Reality television is a genre of television programming that documents purportedly unscripted real-life situations, often starring otherwise 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.
Simon Ambrose was educated at the independent Westminster School before gaining an MA in Economics at Magdalene College, Cambridge, graduating with a double first. It is reported that Simon became a member of Mensa at age 13 with an IQ of 174. He describes himself as "sexy, competitive, proud and ambitious" who does "his best work under pressure". Since being made redundant from the Investment BankCredit Suisse, he has tried his hand at a number of internet-based entrepreneurial ideas.[19] Percy Ambrose, his paternal grandfather, is a jeweller and self-made millionaire. His father, Russell Ambrose, has many business interests with an annual turnover of £50 million. Ambrose was the winner of series 3.[20]
Ghazal Asif
Ghazal Asif,[21] a 23-year-old Glaswegian of Pakistani descent, was the youngest candidate in the series; indeed her age proved to be a cause of concern to Sir Alan. She speaks five languages and planned to establish her own business in fashion if she did not win the programme. Her ambition is to be a millionaire by the time she's 30. She was fired in week 8.[22] Ghazal Asif has now launched her fashion clothing label, Ghazals Couture.[23][24]
Tre Azam
Tre Azam[25] was born on 15 August 1979 to Pakistani immigrant parents. He is second in a family of seven and is described as "forthright, opinionated and a bit of a maverick". He started work aged 10, building PCs in his father's factory. He worked in various countries in Europe and Asia before running his family company's US operations.[26] In his spare time, Azam enjoys kickboxing, martial arts and philosophy. He was once involved in a car crash in France, after falling asleep at the wheel, which left him in a wheelchair for nine months.[27] Although he has metal plates in his spine and legs he walks without difficulty. He is married with two children a son and a daughter, Ayaan and Aliyah.
During his time on The Apprentice, Azam was in the winning team in 7 out of 10 tasks, more than any other series three candidate.[28] He attacked the programme for editing him badly, claiming that his character had been "dumbed down".[29]
Azam appeared on Big Brother's Big Mouth and was on the green carpet for the IIFA Awards 2007, that took place in Britain. Azam has posted videos of his opinions on popular video website YouTube and had a column on The Apprentice website, commenting on the series 4 episodes. He criticised many of the series 4 contestants as lacking business acumen or integrity.[30] In November 2008 Azam was found guilty of falsely claiming thousands of pounds of state paid benefits and was ordered to serve 80 hours of community service and costs of nearly £7000.[31]
Gerri Blackwood
Gerri Blackwood was in the running for a job with the Security Services and had to withdraw from the process just days before filming for The Apprentice started. Having reached the position of Business Development Director by the age of 30, she wanted a new challenge to test and develop herself. When interviewed in the lead-up to the Series 3 launch, the 33-year-old said "It's easy to have confidence when you are a big fish in your own pond, but to suddenly be thrown into a sea of sharks you have a bit of a reality check".[32]
After her final episode was shown on television, Blackwood was misquoted by The Daily Star that the female members of the show were forced to shower together, and appeared on the front page - much to her embarrassment. The article also claimed that Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford fed the candidates misleading information so they would fail the tasks and that Sir Alan Sugar's rants were re-filmed to make them look better. Fair to say the journalist had sensationalised what Gerri had said but there was an element of truth in the candidate being made to look like chumps to make 'good TV'.[citation needed]
Following the show, Gerri got married and settled back into the corporate world of professional services where she keeps quiet about her 'flash in the pan fame' and focuses on re-building her reputation as a serious businesswoman.[citation needed]
Paul Callaghan
Paul Callaghan was educated at the independent King Edward VI School in Southampton in Southern England. He was an artillery officer who saw active service in Iraq, and ended his service as a Lieutenant. He said: "My lack of commercial experience might be a weakness but my leadership and organisational qualities are definite strengths".[33] This was disproved by his performance as project manager in week 6, and he was fired for being "a total shambles". He had a close relationship with fellow candidate Katie Hopkins during the show.[34]
Iftikhar Chaudhri
Iftikhar "Ifti" Chaudhri, a British Asian of Pakistani descent, built his successful tile business from scratch, has ambitions of owning his own leisure centre and is currently applying to join the Tae Kwon Do team for the 2012 Olympics.
"When you can break bricks with your hands you believe in your head you can do anything, and in business I take on the same ethic," he says.[35] He left the show in the second week after telling Sir Alan that he was missing his family. This is the earliest occasion in any series that someone has been fired "with regret".
Straight after leaving the show Ifti opened up his first shop; Eclipse Tiles in Ealing, West London. The shop was named after the team name Ifti made in the show. He opened up his second store in Twickenham a year later. Ifti has also opened up a sandwich shop in Twickenham and is due to open up another Tile Shop.
Ifti has recently taken part in various charity events involving his martial arts.
Ifti was elected as the first Muslim Councillor on Runnymede Council in May 2012 after a very hard fought campaign where he canvassed over a thousand houses and delivered thousands of leaflets. He has ambitions of going much higher the political ladder and one day becoming a senior minister.[citation needed] He is a very capable[citation needed] and energetic[citation needed] politician representing the Conservative Party.[citation needed]
Ifti was re-elected in 2016 and then moved up to become deputy mayor of the council. He became the first non Christian Mayor in the history of the council in May 2017. Ifti is extremely proud in having become the first citizen in the borough which is seen as the birthplace of democracy as the Magna Carta was signed in Runnymede.[citation needed]
Kristina Grimes
Kristina Grimes (born 31 October 1970) is a businesswoman from Julianstown, County Meath, Ireland.[36] Before appearing on The Apprentice she worked as pharmaceuticals manager.[37] She reached the final of the competition and finished runner-up to Simon Ambrose. This was widely regarded as a surprise, as Grimes had been considered the bookmakers' hot favourite to be hired by Sir Alan.[38] Grimes was promoted to the final when original finalist Katie Hopkins, with whom she had a personal conflict, pulled out.[39]
Grimes gave birth to a son, Graeme Grimes, at the age of 17 whilst living in the Republic of Ireland. Of her pregnancy, she has said: "At the time I had my son, girls were sent away to hide their pregnancy. Once they gave birth, they gave up their babies and went back as if they had never been pregnant. I was the only one who kept my child. In my mind I felt I had to live by my mistakes; not that I felt Graeme was a mistake."[40] She went on to achieve a degree in mathematics.[37]
After leaving The Apprentice, Grimes received 140 job offers. She chose to become the investment sales director with Isle of Man-based property company Dandara.[41] Subsequently, Grimes has founded The KGJC Partnership with former Apprentice contestant Jenny Celerier. The company promotes excellence in business performance. She currently lives in Harrogate whilst her son Graeme is attending university in Birmingham.
Born to Roy and Anona Hopkins in 1975, Katie Hopkins was sponsored through university by the Royal Military Academy Sandhurst, however she never served due to medical issues. She claims she can "out press-up" most men. Her goal is "to be CEO of a large global brand builder by 40".[42] She is a single parent from Devon with two daughters. She claimed to be the highest paid candidate on £90,000 a year (a claim since denied by her ex-employers, who dismissed her after the series was aired), and is a partner in her ex-husband's brand-building firm.[43]
She hit the headlines as part of the first on-screen romantic relationship to feature on The Apprentice, with fellow candidate Paul Callaghan.[44]
Hopkins has become something of a pantomime villain since her time on the programme, especially on internet forums,[45] although Sir Alan Sugar has come to her defence.[46] She was also mocked on The Friday Night Project in their "Friday night news" segment. They reported on how Katie Hopkins had "got the sack", referring to her being sacked from her job because of details of her private life which were revealed in the tabloids. Show host Alan Carr commented on this, saying "Normally when Katie gets the sack she grabs it in her right hand and rams it down her throat". Hopkins herself appeared on the show the next week, only to be met with heavy booing from the audience. Carr also told her that she should learn not to "put out" on a first date.
Katie has also appeared on the BBC's Question Time on 10 June 2010.
Adam Hosker
Adam Hosker was born on a council estate in Blackburn, Lancashire. He has an ambition to run an internationally successful company after being one of only a small number of students from his comprehensive school to graduate University. He graduated in Sport Management. He claims to earn three times the average wage of the kids he went to school with. He says "My strengths and my weaknesses are often the same thing – on occasion my confidence can come across as arrogance to those who don't know me."[citation needed]
There was controversy surrounding Hosker's exit from the show following a "North–South" rift with a number of the other contestants, particularly Katie Hopkins and Paul Callaghan. Hosker is now a Director in a North West-based I.T. Company (I.T. Team Solutions, according to the North West News) after leaving his position as a Sales Manager in a car dealership. An article in a local North West newspaper stated that he is involved in the design of Sport Management Software for use in elite sport. His only regular public appearance was as a match presenter at Blackburn Rovers where he was seen making the half-time announcements on the pitch, although he has now relinquished this role.
Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson, a 44-year-old car salesman from Leeds, is a father of three. His hobbies include playing online poker, buying and selling cars, and trading on eBay. "My passions are winning, winning and winning," Jackson says.[47]
Jadine Johnson
Jadine Johnson is best known for being selected from 10,000 applicants to interview for Lord Alan Sugar on the UK Apprentice BBC1 in series 3 was one of the 7 finalists out of 14 original candidates, viewed by millions, won both her managerial tasks and by being on the winning team more than any other female in the series Jadine was the highest winning female on the show. Featured in the official Apprentice publication as one of the last magnificent 7 candidates to appear, she was invited back to appear on the final episode 'personally' by Lord Alan Sugar, where she aided Simon Ambrose in becoming the series winner.
Sophie Kain
Sophie Kain has a PhD in Theoretical Physics. She works as a research scientist for an aviation and shipping design company. Kain commented "I can understand the technical side of things but also have vision."[48]
Lohit Kalburgi
Lohit Kalburgi, 25, was born in the United Arab Emirates (his parents are of Indian origin) and has been a resident of five different countries. Starting his first company at 16, he says "I would like people to see me as the nice guy. My game plan is to be myself and get on with things".[49] Kalburgi lasted until Week 11, when he became the first candidate to be fired as a result of the interviews – although he had a narrow escape in Week 9 when Sir Alan thought he most deserved to be fired, but let Jadine go as he felt she was suffering from stress too much to continue. He is the first openly gay UK Apprentice candidate. After leaving the show Kalburgi launched his own company, PashFash, a new men's fashion label, for London Fashion Week 2007. He is currently a design consultant for BT Retail in London.
Rory Laing
Rory Laing, 29, was born the youngest of three boys and brought up near Dublin, Ireland. His family moved to England when he was aged 5. He was educated at the independent Malvern College and graduated from Ravensbourne College with a Degree in Product Design and then the University of Bristol with an Msc in Entrepreneurship. He had employed over 400 staff across his three previous companies, including Kate Middleton. These companies were all operating in the events industry, predominantly supplying staff to large summer events like Henley Royal Regatta and Royal Ascot.
He stepped up as project manager on a design task in the second week, and was noted for his insistence on absolute discipline, including ordering his team-members to take off their blazers while he kept his on in order to clearly show who was in charge. This autocratic leadership style resulted in Rory being in near constant argument with Tre Azam, culminating in an aggressive exchange at midnight, with Laing arguing that he was the team's "boss," and Azam replying that he was only the project manager, eventually ending in Azam telling him that "You're nothing to me." The eventual result of the task was the worst defeat in the show's history at the time for Laing's team, and despite Ifti Chaudhri leaving the show that week due to missing his family, Sir Alan felt that Rory had been such a weak leader that he fired him anyway. Rory thus became the first candidate to be victim of an unexpected double firing.
Although fired in the second week, his design in the final, when he returned as part of Simon Ambrose's team, helped Ambrose to win the competition. Laing ran The London Zeppelin Company, the company behind the Stella Artois: Star Over London, which he set up after approaching the German airship company Zeppelin Luftschifftechnik GmbH. The flights were the first Zeppelin flights offered to the public since the Graf Zeppelin in 1932. The company was reported dissolved as of 24 February 2011. On 18 May 2009 he was appointed director of Lark Aerial Systems Limited; the company was dissolved on 16 October 2012.[50]
Naomi Lay
Naomi Lay, 26, from Cornwall, was originally a PA and is now a Sales Team Manager for Advertising.com. She has visited Sierra Leone and Russia where her father worked in diamond and gold mining. "People that know me would describe me as loud, motivated, fun, determined, compassionate and energetic".[51]
Lay was fired from the programme during the tenth episode. The majority of the audience on You're Fired disagreed with the decision and Simon Ambrose was considered to have deserved be fired that week for failing to manage the team properly. Sir Alan subsequently acknowledged that her firing might have seemed unfair on the basis of that task, but added that she had never once impressed him in the ten weeks she had lasted, and felt that she had been "incredibly lucky" to get that far without being fired.[citation needed]
After The Apprentice, Lay returned to Cornwall where she was regularly talked about on the local radio station, BBC Radio Cornwall. She was one of the judges on the Radio Cornwall Singing Sensation competition at the Royal Cornwall Show.
Natalie Wood
Natalie Wood is a mother of two and former receptionist who believed she would thrive under Sir Alan's management. "I admire Sir Alan's achievements and attitude, I like the way he is with people. Who needs the truth wrapped up with fairy lights? Say it how it is!" she says.[52]
Wood took issue with Adrian Chiles, host of spin-off show The Apprentice: You're Fired!, over a comment he made about her accent. Chiles, who has a distinctive Birmingham accent, asked Wood on the spin-off show whether her Essex accent had been a hindrance. "But how can you pick up on my accent when Sir Alan is sitting across the table", commented Wood. "How can he say that? Essex is fantastic and I'm proud to come from Essex. A lot of people from Essex are very successful. I find it hard to swallow."[53]
Wood is now an admissions officer in a London School.[citation needed]
Related Research Articles
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Katie Olivia Hopkins is an English media personality, columnist, and businesswoman. She was a contestant in the third series of The Apprentice in 2007 and, following further appearances in the media, she became a columnist for British national newspapers. She began writing for The Sun in 2013 and the Daily Mail's website MailOnline from 2015 to 2017. She has also hosted her own television chat show If Katie Hopkins Ruled the World, and been a presenter for the talk radio station LBC.
Simon Ambrose was the 2007 winner of the third series of the British version of reality TV show The Apprentice, in which contestants compete for a job working for British TV personality Sir Alan Sugar. In 2007 Simon became the first Apprentice winner to also be a TV Actor. He is now Chairman of the London Contemporary Orchestra.
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Syed Ahmed is a Bangladeshi-born British entrepreneur, businessman and television personality. He is the founder and CEO of the British design and manufacturing hand dryer company SAVortex. He is best known for being a contestant in the 2006 series of The Apprentice, where he was fired in Week 10.
Series six of The Apprentice (UK), a British reality television series, was broadcast in the UK during 2010 from 6 October to 19 December on BBC One; due to the 2010 General Election, which Alan Sugar had political ties with following his appointment as a Lord within the House of Lords, the BBC postponed the series' broadcast until Autumn of that year to avoid a potential conflict of interest from the broadcaster.
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