The Apprentice (TV series)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


US Series:

  • Deader Than Disco: The non-celebrity editions were firmly established as this by Season 10, which got some of the worst viewing figures in the history of NBC, and a lot of critics lashing out at how tasteless it was to broadcast such a show during a recession.
  • Replacement Scrappy: Virtually all of the boardroom judges other than George, Carolyn, and possibly Bill Rancic tend to be regarded as this. Even though the Trump children -- Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric -- have all been successful businesspeople in their own right, their family connection to the contest's head honcho has left a sour taste in the mouths of certain viewers (it doesn't help that some are convinced that Ivanka is there purely to act as Ms. Fanservice).
  • The Scrappy: Omarosa from the first regular and Celebrity Apprentice seasons. Barely tolerable bitch in the former, raging egotist (and terrible project manager) in the latter.
    • Stacy R. from Season 2 is often considered the show's worst-ever candidate; she did absolutely nothing but complain, yet somehow lasted to the halfway point of the season.
    • Brent from Season 5 was regarded as The Scrappy by his team-mates, though he did at least contribute the occasional good idea.
  • Tear Jerker: Dennis Rodman's firing in Celebrity Apprentice 2. Even Annie Duke, who was one of the tougher players from that season, was visibly crying when Trump told Dennis he was fired.
  • They Changed It, Now It Sucks: The Los Angeles season was a pretty major case of this. There were a lot of changes that were simply pointless and/or annoying -- project managers having to do the job every week until they lost, the winning project manager getting to be a boardroom judge, the losing team having to live in tents with no real amenities -- but the major deal-breaker for most of the show's few remaining fans was that only about ten minutes per episode were devoted to the tasks, with the episodes being filled instead with longer boardroom sessions, and lengthy scenes showing the losing candidates arguing in "Tent City." It didn't help that George and Carolyn had left as well, though that one was at least due to Real Life Writes the Plot (George was already winding down his involvement with the show and had been replaced by Bill Rancic for much of Season 5, while Carolyn had quit the show in order to advance her own career). Even Trump himself has gone on record as saying that he dislikes this season.
  • What an Idiot!: Bradford in Season 2. He was in absolutely no danger of being fired after the second task, due to getting immunity from elimination after being the winning team leader on the first task -- until he decided to surrender his immunity, telling Trump that he didn't need it because he had done so well as a salesperson in the second task. Trump responded by immediately firing Bradford for his monumental stupidity.
    • Another immunity related slip-up was committed by Danny in Season 3. Michael had gained immunity from being the winning team leader on the second task, and used this as an excuse to do nothing but sit on his ass and throw in stupid ideas in the third task. Subsequently, Danny decided that Trump didn't really mean Michael was immune from being fired, and took him into the boardroom after their team lost the task. Needless to say, Danny was himself fired for this mistake.
    • Also in Season 3, Erin was dumb enough to ask Trump "You have to listen to them (George and Carolyn)?", even though it has been clear the entire board room session that Trump was getting tired of her attitude. Carolyn was livid.
    • In the first boardroom of Season 5, Tarek was on the verge of being fired after he proudly defended his idea of giving away gift bags which had no actual gifts inside them -- until Summer suddenly interrupted Trump and started babbling about how she wanted Tarek to be "fired because of the truth." Trump got pissed at Summer, and Lee tried to tell her to shut up and apologize, but Summer kept on trying to make whatever point she thought she was making, until Trump finally snapped and fired her. He even told Tarek that Summer had "saved your ass with her stupidity."
    • After the women lost the fourth task of Celebrity Apprentice 4, they ganged up on LaToya Jackson, and it was looking more and more likely that she would be fired. That changed when Hope Dworaczyk and team leader NeNe Leakes happened to criticise Dionne Warwick for leaving their editing suite so that she could get some sleep, which caused Dionne to go ballistic and actually demand to be fired rather than sit around being criticised like that. Trump calmed her down and told her that while he thought NeNe had been a brilliant leader, he wasn't going to fire Dionne just because NeNe told him to. Dionne accepted that and took back her remarks -- and then got fired anyway, for blowing up and acting like a disrespecful jackass.
    • In another season 3 boardroom, Bren had picked Stephanie (for her attitude) and Michael (for his laziness) to join him in the boardroom after losing. While Bren tearing down Stephanie for her attitude, and complaining to other team members rather than himself (the Project Manager), Michael, for some reason, decided to cut off Bren, despite not even being discussed as a possible elimination. This was the last straw for Trump, who fired Michael for his laziness, as well as cutting off Bren.
      • Jennifer C. nearly got herself fired in very much the same manner in season 2, after she kept speaking up and interrupting Trump, even after Trump told her that she didn't need to say anything because she shouldn't have been in the boardroom in the first place. Fortunately for her, this also happened to be the boardroom where Bradford decided to give up his immunity, saving her from her own mouth.
    • After the last regular task of season 2, which involved selling chocolate bars, Ivana, Kevin and Kelly ended up in the boardroom. Ivana's only real chance of survival would be to persuade Trump to fire Kevin (which wouldn't have been hard, since Kevin disobeyed Ivana and sold the chocolate bars for half the price she had set). Instead, she said that Kelly should be fired, overlooking the fact that Kelly was immune from being fired. Trump reminded her of this, so Ivana changed her mind and said that Jennifer should be fired. Slight problem -- Jennifer was on the winning team. After this brilliant display of boardroom logic, Ivana finally suffered the firing that Bradford (see above) had inadvertently saved her from during the second task.

UK Series:

  • Critical Research Failure: Michael Sophocles, who claimed to be a "Good Jewish Boy" on his application form, purchased halal chicken instead of kosher chicken. Later on in the boardroom, Sir Alan (who is himself Jewish) started to crack a joke based around the Jewish greeting "L'chaim" at his expense... only to be left totally stunned when Michael admitted that he had no idea what that meant either.
    • Another team in the previous season decided it'd be a great idea to take cheap, mass-produced cheddar cheese to a fine produce market in France. A country that has more variety of home grown cheeses than any other in the world. Even Nick Hewer, who normally leaves Sir Alan Sugar to conduct the boardroom tongue lashings, took the time to berate the team's blatant stupidity in the task post-mortem. The opposing team also fouled up by trying sell tea, which is literally fifty times less popular than coffee in France, but got away with it because it wasn't their main item.
      • Same series and episode as the Makro cheese to France, how about them trying to sell top-end pork sausages to a halal butcher in the middle of the day during Ramadan?
    • In Series 6's London tour challenge, Jamie the tour guide described the Thames to visitors as 'the second largest river in London' (even Nick almost laughed), and said that the face of the clock on Big Ben's tower was 'twenty diameters in width'.
    • Series 7's fast food task, in which one of the teams put together a restaurant serving all-British food. One of the items was named after that great British explorer and discoverer of the potato, Christopher Columbus.
    • While the other team in the Series 7 fast food task named their Mexican-themed restaurant "Caraca's" - initially thinking they were those shaky musical instruments called maracas. Naming a Mexican restaurant after the capital of Venezuela was eventually called out by Lord Sugar in the boardroom.
  • Ensemble Darkhorse: Granted, it's in a sort of "love to hate him" way, but series 6's Stuart Baggs is certainly known for his immense entertainment value.
  • Fan Nickname ("Siralan" or "Surallan" for Sir Alan Sugar, as he was known prior to Junior Apprentice. Has continued to be used by fans, since "Lord Sugar" doesn't really have the same ring)
    • The Guardian coined "Lady Ribenaberet" for Lucinda Ledgerwood.
    • Series 7 has "Jedi Jim", after a You're Fired sequence compared his ability to persuade another candidate to change his mind and not bring him back into the boardroom to a Jedi Mind Trick. The nickname stuck with fans and has gone on to become a popular hashtag on Twitter.
  • Germans Love David Hasselhoff: Granted, the show's loss of popularity in the US was more a result of mishandling by the network than anything else, but the UK version of the show has managed to work its way into the popular imagination in a way that even the US version never quite managed.
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: Michael Sophocles from Series 4 was a generally unpopular Elimination Houdini, who continually skirted elimination until he was finally eliminated with two weeks remaining. His girlfriend at the time happened to be one Katie Waissel, who later became a contestant on the 2010 series of The X Factor -- where she proved to be a generally unpopular Elimination Houdini who continually skirted elimination until she was finally eliminated with two weeks to go.
  • Ho Yay: A tradition in every series for a pair of male candidates to get along extremely well which is then lampshaded hilariously in Apprentice: You're Fired with a video montage
    • Series 7 deserves special mention for Jim and Leon, Jim and Vincent, Jim and Tom, Jim and Glenn... you get the gist.
      • Nick Hewer on Jim's business proposal: "I think that he studied [Lord Sugar] before he started to write that business plan, and it is one long seduction letter."
  • Memetic Mutation: Raleigh Addington's "It was shameful!" speech in the boardroom from Series 6.
    • From Series 7: Jim is a Jedi. See Fan Nickname above.
    • Pantsman - the character Phil Taylor came up with in the breakfast cereal task - achieved Memetic Mutation status during Series 5. (That's Phil singing in the ad, by the way.)
    • From Series 4: Alex Wotherspoon is only 24. Also Lee McQueen's Reverse Pterodactyl and "That's what I'm talking about!" And Raef Bjayou is practically a living Memetic Mutation.
    • From Series 3: Rory Laing goes fucking crazy for discipline. Also the "I am your boss!/You're not my boss, you're nothing to me" exchange he got involved in with Tre Azam.
    • From Series 2: The introduction to Nargis Ara's sales pitch: "Did you know that there are six million cat owners in the UK alone?" While selling a calendar for a children's hospital no less.
  • Misaimed Fandom: There was a surprisingly large Internet Backdraft over Stuart's firing in Series 6, probably even moreso than when Liz suffered a Shocking Elimination the previous week. Apparently a lot of people considered him to have been representing the "young tech geek" demographic, and were outraged that he was fired over what they saw as a minor wording detail -- seemingly failing to realize that in the business world, you do not misrepresent your company in such a blatant way and get away with it.
  • Seasonal Rot: Despite being the series that saw the show go from a moderately popular niche show to being a national mega-hit (or perhaps because of that), most fans regard Series 4 as the show's lowest point, due to the intensely dislikeable personalities of all but a handful of that year's candidates.
  • Tear Jerker: James McQuillan's exit after he was fired from the interview round in Season 5, shown here. It even made Debra Barr cry, and she was one of the toughest contestants in the series.
    • And then one series later, there's Joanna Riley's firing in the interview round. Also doubles as a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, with Lord Sugar giving one of the nicest firing speeches he's ever made.

Lord Sugar: "Joanna, we all admire what you've done here, and I'm gonna give you...the best bit of advice, and you should take it. You don't like what you're doing at the moment. Get to like it and do more of it. (...) But you leave here with your head high, let me tell you that. You leave here with your head high, because you're a prime example of someone who's prepared to work hard and sling yourself into things. You've done very, very well. Joanna, I'm sorry to say...you're fired."

  • The Unfair Sex: In Series 8, Katie Wright wrote on her CV that "men can be manipulated". After she was fired, she was given a round of applause on You're Fired for being "a shining example for women in business" according to a female entrepreneur. Meanwhile, rival candidate Adam Cobally's heavy-handed attempts at chivalry came across as condescending and mildly sexist and were joked about every week on You're Fired. He was placed in the position where he had to defend what he said on You're Fired. He didn't do a bad job but considering that Katie didn't have to go through the same thing for a worse comment, she comes across as a Karma Houdini.
  • The Woobie: Tom Pellereau of series 7 is one of the most genuinely lovely people the Apprentice has featured. Never aggressive, hopelessly geeky, and completely free of even a shred of ego, he's incredibly difficult to dislike. This is further compounded by frequent bursts of adorability - from juggling oranges in the first task to making decisions by playing rock, paper, scissors. Inevitable, then, that even though he's quite perceptive, the other candidates tend to trample all over him. Melody, in particular, managed to single-handedly ruin his first turn as PM through sheer force of will.
    • Gabrielle Omar and possibly Adam Corbally in series 8. Gabrielle for being an incredibly nice person and somehow unintentionally funny, as well as rarely being seen without a smile on her face. Adam for 'always out of his comfort zone' and coming across as a genuinely nice guy on You're Fired. He even made a sweet quip after he was fired, making Lord Sugar smile.
    • Lucinda Ledgerwood, too, for being the victim of a lot of bullying. Somewhat more passive-aggressive than Tom, and surprisingly bitey when provoked, she's perhaps not quite as tragic a figure as Tom, but she was bludgeoned enough to qualify.
    • Joy Stefanicki from Series Six is a possible inclusion, if for not being given a real chance. From what could be seen of her from her little airtime on the show and on You're Fired, she came across as rather sweet (literally bouncing up and down with excitement during the task) and non-confrontational (to the point where she raised her hand to try and make a point, while the rest of the team bickered loudly). When the girls' team descended into a massive argument mid-task and Laura, the Project Manager, left the room in tears, Joy was the only member of the team to attempt to calm her down. She also tried to break up the verbal brawl in the boardroom, but was shouted down before Karen delivered her take on the matter. Whether rightly or wrongly, this non-aggression lead to her being perceived as not contributing to the team, along with genuine indecisiveness, and she was fired that week.
    • From the same series, Alex Epstein had a moment of this in the 'Fashion' task. Admittedly, he wasn't a stellar candidate, and he had made a fairly large mistake with his choice of promotional stand, but it's difficult not to feel for him when the entire team lambasted him continually for it, to the point where Paloma (PM) refused to give him credit for the TV ad that he secured which (according to Lord Sugar in 'Why I Fired Them') more than redeemed his previous mistake.
  • What an Idiot!: Paul Tulip had the best task record of all the candidates the second season, but did appallingly in the interviews. Upon going back into the boardroom, Sir Alan made it clear that Paul was on the verge of being fired and demanded a good reason why he should stay... to which Paul replied that most big companies would be glad to have someone like him on board, and that Sir Alan should hire him there and them because he was so awesome. Sir Alan responded to this by telling Paul to go and find one of those companies, and then instantly fired him.
    • Paloma in Season 6. She hadn't done that badly as a project manager, and in the boardroom it was pretty obvious that Lord Sugar was leaning towards firing Sandeesh for her general uselessness and making some dubious claims about how Alex, the third person in the boardroom, had single-handedly lost the task for their team. For some bizarre reason, Paloma decided to interrupt Lord Sugar's "summing up" speech and rant at length about how Alex and Sandeesh both sucked and weren't fit to lick her boots -- and in doing so, pissed off Lord Sugar into firing her, which he admitted he wouldn't have done if she'd just kept her mouth shut.
      • Even after the outburst, it's implied that Lord Sugar was on the brink of firing Alex. Lord Sugar turns to Alex - "you sound like a disaster" - and the firing music swells up ominously... and then, retreats, as Lord Sugar turns his eye to Paloma. She pushed the Lord just over the edge. What an idiot.
      • Bilyana from Season 8 later committed the exact same mistake, and for good measure even added in a bit of the same mistake that Summer from the fifth U.S. season made. Throughout the final boardroom, Sugar repeatedly berated Katie for not contributing to the task, and began his final speech saying that he had warned the candidates about trying to stay in the background... only for Bilyana to think he was talking about her for some bizarre reason (she'd actually been brought back because of her overly aggressive attitude, and team leader Gabrielle even acknowledged she'd sold well), and start interrupting Sugar over and over again even as he tried to get her to shut up. Unsurprisingly, this resulted in Bilyana getting the chop.
    • Nicholas de Lacy-Brown in Season 4, whose attempt at defending himself from responsibility for the task's failure mostly consisted of blabbering about how he couldn't get on with people who like football. Evidently the fact that Lord Sugar owned Tottenham Hotspur for just over a decade was lost on Nicholas.
    • Natasha Scribbins of Series 7, yeah? In addition to her inarticulate nature, which is forgivable, yeah? She has too many cases of Epic Fail to list.
    • Helen Milligan from the same series had one of these at the worst possible time. Having gone through the process with a near-flawless track record, the obvious thing to ensure her hiring in the final episode (which in this series would happen to whoever suggested the best business for Lord Sugar to help set up) would have been to write a business plan for a chain of bakers, or a catering company, or anything food related since that was what her background was in. Instead, she created a plan for some weird concierge service that Lord Sugar's business experts agreed wasn't even worth the paper it was printed on, and in doing so pretty much threw away her chance of victory.
      • Could arguably be said for all the Series 7 finalists: Susan's plan of 4 million pound turnover in her first year was optimistic to say the least; Jim's wasn't researched properly and more of a social enterprise; and Tom's was Awesome but Impractical at best and mathematically flawed to boot, with him and Lord Sugar downplaying the chair idea during his exit interview in favour of his line of nail files.

Margaret Mountford: Describe yourself without using any clichés.
"Jedi" Jim: I am Exactly What It Says on the Tin

Margaret facepalms.

  • What Could Have Been: Raleigh Addington in Series 6, who quit after the first episode when he was told that his brother, a soldier in the British Army, had been severely injured by a landmine explosion. It was undoubtedly the right thing to do given the circumstances, but some fans have wondered What could have been if he had stayed, given that his boardroom cry of "It was shameful!" rapidly achieved Memetic Mutation status -- and it was pretty much the only thing he said while on the show.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/The_Apprentice_(TV_series)/YMMV?oldid=1825695"