Week Nine


The PMs, the teams and the money


Team Vitality

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Project Manager: Harrison with Michaela, Jade and Joanna

Votes from the industry experts: 12

Team Graphene

Project Manager: Sarah with James, Elizabeth and Bushra

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Votes from the industry experts: 10


The treat

Lord Sugar sends Team Vitality off to a circus themed restaurant, to be entertained by an acrobat, fire breather and a trapeze artist, all while sitting at the dining table.


The boardroom


The Apprentice 2017: Elizabeth, Sarah and Bushra in the boardroom
The Apprentice 2017: Elizabeth, Sarah and Bushra in the boardroom (BBC Pictures)

The contestants battle it out in a heated discussion, leading Sarah to decide to bring Elizabeth and Bushra back into the boardroom with her.

After the three candidates passionately defend themselves to Lord Sugar, he blames Sarah for the "bad branding" behind the name Gourmet Crusaders, and also says that Elizabeth's enthusiasm "sometimes is far too much" for him to tolerate.

However, it was Bushra who eventually got the shove. "Bushra, I don’t think you’ve done much in these last nine weeks, and it is with regret that you’re fired."

Week Eight


The PMs, the teams and the money


Team Graphene

Project Manager: James with Elizabeth, Bushra, Harrison and Joanna

Dog training sales: £435

Mobile Team sales: £435

Merchandise sales: £407.92

Total sales: £1,277.92

Team Vitality

Project Manager: Charles with Anisa, Sarah, Andrew, Michaela and Jade

Doggy Spa Sales: £325

Mobile Team Sales: £375

Additional Merchandise sales: £114.75

Total sales: £814.75


The treat

Lord Sugar sends Team Graphene to a top-notch spa to get a 24 carat gold facial treatment.


The boardroom


The Apprentice Week 8
The Apprentice Week 8 (BBC Pictures)

After a drawn-out conversation in the boardroom discussing where the task went wrong, Charles eventually decides to bring Andrew and Anisa back in to join him. Lord Sugar wastes no time in mucking around.

After saying that Andrew was "immature", Charles would "lay around and do nothing" and that Anisa had had an opportunity to show what he can do, he fired all three of them.

Summing up his shock triple firing to Claude and Karren, Lord Sugar said: "I have to close my eyes and try to envisage these people in business with me, and in all three cases I couldn’t see it."

Week Seven


The PMs, the teams and the money


Team Graphene

Project Manager: James with Elizabeth, Bushra, Harrison, Sajan and Joanna

Team Vitality

Project Manager: Michaela with Anisa, Charles, Jade, Andrew and Sarah

Lord Sugar, with the help of industry experts, has no problem deciding that Team Vitality’s car advert and digital billboard poster was the better of the two and the winner of this week’s task.

Team Vitality’s TV advert was commended for having some cohesion to the digital billboard, unlike Team Graphene’s advertising campaign which had no consistency between the two elements.


The treat

Lord Sugar sends Team Vitality down the world’s tallest tunnel slide at the Orbit in the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park.


The boardroom


Sajan Shah on The Apprentice 2017
Sajan Shah on The Apprentice 2017 (BBC Pictures)

Lord Sugar blames James’s management style as a reason for the downfall of the task.

"James, your management technique is very similar to someone sitting in the back of a cab, watching and knowing the cab driver was going the wrong way."

Lord Sugar then asks who James is going to bring back to face the music. James decides Sajan and Joanna should return to the boardroom – however, Lord Sugar decides to bring Elizabeth back in too, stating that the fault of this task lies largely on her shoulders.

After all four candidates passionately defend themselves and their place in the process, Lord Sugar summarises: "Elizabeth, I worry that your control freak mannerisms are not going to work with me."

"Sajan, the creative, I can’t see any standout moments so far. I don’t think you’re that creative."

"Joanna, you are argumentative, confrontational, and that worries me if we’re going to build a business together."

"But I’ll tell you what worries me the most James, is that you let them walk all over you. Weak leadership, persuaded easily by Elizabeth, and for that reason you put me in an awkward position."

"But having said all that, Sajan, in this task I have not seen anything from you. So Sajan – you’re fired!"

Week Six


The PMs, the teams and the money


Team Graphene

Project Manager: Elizabeth with Bushra, Harrison, Sajan, Sarah, James and Joanna

Total spend: £180.54

Sales: £1,139.60

Refunds: £156.00

Overall profit: £803.06

Team Vitality

Project Manager: Sarah-Jayne with Charles, Michaela, Andrew, Jade and Anisa

Total spend: £167.64

Sales: £993.00

Refunds: £165.00

Overall profit: £660.36


The treat

The winning team gets to set sail a little closer to home as Lord Sugar sends Team Graphene punting in Cambridge.


The boardroom


The Sarah-Jayne on The Apprentice week 6 week 6
Sarah-Jayne on The Apprentice week 6 (BBC Pictures)

Lord Sugar wasn't very impressed with Andrew's 'laddish' behaviour on the task: "This is a business process. This is not a holiday camp or someplace where you are here to enjoy yourself."

Sarah-Jayne, Andrew and Charles argue over who was most responsible for the failure of the task.

Eventually, Lord Sugar interrupts the candidates’ arguments to summarise the team’s performance and round up the task:

"Sarah-Jayne, you appointed yourself project manager because you wanted to prove yourself to me. Fact, you have not proved yourself to me."

"Charles, you are like Mr. Hindsight. You tell everybody what went wrong and why it went wrong after the event, but what I don’t hear is what you did right, what you’ve ever done right."

Then Lord Sugar says to Andrew: "And you, young man, I’ve already spoken to you about your attitude. I’ve got to invest £250,000, and I’m thinking there is no way on this earth that you are ever going to be a business partner of mine."

"Charles, your CV talks about what a great business man you are, I ain’t seen any of that."

"Sarah-Jayne, I’ve been wondering what you do, and now I know what you do. It seems to me that you’ve moved yourself over to a convenient place and I think you’ve been in a convenient place for the last six weeks."

"For that reason, Sarah-Jayne – you’re fired!"

Week Five


The PMs, the teams and the money


Team Graphene

Project Manager: Joanna with Jade, Sarah-Jayne, Bushra, Anisa, Elizabeth and James

Total spent acquiring items: £210.70 (and managed to get all 9 items)

Fine for missing the deadline: £100

Total spent (lowest amount wins): £310.70

Team Vitality

Project Manager: Sajan with Andrew, Ross, Harrison, Charles, Michaela and Sarah

Total spent acquiring items: £82.50

Fine for failing to deliver three items: £347.53

Total spent (lowest amount wins): £430.03


The treat

Lord Sugar sends Team Graphene off to a bar that celebrates the 1940’s, the decade he was born in.


The boardroom


Ross Fretten on The Apprentice 2018
Ross Fretten on The Apprentice 2017 (BBC Pictures)

Lord Sugar questions the teams’ strategy for traveling around London:

“A Japanese tourist who had just got off a plane would have worked his way around London better than you lot!”

Lord Sugar questions Ross about the claim he’s usually the smartest person in any room. Ross responds: “So statistically speaking I’m very smart and if you take an average room of people from the UK, I’m usually the smartest person in the room.”

Lord Sugar retorts: “And modest with it also…”

To which Ross responds: “I actually do have the IQ of an official genius.”

In the end Lord Sugar reveals his final decision:

“Sajan, a project manager is ultimately responsible for the results of a task, and here there was a total lack of communication, a total lack of strategy.”

“Harrison, you talk well. You haven’t impressed me at all. You’ve been sub-team leader a couple of times and not been very successful.”

“And Ross, the genius… well maybe you are a genius. Maybe it is unfair to lay the blame of a task on somebody that did nothing. But on the other hand I wonder whether you are really made for business.”

“Having said all that, Sajan your explanation of why you should remain here was not really good enough.”

“However Ross, you are a very articulate fellow, but I believe, I say this very respectfully, you are a fish out of water in this process.”

“For that reason, I wish you all the best, but Ross – you’re fired.”

Week Four


The PMs, the teams and the money


Team Graphene

Project Manager: Siobhan– with Jade, Sarah-Jayne, Joanna, Bushra, Anisa and Elizabeth

Total Candy Floss Profit: £352.80

Total Hospitality Box Profit: £631.56

Total profit: £984.36

Team Vitality

Project Manager: Andrew – with Ross, Harrison, James, Charles, Sajan, Michaela and Sarah

Total Popcorn Profit: £222.50

Total Hospitality Box Profit: £993.20

Total profit: £1215.70


The treat

Keeping with the sporting theme, Team Vitality are sent on a trip to The Oval cricket ground where they have a chance to bat alongside world famous cricketer Kevin Pietersen.


The boardroom


Apprentice candidates Elizabeth, Sioban and Joanna in the boardroom
Apprentice candidates Elizabeth, Siobhan and Joanna in the boardroom (BBC Pictures)

Siobhan chooses Elizabeth and Joanna to return to the boardroom.

The girls get into a heated debate, with Siobhan and Joanna blaming Elizabeth for the failure of the task.

Lord Sugar has had enough.

“I’m not going to listen to any more of this; I think we’ve flogged this to death. I’m going to summarise how I see this situation at the moment.

“Siobhan, there were fundamental errors made that an events manager would not make.

“Having said that, Elizabeth, I can’t believe that you just put the phone down, and you said 'I’ve got no clue what that conversation was about'. You should have got back on and said 'Look I need some costs, I need some understanding'.

“And as far as you’re concerned Joanna, you are very, very argumentative. I haven’t seen you compliment anyone on doing anything... Everybody’s wrong, that one’s not telling the truth, or that one here is not telling the truth. You’re a difficult person.

“But Elizabeth I do feel that the failure of this task was down to the promises made to the client, and on that basis Elizabeth, you know, you’ve made life very difficult for me.

“Having said all that, Siobhan, not having a strategy, when this is your area of expertise; over-ordering is really a crime as far as I’m concerned.

“On that basis Siobhan, I regret to say that you’re fired.”


Week Three


The PMs, the teams and the money


Team Graphene

Project Manager: Jade – with Siobhan, Sarah-Jayne, Joanna, Bushra, Sarah, Anisa and Elizabeth

Total toy sales: £1,477.55

Total prototype sales: £56,350

Total profit: £57,827.55

Team Vitality

Project Manager: Michaela – with Andrew, Ross, Harrison, James, Charles, Elliot and Sajan

Total toy sales: £5,785.60

Total prototype sales: £0

Total profit: £5,785.60


The treat


A trip to a robot fighting experience, to let off steam and where the girls can sort out their differences, once and for all.


The boardroom


The Apprentice Elliot Van Emden

"This is a bloody shambles," Lord Sugar sneered when the figures were revealed. "This is the third task, and the third task you’ve lost. I’m not impressed at all, with any of you." Which is hardly surprising after all that Jeffrii and Siimon nonsense.

Project Manager Michaela chose to bring Elliot and Harrison Jones back into the boardroom with her, but it was David Cameron's former intern who was eventually told he was fired.

"Elliot, you may be very articulate, you may be very skilled in being able to talk as a barrister, but I think sometimes people come into this process thinking that what they’ll do, is they’ll just sit back and let everybody else fall on their sword," said Sugar. "I think that your demeanour, your manner is just not up my alley. You’re not cut out to be my business partner."

This comes after the barrister said his "game plan to win is to assess the morons from the people that are actually successful, look at who is actually going to be in a position to win the process and then destroy them."

That didn't really work out too well in the end...


Week Two


The PMs, the teams and the money


Team Graphene

Project Manager: Bushra – with Siobhan, Michaela, Jade, Joanna, Sarah-Jayne, Joanna, Elizabeth, Anisa, and Sarah

Total Spend: £5,675

Total Sales: £7,325

Margin: 56%

Team Vitality

Project Manager: Ross – with Andrew, Harrison, James, Charles, Elliot, Jeff and Sajan

Total Spend: £11,495

Total Sales: £1,505

Margin: 12%


The treat


A visit to luxury hotel, Rosewood London, to meet internationally renowned cartoonist, Gerald Scarfe, to have their caricatures drawn.


The boardroom


The Apprentice Week 2

Lord Sugar is not impressed with the boys’ colour scheme: "The colours! If I stayed in that hotel I’d wake up in the night and think I was in the middle of a trifle."

But Jeff Wan was having none of it... "I’m not just about numbers. I have a background in breakdancing and you have to be creative to do breakdancing," he pleaded. But it was no use.

"Jeff, you certainly talk well, but you’ve not been clear in telling me what you’ve done this week, let alone last week. But in my personal opinion, James, the furniture was the most important element of this task. Having said all that, I have the feeling, Ross, I’ve got a little bit of a dilemma here, but despite your high qualifications, Jeff, I wouldn’t trust you with a hotel in Monopoly...Jeff, you're fired!"


Week One


The PMs, the teams and the money


Team Graphene

Project Manager: Sarah – with Siobhan, Michaela, Jade, Sarah-Jayne, Joanna, Elizabeth, Anisa, and Bushra

Total Spend: £374.87

Total Sales: £611.65

Profit: £236.78

Team Vitality

Project Manager: Danny – with Andrew, Ross, Harrison, James, Charles, Elliot, Jeff and Sajan

Total Spend: £394.62

Total Sales: £280.45

Loss: -£114.70


The treat


It was back to the house for Team Graphen for a vegetarian feast cooked by Tommy Banks, Britain’s youngest Michelin-starred chef.


The boardroom


The Apprentice candidates in the boardroom

Lord Sugar on the losing team: “Gentlemen, this is a very unfortunate start. Right now I feel like I’m looking at a load of dead meat to be honest with you.”

PM Danny initially decides Harrison will be joining himself and Charles in the boardroom – but when Harrison puts up a fight, he relents and chooses Elliot to take his place.

Lord Sugar on the three in the firing line and his final decision: “Do you know what worries me Charles, one gets a feeling about people immediately, and the feeling I’m getting is that you’re a little bit disruptive. I can’t deal with disruptive people as my business partner.”

“Danny you’ve made some serious errors, I think you were a bit overwhelmed.”

“As far as Elliot is concerned, I really don’t know what you did on this task, and that worries me really.”

“The fact of the matter is Charles, we can’t have disruptive people here and whilst you say you’ll get better as time goes along, it is regretful that you’ve acted this way in the first task. But Danny, this was a disaster and I don’t think you managed the team well. So Danny, it is with regret that you’re fired.”

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The Apprentice continues on Wednesday at 9pm on BBC1

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