The Apprentice (British TV series) series 2

Series Two of The Apprentice (UK) is a British reality television series, that was broadcast in the UK during 2006, on BBC Two from 22 February to 10 May 2006, maintaining its timeslot within Wednesday evenings. Owing to it being a second series of the UK version, Lord Alan Sugar (then Sir Alan at the time of broadcast) reprised his role as the boss, with Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford returning as his advisers and team observers. The series was won by Michelle Dewberry.

In addition to a second series being commissioned by the BBC, the network also introcuded a companion discussion program called The Apprentice: You're Fired! which was aired on BBC Three alongside the series, interviewing all the candidates who were fired each week, including both the winner and the runner-up at the end.

The series also appeared on Australian TV network, Channel Seven, under the title of Sir Alan Sugar: The Apprentice, so as to distinguish it from the US version, and premiered on 27 August 2008, during a 9:30pm timeslot. Despite heavy promotion of the series during Seven's Olympic coverage, the series only rated 583,000 viewers nationally, which was third for its timeslot, so Seven shifted the programme to a later slot of 10:30pm the following week, but were unable to stop the ratings decreasing. The series also aired on Australian pay TV channel, UKTV.

Candidates

Candidate	Background	Original team	Age	Result
Michelle Dewberry	Telecoms Consultant	Velocity	26	Hired by Sugar
Ruth Badger	Sales Manager	Velocity	27	Runner-up
Ansell Henry	Sales Manager	Invicta	34	Fired in week 11
Paul Tulip	Headhunter	Invicta	26	Fired in week 11
Syed Ahmed	Entrepreneur	Invicta	31	Fired in week 10
Tuan Le	Financial Adviser	Invicta	27	Fired in week 9
Sharon McAllister	Business Lecturer	Velocity	30	Fired in week 8
Samuel Judah	Product Developer	Invicta	35	Fired in week 7
Jo Cameron	Human Resources Manager	Velocity	35	Fired in week 6
Mani Sandher	Management Consultant	Invicta	39	Fired in week 5
Alexa Tilley	Management Consultant	Velocity	28	Fired in week 4
Karen Bremner	Lawyer	Velocity	34	Fired in week 3
Nargis Ara	PhD Student	Velocity	38	Fired in week 2
Ben Stanberry	IT Consultant	Invicta	33	Fired in week 1

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

As in the first series, there were fourteen candidates and they were initially separated into two teams by gender. The women chose the name Velocity for their team, while the men named their team Invicta. This was the first UK series in which every candidate had a chance to be a project manager at some point. This occurred again in the first series of Junior Apprentice.

Weekly Result

Candidate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Michelle	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	WIN	IN	IN	HIRED
Ruth	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	BR	WIN	BR	BR	IN	RUNNER-UP
Ansell	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Paul	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	FIRED
Syed	BR	IN	WIN	BR	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	BR	FIRED
Tuan	IN	IN	IN	BR	IN	IN	WIN	BR	FIRED
Sharon	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	FIRED
Samuel	BR	WIN	IN	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Jo	IN	BR	LOSE	IN	BR	FIRED
Mani	IN	IN	IN	WIN	FIRED
Alexa	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Karen	WIN	BR	FIRED
Nargis	IN	FIRED
Ben	FIRED

  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 on the winning team; for Week 11, they managed to pass the Interview stage.

  The candidate was on the losing team.

  The candidate was brought to the final boardroom.

  The candidate was fired.

  The candidate lost as project manager and was fired.

Teams

Candidate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Michelle	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Invicta	Invicta	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Interviews	Winner
Ruth	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Invicta	Invicta	Interviews	Runner-Up
Ansell	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Interviews
Paul	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Velocity	Velocity	Interviews
Syed	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta
Tuan	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta
Sharon	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta
Samuel	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity
Jo	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity
Mani	Invicta	Invicta	Invicta	Velocity	Velocity
Alexa	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity	Invicta
Karen	Velocity	Velocity	Velocity
Nargis	Velocity	Velocity
Ben	Invicta

Episodes

Week 1: Fruit and Veg

• Invicta: Ben (Project Manager), Syed, Paul, Mani, Samuel, Tuan and Ansell.
• Velocity: Karen (Project Manager), Ruth, Jo, Alexa, Nargis, Michelle and Sharon.
• Task: Sell fruit and vegetables in Hackney; given £500 to purchase stock. Most profit made (includes remaining budget left), wins.
• Task Review: Velocity obtained most of their fruit for little or nothing by asking for overripe products and acting flirtatiously towards the vendors. The entire Invicta team remained at Hackney market for most of the day, only selling fruit door-to-door in the closing hour. The Velocity team split up and sold both at the market and to small businesses. Velocity spent under 10% of the budget given, while Invicta spent roughly over 60%.
• Result: Velocity had a profit of £1,143, while Invicta had a profit of £781.
• Winner: Velocity - By £362
• Reward: Celebratory champagne in one of the Vertigo 42 bars at the top of Tower 42 in the City of London.
• Brought into the boardroom: Ben, Samuel and Syed.
• Fired: Ben - For showing weak and indecisive leadership, failing to identify importance of door-to-door sales, and bringing Syed back into the boardroom for (what were seen to be) largely personal reasons.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Tim Campbell, Saira Khan and Polly Graham.
• Notes:
  • Sir Alan Sugar criticised Velocity for selling substandard food, as well as their flirting tactics to gain fruit for free. He threatened to award victory to Invicta unless they could provide a good argument for why they should win. Ultimately, he decided not to on the basis that Velocity would have still won the task with a profit of £884 even if they had spent the same amount as Invicta.
  • Sir Alan questioned why Invicta needed seven people to work on a market stall and blamed their defeat on a lack of door-to-door sales. While Velocity sold in both areas, it was revealed that most of their sales came from the door-to-door selling. Ben was considered responsible for these mistakes and this led to his firing.
  • Although Syed was not in danger of being fired, he was warned for trying to gain favour with Sir Alan in the final boardroom by claiming to have come from the same background, he further hindered his case by constantly blaming Ben for the failure of the task, in fact in the initial boardroom almost the whole of Invicta (apart from Mani and Ansell) blamed Ben for the failure of the task. Samuel nearly talked himself into being fired by admitting that he was not a natural salesperson, but survived by pointing out Ben's failures as a leader.
  • Though he was not responsible for the loss and not brought into the boardroom Paul was accused of blaming Ben responsible for the failure of the task because Sir Alan felt that Paul was telling him what he wanted to hear. Tuan was also criticized in the initial boardroom review for keeping quiet and "letting everyone hang themselves." but when he was asked who he would fire he replied that Ben should have been fired.

Week 2: Calendar Club

• Invicta: Samuel (Project Manager), Syed, Paul, Mani, Tuan and Ansell.
• Velocity: Nargis (Project Manager), Ruth, Jo, Karen, Alexa, Michelle and Sharon.
• Task: Produce a calendar to raise money for Sir Alan's "favourite charity", Great Ormond Street Hospital, and then pitch it to three different retailers. Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: Velocity decided to go for a contemporary calendar featuring kitten photos despite numerous protests from Jo. Invicta decided on a calendar featuring "fun" photos of children dressed up in various costumes. Mani's early pitches were extremely poor, as he became sidetracked with promoting the charity rather than the product, which was criticised for its design. Nargis's pitching went horribly wrong as she appeared to lose track of what she was saying and even snapped at the purchasers, while her calendar came under heavy criticism for not having any relevance to the charity, and having the dates printed so small as to render it unusable (Ruth, Sharon, and Michelle had all complained about this during production, but Nargis ignored them). Despite this, Velocity managed to sell to all three retailers. After failing with the first two retailers, Invicta refocused their pitch for Calendar Club, and earned a single order larger than all of Velocity's sales.
• Result: Velocity made £7,545 in sales, while Invicta made £10,020 in sales.
• Winner: Invicta - By £2,475.
• Reward: A session of caviar tasting.
• Brought into the boardroom: Nargis, Jo and Karen.
• Fired: Nargis - For her bad sales pitches, being rude to potential customers, creating a poor product with no relevance to the charity, taking no responsibility for her mistakes, and for ignoring her team's legitimate concerns.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Paul Kemsley and Felicity Lee.
• Notes:
  • Despite Invicta's victory, many of the men felt that Samuel had been too passive and lacking in focus (early in the task Margaret told the team that they were wasting too much time planning, in a rare instance of one of Sir Alan's advisers giving on-task feedback), which was largely attributed to half of the men (Syed, Paul, and Ansell) being "pragmatists" due to their sales backgrounds, whilst the rest of the team (Mani, Tuan, and Samuel) being described as the "theorists". In addition, Margaret praised Ansell as the most deserving of credit for Invicta's win, since he clamped down on the arguments which had taken place on the first day, and identified the problems in Mani's early pitches, ensuring their successful deal with Calendar Club.
  • Unlike the corresponding charity tasks in the US series and the first UK series, the winners here were given a reward for their victory.
  • It was revealed in the boardroom that the only reason Calendar Club bought any of Velocity's calendars was so that they could make a contribution to Great Ormond Street, and that, had it been a purely commercial task, they would not have bought anything.
  • Velocity were criticised for selecting a cats theme, as this had no connection to Great Ormond Street hospital. However, the two teams had been provided with a list of 6 themes, only one of which, babies, had any relevance, and were not permitted to use the same one. As Invicta had already chosen the babies theme, Velocity were forced to use a "non-relevant" option, though the team compounded their design problems by failing to make any use of Great Ormond Steet's branding.
  • While Karen was not in any serious danger of being fired, Sir Alan disliked the fact that she did not say anything in her defence. Despite Jo's questionable behaviour, Sir Alan noted that she had been on the right side of the argument over the calendar, thus making Nargis the obvious choice to go. Sir Alan did not actually fault Nargis for the cat theme, as everyone except Jo had been in favour of it, but felt that all subsequent failings came back to her leadership.
  • Although Jo was not fired she was criticized by Sir Alan, alongside Karen, of remaining quiet giving doubts on how much she really wanted the job. Sir Alan also accused her of thinking that by being quiet she would be free to go. Also, in spite of supporting the calendar when creating the product Jo later condemned the product and believed Sir Alan trying to get rid of her as "bizarre". She also accused Velocity of sidelining her with Karen backing her up.
  • During the boardroom review, Nargis took little to no responsibility for the failure of the task, still maintaining that she did a good job in the task and she was a good team leader.
  • In spite of Invicta's win Mani's pitches were featured on the spin-off Worst Decisions Ever where they were criticized as "awful" by Michelle Mone, Baroness Mone and equally derided by guests including Paul Tulip and fellow Invicta team-mate Syed Ahmed who said that the whole house was "taking the piss" out of Mani.
  • This task was noted to have an emotional impact on Jo, Tuan and Samuel. Jo became tearful after unsuccessfully trying to convince Nargis to go for a different theme and was in the house kitchen whilst the rest of Velocity was in a meeting. While reflecting on the task Samuel said he would be over the moon if his team won and soon broke down. Finally, just as the calendars were being completed most of Invicta focused more on the product and ignored the people who made the product, one of them being Tuan. As a result he left to go in a kitchen and had to be calmed down by Samuel.

Week 3: Buying the Tire

• Invicta: Syed (Project Manager), Paul, Mani, Samuel, Tuan and Ansell.
• Velocity: Jo (Project Manager), Ruth, Karen, Alexa, Michelle and Sharon.
• Task: Purchase a set list of ten items, negotiating for lower prices. The team which spends the least of their £1,000 budget (with fines added on), wins.
• Task Review: Both teams decided to split up into two smaller groups to procure the items. Invicta immediately got on with the task, but decided to do a lot of shopping around before buying. Syed attempted to find and buy the dinner jacket in East London, despite virtually no shops selling one with the required specifications. The team managed to purchase all 10 items, though many deals were rushed through with only minimal discounts. Velocity wasted nearly three hours at the start trying to come up with a strategy, and Jo's leadership proved erratic throughout. Ruth, Michelle and Sharon performed very well in the short time they were given, but Jo, Karen and Alexa wasted even more time by bargaining for items in shops that did not have them in stock, and failed to purchase the tyre required, resulting in a fine that cost them victory.
• Result: Invicta had a total cost of £673.99, while Velocity had a total cost of £682 (including fines).
• Winner: Invicta. - By £8.01.
• Reward: A day watching horse racing.
• Brought into the boardroom: Jo, Alexa and Karen.
• Fired: Karen - For having an unappealing background and skill-set, poorly defending herself in the boardroom, and for being partly liable for the team's failure to purchase the tyre.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Sara Nathan, Duncan Bannatyne and Felicity Lee.
• Notes:
  • The items required included: a dinner jacket, silk, three red lobsters and a tyre for a Chrysler Voyager.
  • An unseen constraint for tasks is that when candidates want to do deals with a particular shop/establishment, they must first receive filming permission, which can be very time consuming. Karen located several places that sold the tyre, but none would permit filming on their premises.
  • Sugar referred to Jo as a "bloody nutter" but admired her vigorous self-defence. He agreed to give Alexa a chance to prove her abilities after she defended herself and asked to be the team leader on the following task. This was the first occasion in the UK show's history in which a candidate in the final three in the boardroom asked to be the project manager in the following task, saving themselves from being fired for at least a week. This strategy has since been adopted by numerous other candidates throughout the course of the show.
  • Karen's firing was the first occasion on the British version of The Apprentice that a contestant has been dismissed simply because of their previous job; immediately before dismissing her, Sir Alan described her as being "just another corporate lawyer." in spite of describing her as a "nice enough lady" Karen's firing also makes her the shortest surviving candidate to have won as project manager in the first week in any series (not including Young Apprentice).
  • The majority of the You're Fired audience disagreed with Sir Alan's decision. Karen herself said that she felt that Sir Alan held a disdainful attitude towards her from the very start of the series, due to her legal background and the sales tactics she promoted on the first task.

Week 4: A Hundred Chickens

• Invicta: Alexa (Project Manager), Syed, Paul, Samuel, Tuan and Ansell.
• Velocity: Mani (Project Manager), Ruth, Jo, Michelle and Sharon.
• Task: Set up a food stall at the Thames Festival with a budget of £2,000 per team. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Velocity decided to set up a Chinese themed stall, selling noodles. Mani did not get on with some members of his team, who accused him of avoiding kitchen work by carrying out relatively easy tasks. However, they kept costs under control and good pricing led to decent sales throughout the day and a respectable profit, though they failed to sell out. On the other hand, Invicta's execution was a complete disaster. As Alexa offered almost non-existent leadership, Tuan made an unrealistic estimate that they could make and sell 500 pizzas, with Samuel later calculating they would need to sell a slice every 9 seconds to make a profit. Syed compounded this by over-ordering ingredients, including 100 chickens for an intended 100 chicken pizzas, resulting in the team using £1,994 of the budget. Despite working for over 17 hours, the team only made 90 of the intended 500 pizzas, a result of disorganisation and infighting, including a huge argument between Samuel and Tuan in the kitchen. On top of this, the team made few sales in the day and had to greatly reduce prices in the evening, although they did eventually sell out.
• Result: Velocity made a profit of £326, while Invicta made a loss of £807.
• Winner: Velocity - By £1,133
• Reward: Dinner at the Oxo Tower restaurant with Sir Alan.
• Brought into the boardroom: Alexa, Syed and Tuan.
• Fired: Alexa - For a complete lack of leadership, which caused Syed and Tuan take over the entire task, being too indecisive, failing to control costs, and not defending herself as well as the previous boardroom.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Lucy Kellaway, Alasdair Jeffrey and Felicity Lee.
• Notes:
  • Invicta's loss of money remains the biggest in any incarnation of the show.
  • Sir Alan felt that Velocity's performance had merely been adequate, and their victory was mostly down to Invicta failing so drastically that he called them a "bloody shower". Notably, when Sir Alan questioned the women during the reward, no one said that Mani had been a good leader. Ruth was most positive, claiming he was "brave to take them on". Mani and Sharon also clashed during the task and at one point Sharon walked out of a meeting in spite of Michelle trying to stop her.
  • In the final boardroom, Sir Alan suggested that Alexa, Tuan and especially Syed all deserved to be fired. The programme rules at the time only permitted one candidate to be fired per week until the interviews. Partly as a result of this episode, multiple firings were permitted in future series.
  • In the previous week's boardroom session, Alexa had offered to serve as a project manager on this task in return for not being fired. The fact she had fared poorly as project manager after making this deal was one of the main reasons why she was fired. Sir Alan also concluded that while Tuan and Syed had made severe errors, Alexa's weak leadership was the underlying cause.
  • This task was later shown on Series 4 spin-off "The Worst Decisions Ever" and Syed explained his huge order of ingredients; Sir Alan told the teams in the task briefing that there would be up to half a million people at the festival and Syed wanted to have as much product as possible, a suggestion derided by guests such as Vanessa Feltz and Trevor Nelson. Alexa, meanwhile, said she had gone along with Syed because his confidence had led her to believe he was very experienced in restaurant management. Nick Hewer commented that Invicta "never had a prayer of making any money", and that he had never seen Sir Alan so angry after a task. Paul, who was also a guest on the special, said that he "could sell a piece of pizza to everyone in London and they wouldn't make a profit."

Week 5: The Amsair Card

• Invicta: Paul (Project Manager), Syed, Tuan, Michelle and Sharon.
• Velocity: Ruth (Project Manager), Jo, Mani, Samuel and Ansell.
• Task: Produce both a billboard and a short promo video for Sir Alan's new venture - the Amsair Card (which allows easy booking of business jets and related services) - with the advertising being made and shot at London Stansted Airport. Sir Alan decides on who wins.
• Task Review: Paul's team struggled to come up with ideas. Eventually, they settled on a theme revolving around magic and card tricks that Paul had suggested. His team ran behind schedule while creating their billboard and video and had to wait behind the other team to film inside the plane. Ruth's appeared to have a clear strategy throughout, but Ansell and Mani misinterpreted the presentation they were given on the card's features, and told Velocity that its main feature was the concierge service rather than the ease of booking the jet. Sir Alan felt that Ruth's television advertisement focused too much on the concierge service and not enough on the card. Sir Alan described Invicta's campaign as being somewhat clichéd and not especially impressive, but overall was closer to what he had wanted.
• Winner: Invicta - For a campaign that was close to the venture's aim.
• Reward: Champagne reception and front-row seats at the London Fashion Show. On the way to the show, Invicta also saw both their own billboard and Velocity's.
• Brought into the boardroom: Ruth, Jo and Mani.
• Fired: Mani - For incorrectly briefing the team on the venture, his arrogant behaviour, taking no responsibility for his actions, being disrespectful towards Ruth in the boardroom, and for his generally average-at-best track record throughout the competition.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Vanessa Feltz and Keith Courtney.
• Notes:
  • Although Mani was blamed and ultimately fired for Velocity's advert having the wrong focus, it had in fact been Ansell that initially mentioned the concierge aspect to the team. However, Ruth decided to bring Mani back instead, as though Ansell had apologised off-camera and admitted his mistake during the initial boardroom, Mani also mentioned the service, and was extremely rude to Ruth throughout the task. His refusal to accept any blame for the misleading briefing also contributed to his firing. Sir Alan actually felt that Ansell was most at fault for the loss and that he would've been fired had he been brought back but, in his absence, fired Mani instead. On his appearance on You're Fired! Mani later admitted that if Ansell hadn't mentioned the concierge service then he probably would have.
  • Sir Alan warned Ruth that she had made a mistake by not bringing Ansell back, but decided to spare her since most had agreed she had been a very good project manager, and it was noted that Velocity would have easily defeated Invicta had their campaign been targeted correctly. Sir Alan also felt it regretful that Velocity had lost the task.
  • Ruth decided to bring back Jo because she had opposed most ideas without giving any solutions. Though it was agreed she was not at fault for the loss in any real way, Sir Alan warned her that she was now on her absolute last chance. He was also surprised that Ruth had brought Jo back into the boardroom.
  • The You're Fired vote on Mani's firing was openly split but ultimately disagreed with Sir Alan's decision along with the two panellists who felt that Ruth should have been fired.

Week 6: Second-Hand Automobiles

• Invicta: Sharon (Project Manager), Syed, Paul, Tuan and Michelle.
• Velocity: Ansell (Project Manager), Ruth, Jo and Samuel.
• Task: Sell second-hand cars for a commission. Most money from commissions, wins.
• Task Review: After a bad start, Invicta managed to take a lead by selling the extras which carried a higher commission. Syed got into trouble for falsely claiming that the dealership offered a scheme which would allow buyers to sell their cars at a profit in a few years time, and the manager of the car lot told Syed that he would have been fired for his actions, were he actually employed there. Sharon also struggled both as a leader and a salesperson, but Paul and Tuan both sold well. Ruth managed to sell six cars alone, giving Velocity an advantage at the start. However, the failure of Velocity to sell the extras in high quantities, combined with Jo completely failing to sell anything and Samuel working in a team with Ruth rather than selling by himself, cost the team victory.
• Result: Invicta made £1,077.40, and Velocity made £871.40
• Winner: Invicta - By £206
• Reward: Boat trip down the River Thames.
• Brought into the boardroom: Ansell, Jo and Samuel.
• Fired: Jo - For not selling any cars despite automotive experience, being too difficult to work with, and for her fourth appearance in the final boardroom.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Quentin Willson and Saira Khan.
• Notes:
  • Sir Alan and his advisers pointed out that selling the extras played a crucial role in deciding who won and criticised Velocity for not realising this, though Ruth was given much praise and credit for her sales. Meanwhile, there was some confusion about who had made three of Velocity's sales, with Ruth and Samuel both trying to take credit. In the end, Sir Alan decided that Ruth deserved sole credit, leaving Samuel without a sale to his name.
  • During the reward boat trip, an argument broke out between Paul and Michelle as Michelle accused Paul of being disrespectful towards Sharon. In reality, she, Syed, and Tuan had completely ignored and disrespected Sharon as a leader and Paul was the only one who supported her.
  • The manager of the car lot for Velocity "didn't exactly give a glowing report" about Ansell's performance as leader, and reported back that he should be fired. After Jo's firing, Sir Alan told Ansell that the reference was so bad he was now "one more boardroom" away from dismissal. Samuel was also told that he was on his last chance, due to a poor track record across all the tasks and since he technically did not make a sale either.
  • Sir Alan had to tell Jo that she was fired three times, after she repeatedly begged for another chance. After she left, she declined to shake hands with Ansell or Samuel. For the first time in the show's history, a different style of music was played over the clip of Jo's departure. This has sometimes been employed in other episodes to emphasise the departure of a notable candidate. During her taxi interview Jo started off fine but soon became tearful.

Week 7: Selling in Topshop

• Invicta: Tuan (Project Manager), Syed, Paul and Sharon.
• Velocity: Michelle (Project Manager), Ruth, Samuel and Ansell.
• Task: Sell clothing items for Topshop. Most money made, wins.
• Task Review: Both teams initially opted for the same two lines of clothing, so Tuan and Ruth agreed that the teams would take one of each - Invicta opted for Admiralty while Velocity chose Gothic. They flipped a coin for their second choice, and Velocity won, so they took Aviator while Invicta were left with Modern Oriental. Invicta had a good display set up by Sharon (despite a huge spat the previous evening), while Velocity lacked a clear strategy for much of the task. After getting off to a flying start, Invicta started to lose their 23% lead at the end of the morning. However, Michelle's unproductive time spent in the VIP Room drinking champagne for most of the morning and Samuel's lack of success at dragging in customers from the street led to Tuan's team emerging as victors. Velocity had a chance to win the task in the afternoon when Topshop owner Philip Green visited their display and asked Ruth for £100 worth of clothing, but Ruth only gave him £66 worth and didn't try to sell him anything else.
• Result: Velocity made sales of £2,548, while Invictia made sales of £2,668.
• Winner: Invicta - By £120.
• Reward: A night in a top-class country hotel, with skeet shooting.
• Brought into the boardroom: Michelle, Ruth and Samuel.
• Fired: Samuel - For mismanaging the marketing, making several excuses in the boardroom and for his generally poor track record throughout the process
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Mary Portas and Mark Frith.
• Notes:
  • During the team briefing, Velocity were asked by Sir Alan who they wanted as Project Manager out of Tuan and Michelle, the only two candidates who had not led a team prior to this week.
  • A massive argument flared up within Invicta at the end of the first day, as Sharon felt she was being sidelined in decision making, despite the fact she had the most experience of the fashion industry. She accused her teammates of ganging up on her, angering Paul and Syed. Dissatisfied with her persistent complaining, Syed continued to argue on his own, before walking out of the room in disgust. Sharon refused to take an active role in the task early on the second day but quickly took charge of setting up a display, when she realised Nick and Margaret were both watching.
  • During the first boardroom, Ruth, Ansell and Samuel were not particularly willing to criticise Michelle for her hands-off management, but Sir Alan gave them all a clear warning that this complimentary attitude should stop, as he wanted them to defend themselves, since they would turn on each other sooner or later to get the one job being offered. Ruth was arguably the candidate most unwilling to criticise Michelle, instead saying that Samuel should be fired for failing to contribute towards decision-making. When pressured however, she conceded that she was torn between the two, since both had been at fault.
  • Despite mishandling the sales with Philip Green, Sir Alan felt Ruth was not to blame for the loss as she was the top seller and that both Michelle and Samuel's errors easily outweighed her single mistake, and criticised Michelle for bringing her back. However, Michelle said she had even less reason to bring Ansell in, since both he and Ruth had sold well, and that Ruth's handling of Green was the sole fault she could find in either performance. Ruth herself agreed with the choice.
  • As Green had offered to purchase clothing from Velocity but not from Invicta, Invicta would have won even more decisively by £186 had it not been for his intervention.
  • Along with the disaster of week 4, this task influenced the decision in later series to give Sir Alan the chance to fire more than one candidate outside of the interview stage. Whilst Sir Alan deemed Michelle most at fault, he added that he was tired of Samuel's excuses and held him liable for the marketing aspect of the task. Ultimately, Michelle was saved by her better track record and her more convincing argument.

Week 8: Selling to the Trade

• Invicta: Syed (Project Manager), Paul, Tuan and Sharon.
• Velocity: Ruth (Project Manager), Michelle and Ansell.
• Task: Buy a particular product from a designer, and then sell it on to trade. Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: Both teams split up in order to sell their products in different parts of London. Velocity sold lighting kits and a designer coat stand, and managed to find more customers by asking for contacts from stores that they had sold to. Invicta had a fuel can with a flow control system, and a set of metallic shelves. Despite Sir Alan warning the teams not to bother trying to get sales from major chains, Syed spent most of the day trying to set up a major deal with a chain of petrol stations, and while he eventually secured the deal, the time spent and an accident in the middle of London made them two hours late back to the boardroom, causing Sir Alan to fine them by 25% of Syed and Tuan's sales.
• Result: Velocity had sales of £3,237.50, while Invicta had sales of £3,140.
• Winner: Velocity - By £97.50
• Reward: A day at a luxury spa.
• Brought into the boardroom: Syed, Sharon and Tuan.
• Fired: Sharon - For having the weakest sales negotiations in the team, contributing less than £100 to the team's total, being "too nice" for the business environment, and for being the less effective over both Syed and Tuan.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Duncan Bannatyne and Victoria Derbyshire.
• Notes:
  • Tuan told Syed to try to negotiate their penalty down to 20% in the boardroom, as this would have still allowed Invicta to win (with total sales of £3,280), but Syed accepted the penalty without argument, not wanting to anger Sir Alan further; until it was given, they had made £3,840.
  • Sir Alan offered Syed immunity from being fired because he was so impressed by his selling prowess. However, Syed refused and put himself forward for firing with his team. The entire segment was edited out. Syed and Tuan's final appointment was the reason for their late arrival - the buyer originally agreed to a deal of 100 cans over the phone if Syed and Tuan came to his home for the pitch. Tuan recognised that this would be their last deal, and they therefore needed to up-sell the offer, which led to them securing an order of 300 units for around £1000, so even with the £700 penalty, the deal was still worthwhile. Sir Alan was impressed when he heard the details, even asking Tuan whether he had added "a little bit of VAT" to his story - Tuan quickly denied this, and Syed did not challenge him, going on to say that while he had led the negotiations, the final deal was a team effort.
  • Despite Sharon's firing, Sir Alan had heavy criticisms for all three remaining members of Invicta; Paul for coming across as rude and abrasive in sales, Syed for refusing to admit mistakes and constantly interrupting the other candidates and Sir Alan in the boardroom, and most of all Tuan, for technically not making a single sale and for being seen as a "backroom man", which Sir Alan made clear was absolutely not the type of person he wanted to hire.

Week 9: Property Sales

• Invicta: Tuan (Project Manager), Syed and Ruth.
• Velocity: Michelle (Project Manager), Paul and Ansell.
• Task: Rent out property in different areas of London, making money from commissions. Most commissions made, wins.
• Task Review: With only three members on each team, Velocity split up and worked individually with Michelle keeping in contact with both Paul and Ansell. Ansell quickly became popular with customers, whilst Paul initially struggled. All three however, eventually managed to close deals. For Invicta's part, Tuan took a back seat role leaving Ruth and Syed to concentrate on sales. Syed made many mistakes including taking the wrong keys to properties on two occasions and sending a client to the other side of town by mistaking a railway line for Wandsworth Bridge. Ruth, meanwhile, excelled, closing deals on both days, and even succeeded with the most expensive property at the very end of the first day (the clients closed the deal as soon as the office opened the next morning). Both teams closed six deals each, with commission earned in excess of £8,500, but both Syed and Tuan's mistakes proved costly for Invicta.
• Result: Velocity made £8,923.20 in commissions, while Invicta made £8,637.20 in commissions.
• Winner: Velocity - By £286.
• Reward: A day's tuition with chef Raymond Blanc.
• Brought into the boardroom: Tuan, Ruth and Syed (the only members on the team)
• Fired: Tuan - For not managing to let out any properties, taking a backseat as project manager, despite being warned last week, and for lacking the passion and drive both Syed and Ruth had demonstrated.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Ann Maurice and Paul Torrisi.
• Notes:
  • Sir Alan soon told Ruth she was in no danger of being fired and instead merely asked for her opinion on who should be. Ruth said that while Syed "bites off more than he can chew" and was disorganised, his passion was inspiring to those around him, and since Tuan lacked this, he should be fired.
  • The one deal Syed had managed to close had been signed by punters in the street he had managed to draw into the office, the suggestion of which even the estate agent had scoffed; this played a large part in his survival. Tuan did manage to let out one apartment, but it fell through due to the potential tenants not having the money for a deposit on the day. However, Syed had a second deal fall through in similar circumstances (this spurred him into making his successful sale), meaning that Tuan was still the least effective salesperson.
  • Sir Alan commented that Tuan had already given up on the competition, and described him as 'a broken man'; Tuan confirmed that this was the case on You're Fired, and said that he did deserve to be fired. Syed was still given a final warning by Sir Alan, who noted that had he not secured the one deal, he would have been in serious danger of being fired.

Week 10: Moet & Chandon

• Invicta: Syed (Project Manager) and Ruth.
• Velocity: Paul (Project Manager), Michelle and Ansell.
• Task: Devise and promote a service to passengers aboard the cruise liner, the Grand Princess, on her voyage between Istanbul and Naples. Overall performance, both in sales and service, wins.
• Task Review: For Velocity, Paul hit upon the idea of running and promoting a series of dance classes and a competition with a grand prize of £50 to the winners. For Invicta, Syed came up with the idea of an above-deck fun day with events taking place across the ship. The teams were told that success would not be judged solely on sales, but also on many other criteria including marketing, originality and customer satisfaction. At the end of the task, Invicta made less money due in part to Ruth buying more bottles of Moët & Chandon champagne (distributed as thank-you gifts to staff) than was necessary, while their organisation and customer satisfaction ratings were far below those of Velocity, meaning they lost the task in every regard.
• Result: Velocity made £507, while Invicta made £191.50.
• Winner: Velocity - By £315.50. They also had better ratings for their service.
• Reward: As the liner was docked in Naples on the coast of Italy, the winning team was sent to Rome to stay in a luxury apartment and spend a few days in the city.
• Brought into the boardroom: Syed and Ruth (the only members on the team)
• Fired: Syed - For losing the passion and enthusiasm he displayed earlier in the competition, being a weaker overall candidate than Ruth, several overdue firings (most notably Weeks 4 and 9), and for being seen as "too much of a risk" for Sir Alan's company despite some "flashes of genius".
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Mark Frith and Jane Moore.
• Notes:
  • During the task Syed lost the names of many people who had bought raffle tickets and suggested going ahead anyway (the names were later found).
  • This was the first and only occasion (to date; before the finals), that the final boardroom consisted of only two candidates.
  • Ruth came close to being fired after admitting that she didn't read the task rules and thought they were being measured on turnover rather than profit, combined with her consistent attempts to blame Syed for the whole task, but Sir Alan decided that Syed was more deserving of being fired, since Ruth had been a much stronger contributor in the tasks and had a better CV.
  • Syed's firing was the first significant point in the series in which a key character was fired; Syed had become well-known, and as with Jo Cameron, a different style of ending with done, with higher, slower music being played over his "walk of shame" to the taxi to emphasise this.
  • Paul became the first candidate to make it through the entire series of tasks without ever being brought back into the final boardroom; the only other candidate to have achieved this to date is Lee McQueen of Series 4 (excluding Raleigh Addington from Series 6, who never appeared in the final boardroom but left before the end of the series, and Lindsay Booth from Series 10, who was fired before the final boardroom).

Week 11: Interviews

• Semi-Finalists: Ansell, Michelle, Paul and Ruth.
• Task: The four remaining candidates undergo a grueling series of interviews with each of three associates of Sir Alan; Paul Kemsley, Claude Littner and Bordan Tkachuk. The interviews were based around the candidates' previous work and experience as well as their reasons and motivations for appearing on the show.
• Candidate Reviews: Despite consistent success with previous tasks, Paul's underwhelming employment record was unearthed and he was heavily cross-examined, with his overconfident attitude and cocky personality resulting in strongly negative reports being delivered to Sir Alan. He was described by Paul Kemsley as a "door-to-door salesman", though both Nick and Margaret defended him pointing out his strengths on the tasks. Michelle received better reports, but Sir Alan was confused by the fact that she already had a £100,000 salary and was self-employed. Ansell was described by all as a "nice guy" with even hard-to-impress Bordan and Claude admitting they both found themselves liking him, but there were questions over his limited experience in sales and how well he would cope in a more aggressive environment. Ruth generally impressed despite Sir Alan having some doubts over the credibility of parts of her CV. Sir Alan spoke to Paul in depth for the first time and despite Paul's having won seven tasks, Sir Alan was unimpressed and said he was merely "lucky" to be in the final four. When Sir Alan demanded Paul give a good reason why he should stay, Paul boasted that many companies would employ him if Sir Alan did not, only to be immediately dismissed by an infuriated Sugar. Michelle, when questioned, justified her cause and Sir Alan was impressed with her independent business nature and apparent generosity with family and friends. He decided to put her through. Sir Alan was then torn between Ansell and Ruth, but Ruth's intelligence led to her staying – Ansell was deemed to be too nice.
• Fired:
  • Paul - For his arrogant behavior, unimpressive CV, and because it was felt he made it to the interview process just by sheer luck.
  • Ansell, with regret - For being too nice, being too focused towards sales, and for never demonstrating any real leadership qualities during the series.
• The Apprentice: You're Fired! panel: Saira Khan and Nick Hewer.
• Notes:
  • The majority of the You're Fired audience disagreed with Ansell's firing.
  • At first Claude was notably critical of Ansell due to his CV saying in the review "When I saw his CV I would have put it in the bin." but later admitted when he met Ansell he liked him. Bordan meanwhile admitted he liked Ansell but found him "shallow" because he had not researched Sir Alan's organizations, the companies in there and the products that they sell.

Week 12: The Final

• Finalists: Michelle and Ruth.
• Ruth's team: Ruth (Project Manager), Jo, Tuan and Ansell.
• Michelle's team: Michelle (Project Manager), Syed, Paul and Sharon.
• Task: Put on an evening event to be staged at London's Tower Bridge with a theme of own choice. Sir Alan decides, based on performance.
• Task Review: Ruth chose to have a "Murder Mystery Theme" and hired actors to play the parts of various characters throughout the night. Despite Sir Alan having doubts about this, her event took more money than Michelle's and sold more tickets, mostly because of the way in which her team of Tuan, Ansell and Jo worked through contacts made throughout the series. Sir Alan, however, having himself paid a visit to both evenings, questioned her originality in that she had directly implemented his suggestions to her of can-can dancers. Michelle's night also came under fire for being almost identical to Sir Alan's suggestions when he had briefed the two on the task. She chose a casino themed 007 (James Bond) evening called '00Heaven'. Her team of Sharon, Paul and Syed was an interesting choice as the group had experienced many confrontations in previous weeks. They failed to work as efficiently as Ruth's – Syed and Paul sold very few tickets and clearly did not enjoy working together, and this led to conflict between Syed and Sharon. In the end tickets were sold for as little as £10, despite the original price being £65, although Michelle did manage to improve their sales by reorganising her team.
• Runner-up: Ruth - For raising concerns on being too aggressive, and for a mediocre record in non-sales orientated tasks which made her unsuitable for a less focused sales environment.
• Winner: Michelle - For being a stronger all-round candidate than Ruth.
• The Apprentice: You're Hired! panel: No panel as such, but Alan Sugar made a guest appearance, and all of the previous candidates were in the audience.
• Notes:
  • During the special Apprentice 'Motor Mouths' documentary programme, Margaret publicly stated that she felt Ruth should have won.
  • 4 months after being hired, Michelle quit her job at the Xenon Green computer disposal company just to start her own consultancy firm.
  • Samuel would have been part of Ruth's team, but did not return, so Jo was brought in as a replacement.
  • This episode marks the first use of the Rolls-Royce sequence in which the winner is shown leaving Brentwood House/The Viglen Building and getting into Sugar's Rolls-Royce and it was the only time that the winner has their luggage with them.

Criticism and controversy

Mani Sandher

A year after he left the show, contestant Mani Sandher sent in a complaint to the BBC claiming that he was unfairly portrayed. The complaint was subsequently rejected by the BBC with the BBC Trust subsequently adding that the editing did not mislead the audience and "fairly reflected" his role in the task. They added that Sandher was aware the programme was subject to editing. The makers of the programme refuted suggestions that Mani's portrayal had been defamatory, saying the show's cut and commentary were "checked and re-checked" to ensure fairness to the candidates. Sandher, who was appealing against an earlier dismissal of his complaint, claimed his direct response to a question had been cut during a sales presentation to pitch a charity calendar in the series. He added it gave the impression that he had failed to consider pricing policy which he maintained the programme's edits revealed that he had addressed. The Editorial Complaints Unit said "fairness does not require broadcasting a whole of a particular exchange".

Tuan Le

In Week 7, candidate Tuan Le suffered from food poisoning throughout the entire task, as did a member of the production crew, severely limiting the contribution he could make. He was given the option of sitting out and not facing the boardroom, but opted to participate.

Ratings

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.

Episode no.	Airdate	Viewers (millions)	BBC Two weekly ranking
1	22 February 2006	3.65	2
2	1 March 2006	3.51	2
3	8 March 2006	4.20	1
4	15 March 2006	4.11	1
5	22 March 2006	4.03	2
6	29 March 2006	4.45	1
7	5 April 2006	4.26	1
8	12 April 2006	4.58	1
9	19 April 2006	4.76	1
10	26 April 2006	4.68	1
11	3 May 2006	4.98	1
12	10 May 2006	5.95	1

Specials

Episode no.	Airdate	Viewers (millions)	BBC Two weekly ranking
Tim in the Firing Line
	19 February 2006	2.26	25

External links

• The Apprentice at BBC Online
• Times Online interview with Alan Sugar
• Amstrad Site
• Blog of the 2nd series written by marketing expert Steve Gibson
• Free tickets to You're Fired/Hired show at Lostintv