The Apprentice (British TV series) series 8

Template:Infobox The Apprentice candidates Series Eight of The Apprentice (UK) was a British reality television series. The series started on BBC One on 21 March 2012, and ran for 12 weeks, with each episode lasting an hour. The series was won on 3 June 2012 by Ricky Martin, with Tom Gearing as runner-up. Nick Holzherr came in third place, and Jade Nash in fourth place.

Candidates

Candidate	Background	Original team	Age	Result
Ricky Martin	Recruitment Team Leader	Phoenix	26	Winner (03-06-2012)
Tom Gearing	Director of a Fine Wine Investment Company	Phoenix	23	Fired in week 12 (03-06-2012)
Nick Holzherr	Technology Entrepreneur	Phoenix	25	Fired in week 12 (03-06-2012)
Jade Nash	Business Development Manager	Sterling	29	Fired in week 12 (03-06-2012)
Adam Corbally	Market Trader	Phoenix	32	Fired in week 11 (30-05-2012)
Stephen Brady	National Sales Manager	Phoenix	33	Fired in week 10 (23-05-2012)
Gabrielle Omar	Architect	Sterling	29	Fired in week 10 (23-05-2012)
Jenna Whittingham	Beauty Salon Owner	Sterling	25	Fired in week 9 (16-05-2012)
Laura Hogg	Bridal Shop Owner	Sterling	28	Fired in week 8 (09-05-2012)
Azhar Siddique	Founder and Managing Director of Catering and Refrigeration Company	Phoenix	33	Fired in week 7 (02-05-2012)
Katie Wright	Editorial and Research Director	Sterling	26	Fired in week 6 (25-04-2012)
Duane Bryan	Founder/Director of Drinks Distribution Company	Phoenix	29	Fired in week 5 (18-04-2012)
Jane McEvoy	Co-founder of Food Manufacturing Company	Sterling	28	Fired in week 4 (11-04-2012)
Michael Copp	MD Kitchen and Bedroom Furniture Retailer	Phoenix	31	Fired in week 3 (04-04-2012)
Maria O’Connor	Restaurateur	Sterling	20	Fired in week 2 (28-03-2012)
Bilyana Apostolova	Risk Analyst	Sterling	25	Fired in week 1 (21-03-2012)

Weekly results

Candidate	Original team	Week 2 team	Week 3 team	Week 4 team	Week 5 team	Week 6 team	Week 7 team	Week 8 team	Week 9 team	Week 10 team	Week 11 team	Application result	Record as project manager
Ricky Martin	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Hired by Sugar	1–2 (loss in weeks 5 & 9, win in week 11)
Tom Gearing	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Sterling	Fired in week 12	2–1 (win in weeks 4 & 9, loss in week 8)
Nick Holzherr	Phoenix	Phoenix	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Fired in week 12	2–0 (win in weeks 1 & 7)
Jade Nash	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Fired in week 12	1–1 (loss in week 7, win in week 10)
Adam Corbally	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Fired in week 11	0–2 (loss in weeks 6 & 11)
Stephen Brady	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling		Fired in week 10	1–1 (win in week 5, loss in week 10)
Gabrielle Omar	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling		Fired in week 10	1–1 (win in week 8, loss in week 1)
Jenna Whittingham	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling			Fired in week 9	1–0 (win in week 6)
Laura Hogg	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Phoenix	Phoenix				Fired in week 8	0–1 (loss in week 4)
Azhar Siddique	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix					Fired in week 7	1–0 (win in week 2)
Katie Wright	Sterling	Sterling	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix						Fired in week 6	0–1 (loss in week 3)
Duane Bryan	Phoenix	Phoenix	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling							Fired in week 5	1–0 (win in week 3)
Jane McEvoy	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling	Sterling								Fired in week 4	0–1 (loss in week 2)
Michael Copp	Phoenix	Phoenix	Phoenix									Fired in week 3
Maria O’Connor	Sterling	Sterling										Fired in week 2
Bilyana Apostolova	Sterling											Fired in week 1

Elimination chart
Candidate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Ricky	IN	IN	BR	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	BR	WIN	HIRED
Tom	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	BR	LOSE	WIN	IN	IN	FIRED
Nick	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Jade	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	BR	IN	WIN	BR	FIRED
Adam	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Stephen	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Gabrielle	LOSE	IN	IN	BR	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	FIRED
Jenna	IN	BR	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	FIRED
Laura	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	BR	IN	IN	FIRED
Azhar	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Katie	BR	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	FIRED
Duane	IN	IN	WIN	IN	FIRED
Jane	IN	LOSE	IN	FIRED
Michael	IN	IN	FIRED
Maria	IN	FIRED
Bilyana	FIRED

  The candidate was on the winning team.

  The candidate was on 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.

Episodes

Week 1 - Blank Canvas

• Air Date: 21 March 2012
• Project managers: Gabrielle (Sterling) and Nick (Phoenix)
• Task: To print their own designs onto souvenirs, and sell them to tourists in London.
• Result: The men's team, Phoenix created a line of teddy bears adorned with the Union Jack, and bags featuring red buses. The teddy bears sold well once the initially very high price was reduced, though they had quality control issues with their bags. The women's team, Sterling sold customised products featuring a design by Jade, and additional messages that customers could pay for. The women's sub-team wasted a lot of time travelling to London Zoo, and while they enjoyed decent sales at the zoo, their attempt to sell off their remaining stock to a local shop went badly wrong. In the end, the women were cost dearly by overspending and the lack of a clear pricing strategy, and the men won with a profit of £616.20, compared to the women's £214.80.
• Winner: Phoenix
• Reward: Art-themed cocktails at the candidates' house.
• Brought into the boardroom: Gabrielle, Katie and Bilyana
• Fired: Bilyana, for her overly abrasive nature, for her bad strategy when selling off the sub-team's stock, and for repeatedly interrupting Lord Sugar during his boardroom deliberations.
• Notes:
  • This was the first time since Series 5 that the women's team had lost the first task, and only the third time overall that this had happened (not counting Series 3, when the women's team was led in the first task by Andy Jackson, who was subsequently fired that week).
  • This was also the first time since Series 5 that the losing project manager on the first task had not been fired (not including Young Apprentice). Gabrielle's survival maintained the record of no losing female project manager having ever been fired after the first task.
  • After the episode aired, Lord Sugar confirmed on his Twitter feed that he was initially going to fire Katie for her lack of contribution to the task. However, Bilyana interrupted him before he could announce who was fired and then continued to interrupt him as he told her to be quiet, which caused him to alter his decision and fire her instead.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience disagreed with Lord Sugar's decision to fire Bilyana. The panel and Bilyana herself agreed that while Katie was the one who most deserved to be fired based purely off the task results, Bilyana deserved to be fired based on her behaviour in the boardroom.

Week 2 - Product Design

• Air Date: 28 March 2012
• Project managers: Jane (Sterling) and Azhar (Phoenix)
• Task: To design their own household items and sell them to Amazon.co.uk and Lakeland.
• Result: Both teams came up with two designs each. Phoenix had a tabletop compost bin and a set of dishwashing gloves, and Sterling created a bathtub splash guard and a tap cozy; both project managers opted for the former items, despite the latter ones proving more popular with focus groups. Sterling were strongly criticised for incorrect costings and an unrealistically high suggested order, while Phoenix's first presentation (by Stephen) was badly received, forcing Duane to step in and rescue it. Phoenix got orders from both companies, totalling 13,000 units, while Sterling managed just 7,500, getting a bigger order from Amazon.co.uk than Phoenix, but not getting an order at all from Lakeland.
• Winner: Phoenix
• Reward: Meal at The Ivy.
• Brought into the boardroom: Jane, Jenna and Maria
• Fired: Maria, for contributing little to the tasks, and for falling asleep during an important discussion in this task.
• Notes:
  • Sterling's loss was the first time since Series 1 that the women had lost both of the first two tasks, and the third series in a row (including Young Apprentice) where the same team lost both the first two tasks, an occurrence that prior to Series 7, had only occurred in Series 1.
  • Despite Phoenix's victory, most of the men felt that Azhar had been a weak leader, and that Duane was the one who deserved the most credit for the win.
  • Prior to the initial boardroom Jane indicated that she wanted to bring back Katie, who she acknowledged had not been especially better or worse than the rest of the team, but considered to be the weakest overall. While Jane never actually named Katie to come back into the final boardroom, Lord Sugar picked up on her criticisms and told Jane that she should bring back whoever was responsible for the product design. This led to her selecting Jenna alongside Maria.
  • After Maria's departure, Lord Sugar strongly implied that he was also about to fire Jane, but she was allowed to successfully plea her case and remain in the competition.
  • This was the fourth series in a row (including Young Apprentice) where someone was fired after the second task for a lack of contributions over both of the first two tasks, with Joy Stefanicki, Alex Britez Cabral and Ben Fowler having been fired for the same reason in Series 6, 7 and the second series of Young Apprentice respectively.

Week 3 - Condiments

• Air Date: 4 April 2012
• Team Shuffle: Duane and Nick move to Sterling, Katie moves to Phoenix
• Project managers: Duane (Sterling) and Katie (Phoenix)
• Task: To create condiments and sell them to the public and to the trade.
• Result: Phoenix created a spicy Italian table sauce, and Sterling created a pineapple and ginger chutney. Both teams had production issues, as the first version of Sterling's chutney was so spicy as to be inedible, leaving them unable to offer a taster for a high-end grocery store lined up by Lord Sugar, while Phoenix produced only about 60% of their intended volume of sauce. The two teams enjoyed relatively decent face-to-face sales, but a significant factor was that Sterling got another appointment with the grocer and earned a large order, while Phoenix sold very little to the trade. This, combined with their insufficient production run, cost them the task. Sterling had a profit of £1,028 and Phoenix had a profit of £585.
• Winner: Sterling
• Reward: Car driving experience at the Silverstone Circuit.
• Brought into the boardroom: Katie, Michael and Ricky.
• Fired: Michael, for mismanaging the trade sales subteam, and because Lord Sugar considered him to be out of his league.
• Notes:
  • The name of Phoenix's sauce, Bellissimo, was misspelt as "Belissimo" on the bottle, which the potential buyers were quick to point out.
  • Jane maintained a negative attitude throughout the task after her suggestion for salad dressing was turned down, which despite Sterling's victory led to animosity between her and Duane during the reward.
  • Katie was now the sole remaining candidate not to have won a task. After Michael's firing, she was told that she was on her last warning. By contrast, Nick and Duane had not lost any of the tasks yet.
  • This was the first time a losing project manager hadn't been fired before Week 4. Incidentally, none of the people fired at this point had been project managers at any point in the series.
  • In the You're Fired! episode, it was revealed that Michael had been ill with gastric flu during the show, and this may have been a contributing factor to him not stepping forward very much on the tasks.

Week 4 - Second Hand Furniture

• Air Date: 11 April 2012
• Team Shuffle: Ricky moves to Sterling, Jade moves to Phoenix
• Project managers: Laura (Sterling) and Tom (Phoenix)
• Task: Buying second-hand furniture items and re-selling for profit.
• Result: Tom decided to keep costs as low as possible, giving his purchasing sub-team just £200 and focusing on what he felt were quality goods. This led to their shop being somewhat sparsely stocked at the start of the day, but their items sold well and Tom sent his sub-team out to replenish their stock mid-day. In contrast, Sterling purchased much more stock, and also spent a lot of money on customising the items. This resulted in them taking more money than Phoenix, but spending more than twice as much. Phoenix had a final profit of £1,063, and Sterling's profit was £783.
• Winner: Phoenix
• Reward: 1940s themed party and dancing lessons.
• Brought into the boardroom: Laura, Gabrielle and Jane.
• Fired: Jane, for contributing just £10 out of Sterling's £1,400 in sales, along with her generally very weak track record throughout the competition, despite having an excellent CV.
• Notes:
  • While Laura blamed Gabrielle and Jenna for the team's overspending, it was also revealed that they had been the top two sellers on the team, with Gabrielle selling the most. Laura still brought Gabrielle back, but Lord Sugar said that he did not consider her responsible for the loss, and that she would not be facing dismissal.
  • Lord Sugar and Karren Brady noted after the firing that on paper, Jane should have been one of the strongest candidates (if not the strongest) from this year's line-up. However, they felt that she had severely underperformed on all of the tasks, which led to her departure over Laura, who it was agreed had been a weak leader and failed to adequately control the team.
  • Jane was the first fired candidate from this series to have previously been a Project Manager, though there had still yet to be a Project Manager fired directly as the result of a task.
  • This task was Katie's first time on a winning team, as well as Nick and Duane's first loss.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience disagreed with the decision to fire Jane.

Week 5 - Gym Classes

• Air Date: 18 April 2012
• Project managers: Ricky (Sterling) and Stephen (Phoenix)
• Task: Creating their own workout program and selling it to gym chains.
• Result: Sterling's workout combined dancing and mixed martial arts, while Phoenix's workout was themed around the 1980s and made use of toys such as spacehoppers and hula hoops. The three retailers liked Ricky's sales pitch but hated the accompanying promotional video, while Stephen was heavily criticised for not knowing the cost of the accessories required for their workout. Sterling got orders from two of the gym chains, totalling £7,900, while Phoenix only got an order from one. However, that order was for £12,000, which earned them victory.
• Winner: Phoenix
• Reward: Day at a spa.
• Brought into the boardroom: Ricky, Duane and Laura.
• Fired: Duane, for directing the bad promotional video which was the ultimate cause of Sterling's loss.
• Notes:
  • While Phoenix may have won, there was a consensus among Lord Sugar, Nick, Karren and the buyers that Sterling were actually the better team, and had made a better product. Only one order secured Phoenix's win.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience disagreed with the decision to fire Duane.
  • Duane is the first candidate this series to be fired having previously won as a project manager, however there still hasn't been a project manager fired directly because of the task.
  • This is the first occasion since Series 4 (not including Young Apprentice) that the losing project manager has not been fired in Week 5.

Week 6 - Outdoor Eating

• Air Date: 25 April 2012
• Project managers: Jenna (Sterling) and Adam (Phoenix)
• Task: Selling food in Edinburgh
• Result: Phoenix went with an Italian meatball dish, and Sterling decided on beef casserole. Despite Lord Sugar's instructions that the teams should focus on producing quality food, Adam elected to produce low-quality, cheap food, which they sold at a Hearts vs. Rangers football match. Jenna opted for a Scottish casserole using higher quality ingredients, which was sold in the city centre. Sterling struggled to sell at first, but sales greatly improved after moving their location, while Phoenix were cost dearly by overpricing their meatballs, resulting in far fewer sales than they anticipated, and a deal to attract customers from tour buses ended up failing to earn a single sale. Phoenix made a profit of £298.04, and Sterling made a profit of £319.78.
• Winner: Sterling
• Reward: A visit to a country club
• Brought into the boardroom: Adam, Katie and Azhar
• Fired: Katie, for choosing the poor sales locations, along with her generally questionable track record throughout the competition.
• Notes:
  • Jenna's victory on this task made her the first successful female project manager in this series.
  • The task was set on Sunday 23 October 2011. The outcome of the Hearts v Rangers football match was a 2-0 win to Rangers.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience combined with the panel disagreed with the decision to fire Katie.
  • After choosing to bring back Katie, Adam decided to bring back either Azhar or Jade based on the sales figures and eventually Adam chose Azhar based on lack of contribution. Lord Sugar was dubious about this choice; while he criticised Azhar's performance, he also indicated that he considered Stephen, who set up the deal with the tour bus company, more directly responsible for the defeat.

Week 7 - Flip It

• Air Date: 2 May 2012
• Team Shuffle: Stephen moves to Sterling, Laura moves to Phoenix
• Project managers: Nick (Sterling) and Jade (Phoenix)
• Task: To buy £150 worth of goods, reinvest and sell them in Essex.
• Result: Sterling focused mainly on cosmetic products and sold in Romford, while Phoenix had a broader mix of products and sold in Ilford and Pitsea. Sterling enjoyed great success selling their fake tan, while Phoenix's product selection made it difficult for them to focus their marketing strategy, though Adam's market stall experience helped the Pitsea sub-team sell all their stock quickly. Jade re-invested in exactly the same product mix despite her team's advice to focus on toy insects; Nick instructed his sub-team to invest solely in fake tan, but the heavy traffic meant the team spent significant parts of the day not selling anything. As the day drew to an end Jade resorted to cutting prices significantly, to the point where they made very little profit. Sterling had total assets of £955.20 and Phoenix had total assets of £838.21.
• Winner: Sterling
• Reward: Cocktails made by the UK's Bartender of the Year
• Brought into the boardroom: Jade, Azhar and Tom
• Fired: Azhar, for his lack of contribution, being the least effective salesman on the team, and wasting Jade's time by constantly complaining about her decisions.
• Notes:
  • Nick is the first candidate this series to be a project manager for the second time (and win). He also became the first man to earn two victories as Project Manager in the main show since Lee McQueen in Series 4 (not including Young Apprentice).
  • Jade was heavily criticised for bringing Tom back into the boardroom, when he had performed very well on the task. It was made clear early on in the final boardroom that Tom would not be fired. Jade herself admitted that it was a bad decision that she made under pressure. Lord Sugar hinted that Laura should have been brought back instead of Tom, but Jade was adamant that Laura had performed well and did not deserve to be fired.
  • While the entire team had recommended that Jade be fired, and Karren specifically noted that the task would likely have been a total disaster if not for Tom and Adam's strong efforts, Jade was ultimately saved by her generally so-far impressive track record. By contrast it was noted that Azhar had been consistently accused of being a weak contributor even on the two tasks that he was arguably most responsible for winning (in Weeks 2 and 5).
  • Nick and Stephen now remain the only two candidates not to have been in the final boardroom.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience disagreed with the decision to fire Azhar.

Week 8 - Urban Art

• Air Date: 9 May 2012
• Project managers: Gabrielle (Sterling) and Tom (Phoenix)
• Task: Holding an urban art exhibition, and selling artwork to customers, including corporate clients
• Result: Both teams wanted the same artist (Pure Evil), and he chose to be represented by Sterling, citing a lack of enthusiasm on Phoenix's part. This led to Tom hastily choosing to sell pieces by artist James Jessop, hoping his high prices would deliver a victory. Despite decent sales of works by their second artist, Copyright, as well as a large corporate sale, Phoenix failed to sell any of Jessop's works, which cost them dearly. Phoenix had total commission of £4,442 and Sterling had total commission of £4,579.
• Winner: Sterling
• Reward: "Action Painting" on a giant-sized canvas
• Brought into the boardroom: Tom, Jade and Laura
• Fired: Laura, for selling the least on the team, despite having the most sales experience out of the members of Phoenix, along with her generally inconsistent track record throughout the competition.
• Notes:
  • While Sterling won, Gabrielle and Stephen were criticised for not asking their corporate client about their budget, and for being rude to them on the night of the event. This resulted in them not selling anything, and Lord Sugar noted that had they persuaded their client to spend their full £10,000 budget, Sterling would have ended up making more than double the amount that Phoenix did.
  • Tom was criticised for not getting Pure Evil as a client, and was also criticised for picking James Jessop; however Lord Sugar told Tom he respected the fact that he took a risk, and that he openly admitted it was his fault picking Jessop.
  • Jade was criticised for not being making decisions quickly (Lord Sugar reminded her of her poor decision in the previous week when choosing Tom over Laura).
  • Following Laura's firing, she revealed in an interview with The Sun that during filming of the third task, she was informed that her former partner and father of her son had been murdered, which was a secret she had kept from the other candidates. She refused to withdraw from the show and stepped up as project manager the following task, but conceded that her head may have no longer been fully in the game by the point she was fired.

Week 9 - English Sparkling Wine

• Air Date: 16 May 2012
• Project managers: Ricky (Sterling) and Tom (Phoenix)
• Team Shuffle: Nick moves to Phoenix
• Task: Lord Sugar challenges the teams to devise a brand and identity for English sparkling wine, including a video advert and a website.
• Result: Sterling called their wine "Grandeur," which Nick Hewer considered an interesting choice considering it was a French word. Despite Ricky's instructions to the contrary, Jenna and Stephen decided to produce an over-the-top, humorous advert. Their website did get praise for its social network integration. On Phoenix, Tom and Adam were criticised for spending much of the first day sampling wine while Nick and Jade did the work on the website. Their video, in contrast to Sterling's, was much more serious and informative, to the point where Tom thought it was slightly boring. Their website was also considered to be too focused toward existing customers and not new ones, which the task brief specified. Despite this, the judges and Lord Sugar thought Sterling's video advert was so bad that it completely wrecked their campaign, handing victory to Phoenix.
• Winner: Phoenix
• Reward: A session in a Jacuzzi overlooking the London skyline.
• Brought into the boardroom: Ricky, Jenna and Stephen
• Fired: Jenna, with regret, for directing the terrible advert which cost Sterling the task, and for ignoring Ricky's instructions on what the tone of the advert should be.
• Notes:
  • Tom became the first candidate to be a project manager in two consecutive non-final tasks since Ben Leary in Series 1.
  • This was Stephen's first appearance in the final boardroom. He came very close to being fired alongside Jenna, for taking a backseat and allowing her to take control of the video, but vowed to win as project manager on the next task, and Sugar said he would definitely be project manager on the next task.
  • Nick is now the only candidate not to have been in the final boardroom. He is also the most successful out of all of the remaining candidates, having won as project manager twice and only been on two losing teams.
  • This was also the first win for team Phoenix since Week 5.
  • This task made Ricky the first candidate in this series to lose twice as project manager.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience disagreed with the decision to fire Jenna.
  • This is the 2nd time this series that Ricky has a) lost as project manager because of the advert and b) bought the 2 people working in that advert to the boardroom where the person in charge of the advert got fired- happening in episode 5 with Duane and Laura with Duane getting fired and in this episode with Jenna and Stephen, seeing Jenna get fired.

Week 10 - Daily Deals Website

• Air Date: 23 May 2012
• Project managers: Stephen (Sterling) and Jade (Phoenix)
• Task: Negotiating discounts with high-end London businesses for a daily deals website. Whichever team earns the most orders of their discount deals wins.
• Result: Stephen decided to get his team out early and get multiple discount options from each business, while Jade decided to take a more measured approach and focused on higher-end businesses. On Sterling, Ricky ended up wasting the whole morning with a restaurant which wasn't willing to offer any discounts whatsoever, but secured a good set of deals at two further restaurants. Stephen and Gabrielle got a number of discounts, but not at the high-end businesses specified by the task brief. Jade on Phoenix managed to negotiate a 50% discount with a high-end spa, but had trouble getting appointments during the day and was criticised for her lack of preparation in the meetings she did get. While Phoenix only had two deals accepted to Sterling's three, the deals they did get were both more popular and more valuable. Phoenix made £14,563 and Sterling made £6,440.
• Winner: Phoenix
• Reward: Meal at a country house
• Brought into the boardroom: Stephen, Gabrielle and Ricky (all the remaining members of Sterling)
• Fired:
  • Gabrielle, with regret, for contributing the least to the task, and for having lost the passion she displayed earlier in the process
  • Stephen, for his flawed strategy, not taking responsibility for his actions, and failing to deliver on the promises he made in the previous boardroom
• Notes:
  • After Stephen's firing, Lord Sugar strongly implied Ricky was about to be fired as well. Ultimately, Ricky escaped being fired by virtue of the fact that he was responsible for £5,900 of Sterling's revenue, but was told that he was on his last warning.
  • Jade is now the only remaining female candidate, making this the first time in Apprentice history that the final five consisted of four men and one woman (although in Series 5, the final five consisted of four women and one man.)
  • This is the first time in the history of The Apprentice that a 3-person team was beaten by a 4-person team. In all previous series (including Young Apprentice), it was the opposite.
  • Stephen was the first candidate to be fired as a project manager in this series. In all previous series, a project manager has been fired long before this point.
  • Nick's presence in the winning team gave him his eighth victory, making him the joint-second most successful candidate in the show's history alongside James Max from Series 1, and Lucinda Ledgerwood and Lee McQueen from Series 4.
  • This was the fourth time since the introduction of multiple firings in Series 3 that two candidates were fired before the interview stage. It also maintains the record of the first person in a double firing always being a non-project manager, and the second person always being a project manager.
  • The majority of the You're Fired! audience disagreed with the decision to fire Gabrielle.
  • For Gabrielle's Exit, a slower version of background music was played. The only other occasions that this has happened in is Syed Ahmed in Series 2 and Joanna Riley in Series 6.

Week 11 - Luxury Products

• Air Date: 30 May 2012
• Project managers: Ricky (Sterling) and Adam (Phoenix)
• Team Shuffle: Tom moves to Sterling
• Task: Create a new luxury branded product.
• Result: Sterling decided on male grooming products, and Phoenix created a line of alcoholic sweets and high quality chocolates. On Phoenix, Adam's leadership was weak, resulting in Jade taking over most of the key decisions, while Ricky mostly focused on creating Sterling's actual products, leaving Tom to handle the business aspects. Sterling were praised for their well-considered long term plan, but their proposed retail space was felt to be rather unappealing. By contrast, Phoenix had a much more inviting shop design, but their prices were felt to be too low, and there were questions as to whether it was really a luxury brand. Sterling also gave a very solid presentation with thought given to the business aspects, while Adam struggled through Phoenix's presentation, which was too focused on the products and not the overall plan. Sterling were agreed by Lord Sugar and the experts to be the clear winners, due mostly to Phoenix's shaky presentation, lack of product focus and unsustainable pricing strategy.
• Winner: Sterling
• Reward: No treat as Lord Sugar told the two of them they would be very busy now, presumably with finalising their business plans for the final.
• Brought into the boardroom: Adam, Jade and Nick (the remainder of Team Phoenix).
• Fired: Adam, for his inarticulate nature and lack of leadership, and having the weakest overall track record of the three Phoenix members.
• Notes:
  • Ricky starting the task alone was the first time in the history of the apprentice (outside of the final) that a candidate has started a team task alone. It was also the first time one team started with more than 2 members less than the other team.
  • This was Nick's first and only appearance in the final boardroom, meaning he equalled the records set by Paul Tulip and Lee McQueen (from Series 2 and 4 respectively) of going 10 consecutive weeks without appearing in the boardroom. Neither of those two appeared in the final 3 at any point, though at that time the interviews came at week 11 instead of another task. Lord Sugar considered firing Nick, feeling he also bore much of the blame for the loss and questioning whether he was too much of a backroom man, but he was saved by having the best overall track record in the contest out of the remaining candidates.
  • Adam's loss (and Ricky's win) made him the least successful project manager from this series, with two losses and no wins.
  • Adam's firing meant he was only the second project manager to be fired from this series, meaning that outside of Young Apprentice this series had the least number of project managers fired (though only three project managers were fired during Series 1).

Week 12 - The Final

• Air Date: 3 June 2012
• Finalists: Jade, Nick, Ricky and Tom.
• Task: The four finalists each have to face a gruelling interview process on their own. Each candidate also have their business ideas tested, as their plans for their business with Lord Sugar were put to verification.
• Result: Ricky fell into trouble early on when Lord Sugar couldn't grasp the idea behind his plan for an ethical recruiting agency, and there were questions as to his administrative skills and how focused on business he really was. He was also sharply criticised for making ridiculous claims in his personal statement. However, his overall plan was felt to be quite good on further analysis. There were serious doubts about Jade's plan for a telemarketing business, and even moreso the fact that she didn't offer critical financial figures, and wanted to spend the entire £250,000 investment within six months. The utility behind Nick's idea for an aggregate purchasing website for recipes was questioned, and there were suspicions about his motives for wanting to go into business with Lord Sugar, as he already had a thriving business, though he did get credit for his intelligence and entrepreneurial spirit. Tom came under fire when the only reference he was able to produce was from his father, and it also turned out that the £250,000 investment would in fact just be the start, with £25m required to get his fine wine investment business going. He was praised for being very successful for his age, though, and the overall business plan was considered to be well-written, if a little over-ambitious.
• Final Decision: Jade was the first person to be fired, with Lord Sugar saying that while he greatly admired her work ethic, there would be too many potential PR headaches, and her financial figures were problematic. Nick was fired shortly afterwards, as he was generally agreed to have offered up the most complicated of the four business plans, and that it would require far too much effort for very little reward. Lord Sugar was left with the choice between what he saw as Tom's plan with big risks but also big potential rewards, and Ricky's safer plan, and given the age and experience of the two, he ultimately decided that Ricky would offer the better investment.
• Fired:
  • Jade, for the negative PR that her business plan could generate for Lord Sugar
  • Nick, for having far too narrow of a target market for his potential business
• Runner-Up: Tom, for being inexperienced and having a much more risky business plan
• Hired: Ricky, for presenting a very solid business plan, and for sticking to the industry in which he was already an expert
• Notes:
  • As in the previous series, the fired candidates did not make a last appearance to help the finalists. As the prize has changed from getting a job to becoming Lord Sugar's business partner, this will presumably continue to be the format for the finals, although the previous format is still used on Young Apprentice.
  • All four of series seven's interviewers - Margaret Mountford, Matthew Riley, Mike Soutar and Claude Littner returned.
  • Of all the winners of every series, Ricky has been in the final boardroom the most (4 times), while the runner up Tom was only in there twice.
  • As with Series 7, the first two people to be fired out of the final four were the survivors from the losing team in the previous week, and the last two candidates had on the two-person winning team in Week 11.
  • Not including Young Apprentice, Tom is the first male runner-up since Chris Bates in Series 6 (who was the first male runner-up.) This is the first series where both the winner and the runner-up have been male (not including Junior Apprentice).

Ratings

Episode viewing figures from Broadcasters' Audience Research Board (BARB).

Episode No.	Airdate	Total Viewers	BBC One Weekly Ranking
1	21 March 2012	7,610,000	6
2	28 March 2012	7,510,000	7
3	4 April 2012	7,460,000	5
4	11 April 2012	8,050,000	6
5	18 April 2012	7,240,000	7
6	25 April 2012	7,620,000	7
7	2 May 2012	7,140,000	7
8	9 May 2012	6,960,000	2
9	16 May 2012	7,130,000	5
10	23 May 2012
11	30 May 2012
12	3 June 2012

External links

• The Apprentice (British TV series) series 8 at BBC Online