The Apprentice

Ben Leary

Age: 29
From: Boxford, Suffolk
Qualifications: 1 O-level.
Career: Currently runs his own headhunting firm. Awarded Global Consultant of the Year for the largest executive search company in the world.

Sir Alan Sugar presents The Apprentice

The Apprentice was screened on BBC Two in 2005.

The series saw 14 candidates face the longest and most gruelling job interview of their lives. Sir Alan Sugar directs the series from the boardroom and warns the candidates: "You can forget about flashing your eyes or having a handsome attack. It ain't gonna impress me."

Alan Sugar says UK Apprentice will be different

Sir Alan Sugar says that his version of The Apprentice will be "less schmaltzy" and "less glitzy" than the American show, with a greater emphasis on practical business lessons and a more intense boardroom interview session before eliminating candidates each week.

Burning ambition meets the school of hard knocks in the hotly anticipated, brand new BBC TWO series which gives viewers an exclusive insight into the cut-throat world of business.

In The Apprentice 14 young high-fliers, shortlisted from thousands, will battle it out through a gruelling selection process and compete for a £100,000, year-long job with self-made tycoon Sir Alan Sugar.

In its second run there will be a new spin-off show on BBC Three with more info on the candidate that Sir Alan has just fired.

If you would like to be in the audience for the new show visit the thread called THE APPRENTICE YOU'RE FIRED STUDIO SHOW, BE IN OUR AUDIENCE in the forum.

Sir Alan Sugar is back with a new series of The Apprentice in February.

And look out for Tim's Story which will bring us up-to-date with the series one winner, Tim Campbell, as he attempts to launch an anti-wrinkle machine.

Week 13

Mars

The teams were:

Apex: Ivana, Kelly and Kevin

Mosaic: Sandy and Jen

This week the teams manufactured a-Mazing chocolate bars and sold them on the streets of Manhattan. The a-Mazing bar includes M&M's inside a chocolate bar.

Week 9

Long Island real estate

The teams were:

Apex: Raj, Jennifer R, Ivana, Chris and Kevin plus Bradford and Stacie J.

Mosaic: Sandy, Andy, Wes, Kelly and Maria plus Rob and Jennifer C.

Week 5

QVC

This week the teams had twelve minutes on air at QVC to sell a product they could choose and price.

As Apex had two less team members than Mosaic, Pamela was ordered to join them - and lead the team. She adopted the bossy style of management and soon the usual suspects were bitching yet again.

Week 1

Mattel

Series two had 18 contestants compared with 16 for series one and only 14 for the first BBC series.

Raj stood out as an Anglophile dressed as an Edwardian dandy with red trousers, a bow tie and a walking stick. Stacie J threw a wobbly for no reason which the others feigned to ignore.