The
Apprentice
Facts
* BAFTA
Award-winning business series The Apprentice is now on its fourth run
after three previous successful series. Since first airing in 2005,
The Apprentice regularly draws in over 6 million viewers and was last
year promoted to a primetime slot on BBC One. A record number of viewers
tuned in to see Simon Ambrose become Sir Alan Sugar's third apprentice.
* As well
as a wealth of loyal fans, The Apprentice has received critical-acclaim
and won numerous awards including two BAFTA's and a National Television
Award.
* Highlights
of previous series include: James Max from series one selling a "high
fashion wolf jacket" live on television; Syed Ahmed's miscalculation
in the kitchen in series two, resulting in the "100 chickens"
disaster; Nargis Ara's series two cat-tastrophe: "Did you know
that there are over 6 million cats in the UK?". And in series three:
Paul Callaghan's embarrassing attempt at flogging cash and carry cheese
to the French; Simon Ambrose's rather graphic demonstration of assembling
a trampoline live on national television; and Tre Azam's interpretation
of art, where he used the term "titties and fish" to describe
the work of a top UK artist.
* The
Apprentice has spawned a number of columns and blogs in the national
press and has been spoofed by comedians including French & Saunders,
Harry Hill and Dead Ringers. In 2007, the BBC Two show Kombat Opera
spoofed The Apprentice with Kombat Opera Presents ... The Applicants.
* In 2007,
a celebrity special of The Apprentice aired as part of the Comic Relief
night on BBC One. Comic Relief Does The Apprentice featured a wealth
of high-profile celebrities including Cheryl Cole, Ross Kemp and Piers
Morgan as they all battled it out to raise money and avoid the ultimate
dent in their egos – being fired by Sir Alan Sugar. It was girls
versus boys as the teams were challenged to run a fun fair for the night
and sell as many tickets as possible to their celebrity friends. The
turnout was impressive as celebrities and business figures including
Take That, Girls Aloud, McFly, Geri Halliwell, Stuart Rose, Philip Green
and Chris Evans all pitched in to show their support. Simon Cowell even
made an appearance after purchasing a ticket for £25,000. As always
in The Apprentice, one team had to lose and it was the boys who had
to face Sir Alan's wrath. It didn't take long for Sir Alan to decide
that Piers Morgan was to hear the immortal words "You're Fired!"
barked at him from across the boardroom.
* In March
this year, another celebrity special aired as part of Sport Relief on
BBC One – Sport Relief Does The Apprentice. Viewers saw famous
faces including Lisa Snowdon, Kirstie Allsopp and Nick Hancock work
their socks off over two grueling days to raise as much cash as possible
for Sport Relief. Despite raising almost £1 million between them,
it was the boys who failed to impress Sir Alan. In the conclusion show,
aired on Friday 14 March, original Project Manager Hardeep Singh Kohli
faced the wrath of Sir Alan as he heard those fateful words "You're
Fired!"
Sir
Alan Sugar
* After
leaving school in Hackney aged 16, Sir Alan started selling car aerials
and electric goods out of a van he bought for £100. In 1968, he
founded Amstrad and now, over 40 years later, he has an estimated worth
of £830 million, and was ranked 84th in the 2007 Sunday Times
Rich List.
* He became
Chairman of Tottenham Hotspur FC in 1991 and up until last year he was
their biggest single shareholder. In July 2007, Sir Alan sold his Amstrad
empire to Sky but remains Chairman. Sir Alan's sister companies Amsair,
which offers business and executive jets to a number of high profile
clients around the world, and Amsprop, an investment firm which he owns
with his son Daniel, keeps Sir Alan in the business world and The Apprentice
keeps him in the public eye.
* In 2000,
Sir Alan was knighted for his services to business and he holds two
honorary Doctorates of Science degrees, awarded by City University and
Brunel University respectively.
* Sir
Alan is a philanthropist for a number of charities including Great Ormond
Street Hospital and Jewish Care. He has now been recruited to the government's
Business Council for Britain where he is an advisor to Gordon Brown
on issues affecting enterprise, business and the long-term productivity
and competitiveness of the economy.
Apprentice
alumni
What
happened to previous winners?
* Simon
Ambrose, series three champ, continues to work for Amsprop, the real
estate division of Sir Alan's group of companies, where he is working
towards becoming a qualified Chartered Surveyor and developing a hotel
and golf course near Stansted Airport. Simon has relaunched www.amsprop.com
– a one-stop shop giving customers instant access to all of Amsprop's
portfolio. This is currently a unique proposition in the property industry.
* Tim
Campbell, series one winner, worked for Amstrad's health and beauty
division for two years before he stepped down to set up the Bright Ideas
Trust, an initiative to give young entrepreneurs a chance to set up
a business with equity funding and advice.
* Michelle
Dewberry, series two winner, completed 12 months at Amstrad and now
runs a successful business consultancy.
* Of the
runners-up of the last series, many have gone on to launch successful
businesses: Ifti Chaudhri from series three opened up Eclipse Tiles,
taking the name from his team on the show. He will be opening up Eclipse
2 later this year whilst continuing to design kitchens and bathrooms
for clients. Rory Laing, who was a victim of a double firing with Ifti,
will be launching the London Zeppelin this summer, which will involve
a month of Zeppelin airship flights over London during July. He is also
applying for an Officer's position in the Territorial Army.
* From
series two, Karen Bremner, who quit her job as a high profile lawyer
to take part, now runs a successful ladies boutique, Broughty Ferry,
which she recently won the Young Entrepreneurial Company of the Year
for. Series two runner-up, Ruth Badger now owns two businesses, Ruth
Badger Consultancy, which specialises in company rescue, troubleshooting
and recruitment, and North West Money, which helps provide finance for
homeowner's. In addition to this, Ruth has her own TV series on Sky
One, Badger Or Bust and is a popular guest speaker at various business
functions throughout the UK.
* Series
one runner-up Saira Khan has gone on to become a best-selling author
with her self-help book P.U.S.H For Success. As well as contributing
to the Daily Mail, Saira manages to mix a career in the media with her
business expertise and spends her time juggling her career as managing
director for her company, Miamoo, with presenting the CBBC show Beat
The Boss.
* Fellow
series one, candidate Paul Torrisi sold his property company for £4million
when the series ended and now writes for the Daily Mail property section,
and his first book, The Apprentice Property Master, is released later
this year.
