Burning ambition meets the school of hard knocks in Mark Burnett's The Apprentice UK, which gives viewers an inside look into the relentless world of business. Fourteen young high-fliers are picked from thousands of applicants, and they will compete for a six-figure salary and year-long job with self-made tycoon Sir Alan Sugar.
The candidates face the biggest challenge of their lives - a twelve-week job interview. Throughout the series, the candidates live together in a luxury eight-bedroom mansion on the banks of the Thames and experience a taste of the high life. Each week, their ambition, business flair, and wits are tested as they battle it out in tasks devised by Sir Alan. This season's challenges include creating an ad campaign to sell his private jets, designing a kid's toy, and presenting a "live" television show selling real products on air.
The candidates are divided into gendered teams, and the team that wins the weekly assignment is given a reward. However, the losers must report to the boardroom for a showdown with Sir Alan, who grills them on their mistakes. Before entering the boardroom, the losing team's project manager is required to choose two team members to accompany him or her into the interrogation. Aided by his no-nonsense advisers, Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford, Sir Alan singles out one of those three contestants to hear the words they'll all come to dread: "You're fired." In the cutthroat world of business, the losers walk away empty-handed, and only one can be The Apprentice.
