The Apprentice (UK) is a British reality competition television series in which a group of aspiring young businessmen and women compete for the chance to win a £100,000-a-year job as "apprentice" to the British business magnate Sir Alan Sugar.
The Apprentice, billed as a "job interview from hell", is modelled on the American series of the same name, which stars entrepreneur Donald Trump.
The series originally premiered in the UK on BBC Two on 16 February, 2005. It moved to BBC One from the third season onwards.
The Apprentice (UK) premiered in South Africa on DStv's BBC Prime (now BBC Entertainment) channel on Monday 9 June 2008, at 20h30. It moved to DStv's BBC Knowledge channel for the second season and to BBC Entertainment for the third. See "Seasons" below for seasonal broadcast dates and times.
Season 5 premiered on BBC Entertainment on Wednesday 20 April 2011, at 21h30. New episodes broadcast weekly. There are 12 episodes in the fifth season.
Synopsis
There's only one winner on The Apprentice and no second prizes.
The 12-week competition sets the candidates through a gruelling series of tasks and the first prize is the job of Sir Alan Sugar's apprentice, with a six figure salary.
The rules are simple. Each week, the candidates are divided into two teams and Sir Alan briefs them on the new task. The team appoints a project manager and this person is responsible for leading the task.
Each task is set to stretch the candidates' creative and business skills, but the bottom line is can the team make that important profit? Sir Alan doesn't take kindly to candidates making a loss.
Throughout the task, Sir Alan's advisers Margaret Mountford and Nick Hewer shadow the teams and report back to Sir Alan in the boardroom.
At the end of the task, the candidates are called to the boardroom to face Sir Alan and his advisers. The figures are tallied up and the team with the biggest profit win and are given a well-deserved celebratory treat.
The losing team are sent off to discuss their failings and then it's back to the boardroom for a grilling from Sir Alan. Finally, the project manager selects two fellow team-mates that he or she feels were responsible for the downfall of the team.
The final three face Sir Alan and one of them gets fired.
Seasons
Season 1 (12 episodes)
Channel: BBC Prime | Premiere: 9 Jun 2008 | Finale: 25 Aug 2008 | Mon, 20h30
Season 2 (12 episodes)
Channel: BBC Knowledge | Premiere: 12 May 2009 | Finale: 28 Jul 2009 | Tue, 21h30
Season 3 (12 episodes)
Channel: BBC Entertainment | Premiere: 7 Oct 2009 | Finale: 23 Dec 2009 | Wed, 20h30
Season 4 (12 episodes)
Channel: BBC Entertainment | Premiere: 31 Mar 2010 | Finale: 16 Jun 2010 | Wed, 20h30
Season 5 (12 episodes)
Channel: BBC Entertainment | Premiere: 20 Apr 2011 | Finale: 6 Jul 2011 | Wed, 21h30