The Apprentice (British TV series)
The Apprentice is a British business-styled reality game show created by Mark Burnett, distributed by Fremantle and broadcast by the BBC since 16 February 2005. Devised after the success of the American original and part of the international franchise of the same name, the programme focuses on a group of businesspeople competing in a series of business-related challenges set by British business magnate Alan Sugar, in order to prove themselves worthy of a prize offered by him. To observe candidates as they undertake these tasks, Sugar is aided by two close business associates who act as observers with little involvement in what is conducted – these roles are currently performed by Karren Brady and Tim Campbell.
Originally aired on BBC Two, its first series generated favourable viewing figures that led to the creation of a companion discussion show, The Apprentice: You're Fired!, with further increasing figures after the second series leading to the programme being aired on BBC One to a much wider audience. The success of The Apprentice has led to it receiving its own merchandising, including a magazine and official books, along with one-off celebrity episodes for charity, and a spin-off, Young Apprentice, which ran between 2010 and 2012.
The programme is a staple part of the BBC's television schedule, with the programme contributing a significant part to television culture, including parodies and imitations for comedy, as well as influencing the designs of other British-based business programmes, such as Tycoon, and Beat the Boss.
History
In March 2004, following the success of the first season of NBC's The Apprentice, FremantleMedia saw the possibility for creating an international franchise, and announced its intentions to create a British version of the programme under the same name and format. The company offered any British broadcaster the chance to secure the rights to the new programme, the most significant bids coming from the BBC and Channel 4. Negotiations finished on 1 April, when the BBC was announced as the new owner of the future programme after outbidding their rival. This left the BBC with the task of finding a business personality to front The Apprentice.The BBC made offers promising a potentially lucrative business opportunity to several business individuals, including Philip Green, Felix Dennis and Michael O'Leary, but each of their initial choices declined when approached. On 19 May, Alan Sugar agreed to present the twelve episodes of the programme that had been commissioned. After the first series of the British version proved to be a success, Sugar signed on for subsequent series.
Format
Candidate selection
The show's initial stage, which is not filmed, focuses on open auditions and interviews held across the United Kingdom; this stage searches for the candidates for a series before filming of it begins, which often attracts thousands of applicants. A second round will usually be held in London for a small percentage of applicants, who divide into groups and are asked to do various exercises to test their business skills and to gauge how they work as a team. Following this, between 20 and 30 applicants are chosen and given an assessment by a psychologist, receiving further checks by the production team and providing them with references, before the final line-up is selected from this group and filming can begin. The number of candidates who appear in a series has varied over the show's history, though the general arrangement is that each series always consists of a balanced number of men and women when it begins.Tasks
Once the candidates are selected, they are divided into teams and given a series of business-themed tasks – every series focuses on ten team-oriented tasks, with the exception of the seventh and eighth series which featured eleven. Each episode covers a single task, which is designed to test candidates on important business skills – salesmanship, negotiation, requisitioning, strategy, leadership, teamwork, and organisation. Before each task is given, the teams are briefed by Sugar over what kind of challenge they will be conducting, what rules they must adhere to during the timespan of the task, and the conditions for winning – an example of this could be that they must buy supplies on a limited budget, convert them into a product, and then sell their creation all within a single day, with the win determined on who makes the highest profit from their concept. Before a task begins, each team must assign a project manager to lead them, whose roles involves denoting each member's role on the task, tackle the important key decisions, and manage team members carefully to avoid potential friction and disruptions. The role of PM is mainly chosen by the team – the choice, decided on a vote, can be influenced by factors, the most common being a candidate's business background and its relation to the task, or the amount of confidence team members have in their selection – but at times, Sugar may appoint someone into the role, based upon his opinion of their performance in the process, their background, or, since the seventh series, their business plan. The briefing period of the episode is often used at specific points in the series to rearrange teams, as candidates are whittled down in the process, and is mainly done to either balance out the number, ensure a fair distribution of skills for a specific task, or to give less vocal candidates a chance to demonstrate their abilities.Each team is provided with two vehicles to use to get around during a task and can only split into two sub-teams for each task; in some tasks, the candidates are given additional items to use to assist them, such as a shop space or a workshop. Although the teams are expected to work together, the competitive nature of the show means that candidates will often focus on their individual roles and needs rather than the greater good of the team, primarily to prove themselves worthy of winning the process and increasing their chances of making it into the Final of the series. During the execution of their task, each team is followed by one of Sugar's aides, who notes down their opinions, observations and thoughts for later reference in the boardroom, mostly on any noteworthy matters, such as performance, mistakes, and issues, minor or serious; while it is rare for them to intervene, they may do so if an issue arises in the team's actions that needs their attention.
Boardroom
Once a task is finished, the candidates report back to Sugar at the "boardroom" – either following the task's completion, or the day after it has ended – to hear about feedback on their performance and learn the results of their endeavours. During team-based tasks, the process is played out in three stages in the following order – Results, Task Review, and Final Boardroom. Each stage is conducted in a different fashion, but follows a general format:- Result – Sugar and his advisers conduct an initial discussion with teams about their performance, and review what they did on the task – in tasks where a product, video marketing promotion, or branding is created, such items are provided in the boardroom for examination. During this stage, discussions take a look over feedback on the performance of candidates within their respective team, issues encountered, and any praise or criticism that needs to be addressed. After this initial review of performance is made, the results of the task are given out, in which the winning team advances to the next stage and receive a reward for their performance. After they leave, the losing team are dispatched to the "Losers' Cafe" to discuss amongst themselves over what factors contributed to their loss, before they must return for an in-depth review of their performance.
- Task review – The losing team are subjected to an extensive review of their performance in the boardroom, including open criticism of performance and/or contribution on the task. Candidates within the team are allowed the freedom to argue their cases for their respective performance and contributions, voice opinions about other members, and counter criticism if they feel it to be unjustified. After a period of discussion with each member, the appointed PM must then select two members of the team to return with them for a final boardroom discussion; a choice is not required if the team has only three members left in it. The choice made by the PM can be influenced by factors that they perceive about each member – these include responsibility for the team's loss, inexcusable mistakes, lack of contribution, and clash of personalities. Those not picked are free to return to the candidates' accommodation, while remaining members are sent outside to give Sugar and his aides time for private discussion about the PM and other members in regard to concerning observations and doubts about each.
- Final boardroom – The PM and their two choices face a final discussion with Sugar and his advisers, which focuses on further in-depth analysis and criticism of their actions in a task, their performance throughout the process by that stage, their relationship with other candidates, and any criticism raised against them. Remaining members retain the freedom to argue their cases and also denote who amongst them should be fired from the process based on the reasons they feel justifies their dismissal. Sugar makes a final summary when he calls discussions to an end, relaying his personal thoughts on each member before him, before eventually making his decision on who is fired – the selected candidate, whom he gives his reasons for their removal, is pointed at and proclaimed eliminated with the words "You're fired!", a process that may be repeated if another candidate is deemed by him to have no further potential to continue in the process. The surviving candidate return to the candidates' accommodation, while the fired candidate depart via a waiting taxi and are taken "home", conducting a brief interview to reflect on their elimination.
- Candidate firing – Sugar can choose to fire a candidate at any time in the boardroom if he deems it noteworthy. Thus a candidate could be fired during the first or second stage of the boardroom, rather than as a part of the final three.
- Reward – Sugar may withdraw the reward, if the winning team's performance on the task is considered to be too inadequate for his liking. In this case, they simply return to the candidates' accommodation after the results.
- "Final three" selection – Sugar may opt to choose who returns for the final boardroom discussion, rather than let the PM make this choice themselves, while he can freely send someone back to the candidates' accommodation if he feels they do not deserve to return.