Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring unknown individuals rather than professional actors. Reality television came to prominence in the late 1990s and early 2000s with the global successes of the series Survivor, Idols, and Big Brother, all of which became global franchises. Reality television shows tend to be interspersed with "confessionals", short interview segments in which cast members reflect on or provide context for the events being depicted on-screen. Competition-based reality shows typically feature gradual elimination of participants, either by a panel of judges or by the viewership of the show.
The Apprentice is a British business-styled reality game show, created by Mark Burnett, distributed by Fremantle and broadcast by the BBC. Based upon the American original of the same name and billed as the "job interview from hell", the programme focuses on a group of aspiring businesspeople competing against each other in a series of business related challenges, in order to win a prize offered by British business magnate Alan Sugar. Produced by a number of companies over the course of the show's history, including Talkback Thames and United Artists Media Group, each series consists of around twelve episodes, and were initially aired either around early/late Spring, before later series began their broadcasts around Autumn. The show initially was aired on BBC Two, before the programme's success led the BBC to move the show to BBC One from the start of the third series in 2007.
Age: 41; Occupation: Literacy and Education Company Director.[19]
Ampaw-Farr described herself as "half machine. I can process things at a speed that is out of this world!", "I'm superwoman", and "the Brad Pitt of the Teacher Training Industry".[20] Despite these claims Ampaw-Farr was fired after the first task and became the first female project manager to be fired on the first task.[21] She was the only candidate that Tim Stillwell never worked with during the series.
At the time of her appearance on the show, Ampaw-Farr was 41, making her the oldest ever contestant to take part in the show, beating out Matthew Palmer from Series 1 and Mani Sandher from Series 2, who were both 39 during their time on the show respectively. This would be beaten two years later by Ruth Whiteley from Series 11, who was 47 during her time on the show.
Early in the process, Karren Brady labelled Clough a "backseat driver", as he never volunteered to be project manager, though always ended up leading in some way. In week 4 Clough led his team to a loss, though survived based on past performance. He later won two other tasks as project manager - one being an overwhelming victory. In the Interviews stage of the process, Claude Littner said that Clough could not make his business idea work, but Clough continued to insist that he could make it work. Lord Sugar regrettably fired Clough for his obstinate nature, though was saddened to do so.
Fired in week 8. Lord Sugar stating that Leech is an "awfully nice fellow, but it was time for (him) to go". In week 8 he became the first project manager to resign his position after being repeatedly pushed over by Luisa.
Francesca MacDuff-Varley
Age: 32; Occupation: Dance and Entertainment Entrepreneur.[31]
Mills claimed that "I’m the new breed of businessman that this process requires". Mills volunteered to be project manager a number of times, but was not selected. Eventually, in week 9, Lord Sugar made him project manager, and Mills led the team to a loss leading Lord Sugar to fire Mills.[34]
Myles Mordaunt
Age: 39; Occupation: Marketing Company Co-Founder.[35]
Mordaunt claimed "I’m business perfection personified". Mordaunt had a successful track record, being on the winning team for six consecutive weeks, and only being in the final boardroom twice in the last two weeks, before the interviews stage. However, Lord Sugar stated that he could not build a business, and fired him in week 10.[38][39] During his time on the show, he gained the nickname "Mr. Monaco" because he lived in Monaco.
Panayi stated that "When it comes to business, I am the complete package and when it comes to sales, I’m the best." but was fired for failing the week 7 sales task. Panayi also stated that "Lord Sugar could learn from me". Lord Sugar disagreed and stated that Panayi "overestimates her abilities".
Despite having the best record of anyone in the series, winning 7 out of the 10 previous tasks, during the interview stage Littner described Poulton as a 'parasite', citing that Poulton technically didn't own any share of the tech-startup business he claimed to be an existing partner of. The interview terminated early. Poulton also claimed to be able to solve a Rubik's cube in 3 minutes, however failed to do so during another interview. He was fired in Week 11, coming fifth place in the competition.
Zeeshaan Shah
Age: 27; Occupation: CEO of Property Investment Company.[44]
Shah described himself as "I’m a ‘Great’ of my generation. I’m an innovator and leader in business. I take inspiration from Napoleon; I am here to conquer", and stated that "Zeeshaan Shah will go down in history". He also has a self-declared IQ of 137.[46] He was fired after losing as project manager in the week 5.[47]
Slater claimed that "I’m a pretty tough person. I don’t let people walk all over me in life or in business. And if somebody crosses me, it’s game over." Slater was the best sales-woman in week one and the best seller out of all of the candidates. Despite being brought back into the boardroom in week 2, she was the best seller in the out of all the candidates. She was fired for being the cause of the team's overspend in week 6, and for having no skills other than sales. After being fired Slater claimed that she did not deserve to get fired because she is "very good".
Tim Stillwell
Age: 23; Occupation: Mexican Food Entrepreneur. Fired in week 2.[50]
Despite having little previous business experience, during week 11, Lord Sugar stated how Totton had learned the most and had good business knowledge. She ultimately won at the final, on 17 July 2013.[54][55]
Kurt Wilson
Age: 26; Occupation: Health Drink Entrepreneur & Health and Safety Manager.[56]
Wilson described himself as "I’m an alpha male; I always get my own way and know how to make people do what I want.", but was fired for leading his team to a loss in week 7. Wilson was criticised for "terrible sexism" when he described Totton as "eye candy".[58] He made a grave error when prompting PM Zeeshaan Shah with the wrong size for a flag of the United Arab Emirates, assuming that 1foot was 12centimetres and was blamed by PM Neil Clough in Week 4 who said he should be fired for the failure of the farm shop task.
Uzma Yakoob
Age: 32; Occupation: Entrepreneur and Make Up Brand Owner.
During the process, Luisa came across as very arrogant and pushy. In week 8, she forced Project Manager Jason Leech to give up his position as PM and let her be PM. They went on to lose the task and Lord Sugar didn't like what Luisa was like throughout the task. Despite this, he allowed to stay in the process, but didn't want to see her in the final three again. In weeks 9 & 10, Lord Sugar, Nick and Karren were very impressed with Luisa. Zissman made it to the final and came second, losing to Leah Totton.Zissman said that during the process she had "learnt to keep her mouth shut".[63]
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The Apprentice: You're Fired! is a comedy companion discussion programme, created by Mark Burnett in 2006, to run alongside the currently running series of The Apprentice. While its initial series was aired on BBC Three, later series were broadcast on BBC Two since 2007, with the final episode aired on BBC One since 2008 as part of a two-hour special with the main show.
Series nine of The Apprentice (UK), a British reality television series, was broadcast in the UK during 2013, from 7 May to 17 July on BBC One. It is the first series to be produced by Boundless, following FremantleMedia assigning production to the company from Talkback Thames.
Series ten of The Apprentice (UK), a British reality television series, was broadcast in the UK during 2014, from 14 October to 21 December on BBC One; due to live coverage in Summer of that year for both the FIFA World Cup and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the BBC postponed the series' broadcast until Autumn to avoid clashing with these. It is the last series to feature Nick Hewer as Alan Sugar's aide, who left the programme following the series finale, with the tenth series featuring a guest appearance from Ricky Martin, winner of the eighth series, as an interviewer for the Interviews Stage for this series only.
Luisa Christina Zissman is an English retail entrepreneur and reality television personality. She was the runner-up on the ninth series of The Apprentice and appeared in Celebrity Big Brother 13.
Angels Den is an online investment platform that connects businesses with angel investors. It was founded in 2006 and is authorised by the Financial Conduct Authority (FCA).
Leah Totton is a Northern Irish practising physician and entrepreneur who won the 2013 series of BBC One's The Apprentice. Her business plan, a cosmetic clinic chain, named Dr Leah Clinics, co-owned with Lord Alan Sugar, launched in 2014. Their business was a success; with their London clinic winning national awards and in 2018 The Sun newspaper reported Dr Leah had made her first million.. Dr Leah Clinics expanded to open further branches in London and Essex. She has received media attention for her glamorous appearance, her success on the show, the success of her resulting business and for advocacy of improved ethics and integrity in the cosmetic treatment industry.. Despite the success of her business Dr Leah remained committed to NHS work and continued to work part-time as an accident and emergency Doctor.
Series twelve of The Apprentice, a British reality television series, began broadcasting in the UK during 2016, from 6 October to 18 December on BBC One; due to live coverage of the UK EU membership referendum in late Spring of that year, alongside live coverage of Euro 2016 and the 2016 Rio Olympics during Summer, the BBC postponed the series' broadcast until the middle of Autumn to avoid clashing with these major events.
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