By Nikita Gaur

The apprentice is back! The extremely popular British reality television series, which has over 7million viewers, is based on business with the main star being Sir Alan Sugar who is looking for a business partner to go into partnership with. The winning participant will be given £250,000 to start his or her own business and Sir Alan will have a 50% share. 

The 16 candidates this year are:

EDNA AGBARHA
Age: 36
Occupation: Business Psychologist
Interesting fact: Edna holds a Bachelors degree in Psychology and two Masters degrees.
Top Quote: ‘Weak people in business are a waste of space and a limp handshake is unforgiveable.’

ZOE BERESFORD
Age: 26
Occupation: Project Manager – Drinks Manufacturer
Interesting fact: Zoe bought a house with her sister at the age of 12.
Top Quote: ‘I will do whatever it takes to win.’
 
ALEX BRITEZ CABRAL
Age: 28
Occupation: Estate Agent Manager
Interesting fact: Alex’s first job was making tea in an estate agent.
Top Quote: ‘Fear is a great motivator. If you are successful, you are unpopular, so unpopularity is a good thing.’

VINCENT DISNEUR
Age: 29
Occupation: Sales Manager – Telecoms Software
Interesting fact: Vincent was a Liverpool mascot as a child.
Top Quote: ‘My positive approach and very good looks make me stand out from the crowd.’

LEON DOYLE
Age: 26
Occupation: Fast Food Marketing Entrepreneur
Interesting fact: Leon survived a near fatal fall from a tree at the age of 12.
Top Quote: ‘I don’t like your gimmicky salesman who thinks he can sell ice to an Eskimo. Chances are he probably can’t, and why would an Eskimo buy ice.’
 
JIM EASTWOOD
Age: 32
Occupation: Sales & Marketing Manager
Interesting fact: Jim was All Ireland cycling champion as a teenager.
Top Quote: ‘I’m not a show pony or a one-trick pony, I’m not a jack-ass or a stubborn mule, and I’m definitely not a wild stallion that needs to be tamed. I am the champion thoroughbred that this process requires.’

MELODY HOSSAINI
Age: 26
Occupation: Founder & Director – Global Youth Consultancy Business
Interesting fact: Melody has previously worked with 12 Nobel peace prize winners including Desmond Tutu and the Dalai Lama, and was trained on climate change by Al Gore.
Top Quote: ‘Don’t tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footprints on the moon.’

EDWARD ‘ATTA’ HUNTER
Age: 25
Occupation: Accountant
Interesting fact: Edward’s first job at the age of 12 was as a gardener.
Top Quote: ‘I’m the wheeler dealer who accidentally became a finance professional and want out.’ 

FELICITY JACKSON
Age: 23
Occupation: Entrepreneur Creative Arts
Interesting fact: Soap fan Felicity is a trained actress, with her company specialising in career development for actors.
Top Quote: ‘Lord Sugar will probably find it difficult to ever say anything negative to me because I always turn it round to a positive.’

GLENN WARD
Age: 28
Occupation: Senior Design Engineer
Interesting fact: Glenn took apart and rebuilt an entire computer at the age of 8.
Top Quote: ‘Aggression isn’t the best form of strength…I bring a marriage of technical thinking with a bit of salesman bravado.’

HELEN MILLIGAN
Age: 30
Occupation: Executive Assistant to CEO of Greggs bakery
Interesting fact: Helen is a keen swimmer who also enjoys reading in her spare time.
Top Quote: ‘I see my job as my complete life. I work 24/7. There isn’t a cut off.’

TOM PELLEREAU
Age: 31
Occupation: Inventor
Interesting fact: Tom’s first job was working on a farm sorting agricultural bulbs from mud.
Top Quote: ‘For me the Apprentice is a bit like the Olympics or the World Cup for entrepreneurs… I want to challenge myself, find out if I am ready to step up to this level.’

SUSAN MA
Age: 21
Occupation: Natural Skincare Entrepreneur
Interesting fact: Born in Shanghai, Susan moved to Australia at the age of six before settling in London aged 13.
Top Quote: ‘I’m short, sweet and smiley but when I do business I mean business.’

ELLIE REED
Age: 33
Occupation: Managing Director – Construction Recruitment
Interesting fact: At the age of 17, Ellie chased a burglar out of her house.
Top Quote: ‘I don’t like lazy people… dole dossers that don’t want to work. I don’t like posh kids who have everything on a plate.’

NATASHA SCRIBBINS
Age: 31
Occupation: Divisional Manager – Recruitment
Interesting fact: Having left school with just five GCSEs, Natasha originally worked cleaning bakeries before moving into business.
Top Quote: ‘I’m like a really fine tuned switch. If I need to turn it down then I turn it down. If I need to turn it up then I turn it up.’

GAVIN WINSTANLEY
Age: 27
Occupation: Managing Director – Opticians
Interesting fact: Gavin was made a manager of a high street clothing store at the age of 16.
Top Quote: ‘I want to be a big name in UK business…..I’m everything. I’m all mouth. I’m a doer. I’m a leader.’

What has happened so far…

The first episode (week 1) was the £250 business start up. Here the candidates were given £250 to invest in fruits and vegetables to feed the work force of London, but making sure they gained profit, the team with the highest profit won. During this challenge Melody decided to take on the role as project manager with team Venture and Edward took on the role as project manger within team Logic. Team Venture won and were given a reward of champagne at the candidates house. Edward was fired as a result. 

Week 2: Mobile Phone Application. The candidates had to develop a mobile phone application, and pitch it in front of three distributors to promote it as ‘App of the Day’. With their apps downloadable for 24 hours, they also had to attempt to convince a huge crowd of bloggers and software experts at a major gaming fair to support their application in order to increase downloads further. Logic’s app, suggested by Glenn, was called “Slangatang” and featured a number of stereotypical characters from in the UK and around the world saying things in regional dialects. Venture’s app, “Ampi-Apps,” featured annoying noises paired up with random pictures. “Ampi-Apps” was felt to be somewhat pointless by two of the three distributors, and Edna’s poor pitch at the gaming fair did not help their cause. However, “Slangatang” was felt to be extremely offensive by the largest of the distributors and most of the people at the gaming fair, despite the men giving a much better presentation. It ended in an easy victory for Venture. Alex was fired for taking a back seat in both of the tasks and making too many excuses as to why he hadn’t contributed.

Week 3: Discount Buying for the Savoy. The candidates had nine hours to source ten last minute items at the lowest possible price prior to the Savoy’s grand reopening; however, missing or incorrect items were subject to penalty fines. Venture got 9 items, mostly spending quite high prices in comparison with what Logic was spending. In particular, they were criticised for spending nearly double the amount on tea that Logic did, and also suffered a heavy fine from not buying a large consignment of light bulbs. Logic got 6 items, saving a lot of money by having good bargains. However, due to not being able to buy 3 items which Venture did get hold of, Logic faced set value and additional penalty of the missing goods. In final figures, Logic lost to Venture by £8, which was the smallest amount a team had ever lost by on The Apprentice this series. Gavin was fired for failing to keep his team under control.

Week 4: Beauty treatments. Each team chose from a range of beauty treatments they were pitched to them and from a range of cosmetic products. Zoe, (being appointed project leader by Lord Sugar), lead team Venture, whilst Felicity lead team Logic, (also appointed by Lord Sugar). Again Venture won and were rewarded with dance lessons with Strictly Come Dancing stars. As a result Felicity was fired.

Who are the one’s to watch!
From these tasks so far, I think two strong candidates have been revealed, Melody Hossaini and Zoe Beresford. In my opinion Melody is my personal favourite as she conveys a strong attitude but is also a peoples person. An interesting fact about Melody: she worked with Nobel prize winners which include, Desmond Tutu and Dalia Lama, she was also trained on climate change by Al Gore. Melody quotes “don’t tell me the sky’s the limit when there are footprints on the moon”.

Zoe Beresford is also a personal favourite as she presents determination and she knows what she is doing. An interesting fact about Zoe: she brought a house with her sister, aged only 12. She quotes “I will do whatever it takes to win”.

Week 5: Pet Food. The task was to create, brand and pitch a new pet food. Venture created a brand of cat food called “Cat-Size”, which was designed as a kind of diet cat food, while Logic created a dog food called “Every Dog” which was initially conceived of by Vincent and named by Jim and, as the name suggested, was designed for dogs of all shapes and sizes. Venture’s execution of the task was weaker than their rivals, as Glenn struggled to gain the respect of his team-mates, their television advert was slightly unclear, and Leon stumbled through his pitch, in spite of a subteam spending five hours on it. By comparison, Logic’s campaign was felt to be much more professional. However, their product had no clear target market and as a vet pointed out to them early in the task making a dog food suitable for every dog is impossible, resulting in them losing the task. As a result Ellie, for her negative attitude and consistent failure to contribute anything to the tasks, was fired. But there was also a twist, as Lord Sugar wanted to send a message back to the house that it was time for people to step up their game. As a result, Vincent, for not bringing Jim back into the boardroom was also fired.

Week 6: Rubbish. The task was to operate waste disposal services. The team which makes the most profit wins. Logic decided to focus on obtaining waste with a high scrap value, and obtained two major clients set up by Lord Sugar by offering to dispose of their waste for nothing. Venture lost out on the clients after Zoe ignored Susan’s suggestion to pay them a small fee for their valuable scrap and insisted on charging for the team’s services. They obtained two contracts themselves the following day, but were unable to make up the difference and lost to Logic by £6. Edna was fired for falsely claiming credit for Venture’s sales appointments, and for not living up to her claims about her abilities.

Week 7: Freemium magazine launch. The task was to create a free magazine that would appeal to a specific target audience and present them to some of the leading freemium magazine companies. The team that would come up with the highest mount of advertising revenue would win and the team with the least would lose and one team member would be fired.

The team leaders appointed by Sir Alan Sugar were Jim Eastwood for Venture with Natasha being team leader for Logic. Logic created a magazine called ‘Covered’, a lad’s mag aimed at business men, which focused on the themes of business and women. The theme of business was liked by a student rugby team but the women’s nudity theme was flawed and disliked by many companies for being old and stereotypical.

The magazine created by Venture was aimed at over 60s and was named ‘Hip Replacement’. The names the team came up with at first were all disliked by senior members of a bowling club and especially Sir Alan Sugar as they found them quite disrespectful. Zoe came up with the name ‘Hip Replacement’ which was also disliked by all magazine companies. As a result Venture lost for having lower advertising revenue than team Logic, Jim called Glenn and Susan back into the board room. Glenn was then fired as Lord Sugar did not believe an engineer could become a business man.

Week 8: Paris.  This week the candidates became excited as Lord Sugar decided to send them off to Paris. The candidates represented unique British products which they tried to sell to French retailers. With Tom being the team leader of Logic and Susan being the team leader of Venture, this week’s competition began. Both teams were pitched different British products that they would sell to French retailers; both teams could only pick two items. Venture chose the universal travel grip and the car seat rucksack while Logic chose the Teapot light and the popup cress postcard.

The results were added up and a huge difference in sales was presented. Logic gained money within the smaller retailers as they made €11,705 but lost out with the major retailer that Lord Sugar arranged appointments for both teams as they placed an order of none with Logic, leaving the whole team shocked. On the other hand, Venture did amazingly well as they made €14,699 with the smaller retailers and the major retailers placed an order of 200,000 products, leaving Lord Sugar amazed. This meant that Venture won and were rewarded with flying lessons (being one of Lord Sugar’s favourite past times). Logic accepted defeat and Tom called Melody and Leon back into the board room. Lord Sugar conveyed very well that he liked Melody and said that he will let her stay as he agrees with her enthusiasm and leadership. However, as a result of not knowing what his role was and not becoming involved in the tasks, Leon was fired.

Week 9: Biscuit Manufacturing. During this week the candidates were given a very inventive task of creating their own biscuit which would be retailing at £1.99, they would then pitch their products to three major leading supermarket companies. Jim, Natasha and Helen became team Venture as appointed by Lord Sugar and the rest of the candidates (Melody, Zoe, Susan and Tom) became team Logic. As Helen has had experience with bakery products she signed herself up for project manager and the rest of the team agreed. Zoe became team leader even though Susan also wanted this role, the rest of the team however voted for Zoe.

Team Logic came up with a round digestive biscuit containing butter crisp in the middle, digestive on the outside and milk chocolate covering one side. The team started off by aiming it at everyone, down to an audience of couples and then down to the audience of girl best friends (‘girly nights in’). Team Venture on the other hand, came up with a more stable product called Special Stars aimed at primary school children. This products was criticised for its lack in health issues and also the slogan ‘any time is treat time’ which was said to undermine what a treat should be, it shouldn’t get children used to treats. However, when it came down to the results and the strongest team was clearly shown. With Logic having no orders at all they left Venture to win with getting 800,000 units and leaving Lord Sugar shocked and saying he had “never seen anything like it!” Within the losing team Zoe (being product manager) brought back into the board room, Melody and Tom, maybe for personal reasons? After a load of arguing between Melody and Zoe, Zoe was fired for not being able to perform in business.

Week 10: Flip it. This week was a very tricky task for all the candidates as Lord Sugar set the task of buying and selling wholesale items, the team that has the greatest amount of asset’s left would win. The teams had started with £250 worth of goods, they had two days to build up the value of their business. Team Venture consisted of Susan, Jim and Natasha (being project manager, but I’m sure Susan offered first…) then Melody (being project leader, even though there was a bit of competition with Helen), Helen and Tom being in team Logic.

With agreements and disagreements, silly mistakes, for example, Helen and Melody going to pound shops to sell wholesale items…did you really think that was going to work? Susan added her own items by selling bracelets, which surprisingly sold well! Overall, Logic received a total asset of £728 and Venture in the lead but with very close figures at £751, however, Lord Sugar was not impressed at all with both teams and even took Venture’s treat away! This resulted in Helen, Tom and Melody being in the boardroom, but due to not understanding what Lord Sugar would do with this candidate, he quoted “the person going today is not a failure in any shape or form” and therefore Melody Hossaini was fired.

Week 11: Fast Food Chain. Only one step away from the final and the candidates are given an exciting and creative task. They must create their own fast food shop and brand which would be given a dummy trial and also visited by Lord Sugar along with major fast food managers, e.g. McDonalds. The team that was scored the most out of 10 would win. The teams were kept the same as last week, meaning that Venture consisted of Susan, Jim (project manager) and Natasha, with Logic consisting of only Tom and Helen (project manager).

Venture decided to go for a Mexican fast food restaurant called “Caracas” which oddly was a name of a city that is not in Mexico, which the candidates were not aware of. They decided to go with the food choices of Chilli Con Carne, Nachos, Fajita’s and Mexican soup. Logic decided to go for 100% British pies, serving three flavours: Columbus; chicken, mushroom and tarragon, Drake; steak, red win and thyme and lastly, Nightingale; cheese, spinach and broccoli. As time began to run out, I think it was clear as to who the winners were going to be through the feedback of the dummy trial.

Logic had a lot of positive feedback from all customers and was quick with service which was a key element. This resulted in Logic winning this task with 7/10 as Venture had many faults, time being the main issue and only gaining 4/10, this could have also been down to the fact that Jim got his figures wrong, but were there any figures in the first place? At the end of all the arguments, un-organised techniques and lack of control, Lord Sugar came to a decision, he decided to keep both Susan and Jim so they were off to the final, but leaving Natasha to be fired as she didn’t use the skills (degree) she gained, and therefore Lord Sugar saw no future with her.

Week 12: The Final. This is what everyone has been waiting for, the apprentice final! This week it was Lord Sugar’s chance to see the business’ of all four candidates and what exactly he would be putting money into. The final four being, Susan, Tom, Jim and Helen all had to present their business plans to four successful and extremely tough business experts who will then feedback to Lord Sugar.

Claude Littner was perceived to be the toughest of all experts; the first words that came from him to Tom were “would it be fair to say Tom that your career is floundering at the moment?” leaving Tom shocked and knowing this was going to be tough. Susan was told her work was bullshit, Helen was told she has too much competition and no qualifications in that background and Jim was told it isn’t about fancy headlines but the health of the bottom line. From that we can see how much stress the candidates were probably put under.

Then it came down to the big moment, who will be the apprentice winner 2011? Unluckily Susan and Jim were told they will not be winning the apprentice this year. Surprisingly Tom was left with Helen, even tough he had been in and out of the boardroom more times than other candidates. Then it came down to the big moment, Tom or Helen? Lord Sugar expressed extreme disappointment in Helen with the fact that she has no qualifications to support what she is doing even though she is a very strong candidate. This affected Lord Sugars decisions a lot and he pronounced Tom hired! Tom Pellereau is now the apprentice 2011 winner and recently said in an interview that he is looking forward to having meetings with Lord Sugar and discussing the future. Well done Tom!