Series Four of The Apprentice (UK) was a British reality

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 television series, which was won by Lee McQueen. The series began on BBC One

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 on 26 March 2008, and ran for twelve weekly episodes. Auditions and interviews are reported to have taken place during the first two weeks of July 2007 in London, Glasgow

Glasgow

Glasgow is the largest city in Scotland and third most populous in the United Kingdom. The city is situated on the River Clyde in the country's west central lowlands...

, Manchester

Manchester

Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...

 and Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

. A record 20,000 applications were received.

Sir Alan Sugar

Alan Sugar

Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar is a British entrepreneur, media personality and political advisor. From humble origins in the East End of London, Sugar now has an estimated fortune of £770m , and was ranked 89th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2011...

 reprised his role as the boss, and Nick Hewer

Nick Hewer

Nicholas Radbourn "Nick" Hewer is a British former public relations consultant turned television personality, who lives in Northamptonshire, England. He is probably best known for his role as Alan Sugar's advisor on the UK version of the popular BBC television show The Apprentice...

 and Margaret Mountford

Margaret Mountford

Margaret Mountford is a British lawyer, businesswoman and television personality known for her role in The Apprentice.-Biography:Mountford is originally from Holywood in Northern Ireland...

 again served as his advisers. 'Frances', Sir Alan's boardroom 'receptionist', also returned. The show's spin-off, The Apprentice: You're Fired!

The Apprentice: You're Fired!

The Apprentice: You're Fired!, sometimes named You're Fired!, The Apprentice: You're Hired! or You're Hired!, is a British television show made by the BBC and filmed at Riverside Studios as a spin-off from the reality TV hit The Apprentice...

, was again hosted by Adrian Chiles

Adrian Chiles

Adrian Chiles is a British television and radio presenter, currently working for ITV Sport presenting football coverage....

. Filming of the first episode of The Apprentice: You're Fired! took place on 25 March 2008. TV presenter Jennifer Maguire

Jennifer Maguire

Jennifer Maguire is an Irish television presenter and reality show participant. She is originally from Dublin.Maguire entered British television series The Apprentice in its fourth series as a 27-year-old marketing consultant, who says that when she first ran an office, she made £60,000 in six...

 also participated in this series.

Production

Production of the fourth series took place in September and October 2007. On 19 October 2007, filming took place beside One Canada Square

One Canada Square

One Canada Square is a skyscraper in Canary Wharf in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is the tallest completed building in the United Kingdom since 1991, standing at above ground level and containing 50 storeys...

 with candidates seemingly advertising an "Aston Martin Roadster Experience".

The candidates were based in an impressive 7000 square feet (650.3 m²), £5million warehouse conversion in Candahar Road, Battersea

Battersea

Battersea is an area of the London Borough of Wandsworth, England. It is an inner-city district of South London, situated on the south side of the River Thames, 2.9 miles south-west of Charing Cross. Battersea spans from Fairfield in the west to Queenstown in the east...

. The luxury duplex conversion, The Glass Factory, is owned by ex-Formula One

Formula One

Formula One, also known as Formula 1 or F1 and referred to officially as the FIA Formula One World Championship, is the highest class of single seater auto racing sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile . The "formula" designation in the name refers to a set of rules with which...

 racing driver Johnny Dumfries

John Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute

John Colum Crichton-Stuart, 7th Marquess of Bute , styled Earl of Dumfries before 1993 and from this courtesy title usually known as Johnny Dumfries, is a Scottish peer and a former racing driver. He does not use his title and prefers to be known solely as John Bute...

, the seventh Marquess of Bute

Marquess of Bute

Marquess of the County of Bute, shortened in general usage to Marquess of Bute, is a title in the Peerage of Great Britain. It was created in 1796 for John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute.-Family history:...

.

Candidates

There were sixteen candidates taking part in this series, and they were initially separated into two teams by gender. The women chose the name Alpha for their team, while the men named their team Renaissance.

Candidate	Background	Original team	Age	Result
Lee McQueen	Recruitment Sales Manager	Renaissance	30	Hired by Sugar (06-11-2008)
Claire Young	Senior Retail Buyer	Alpha	28	Fired at the end of the Season Finale (06-11-2008)
Helene Speight	Global Pricing Leader	Alpha	32	Fired in the middle of the Season Finale (06-11-2008)
Alex Wotherspoon	Regional Sales Manager	Renaissance	24	Fired in the middle of the Season Finale (06-11-2008)
Lucinda Ledgerwood	Risk Manager	Alpha	31	Fired in week 11 (06-04-2008)
Michael Sophocles	Telesales Executive	Renaissance	25	Fired in week 10 (05-28-2008)
Raef Bjayou	Entrepreneur	Renaissance	27	Fired in week 9 (05-21-2008)
Sara Dhada	International Car Trader	Alpha	25	Fired in week 8 (05-14-2008)
Jennifer Maguire	Marketing Consultant	Alpha	27	Fired in week 7 (05-07-2008)
Jennifer "Jenny" Celerier	Sales Manager	Alpha	36	Fired in week 7 (04-30-2008)
Kevin Shaw	Bank Manager	Renaissance	24	Fired in week 6 (04-30-2008)
Lindi Mngaza	Business Liaison Manager	Alpha	22	Fired in week 5 (04-23-2008)
Simon Smith	Engineer	Renaissance	35	Fired in week 4 (04-16-2008)
Ian Stringer	Sales Manager	Renaissance	26	Fired in week 3 (04-09-2008)
Shazia Wahab	Mosaic Artist and Company Director	Alpha	35	Fired in week 2 (04-02-2008)
Nicholas de Lacy-Brown	Trainee Barrister, Artist and Property Developer	Renaissance	23	Fired in week 1 (03-26-2008)

Weekly results

Elimination chart
Candidate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Lee	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	HIRED
Claire	WIN	IN	IN	BR	WIN	BR	BR	IN	BR	BR	IN	FIRED
Helene	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	BR	IN	FIRED
Alex	LOSE	IN	IN	BR	IN	IN	BR	IN	WIN	IN	IN	FIRED
Lucinda	IN	BR	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	FIRED
Michael	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	BR	BR	BR	FIRED
Raef	BR	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Sara	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	BR	IN	FIRED
Jennifer	IN	IN	IN	IN	BR	IN	FIRED
Jenny	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Kevin	IN	IN	BR	IN	IN	FIRED
Lindi	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Simon	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Ian	IN	IN	FIRED
Shazia	IN	FIRED
Nicholas	FIRED

The contestant was on the losing team.

The contestant was hired and won the competition.

The contestant won as project manager on his/her team.

The contestant lost as project manager on his/her team.

The contestant was brought to the final boardroom.

The contestant was fired.

The contestant lost as project manager and was fired.

Week 1

• Project Managers: Claire (Alpha) and Alex (Renaissance)
• Task: Both teams were given a van containing £600 worth of seafood and a choice of London market locations from which to sell. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result:
  • Alpha: Alpha had decided early in the day to set-up their seafood stand in Islington
    Islington
    Islington is a neighbourhood in Greater London, England and forms the central district of the London Borough of Islington. It is a district of Inner London, spanning from Islington High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the area around the busy Upper Street...
    
    . The women had difficulty in identifing seafood and correctly pricing them, as customers bombarded their stand before they had even begun. Despite this, the team managed to sell large orders to groups of people, increasing their earnings. Alpha made a profit of £153.98.
  • Renaissance: The team wasted a lot of time deciding on their team name and leader, and didn't get started until just before midday. They also decided to set-up in Islington. Like Alpha, Renaissance struggled to identify seafood. Nicholas had priced the seafood incorrectly, making them much cheaper than what they should have been. The lobsters were selling for less than a quarter of the recommended retail price. The team lost even more money when Michael panic-sold £100 worth of fish for barely half that amount. Renaissance made a profit of only £32.69.
• Winner: Alpha, by £121.29.
  • Reward: Dinner cooked by Michelin-starred
    Michelin Guide
    The Michelin Guide is a series of annual guide books published by Michelin for over a dozen countries. The term normally refers to the Michelin Red Guide, the oldest and best-known European hotel and restaurant guide, which awards the Michelin stars...
    
     chef Jean-Christophe Novelli
    Jean-Christophe Novelli
    -Life:Born in Arras, Northern France, in 1961, in a family with Italian roots, Jean-Christophe Novelli left school at age 14 and worked in a bakery before, at the age of 20, becoming a personal chef to the Rothschild family....
    
    .
• Loser: Renaissance
  • Brought into the boardroom: Alex, Nicholas, and Raef
• Fired: Nicholas, for incorrectly pricing the fish, poorly defending himself in the boardroom, and admitting that he was unable to get on with "less educated" candidates.

Week 2

• Project Managers: Jenny (Alpha) and Raef (Renaissance)
• Task: Both teams were given use of an industrial laundry for the night. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result:The teams sourced business from a variety of customers including a hotel, a fishmonger and homeowners.
  • Alpha: The team had problems setting a reasonable price, attempting to charge the hotel £4,990 for £200 worth of washing, and the fishmonger £15 for £60 worth of washing. In addition, they were late getting started and hadn't finished by the end of the night. They suffered problems due to mix-ups with customers' clothing, including two lost items for which they were fined £50 in the boardroom. This was blamed on Shazia, who had the task of keeping track of items, but left early in an unsuccessful attempt to get hold of the steam irons at the house, which Renaissance had already removed. Alpha made a profit of only £195.55.
  • Renaissance: The team targeted large companies to service for. They made big earnings from the companies and finished their washing and pressing before the laundry had to close. No articles of clothing were lost, meaning no penalties, and the team made £328 exactly.
• Winner: Renaissance, by £132.45.
  • Reward: Tea at The Ritz
    Ritz Hotel
    The Ritz London is a luxury 5-star hotel located in Piccadilly and overlooking Green Park in London.- History :Swiss hotelier César Ritz, former manager of the Savoy Hotel, opened the hotel on 24 May 1906...
    
    .
• Loser: Alpha
  • Brought into the boardroom: Jenny, Lucinda, and Shazia
• Fired: Shazia, for leaving the laundry early and allowing items to get mixed up. Although Jenny made many major errors, Sir Alan did not want somebody messing up something easy such as handling clothing. The majority of the You're Fired studio audience disagreed with the decision.

Week 3

• Project Managers: Sara (Alpha) and Ian (Renaissance)
• Task: Both teams had to devise and run a themed food day in a pub with no previous history of serving food. The teams were given a list of wholesalers to use. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result:
  • Alpha: Alpha chose a Bollywood
    Bollywood
    Bollywood is the informal term popularly used for the Hindi-language film industry based in Mumbai , Maharashtra, India. The term is often incorrectly used to refer to the whole of Indian cinema; it is only a part of the total Indian film industry, which includes other production centers producing...
    
     theme. The team managed to arrange all their printing for free. They had to cancel their lunch service due to the food not being prepared properly, but their strategy of selling admission tickets for £5 that were redeemable against dinner, as well as their better purchasing decisions, meant that they were in profit before they had even served a meal. Alpha made a profit of £604.27.
  • Renaissance: Renaissance chose an Italian
    Italian cuisine
    Italian cuisine has developed through centuries of social and political changes, with roots as far back as the 4th century BCE. Italian cuisine in itself takes heavy influences, including Etruscan, ancient Greek, ancient Roman, Byzantine, Jewish and Arab cuisines...
    
     theme. But they ran out of time and had to resort to purchasing their supplies from Tesco
    Tesco
    Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
    
    , resulting in substantially increased food costs. They produced 200 flyers at £1 each. The team took more money, but because of cost overruns they made only £301.97.
• Winner: Alpha, by £302.30.
  • Reward: Cooking lessons at the Eckington Manor Cookery School in Eckington
    Eckington, Worcestershire
    Eckington is a small village near to the southern border of the English county of Worcestershire, according to the 2001 census it had a population of 1,202....
    
    , Worcestershire.
• Loser: Renaissance
  • Brought into the boardroom: Ian, Kevin, and Simon
• Fired: Ian, for his "disastrous performance" as project manager, and for trying to deny that Kevin had given a pep-talk to the team in Ian's stead.
• Notes:
  • For the first time this season, Sir Alan chose the project managers.
  • Late in the day, Kevin brought all of Renaissance outside the pub for a motivational talk. In the boardroom, Ian bizarrely attempted to deny that such a meeting ever took place, despite it being recorded on camera and Kevin and Simon insisting that the meeting did in fact happen.

Week 4

• Project Managers: Helene (Alpha) and Simon (Renaissance)
• Team Reshuffle: Kevin, Lee, and Raef move to Alpha. Claire, Jenny, and Sara move to Renaissance.
• Task: Running a photography business in Bluewater shopping centre. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result:
  • Alpha: Alpha hired a David Beckham
    David Beckham
    David Robert Joseph Beckham, OBE is an English footballer who plays midfield for Los Angeles Galaxy in Major League Soccer, having previously played for Manchester United, Preston North End, Real Madrid, and A.C...
    
     lookalike. Communication issues between the shop floor and the production room caused lost orders for the team. Alpha had problems operating their computer, caused mostly by Helene assigning Lucinda to work the computer despite her lack of technical knowledge and then refusing to allow anyone else to swap in for Lucinda when it became clear she couldn't do the job and were unable to meet the orders. Alpha made a profit of £145.10.
  • Renaissance: Renaissance opted for a "glamour and beauty" theme. Like Alpha, communication issues caused lost orders, only they were hurt seriously. Simon clashed with his teammates about ideas, particularly him insisting to have people take pictures in public. Renaissance made a loss of £73.81.
• Winner: Alpha, by £218.91.
  • Reward: Dinner aboard a luxury yacht, on trip to the Isle of Wight
    Isle of Wight
    The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
    
    .
• Loser: Renaissance
  • Brought into the boardroom: Alex, Claire, and Simon
• Fired: Simon, with regret, for being out of his depth. The majority of the You're Fired studio audience disagreed with the decision, although Simon himself said that he deserved to be fired.
• Notes: Claire was ordered out of the boardroom shortly before the firing, after constantly attacking Simon and refusing to admit any wrongdoing in the task. Sir Alan told her that she would be leader of Renaissance in the next task, and strongly implied that she would be fired if they did not win it.

Week 5

• Project Managers: Lucinda (Alpha) and Claire (Renaissance)
• Team Reshuffle: Kevin moves to Renaissance to even the teams at six candidates each.
• Task: Both teams had to develop three new flavours of ice cream at farms that specialised in making ice creams, and then choose two to sell direct to the trade market in London. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result:
  • Alpha: Alpha decided on "Avocado and Chili" and "Toffee Apple" flavoured ice creams after a focus group meeting. Their orders included those from a group of pubs and a those from a cinema chain that Renaissance had sold to first, but the manager decided to take Alpha's ice cream instead. However, Jennifer and Lindi decided to target ice cream shops that in fact made their own ice cream, believing that they could sell to them anyway, meaning that many of their scheduled sales appointments proved to be dead ends and resulted in no sales. Alpha made a profit of £1,273.64.
  • Renaissance: After arriving 30 minutes late to their focus group and finding nobody there, Renaissance's market research came from two drinkers at a local pub, who opted for "Very Berry" and "Cider and Elderflower" (nicknamed "Scrumplelicious") flavours. They struggled at first, even having a major deal broken because the cinema chain preferred Alpha's, but eventually secured a large order from a designer restaurant at the last minute. Renaissance made a profit £1,455.45.
• Winner: Renaissance, by £181.81.
  • Reward: A helicopter trip to Bowood House
    Bowood House
    Bowood is a grade I listed Georgian country house with interiors by Robert Adam and a garden designed by Lancelot "Capability" Brown. It is adjacent to the village of Derry Hill, halfway between Calne and Chippenham in Wiltshire, England...
    
     in Wiltshire
    Wiltshire
    Wiltshire is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset, Somerset, Hampshire, Gloucestershire, Oxfordshire and Berkshire. It contains the unitary authority of Swindon and covers...
    
    .
• Loser: Alpha
  • Brought into the boardroom: Jennifer, Lindi, and Lucinda
• Fired: Lindi, for her poor sales strategy, cancelling appointments, and violating the task rules by promising exclusivity to potential buyers.
• Notes: Sir Alan said in the boardroom that if Alpha had won the task, he would have disqualified them and handed victory to Renaissance due to Alpha's sales to the cinema and pub chains being done on an exclusive basis, as the whole point of the task was to open up new sales for the farmers, which would be limited by the exclusivity deals.

Week 6

• Project Managers: Michael (Alpha) and Kevin (Renaissance)
• Team Reshuffle: Michael joins Alpha.
• Task: Create a new "occasion" for a range of greetings cards to pitch to prospective retailers, namely Clinton Cards
  Clinton Cards
  Clinton Cards is a chain of stores in the UK founded in 1968 by Don Lewin. Mostly selling greeting cards, as the name suggests, the chain claims to be "the largest specialist retailer of greetings cards, plush merchandise and related products in the UK with over 700 shops." They used to be...
  
  , Tesco
  Tesco
  Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...
  
   and the Celebrations Group. The team that makes the most sales wins.
• Result:
  • Alpha: The team came up with the idea of a "National Singles' Day" to be held on 13 February, and produced a range of cards intended as an alternative to Valentine's Day cards for single people. Alpha's first two pitches were relatively unsuccessful due to objections over the date, and so Michael chose to remove it from their final pitch, which was to the Celebrations Group. Celebrations ordered 19,500 cards, while Clinton Cards and Tesco ordered 1,500 each, for a total of 22,500 cards.
  • Renaissance: Jenny suggested an environmental card, and effectively forced it on the team by not doing any research for their other ideas. The retail buyers questioned whether environmentally conscious consumers would want to express their views by sending a card, and Kevin's aggressive pitching alienated Celebrations and in particular Clinton Cards, who accused him of "preaching" to them after he likened their unenthusiastic reception of the cards to the U.S.
    United States
    The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
    
     not doing enough to combat global warming. Kevin's pitch to Tesco was less aggressive and secured an order for 6,000 cards, but neither of the other two retailers ordered any at all.
• Winner: Alpha, by 16,500 cards.
  • Reward: A private piano recital from Myleene Klass
    Myleene Klass
    Myleene Angela Quinn is an English singer, pianist, media personality and occasional model. She was formerly a member of the defunct British pop band Hear'Say.-Early life:...
    
    .
• Loser: Renaissance
  • Brought into the boardroom: Claire, Kevin, and Sara
• Fired: Kevin, for his mismanagement, poor sales pitching, and his decision not to bring Jenny into the boardroom.
• Notes:
  • This episode saw the start of Renaissance's major losing streak; from now until the end of the series, they did not win a single task.
  • Back at the house, Sara was the subject of a heated debate between several candidates over her perceived laziness. Lee was shown to heavily criticize Sara. Raef was the only one shown on screen to jump to her defence on this matter (Claire, while not specifically defending Sara, pointed out that Kevin was the one to blame for the loss), although it has been said that Lucinda also defended her off-camera.
  • Michael spent 3 hours debating the correct way of spelling "National Singles' Day," and more specifically where the apostrophe in "Singles'" should go.

Week 7

• Project Managers: Lee (Alpha) and Jennifer (Renaissance)
• Team Reshuffle: Sara moved to Alpha, whilst Jennifer and Michael moved to Renaissance.
• Task: Buy a set list of items in the marketplaces of Marrakesh, Morocco
  Morocco
  Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
  
  . The team that spends the least wins.
• Result:
  • Alpha: Alpha had difficulty in finding items, particularly Lee, Lucinda, and Sara. Helene and Raef got the cow hide for an amazingly small amount. The Santos orange juicer was given to them second-handidly, but they bought it off the tourists for a fair price. Alpha collected all ten items without penalties, spending only £413.61.
  • Renaissance: Renaissance, not paying attention to the dossier, bought a white mosque alarm clock instead of a green one, and didn't realize their mistake until later. Alex, Claire, and Jennifer then found a green one. Jenny and Michael attempted to sabotage Alpha by offering a sports store a bribe if they would incorrectly string a tennis racket that Alpha were in the middle of purchasing; however the store's employees refused to accept the bribe. Renaissance spent £449.60, but penalties were given for purchasing unbranded tagines and a halal
    Halal
    Halal is a term designating any object or an action which is permissible to use or engage in, according to Islamic law. The term is used to designate food seen as permissible according to Islamic law...
    
     chicken instead of a kosher
    Kashrut
    Kashrut is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha is termed kosher in English, from the Ashkenazi pronunciation of the Hebrew term kashér , meaning "fit" Kashrut (also kashruth or kashrus) is the set of Jewish dietary laws. Food in accord with halakha (Jewish law) is termed...
    
     chicken. The £153.99 penalty brought their total amount to £603.59.
• Winner: Alpha, by £35.99 without the penalties, and by £189.98 with the penalties.
  • Reward: Hot air balloon
    Hot air balloon
    The hot air balloon is the oldest successful human-carrying flight technology. It is in a class of aircraft known as balloon aircraft. On November 21, 1783, in Paris, France, the first untethered manned flight was made by Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier and François Laurent d'Arlandes in a hot air...
    
     flight around Leeds Castle
    Leeds Castle
    Leeds Castle, southeast of Maidstone, Kent, England, dates back to 1119, though a Saxon fort stood on the same site from the 9th century. The castle is built on islands in a lake formed by the River Len to the east of the village of Leeds....
    
    
• Loser: Renaissance
  • Brought into the boardroom (first time): Alex, Claire, Jenny, Jennifer, and Michael
    • Fired: Jenny, for lying about the Kosher chicken fiasco in an effort to get Michael fired, and for attempting to sabotage Alpha's efforts to buy a tennis racket, which she also lied and told Alex that she and Michael were involved in "espionage".
  • Brought into the boardroom (second time): Claire, Jennifer, and Michael
    • Fired: Jennifer, for failing to control the team in the task, for rushing to get to the marketplace, and for not paying attention to the dossier.
• Notes: This episode marked the first occasion where more than three people remained on the team, but the project manager was not allowed to choose the two candidates who would also face Sir Alan in the final boardroom. After Jenny's firing, Alex was sent back to the house, as Sir Alan considered his mistake (purchasing the unbranded tagines) to be the least serious of Renaissance's errors, and a second and final boardroom session took place.

Week 8

• Project managers: Lucinda (Alpha) and Helene (Renaissance)
• Team reshuffle: Claire joins Alpha, Sara and Helene join Renaissance.
• Task: Select and sell wedding dresses and accessories at a wedding exhibition at the National Exhibition Centre
  National Exhibition Centre
  The National Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre in Birmingham, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham International Airport and Birmingham International railway station. It has 20 interconnected halls, set in grounds of 628 acres making it the...
  
   in Birmingham
  Birmingham
  Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
  
  . The team that makes the most money wins.
• Result:
  • Alpha: On Raef's recommendation, Lucinda chose to go for dresses by high-end designer Ian Stewart, and this secured them their accessory choice of bridal lingerie. Alpha sold three dresses for a total of £5,105 and £647.24 worth of lingerie, making overall sales of £5,752.99.
  • Renaissance: Despite Michael and Sara recommending the Ian Stewart dresses, Helene refused to consider them owing to their high price and instead went with a mid-range supplier that sold much cheaper dresses. They also wanted to sell the bridal lingerie, but lost out to Alpha and so instead went with wedding cakes, which had been Michael and Sara's first choice. Renaissance sold five dresses for a total of £1,925, but failed to sell any cakes, mainly due to Michael and Sara's highly aggressive sales technique.
• Winner: Alpha, by £3,827.99
• Reward: Luxury spa
  Spa
  The term spa is associated with water treatment which is also known as balneotherapy. Spa towns or spa resorts typically offer various health treatments. The belief in the curative powers of mineral waters goes back to prehistoric times. Such practices have been popular worldwide, but are...
  
   visit.
• Brought into the boardroom: Helene, Michael, and Sara
• Fired: Sara, for her argumentative manner towards everyone, her inability to listen to others, and her general lack of contribution to the tasks in previous weeks. A majority of the You're Fired! audience disagreed with this decision, though like Simon, Sara said that she did deserve to be fired.
• Notes:
  • While Sir Alan told Helene that she lost the task right at the start by deciding to go for cheap dresses, he actually assured her that she would not be fired due to her good track record in previous tasks; this was removed from the transmitted episode, though.
  • After Sara's firing, Sir Alan appeared to be on the verge of firing Michael also, however, he and Helene were sent back to the house.

Week 9

• Project managers: Alex (Alpha) and Raef (Renaissance)
• Team reshuffle: Raef and Claire are moved to Renaissance, and Alex is moved to Alpha.
• Task: Create a new brand of tissues along with television and print advertisements, then present them to a panel of advertising executives. The team deemed to have created the best ad-campaign wins.
• Result: Renaissance created a smart aesthetic design for their tissue box, branded "I ♥ my tissues". Michael and Raef were meticulous in directing their television advert, and hired weather forecaster Siân Lloyd
  Siân Lloyd
  Siân Lloyd is a Welsh television presenter, best known as a ITV Weather presenter.-Biography:Lloyd was born in Maesteg, Bridgend, Wales, the daughter of two teachers. She attended Ystalyfera Bilingual School and performed at the Eisteddfod where she won the Crown...
  
   to appear. Crucially however, in the editing suite their advert proved to be too long, and most of the material showing the product itself was removed in order to bring it down to the required length. In contrast, Alpha's efforts with both their tissue box design and advert were deemed relatively poor, and Lee was ill-prepared for their presentation. However, their brand name, "Atishu!", was praised, and their overall campaign was deemed to be attention-grabbing and gave a very clear message about the product. This secured their victory in the task.
• Winner: Alpha
• Reward: An after-hours shopping spree at Harvey Nichols
  Harvey Nichols
  Harvey Nichols, founded in 1813, is an upmarket department store chain. Its original store is in London. Founded in 1813 as a linen shop, it sells many international brands of clothing for women and men, fashion accessories, beauty products, wine and food...
  
   (London).
• Brought into the boardroom: Claire, Michael, and Raef.
• Fired: Raef, for losing focus of the requirements of the task due to his artistic flair, and for editing out the close-in of the product in the commercial (Sir Alan said that he had concluded Raef, with all due respect, was nothing but 'hot air'). The majority of the You're Fired studio audience disagreed with the decision.
• Notes: Siân Lloyd's involvement in Renaissance's advert was criticised for having little relevance to the product or the events in the advert, and also for the very brief duration of her appearance in the edited version. Lloyd herself admitted to the camera being unsure why she had been cast as a mother, considering she is single and has no children. Renaissance's brand name was also criticised by Sir Alan, who said he could not imagine anyone "loving their tissues".

Week 10

• Project managers: Lee (Alpha) and Michael (Renaissance)
• Task: To select and rent out a set of luxury sports cars. The team that make the most money, by rental, wins.
• Result: The teams had a chance to review the available cars, before the project managers had to choose two for rental sale. Renaissance decided to choose the Ferrari
  Ferrari
  Ferrari S.p.A. is an Italian sports car manufacturer based in Maranello, Italy. Founded by Enzo Ferrari in 1929, as Scuderia Ferrari, the company sponsored drivers and manufactured race cars before moving into production of street-legal vehicles as Ferrari S.p.A. in 1947...
  
   and Spyker
  Spyker
  Spyker was a Dutch car manufacturer, started in 1880 by coachbuilders Jacobus and Hendrik-Jan Spijker, but to be able to market the brand better in foreign countries, in 1903 the 'ij' was changed into 'y'...
  
  . Alpha chose the Aston Martin
  Aston Martin
  Aston Martin Lagonda Limited is a British manufacturer of luxury sports cars, based in Gaydon, Warwickshire. The company name is derived from the name of one of the company's founders, Lionel Martin, and from the Aston Hill speed hillclimb near Aston Clinton in Buckinghamshire...
  
  , and the risky and rare Pagani Zonda
  Pagani Zonda
  The Pagani Zonda is a sports car built by the Italian manufacturer Pagani. It debuted in 1999, and production ended in 2011. As of June 2009, 206 Zondas had been built, including test mules. Both 2-seat coupe and convertible versions have been produced. Construction is mainly of carbon...
  
  , with a price tag of £2,750 for just one day of rental. Claire and Helene had almost no difficulty attracting customers for the Spyker, but it was Claire who made the sales. Michael fruitlessly searched around for customers to rent the Ferrari, with one customer almost taking the offer. Alex and Lee struggled to find customers, but Lee eventually made deals to a few. Lucinda struggled as she wasn't good in sales. She asked Alex and Lee to help her, but they stuck with the Zonda. Lucinda tried to sell rental of the Aston, but mistook it for the Zonda, and sold nothing. At the square, Claire and Michael got a few more buyers, but for hours not days. Claire and Helene saw that Alex had booked one customer for a full-day on the Zonda. Lee helped Lucinda in the selling, and Lucinda finally made a sale. Renaissance made sales of £2,114, almost all of which was earned by Claire (Michael sold about £200 worth, while Helene did not make a single sale). Alpha made sales of £11,815, with Alex contributing £8,000, Lee £3,400, and Lucinda £65.
• Winner: Alpha, by £9,701
• Reward: Wine tasting at a Mayfair
  Mayfair
  Mayfair is an area of central London, within the City of Westminster.-History:Mayfair is named after the annual fortnight-long May Fair that took place on the site that is Shepherd Market today...
  
   hotel.
• Brought into the boardroom: Claire, Helene, and Michael
• Fired: Michael, for his consistent attempts to take advantage of the other candidates, attempting to put the Ferrari for rent in place with few rich people, and a poor track record of appearing in the final boardroom four times in a row.
• Notes:
  • Six luxury sports cars were featured, namely the Koenigsegg CCX
    Koenigsegg CCX
    The Koenigsegg CCX is a mid-engined roadster from Swedish car manufacturer Koenigsegg. The CCX has been engineered to comply with the U.S. regulation and market demands and is a newer design that replaced the Koenigsegg CCR....
    
    , Pagani Zonda S
    Pagani Zonda
    The Pagani Zonda is a sports car built by the Italian manufacturer Pagani. It debuted in 1999, and production ended in 2011. As of June 2009, 206 Zondas had been built, including test mules. Both 2-seat coupe and convertible versions have been produced. Construction is mainly of carbon...
    
    , Lamborghini Gallardo Spyder
    Lamborghini Gallardo
    The Lamborghini Gallardo is a sports car built by Lamborghini. The Gallardo is Lamborghini's most-produced model to date, with over 10,000 built in its first seven years of production...
    
    , Spyker C8
    Spyker C8
    -Models:There are several variants of the C8:* C8 Spyder SWB * C8 Spyder T* C8 Laviolette* C8 Laviolette LM85* C8 Double 12S* C8 Double 12R* C8 Spyder GT2-R* C8 Laviolette GT2-R* C8 Aileron* C8 Aileron Spyder* C12 LaTurbie...
    
    , Aston Martin V8 Vantage
    Aston Martin V8 Vantage
    Aston Martin V8 Vantage may refer to:* Aston Martin V8 Vantage * Aston Martin Virage * Aston Martin V8 Vantage...
    
     and Ferrari 360 Spider
    Ferrari 360
    The Ferrari 360 is a mid-engine midsize two-seater sports car produced from late 1999 until 2005. The 360 replaced the Ferrari F355 and was itself replaced by the fairly similar Ferrari F430...
    
    .
  • Lucinda's victory on this task meant was her eighth overall, tying her with James Max
    James Max
    James Max is a journalist and radio presenter specialising in business issues. He currently presents programmes for London speech radio station LBC 97.3. He was a semi-finalist on the first series of the British version of The Apprentice television programme.- Pre-Apprentice :Born in London in May...
    
     from Series One as the most successful candidate.
  • Helene came perilously close to being fired due to her failure to make any sales, but was saved by the fact that Sir Alan felt she had been one of the strongest candidates prior to her three-week losing run, and decided to give her a chance in the interviews.

Week 11: Interviews - Semi Finals

• Semi-Finalists: Alex, Claire, Helene, Lee, and Lucinda
• Task: The five remaining candidates undergo a sequence of intense interviews by four of Sir Alan Sugar's business colleagues. The interviewers then report their impressions of the candidates back to Sir Alan to help him choose the finalists. The four interviewers were Paul Kemsley
  Paul Kemsley
  Paul Zeital Kemsley , is an English businessman. He is best known as a property developer, and to sports fans as a former Vice-Chairman of Premier League football club Tottenham Hotspur, and as Chairman of the revived New York Cosmos.-Biography:He was educated at Atholl School in Rayners Lane,...
  
  , a property developer; Claude Litner, Sir Alan’s former “global trouble-shooter”; Karen Brady, the managing director of Birmingham City Football Club; and Bordan Tkachuk, the chief executive of the computer and IT firm Viglen
  Viglen
  Viglen Ltd provides IT products and services, including storage systems, servers, workstations and data/voice communications equipment and services.- History :...
  
  , one of Sir Alan’s companies.
• Result: Claire was accused of being too talkative but otherwise got the best reports from the interviewers, with Karen Brady even offering to employ her if Sir Alan did not. Lee was considered to be a good all-round candidate, but got caught off-guard when asked to do a humorous impression by Paul, which backfired when he was told this demonstrated he did not seem to take the interview seriously. He was also reprimanded for exaggerating on his CV, lying about his length of time at university. Helene was also considered to have a good set of skills, but faced criticism for not having demonstrated any progression in work outside of her current company, and was accused of having a poor attitude after she repeatedly made insulting remarks about the other candidates. Alex continuously came under fire, with his CV being highlighted as boring. While he argued that this was because he was only 24 years old, both Karen and Paul insisted that this was not an excuse, stating that they had achieved more than him by his age. However, he did earn some praise for his accomplishments as a salesman, particularly the fact that he had managed to earn a living purely from sales commission. Lucinda got the worst reports, as she was praised for being intelligent, but heavily criticized for being a "handful". The interviewers questioned her motives for wanting the job, and felt that her teamwork skills were weak. In the end, the interviewers agreed that Claire was the front-runner, but there was no clear consensus on who should be in the final with her. As a result, Sir Alan fired Lucinda, the only candidate who everyone agreed was totally unsuitable for his organization, and put all of the other four candidates through to the final.
• Fired: Lucinda, with regret, for being "too zany", having a degree unrelated to business (in aroma therapy) , and because there were doubts over how much she desired the job.
• Notes: During the boardroom, Alex obnoxiously brought up the subject of Lucinda's lack of desire towards wanting the job, which may have led to Sir Alan's decision to fire her. Also, only one candidate was fired, despite the fact that Sir Alan had previously said that three people were going to get fired. This was because he felt that all of the four finalists were worthy of the job and wanted to put them through one last test to help him with his final decision. In the episode, Lucinda was not shown to be fired with regret. However, in the Why I Fired Them episode, she was.

Week 12: The Grand Finale

• Finalists: Alex, Claire, Helene, and Lee
• Task: Develop an original fragrance for men, and then market it at an industry event.
• Teams:
  • Renaissance: Alex and Helene with Jennifer, Kevin, and Raef
  • Alpha: Claire and Lee with Jenny, Michael, and Simon
• Results:
  • Renaissance: The team struggled for name ideas, and it was eventually left to a product designer to suggest a bottle design, which eventually evolved into their brand, DUAL. While the design of the DUAL bottle was innovative, including a detachable smaller bottle, it was more expensive to produce and therefore not fitting the given retail price of £29.95. Despite the major error, the experts loved the smell of the fragrance, which smelled of caramel and chocolate, although it was also pointed out that it was a (seemingly accidental) copy of a fragrance that Helene normally wears, Angel.
  • Alpha: Alpha named their fragrance R0ULETTE, playing on associations with gambling and James Bond
    James Bond
    James Bond, code name 007, is a fictional character created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short story collections. There have been a six other authors who wrote authorised Bond novels or novelizations after Fleming's death in 1964: Kingsley Amis,...
    
    . They replaced the 'O' on the name with a '0', representing the 0 on a roulette wheel. R0ULETTE was criticized by both an industry representative and Sir Alan, as likely to be unpopular with women buyers due to the gambling connotation. The experts also stated the fragrance was "retro 50", as in "boring". Sugar expressed that although Claire's question and answer skills were excellent, it does not help sell fragrances.
• Winner: Alpha, Claire and Lee proceed to the final two.
• Loser: Renaissance
  • Reason: Although Alpha's name and theme of R0ULETTE were unpopular with some women, Renaissance's budgetary problems caused by the DUAL bottle design were felt to be a more serious flaw, resulting in Alpha being once again named the winner of the task.
• Fired: Alex and Helene, for making the bottle unreasonably expensive and therefore losing the task, plus the following additional reasons:
  • Alex, for his overly defensive nature, for failing to show skills aside from selling, and for having the least impressive employment record of the final four candidates.
  • Helene, for her highly negative attitude throughout the process, for trying to eat Sir Alan, for taking a backseat during the first day of the final task, and for trying to shift responsibility for the bottle's price onto Alex.
• Runner-Up: Claire; Sir Alan complimented her on the improvement she had shown over the course of the series, but expressed doubts about whether he'd want to work with her in the long-term.
• Hired: Lee, who was viewed by Sir Alan as "very resilient" and "very convincing". Sugar also was impressed that Lee improved his presenting skills by "100%".
• Notes:
  • Throughout the entire season, Renaissance only won two tasks, while Alpha won nine. Alpha holds the record for the most wins, and Renaissance holds the record for the most losses.
  • This is the first time two candidates were fired simultaneously. Usually Sir Alan would fire one candidate and then proceed to fire a second candidate.
  • Lee's joint victory with Claire in the task meant that he also equalled the record of eight wins overall, tying Lucinda from this series and James Max from the first series. It was also his sixth task victory in succession (not counting the interviews), tying the record which Max also held.

Related programmes

, four additional hour-long specials have accompanied Series Four; The Apprentice: Worst Decisions Ever, The Apprentice: Motor Mouths, each revisiting candidates from the previous three series and two candidate profile programmes entitled The Apprentice: The Final Five and The Apprentice: Why I Fired Them .

An Apprentice version of the Weakest Link

The Weakest Link

The Weakest Link is a television game show which first appeared in the United Kingdom on BBC Two on 14 August 2000 and will end its run in 2012 when its host Anne Robinson ends her contract. The original British version of the show airs around the world on BBC Entertainment...

also accompanied the series, with major characters from all four series competing for their chosen charities. The contestants were (in order of elimination):

• Kevin Shaw (Series 4)
• Paul Torrisi (Series 1)
• Katie Hopkins (Series 3)
• James Max (Series 1)
• Ian Stringer (Series 4)
• Tre Azam (Series 3)
• Jenny Celerier (Series 4)
• Kristina Grimes (Series 3)
• Jo Cameron (Series 2)

Jo defeated Kristina in the final and donated £11,550 to her chosen charity.

Ratings

The show had gradually been increasing in popularity since it began, but this series proved to be a major ratings success. Every episode finished in the top ten of the BBC One Weekly Ranking, and the series finale became the first-ever Apprentice episode to be the BBC's top-rated programme of the week. Moreover, it was the BBC's third most successful series of the year, beaten in audience numbers only by EastEnders

EastEnders

EastEnders is a British television soap opera, first broadcast in the United Kingdom on BBC One on 19 February 1985 and continuing to today. EastEnders storylines examine the domestic and professional lives of the people who live and work in the fictional London Borough of Walford in the East End...

and Doctor Who

Doctor Who

Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...

.

Episode Viewing figures from BARB

Barb

Barb may refer to:* A backward-facing point on a fish hook or similar implement, rendering extraction from the victim's flesh more difficult* Wind barbs for each station on a map of reported weather conditions...

.

Episode No.	Airdate	Total Viewers	BBC One Weekly Ranking
1	26 March 2008	6,730,000	8
2	2 April 2008	6,730,000	9
3	9 April 2008	7,320,000	6
4	16 April 2008	7,430,000	5
5	23 April 2008	7,850,000	5
6	30 April 2008	7,280,000	5
7	7 May 2008	7,170,000	5
8	14 May 2008	7,110,000	6
9	21 May 2008	5,730,000	9
10	28 May 2008	6,840,000	6
11	4 June 2008	7,940,000	4
12	11 June 2008	9,290,000	1

External links