The tenth series of British reality television series The Apprentice was broadcast in the UK on BBC One from 14 October to 21 December 2014. Due to live coverage in summer of that year for both the FIFA World Cup and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the BBC postponed the series' broadcast until autumn to avoid schedule clashing. It is the last series to feature Nick Hewer as Alan Sugar's aide, who left the programme following the series finale. Ricky Martin, winner of the eighth series, appears as an interviewer in the Interviews Stage.

Alongside the standard twelve episodes, with the first two airing on consecutive days, the series featured two specials before its premiere – "Meet the Candidates", made available online only on 7 October; and "Ten Years of The Apprentice" on 13 October. Later in the series, two further specials also aired – "The Final Five" on 16 December; and "Why I Fired Them" on 18 December.

This series featured twenty candidates, the highest number of any variation of The Apprentice globally, with Mark Wright becoming the overall winner. Excluding specials, the series averaged around 7.40 million viewers during its broadcast.

Series overview Applications for the tenth series opened in Spring 2013, towards the end of the ninth series' broadcast, with the selection process of auditions, assessments and interviews held during the summer of that year. As The Apprentice was now entering its tenth year, the anniversary was commemorated in subtle ways throughout the programme - the first sales task and the subsequent bargain-hunting task featured items from previous series' challenges. The decision to increase the number of candidates allowed Sugar to perform more multiple firings than before, allowing for the series to include a triple firing outside of the Interviews stage, for the first time in the series' history.

During filming, Nick Hewer began to contemplate his future on the programme, after finding the filming schedule tiring and intense. After considering his other commitments, including his new role as host of Channel 4's Countdown, he eventually decided that the tenth series would be his last on The Apprentice, revealing his decision towards the end of the tenth series' broadcast, with it fully confirmed by Sugar on social media and the series finale of You're Fired. Apart from Hewer, Margaret Mountford also decided not to return in her role as an interviewer, a post she had held for the previous four series; she was replaced by series eight winner, Ricky Martin.

Owing to the live coverage of two major sporting events in 2014 – the FIFA World Cup and the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, the BBC was forced to broadcast the series in the autumn, to avoid schedule clashes. The series premiere was preceded by a special, entitled "Ten Years of The Apprentice", a retrospective on the past nine series. In addition, this series featured the online exclusive mini episode, "Meet the Candidates", which introduced the series' candidates and even showed their audition tapes; it was hosted by comedian Matt Edmondson.

The team names for this series were Summit and Tenacity. Of those who took part, Mark Wright would become the eventual winner, going on to use his prize to start up an SEO business called Climb Online.

Candidates Candidate Background Age Result Mark Wright Sales Manager – Digital Marketing 24 Winner Bianca Miller Owner – Personal Branding Company 25 Runner-up Daniel Lassman Director – Pub Quiz Company 27 Fired after Interviews stage Roisin Hogan Accountant 32 Solomon Akhtar Technology Entrepreneur 22 Sanjay Sood-Smith Senior Manager – Banking 27 Fired after tenth task Katie Bulmer-Cooke Fitness Entrepreneur 27 Felipe Alviar-Baquero Lawyer 33 Fired after ninth task James Hill Multiple Business Owner 26 Fired after eighth task Lauren Riley Solicitor 28 Fired after seventh task Pamela Uddin Assistant Brand Manager 23 Fired after sixth task Jemma Bird Operations Manager 26 Fired after fifth task Ella Jade Bitton Business Management Graduate 23 Fired after fourth task Sarah Dales Former PA and Hypnotherapist 32 Steven Ugoalah Social Worker 29 Nurun Ahmed Marketing Officer and Fashion Retailer 36 Fired after third task Lindsay Booth Owner – Swimming Academy 29 Scott McCulloch Clinical Development Strategist 24 Fired after second task Robert Goodwin Marketing Manager 25 Chiles Cartwright Company Director 35 Fired after first task

Performance chart Candidate Task Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Mark LOSS LOSS LOSS IN IN LOSS LOSE IN LOSS BR IN HIRED Bianca IN IN LOSS IN BR IN WIN LOSS IN IN IN RUNNER-UP Daniel LOSS BR IN LOSS WIN BR BR IN LOSE IN FIRED Roisin IN IN LOSE IN LOSS IN IN BR IN WIN FIRED Solomon LOSS BR LOSS WIN LOSS IN IN LOSS IN IN FIRED Sanjay LOSS LOSS LOSS IN LOSE IN IN BR WIN FIRED Katie IN IN WIN LOSS IN LOSS LOSS IN BR FIRED Felipe LOSE LOSS IN LOSS IN LOSS LOSS WIN FIRED James LOSS LOSS BR IN LOSS WIN IN FIRED Lauren IN IN IN LOSS IN BR FIRED Pamela IN IN IN LOSS IN FIRED Jemma IN IN IN IN FIRED Ella Jade IN IN IN FIRED Sarah WIN IN IN FIRED Steven LOSS LOSS IN FIRED Nurun IN WIN FIRED Lindsay IN IN FIRED Scott LOSS FIRED Robert BR FIRED Chiles FIRED

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.

Episodes

Ratings Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.

Episodeno. Airdate Viewers(millions) BBC Oneweekly ranking 1 14 October 2014 8.22 3 2 15 October 2014 7.50 6 3 22 October 2014 7.79 5 4 29 October 2014 7.63 5 5 5 November 2014 7.72 4 6 12 November 2014 7.80 6 7 19 November 2014 6.77 8 8 26 November 2014 7.04 7 9 3 December 2014 6.66 9 10 10 December 2014 7.31 4 11 17 December 2014 7.17 7 12 21 December 2014 7.22 6

Note: During the 2-hour final, the show was shared with The Apprentice: You're Hired, and as a result the figures are lower than expected. The first hour was the main show whereas the second hour was You're Hired. Original overnights for the final put the first hour at one million viewers more than the 2-hour average.

Specials

Episode Airdate Viewers(millions) BBC Oneweekly ranking Ten Years of The Apprentice 13 October 2014 The Final Five 16 December 2014 Why I Fired Them 18 December 2014

References

External links