several times, where after much failed negotiating, they spent £250 on a boat. This overspend, along with failing to buy the mussels and mirror, and buying a block of cheese that was too small, proved to be costly mistakes.
• Result: Versatile spent £409.21 including fines, while Connexus spent £725.90 including fines.
• Winner: Versatile - By £316.69
• Reward: Wine tasting
• Brought into the boardroom: Vana, Elle and Jenny
• Fired: Jenny - For failing to buy the mussels and therefore not making a single purchase, making no significant contributions within the three tasks, and for making various lacklustre excuses in the boardroom.
• You're Fired Panel: Romesh Ranganathan, Claude Littner and Frances Dickens.
• Notes:
  • The list of items for the teams to buy were: an inflatable boat at least 1.5 metres in length, 30 kilograms of manure, a 4 kilogram anchor, 10 kilograms of mussels, 2 metres of Leavers lace, a Louis Philippe mirror, 100 snails, one whole Maroilles cheese, and seven crystal champagne flutes. The items had to be found around Kent, England, and Calais, France.
  • Vana's sub team had incredible luck in sourcing the champagne flutes, as they met a glassware specialist whilst leaving the hotel they were staying in, and aggressively negotiated a good price. However, confusion over the specification for the cheese resulted in them purchasing only a quarter of the required size; Natalie was blamed for this mistake, but the other errors overshadowed this.
  • Elle's sub-team was described by Karren as having a "complete and utter lack of strategy." Their search for mussels took them into random restaurants, and immediate refusal was never challenged by any team member. In addition, Elle's indecisiveness with regards to the inflatable boat was roundly condemned; they returned to the same shop where they had bought the anchor three times, purchasing it for well over what was initially planned. In comparison, Gary purchased a boat for just £10 from a toy shop, which Claude described as a big risk.
  • In the boardroom, several of the men openly criticised Joseph's leadership as indecisive and disorganised, with Richard stating that he wished Brett had been PM. In France, Joseph made his sub-team wait for a shop to open rather than search for other items, paid more for the flutes, was forced to buy the lace on the ferry back, and failed to get the snails; Brett was left to make a doomed, last minute attempt to source them in Kent. Joseph's only undisputed good point as PM was that waiting for the glasses meant they were pointed to another store in which they managed to purchase a mirror for well below market value.
  • Although Selina felt she was being made a scapegoat, she was criticised by Charleine and Vana for using a very questionable tactic during the negotiations for the team's snails by claiming her "dog had died".
  • While Elle vigorously defended herself, and Vana took responsibility for her mistakes, Lord Sugar warned both that he could have easily fired either or both of them alongside Jenny. Vana received criticism for not elaborating on her failures and for her lack of respect for others within her sub-team.
  • Whilst the majority of the You're Fired audience disagreed with Lord Sugar's decision, in contrast the panellists agreed but anticipated that Jenny would go on to be successful, while Claude felt that Elle had a lucky escape.

Week 4: Pet Show

• Air Date: 28 October 2015
• Versatile: David (Project Manager), April, Charleine, Joseph, Mergim, Richard, Sam and Vana.
• Connexus: Scott (Project Manager), Brett, Elle, Gary, Natalie, Ruth and Selina.
• Task: Select and sell products at the London Pet Show. Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: Versatile decided to focus on selling products for pet owners, going with animal-themed balloons and t-shirts, and selecting dog bed sofas as their high-end item. While the t-shirts had a far higher margin, the balloons proved much more popular and resulted in the entire accessory sub-team progressively moving towards focusing on sales of these by the end of the day. However, their sub-team on the dog beds struggled, as Charleine, April and Richard managed five sales between them. Meanwhile, Connexus went with products for cats, as a result of Brett's aggressive negotiation losing them the balloons, choosing an electronic cat toy and cat seat warmers, while opting for large customisable cat beds as their high-end item. However, the team as a whole struggled with selling; despite the accessories selling reasonably well, Selina's unenthusiastic sales technique and Ruth being far too talkative hampered sales of the cat beds, with only four being sold - three by Scott and one by Selina with his assistance. This, combined with Versatile's strong accessory sales, cost them dearly.
• Result: Versatile had sales of £4,051.62, whilst Connexus had sales of £3,028.40
• Winner: Versatile - by £1,023.22
• Reward: Training session with Mo Farah
• Brought into the boardroom: Scott, Ruth and Selina
• Fired: Ruth - For selling nothing despite her background as a sales trainer, and because Lord Sugar felt she had an unsuitable personality to be his business partner.
• You're Fired Panel: Romesh Ranganathan, Susan Calman and Natalie Ellis
• Notes:
  • Lord Sugar again decided to shuffle the teams around, moving April, Charleine and Vana to Versatile, and Brett, Gary and Scott to Connexus.
  • Low End Products to select were: Hi-Viz Chicken Jackets, Animal-branded T-shirts, Pet Fragrances, Eco-Friendly Poop Bags, Animal-Themed Balloons, Cat Seat Warmers and Interactive Cat Toys. High End Products to select were: Luxury Dog Sofas, High-End Rabbit Hutches, Thatched Chicken Houses and Customisable Cat Towers.
  • Karren was critical of David's decision to focus on the balloons more than the t-shirts, commenting that "it didn't take a genius to work out" that the t-shirts would have brought more money in due to having a higher sale price.
  • While Charleine was quick to criticise Richard's choice of the dog sofas, Richard countered this by stating that the figures quoted by the vendor were more realistic to work with than those of the vendor of the cat towers, which he felt were misleading due to them being quoted for a "great day" of sales.
  • In the boardroom, when Scott described his decision to bring in Gary to help sell the cat towers as bringing in a feeling of "enthusiasm" that his sales team had lacked, Ruth tried to suggest it was down to not talking with customers a lot. However, both Claude and Lord Sugar heavily criticised her for talking too much, with both stating she should have been moving onto new customers to avoid wasting time. In her taxi interview, Ruth admitted she deserved to be fired as a result of her performance in the task.
  • Brett's aggressive negotiation during the initial choice of products drew criticism, with Lord Sugar pointing out that this was the main reason Connexus failed to secure the balloons. However, he made a strong pitch on the main stage during the Pet Show, resulting in increased customer numbers.
  • Prior to the final boardroom, both Karren and Claude voiced criticism that, along with Ruth, Selina should have be fired. Claude in particular pointed out how unimpressed he was with her lack of enthusiasm in the task, and the fact her only sale needed considerable help from Scott. Lord Sugar decided to give her one final chance due to her contributions in previous tasks. Scott was also warned to be more ruthless in future if he was to have any chance of winning, despite giving a strong defence and having good sales figures in the task.
  • The majority of the You're Fired audience disagreed with Lord Sugar's decision, as did two of the panellists; while Ranganathan felt Selina's survival was due to Scott's assistance on a sale, Calman believed Ruth had been a very good candidate and had just had a bad day during the task.

Week 5: Children's Book

• Air Date: 4 November 2015
• Versatile: Charleine (Project Manager), April, David, Joseph, Mergim, Richard and Vana.
• Connexus: Sam (Project Manager), Brett, Elle, Gary, Natalie, Scott and Selina.
• Task: Create and sell a children's book aimed at 3-5 year olds. Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: Connexus chose to use a dragon character for their book, but Sam's indecisiveness in creating a storyline resulted in their script being finished late, and the recording for the audio version being rushed. Their finished book had issues; not only was the literary quality felt to be too complex for the age-range, sales were hampered by Sam's poor pitches to two of the three retailers, and the rest of the team struggling in selling to trade, with Natalie in particular blowing a pitch and failing to sell well. Versatile, on the other hand, quickly adopted Joseph's idea of a bee going on a journey to find honey, and though they suffered from friction between Charleine and Richard, the team were able to complete the written and audio versions without difficulty. While their literary quality was felt to be poor, their book received good praise on the whole, with the team selling good numbers to trade. Although Charleine struggled with pitching to two of the major retailers, which resulted in only one of them buying 25 books, a last-minute sale of 125 books proved decisive.
• Result: Versatile had sales of £690.10, while Connexus had sales of £587.25.
• Winner: Versatile - by £102.85
• Reward: Magic tricks in a library
• Brought into the boardroom: Sam, Brett and Natalie
• Fired: Natalie - For her terrible sales pitches, lacking the necessary maturity to go into business with Lord Sugar, and for her generally very poor track record throughout the competition.
• You're Fired Panel: Romesh Ranganathan, Gaby Roslin and Cressida Cowell.
• Notes:
  • Although Sam was moved to even out the teams, his use of complex words in Connexus' book received criticism from both the focus group (where one mother was unable to understand what was meant by "moisture rife"), and by Selina - both while recording the book's audio version and in the initial boardroom. When Lord Sugar read the finished book, he did not accept Sam's reasoning for these choices.
  • During the design of Versatile's book, Charleine insisted on taking feedback from market research through David and not Richard, despite making him sub-team leader. Hostilities then worsened when she refused to let him pitch to major retailers. In the initial boardroom, her decision was criticised as bad management after discussion of her poor pitches, yet Claude praised her major sale towards the end of the task following the results. Regardless, Richard dubbed Charleine a poor PM who had won by pure luck.
  • Prior to selling, Natalie changed her decision on pitching to a major retailer, claiming she might come down with a coughing fit. Although she did pitch at two shops, they were received very poorly, with Karren describing one pitch as disastrous owing to her lacking information and not engaging the retailer. When Lord Sugar demanded an explanation for this in the boardroom, beyond her excuse of "feeling terrible", she claimed that Brett had not supplied her with the relevant figures, which Brett refuted, stating that he had done so beforehand.
  • Lord Sugar noted he had several reasons to fire Sam, including his weak leadership, extreme indecisiveness, poor sales pitches, and bringing Brett back into the boardroom instead of Selina, who had hastily agreed to selling a small number of books to a large retailer. He felt Sam had shown enough potential to survive, but sternly warned him to be more decisive. Likewise, Brett was criticised for his sub-team's low sales and inability to gain the support of his colleagues, but remained thanks to his strong defence in the final boardroom and the fact he was not considered directly at fault for the loss.
  • While the majority of the You're Fired audience agreed with Lord Sugar's decision, as did two of panellists, only Ranganathan disagreed; he believed that Sam should have been fired for his poor management. In addition, the panellists felt that Connexus' book was well made despite the concerns over the complex words, but that Versatile's book was quite dull and aimed at a much younger age group. They also believed that had Charleine not made her last minute sale, she would have been fired, yet felt an idea she suggested in initial discussions for plotlines that had been shot down, involving a "night-time blanket" to help children sleep, would have been more superior to that of Joseph's and made Versatile's victory more decisive.

Week 6: Handy Man

• Air Date: 11 November 2015
• Versatile: Elle (Project Manager), April, Charleine, David, Joseph, Mergim and Richard.
• Connexus: Brett (Project Manager), Gary, Sam, Scott, Selina and Vana.
• Task: Set up and run a handy-man business. Largest profit made wins.
• Task Review: Connexus secured a major contract to work on servicing a stand, part of a stadium used by Isthmian League club Dulwich Hamlet,^[4][5] which earned a substantial amount despite Brett's sub-team wasting time trying to clean away gum and failing to complete minor paintwork. During the first day, Scott's sub-team wasted time using their flyers to find work, before eventually securing some highly profitable residential jobs for the next day, despite Vana having to renegotiate one. Meanwhile, Versatile secured a contract to remake the wardrobe department of the Theatre Royal Stratford East,^[6] yet Elle's lack of knowledge led her to putting Joseph in charge of her sub-team, whilst David caused problems with measurement errors. Although Mergim's sub-team secured work on both days, using make-shift flyers due to Elle causing them to miss a printing deadline for proper ones, they offered very low prices, which were then slashed further after their efforts were of a poor quality. The sub-team's performance, along with the whole team unwittingly agreeing to paint a large storefront for a very low price towards the end, proved costly.
• Result: Connexus had a profit of £1,050.08, while Versatile had a profit of £530.01.
• Winner: Connexus - by £520.07
• Reward: Visit to a Russian spa
• Fired (during internal review): Elle - For her non-existent leadership, failing on a task she was more than qualified to lead, constantly admitting her performance was poor, and for her abysmal track record throughout the process.
• Brought into the boardroom: Mergim, April and David
• Fired (during final boardroom):
  • Mergim, with regret - For lacking the experience and maturity to go into business with Lord Sugar, being primarily at fault for the low quality of his sub-team's work, and for not bringing Charleine back into the boardroom.
  • April - For setting the sub-team's prices unreasonably low, barely contributing to tasks, and for her poor leadership in the first task.
• You're Fired Panel: Romesh Ranganathan, Joe Lycett and Lara Morgan.
• Notes:
  • Lord Sugar appointed Brett and Elle as the Project Managers, as both had prior experience in the construction and DIY industry. Vana was then moved to Connexus to rebalance the teams.
  • In the final boardroom, April attacked Mergim's decision to use make-shift flyers as unprofessional, yet Lord Sugar approved his idea considering it to be the best option under the circumstances he was in. In contrast, Claude described Scott's use of Connexus' flyers to determine where to get DIY work as pointless "market research", although Scott later reasoned in the boardroom that his actions were mainly to have his sub-team booked out on the second day.
  • Mergim received considerable criticism for his performance on the task. Whilst attempting to repair a shelf in an opticians, he made a hole in their wall, and the resulting shelf was as crooked as before the repair began. In addition, whilst painting a large storefront at the end of the second day, he painted over part of the existing shop signage. As a result, both jobs were completed at a discounted rate. Comments and advice made by Lord Sugar showed he respected Mergim's background and hoped to stay in touch with him, but felt he had come on to the show too early.
  • Elle's heavy reliance on other team members during the task, particularly Joseph, left Karren deeming her leadership as virtually non-existent, owing to her requiring assistance in devising the team strategy, securing contracts, and, crucially, what needed to be done on the jobs. Elle openly admitted that her performance was poor throughout, resulting in Lord Sugar firing her during the initial boardroom. This marks the first time that a losing Project Manager was fired before the final boardroom. In her taxi interview, Elle felt that Lord Sugar would have been foolish not to fire her, and later stated during You're Fired that she thought she would be leaving the process as soon as she was appointed Project Manager.
  • After Elle's dismissal, Lord Sugar decided more than one person would be fired, telling Mergim that as sub-team leader, he would return and choose who would join him in the final boardroom. This was the first time in the show's history that a candidate other than the unsuccessful project manager brought back two others to the final boardroom.
  • As Joseph received universal praise from both Karren and the rest of Versatile, particularly in regards to the theatre job, Lord Sugar assured him that he would not be fired. After Elle's firing, Mergim asked Joseph about the performance of the other members of his sub-team, and brought back David as a result. Joseph was critical of David's contributions and measurement errors, but praised Richard for working hard during the theatre job. However, David was given a second chance owing to his track record.
  • Both the panellists and the You're Fired audience were unanimous in agreeing with Elle's firing. However, whilst the decision on April's firing held a vast majority agreement from the audience, and a 50-50 split on Mergim's firing, one panellist in each case felt that the decision with the pair was wrong. Lycett felt that David should have gone instead of Mergim, while Ranganthan felt that Charleine was just as culpable as April. In addition, comments and advice made by Lord Sugar, showed he respected Mergim's background and hoped to stay in touch with him, but felt he had come on to the show much too early.

Week 7: Discount Store

• Air Date: 18 November 2015
• Versatile: Gary (Project Manager), Charleine, David, Joseph and Richard.
• Connexus: Scott (Project Manager), Brett, Sam, Selina and Vana.
• Task: Set up a Discount Store in Manchester, selling wholesale purchased items. Largest value of assets wins.
• Task Review: Connexus decided to focus mostly on selling electronic items, despite worries that the market was too niche. While the team sold well on the first day, with only Scott failing to sell anything, their second day started off poorly. After a reshuffle in sales staff following arguments over how the store should be set out and what was being sold, sales soon picked up. Meanwhile, Versatile chose a mix of items which sold well on the first day, but Gary's lack of direction had them struggling initially on the second day due to high prices. Only by reducing them and offering specials did they manage to pull in sales. Despite this and leaving their restocking towards the end of the day, their remaining stock had a high value that proved decisive.
• Result: Versatile had total assets of £1,511.07, while Connexus had total assets of £962.04.
• Winner: Versatile - by £549.03
• Reward: Champagne reception at the top of The Shard
• Brought into the boardroom: Scott, Brett and Sam
• Fired: Sam - For selling very little, failing to work out the required calculations, and failing to step up despite his warning two weeks prior.
• You're Fired Panel: Romesh Ranganathan, Matt Edmondson and Karren Brady.
• Notes:
  • To even out the teams, Gary was moved to Versatile.
  • When Brett attempted to use a misleading price scheme of "Was £'x', now £'y'" during the first day, Karren intervened by getting him to withdraw it. In the boardroom, Brett was given a stern warning by Lord Sugar, who informed him that the legal requirement for such a scheme was for an item to have been on sale at a higher price for at least 28 days rather than, as Sugar put it, "28 seconds".
  • During the initial boardroom, before the announcement of Versatile's win, both Claude and Sugar felt that Gary's leadership had been quite poor. Sugar criticised his decision to begin the second day with high prices, and Claude felt he "missed a trick" by restocking late. They were equally concerned about Joseph and Charleine's efforts to secure a huge 50% discount with the wholesaler, given that such businesses work with very small margins, which led Gary to unsuccessfully trying to laugh it off as informal negotiating.
  • Selina's constant complaints to Scott following his reshuffling of the team on the second day, described by Karren as "non-stop droning", were due to her belief she was in danger of being fired if she was not involved in sales; Scott's reshuffle left her partnered with him in canvassing for customers and restocking the shop, while Brett and Vana took over selling, which resulted in improved business. In the boardroom, Vana criticised her for being purely negative and damaging morale, yet Selina argued she had listened to Scott better than anyone else.
  • Sam drew major criticism for making calculations errors for the second task running, something Karren felt he should have been "embarrassed" with. Although he tried to counter feedback on his poor sales by saying he had given out a positive attitude, after he was found to be the lowest seller by far on the second day in the store, Scott argued that he did not work well and then accused him of not being serious in his business ambitions, which outraged Sam. Following Sam's firing, neither he nor Scott acknowledged each other; Scott later apologized to Sam via Twitter.^[7]
  • Both Scott and Brett clashed badly in the task and during the final boardroom; Scott argued that Brett had threatened to, in his words, "smash his face in". Both Brett and Sam rebutted this by stating such words had not been used, with Karren backing them up whilst remarking that Brett could not tolerate the way Scott spoke to him at times. Despite Lord Sugar feeling that Scott lacked consistency and Brett's blunt manner was often alienating, both were given another chance.
  • Whilst Karren agreed with the decision on Sam's firing, the You're Fired audience were split 50-50. Of the other two panellists, Edmondson believed Brett should have been fired, while Ranganathan believed Scott should have been fired for his bad leadership.

Week 8: Party Planning

• Air Date: 25 November 2015
• Versatile: Gary (Project Manager), Charleine, David and Joseph.
• Connexus: Selina (Project Manager), Brett, Richard, Scott and Vana.
• Task: With a budget of £2000, plan and run a children's party. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Connexus decided to offer a mini-Olympian party and got several activities at a reasonable discount, yet Selina's failure to have her team take the client's contact details caused issues, as she gambled on a decision to provide party bags that were later unsuccessful, after the client revealed they were unwanted and refused to pay for them. While their client's kids were able to have fun, delays were caused in the kitchen due to issues between Vana and Richard, leading to food arriving late and their cake's decoration being rushed through. Meanwhile, Versatile decided to offer a outdoor activity party, but had issues in preparing, due to miscommunication on decorations, a decision to offer party bags with poor quality goods, and David struggling on negotiations for a wall climb. Further problems arose, during the party, when Gary and David's lackluster entertainment meant their kids had no fun until later in the day with Charleine's beach games, while a mistake made while discussing with the client's wife, who had a nut allergy, about their cake's ingredients, caused a scare that dropped the client's confidence. This, along with being forced to reduce the price on their party bags and ruining the printed t-shirts they were going to offer, proved costly.
• Result: Connexus had a profit of £614.21, while Versatile had a profit of £396.20.
• Winner: Connexus - by £218.01.
• Reward: Snowboarding lesson with Jenny Jones
• Brought into the boardroom: Gary, Charleine, David and Joseph
• Fired: David - For his poor contributions on the task, his costly errors with the t-shirts, and for lacking the tenacity and passion demonstrated by other candidates.
• You're Fired Panel: Romesh Ranganathan, Gabby Logan and Anabel Fielding.
• Notes:
  • Lord Sugar appointed Selina and Gary as Project Managers for the task due to their experience in events and planning, before giving Selina the choice of a candidate from Versatile to join her team, resulting in Richard switching into Connexus. Sugar also warned that the clients could demand a refund if they were unsatisfied with their party.
  • Selina's failure to get her client's contact details left Lord Sugar unimpressed, with him adding that she could have avoided wasting money on making party bags if she had acquired them. Richard further criticised her for making an unreasonable request of him to personalise a bag during the party, reasoning his tight schedule prevented him from doing so, while going against his efforts to keep costs down.
  • Connexus received negative feedback in the boardroom for delays with the food, with Claude dubbing Vana the "Sous Slave" due to Richard's strict control over her following her repeated concerns on their cake. Despite winning, Vana felt Richard had been on a power-trip throughout the task and found him irritating to work with.
  • During the boardroom, Gary was criticised for his miscommunication with the client's wife, who had a serious nut allergy, when he mistakenly said that their cake used a hazelnut spread. Sugar reported that this costed his team £100 as a result after it dropped the client's confidence, while leaving their wife frightened and wanting to distance herself from the party until the fiasco was resolved.
  • Whilst Joseph criticised David's decision to remove items from the party bags for being "unacceptable", despite having been pre-agreed upon, Karren pointed out that their quality had been overstated and could not have been remedied by David, with Lord Sugar adding that Gary's exaggeration on price had compounded the problem. In addition, David attempted to argue that they could have sold the unspoilt t-shirts, but Karren countered this by pointing out that the client would not buy any unless there were enough for all the kids in the party.
  • After the results were announced, Gary decided to bring David back into the boardroom, feeling he bore most of the responsibility for his multiple errors, especially regarding the t-shirts. Much to the irritancy of Lord Sugar however, Gary deliberated who else to bring back until he eventually chose Joseph. This, combined with Charleine's hasty attempt to leave the boardroom without being given permission, led Lord Sugar to consequently take the unprecedented move of having all four candidates come back to face the final boardroom.
  • Charleine earned serious disapproval from Lord Sugar in regards to her disruptive manner in the final boardroom, in which she interrupted David each time he tried to say something in his defence and even going as for as to ignore a warning from Sugar to wait until he had finished speaking. Although she survived, she was strongly criticized for rudeness.
  • On You're Fired, all three panel members and the audience disagreed with David's firing, feeling Gary should have been fired for being a poor leader despite his field of experience.

Week 9: Property Agents

• Air Date: 2 December 2015
• Versatile: Joseph (Project Manager), Charleine, Gary and Selina.
• Connexus: Richard (Project Manager), Brett, Scott and Vana.
• Task: Sell mid and high-range properties in London for developers, and earn a commission for each sale. Most commission made, wins.
• Task Review: Connexus secured the right to represent and make sales of high-end flats at a development in Canary Wharf, due to Richard and Vana's enthusiasm, who then went on to sell well to clients, despite not having any floor plans to show and opting to not use the development's incomplete show flat. In contrast, their mid-range team struggled badly at selling, due to Scott stumbling in pitches and demonstrating no information about his and Brett's mid-range development in Clapham. Meanwhile, Versatile's mid-range team sold well, thanks to Charleine's efforts with their Lewisham development, even making an early sale by the end of the first day. However, the high-end team struggled badly; due to Joseph's and Selina's poor approach with the high-end developers, they had to opt for representing a development in Stratford. Despite Joseph making a sale to a client, both of them struggled due to the failure of asking the developer for information about the show flat or the development itself. The lack of any further high-end sales ultimately proved costly.
• Result: Versatile's total commissions were £29,560.25, while Connexus' total commissions were £76,626.78
• Winner: Connexus - by £47,066.53
• Left: Scott - For feeling he was unsuitable for Sugar's investment, alongside receiving heavy criticism for his performance in the task, despite being on the winning team.
• Reward: Speedboat trip on the River Thames
• Brought into the boardroom: Joseph, Gary and Selina
• Fired: Selina - For selling nothing, refusing to take any responsibility for her failures, her immature and negative attitude towards the other candidates, and for her generally poor track record throughout the competition.
• You're Fired Panel: Romesh Ranganathan, Greg James and Allyson Stewart Allen.
• Notes:
  • To even out the teams, Selina was moved over into Versatile. On Why I Fired Them, Lord Sugar claimed that this was a deliberate action to test her and Charleine's ability to work together.
  • The high-end developments featured were Manhattan Loft Gardens in Stratford, and Maine Tower in Canary Wharf; the latter had an incomplete show flat at the time of filming. The mid-range developments featured were a converted printworks in Clapham, and a former office block in Lewisham.
  • Karren felt that Vana and Richard took a risky move by not using the incomplete show flat for the Canary Wharf development, adding that along with having no floor plans to show, it had led to both going on the "charm offensive" with clients. She did, however, compliment the pair for working much better together than the previous task.
  • Following both Karren's and Lord Sugar's heavy criticism of his performance, adding that he was lucky to be on the winning team, Scott, who remained seated as his team prepared to leave, suddenly announced his intention to exit the process. While Lord Sugar felt his decision "made his job easier", candidates on both teams were left stunned, having not expected this decision; his teammates were still talking about his exit during their reward. This marks the first time in the show's history that a candidate chose to leave the process despite being on the winning team. It was revealed on Why I Fired Them that Scott would have been fired had Connexus lost.
  • Selina received severe criticism in the boardroom for her negativity, which had been a recurring issue over the past couple of tasks. None of her teammates accepted her argument that she had been sidelined and that Charleine was manipulating their perception of her. Gary further revealed that, as neither she nor Charleine saw eye-to-eye, Joseph kept them apart during the task, and then added that Selina made a distasteful comment about Charleine wanting to do high-end sales, despite Selina's claim she was merely reflecting the views of the Canary Wharf developer.
  • Although they were not fired, Lord Sugar criticised Gary for selling poorly in the task and not yet losing his corporate image, and Joseph for his poor manners with the high-end developers and hastily volunteering to be PM, with Sugar citing that his performance may have been evidence that he may have entered the process too early in his career.
  • Selina did not appear in You're Fired and thus received no vote on her firing, though her highlights were shown. Scott, however, did make an appearance where he explained his reason for leaving was because he thought himself unsuitable for Lord Sugar and thus did want to interfere with a candidate who wanted it more. Both the panellists and Jack Dee observed that after Week 7, he had lost the energy and spirit to continue. Although not technically fired, a narrow margin of the audience and two of the panellists felt he should have been fired, though with comments that he had been a good candidate overall. It was further revealed that Sugar had been impressed with Scott's performance across the process and his helpful attitude with the other candidates but was quite surprised by his attitude in his departure, something that Scott admitted he should have handled better.

Week 10: Health Snack

• Air Date: 9 December 2015
• Versatile: Charleine (Project Manager), Gary and Joseph.
• Connexus: Brett (Project Manager), Richard and Vana.
• Task: Produce a new health snack and pitch it to retailers. Most orders received, wins.
• Task Review: Versatile went with making a range of healthy snack bars under the name of Rejuvenate, but Charleine's slow production of samples and failure to get nutritional information about them meant the rest of her team had to make up claims on the packaging which they later had to hastily remove when it was disallowed. Their product was received poorly in consumer testing, in regards to its brand, texture and its dry, unappetising taste, while most of the retailers had concerns about the lack of proper information on the bars' nutritional values, and thus gave them no orders. Meanwhile, Connexus decided on making vegetable crisps called "V's", using a dehydration process. While consumer testing received good feedback on the flavours offered, Vana's overuse of olive oil on the crisps was not greatly welcomed by one retailer, while the others pointed out that their packaging made no reference to the fact that the crisps were dehydrated, which was the selling point to them being healthier than alternatives. Despite one retailer liking the concept, none felt they could stock what was offered to them.
• Result: Versatile received 0 orders, while Connexus also received 0 orders
• Winner: None - Both teams were considered to have lost
• Reward: None due to the result
• Brought into the boardroom: Brett, Charleine, Gary and Richard
• Fired: Brett - For his poor leadership and sales pitches, failing to question Richard's mistakes on the task, showing limited business skills, and for his generally inconsistent track record throughout the process.
• You're Fired Panel: Romesh Ranganathan, Anthony Fletcher and Ruth Jones.
• Notes:
  • During the initial boardroom, Sugar was left shocked over the amount of olive oil in Connexus' vegetable crisps, leaving him questioning their status as a healthy snack. When Claude disapproved of the notion that the retailers accepted it as a good product despite the taste, Vana accepted responsibility for the error, in which Brett described her actions as a "mad scientist" moment in terms of quantities.
  • As neither team had received any orders, despite one retailer feeling that Connexus' product was going down the "right line", Lord Sugar declared that they both lost when they returned to the boardroom, before telling Brett and Charleine that, as the PMs, they would each bring one member from their team for the final boardroom. This is the first time in the show's history that such an outcome has occurred.
  • Versatile's product was found to be quite poor in regards to the unappealing snack bar, the badly conceived branding, and the black marks on the packaging as a result of the words "High in Antioxidants" having to be covered up after the nutritionist disallowed it. However, much of the criticism focused on the wild claims made about it, which Joseph admitted had involved over-exaggeration about the superfoods in the bars, alongside the quantity used and what they could do. However, he argued that the claims were needed, otherwise the product would have lacked a unique selling point.
  • During the boardroom discussions on her team's product, Charleine broke down in tears and had to be sent out for a few minutes to compose herself. Whilst Karren was critical of her efforts in the task, she said she was someone who would not "give up" easily, while Lord Sugar noted that he "hasn't come across" many people like Charleine unlike Richard and Gary.
  • Throughout the boardroom, Sugar pressed Brett on his claims that he felt Richard had done a good job, when in fact Sugar held him responsible for Connexus' branding problems. Despite firing him, Sugar did congratulate Brett on his efforts and that he was leaving as an "honorable man".
  • Although neither were fired, Lord Sugar had minor concerns with Gary, but more serious ones with Richard. Whilst Gary had shown signs that he lacked entrepreneurial spirit and a somewhat questionable track record, Richard was heavily criticized for his poor work on the branding, taking no responsibility for his mistakes, and earning himself a reputation for being slippery and conceited, despite having the best track record among the remaining candidates.
  • A narrow majority of the You're Fired audience disagreed with Lord Sugar's decision, as did all three panellists; Jones felt Richard should have been fired, while Ranganathan felt Connexus had been the better performing team and that someone from Versatile should have been fired.

Week 11: Interviews

• Air Date: 16 December 2015
• Semi-Finalists: Charleine, Gary, Joseph, Richard and Vana.
• Task: The remaining five candidates must undergo a gruelling interview process from four of Lord Sugar's top advisers - Claude Littner, Mike Soutar, Claudine Collins, and Linda Plant. Sugar decides on the candidates who advance to the final.
• Candidate Reviews: While Charleine showed she was determined and hard-working in her interviews and had proven her sales abilities in tasks, the interviewers firmly believed her plan to run a hairdressing academy would struggle to become a large franchise and that she lacked the needed experience to achieve her own expectations. Gary's plan to create a global entertainment business had some issues with its USP and his conflicting "image", but a more serious issue was raised by Mike after he found serious exaggeration in his resume, including claims that he had handled large budgets when there was no evidence found to support this. The problems with Joseph's plan to set up a gas plumbing brand were much the same as Charleine's, alongside some concerns he was inexperienced to continue in the process, yet these were balanced out by good feedback from Claudine for presenting himself as a strong, ambitious candidate and possessing good background expertise, while his business plan was felt to be good despite its financial issues. Meanwhile, Vana's business plan, to run a "gameified" dating app was seen as a questionable concept, but had more serious worries that any investment would run out in months before any profit was made. However, Mike cautioned that it had massive potential if it succeeded, and Claude believed the idea itself was a strong one. Finally, Richard was seen as a good candidate with his marketing background, yet his business plan of an outsourced marketing department was a concept that both Claude and Linda struggled with, while Mike revealed that it was falsely claiming to be unique and new when in fact it would merely use the same template of a previous company of Richard's and thus be in conflict.
• Decision: As there were still concerns that Charleine would struggle with her business plan despite her determination, and that Gary's plan was deeply flawed and incomprehensible, Lord Sugar felt both were unsuitable to be his partner and thus fired them. After consulting with Karren and Claude, he believed that despite some issues with his proposal, Joseph's background and determination made him worthy to be named the first finalist. Out of the remaining two, Lord Sugar decided that Richard had failed to address the concerns about the conflict between his business plan and his previous venture, and thus decided to gamble on Vana's proposal despite serious doubts about the financial plan.
• Fired:
  • Charleine, with regret - For raising concerns that she would struggle to scale up her planned business and having expectations too high to achieve with her current experience.
  • Gary - For providing an unsound business plan and for failing to amend his "corporate" persona.
  • Richard - For coming across as evasive in the interviews, proposing a business plan with several issues, and for admitting he would not focus exclusively on his proposed business.
• You're Fired Panel: Romesh Ranganathan, Ricky Martin and Susan Calman.
• Notes:
  • During his interview with Mike, Joseph was quizzed about a book he had read, concerning the life and background of Lord Sugar. While Mike was impressed with how much he recalled, he had uncertainty to there being any truth about Joseph's claim that it had inspired him to set up his own business.
  • While Claude felt Richard's reputation throughout the process still presented issues, Mike was more critical of his business plans after finding that a graphic he had used had already been associated to a previous company of his. Both they and Linda also expressed their disapproval of his evasive attitude to their questions; by the time he had reached Claudine, she had noticed that he felt beaten by the interview process when he struggled with her questions before eventually admitting that he had been "waffling" in the interviews.
  • When Mike read a claim made by Gary that he had handled large budgets, including one for £1 billion, he considered it a mere exaggeration and unsupported in his resume, while also questioning another claim by him that he had managed around 600 people at one point in his career, after soon hearing that he was eventually made to handled a reduced, "special" team of just three. His interviews also revealed that Sugar's thoughts on his image still persisted, as some interviewers described him as both "bland" and "corporate" compared to other candidates. Although he was not shown to be fired with regret, it was revealed on Why I Fired Them that he was.
  • During her interview with Vana, Claudine expressed a concern in regards to her proposed app, feeling that if someone had spent time gaming with a nice person only to find them unsuitable, they would probably want out after wasting considerable time; Lord Sugar had similar views upon hearing the proposal in the boardroom. However, the financial situation of the plans drew more serious questions, with Mike saying that Sugar's investment would be used up in six months before it saw any chance of turning a profit, despite Vana's claims to the contrary.
  • While Charleine was felt to have been a strong candidate in terms of her determination and hard-working attitude, Claude felt her expectations were too high, while Linda felt she would be virtually unknown upon seeing that she had no experience outside of her own salon. Although he felt these sentiments in the interviews were still persistent, Sugar respectably admired her good work ethics that had received unanimous praise from the interviewers, before advising Charleine to focus on developing more salons from those she was managing, echoing Claude's advice prior to her firing.
  • Prior to his firing, Richard revealed that he could not offer his previous company to Lord Sugar if he was chosen, as his brother (his then-business partner) owned a 50% share of it. When Sugar asked about his own shares, Richard was evasive at first to answer before admitting he wanted to retain his half and be a silent partner than hand them over to his brother, leaving Sugar to remark it was the first time he had been honest about himself.
  • Whilst the You're Fired audience agreed with all three firings, only two of the panellists shared the same opinion with them; Calman was the only one who did not agree with Gary's firing. Ranganathan felt that, despite agreeing with Charleine's firing, she would go on to be a success, though Mike Soutar, who was in the audience, remarked that he and Linda both felt she needed more experience but had been impressed with her work ethics in the interviews.

Week 12: The Final

• Air Date: 20 December 2015
• Finalists: Joseph and Vana
  • Joseph's team: Joseph (Project Manager), Brett, Elle, Gary and Mergim.
  • Vana's team: Vana (Project Manager), Charleine, Natalie, Richard and Ruth.
• Task: Finalists launch their businesses, creating a digital billboard, promotional video and advert, before pitching it to experts. Lord Sugar decides which one receives his investment.
• Task Review: Joseph decided to name his new business as "Prime Time Plumbers", but spent much of the first day focused on developing its logo, which was not felt by some of the team to be well made. Failure to get necessary information to promote it as a strong brand was countered on the second day during a meeting with a group of company executives, allowing him to ensure that his sub-team had the needed requirements to produce a strong advert for his pitch. While public feedback on the company's name and billboard was not positive, feedback from the experts at Joseph's pitch was positive with only a couple of minor issues raised from it. Meanwhile, Vana decided to name her business as "Date Play", with her team working well to get any needed information to promote it strongly, along with producing good billboards, adverts, and a logo based on feedback from dating website experts. However, a meeting with app developers and a major dating website revealed that the financial concerns of the plan still persisted, and that it would struggle in a competitive market. While Vana did her best to conceal these in her pitch, along with the poor market research done prior to it, many experts agreed that it needed more money than was being offered in order to succeed, despite liking the idea. In the end, Lord Sugar decided that Joseph's venture was a more stable, stronger and secure option for him, thus naming him as the winner.
• Runner-Up: Vana - For having a riskier concept, for still possessing persistent financial concerns to her plan that would thus require a far larger investment than was being offered, and for having the weaker track record out of herself and Joseph.
• Hired: Joseph - For his strong track record, his enthusiasm and strong leadership skills, and sticking to an industry he was already an expert in.
• You're Hired Panel: Romesh Ranganathan, Grace Dent and Allyson Stewart Allen
• Notes:
  • Due to the 2015 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award slightly overrunning its timeslot, the Final was broadcast a little later than scheduled.
  • During the task, Karren commented that she did not approve of Joseph's choice of candidates, believing he should have taken those with creative, marketing backgrounds, rather than those he liked. However, on You're Hired, while he admitted he did like them, Joseph reasoned that he was choosing those he both admired and respected and had skills and backgrounds he deemed useful, including Gary's pitching skills, and Brett's own experience in the plumbing industry.
  • Although Natalie and Ruth were sent to meet and question a group of app developers about the marketing costs for Vana's proposed app, neither relayed clear answers in regards to this, instead stating the launch cost for it while almost sounding conflicted with each other in relaying the information. Vana felt unsurprised by this, after commenting that they had both sounded confused about what the developers had told them, with Charleine simply describing both as "scatterbrained".
  • Joseph initially intended for his proposed business to have a strong emphasis on renewable energy technologies, but after being told that this idea was still a decade or more away from being viable, and upon learning about the increasing popularity of "smart boilers" controlled by mobile apps, decided to focus on the latter instead. After his presentation and during You're Hired, Joseph admitted that he would probably have lost had he not done this.
  • Whilst Vana knew she would need further investments to make her app work and turn a profit by the time she pitched her proposal, in the boardroom, Lord Sugar was unsure that a working model provided by his "seed money" would be able to get a venture capital firm to provide further investment without them feeling that she should acquire more from him first. Regardless of this, he revealed on You're Hired that the £250,000 being offered would not have been enough, and that this had been the main reason he did not choose Vana, although he felt her dating app had some potential if she could find a "tremendous investment".
  • On You're Hired, Lord Sugar revealed that he felt Joseph had deserved to win this year's The Apprentice, after being impressed with the way he had turned his personal life around from a "spot of hot water", and the hard work he did as a result. In addition, it was also revealed by Joseph that the reason he shaved off his moustache in the previous week, was because he felt it had made him look like a second-hand car dealer, thus he wanted to improve his looks; a mock vote by the audience, showed they approved of his decision. Throughout the discussion show, four awards for humorous moments that were dubbed "The Sugars", were given out to Mergim, Ruth, Brett, and Charleine.

Criticism and controversy

Candidates

Selina Waterman-Smith

Throughout October, the behaviour of Selina Waterman-Smith during and after filming of the show drew serious attention from several news websites. Several articles by them revealed that after filming of the third episode's task, Selina got into a physical altercation with fellow candidate Charleine Wain, with their sources pointing out that she was to be blamed for the incident, after they claimed she had been given a verbal warning from the show's producers. Following the broadcast of the fourth episode, new articles were published that revealed she had made several critical tweets against The Apprentice, criticising the show for making her out as a "pantomime villain", whilst also mocking Sugar's aides, Claude Littner and Karren Brady, for being jealous of her appearance. These articles added that one tweet she made, that she later deleted, claimed she'd "broken contract" with the show and would not appear on the spin-off, You're Fired, a claim that later proved true when the discussion show was broadcast following her departure in the ninth episode of the series.^[8][9][10]

Scott Saunders and Brett Butler-Smythe

On 23 November 2015, The Sun published an article regarding Scott Saunders, after receiving insider information that he had been in a row that had broken out between himself and fellow candidate, Brett Butler-Smythe. According to the article's source, the pair had been arguing over what to watch on TV until it eventually became a fight over a TV remote, prompting the other candidates to step in and break the pair apart under fears that someone might have been hurt. Although Scott had reported Brett for using threatening language against him during Week 7 of the series, the article blamed him for starting the row through making taunts at Brett.^[11]

A few days later, The Sun released another article which reported that Scott had quit the show, before the episode of his departure was broadcast. His decision to leave came after he felt disrespected and furious at the way Lord Sugar and his aides had treated him in the boardroom following a task, which resulted in him walking out of the boardroom and leaving his fellow candidates stunned by his actions. His sudden walk-out had been unexpected by the producers, who did not have time to intervene in the incident;^[12] he did however take part in You're Fired unlike Selina.

Richard Woods

On 16 December 2015, it was revealed that candidate Richard Woods had experienced three mini-strokes prior to sending in his application, but did not disclose this medical information to the show's producers, which, according to an interview he had with The Sun, were due to concerns that such disclosure would have made him appear "weak" and "stressed". However, Richard felt that the decision was an unwise one to have taken at the time, after he admitted that in doing so he had left himself at risk of suffering "a repeat stroke", which could have either left him being paralysed as a result, or worse, have been fatal for him. A show's spokesperson denied he was at risk, stating that he had good healthcare available to him and that neither Richard nor the show's doctor had seen any signs he was unfit to take part in the process. During the same interview, it was also revealed that he had delayed a medical procedure to help improve his eyesight prior to filming, with the decision influenced by the same concerns in the disclosure matter and a desire to not wear an eyepatch throughout the process. In doing so, he admitted that this had led to his eyesight deteriorating to the point that, by his final week, he was unable to see out of his left eye and thus risked losing it as a result.^[13][14] A news story, two days later, revealed that he had to be given 21 injections in his left eye in order to save his vision in it.^[15]

In addition to the disclosure of his medical history, a number of stories also revealed that, after his dismissal from the competition, Richard had been verbally abusive towards Claude Littner in a number of interviews with the media about the latter's comments against him, during the Interviews stage, in which he was described to be "Slippery" and "having an agenda". In angry reaction to this, Richard stated the following - "Are you telling me that nobody has an agenda? We all have an agenda and that's to win the bloody task and to win the whole thing. You're political and the rest of it. Of course! I'm here to win. We're not doing a team-building exercise in Wales. This is proper competition and I'll try to win whichever way I can do. So I think that's unfounded."^[16] In an interview with the Express, he also criticised Claude for giving him the "unfair" nickname of "Tricky Dicky", feeling that he had misunderstood his behaviour and actions in the tasks that he had helped to win.^[17] Despite these criticisms, a news story released two days later, reported that he had decided to let "bygones be bygones" with these issues about Claude, after he jokingly stated - "Claude, can we hug it out?"^[15]

David Stevenson

On 20 December 2015 it was reported that former contestant David Stevenson, who was fired by Lord Sugar after Week 8, was reported to celebrate the final with an orgy at 4am. Though he refused to name which woman he was referring to, he did state that one of the ladies involved was a female Apprentice contestant and was more than happy to describe himself as "a player". David's orgy also took place where fellow contestants Mergim Butaja and Elle Stevenson (no relation to David) allegedly had sex, but Selina Waterman-Smith denied rumours about David's orgy, calling them "rubbish" and "lies".^[18][19][20]

Results

Week Three

Following the airing of Week 3, former Apprentice candidate Daniel Lassman criticised Lord Sugar for allowing Versatile's purchase of a toy rubber dinghy which allowed them to win the task. Voicing his criticisms on Twitter, Daniel couldn't understand how Versatile had got away with the purchase, made by Gary Poulton, when both himself and Felipe Alviar Baquero had been penalized heavily during Series 10 for their purchase of a paper skeleton and not the real thing as Lord Sugar wanted, which both had thought would be accepted due to the specifications for the skeleton being only that it had to be of a required height and was anatomically correct; Felipe was fired from Series 10, as result of the purchase. In the same tweet, he claimed that he had "lost all faith in the show" and considered the decision to be a joke. He was among several viewers who accused Lord Sugar of having double standards.^[21] Felipe, on the other-hand, didn't respond to his comments on the task, but retweeted a string of supportive messages while advising his followers that it was only "a TV show".

Final Decision and Joseph Valente

While Joseph Valente was officially announced as the winner of The Apprentice 2015 on 20 December 2015, a decision that was well received on Twitter,^[22] a number of viewers of the show made allegation on Twitter that, prior to the airing of the series final, claimed he had been already been revealed as the series winner through the show's usual 'next episode' preview clip, towards the end of the Interviews episode. These claims alleged that the clip showed Lord Sugar to be pointing to his left when he uttered the lines "You are gonna be my business partner", towards where Joseph was sat at the Boardroom table. However, Lord Sugar denied these allegations were true or that he spoiled the winner.^[23][24][25]

Ratings

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.^[26]

Episode no.	Airdate	Viewers (millions)	BBC One weekly ranking
1	14 October 2015	7.93	3
2	15 October 2015	7.22	7
3	21 October 2015	7.70	3
4	28 October 2015	7.25	3
5	4 November 2015	7.23	5
6	11 November 2015	7.57	4
7	18 November 2015	6.97	6
8	25 November 2015	6.65	6
9	2 December 2015	6.77	6
10	9 December 2015	6.91	5
11	16 December 2015	7.39	3
12	20 December 2015	6.52	10

Specials

Episode no.	Airdate	Viewers (millions)	BBC One weekly ranking
The Final Five
	9 December 2015	TBA	TBA
Why I Fired Them
	16 December 2015	TBA	TBA

References

1. "The Apprentice - Series 11 - BBC - FAQs - Home". BBC. 1970-01-01. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
2. Adam Sherwin (27 April 2015). "Apprentice series 11: Claude Littner to replace Nick Hewer as Lord Sugar's aide". The Independent.
3. Emma Daly. "The Apprentice 2015 to be more serious: it's not Geordie Shore". Radio Times.
4. "Dulwich Hamlet fans fired up as show’s contestants try to keep clean sheet". Southwark News. 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
5. Soliman, Omar. "Television @ The Digital Fix - The Apprentice 11.06. Handymen". Television.thedigitalfix.com. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
6. "The Apprentice 2015: 19 things we noticed as Elle Stevenson, Mergim Butaja and April Jackson were fired | Metro News". Metro. UK. 2015-11-12. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
7. "The Apprentice's Scott Saunders: "I Didn't Shake Sam Curry's Hand Because I Felt Disrespected"". Yahoo!. 2015-11-19. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
8. "Apprentice candidate Selina Waterman-Smith lashes out at the show - and says she won't go on You're Fired". BT.com.
9. "Did The Apprentice 2015's Selina Waterman-Smith reveal that she DOESN'T win? - Daily Mail Online". Daily Mail.
10. Danny Walker (29 October 2015). "'Hated' The Apprentice contestant Selina Waterman-Smith SLAMS the show saying that she's 'broken her contract' with the BBC". mirror.
11. "Scott and Brett Remote Row". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 23 November 2015.
12. "Scott Quits Show during Boardroom Mistreatment". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 29 November 2015.
13. "Richard Admits Medical Deception". NME. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
14. "Richard's Medical Lie". The Huffington Post. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
15. "Richard's Apology to Claude and Saving his Left Eye's Vision". Evening Post. Retrieved 18 December 2015.
16. "Richard's reaction to Claude's scathing comments". Retrieved 16 December 2015.
17. "Richard slams Claude for Nickname". Express. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
18. http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/apprentices-david-stevenson-claims-celebrated-7048473
19. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/6814833/Apprentice-stars-in-debauched-sex-session.html
20. http://metro.co.uk/2015/12/22/the-apprentice-selina-waterman-smith-slams-david-stevensons-claims-he-had-sex-with-female-candidate-5579646/
21. "Toy Dinghy Purchase Slammed by Ex-Contestant". Express. Retrieved 22 October 2015.
22. http://www.express.co.uk/showbiz/tv-radio/628406/The-Apprentice-final-Joseph-Valente-Vana-Koutsomitis-Twitter-Lord-Alan-Sugar
23. http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/6810331/The-Apprentice-in-awkward-blunder-as-Lord-Alan-Sugar-reveals-winner.html
24. http://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz-tv/hot-tv/482274/Lord-Sugar-reveals-Apprentice-winner
25. http://www.mirror.co.uk/tv/tv-news/lord-sugar-gave-away-apprentice-7030192
26. "Weekly Top 30 Programmes". Broadcasters' Audience Research Board. Retrieved 23 October 2015.

External links

• Official site BBC