(You guessed it...)...'YOU'RE FIRED!!' (The Apprentice UK)

Member Name: simonh7

Product:	The Apprentice UK
Date:	23/05/09 (31 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Top entertainment

Disadvantages: Shame it's only an hour long

'The Apprentice' is a hit BBC1 show, currently in its 5th series and aired at 9pm on Wednesdays.

It features 14 high-flying business people competing for a six figure salary, working for business mogul Sir Alan Sugar in the process. Each week, the competitors are divided into two groups and undertake the same business task. eg. advertising a new product, developing a new product and selling it, or valuing goods and selling them at the right price, for instance.

Each team nominates a team-leader, who must delegate tasks and ensure the team works together as an efficient and co-operative unit. The tasks are usually judged using quantitative measures (eg. who generates the most profit) by Sir Alan himself, and his two aides Nick and Margaret, both business experts themselves.

The winning team are rewarded with a treat, funded by Sir Alan, whilst one of the members of the losing team will be fired at the end of each show, gradually weeding out competitors week-by-week until the winner is established. The team-leader of the losing side must accept some of the brunt of failure and has to nominate two other members of their losing team to take into the boardroom. Here, Sir Alan and his aides grill the three competitors, finding out where it all went wrong and following intense argument and blame, one of the competitors will hear the famous words of Sir Alan; 'you're fired!'

The member evicted from the show then appears on BBC2's sister show, 'You're Fired' hosted by Adrian Chiles at 10pm on Wednesdays to discuss their firing and their general performance throughout the show. This usually takes a humorous slant and is filmed in front of an audience and featuring three guest 'celebrities' who also cast their opinions.

Overall, The Apprentice is fantastic entertainment and unlike most reality shows, actually serves a purpose. It is very amusing watching the teams battle it out, as often they make fools of themselves and make schoolboy errors! Sir Alan himslef is stern but also very amusing, frequently pulling out hilarious lines regarding how useless the teams have been.

Summary: Great reality competition