The Apprentice (British TV series) series 3

Series Three of The Apprentice is a television series currently airing in the UK on BBC One. The series began on 28 March 2007 and is expected to finish on 13 June 2007.

Sir Alan Sugar reprises his role as the boss with Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford as his advisors. Each week a business task is set and a member of the losing team is fired. This series attracted 10,000 applicants and promised "tougher tasks and better people" than before as Sir Alan Sugar believed that the show was morphing into "Big Brother". Sugar also criticised the US version for making the error of "trying to change things just for the sake of it", causing it to backfire.

The Candidates

Further information: List of The Apprentice UK Candidates Template:Spoiler

Alan Sugar in a BBC promotional photo

As in the previous two series, the two teams were initially separated into men and women. The women chose "Stealth" as their name while the men initially chose "Certus", however they were forced to change their name after it emerged that one of the contestants had previously worked for a company with the same name. The men eventually chose the name "Eclipse".

During this series, reports emerged that fired contestants were to return after contestant Rory Laing hinted that he returns to the show at a later point. This could, however, refer to the final episode, in which former contestants return to assist the finalists.

The 16 candidates for series 3 are:

Name	Age	Occupation
Simon Ambrose	27	Internet Entrepreneur
Ghazal Asif	23	Business Development Manager for Hewlett-Packard
Mohammed Tre Azam	27	Marketing and Design Consultant
Gerri Blackwood	33	Transport Development Manager
Paul Callaghan	27	Ex-Army Lieutenant, salesman for Abbey Charters
Ifti Chaudhri	36	Company Director
Kristina Grimes	36	Pharmaceutical Sales Manager
Katie Hopkins	31	Global Brand Consultant
Adam Hosker	27	Car Sales Manager for Renault
Andy Jackson	36	Car Sales Manager
Jadine Johnson	27	Financial Advisor
Sophie Kain	32	Quantum Physicist
Lohit Kalburgi	25	Telecoms Manager
Rory Laing	27	Bankrupt Entrepreneur
Naomi Lay	26	Advertising Sales Manager for Advertising.Com
Natalie Wood	29	Housewife

The Challenges

Week 1: Coffee To Go

• Project managers: Jadine (Eclipse) and Andy (Stealth)
• Task: Selling coffee in Islington. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result: Both teams decide to split up into two, with one half maintaining a fixed coffee stand and the other half staffing a mobile coffee van. Eclipse make a good start despite some initial purchasing blunders whilst Stealth struggle to sell by placing their van in an area already served by many low price coffee outlets. Whilst both teams sell well, Stealth fail to make a large profit as a result of buying too much stock, milk in particular. As a result, Eclipse make the larger overall profit.
• Winner: Eclipse
• Reward: A trip to the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden.
• Brought into the boardroom: Andy, Gerri and Sophie.
• Who gets fired: Andy, for failing as a leader and not keeping control of the group.
• Viewing figures: 4.5 million

Week 2: Doggy Designs

• Project managers: Rory (Eclipse) and Katie (Stealth)
• Task: Design an innovative product for dogs and pitch it to three stores: Pets at Home, Harrods and Pets and the City. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result: Stealth decided to focus their efforts on pitching their dog wardrobe to the largest store, Pets at Home. In Eclipse, Rory went against his team members advice and chose to design a dog-owner utility belt. Despite not selling any units to two of the pet stores, Stealth created a £5000 profit by selling in bulk to the largest store.
• Winner: Stealth
• Reward: A luxury meal at The Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair.
• Brought into the boardroom: Rory, Tre and Ifti.
• Who gets fired: Ifti and Rory; Ifti for his self-confessed lack of input (which he put down to missing his family) and, in a surprise second firing, Rory for failing as a leader. While multiple firings have been commonly seen in the US version of the show, this marked the first time that Sir Alan dismissed 2 people outside the final interviews.

Week 3: Start-up Service

• Project managers: Tre (Eclipse) and Naomi (Stealth)
• Task: Starting with £200, generate the maximum possible profit through whatever means. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result: Eclipse started a gardening business in the day and a pub-singing service in the evening whilst Stealth set up a face painting service for children in the day and a kiss-o-gram service in the evening, with a kiss and a hug for £1. Both teams got off to a slow start, though Stealth lost a lot of custom by not managing their location properly. Back in the boardroom, Stealth were effectively accused of prostitution by Sir Alan after selling kisses on the streets of London, which he described as being like "another old profession I've heard about". Eclipse made £189 profit whilst Stealth made £65.
• Winner: Eclipse
• Reward: A night out in a Cuban bar and restaurant in London.
• Brought into the boardroom: Naomi, Jadine and Gerri.
• Who gets fired: Gerri, for failing to find suitable locations

Week 4: Sugar Rush

• Project managers: Adam (Eclipse) and Ghazal (Stealth)
• Task: Manufacturing sweets and selling them at London Zoo. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Result: Both teams went for similar ideas in terms of their product. Stealth opted for chocolate lollies (with an animal design) and bags of fudge, while Eclipse went for chocolate lollies (with a paw design) and orange flavoured lollies . Stealth struggled to manufacture enough of their product and as such ran out of stock by 4pm, an hour before the task finished. In comparison, Eclipse had plenty to sell but struggled to offload their orange lollies which were mistakenly labelled as 'natural'. With limited time left they had to resort to slashing their prices and eventually gave their remaining sweets away for free. Stealth created a profit of £994, marginally higher than Eclipse's £983.
• Winner: Stealth
• Reward: A night out at the All Star Lanes.
• Brought into the boardroom: Adam, Sophie and Natalie
• Who gets fired: Sophie, for her unenthusiastic selling.

Week 5: Fish, Lips and Horses

• Project managers: Natalie (Eclipse) and Kristina (Stealth)
• Task: Choose photographs and then sell them in a fashionable east London gallery.
• Result: Stealth showcased artists with the themes of horses and fish, whilst Eclipse chose artists whose work related to lips and Morocco. In Stealth, Tre was uncomfortable around the pictures, some of which depicted nipples, and claimed they "belong in a fetish gallery”. The teams took very different approaches to selling, with Eclipse going for a softer approach and Stealth opting for the hard-sell.
• Winner: Stealth
• Reward: A pampering session at a spa.
• Brought into the boardroom: Natalie, Adam and Lohit
• Who gets fired: Natalie, in tears for being out of depth as the project manager.

Week 6: The Sausage Saga

• Project managers: Lohit (Eclipse) and Paul (Stealth)
• Task: Buy and sell British produce at a French farmers' market. The team which makes the most profit wins.
• Result: Eclipse chose to sell smoked fish, tea and marmalade whilst Stealth opted for sausages, chutney, and cheap processed cheese bought at the last minute from Makro, a cash and carry. After a communication error with the printers, Stealth ended up having to pay £85 for an incorrectly translated banner, far more than the £40 bunting which Eclipse purchased. Further trouble plagued both teams: Stealth's cost-cutting left them unable to cook sausages for customers to sample, losing them precious sales, and Eclipse had trouble selling tea in a predominantly coffee-drinking nation. Whilst neither team managed to sell all their produce, Stealth made a loss of £225, partly due to excessive spending on marketing, whilst Eclipse made a profit of £410.
• Winner: Eclipse
• Reward: Indoor skydiving in a vertical wind tunnel.
• Brought into the boardroom: Paul, Kristina and Adam
• Who gets fired: Paul, for poor decision-making, and for not bringing Katie back into the boardroom.

Week 7: The 97 Pence Victory

• Project managers: Simon (Eclipse) and Adam (Stealth)
• Task: Purchase a set list of ten items below retail price. The team which spends the least wins.
• Result: Simon's erratic style of leadership caused tension amongst Eclipse, with deals being rushed without enough time for negotiation. Over in Stealth, Katie and Kristina put aside personal differences and managed to successfully negotiate a number of items successfully. Both teams were initially confused as to what nigella seeds were, with Adam even suggesting they may be a form of AstroTurf. Eclipse were fined £50 for buying one item at retail price without haggling the price down as required by the rules, however Stealth were also fined for failing to purchase the nigella seeds. The teams' final balances were separated by only 97p, with Eclipse bringing back £459.68 and Stealth £458.71.
• Winner: Eclipse
• Reward: A racing car driving day at the Bedford Autodrome.
• Brought into the boardroom: Adam, Ghazal and Katie
• Who gets fired: Adam, for poor management and leadership skills, for choosing not to buy all items on the list despite the fact it would earn a larger fine than being late (without which Stealth would have won by £29.03), and for appearing in the boardroom showdown once too often.
• Notes: The items that teams were required to buy were: a car battery, 3kg of nigella seeds, a square metre of marble tiling, hair-removal wax, a house plant, leather trousers, a bin, a wetsuit, a white rabbit and a unicycle.

Week 8: Brand-a-trainer

• Project managers: Jadine (Eclipse) and Ghazal (Stealth)
• Task: To create a brand logo and advertisement for a new style of trainers.
• Result: Eclipse created "Street" trainers with a "reclaim the street" slogan and a promise to donate 10% of the sale price to youth charities. Stealth built the campaign for their "Jam" trainers around an urban music theme. Stealth's TV ad, though well made, was heavily criticised for lacking a message and failing to make it clear what was being advertised. Hence Eclipse won.
• Winner: Eclipse
• Reward: Cocktail school
• Brought into the boardroom: Ghazal, Katie and Naomi
• Who gets fired: Ghazal, not because of her age but for being "all talk and no action".

Week 9: Feeling the strain

• Project managers: Tre (Eclipse) and Katie (Stealth)
• Task: Choose three items from a foreign country to sell to the trade.
• Result: Stealth chose to market Canadian goods, including a "Rug in a Box" set, a portable sun lamp and a set of sport shoe insoles. Eclipse chose a set of Swedish products, including a lamp with a built in ioniser and a set of warmable soft toys. Jadine suffers a slight emotional breakdown that night, leaving Lohit only able to set up one appointment with a potential buyer for the following day. Similarly, Stealth failed to make any appointments due to spending too long talking to the Canadian suppliers, leaving both teams to make their appointments the following morning. Both teams perform similarly, but Stealth's products prove to have a higher market value, resulting in them making £2000, while Eclipse can manage only £1300 (which is reduced by 10% to £1170 after the team is delayed in traffic on the way back to the boardroom).
• Winner: Stealth
• Reward: A £500 voucher to spend, with the aid of a personal shopper, at Selfridges
• Brought into the boardroom: Tre, Jadine and Lohit
• Who gets fired: Jadine, who was judged not to be the "final product" for Sir Alan to work with.
• Notes: This programme featured the Cutty Sark. The ship was badly damaged in a fire just two days before the episode aired.

Week 10: Selling on TV

• Project managers: Naomi (Eclipse) and Kristina (Stealth)
• Task: A member from each team, Simon from Eclipse and Kristina from Stealth, has to sell items on a 'Teleshopping' channel.
• Result: TBC
• Winner: TBC
• Reward: TBC
• Brought into the boardroom: TBC
• Who gets fired: TBC

Week 11: Interviews

• Project managers: None. There are no teams for this weeks task.
• Task: The 5 remaining candidates are individually interviewed by 3 separate business colleagues of Sir Alan Sugar. The three interviewers then report their impressions of the candidates back to Sir Alan so he can decide who will be fired, and who, ultimatley, will make the Final.
• Result: TBC
• Winner: There is no winner this week.
• Reward: There is no reward this week.
• Brought into the boardroom: All candidates are bought into the boardroom.
• Who gets fired: TBC

Weekly Results

Key
In Stealth
In Eclipse
Project Manager	PM
Called back to the Boardroom	B

Candidate

Episode Number

Result

1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

11

12

Katie

PM

B

B

PM

Kristina

PM

B

PM

Lohit

B

PM

B

Naomi

PM

B

PM

Simon

PM

Tre

B

PM

PM

Jadine

PM

B

PM

B

Fired in Week 9

Ghazal

PM

B

PM

Fired in Week 8

Adam

PM

B

B

PM

Fired in Week 7

Paul

PM

Fired in Week 6

Natalie

B

PM

Fired in Week 5

Sophie

B

B

Fired in Week 4

Gerri

B

B

Fired in Week 3

Rory

PM

Fired in Week 2

Ifti

B

Fired in Week 2

Andy

PM

Fired in Week 1

Criticism and controversy

Series three candidate Gerri Blackwood claims that the allocation of showers in the house where the candidates stay appeared to have been manipulated in such a way as to force the female contestants to shower together. She told the Daily Star "One of the bathrooms was used by the film crew, but two of the others were closed off with 'Out of Order' signs on them. That left two bathrooms to share between 16 people. I am not sure whether it was deliberate or not but you can imagine they wanted us to share showers". In her interview, she also claimed that Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford fed the candidates misleading information so that they would fail the tasks, and that Sir Alan Sugar's boardroom diatribes were re-filmed to make them look better. Fellow candidate Tre Azam also criticised the editing of the programme, claiming he was worried that his portrayal "might have been dumbed down because I made some of the other characters look too weak".

The mental health charity MIND has criticised the programme for enrolling Jadine Johnson, a candidate who was sectioned under the Mental Health Act in 2003, expressing fears that a vulnerable person was being used for entertainment. In response, a spokesperson from the BBC said "As a part of the selection process, all candidates are seen by an independent qualified psychologist to assess their suitability for participating in the programme".

After Paul Callaghan was fired in the sixth episode of series three, supermarket chain Makro and manufacturer Wyke Farms criticised the programme due to the negative comments made about its cheese. In the episode, Sir Alan Sugar verbally blasted Paul for taking the inexpensive products to France to sell. Makro and Wyke Farms claimed that the cheese is very popular in France. Richard Clothier, the Managing Director of Wyke Farms, said "Alan Sugar, you know a lot about electronics, but not that much about cheese, and for that reason, you're fired!".

External links

• The Apprentice at bbc.co.uk