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The eighteenth series of British reality television series The Apprentice premiered on 1 February 2024 in the UK on BBC One.[1] Karren Brady and Tim Campbell returned as Lord Sugar's aides.[2][3] The eighteen candidates competing in the series were revealed on 23 January 2024.[4]
| The Apprentice | |
|---|---|
| Series 18 | |
| Starring | |
| No. of episodes | 12 |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 1 February – 18 April 2024 |
| Series chronology | |
The series concluded on 18 April 2024, with Rachel Woolford emerging as the overall winner, finishing over runner-up Phil Turner.[5]
In January 2023, whilst the previous series was airing, the BBC announced applications were open for the eighteenth series.[6][7] The applications closed on 29 January 2023.[8] In November 2023, it was confirmed that the series would be pushed back to February 2024 instead of the usual slot due to the second series of The Traitors launching in January.[9][10][11] The first teaser for the new series was revealed on 17 January 2024.[12]
Before the series, Lord Sugar spoke during an interview with The Times announcing his plans to "tone down" the penultimate "interviews" episode for this series, following the controversy surrounding the interrogations from the interviewers in the previous series, which Sugar himself said he found "hard to watch."[13][14] His aide Karren Brady defended the segment of the process however, insisting that she was not trying to upset the candidates, [during the interviews] however added that "resilience" was critical for running a successful business.[15]
The two teams are named Supream and Nexus.[16]
Candidates
| Candidate | Background | Age | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rachel Woolford | Boutique fitness studio owner | 27 | Winner |
| Phil Turner | Pie company owner | 37 | Runner-up |
| Paul Midha | Dental practice owner | 29 | Fired in the interviews stage |
| Florence "Flo" Edwards | Recruitment consultant | 29 | |
| Tre Lowe | Musician & wellness entrepreneur | 48 | |
| Steve Darken | Management consultant | 37 | Fired in the tenth task |
| Foluso Falade | Project manager | 25 | |
| Maura Rath | Yoga company owner | 33 | Fired in the ninth task |
| Raj Chohan | Mortgage broker | 41 | |
| Noor Bouziane | Jewellery company owner | 22 | Fired in the eighth task |
| Virdi Singh Mazaria | Music producer | 24 | Fired in the seventh task |
| Samantha "Sam" Saadet | Perinatal fitness coach | 33 | Fired in the sixth task |
| Onyeka Nweze | Chartered company secretary | 25 | Fired in the fifth task |
| Jack Davies | Recruitment director | 29 | Fired in the fourth task |
| Amina Khan | Pharmacist & business owner | 32 | |
| Asif Munaf | Doctor & wellness brand owner | 34 | Fired in the third task |
| Paul Bowen | Pie company director | 34 | Fired in the second task |
| Oliver "Ollie" Medforth | Sales executive | 27 | Fired in the first task |
Performance chart
| Candidate | Task Number | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | ||
| Rachel | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | LOSE | LOSS | IN | LOSE | IN | HIRED | |
| Phil | LOSS | LOSE | LOSS | BR | LOSS | BR | LOSS | LOSS | BR | WIN | IN | RUNNER-UP | |
| Paul M. | LOSS | LOSS | IN | IN | LOSE | LOSS | IN | WIN | LOSS | IN | FIRED | ||
| Flo | IN | IN | WIN | IN | LOSS | LOSS | IN | IN | BR | IN | FIRED | ||
| Tre | LOSS | LOSS | IN | IN | WIN | IN | LOSS | LOSS | WIN | IN | FIRED | ||
| Steve | BR | LOSS | IN | IN | IN | WIN | IN | IN | IN | FIRED | |||
| Foluso | IN | WIN | IN | IN | IN | IN | BR | LOSS | IN | FIRED | |||
| Maura | IN | IN | LOSS | BR | LOSS | BR | WIN | IN | FIRED | ||||
| Raj | IN | IN | IN | WIN | IN | IN | IN | IN | PM | ||||
| Noor | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | LOSS | PM | |||||
| Virdi | LOSE | LOSS | LOSS | BR | BR | LOSS | FIRED | ||||||
| Sam | IN | IN | BR | BR | LOSS | PM | |||||||
| Onyeka | WIN | IN | BR | BR | FIRED | ||||||||
| Jack | LOSS | LOSS | LOSS | PM | |||||||||
| Amina | IN | IN | BR | FIRED | |||||||||
| Asif | LOSS | BR | PM | ||||||||||
| Paul B. | LOSS | FIRED | |||||||||||
| Ollie | FIRED | ||||||||||||
- HIRED The candidate won this series of The Apprentice.
- RUNNER-UP The candidate was the runner-up.
- WIN The candidate won as project manager on their team, for this task.
- LOSE The candidate lost as project manager on their team, for this task.
- IN The candidate was on the winning team for this task / passed the Interviews stage.
- LOSS The candidate was on the losing team for this task.
- BR The candidate was brought to the final boardroom for this task.
- FIRED The candidate was fired in this task.
- PM The candidate lost as project manager for this task and was fired.
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Original air date | UK viewers (millions) [17] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 237 | 1 | "Highlands Corporate Away Day" | 1 February 2024 | 6.24 | |
|
Lord Sugar begins his search for a new business partner for 2024 amongst eighteen new candidates. For their first task, the teams are sent to the Scottish Highlands and challenged to host a corporate retreat at Cawdor Castle, and construct a tour of the area, provide lunch, and create a team-building activity. The women focus on a tour of the Highlands' waterways with a team-building exercise themed on Highland games, serving fish cakes and rhubarb crumble for lunch. The women secure a profit, despite ensuing refunds due to issues with the lunch service, including the use of the wrong ingredient in the fish cakes. The men focus on a "land tour", serve toads in the hole and brownies for lunch, and have a highland dancing-themed team-building course, but face issues with time management and underprepared food, which leads to refunds and a net loss. In the boardroom, the women are revealed to have made a larger profit, leaving the men to face questions over their mistakes. Of the final three, Oliver Medforth is the first to be fired for contributing too little to the task.[18] | |||||
| 238 | 2 | "Cheesecakes" | 8 February 2024 | 6.32 | |
|
The teams are sent to the Royal Exchange in the City of London. Lord Sugar tasks the teams with creating two sets of mini cheesecakes; one set to punt to the public, and one set for a corporate client. The men create white chocolate cheesecakes for the public, and dragon fruit and avocado cheesecakes for their corporate clients; they face issues with costings, negotiations with their difficult clients, and selling prices. The women create mango cheesecakes for the public, and fig-flavoured cheesecakes for their clients; they sell well and control their costs, but face issues with logistics. In the boardroom, it is revealed that the women's profits were higher than the men's, leaving them facing questions over their strategy. Out of the final three, Paul Bowen is dismissed for pushing the wrong type of cheesecake to the client in initial negotiations and for making too many mistakes on a task tailored to his line of work. | |||||
| 239 | 3 | "Virtual Escape Rooms" | 15 February 2024 | 6.05 | |
|
The teams are sent to Outernet London in the West End of London. Escape rooms are the theme of a new virtual experience that the teams must create - they have to come up with a concept, develop a demo and then pitch it to industry experts. Nexus creates a medieval-style experience, themed around trying to create a cure for a Black Death-type plague, which is seen as having a feeling of resembling a game rather than an escape room. Supream creates an experience themed around survival on a deserted island, which is seen as being confusing. In the end, Nexus' concept is voted the best, with Supream being critiqued on its failure. Four of the team are called back, out of which Dr Asif Munaf is fired for not living up to his promises from his last boardroom appearance and not providing clear instructions to his team. Following the firing, Lord Sugar visits the candidates' house to inform them of the next task. | |||||
| 240 | 4 | "Jersey Discount Buying" | 22 February 2024 | 6.43 | |
|
Lord Sugar sends the teams to Jersey to purchase a list of nine items associated with the island, for the cheapest price. Nexus manages to secure eight of the items correctly, with generally good negotiations and a clear strategy, although they waste time waiting around for certain items. Supream manages to secure seven items, but from the beginning of the task, they face severe issues including a clear lack of strategy, along with poor negotiations from all team members. The sub-team in particular suffers a lack of focus, in addition to one item they buy being wrong and receiving a fine for being late. In the boardroom, Supream's spending is revealed to be far greater than Nexus', leaving the entire team to face scrutiny by Lord Sugar over their performance, with the loss being cited as potentially the worst performance seen on a discount task to date. Among the losing team, Amina Khan is dismissed for her mismanagement of the sub-team and for being regarded as a weak contributor to the four tasks, while Lord Sugar also fires Jack Davies for demonstrating weak leadership and strategic skills, and his poor track record. | |||||
| 241 | 5 | "Formula E" | 29 February 2024 | 6.03 | |
|
Lord Sugar meets the teams in Battersea Power Station, where he instructs them to come up with a concept for a new Formula E team, and then sell sponsorship at a launch event, which includes a potential separate deal with one major corporate client. Nexus' concept revolves around plastic pollution and the oceans; despite poor branding from the sub-team, the concept is well received at their launch event, which leads to some strong deals from sponsors. Supream focuses its concept around clean air, but despite one good deal, it suffers from a relatively poor branding effort, compounded with overall poor sponsorship sales at its launch event due to the concept not being properly communicated during the presentation. In the boardroom, Nexus wins after delivering record-breaking sales figures, leaving Supream to face questions about their campaign. Of the final three, Onyeka Nweze is fired for delivering a poor presentation at the launch event. | |||||
| 242 | 6 | "Cereal" | 7 March 2024 | 6.07 | |
|
Both teams are summoned to the Savoy Hotel, where they are tasked with designing a cereal for six to eight-year-olds, including the box, cereal, mascot, and a VR feature, which they will then sell to retailers at a launch event. Nexus create a superhero-themed cereal; despite some issues with the flavour of their cereal, along with concerns that their VR element is deemed too simple, they secure a very large deal at their launch event, along with predominantly positive comments from the present buyers. Supream produces an arctic-themed cereal, but suffers several issues including a bland flavour, a poorly designed box, and a VR game that faces heavy criticism from retailers at the launch event. In the boardroom, Nexus - despite gambling on an exclusive deal - secure the most sales from their cereal, leaving Supream to face the boardroom over their flawed product. Of the final three, Sam Saadet is ejected from the process for her poor leadership and overseeing an overall extremely lacklustre campaign. | |||||
| 243 | 7 | "Budapest Tourism" | 14 March 2024 | 5.45 | |
|
The teams are sent to Budapest, Hungary, and challenged to plan a tour. Nexus develop a wine tour, although one candidate decides to move over to the other team for religious reasons. Despite suffering from the Project Manager switching sub-teams at the last minute, they do well, selling all their tickets at good prices, and offering a high-quality tour with significant extra takings from wine sales. Supream produce a boat tour on the Danube including a visit to Margaret Island, but despite delivering a good tour, they suffer from not selling all their tickets, compounded by those sales being at lower prices. In the boardroom, Nexus' profits from the tour are revealed to have been significantly higher than Supream's, leaving the latter to face scrutiny over their flawed sales strategy. Of the final three, Virdi Singh Mazaria is fired after being deemed not only culpable for the poor ticket sales, but also for his prior track record of seven consecutive losses. | |||||
| 244 | 8 | "XBUS Advertising" | 21 March 2024 | 5.54 | |
|
The teams are sent to the Science Museum in South Kensington and are challenged to create a branding and advertising campaign for an XBUS electric van, which they must later pitch to industry experts. Nexus are instructed to brand a camper van targeting consumers in the leisure market, leading to a comedy-style advert and a brand name inspired by the Bed & Breakfast market. Supream are told to pitch a commercial vehicle for business owners, resulting in an advert with issues such as a non-moving vehicle, and disagreements in the sub team about branding. Both teams conduct market research at the Brent Cross Shopping Centre, which along with the pitches reveals issues with both campaigns. In the end, Lord Sugar labels Nexus's brand as the best, leaving Supream to face severe questions over their campaign. Amongst the losing team, before being able to select a final three, Noor Bouzaine is dismissed for directing a poor advertising campaign, refusing to accept the flaws of the team's campaign, and for failing to demonstrate any leadership skills to Lord Sugar. | |||||
| 245 | 9 | "TV Selling" | 28 March 2024 | 6.01 | |
|
The teams are given the instructions for this task at the house, where Lord Sugar instructs them to sell products during a primetime Saturday slot on a shopping channel. Supream focus on high-price self-care items; despite having problems of not selling in bulk and questionable product selections, they are able to generate decent revenue figures due to the items being sold being at a high price. Nexus focus on unusual mass-market items, but suffer from an overall lack of strategy concerning the selection of products, two of the three presenters turning prospective buyers away, and the gallery team adding insult to injury by dropping the prices on the items far too quickly and frequently. In the boardroom, Supream's sales figures are revealed to have been higher than Nexus's for the former's first win, leaving the latter to face significant scrutiny over their performance. Of the four candidates brought back to the final boardroom, Raj Chohan is fired for her poor leadership and presenting skills, while Maura Rath is fired for delivering a horrible broadcast segment and for being regarded as a weak contributor throughout the tasks. | |||||
| 246 | 10 | "Vegan Alternative to Cheese" | 4 April 2024 | 5.90 | |
|
The teams are sent to Chiswick House, historically home of Cheesewick cheese market, and are challenged to produce a vegan cheese product, to then pitch to retailers. Nexus creates a high-end truffle-based spread; despite concerns about the branding, the flavour is praised, which leads to orders from both retailers. Supream concocts a curry-flavoured soft cheese, but they suffer from an overall poor branding effort, compounded with the flavour being very poorly received by the public and the retailers. In the boardroom, Nexus is revealed to have won by default as Supream receive no orders, leaving the latter to be scrutinised for their failure. In the end, Lord Sugar fires Foluso Falade almost immediately, having been deemed solely responsible for the critical failure in the branding despite her claimed expertise, while Steve Darken is later dismissed for his poor decision on the curry flavour and him being deemed not good enough to be a business partner with. | |||||
| 248 | 11 | "Interviews" | 11 April 2024 | 6.04 | |
|
After facing ten tasks as teams, the remaining five candidates now compete as individuals in their next task – a series of tough, gruelling interviews with some of Lord Sugar’s closest associates: Claudine Collins, Claude Littner, Mike Soutar and Linda Plant. Each member faces scrutiny over their backgrounds, work experience, track record, and business proposals when questioned by interviewers. Feedback to Lord Sugar, alongside observations by his aides, leads him to firing Tre Lowe for lacking the necessary experience for his proposal with an untested and undeveloped product, Flo Edwards for raising concerns over the financial structure of her proposal, and Dr Paul Midha for refusing to give Lord Sugar half of his existing business after his initial business proposal is deemed unworkable. Of the remaining two, Phil Turner is commended for having a business that could compete in the crowded food market despite concerns over his weak track record, while Rachel Woolford earns praise for an established track record in the fitness industry and her ambitious plans to grow her business. | |||||
| 248 | 12 | "The Final" | 18 April 2024 | 6.02 | |
|
After facing a multitude of business tasks and a tough interview, the two finalists, aided by old colleagues, face the task of launching their respective new businesses, produce advertising campaigns and pitching their businesses to a series of industry experts. Phil works to present his plan for an online pie shop, receiving praise for his recipes, but is faced with questions regarding his online delivery strategy, which experts find to be too confusing. Rachel works to open new locations for her fitness studio, receiving praise her business' ability to compete in a crowded market, yet faces questions on its USP. Based on feedback from these presentations, Lord Sugar decides that Rachel Woolford will be his business partner for 2024 for her experience in her proposal's industry, leaving Phil Turner as runner-up due to the complicated aspects of his proposal and having a poor track record. | |||||
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