Series Seven of The Apprentice (UK) is a British reality

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 television series. The series started on BBC One

BBC One

BBC One is the flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It was launched on 2 November 1936 as the BBC Television Service, and was the world's first regular television service with a high level of image resolution...

 on 10 May 2011, and ran for 12 hour-long weekly episodes, as in all previous years. However, Episode 1 and 2 were aired the same week, and the final episode four days after the penultimate.

The winner was Tom Pellereau, with Helen Louise Milligan as the runner-up.

Pellereau holds the record of least successful winner of The Apprentice, losing eight tasks (including the first five) out of eleven. He is the only winner to have never won as project manager. Runner-up Helen Milligan won ten out of eleven tasks.

There were sixteen participants and the board consists of Alan Sugar

Alan Sugar

Alan Michael Sugar, Baron Sugar is a British entrepreneur, media personality and political advisor. From humble origins in the East End of London, Sugar now has an estimated fortune of £770m , and was ranked 89th in the Sunday Times Rich List 2011...

, Nick Hewer

Nick Hewer

Nicholas Radbourn "Nick" Hewer is a British former public relations consultant turned television personality, who lives in Northamptonshire, England. He is probably best known for his role as Alan Sugar's advisor on the UK version of the popular BBC television show The Apprentice...

 and Karren Brady

Karren Brady

Karren Brady is an English sporting executive, television broadcaster, newspaper columnist, author and novelist. She is the former managing director of Birmingham City Football Club and current vice-chairman of West Ham United...

. The Apprentice: You're Fired!

The Apprentice: You're Fired!

The Apprentice: You're Fired!, sometimes named You're Fired!, The Apprentice: You're Hired! or You're Hired!, is a British television show made by the BBC and filmed at Riverside Studios as a spin-off from the reality TV hit The Apprentice...

also returned on BBC Two

BBC Two

BBC Two is the second television channel operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation in the United Kingdom. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tending towards more 'highbrow' programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio...

, featuring Dara Ó Briain

Dara Ó Briain

Dara Ó Briain is an Irish stand-up comedian and television presenter, noted for hosting topical panel shows such as The Panel and Mock the Week....

, who reprises his role of the interviewer of the fired candidate.

Though all series usually begin in March, this series was postponed until May by the BBC

BBC

The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

, as the previous series had ended in December, only four months before. There was a change in prize as well. Instead of the £100,000 salary, the winner was given £250,000 to start his or her own business, with Lord Sugar being the joint owner.

On 5 July 2011, a show source detailed that the "interview" round will feature in the final show and that instead of the usual two finalists, there will be four.

The first task was shown on 10 May 2011, and the candidates were given £250 to invest in fresh fruit and vegetables, making juices, fruit salads and soups, and pasta to tempt London's hungry workforce. The second task aired on the very next day; subsequent episodes were shown every Wednesday.

Candidates

The teams are: Venture and Logic.

Candidate	Background	Original team	Age	Result
Tom Pellereau	Inventor	Logic	31	Hired by Sugar (17-07-2011)
Helen Louise Milligan	Executive Assistant to CEO	Venture	30	Fired in week 12 (17-07-2011)
Susan Ma	Natural Skincare Entrepreneur	Venture	21	Fired in week 12 (17-07-2011)
Jim Eastwood	Sales Manager and Market Manager	Logic	32	Fired in week 12 (17-07-2011)
Natasha Scribbins	Divisional Manager – Recruitment	Venture	31	Fired in week 11 (13-07-2011)
Melody Hossaini	Founder & Co-Creator – Global Business Consultancy Business	Venture	26	Fired in week 10 (06-07-2011)
Zoe Beresford	Project Manager – Drinks Manufacturer	Venture	26	Fired in week 9 (29-06-2011)
Leon Doyle	Fast Food Marketing Entrepreneur	Logic	26	Fired in week 8 (22-06-2011)
Glenn Ward	Senior Design Engineer	Logic	28	Fired in week 7 (15-06-2011)
Edna Agbarha	Business Psychologist	Venture	36	Fired in week 6 (08-06-2011)
Vincent Disneur	Sales Manager – Telecoms Software	Logic	29	Fired in week 5 (01-06-2011)
Ellie Reed	Managing Director	Venture	33	Fired in week 5 (01-06-2011)
Felicity Jackson	Creative Arts Entrepreneur	Venture	23	Fired in week 4 (25-05-2011)
Gavin Winstanley	Managing Director – Opticians	Logic	27	Fired in week 3 (18-05-2011)
Alex Britez Cabral	Estate Agent Manager	Logic	28	Fired in week 2 (11-05-2011)
Edward Hunter	Accountant	Logic	25	Fired in week 1 (10-05-2011)

Weekly results

Winner	Original team	Week 3 team	Week 4 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
Tom Pellereau	Logic	Logic	Logic	Logic	Logic	Logic	Logic	Logic	Logic	Hired by Sugar	0-1 (loss in week 8)
Helen Louise Milligan	Venture	Venture	Venture	Logic	Logic	Venture	Venture	Logic	Logic	Fired in week 12	3-0 (win in weeks 6, 9 & 11)
Susan Ma	Venture	Venture	Venture	Venture	Venture	Venture	Logic	Venture	Venture	Fired in week 12	2-0 (win in weeks 3 & 8)
Jim Eastwood	Logic	Venture	Logic	Logic	Venture	Venture	Venture	Venture	Venture	Fired in week 12	0-2 (loss in weeks 7 & 11)
Natasha Scribbins	Venture	Logic	Logic	Logic	Logic	Logic	Venture	Venture	Venture	Fired in week 11	2-0 (win in weeks 7 & 10)
Melody Hossaini	Venture	Logic	Logic	Logic	Logic	Logic	Logic	Logic		Fired in week 10	1-1 (win in week 1, loss in week 10)
Zoe Beresford	Venture	Logic	Venture	Venture	Venture	Venture	Logic			Fired in week 9	1-2 (win in week 4, loss in weeks 6 & 9)
Leon Doyle	Logic	Venture	Venture	Venture	Logic	Logic				Fired in week 8	0-1 (loss in week 2)
Glenn Ward	Logic	Venture	Venture	Venture	Venture					Fired in week 7	1-0 (win in week 5)
Edna Agbarha	Venture	Venture	Venture	Venture						Fired in week 6	1-0 (win in week 2)
Vincent Disneur	Logic	Logic	Logic							Fired in week 5	0-1 (loss in week 5)
Ellie Reed	Venture	Logic	Logic							Fired in week 5	0-0
Felicity Jackson	Venture	Venture	Logic							Fired in week 4	0-1 (loss in week 4)
Gavin Winstanley	Logic	Logic								Fired in week 3	0-1 (loss in week 3)
Alex Britez Cabral	Logic									Fired in week 2	0-0
Edward Hunter	Logic									Fired in week 1	0-1 (loss in week 1)

Elimination chart
Candidate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Tom	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	BR	BR	IN	HIRED
Helen	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	WIN	BR	WIN	FIRED
Susan	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	BR	BR	WIN	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Jim	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	FIRED
Natasha	IN	IN	IN	BR	BR	IN	WIN	IN	IN	WIN	FIRED
Melody	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	BR	BR	FIRED
Zoe	IN	IN	BR	WIN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	FIRED
Leon	BR	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Glenn	IN	BR	IN	IN	WIN	IN	FIRED
Edna	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Vincent	IN	IN	BR	IN	FIRED
Ellie	IN	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Felicity	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Gavin	BR	IN	FIRED
Alex	IN	FIRED
Edward	FIRED

The contestant was on the winning team.

The contestant was on the losing team.

The contestant won the competition and became Sugar's new business partner.

The contestant won as project manager on his/her team.

The contestant lost as project manager on his/her team.

The contestant was brought to the final boardroom.

The contestant was fired.

The contestant lost as project manager and was fired.

Week 1: £250 Business Start Up

• Air Date: 10 May 2011
• Project managers: Melody (Venture) and Edward (Logic)
• Task: The candidates were given £250 to invest in fruits and vegetables in order to feed London's work force and earn profit.
• Result: Venture decided to sell fruits for breakfast, and vegetable pasta for lunch. Logic decided on tomato soup and orange juice. Venture decided not to spend all of their money due to a misunderstanding of the rules (thinking that they were being measured on profit instead of turnover), while Logic spent all of the money given. Venture started well in time for breakfast, while Logic had to start selling from lunch because of being late after Leon accidentally broke their juicing equipment, forcing the team to juice the oranges by hand. Pasta sales for Venture fell, as they were not delivered on time, but Logic's soup and juice sale went well. However, Logic lost the task, earning total sales of £432.10, while Venture made sales of £592.
• Winner: Venture
• Reward: Champagne at the candidates' house.
• Brought into the boardroom: Edward, Leon and Gavin
• Fired: Edward, for poor leadership, not doing what he was best at (being an accountant), and for bringing Gavin back into the boardroom for reasons unrelated to the task.
• Notes:
  • Had the teams been measured on profit rather than turnover, as Venture had assumed, their victory would have been even more decisive; Venture's profit was £422, and Logic's was just £182.10.
  • Edward's firing was partially due to him not bringing back Alex, who Lord Sugar and Nick Hewer strongly hinted deserved to be brought back (and possibly fired) since he spent the whole day serving soup and only contributed £8 out of Logic's revenue of £432.10.
  • In the boardroom, Leon and Gavin repeatedly questioned whether Edward, as an accountant, was qualified to lead the team. Despite his otherwise heavy criticism of Edward, Lord Sugar defended him on this point, saying that many successful businesspeople have started out as accountants. After the firing, Lord Sugar told Edward that there was no shame in being an accountant, and that he should never feel that there was.
  • This was the third series in a row (Junior Apprentice included) where the team leader of the boys was fired in the first week.

Week 2: Mobile Phone Application

• Air Date: 11 May 2011
• Project Managers: Edna (Venture) and Leon (Logic)
• Task: The candidates had to develop a mobile phone application
  Application software
  Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
  
  , 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.
• Result: 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. As a result, "Slangatang" had a strong start, with 3,000 downloads in the first few hours, but it rapidly fell away afterwards, only managing a total of 3,951 downloads by the following day. "Ampi-Apps" had a weaker start, with barely 1,000 downloads in the first few hours, but took off after the gaming fair and had a final total of 10,667 downloads, resulting in an easy victory for Venture.
• Winner: Venture
• Reward: Venture had a meal hosted by Michelin two-star chef Michel Roux, Jr.
  Michel Roux, Jr.
  Michel Roux Jnr , is an English two-star Michelin chef at the London restaurant, Le Gavroche.-Biography:...
  
  
• Brought into the boardroom: Leon, Alex and Glenn
• Fired: Alex, for taking a back seat in both of the tasks and making too many excuses as to why he hadn't contributed.
• Notes:
  • This was the first time in the history of the Apprentice that the boys team lost 2 tasks in a row (in previous series, when there were 7 boys and 8 girls for Week 2, the boys won: an exception is Series 5 as the boys won the first task, despite being a man down).
  • Leon initially decided to bring Alex and Jim back into the board room. However, Jim challenged Leon's decision, making him decide that Jim did not deserve to end up in the bottom three. Leon then decided on Glenn, who in turn tried to convince Leon that Tom should be brought back instead of him, but Leon kept with his choice this time.
  • At the beginning of the episode all of the members of team Logic with the exception of Alex implied they would be willing to take on the role of project manager.
  • After firing Alex, Lord Sugar told Leon that he was on his last warning.

Week 3: Discount Buying for the Savoy

• Air Date: 18 May 2011
• Project Managers: Susan (Venture) and Gavin (Logic)
• Shuffle: Leon, Jim and Glenn shift to team Venture, while Melody, Zoe, Ellie and Natasha shift to Logic.
• Task: The candidates had nine hours to source ten last minute items at the lowest possible price prior to the Savoy's
  Savoy Hotel
  The Savoy Hotel is a hotel located on the Strand, in the City of Westminster in central London. Built by impresario Richard D'Oyly Carte with profits from his Gilbert and Sullivan operas, the hotel opened on 6 August 1889. It was the first in the Savoy group of hotels and restaurants owned by...
  
   grand reopening; however, missing or incorrect items were subject to penalty fines. The task culminated with both teams dashing to the Savoy to have their purchases inspected by the scrupulous eye of the hotel's general manager.
• Result: 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.
• Winner: Venture.
• Reward: Visit to a circus style Cabrera show in one of Covent Gardens trendy bars.
• Brought into the boardroom: Gavin, Vincent and Zoe
• Fired: Gavin, for his disorganization, ineffective leadership, and poor defence of himself in the boardroom.
• Notes:
  • Lord Sugar cited in the following episode, that Gavin had been a real "contender," but was fired purely from the results of this task.
  • Gavin was criticised for bringing Zoe back into the boardroom instead of Natasha. While it was agreed that Zoe hadn't contributed much to this task, Sugar thought that Natasha had wasted the team's time with a number of bad ideas (including trying to get a supplier list from a hotel) early in the task, and was more directly responsible for the loss than Zoe.

Week 4: Beauty Treatments

• Air Date: 25 May 2011
• Project Managers: Zoe (Venture) and Felicity (Logic)
• Shuffle: Felicity and Jim move to Logic, Zoe moves to Venture
• Task: To set up beauty-treatment businesses at the Westfield Merry Hill centre
  Merry Hill Shopping Centre
  Westfield Merry Hill is a shopping centre in Brierley Hill near Dudley, West Midlands, England. It was developed between 1985 and 1990, with several expansion and renovation projects taking place since. The original developers and owners were Richardson Developments but the Centre has had a number...
  
   in Dudley
  Dudley
  Dudley is a large town in the West Midlands county of England. At the 2001 census , the Dudley Urban Sub Area had a population of 194,919, making it the 26th largest settlement in England, the second largest town in the United Kingdom behind Reading, and the largest settlement in the UK without...
  
  , West Midlands
  West Midlands (county)
  The West Midlands is a metropolitan county in western central England with a 2009 estimated population of 2,638,700. It came into existence as a metropolitan county in 1974 after the passage of the Local Government Act 1972, formed from parts of Staffordshire, Worcestershire and Warwickshire. The...
  
  , and at the Bullring centre in Birmingham
  Birmingham
  Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
  
  . The teams were also to sell sidelines of cosmetic products. At the briefing, Lord Sugar rebalanced the teams and personally appointed the project managers.
• Result: Venture chose an out-of-town shopping centre with a treatment room that could serve three customers at once, and enjoyed very good sales. The tanning products that Susan helped to secure proved to be popular, but she overestimated the amount that the team could sell, resulting in them shifting only half of their stock. Logic's location in Birmingham town centre offered more footfall, but worse facilities since they only had one treatment room and it was three floors up from their main sales point. Felicity made a serious error by choosing to focus the team on selling cosmetic products rather than the more profitable treatments, even pulling their therapists away to assist in selling the cosmetics. This, combined with an even bigger overspend on products than Venture, caused them make a loss. Venture had a profit of £203, while Logic lost £247.
• Winner: Venture
• Reward: Dance lessons with the cast of Strictly Come Dancing
  Strictly Come Dancing
  Strictly Come Dancing is a British television show, featuring celebrities with professional dance partners competing in Ballroom and Latin dances. The title of the show suggests a continuation of the long-running series Come Dancing, with an allusion to the film Strictly Ballroom...
  
  
• Brought into the boardroom: Felicity, Ellie and Natasha
• Fired: Felicity, for her indecisiveness, poor choice of location, and for missing the point of the task by focusing on selling cosmetics rather than treatments.
• Notes:
  • Both teams initially wanted a spray-tanning system, but the vendor chose to have Venture sell the product due to a perceived lack of enthusiasm on Logic's part. As a result, Venture had the spray-tanning system and a cold foot-massage product, while Logic had a heat massager and hair-styling products.
  • Felicity initially tried to blame their loss on the team's failure to secure the spray tanner, but Lord Sugar disagreed, feeling that their bad location and misguided strategy were to blame.
  • Lord Sugar criticized Tom and Vincent's appearance in the losing team for four consecutive weeks.
  • Leon was heavily insecure when it came to selling beauty products and performing treatments. However his valiant effort made him the most effective member of the sales team earning praise from Karren Brady.
  • Whilst Lord Sugar praised Venture's profit, he also mentioned that a profit of £203 in the beauty industry is not terrific. He told Susan that had she spent the amount she originally wanted to, the team, like Logic, would have made a loss.

Week 5: Pet Food

• Air Date: 1 June 2011
• Project Managers: Glenn (Venture) and Vincent (Logic)
• Task: To create, brand and pitch a new pet food.
• Result: 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.
• Winner: Venture
• Reward: Playing tennis with Pat Cash
  Pat Cash
  Patrick Hart "Pat" Cash is a retired Australian professional tennis player who won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1987.-Early career:...
  
  
• Brought into the boardroom: Vincent, Ellie and Natasha
• Fired:
  • Ellie, for her negative attitude and consistent failure to contribute anything to the tasks.
  • Vincent, for ignoring the advice of the vet and creating an unsellable product, and for not bringing Jim back into the boardroom.
• Notes:
  • This was the fifth consecutive week that Tom was on the losing team; by this point he was the only remaining candidate that had not yet won a single task (Vincent had also yet to win a task but was fired). By contrast, Helen, Susan and Edna had not lost a task thus far.
  • Glenn's victory made him the only man to claim victory as a project manager in this series.
  • This was the third time since the introduction of multiple firings in Series 3 that two candidates have been fired together before the Interview stage. It was also the first instance where Lord Sugar fired two people at the end of the boardroom, as opposed to firing one halfway through the boardroom and one at the end.
  • After Lord Sugar criticized Jim, Jim asked to be team leader on the next task. Lord Sugar denied his request and said that he would choose when Jim would lead a team.
  • This was also the second week in a row that Ellie and Natasha have appeared in the final boardroom.
  • Vincent's firing made him the least successful candidate in the history of the UK show, with no wins, five losses and a loss as a project manager. The previous least successful candidate had been Adele Lock from the first series, who also had no wins and a loss as project manager, but was only present for four tasks.

Week 6: Rubbish

• Air Date: 8 June 2011
• Project Managers: Zoe (Venture) and Helen (Logic)
• Shuffle: Helen to Logic
• Task: To operate waste disposal services. The team which makes the most profit wins.
• Result: 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.
• Winner: Logic
• Reward: Trip to a thermal spa
• Brought into the boardroom: Zoe, Susan and Edna
• Fired: Edna, for falsely claiming credit for Venture's sales appointments, and for not living up to her claims about her abilities.
• Notes:
  • Logic's victory margin was the second smallest in the show's history, beaten only by Team Eclipse's £0.97 margin in Series Three, Week 7.
  • Lord Sugar criticized Zoe's choice to bring Susan back. He also stated that Zoe should have been fired, but allowed her to remain because she had admitted her mistakes at the first opportunity.
  • This was Tom's first win, as well as the first win for team Logic.

Week 7: Freemium Magazine Launch

• Air Date: 15 June 2011
• Project Managers: Jim (Venture) and Natasha (Logic)
• Shuffle: Leon moves to Logic, Jim moves to Venture
• Task: To create a free magazine and get advertisers to support their idea.
• Result: Venture created a seniors' magazine called Hip Replacement, and Logic created a combined business and lads' mag called Covered. The advertisers thought that Covered was somewhat vulgar and had an outdated concept, and despite hating the title they thought that Hip Replacement had more market potential. However, Jim made a fatal mistake in negotiating with the largest advertising agency by refusing to offer any sort of bulk discount; consequently, the agency purchased all of the advertising space in Covered. Logic made £76,000, and Venture made £28,850.
• Winner: Logic
• Reward: Fencing lessons
• Brought into the boardroom: Jim, Glenn and Susan
• Fired: Glenn, for his insufficient input during the process. Lord Sugar concluded that Glenn's engineering background and lack of business experience meant that he had nothing to offer, and his lack of involvement in the tasks proved this.
• Notes:
  • Susan was nicknamed "the mouse" by the other members of Venture, due to her constant failure to speak up in the tasks. Crucially, however, her impassioned defence of herself at the very end of the boardroom, and her recognition of the need to "slash prices", resulted in Lord Sugar deciding to let her stay.
  • This was Helen's seventh consecutive win, an all-time Apprentice record. The previous record was six consecutive wins, which was held by James Max in Series One and Lee McQueen in Series Four.
  • Glenn's firing was the third instance where Lord Sugar fired a candidate purely because he considered their working background unsuitable for his organisation. The first candidate to be fired in this way was Karen Bremner in Series Two, and the second was James McQuillan in Series Five.
  • A majority of the You're Fired audience disagreed with the decision (the first time this series) and felt that Jim should have been fired. In a clip recorded for the show, Sugar revealed that he had seen many engineers fail at business in the past, and that was the example he had also seen in Glenn over the previous seven weeks. Moreover, Sugar's opinions provoked much anger among the wider engineering community, and in the press immediately following the episode - James Dyson
    James Dyson
    Sir James Dyson is a British industrial designer and founder of the Dyson company.He is best known as the inventor of the Dual Cyclone bagless vacuum cleaner, which works on the principle of cyclonic separation. His net worth in 2011 was said to be £1.45 billion.-Early life:Dyson was born in...
    
     was commonly held up as a prime example of an engineer/inventor who also had been a hugely successful businessman.

Week 8: Paris

• Air Date: 22 June 2011
• Project Managers: Tom (Logic) and Susan (Venture)
• Shuffle: Helen moved to Venture.
• Task: To choose 2 British products and sell them to the trade in Paris
• Result: Logic pitched a teapot-based lamp and a postcard sown with cress seeds that unfolded into a "garden". Venture pitched a children's booster seat that folded into a backpack, and a stand to put various electronic devices such as an iPhone
  IPhone
  The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
  
   or iPod Touch
  IPod Touch
  The iPod Touch is a portable media player, personal digital assistant, handheld game console, and Wi-Fi mobile device designed and marketed by Apple Inc. The iPod Touch adds the multi-touch graphical user interface to the iPod line...
  
   in. Tom had wanted the backpack initially, but Melody disliked it and didn't seriously promote it during her market research, and also didn't give Tom any information on the major vendor that Lord Sugar had set up an appointment with, in addition to keeping all the sales appointments she had made for herself. Tom didn't sell anything, while Natasha and Leon sold only around €4,000 combined. On the other hand, Venture's execution of the task was near-flawless, earning large sales from independent retailers and earning a massive order from the appointment that Lord Sugar set up. The end result was a major win for Venture, who made sales of over €230,000, compared to just €11,000 for Logic.
• Winner: Venture
• Reward: Flying lessons
• Brought into the boardroom: Tom, Leon and Melody
• Fired: Leon, for taking a back seat on the task and trying to hide behind the excuse that he didn't speak French, as well as lacking the passion and desire that Tom and (in particular) Melody demonstrated.
• Notes:
  • This was Helen's eighth consecutive win, and Tom and Melody's first appearance at the final boardroom.
  • Susan's victory as project manager marked the first time, this series, that a project manager has won more than one task.
  • Venture's victory was at the time the biggest win in the show's history (a 20.9:1 margin), narrowly surpassing Team Ignite's victory in Series 5, Week 3. It would be surpassed the following week, also by Venture.
  • Despite Tom and Leon accusing Melody of repeatedly being insubordinate during the task, Lord Sugar stated that he admired her aggressiveness and strong personality, and made it clear relatively early in the final boardroom that she would not be fired.
  • Tom became the third successive Project Manager to be responsible for the show's worst-ever loss, but not be fired as a result (after James McQuillan in Series 5, and Laura Moore in Series 6).

Week 9: Biscuit Manufacturing

• Air Date: 29 June 2011
• Project Managers: Helen (Venture) and Zoe (Logic)
• Shuffle: Zoe and Susan moved to Logic, Natasha moved to Venture
• Task: To create and manufacture a biscuit and its packaging.
• Result: Venture's biscuit, created by Jim, was called Special Stars and featured a star-shaped chocolate lump on a flapjack. On Logic, Tom created a two-in-one biscuit called Bix Mix, which was made of digestive biscuit with a core of butter biscuit, and partially coated in chocolate. The retailers (Sainsbury's, Asda
  Asda
  Asda Stores Ltd is a British supermarket chain which retails food, clothing, general merchandise, toys and financial services. It also has a mobile telephone network, , Asda Mobile...
  
   and Waitrose
  Waitrose
  Waitrose Limited is an upmarket chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom and is the food division of the British retailer and worker co-operative the John Lewis Partnership. Its head office is in Bracknell, Berkshire, England...
  
  ) felt that Venture's marketing message was unclear, but Jim pulled off a risky move by convincing Asda to commit to a large-scale marketing strategy, and Asda agreed to an order of 800,000 packs if they were granted exclusivity (whether Sainsbury's or Waitrose ordered from the team was not stated). Logic, on the other hand, ended up failing to secure a single order from any of the retailers, all of whom agreed that the biscuit was poorly marketed and produced to too cheap a quality.
• Winner: Venture
• Reward: Country House Visit
• Brought into the boardroom: Zoe, Tom and Melody
• Fired: Zoe, for being project manager on the worst defeat in the show's history (an 800,000:0 margin), and for electing to manage marketing instead of the product's manufacturing, despite her background in the food and drink industry.
• Notes:
  • Special Stars' slogan "Anytime is treat time" was criticised as contradictive by Natasha, Karren, one of the head Waitrose retailers and Lord Sugar.
  • Helen's ninth consecutive win. Coincidentally, she had faced off against Zoe during her first stint as project manager in Week 6, which also resulted in a victory for Helen. Her victory also meant that she set a record of nine wins overall in the competition, beating the previous record of eight which had been held jointly by James Max from Series One, along with Lee McQueen and Lucinda Ledgerwood from Series Four.
  • This was the second consecutive week Tom and Melody were brought back to the final boardroom.
  • Lord Sugar dubbed Zoe a "contender," (second only to Gavin Winstanley) and could have fired Tom for his horrendous win-loss record (2-7) and being a "hindsight man," or Melody, for her self-concerned behaviour, had Zoe not lost on a task engineered for her. The fact that she lost on such a task, and especially by such a large margin, led to her dismissal. This is the second time Lord Sugar has fired a project manager entirely on that basis, with the first being Rocky Andrews of Season 5.
  • This is also the second time in the series that the You're Fired audience disagreed with the decision to fire the chosen candidate.

Week 10: Flip It

• Air Date: 6 July 2011
• Project Managers: Natasha (Venture) and Melody (Logic)
• Shuffle: Susan moved to Venture and Helen to Logic.
• Task: Given a pallet of wholesale items, the teams must find out what product sells best, reinvest their profits and sell more of that product.
• Result: Venture found early on that the umbrellas and nodding toy dogs sold the best, and purchased more to sell the following day. Susan took a gamble for Venture by buying some bracelets outside of the wholesaler market. Jim and Susan sold well, but Natasha handicapped the team by refusing to allow any further reinvestment until all the items had been sold. Tom, of Logic, found the toy dogs sold well, but his discovery was ignored by Melody and Helen, who focused on a flawed strategy of selling to retailers. The team had more success with selling to the public, but Melody decided not to reinvest in anything they had the previous day and instead sold a new line of travel accessories and digital picture frames, with moderate, but untested success. Although Lord Sugar fined Venture £100 for ignoring the task rules by failing to re-invest, they still won with a profit of £751 to Logic's £728.
• Winner: Venture
• Reward: Despite winning the task, Venture's failure to reinvest any significant amount of their profit angered Lord Sugar, who called their victory "hollow" and as a result, the team were not allowed on their reward, which would have been a helicopter trip to Goodwood
  Goodwood Circuit
  Goodwood Circuit is an historic venue for both two- and four-wheeled motorsport in the United Kingdom. The 2.4 mile circuit is situated near Chichester, West Sussex, close to the south coast of England, on the estate of Goodwood House, and completely encircles Chichester/Goodwood Airport...
  
   and riding in vintage cars.
• Brought into the boardroom: Melody, Tom and Helen (the entirety of Logic)
• Fired: Melody, with regret, for her lack of understanding of the task, and as Lord Sugar did not see her as being a viable business partner.
• Notes:
  • This week's challenge broke Helen's chain of victories, putting an end to her record, resulting in 9 consecutive wins. (As she was on the winning team for the next, final task, this was the only occasion in the series that she was on a losing team.)
  • This was the first time the winning team's reward was cancelled due to bad performance. Susan and Jim had repeatedly pushed Natasha to reinvest, and although Lord Sugar identified the problem lay with Natasha, she later attempted to direct blame on Susan.
  • Helen attempted to take over as project manager from Melody at the start of the second day, feeling that the team had no strategy. Melody refused to let her do so.
  • This was Melody and Tom's third consecutive week in the final boardroom. Melody's and Helen's working backgrounds were also highlighted as an issue.

Week 11: Fast Food Chain

• Air Date: 13 July 2011
• Project Managers: Jim (Venture) and Helen (Logic)
• Task: To invent an outlet, develop a unique cuisine, open it to the public and pitch the concept to Lord Sugar and experts from the fast-food industry. The teams would be scored in four categories, with the team that scored the highest winning.
• Result: Team Venture decided on a Mexican theme, while Team Logic decided on British themed pies. Logic's run-through and actual service were both virtually flawless, though there were questions about the profit margins that would be attainable with the premium ingredients used in their pies. They also fell into trouble by advertising one of their pies under the title 'Columbus' despite the explorer's Italian heritage. On the other hand, Venture's run-though was a total disaster and their actual service wasn't much better, mostly because the food was unappetising and very slow to come out. The end result was a clear victory for Logic, who scored an average result of 7/10 and beat Venture (who only scored an average of 4/10) in every single category.
• Winner: Logic
• Reward: No reward, but the winning team are automatic candidates for the final.
• Brought into the Boardroom: Jim, Susan and Natasha (the entirety of Venture).
• Fired: Natasha, for taking a backseat in the task despite her background in the hospitality business, and for having lost the energy and enthusiasm she displayed earlier in the process.
• Notes:
  • Unlike the previous six series, episode 11 was not made up of interviews.
  • This is the second time that the finals has consisted of four candidates (instead of the usual two), the first being Series 4.
  • Helen's win on this task made her the second Apprentice candidate to hold a 3-0 win record as a Project Manager, the first candidate to achieve this was Yasmina Siadatan from Series five.
  • Of all the finalists on the show's entirety, Tom lost the most amount of tasks (8 losses to 3 wins). Tom and Jim also became the first candidates since Saira Khan
    Saira Khan
    Saira Khan is a British television personality and was the runner-up on the first UK series of reality TV show The Apprentice in 2005.-Television career:...
    
     in the first series to make the final despite never winning as a project manager.

Week 12: The Final

• Air Date: 17 July 2011
• Finalists: Helen, Susan, Jim and Tom.
• Task: The four finalists each had to face a gruelling interview process on their own. Each candidate also had their business ideas tested, as their plans for their business with Lord Sugar were put to verification.
• Result: Helen's business proposal was a personal concierge service, which would help busy working people organize their day-to-day lives. The interviewers saw a major flaw in her plan, namely that Helen did not have the connections to make such a business work, and were baffled as to why she didn't create a business plan based on her background in the baking industry. Jim's plan was to create a business called AMSmart, which would have specialised in delivering training aids and employability skills to schoolchildren. While the interviewers felt that it was a good business for the current economic climate, where jobs are hard to come by, they were concerned by the low profit margins and Jim's lack of market research. They also had a lot of problems with Jim himself, as they considered him to be full of cliches and to be hard to get answers out of. Susan's business plan got a lot of praise, as it played off her experience in the cosmetics industry, but she shot herself in the foot with her outlandish claims, particularly the fact that she thought she could make a net profit of a million pounds in the first year. Tom got praise for his prior success in creating and selling nail files to major retailers, but was accused of being unable to focus himself properly, and the interviewers felt that his plan, to create a company supplying specialist products for people with back problems, was poorly written up.
• Final Decision: Jim was the first person to be fired, as Lord Sugar felt that he was unconvincing overall, and had not given enough thought to his plan. Susan went next; while Lord Sugar and the interviewers agreed that she had presented the best overall plan, she failed to show any understanding of why her figures were unrealistic, which Sugar felt was proof that she needed more time to develop her skills. However, he predicted that Susan would go on to do great things in the future. Despite her business proposal getting by far the worst reports from the interviewers, Helen made it to the last two due to her exceptional record in the competition, and suggested an alternative plan that would have involved creating a chain of bakeries. However, her poor initial idea and lack of hands-on experience in running a business counted against her in the end, and despite feeling that his business plan needed to be tweaked, Lord Sugar named Tom as his new business partner.
• Fired:
  • Jim, for coming across as "cliched" in the interviews, and for suggesting a plan more suited to a charity than a business.
  • Susan, for her inexperience, and for making unrealistic claims about the potential profits her business could make.
• Runner-Up: Helen, for proposing a business plan that did not play to her strengths.
• Hired: Tom, for his prior business experience, and for his innovation and creativity.
• Notes:
  • Unlike the previous six series, the fired candidates did not make a last appearance to help the finalists.
  • Margaret Mountford
    Margaret Mountford
    Margaret Mountford is a British lawyer, businesswoman and television personality known for her role in The Apprentice.-Biography:Mountford is originally from Holywood in Northern Ireland...
    
     and Claude Littner
    Claude Littner
    Claude Littner is a British business executive, the current Chairman of Viglen, also known from his appearances on the BBC-produced British version of The Apprentice, interviewing for his former boss Lord Sugar.-Career:...
    
     once again returned to interview the candidates, this time joined by Daisy Group CEO Matthew Riley
    Matthew Riley
    Matthew Riley is a British entrepreneur and the founder and chief executive officer of , the AIM listed organisation that provides unified communications to businesses in the UK....
    
     and Short List Media Ltd Founder and CEO Mike Soutar.
  • On You're Hired!, Lord Sugar said that if the prize had been a job in one of his companies like in the previous series, Helen would have won. He also suggested during the same show that he may look to do some form of business with Susan in the future.

Ratings

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

Episode No.	Airdate	Total Viewers	BBC One Weekly Ranking
1	10 May 2011	8,787,000	4
2	11 May 2011	8,297,000	7
3	18 May 2011	8,097,000	5
4	25 May 2011	8,619,000	4
5	1 June 2011	7,590,000	1
6	8 June 2011	8,617,000	3
7	15 June 2011	8,401,000	5
8	22 June 2011	8,777,000	2
9	29 June 2011	8,982,000	1
10	6 July 2011	9,420,000	1
11	13 July 2011	9,730,000	2
12	17 July 2011	10,240,000	1

External links