The Apprentice (British TV series) series 3

Series Three of The Apprentice (UK) was a British reality television which was broadcast in the UK during 2007 from 28 March to 13 June. The series was shown on BBC One in its same timeslot within Wednesday evenings, after moving from BBC Two. This series attracted 10,000 applicants and promised "tougher tasks and better people" than before, with Lord Alan Sugar (then Sir Alan at time of broadcast) commenting that he believed that this would prevent the show morphing into a version of "Big Brother on wheels." The series was won by Simon Ambrose.

Two 90-minute specials were aired during the series run. The first programme was titled The Apprentice: Beyond the Boardroom and featured information about the personal lives of each of the semi-finalists. The second, The Apprentice: Why I Fired Them, featured Sugar revealing why he chose to remove each candidate from the programme.

Candidates

Candidate	Background	Original team	Age	Result
Simon Ambrose	Internet Entrepreneur	Eclipse	27	Hired by Sugar
Kristina Grimes	Pharmaceutical Sales Manager	Stealth	36	Runner-up
Katie Hopkins	Global Brand Consultant	Stealth	31	Quit in week 11
Tre Azam	Marketing and Design Consultant	Eclipse	27	Fired in week 11
Lohit Kalburgi	Telecoms Manager	Eclipse	25	Fired in week 11
Naomi Lay	Advertising Sales Manager	Stealth	26	Fired in week 10
Jadine Johnson	Financial adviser	Stealth	27	Fired in week 9
Ghazal Asif	Business Development Manager	Stealth	23	Fired in week 8
Adam Hosker	Car Sales Manager	Eclipse	27	Fired in week 7
Paul Callaghan	Ex-British Army Lieutenant	Eclipse	27	Fired in week 6
Natalie Wood	Housewife	Stealth	29	Fired in week 5
Sophie Kain	Quantum Physicist	Stealth	32	Fired in week 4
Gerri Blackwood	Transport Development Manager	Stealth	33	Fired in week 3
Rory Laing	Bankrupt Entrepreneur	Eclipse	28	Fired in week 2
Iftikhar "Ifti" Chaudhri	Company Director	Eclipse	33	Fired in week 2
Andy Jackson	Car Sales Manager	Eclipse	36	Fired in week 1

See also: List of The Apprentice candidates (UK series three)

For this series, there were sixteen candidates instead of fourteen, as seen in the previous two series. The candidates were initially separated into two teams by gender. The women chose the name Stealth for their team, while the men named their team Eclipse. Three candidates - Ifti, Gerri and Sophie - never had the chance to be project manager.

Weekly results

Elimination chart
Candidate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Simon	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	HIRED
Kristina	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	BR	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	RUNNER-UP
Katie	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	BR	BR	WIN	IN	LEFT
Tre	IN	BR	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	BR	FIRED
Lohit	IN	IN	IN	IN	BR	WIN	IN	IN	BR	IN	FIRED
Naomi	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	BR	IN	FIRED
Jadine	WIN	IN	BR	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	FIRED
Ghazal	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Adam	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	BR	BR	FIRED
Paul	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Natalie	IN	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Sophie	BR	IN	IN	FIRED
Gerri	BR	IN	FIRED
Rory	IN	FIRED
Ifti	IN	FIRED
Andy	FIRED

  The candidate was on the winning team; for Week 11, they passed the interview stage.

  The candidate was on the losing team.

  The candidate was hired and won The Apprentice.

  The candidate was the runner-up.

  The candidate won as project manager on his/her team.

  The candidate lost as project manager on his/her team.

  The candidate was brought to the final boardroom with the PM.

  The candidate was fired.

  The candidate lost as project manager and was fired.

  The candidate left the competition.

Episodes

Week 1

• Stealth: Andy (Project Manager), Sophie, Gerri, Naomi, Katie, Kristina, Natalie and Ghazal.
• Eclipse: Jadine (Project Manager), Tre, Paul, Rory, Adam, Ifti, Simon and Lohit.
• Task: Sell coffee in Islington. The team that makes the most profit wins.
• Task Review: Both teams decided to split up into two, with one half maintaining a fixed coffee stand and the other half staffing a mobile coffee van. Eclipse made a good start despite some initial purchasing blunders whilst Stealth struggled to sell after placing their van in an area already served by many low-price coffee outlets. Whilst both teams sold well, Stealth failed to make a large profit as a result of buying too much stock, milk in particular.
• Result: Eclipse had a profit of £360.97, while Stealth had a profit of £111.92.
• Winner: Eclipse - By £249.05
• Reward: A trip to the Royal Ballet at Covent Garden.
• Brought into the boardroom: Andy, Gerri and Sophie.
• Fired: Andy - For his hands-off approach as a leader, allowing major errors to be made (Gerri providing a poor location and Sophie overspending on stock), and for not being to lead a simple task.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Sahar Ashemi, Ruth Badger and Mark Frith.
• Notes:
  • The night before the task, the teams were instructed to choose project managers and come up with team names. While Jadine immediately volunteered to lead the women, none of the men particularly wanted to be project manager; they eventually narrowed it down to Adam and Andy, who had the most sales experience, and a group vote decided that Andy would lead. On the day of the task, Sir Alan had the project managers change teams. There would ultimately not be any point in this series where both teams were made up exclusively of men or women, making this the only UK Apprentice series never to have a "battle of the sexes". Sir Alan also told the boys to change the team name after their original name (Certus) was found to be the name of a company that Tre had previously worked for, so they became Eclipse.
  • During the task, Jadine insisted on branding her team's name on their cart and van, to stand out from other vendors, and openly berated several members of the team who she felt were failing to emphasise the Eclipse brand. Sir Alan criticised this, claiming it would have little effect since it was a one-day sale.
  • Early in the task, Jadine decided to pull Simon and Tre away from a highly lucrative sales area. While she correctly identified that they were on a red route and would have been fined for overstaying, Tre pointed out that they still had ten minutes left before they had to move. As a result, he butted heads with Jadine for the rest of the task.
  • In the boardroom, Jadine claimed that several members of the team (implying Tre in particular) were unwilling to be led by a woman. Sir Alan told her that regardless of whether or not that claim was true, attacking her team members before the result was even announced was a bad idea.
  • Sir Alan stated that all three candidates in the final boardroom were to blame for the loss, but ultimately decided that Andy's poor leadership on such a simple task made him unworthy to continue. Andy pleaded with Sir Alan to change his decision, without success; Sir Alan had to tell him that he was fired twice.

Week 2

• Stealth: Katie (Project Manager), Sophie, Gerri, Naomi, Kristina, Natalie and Ghazal.
• Eclipse: Rory (Project Manager), Tre, Jadine, Paul, Adam, Ifti, Simon and Lohit.
• Task: Design an innovative dog product and pitch it to three retailers. Most sale from orders, wins.
• Task Review: 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 market research, to design a dog-owner utility belt. His autocratic leadership style (even as going as far to threaten to send team-members out for over-talking and wanting everyone to take off their jackets to show who was boss) irritated his team further; Tre in particular took offence. Ultimately, Eclipse took the lead with orders from Pets and the City and Harrods, whilst Stealth didn't get any. However, the tide turned with Pets at Home as Stealth got a considerable order, while Eclipse got nothing.
• Result: Eclipse made £565, while Stealth made £5,000
• Winner: Stealth - By £4,435.
• Reward: A luxury meal at The Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair.
• Brought into the boardroom: Rory, Tre and Ifti.
• Fired (at start of final boardroom): Ifti, with regret - for not contributing anything despite his product design background, and admitting being unable to focus due to missing his family.
• Fired (at end of final boardroom): Rory - For his dictatorial leadership style, designing a poor product, ignoring the research team's advice, and attempting to evade responsibility for the loss by deflecting blame onto Tre.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Maggie Philbin, Toby Young and Mary Portas
• Notes:
  • Stealth's revenue out-grossed Eclipse's by a factor of 8.8:1 in the task, making it the biggest victory in the history of the UK version of The Apprentice at the time.
  • This was the first time that a double firing took place (before the interviews), following an alteration to the show's format that enabled multiple firings, which were previously not an option. This change was in part a response to the previous series; Sir Alan commented in his column in that week's Daily Mirror that under the previous format he would had to either keep Ifti despite his clear lack of motivation, or Rory despite his terrible performance. Sir Alan fired Ifti as soon as the final boardroom began, before informing Rory and Tre that the boardroom would continue, and a second firing would take place.
  • Tre was very critical of Rory's performance, and was shown to have little respect for his leadership. Although Sir Alan warned Tre about his behaviour, he did not hold him responsible for the loss, and saw no reason whatsoever to keep Rory, who did not help his case by getting tongue-tied in the boardroom. By contrast, Tre had to be explicitly told to keep quiet to let Rory speak. After Rory's firing Tre never shook his hand or even talked to him.
  • This task and its failings were shown on the spin-off episode The Worst Decisions Ever with guests criticising Rory's leadership heavily and his product even more-so, saying "such an item doesn't exist because nobody needs it". Tre even said that the belt could make users look like "a terrorist".

Week 3

• Stealth: Naomi (Project Manager), Sophie, Jadine, Gerri, Kristina, Natalie and Ghazal.
• Eclipse: Tre (Project Manager), Paul, Adam, Katie, Simon and Lohit.
• Task: Starting with £200, generate profit through whatever means. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: 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. Jadine, Gerri and Ghazal all refused to participate as kiss-o-grams. Both teams got off to a slow start, though Stealth lost a lot of custom by not managing their location properly, which was blamed on Gerri. 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". Although Tre's leadership style was highly aggressive, Eclipse did far better.
• Result: Eclipse had a profit of £189, while Stealth had a profit of £65.
• Winner: Eclipse - By £124.
• Reward: A night out in a Cuban bar and restaurant in London.
• Brought into the boardroom: Naomi, Jadine and Gerri.
• Fired: Gerri - for a lack of contribution in all tasks to date, fouling up the choice of location twice, and admitting she was "biding her time" before putting in a full effort.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Jo Cameron, Karren Brady and Rufus Hound
• Notes:
  • The teams were given a list of 200 business ideas approved by Richmond council that they were allowed to choose from.
  • The only Stealth members who were actually willing to give out kisses were Kristina and Natalie, causing Sir Alan to point out how ridiculous it was for the team to choose to run a business that five of the seven team members were not willing to take part in.
  • Jadine believed Naomi was a bad leader and openly questioned her decisions at several points in the task. Sir Alan actually agreed that Naomi had been an extremely poor project manager, but told Jadine that it was no excuse for her behaviour, which suggested she had little respect for fellow competitors; she had already been warned for attacking her team-mates without good reason in the first week. Sir Alan ultimately kept Jadine for her potential, but warned her a repeat of such behaviour would end in dismissal.
  • Naomi was told that she had been lucky to survive, as Sir Alan considered her almost totally at fault for the loss. However, it was noted that Naomi was at least a hard worker, whereas Gerri seemed content to stay in the background.

Week 4

• Stealth: Ghazal (Project Manager), Tre, Jadine, Paul, Naomi and Kristina.
• Eclipse: Adam (Project Manager), Sophie, Katie, Natalie, Simon and Lohit.
• Task: Manufacture sweets and sell them at London Zoo. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: 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 product and so 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 resorted to reducing their prices and eventually gave their remaining sweets away for free.
• Result: Stealth had a profit of £994, while Eclipse had a profit of £983.
• Winner: Stealth - By £11.
• Reward: A night out Bowling.
• Brought into the boardroom: Adam, Sophie and Natalie.
• Fired: Sophie - For being overly unenthusiastic, selling the least and for her naivety about the business world.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Vanessa Feltz, Trevor Bish-Jones and Nick Hewer
• Notes:
  • Sir Alan did not feel that Stealth were deserving winners, and was further annoyed by Ghazal's cocky attitude and failure to acknowledge the mistakes in the boardroom; Tre ended up doing this for the team. The panel of You're Fired also agreed that Stealth got lucky and had they lost, Ghazal should have been fired.
  • While Natalie escaped, she was given a severe warning after she repeatedly lied to Sir Alan about who was responsible for the labelling error; in fact she had made this mistake herself, but tried to blame it on Adam.

Week 5

• Stealth: Kristina (Project Manager), Tre, Jadine, Paul, Naomi and Ghazal.
• Eclipse: Natalie (Project Manager), Adam, Katie, Simon and Lohit.
• Task: Choose photographs from two different artists and then sell them in a fashionable east London gallery. Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: Stealth showcased artists with the themes of horses and fish, whilst Eclipse chose artists whose work related to lips and Morocco and Colombia. 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, which proved decisive.
• Result: Eclipse had sales of £1,599.78, while Stealth had sales of £4,702.
• Winner: Stealth - By £3,102.22.
• Reward: A pampering session at a Champneys, a spa.
• Brought into the boardroom: Natalie, Adam and Lohit.
• Fired: Natalie, with regret - For being "out of her depth", her disdainful attitude towards Adam, and for failing to bring Katie back into the boardroom.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Brian Sewell, Alvin Hall and Fi Glover
• Notes:
  • A critical factor in Natalie's firing was her poor explanation of her decision to bring back Adam (one of only two members of Eclipse - the other being Simon - to sell anything), and Lohit (he had followed the soft-sale strategy pushed by Natalie and Katie and subsequently sold nothing, but had done nothing significantly wrong). Natalie further harmed her cause by falsely accusing Adam of lying about his preference of artists in the boardroom; Adam stated that he had personally liked the lips pictures, but had expressed reservations about how well they would sell. Margaret, while not openly challenging Natalie, did point out that Adam had been telling the truth when the final three were sent outside.
  • It was implied that Katie should have been brought back and possibly fired for missing the point of the task, failing to ask relevant questions to the artists (and even going so far as to mock Adam for his attempts to do so) and then failing to sell anything.

Week 6

• Stealth: Paul (Project Manager), Adam, Katie, Kristina and Ghazal.
• Eclipse: Lohit (Project Manager), Tre, Jadine, Naomi and Simon.
• Task: Buy high-quality British produce and then sell it at a French farmers' market in Arras. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Eclipse chose to sell smoked fish, marmalade and tea 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, as well as arriving over 5 hours late, Stealth ended up having to pay for an incorrectly translated banner, far more than the bunting Eclipse used (universally deemed better). Paul planned to make up these costs by cooking sausages with a tin filled with lighter fuel instead of a camping stove; this failed disastrously, losing them precious sales. Kristina eventually found a restaurant who let them use their gas cooker fir samples, at which point the sausages sold very well. However, they sold little to no cheese, due to the popularity of high quality cheese in France. On top of that, Paul and Katie left to sell to the trade very early, leaving Stealth without any fluent French speakers on the stands. Eclipse hit a snag in selling the tea in a predominantly coffee-drinking nation (Nick Hewer had questioned the choice early on), but their fish and marmalade sold very well, greatly assisted by Simon's fluent French. Whilst neither team managed to sell all their produce, Stealth's numerous errors proved to be their undoing.
• Result: Stealth had a loss of £225, while Eclipse had a profit of £410.
• Winner: Eclipse - By £635.
• Reward: Indoor skydiving in a vertical wind tunnel.
• Brought into the boardroom: Paul, Kristina and Adam.
• Fired: Paul - For his horrendous decision-making, accepting no responsibility for the loss, and for bringing Kristina back into the boardroom instead of Katie.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Jean-Christophe Novelli, Mark Frith and Nick Hewer
• Notes:
  • This week's team reshuffle was specifically intended to balance out the French speakers on the teams, with Eclipse ending up with Naomi and Simon, while Tre knew some basic French. Likewise, Stealth had Paul and Katie as fluent speakers, while Kristina had a loose knowledge of the language.
  • Though Eclipse's execution of the task was generally trouble-free (aside from the van taking their produce getting lost and only boarding the ferry with 30 minutes to spare), there was a major spat between Simon and Jadine on the ferry, apparently caused by Jadine taking offence to Simon referring to the team as "guys" despite having two female members in Jadine and Naomi. Lohit's poor grasp of French also caused him to make numerous gaffes while selling in the streets of Arras. Nevertheless, Sir Alan was very impressed with Eclipse's performance and gave strong praise to Simon.
  • Nick, who has a home in France, sharply criticised Stealth for selling cheese, saying that in a French supermarket, no-one would ever "find an English cheese, never in a month of Sundays". Sir Alan also dubbed the choice as "coals to Newcastle".
  • Paul, Katie and Ghazal all attempted to pin the blame for the loss on Adam for overspending on the banner. While Sir Alan agreed that Adam was the most at fault on that matter, the £100 spent (£85 + VAT) would not even have been enough for the team to finish with a profit, and the choice of products had doomed Stealth before they had even started selling. Sir Alan also made it very clear that he did not hold Kristina responsible, as she had correctly identified flaws in her team strategy, and was the only member who openly disagreed with Paul during the task; she also secured the gas cooker that helped pick up sales. Paul's decisions were later featured on the spin-off Worst Decisions Ever.
  • When questioned about Paul's decision to bring him into the boardroom, Adam said that Katie should have been chosen, and the only reason Paul had not was because they were "too close". Kristina went further, declaring that Paul and Katie were in an "inappropriate relationship", while Paul vigorously denied it. Sir Alan explained he did not mind relationships between co-workers if it did not interfere with work, but warned Paul that if it did, he would "be out that door so quick, you wouldn't know what's hit you." Despite defending him strongly, Katie was shown to disagree with several of the decisions Paul made in the task, including buying the cheese and using the improvised burner.
  • Before making his final decision, Sir Alan indicated that he considered Paul to be a better overall candidate than Adam, but deemed Paul's bad decisions and refusal to take responsibility to be unforgivable. Although Adam survived, Sir Alan questioned whether he could succeed in the competition. Adam then asked Sir Alan to be Project Manager in the next task.
  • When Kristina and Adam returned to the house after Paul's firing, they did not receive cheers from the other candidates as before they returned, Katie and Ghazal had effectively framed them for the task failings. Katie also made personal attacks on Kristina, largely because she had been the only person who objected to Paul's decisions.

Week 7

• Stealth: Adam (Project Manager), Katie, Kristina and Ghazal.
• Eclipse: Simon (Project Manager), Tre, Jadine, Naomi and Lohit.
• Task: Purchase a set list of ten items, negotiating for lower prices. Least amount spent (including fines), wins.
• Task Review: 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 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 wrongly assumed that buying second-rate tiles was classed as a discount, and were fined as a result; however Stealth were also fined for failing to purchase the nigella seeds. The teams' final balances were separated by the narrowest margin in the show's history.
• Result: Eclipse's remaining money was £459.68 (including fines), while Stealth's remaining money was £458.71 (including fines).
• Winner: Eclipse - By 97p.
• Reward: A racing car driving day at the Bedford Autodrome.
• Brought into the boardroom: Adam, Ghazal and Katie.
• Fired: Adam - For poor management skills, failing to buy all the items despite the smaller fine it would occur, appearing in the boardroom four times in a row, not bringing Kristina back into the boardroom and for his generally poor track record throughout the process.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel:Michelle Mone, Jon Culshaw and Dominic Littlewood
• Notes:
  • The items that teams were required to get, included: a car battery, 3 kg 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.
  • When Adam, Katie and Ghazal were asked to wait outside the boardroom Margaret criticized Adam's decision to bring Katie and Ghazal back into the boardroom as being "very silly" as she suspected he brought them back for personal reasons. It was implied that had Adam brought Kristina back she would be fired over him.
  • The victory margin in this episode is the smallest margin ever made on the show's history. If Adam had bought all the items, the fine for lateness would have been smaller and would have resulted in Stealth winning by £29.03.
  • Eclipse appeared to have a significant locational advantage during this task, as all 5 of their team members lived in London at the time, while none of Stealth did.
  • Whilst Katie did a decent job this task, Sugar gave her harsh criticism over her poor performances and her CV. She survived because Sugar saw potential in her, but warned her to improve her work. She was also criticized for continuously interrupting Adam in the boardroom.
  • Sir Alan seriously considered firing Ghazal, sharply criticising her for realising what the nigella seeds were at the halfway point of the task, but failing to relay this information to Adam quickly enough for it to be acted on. He also questioned her level of experience, but agreed to give her one last chance after she asked to lead the team on the next task. Sugar did admit that Adam probably did not deserve to be in the final boardroom as often as he had been, but felt that he made too many mistakes in both his turns as project manager to be allowed to continue.
  • It was revealed the camera crew with Stealth's sub-team of Katie and Kristina broke down during the task, and they were delayed for over an hour while a replacement was sent out. To make up for this they were allowed an additional hour at the end of the day to complete the task.

Week 8

• Stealth: Ghazal (Project Manager), Naomi, Katie and Kristina.
• Eclipse: Jadine (Project Manager), Tre, Simon and Lohit.
• Task: Create a brand logo, poster and video advertisement for a new style of trainers. Best campaign made, wins.
• Task Review: Eclipse created "Street" trainers with a "reclaim the street" brain child of Jadine, 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. Despite Naomi having the most advertising experience out of the Stealth members, Ghazal largely ignored her advice and let Katie direct much of the campaign. Stealth's TV ad, though well made, was heavily criticised for lacking a message and failing to make it clear what was being advertised. A group of advertising executives decided which team won the task; they ultimately decided that while Eclipse's campaign had made a bad move by naming the specific amount donated to charity, Stealth's campaign was so generic that it barely resembled a trainer advert.
• Winner: Eclipse - For a campaign that remained focused on the product.
• Reward: A lesson at "Cocktail school" in The Savoy Hotel in London. On their way back, Eclipse saw a poster of their Street trainers on a bus stop.
• Brought into the boardroom: Ghazal, Katie and Naomi.
• Fired: Ghazal - For very poor leadership, attempting to blame Naomi for the failure, trying to force Sir Alan to fire her by bringing Katie back, and for having a generally poor track record, along with her cocky attitude and lack of business experience.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Trevor Nelson, Karan Bilimoria and India Knight
• Notes:
  • In the initial boardroom Ghazal attempted to pin the blame mostly on Naomi, claiming she made no contribution despite her experience. Naomi was quick to deny this, and while her ideas were not felt to have been especially better than those of Katie, Nick made it clear that Naomi and Kristina had been sidelined.
  • Sugar stated that Ghazal's firing was for her being "all talk and no do."; he added that he felt she "argues for the sake of arguing" while he also saw through her decision for bringing Katie back in an effort to force Sir Alan to fire Naomi; by Ghazal's own admission, Katie was actually the best performer on the task.
  • Sugar hinted that he was considering firing Katie for her poor track record, but decided to keep her thanks to her overall defence in the boardroom and her refusal to assist Ghazal's plan to get Naomi fired. She was warned she was now on her final chance.
  • Tre did not attend Eclipse's treat, partly because his religious beliefs prevented him from drinking alcohol, and secondly as he was upset at the likely prospect of Ghazal being fired.
  • As the Project manager of Stealth Ghazal was the fourth consecutive candidate to be fired as a losing project manager.

Week 9

• Stealth: Katie (Project Manager), Naomi and Kristina.
• Eclipse: Tre (Project Manager), Jadine, Simon and Lohit.
• Task: Interview representatives from five nations, choose three items from one nation, and then sell them to the trade. Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: Stealth chose to market Canadian goods, including a "Rug in a Box" set, a portable light therapy device and a set of sport shoe insoles. Eclipse chose a set of Swedish products, a lamp with a built in air purifier, vacuum cleaner heads and a set of microwavable soft toys. At the end of the first day Jadine suffered a minor emotional breakdown, leaving Lohit able to set up only one appointment with a potential buyer. Similarly, Stealth failed to make any appointments due to spending too long being briefed by the Canadian Trade Commissioner, Michelle Gartland, and so both teams were left to make their appointments the following morning. The teams performed similarly well, but Stealth's products proved to have a higher market value, resulting in them making more, while Eclipse had trouble getting sales appointments and were fined by 10% for being late to the boardroom.
• Result: Stealth made £2,226.59, while Eclipse made £1,344.29.
• Winner: Stealth - By £882.30.
• Reward: A £500 voucher to spend, with the aid of a personal shopper, at Selfridges.
• Brought into the boardroom: Tre, Jadine and Lohit.
• Fired: Jadine, with regret - For losing focus during much of the first day, admitting that she was unable to contribute to the task due to missing her daughter, and for making an unconvincing argument in the boardroom on why she should stay over Tre or Lohit.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Vijay Patel, Karren Brady and Felicity Lee
• Notes:
  • This programme featured the Cutty Sark; the ship had been badly damaged in a fire just two days before the episode aired.
  • Sir Alan told that although Jadine was not ready yet, he felt that she could be a truly great businesswoman one day. After her firing, Sir Alan informed Lohit that, were it not for Jadine's problems, he would have been fired. While Lohit had sold the most on the team and defended himself well, Sir Alan was now certain that he was not suited to his organisation. Tre was also heavily criticised for choosing products with a low retail price and failing to bring back Simon, whose poor research had hindered both sub-teams in making sales appointments; Sir Alan made clear that he considered Tre primarily responsible for the loss, but spared him due to his strong track record prior to this task.
  • The previous series had also featured a task of selling products to the trade, where similarly the losing team were fined for arriving back late, although this time the fine made no difference to the result; Eclipse's total sales before the fine were £1,493.66, still well short of what Stealth made.

Week 10

• Stealth: Kristina (Project Manager), Katie and Lohit.
• Eclipse: Simon (Project Manager), Tre and Naomi.
• Task: Select and sell a variety of items on the Ideal World teleshopping channel. Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: Stealth chose chocolate fountains, foot spas, slimming pants and steam mops but Kristina kept repeating "Okay" throughout her entire chocolate fountain ad and her vacuum cleaner demonstration went badly wrong, as it succeeded only in spreading the dirt around. Lohit was given the awkward task of trying to help sell ladies' slimming pants along with Katie, though the two ended up selling in reasonably good quantities. Eclipse manager Simon gave very few instructions to team-mates, Tre and Naomi, while in the producers' gallery, after choosing foldable wheelchairs, decoupage pads, trampolines and leg shavers to sell, and thus they struggled. Simon's choice of a foldable wheelchair was questioned, but ended up accounting for more than half of Eclipse's income, while he also made a spectacle of himself by bouncing on a trampoline and then unwittingly appearing to be masturbating when screwing in its legs.
• Result: Eclipse made £921.79, while Stealth made £1,339.10.
• Winner: Stealth - By £417.31.
• Reward: Trip to a Turkish Bath.
• Brought into the boardroom: Simon, Tre, and Naomi
• Fired: Naomi, with regret - For her selection of poor products, being disrespectful towards Simon, and for a generally average-at-best track record, despite her great presenting skills.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Vanessa Feltz, Allisaon Keenan and Mark Frith
• Notes:
  • Despite much boardroom hilarity at the on-screen antics, Sir Alan was not pleased with either team and was reluctant to tell Stealth their reward; complaints from Ideal World viewers described the candidates as being "rubbish" and "a waste of time".
  • Despite Simon's many major errors in the task, he was saved from being fired due to his enthusiasm, his otherwise impressive track record and the fact that the products he chose contributed around £880 of the money raised by Eclipse. Naomi, who had chosen the trampoline and decoupage pads, attempted to blame Simon for his poor job of presenting and failing to selling any of them, but Sir Alan called this a poor excuse and pointed out that Naomi was just as much to blame since she had been directing Simon. Tre was also criticised for his lack of input and enthusiasm on the task, but avoided firing because Sir Alan felt that Naomi was more directly at fault for the loss, and had a far inferior overall track record in the competition.
  • Kristina's performance was badly received; Sir Alan was not remotely amused by the "comedy" of Lohit selling slimming pants, and was amazed Kristina had managed to sell any vacuum cleaners at all, sarcastically suggesting the customers should be put in straitjackets.
  • A majority of the You're Fired studio audience disagreed with the decision and felt Simon should have been fired.

Week 11: Interviews

• Semi-finalists: Tre, Lohit, Katie, Simon, Kristina.
• Task: The five remaining candidates are individually interviewed by three of Sir Alan Sugar's closest associates - Paul Kemsley, Claude Littner and Bordan Tkachuk. Sir Alan decides who are his finalists.
• Candidate Reviews: After the round of 25-minute interviews, three candidates – Katie, Simon and Kristina – stood out. The only candidate with positive reports from all three interviewers was Kristina. Conversely, very few positive comments were made about Lohit, who was quickly fired after being deemed "nice," but too "boring." Tre was next to go, after Sir Alan told him that, while he was a strong candidate, he lacked the required maturity. He was also described as argumentative and difficult. Simon was praised for being academically gifted and for knowing more than the other candidates about Sir Alan's companies, but his track record, however, came under fire for appearing too woolly, making it hard to understand where Simon is going with his career. While doubts were expressed over Katie's motives for entering the show, Sir Alan nonetheless made her the first finalist. While he was deliberating over whether to make Simon or Kristina the other finalist, Katie was clearly beset by doubts. After Sir Alan advised her that she would have to make an absolute commitment to the job should she get it, she suggested she "stand down". This allowed Simon and Kristina to proceed to the final.
• Fired:
  • Lohit - For being too nice and for having the worst CV of the final five.
  • Tre, with regret - For performing poorly in the interviews, his argumentative manner and for his lack of maturity.
• Left: Katie - Resigned, citing potential difficulties in making childcare arrangements should she be offered the job, despite a place in the finals.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Kirsty Walk, Nick Hewer and Michelle Dewberry
• Finalists: Kristina and Simon.
• Notes:
  • Sir Alan noted that Lohit's firing was overdue, and that he would have been fired two weeks previously if not for Jadine's inability to continue in the process.
  • In a one-off special, The Apprentice: Why I Fired Them, broadcast a few days later, Sir Alan Sugar expressed his opinion that Katie had never really been interested in working for him but had entered the competition merely for the kudos. He said that he felt he had been hoodwinked, and that if Katie had not voluntarily stood down he would have reversed his decision and fired her after all.
  • After the airing of the episode, internet conspiracists believed that Katie's exit from the show was fixed and that the segments were re-filmed and edited in later. Simon Ambrose, however denied that this was the case and that nothing was changed.

Week 12: The Final

• Finalists: Simon, Kristina
• Kristina's team: Kristina (Project Manager), Paul, Naomi, Adam and Natalie.
• Simon's team: Simon (Project Manager), Tre, Jadine, Rory and Lohit.
• Task: Each finalist must put together a proposal for the redevelopment of a site on London's South Bank, designing a major landmark building that is both profit-making and has an iconic design, before presenting it to an audience of property, finance and architectural experts, along with Sir Alan Sugar and his assistants. Best design, wins.
• Task Review: Simon proposed "The Wave", an ambitious building with an "organic" design, while Kristina offered "The Phoenix", whose name symbolised the regeneration of the site. Both presentations were well received by the experts. In his final boardroom evaluation, Sir Alan contrasted Kristina's experience with Simon's creativity, and said that both candidates were very employable.
• Runner-up: Kristina - For playing a little too safe in task, despite a superior track record in the series and prior career to that of Simon.
• Winner: Simon - For being more of a risk taker than Kristina, as well as his intelligence and insight on Sir Alan's business background.
• Notes:
  • The site to be developed was originally occupied by the IBM Building; this site was purchased for £120m by Sir Alan Sugar.
  • The final boardroom scene broadcast was one of two different boardroom showdowns, one for each possible result, that were filmed. Sir Alan then took the two finalists to lunch to tell them who had actually won closer to the airdate. Sir Alan himself admitted that he was "taking a risk" hiring Simon.

Criticism and controversy

This series was described as "the most controversial" out of all three series that had been made at the time.

Candidates

Adam Hosker

On 8 August 2007, former candidate Adam Hosker who was fired by Sir Alan in May was questioned by police over allegations of him being involved in a fight with 21 year old Stuart Haworth who was a radio operator for the Territorial Army after a drink was spilled. He was alleged to have pushed Haworth before being dragged away by friends. Haworth did not need hospital treatment for his injuries but made a formal complaint.

There was also controversy surrounding his exit from the show implying a North-South rift between other candidates particularly his previous project manager Paul Callaghan and fellow contestant Katie Hopkins who he said felt offended that he was working class, Northern and had a background in the motor industry. However, his exit also won him support from the North-West and the support of Series 2 runner-up Ruth Badger.

Natalie Wood

Contestant Natalie Wood complained about a situation with Adrian Chiles, host of The Apprentice spin-off programme, The Apprentice: You're Fired!. Chiles, who has a distinctive Birmingham accent, asked Wood on the spin-off programme 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."

Behind the Scenes

Filming Complaints

Candidate Gerri Blackwood claimed 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".

Results

Week 6

After Paul Callaghan was fired in the sixth episode, wholesale 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!". Further controversy emerged after it was revealed that Paul started a romance with fellow candidate Katie Hopkins while competing on the programme, which received much coverage from the tabloid press. This was cited as one of the reasons Paul was fired during the aforementioned episode, as other candidates complained about the situation, saying that the relationship affected the performance of the team during the tasks.

Sexism

Several organisations, including the Trades Union Congress, the Liberal Democrats, The Equal Opportunities Commission and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, accused Alan Sugar of sexism and breaching the 1976 Sex Discrimination act after only questioning contestants Katie Hopkins and Kristina Grimes about their child-care arrangements, despite the fact that male contestant Tre Azam was also a parent (though Hopkins and Grimes were single parents at the time of the interviews, whereas Azam was married). Sugar's questioning, during the eleventh episode, eventually made Hopkins resign from the programme and decline Sugar's initial offer of a chance to compete in the final episode. Sugar defended his actions and told Fiona Phillips of GMTV that he was aware of all rules regarding sexual discrimination within the workplace. The incident was well documented within the media.

Related programmes

The Apprentice: Beyond the Boardroom

This was a one-off special shown on BBC Two on 2 June 2007. The programme featured interviews with the final five candidates from this series. Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford also gave their opinions on the final five, along with some of the previously fired candidates. The programme spoke about the candidates' private lives, revealing that Kristina Grimes was sent to a convent at age 17 due to her pregnancy, Tre Azam once fell asleep whilst driving and nearly died, Simon Ambrose was bullied as a child and has an IQ of 174, Katie Hopkins once burgled a south London newsagents for a crate of Toilet Duck and that Lohit Kalburgi is a homosexual. Friends of the candidates and members of their families, including parents, children and partners, aired their views.

The Apprentice: Why I Fired Them

This one-off special was screened on BBC Two on 10 June 2007, three days before the revelation of the winner of this series of The Apprentice. In the programme Sir Alan Sugar looked back over the series so far, discussed the merits and demerits of the candidates, and explained in more detail why he fired each candidate when he did. The episode featured the former participants' views of their time on the programme and what they had learnt from the experience. Sugar's assistants Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford also spoke about the former contestants. At the end of the programme, Sugar reviewed the performances of the two finalists, Kristina Grimes and Simon Ambrose, and said that deciding who to hire would be difficult. Despite voluntarily leaving rather than being "fired", Katie Hopkins also featured on the programme and her time on The Apprentice was discussed.

Ratings

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.

Episode no.	Airdate	Viewers (millions)	BBC One weekly ranking
1	28 March 2007	4.50	19
2	4 April 2007	4.98	16
3	11 April 2007	5.31	17
4	18 April 2007	5.68	10
5	25 April 2007	5.46	14
6	2 May 2007	5.68	11
7	9 May 2007	5.92	9
8	16 May 2007	6.05	11
9	23 May 2007	4.99	18
10	30 May 2007	5.23	12
11	6 June 2007	6.60	8
12	13 June 2007	7.09	5

Specials

Episode no.	Airdate	Viewers (millions)	BBC Two weekly ranking
Beyond the Boardroom
	3 June 2007	1.62	22
Why I Fired Them
	10 June 2007	2.46	8