The fifth series of British reality television series The Apprentice was broadcast in the UK on BBC One, from 25 March to 7 June 2009. Because of ITV's live coverage of a 2010 FIFA World Cup qualification match involving England, the final episode was broadcast three days earlier to avoid schedule clashing. It is the last series to feature Margaret Mountford as one of Alan Sugar's aides, after deciding to leave following the conclusion of the fifth series, although she would retain a occasional roles in the programme until the end of the ninth series. Alongside the standard twelve episodes, two specials were aired alongside this series – "The Final Five" on 3 June; and "Why I Fired Them" on 5 June.
Although sixteen applicants successfully earned a place on this series, one participant was forced to drop out before filming began, leaving production staff unable to replace them.BBC News: Sir Alan apprentice 'bottles it' As a result, fifteen candidates were left to take part in the fifth series, with Yasmina Siadatan becoming the overall winner. Excluding the specials, the series averaged around 8.37 million viewers during its broadcast.
Series overview Applicants took part in pre-production auditions and interviews throughout July 2008, across London, Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham. Sixteen candidates were eventually selected to form the final line-up for the fifth series; but before production could begin on the first episode, one of the applicants, Adam Freemans was forced to drop out due to family reasons. As a result, production staff were left with no time to find a replacement, leading to the decision that filming go ahead with the remaining fifteen participants, with Alan Sugar required to refrain from multiple firings outside of the Interviews stage. As such, it is the only series in the show's history to feature an unbalanced mix of male and female candidates. This series' team names were Empire and Ignite. Filming of the boardroom scenes for the tenth episode was delayed until the day before work on the Interviews stage was to begin, due to candidate Kate Walsh requiring time off to attend a family funeral.
Following the previous series, Sugar deemed it unwise to continue using exotic locations abroad for the setting of tasks in the wake of the global economic recession that had begun in 2007. His decision led to any tasks set abroad to be limited to within the EU, until production of the ninth series in 2012. Another change for the show was the departure of Paul Kemsley, who chose not to return as an interviewer for the fifth series, leading to him being replaced with Alan Watts. After discussing with Sugar about her intention to leave the programme, Margaret Mountford confirmed the move in her column for The Daily Telegraph on 1 June 2009, with it also being discussed by both Mountford and Sugar during their appearance on You're Fired following the series finale.
Yasmina Siadatan was crowned the series' winner. A few weeks after conclusion of the series, she developed an office relationship with a fellow development manager, resulting in her getting pregnant. After spending time on maternity leave, she fell pregnant again in 2012, ultimately handing in her notice to Sugar that she would be leaving his employment, later acquiring a job under Dragons' Den judge James Caan.
Candidates Candidate Background Age Result Yasmina Siadatan Restaurateur 27 Winner Kate Walsh Licensing Development Manager 27 Runner-up Debra Barr Senior Sales Consultant 24 Fired after Interviews stage Lorraine Tighe National Accounts Manager 36 James McQuillan Senior Commercial Manager 32 Howard Ebison Retail Business Manager 24 Fired after tenth task Ben Clarke Trainee Stockbroker 22 Fired after ninth task Mona Lewis Senior Financial Manager 28 Fired after eighth task Philip Taylor Estate Agent 29 Fired after seventh task Noorul Choudhury Science Teacher 33 Fired after sixth task Kimberly Davis Marketing Consultant 33 Fired after fifth task Paula Jones Human Resources Consultant 29 Fired after fourth task Majid Nagra Business Development Manager28 Fired after third task Rocky Andrews Sandwich Chain Owner 21 Fired after second task Anita Shah Business Strategist 35 Fired after first task Adam Freeman Internet Entrepreneur 30 Left prior to first task
Performance chart Candidate Task Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Yasmina LOSS WIN IN BR IN LOSS LOSS WIN LOSS WIN IN HIRED Kate LOSS IN LOSS LOSS WIN IN BR IN IN BR IN RUNNER-UP Debra BR IN WIN LOSS IN BR IN LOSE BR IN FIRED Lorraine LOSS IN IN IN BR IN LOSE IN WIN BR FIRED James IN BR LOSE LOSS IN LOSS IN BR LOSE IN FIRED Howard WIN BR LOSS IN LOSS IN IN LOSS IN FIRED Ben IN LOSS BR BR IN LOSE LOSS IN FIRED Mona LOSE IN IN IN LOSS IN WIN FIRED Philip IN LOSS IN IN BR WIN FIRED Noorul IN LOSS IN WIN LOSS FIRED Kimberly LOSS IN LOSS IN FIRED Paula LOSS IN IN FIRED Majid IN LOSS FIRED Rocky IN FIRED Anita FIRED Adam LEFT
Key: The candidate won this series of The Apprentice. The candidate was the runner-up. The candidate won as project manager on his/her team, for this task. The candidate lost as project manager on his/her team, for this task. The candidate was on the winning team for this task / they passed the Interviews stage. The candidate was on the losing team for this task. The candidate was brought to the final boardroom for this task. The candidate was fired in this task. The candidate lost as project manager for this task and was fired. The candidate left the process.
Episodes
Ratings Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.
Episodeno. Airdate Viewers(millions) BBC Oneweekly ranking 1 25 March 2009 8.71 4 2 1 April 2009 7.16 5 3 8 April 2009 8.04 5 4 15 April 2009 7.86 4 5 22 April 2009 8.32 2 6 29 April 2009 8.29 2 7 6 May 2009 8.45 2 8 13 May 2009 8.50 2 9 20 May 2009 8.90 2 10 27 May 2009 7.14 3 11 3 June 2009 9.76 1 12 7 June 2009 9.31 2
Specials Episode Airdate Viewers(millions) BBC Oneweekly ranking The Final Five 3 June 2009 5.06 17 Why I Fired Them 5 June 2009
References
External links