The Apprentice (UK series twelve)

The Apprentice UK

◄ Series Twelve

The Candidates Name Left Show       Alana Spencer Courtney Wood Frances Bishop Grainne McCoy Jessica Cunningham Trishna Thakrar Sofiane Khelfa Week 9 Dillon St. Paul Week 9 Paul Sullivan Week 8 Samuel Boateng Week 7 Karthik Nagesan Week 7 Rebecca Jeffrey Week 6 JD O'Brien Week 5 Mukai Noiri Week 4 Aleksandra King Week 4 Oliver Nohl-Oser Week 3 Natalie Hughes Week 2 Michelle Niziol Week 1 New Business Partner Runner-up Fired Resigned

Series twelve of The Apprentice (UK), a British reality television series, began broadcasting on 6 October 2016.^[1] Eighteen candidates were featured.^[2][3]

Candidates

18 candidates competed for the chance to go into business with Lord Sugar, nine men and nine women. There were two teams, Titans and Nebula. Three candidates - Natalie, Aleksandra and Rebecca - never had the chance to be Project Manager.

Weekly results

     The candidate was in the winning team.

     The candidate was in the losing team.

     The candidate became Lord Sugar's new business partner 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.

     The candidate was fired.

     The candidate lost as project manager and was fired.

     The candidate left the competition.

Episodes

Week 1: Collectables

• Air Date: 6 October 2016
• Titans: Paul (Project Manager), Courtney, Dillon, JD, Karthik, Mukai, Oliver, Samuel and Sofiane.
• Nebula: Michelle (Project Manager), Alana, Aleksandra, Frances, Grainne, Jessica, Natalie, Rebecca and Trishna.
• Task: Selling antiques at Wimbledon Car Boot Sale.^[4] Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Nebula got off to a bad start when Alana's market team committed themselves to initiating a fire sale that had no set strategy on pricing, but performed well and ended the day with a bulk sale to a trader. However, Michelle, who displayed no form of leadership, not only failed to prevent her sub-team wasting too much time on getting evaluations, but also went against good advice by settling on heading for Camden, lost the van with their stock when Jessica attempted to make a deal along the way, and failed to control Jessica's erratic sales. Meanwhile, Titans' market team were significantly better as their pricing strategy provided good sales, though things soon slowed down later in the day and did not improve when they relocated to Portobello, thanks to low footfall and some of the men performing poorly. Paul's trader team made a considerable faux pas by wasting time negotiating with a dealer who had no authority to make a purchase, but improved themselves towards the end of the day after they slashed prices on their items. Ultimately, Titans' handling of the task proved to be more effective at achieving a high profit.
• Result: Titans made a profit of £1,428.10, while Nebula made a profit of £959.
• Winner: Titans - By £469.10.
• Reward: Lindy hop dancing
• Brought into the boardroom: Michelle, Alana and Rebecca
• Fired: Michelle - For her extremely weak leadership, poor communication with the sub-team, lacking a pricing strategy, and for bringing Alana back into the boardroom instead of Jessica.
• You're Fired Panel: Hal Cruttenden, Matt Edmondson and Anita Manning
• Notes:
  • Although on the winning team, Courtney, JD, and Mukai were singled out by Karren in the boardroom as the worst sellers on Titans, stating that they "hid behind" the rest of the teammates in the hopes they would be safe. Although this was mostly attributed to their lack of sales experience, Karren insisted that they should have adapted to a new environment. It was heavily indicated that any one of the three could have been fired had Titans lost. In addition, Paul was also criticised for wasting his sub-team's time in attempting to make a sale to a store trader without asking if the trader was the owner and had the authority to purchase from them.
  • Sofiane received great praise for selling an item for £175, after Lord Sugar revealed in the boardroom that it had been bought by his team for only £7. He was credited by both Paul and the You're Fired panel as deserving recognition for aiding his team to victory, as his sub-team was responsible for a majority of the sales that they made. In contrast, Natalie was heavily criticised for selling a pair of vases for just £15, which was a 95% mark-down from their original value of £300. On You're Fired, host Rhod Gilbert believed that of those who had avoided being fired, she had been the luckiest amongst them.
  • While Jessica's erratic selling earned criticism in the boardroom, her failed side deal earned significantly more ire for wasting the trade team's time while they were en route to Camden, particularly as no one in her sub-team ensured the van carrying their goods was aware of her arrangement. In the boardroom, Lord Sugar remarked that the side deal in his eyes had been nothing more than a "fool's errand", and indicated he would have fired her had she been brought back by Michelle.
  • As Alana had been one of the top sellers on the task and her sub-team was responsible for most of Nebula's sales, Lord Sugar quickly implied she would not be fired after she was brought back. In comparison, Rebecca came perilously close to being fired, since she had only sold £25 and had contributed little to the task overall. She was warned to step up in future by Claude, with Lord Sugar pointing out that he would have almost certainly fired her, had it not been the first task of the process.
  • On You're Fired, two of the panellists thought Michelle deserved to be fired, while the audience were virtually split over the decision but just marginally agreed on it. While Michelle believed that she did not deserve to go, she agreed that she made critical mistakes on the task.

Week 2: Advertising - Jeans

• Air Date: 13 October 2016
• Titans: Mukai (Project Manager), Courtney, Dillon, JD, Karthik, Oliver, Paul, Samuel and Sofiane.
• Nebula: Jessica (Project Manager), Alana, Aleksandra, Frances, Grainne, Natalie, Rebecca and Trishna.
• Task: Create an advertising campaign for a brand of Japanese denim jeans, including a TV advert and an interactive bus shelter poster.^[5] Best campaign wins.
• Task Review: Nebula decided to focus their campaign solely on women, using the brand name "Unclaimed". However, the team were plagued with issues from the start, with Jessica hastily taking on the role of PM and being quickly overwhelmed, particularly when her sub-team forgot to take their jeans to a photo-shoot. The women managed to rally the following day for the filming of their advert, but their finished campaign was deemed by advertising executives as being unclear, while they were also ridiculed for filming the advert within a Japanese restaurant's toilet, and criticised over their sub-par attempt to incorporate social media into their brand. Despite this, Jessica's pitch to the experts was praised. Meanwhile, Titans focused their campaign on both men and women and using the brand name of "Day After Yesterday", but their execution was just as bad, as Mukai failed to give clear communication on the first day, while Dillon's poor time management that day left them with an incomplete interactive bus shelter poster as a direct result. Mukai's leadership proceeded to become non-existent on the next day, which caused further chaos and was not helped by him clashing with Karthik constantly, while he stumbled during the team's presentation with his first lines. Despite their brand design being seen as much clearer than Nebula's, their bus shelter poster was heavily panned and their advert deemed awful. The views of the experts ultimately led to Lord Sugar declaring that both campaigns were complete failures.
• Winner: None - Lord Sugar hated both campaigns and so declared both teams to have lost.
• Reward: None
• Brought into the boardroom: Jessica, Mukai, Alana, JD, Karthik and Natalie
• Fired: Natalie, with regret - For barely contributing to the two tasks, failing to demonstrate any business initiative, and for her lacklustre defence in the boardroom.
• You're Fired Panel: Zaid Al-Zhady, Grace Dent and Phil Wang
• Notes:
  • Rebecca felt she had been duped out of being PM by Jessica, who claimed she couldn't vote for herself for the role, despite none of the team noticing her contradict her own words by doing the same herself. Karen believed that Jessica had been the wrong choice, especially when she was emotionally overwhelmed when her sub-team forgot their jeans for the poster photo shoot, and was forced to leave the studio to calm down. In the boardroom, Lord Sugar voiced his belief that, apart from being eccentric throughout the task, Jessica had been unwise to take on the role, and that Rebecca should have been PM instead; the You're Fired panellists were in complete agreement with this, although Natalie admitted she would have kept Jessica as PM.
  • Mukai's leadership was greatly criticised by Claude and Paul, as both believed he displayed poor communication on the first day, while the latter felt he was in the "losing team" after the poor presentation that Titans gave to the executives. In the boardroom, Karthik, despite his aggressive attitude, believed he had been a poor leader, while JD believed he had failed to ensure that the team functioned well on the task.
  • Neither Dillon nor Oliver impressed Sugar with their performance on the task - Oliver for lacking presence during the task, and Dillon for his poor time management. The latter was labelled by Claude as a "perfectionist", for the amount of time he wasted on the models that Mukai's sub-team needed. Karthik was much worse, as Sugar was deeply unimpressed with the aggressive behaviour he displayed, labelling him a "loose cannon"; Claude noted that the more aggressively he tried to convey something, the more his team-mates refused to hear him out. Although he narrowly avoided being fired, Sugar hoped he would learn from this, after indicating he was struggling on whether to keep him in the process or not.
  • Lord Sugar was deeply angry that both teams lost on the second task, and after the candidates had left following his verdict on their campaigns, commented to both Karren and Claude that he had been disappointed that it had happened on his favourite task. Prior to them leaving, both Jessica and Mukai were informed that they each had to select two candidates from their teams to return with them to the final boardroom, making it the highest number of candidates to be brought back to the boardroom in the show's history.
  • Prior to firing Natalie, Lord Sugar informed JD that he had given him the "benefit of the doubt" due to his strong defence, despite questioning his lack of presence, and thus he would still remain in the process, as he had considered him least at fault for his team's failure in the task. Although Alana was brought back and struggled during the final boardroom, stopping twice when being questioned, Sugar sympathised with her and sent her back to the house.
  • While the You're Fired audience were marginally in agreement on Natalie's firing, the panellists disagreed, believing that others should have gone; Phil, in particular, felt that Mukai should have gone because of the errors he committed during the task. Natalie expressed relief at leaving the process, believing it was her time to go, and also admitted that she had never seen the programme before and had only stood up for herself in the boardroom because she was too proud not to.

Week 3: Corporate Candy

• Air Date: 20 October 2016
• Titans: Alana (Project Manager), Courtney, Dillon, JD, Jessica, Samuel, Sofiane and Trishna.
• Nebula: Oliver (Project Manager), Aleksandra, Frances, Grainne, Karthik, Mukai, Paul and Rebecca.
• Task: Manufacture and sell sweets.^[6] Most profit made, wins.
• Task Review: Titans focused on luxury styled sweets under the brand name of "Guiltees", creating Cappucino toffee and Strawberry & Champagne pillow sweets. The team suffered only minor issues on the first day primarily over their corporate order for Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, as Sofiane aggressively attempted to get a high price than what the customer was willing to pay, and a machine broke down while making the order. On the second day, despite not providing what the football club had expected, Sofiane's trade team managed to still get their agreed price, and spent the rest of the day selling to traders, haggling down from a high price. Alana's street team, despite getting good footfall, began with slow sales until later in the afternoon when trade eventually began to pick up. Meanwhile, Nebula focused on traditional seaside sweets under the brand name of "Suck It & Sea", making Ice Cream rock and Salt & Vinegar fudge, and had no issues with manufacturing on the first day. However, Oliver's street team failed to have a fixed price strategy on the second day, resulting in sweets being sold at different prices, despite his sub-team managing good sales from the start and eventually selling out by the end of the day. Mukai's trade team were less fortunate, as they failed to sell any of the fudge they had to the traders they met with, while Mukai himself opted to change the original deal with their customer, an upmarket winery, by adding more bags of the same sweets into the order for a reduced price per bag being sold. The lack of a pricing strategy and the performance of the trade team ultimately proved to be costly mistakes for the team.
• Result: Titans made a profit of £785.66, while Nebula made a profit of £615.08.
• Winner: Titans - By £170.58.
• Reward: Master class in free running
• Brought into the boardroom: Oliver, Mukai and Paul
• Fired: Oliver - For his substandard and indecisive leadership, making no significant contributions to either of the prior tasks, and for failing on a task related to his working industry.
• You're Fired Panel: Jamie Laing, Konnie Huq and Susan Calman
• Notes:
  • Lord Sugar decided to mix up the teams - Alana, Jessica, and Trishna moved across to Titans, whilst Karthik, Mukai, Oliver, and Paul moved to Nebula - before subsequently appointing Alana, who had experience in the baking industry, and Oliver, who ran a sausage manufacturing company, as PMs for the task due to their experience in the food industry. Before both teams left, Sugar warned them not to repeat their dismal performance from the previous task.
  • Claude was not impressed during the task with Sofiane's handling of the meeting with the corporate customer, remarking in the boardroom that his continual pushes for a high price during the meet nearly lost his team the deal, despite the fact he managed to restrain himself the second day over the price when the customer agreed to take the football styled sweets that had not been specifically ordered. Lord Sugar, who was equally unimpressed, also chastised him for not listening to Alana, stating he was not the "project manager", after he chose to ignore her request for more of the team's stock when her sub-team were selling to traders.
  • Mukai's handling of Nebula's corporate deal was greatly criticised by Karren for not negotiating with the customer, remarking that his fixed deal of 50 bags of sweets for £1.50 a bag was hardly worthwhile. Paul was just as critical, believing he should have completed the original deal, rather than change it after he added more bags to the order and reduced the price per bag to £1.07 for the entire amount being offered. While he narrowly avoided being fired, Lord Sugar indicated that he was close to doing so, stating that he felt that his explanation in regards to the corporate deal "did not add up".
  • Throughout the boardroom, Oliver struggled to recall the exact prices that had been used during the task on a few occasions; he initially had to ask his team on the pricing, and was subsequently corrected multiple times by Grainne. His leadership and performance were notably poor, after Paul remarked that he acted like a "headless chicken" during the manufacturing of the sweets, while Sugar was greatly disappointed that he failed to sell anything and wasted time tackling the team's tricycle. He was equally unimpressed with his answers in the final boardroom, stating he was "waffling" when he wanted an explanation on his choices of candidates.
  • In the boardroom, Aleksandra accused Paul of trying to divert blame onto her in order to cover up his own shortcomings in the task, revealing that Mukai, who had argued with him towards the end of the task, suddenly allied with him during the team's discussion in the coffee shop. Although she was revealed to have mis-sold twice to a trader, Lord Sugar noted that she had made £100 in sales while Paul hadn't sold anything at all in the trade team. While Paul was not fired, Lord Sugar informed him that both Karren and Claude had noted a level of despondency coming from him, which he stated came from being frustrated by the end of the task.
  • Both the You're Fired audience and one of the panellists agreed with the decision, with Oliver himself agreeing that he deserved to have been fired. Susan Calman, who agreed, remarked that the brand name sounded terrible, while the lack of a pricing strategy had been a bad mistake. Of the two who disagreed, Konnie believed that there were others who had far greater reasons to be fired than Oliver, while Susan remarked that he had been quite a nice guy despite the fact that Paul appeared to be playing a "clever game" and had "stitched him up" in the boardroom.

Week 4: Department Store

• Air Date: 27 October 2016
• Titans: Sofiane (Project Manager), Alana, Courtney, Dillon, JD, Jessica, Samuel and Trishna.
• Nebula: Grainne (Project Manager), Frances, Karthik, Mukai, Paul and Rebecca.^{[nb 1]}
• Task: Handle sales within the department store, Liberty - half the team run a personal shopping service, while the other half run a department, including the promotion of a new line of products.^[7] Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: Titans opted for their sales team to sell scarves, including a new feline-designed line. Efficient use of their window display meant the sales team had good footfall, but most of their sales came during a rush hour towards the end of the day, with some customers voicing dislike over the new line they offered. Their personal shopping team, on the other hand, failed to get specific information, including the budgets of the customers they would be serving, and thus sold less than they could, with some members, particularly JD, hardly doing much to impress. On Nebula, the personal shopping team secured detailed information about what their customers expected and their budget, and had no problems during the day when serving them. The sales team, who focused on more profitable handbags, including a new, futuristic, contemporary line, had decent sales and engaged with customers well, but had low footfall throughout the day in their branch of the store due to their failure to utilise their window display, which was also poorly designed. This mistake ultimately proved costly to the team.
• Result: Titans had sales of £5,259.38, while Nebula had sales of £4,377.99.
• Winner: Titans - By £861.39.
• Reward: Croquet at an English country house
• Left (shortly after the Briefing): Aleksandra - For being overwhelmed by the process and missing her family.
• Brought into the boardroom: Grainne, Karthik and Mukai
• Fired: Mukai - For selling very little, influencing the team to go with handbags, his dismal track record in tasks, and because Lord Sugar felt he was unsuitable to be his business partner.
• You're Fired Panel: Frances Dickens, Gaby Roslin and Hugh Dennis
• Notes:
  • Immediately after Nebula appointed their PM and sub-team leader, Aleksandra announced to the team that she had decided to leave the process, much to their shock, especially after she stated she was not joking about her decision. This marks the first time in the show's history that a candidate left before a task began. Although she was not named, her departure was leaked prior to the broadcast of the episode.^[8][9]
  • Despite Titans winning, their personal shopping team failed to impress Lord Sugar due to their failure to take down important customer details. Along with forgetting to ask about size and style, they were mostly criticised for not asking about each customer's budget, with Sugar commenting that they lost a "great opportunity" after Karren pointed out that one customer, who bought £1,000 of goods, had a £5,000 spending budget. Sugar particularly criticised Alana for the amount of time she spent on a sale, and JD over his low contribution, stating that customers would likely have confused him with a "store detective".
  • Both teams were informed at Liberty that their sales team's footfall could be increased significantly if they utilised their window display effectively through sending someone in to showcase their products. Nebula, having created a poorly conceived display, failed to heed this advice despite getting good sales. Mukai believed this mistake was a major factor in the team's loss; he was the only one to vocally point out the need to utilise it, but Grainne refused to do so, dismissing his suggestion of sending Rebecca into the display.
  • Although he was not fired, Lord Sugar severely warned Karthik that he would be keeping an eye on him, commenting that despite him voicing dislike on the jobs he got and that he had been learning from his previous mistakes, his "loose cannon" nature made him appear untrustworthy to his team-mates. In comparison, Lord Sugar believed that Grainne had potential, stating that he would not fire her and that the mistake with the handbags was largely due to Mukai's influence. Rebecca narrowly avoided being brought back, as Grainne initially changed her mind and went with her and Mukai, before changing it back to her original selection.
  • On You're Fired, just over half the audience and two of the panellists believed that Aleksandra made the right decision to walk from the show; Gaby and Hugh, both in agreement, stated that they understood her decision for doing so. Mukai was unable to attend the show as he had recently moved to Japan, so did not receive a vote and his highlights weren't shown, but he was given a gift by You're Fired for which he gave thanks as part of a video message that he sent to the show.

Week 5: Cycling Crowdfunding

• Air Date: 3 November 2016
• Titans: Samuel (Project Manager), Alana, Courtney, Dillon, Grainne, Karthik and Trishna.
• Nebula: JD (Project Manager), Frances, Jessica, Paul, Rebecca and Sofiane.
• Task: Create a crowdfunding campaign, including a promotional video, for a new cycling product, along with performing a PR stunt and pitching the product to cycling retailers.^[10] Most money raised from pledges, wins.
• Task Review: Nebula opted to promote a set of cyclist headphones that were designed with safety in mind, producing a promotional video to demonstrate this and hiring a gospel choir to sing a specially modified song for their PR stunt. However, pledging was delayed by an hour due to the sub-team making the crowdfunding site failed to discuss rewards with the product's creator until the day of pledging, while filming of their PR stunt led to a poor viral video. Their biggest problem came from their terrible pitch, which failed to impress the retailers and lacked proper pricing information. Meanwhile, Titans focused on promoting a cycle gilet with built-in LED lights, with their promotional video focused on promoting the style and safety factors of its design. Although the team had minor issues, from Samuel's poorly conceived PR stunt, and a slight misspelling of the product on their site, their pitch impressed retailers, due in part to Karthik's presentation, which ultimately secured significant pledges to ensure the team's victory.
• Result: Titans received £788 of pledges, while Nebula received £681 of pledges.
• Winner: Titans - By £107.
• Reward: Cooking Michelin star food at Aveqia
• Brought into the boardroom: JD, Paul and Rebecca
• Fired: JD - For his hands-off leadership, being too nice, his consistent lack of contribution, and for bringing Paul back into the boardroom instead of Sofiane.
• You're Fired Panel: Allyson Stewart-Allen, Jenny Eclair and Guz Khan
• Notes:
  • Despite his team winning, Samuel was greatly criticised. Grainne felt his leadership had been poor and that he refused to let others voice ideas, while Lord Sugar and Claude agreed his PR stunt was poorly conceived. Samuel's attempt to refute this was then shot down by Claude commenting that he had gone with his own idea, whether it had been "right or wrong". Sugar remarked, after the result was given, that Samuel had been "very lucky", strongly implying he would have been fired if his team had lost.
  • Both Alana and Karthik received good feedback. Claude praised Alana for her idea for the team's promotional video, while Karthik, despite being considered "disruptive" during the filming of the promo, was told that one retailer felt he had been "superb" during the pitch, with Karren adding that he had been quite engaging.
  • Karren openly blamed Sofiane for his team's pitch, explaining that his failure to provide pricing information had been the key factor behind it being terrible, something Lord Sugar agreed upon, while she also frowned upon the fact that he had passed on this responsibility over to Frances. Furthermore, both he and Paul were blamed for failing to provide information on the team's site about the rewards, with JD remarking it would had been a "game-changer" if the two men had not clashed.
  • While Paul was not fired, Lord Sugar advised him to "man up" after voicing concerns about his stability of character, despite him giving a good defence, the difficulty he had with Sofiane on the task, and the fact that JD had been wrong to bring him back. Sugar was also unimpressed with Rebecca, despite her claiming she brought in £200 of pledges; she was given "one more chance" to prove herself.
  • On You're Fired, the panellists and the audience all agreed with Lord Sugar's decision, with both Allyson and Guz remarking that JD should have done more as PM during the task, though the former approved of him owning up to his mistakes rather than trying to conceal them from his team.

Week 6: Discount Buying

• Air Date: 10 November 2016
• Titans: Courtney (Project Manager), Alana, Dillon, Grainne, Karthik and Samuel.
• Nebula: Trishna (Project Manager), Frances, Jessica, Paul, Rebecca and Sofiane.
• Task: Find and negotiate low prices for nine items, all in one night and within a budget of £1,000.^[11] Least amount spent (fines included), wins.
• Task Review: Titans wasted no time in sourcing the items, with Karthik identifying a number of them upon hearing their names, allowing the team to quickly begin their search. However, Courtney's sub-team lost time due to a blunder with a map while going after black soap and waiting an hour for a batch of rainbow bagels to be made, meaning they did little negotiation for both items. Courtney also delayed getting the poster print until just before the deadline. Despite this and slight time-wasting by Karthik on the lehnga, the team secured eight items and return to the finish at the Shard on time. Nebula spent longer brainstorming over the items they needed, but managed to secure both their poster print and rainbow bagels much earlier in the task, along with a good discount on their lehnga. However, the team only secured seven items, many of which were more expensive than Titans; Paul's sub-team wasted an hour and a half after Rebecca failed to ensure a trader clearly understood what items they were after, while Trishna's team wasted time searching for cigars near to their printing location and were therefore late getting back to the Shard. The lack of a coordinated strategy, the poor negotiations, and the fines they incurred ultimately cost them victory.
• Result: Titans spent £408.11 (including fines), while Nebula spent £520.65 (including fines).
• Winner: Titans - By £112.54.
• Reward: Home spa treatment
• Brought into the boardroom: Trishna, Rebecca and Sofiane
• Fired: Rebecca - For her failure to properly double-check that a supermarket had the tagine and soap, failing to step up as Project Manager as promised after the previous task, and for her overall weak track record throughout the process.
• You're Fired Panel: Ellie Taylor, Rick Edwards and Angela Middleton
• Notes:
  • To even out the teams, Trishna was moved over to Nebula.
  • The items that both teams had to get were: a Tagine, a pool cue, a Lehnga, Rambutan fruit, African black soap, 200 rainbow bagels, 10 premium Cuban cigars, a poster print of London at night, and "Bird of Paradise" flowers.
  • During the task, Karthik believed a subtle approach with a store selling lehnga, by conversing with staff in a friendly manner, would be enough to get a good discount. However, this backfired as he wasted time and was instead advised to check other stores nearby for a better deal. The fact that Nebula's lengha was child-sized did not bother Lord Sugar, as he agreed that the type had not been specified.
  • Despite Titans winning, Karren had criticism for Alana, Samuel and Courtney, the former two for only negotiating 35p off the black soap, and the latter for his slightly relaxed approach, believing that he felt he "had all the time in the world". Karren also later mocked Courtney for looking in a Turkish supermarket for the Moroccan tagine, an item neither team found.
  • Neither team impressed Lord Sugar's aides with their negotiations for the cigars. In the boardroom, Karren remarked that the discount on Titans' cigar was due to the vendor wanting sleep rather than Alana's negotiations, while Claude stated that Jessica's ploy of claiming she wanted Nebula's cigars for "her father" had no impact on the vendor, and that a "panicking" Trishna had then opted to buy them on the spot rather than find a better deal. Lord Sugar criticised Jessica for using "pathetic tactics", and that the discount of £1 had been hardly worthwhile.
  • While he was not fired, Sofiane was criticised for his lack of participation on the task. Despite being impressed with his poster print, Lord Sugar voiced concerns over Trishna's comments that he preferred to work alone and lacked respect for his colleagues, giving him a strong warning to not be an "autocrat". Sugar also implied that Trishna, who avoided being fired, had been a poor PM, after stating that Nebula's failure was due to poor negotiations by the team, along with her failure to prioritise stores that would shut early than those with 24-hour opening times. In addition, despite not being brought back, Frances was warned by Sugar to be "on the winning team" in the next task, implying she ran the risk of being fired simply because of her 6 week losing streak.
  • On You're Fired both the panellists and the audience agreed with Lord Sugar's decision. Angela pointed out that Rebecca's failure to double-check that an international supermarket had the items that Nebula wanted, which caused the visit to be a complete waste of time, had been a serious "task-ending" mistake, later adding that she also should have delved out of her "comfort zone" and become the PM for the task, to which Rebecca agreed completely.

Week 7: Boat Show

• Air Date: 17 November 2016
• Titans: Karthik (Project Manager), Alana, Courtney, Dillon, Grainne and Samuel.
• Nebula: Frances (Project Manager), Jessica, Paul, Sofiane and Trishna.
• Task: Select and sell boating and leisure accessories at the Poole Harbour Boat Show.^[12] Most sales made, wins.
• Task Review: Karthik sent Grainne and Courtney to manage the high-end items, despite Samuel claiming expertise in this area. The pair’s impressive pitch won Titans their choice of jet skis, while the unpolished efforts of Frances and Sofiane left Nebula with an entry-level motorboat. However, Nebula then secured a paddleboard for their mid-range product thanks to Jessica, forcing Titans to take the more niche watersports board. For accessories, while Nebula took fish-themed backpacks and full face snorkels, an indecisive Karthik chose fish cushions and a stand-changing robe. Bad weather at the boat show did not affect Nebula’s accessory stand, which sold well throughout, but Titans were extremely disorganised; Samuel ignored the pre-agreed pricing strategy, and the other three barely sold at all. Grainne and Courtney heavily prepared for appointments with jet ski buyers given by the vendor, but they completely ignored passing trade. Frances and Sofiane’s failure to read up on facts was compounded by the latter’s unprofessional approach, but both engaged well with potential motorboat customers. There was considerable shock in the boardroom when Claude revealed none of the jet ski sales had come through, so Nebula thrashed Titans with superior accessory sales and two boat deals.
• Result: Nebula made sales of £40,480.68, while Titans made sales of £188.90.
• Winner: Nebula - By £40,291.78.
• Reward: Rowing lesson at the Leander Club with two-time Olympic gold-medalist James Cracknell.
• Fired (during internal review): Karthik - For his "diabolical" leadership, refusing to appoint Samuel to the high-end items instead of Courtney and Grainne, selling nothing, his volatile personality in previous tasks, and for being Project Manager for one of the biggest defeats in the show's history.
• Brought into the boardroom: Alana, Dillon and Samuel
• Fired (during final boardroom): Samuel - For failing to be a part of the high-end team when given the opportunity, barely involving himself in team discussion outside of sales, his stubborn personality, and for his poor leadership on the fifth task.
• You're Fired Panel: Russell Kane, Martin Lewis and Karren Brady
• Notes:
  • For this task, Lord Sugar appointed the project managers, choosing Frances, because she had yet to be on a winning team, and Karthik, because he had yet to be a project manager. While Karren commented in the boardroom that despite coming off a bit unprofessional in the task, Frances had impressed her with the sales her team achieved, Claude was more critical of Karthik's leadership, deeming him the sole reason for his team's loss.
  • Nebula's victory was a new record in the show's history for the highest margin of victory - 214:1 in their favour. Even if the boat sales had not come in, Titans would still have lost, as Nebula's combined sales of low-end and mid-range items totalled over £2,000. Based on this information and the feedback on his performance, Lord Sugar wasted no time and fired Karthik before the final boardroom. He then asked Grainne and Dillon about who deserved to come back, before telling Samuel, Dillon and Alana that they would face the final boardroom.
  • Dillon narrowly avoided being fired, after Lord Sugar remarked he was "too much of a nice guy" to be his business partner and could not use his creativity to hide away from sales, warning him that he had no more room for error. Likewise, Alana avoided being fired as Sugar felt she had been the least responsible for the loss, despite maintaining concerns about her lack of confidence and her weak sales, while Karren, who agreed with his judgement, felt she had serious potential.
  • On You're Fired, both the panel and the audience agreed that Karthik deserved to be fired, although while Karren agreed, she encouraged him to retain his enthusiasm. In Samuel's case, just over half the audience and one panellist disagreed with his firing; Kane, who notably disagreed, stated that if Sugar wanted a double firing, he "should've fired Karthik twice".

Week 8: London Landmarks

• Air Date: 24 November 2016
• Titans: Dillon (Project Manager), Alana, Courtney and Grainne.
• Nebula: Paul (Project Manager), Frances, Jessica, Sofiane and Trishna.
• Task: Organise an exclusive late-night event at two of London's biggest tourist attractions - the London Aquarium and Madame Tussauds - supplying food, drink, a VIP tour, and entertainment.^[13] Most profit made (minus refunds), wins.
• Task Review: Titans designed their event for the London Aquarium around a "fantasy island" theme, and had no issues preparing it, yet their ticket sub-team, despite sticking to an agreed price, made most of their sales from office visits. While their planned night had some minor issues, from a poor VIP tour by Courtney and very little hot food being sold, their guests enjoyed it thanks to the entertainment overseen by Dillon, and the canapes they provided. Meanwhile, Nebula designed their event at Madame Tussauds around a "casino night" theme and had no issues with preparations, however sales of tickets were disorganised due to changes in the pricing strategy leading to many being sold for less than originally planned. Their event was not well received, as despite Trishna offering a good VIP tour, the team's cheaply made canapes did not go down well, while some guests were given free hot food after they had been mistakenly informed it was included in the price of their ticket. Overall, these mistakes were trumped by the bad ticket sales, which ultimately cost them victory.
• Result: Titans made a profit of £2400.66, while Nebula made a profit of £1127.64.
• Winner: Titans- by £1273.02
• Reward: Sword Fighting at Warwick Castle.
• Brought into the boardroom: Paul, Frances and Jessica
• Fired: Paul - For his poor leadership, being responsible for several of the team's mistakes including the fiasco with the ticket prices, and his aggressive attitude towards the other candidates throughout the process.
• You're Fired Panel: Kanya King, Claude Littner and Joe Lycett
• Notes:
  • Each team's venue was pre-arranged by Lord Sugar prior to this task, a fact he pointed out during their briefing, along with warning the candidates that customers would have the right to a refund if they were unsatisfied with the event they planned.
  • Titans' win on the task was sweetened by the fact that they received 100% positive feedback from customers. Part of this feedback came from the good quality canapes they provided, though Karren remarked in the boardroom that this and the quantity being offered had been the key reason for the team selling little hot food; Dillon's attempt to reduce the price during Titans' event had little impact on changing this.
  • Claude was very impressed with Trishna's handling of Nebula's VIP tour during the task, deeming her execution of it as "faultless" due to her ability to recall every detail she had been given by Tussauds' staff. In contrast, Karren felt that Titans' VIP tour had been poor, stating in the boardroom that Courtney's handling of it left people confused and that he lacked charisma throughout it. In addition, Karren deemed Grainne's selling of the tour as a "disaster", with Lord Sugar stating in the boardroom that he couldn't understand how she managed to oversell the tour, and then over-refund the mistake afterwards.
  • During Nebula's event, Paul engaged in a heated row with Jessica over her handling of ticket sales, after he had learnt from some of their customers that she had informed them that hot food would be included with the price of their ticket. Claude did not approve of the argument taking place before the team's guests, stating it should have been done in private, with Lord Sugar pointing out that some of the guests believed they were witnessing a "remake of EastEnders" as a result.
  • Although she was not fired, despite becoming emotional in the final boardroom, Lord Sugar could not understand how Frances had gone "12 steps backwards" after her success on the previous task, stating that her cheaply designed canapes had been the sole reason for Nebula's refunds. Similarly, Jessica received scrutiny for not providing an honest answer over her ticket sales, despite stating it was miscommunication that led to the mistake with the hot food, with Claude remarking that she had "panicked" when she sold tickets for less than the price Paul had set out.
  • On You're Fired, both the panel and the audience agreed to Lord Sugar's decision to fire Paul, with Claude remarking that, apart from making a number of key bad decisions on the task, his aggressive behaviour and the fact he lost his cool as a direct result had been the key factor behind his firing.

Week 9: Virtual Reality Game

• Air Date: 1 December 2016
• Titans: Sofiane (Project Manager), Alana, Dillon and Grainne.
• Nebula: Trishna (Project Manager), Courtney, Frances and Jessica.
• Task: Create a new virtual reality game, and pitch it to gaming enthusiasts at the Comic Con exhibition.^[14] Most votes earned (both from the public and gaming experts), wins.
• Task Review: Nebula focused on a adventure game that saw players travelling through space to find a lost space pet while dodging space obstacles and monitoring fuel levels, but while the design of the game had no issues, the branding of it failed to include the main character, instead focusing on the badger pet players would seek to find. At the convention, feedback on the game was good, though they received comments that it could be improved, yet their pitch to the experts was well received thanks to Jessica's engaging personality. Meanwhile, Titans focused on a underwater puzzle game involving a character called the "Coral Kid" who sought to find and put together pieces of shell, although the design of the game had issues due to Dillon ignoring Alana's suggestions on further elements for it. At the convention, the game was not well received, while their pitch was badly disorganised and less appealing to the experts. In the end, most of the experts felt that Nebula's game concept had potential once improvements were made, while none of the experts had any interest in Titans' product.
• Winner: Nebula - For a game concept that was well received by five out of the seven gaming experts and earning a majority result from the public poll.
• Reward: An immersive dining experience at the secretive, Chamber of Flavours.
• Brought into the boardroom: Sofiane, Dillon and Grainne.
• Fired:
  • Dillon, with regret - For creating a poor video game despite his design expertise, failing to demonstrate any skills other than creativity and because Lord Sugar felt he had an unsuitable personality to his business partner.
  • Sofiane - For mismanaging the sub-teams, delivering a poor pitch, his total disregard of authority in previous tasks and for his generally erratic track record throughout the competition.
• You're Fired Panel: Zaid Al-Zaidy, Ellie Gibson, and Susan Calman.
• Notes:
  • In line with the task's technology aspect, the candidates were given their briefing by Lord Sugar at home and via virtual reality headsets. In addition, Karren, who was at the house along with Claude to set up the briefing, had both Sofiane switch places with Courtney, before advising him and Trishna to be their respective team's project manager, due to the technology aspect of their business plans. Although Dillon put himself forward as Titans' PM, he openly complained about Sofiane assuming the role, believing he was better suited to the creative nature of the task.
  • While Nebula won the task, both Trishna and Frances were openly critical of the branding that Courtney and Jessica designed, believing it had been poorly designed and failed to include the main character of the game; in the boardroom, Karren noted that an expert had had the same opinion with one expert describing the title as "not so much of a game as it is a cry for help." During the reward, Jessica remarked that she felt Trishna's opinion was controversial, considering that the experts who voted for their game had voiced their belief that it needed further adjustments.
  • A key factor behind Sofiane's firing was his preference to often work solo and do "his own thing", which Lord Sugar had voiced concerns about earlier in the process and thus felt he could no longer deal with; he also openly criticised him for indecisiveness for taking time on his choices for the final boardroom. In comparison, he openly commented to Dillon, before firing him, that his decision to disregard Alana's input and go off with his own design idea was just as similar to Sofiane's behaviour on tasks.
  • While Alana was not brought back and that Dillon had been an issue with the game's design, Lord Sugar criticised her for not strongly voicing her ideas during the game's creation after she stated them in the boardroom leaving him to wonder about her contribution on the task. However, while Grainne was not fired because of her decent track record in the process, she was heavily accused of providing no contribution, with Claude noting that she had appeared to take a step back and not been as vocal on ideas as she had in previous tasks, believing she should have intervened with Sofiane's idea for the game.
  • Both the You're Fired audience and one of the panelists disagreed with Dillon's firing; of the two that agreed, Susan remarked the poor game had been his responsibility, while Zaid stated his creativity was not enough for him to stay in the process. However, both the panel and audience were in complete agreement with Sofiane's firing; although Zaid remarked that his leadership "fell short" on the task, Ellie felt that he was not entirely to blame for his team's loss.

Criticism and controversy

Alana Spencer

Before the start of the show, candidate Alana Spencer was accused of making racist comments against the travelling community back in 2010. It was reported she used comments on her social media such as "jobless pikey scum" and "chav pikeys", and even saying to one woman "control your children you pikey fat bitch". Spencer later apologised for her comments and claimed that the comments she made were "the words of a naive young girl from a number of years ago".^[15][16]

Ratings

Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.^[17]

Notes

References

External links

• Official site BBC