The second series of British reality television series The Apprentice (UK) was broadcast in the UK on BBC Two, from 22 February to 10 May 2006. Following the success of the previous series, the BBC commissioned additional episodes of the programme, along with ordering the creation of a new companion discussion programme titled The Apprentice: You're Fired!, which aired on BBC Three alongside the main programme's broadcast schedule. A special titled "Tim in the Firing Line", focusing on Tim Campbell's life after winning the first series, aired on 19 February 2006 and preceded this series' premiere. Alongside the standard twelve episodes of the series, it is the only series to not feature any specials being aired during its broadcast run.

Fourteen candidates took part in the second series, with Michelle Dewberry winning the competition. Excluding the special, the series averaged around 4.43 million viewers during its broadcast. A year after it had concluded, a candidate later raised a complaint against the BBC for their portrayal in the second series, which was refuted due to contradicting evidence from the broadcaster and production staff.

Series overview Following favourable ratings and viewing figures for the first series, the BBC commissioned additional episodes of The Apprentice, with Alan Sugar, Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford all returning in their original roles. One request made of production staff by the broadcaster was that a companion discussion show be created to air alongside it. This led to the creation of The Apprentice: You're Fired!, that would air on BBC Three and operate within a similar format to spin-off sister shows like Big Brother's Little Brother and Strictly Come Dancing: It Takes Two. The search for a host for this programme led to Adrian Chiles being offered the role, which he accepted prior to the second series' premiere.

As with the first series, fourteen candidates were selected to participate, consisting of the same even mix of genders. Filming began in Autumn that year, with the men naming their team Invicta, while the women named their team Velocity. Although candidates faced similar tasks to the first series, one notable difference was that Hewer and Mountford did not reprise their roles as interviewers alongside Paul Kemsley, Claude Littner, and Bordan Tkachuk. As with the previous series, the candidates faced a charity-based task, which this time featured a reward for that task's winners.

This series is the first in the show's history to feature the iconic sequence involving the winner departing in Sugar's personal Rolls-Royce, giving a brief interview on their success. Of those who took part, Michelle Dewberry would become the eventual winner of this series, and go on to briefly claim her prize of a coveted job at one of Sir Alan's companies; However, she left in September 2006 following a series of personal problems. Throughout its filming, Sugar voiced issues to the production staff about the programme's format: considering the number of candidates taking part and the number of episodes in the series, he was not allowed to fire more than one candidate in any task prior to the Interviews stage, despite the fact that two of the tasks featured outcomes where he felt more than one candidate deserved to be fired. Production staff eventually reviewed the format, which led to eventual changes when work began on the third series.

This is the only series of the programme in which every candidate had at least one opportunity to Project Manage a task. This occurred again on the first series of Junior Apprentice in 2010, but has never happened again on the main programme.

Candidates Candidate Background Age Result Michelle Dewberry Telecoms Consultant 26 Winner Ruth Badger Sales Manager 27 Runner-up Ansell Henry Sales Manager 34 Fired after Interviews stage Paul Tulip Headhunter 26 Syed Ahmed Entrepreneur 31 Fired after tenth task Tuan Le Financial Adviser 27 Fired after ninth task Sharon McAllister Business Lecturer 30 Fired after eighth task Samuel Judah Product Developer 35 Fired after seventh task Jo Cameron Human Resources Manager 35 Fired after sixth task Mani Sandher Management Consultant 39 Fired after fifth task Alexa Tilley Management Consultant 28 Fired after fourth task Karen Bremner Lawyer 34 Fired after third task Nargis Ara PhD Student38 Fired after second task Ben Stanberry IT Consultant 33 Fired after first task

Performance chart Candidate Task Number 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Michelle IN IN IN IN IN IN LOSE IN WIN IN IN HIRED Ruth IN IN IN IN LOSE IN BR WIN BR BR IN RUNNER-UP Ansell IN IN IN IN IN LOSE IN IN IN IN FIRED Paul IN IN IN IN WIN IN IN IN IN WIN FIRED Syed BR IN WIN BR IN IN IN LOSE BR FIRED Tuan IN IN IN BR IN IN WIN BR FIRED Sharon IN IN IN IN IN WIN IN FIRED Samuel BR WIN IN IN IN BR FIRED Jo IN BR LOSE IN BR FIRED Mani IN IN IN WIN FIRED Alexa IN IN BR FIRED Karen WIN BR FIRED Nargis IN FIRED Ben 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

Criticism Mani Sandher portrayal claim

In 2007, a year after the second series had been aired, Mani Sandher filed a complaint against the BBC, criticising them for his portrayal on The Apprentice, on grounds that he been unfairly treated by the broadcaster. The BBC Trust investigated the complaint and later rejected the accusations. Their findings pointed out that Sandher was aware that the programme was subject to editing after filming, and that this had been done to an acceptable standard that was not misleading, per Ofcom's broadcasting codes. Although Sandher later attempted to appeal against the Trust's decision on his complaint, the Editorial Complaints Unit of the BBC dismissed this.

Ratings Official episode viewing figures are from BARB.

Episodeno. Airdate Viewers(millions) BBC Twoweekly ranking 1 22 February 2006 3.65 2 2 1 March 2006 3.51 2 3 8 March 2006 4.20 1 4 15 March 2006 4.11 1 5 22 March 2006 4.03 2 6 29 March 2006 4.45 1 7 5 April 2006 4.26 1 8 12 April 2006 4.58 1 9 19 April 2006 4.76 1 10 26 April 2006 4.68 1 11 3 May 2006 4.98 1 12 10 May 2006 5.95 1

Specials

Episode Airdate Viewers(millions) BBC Twoweekly ranking Tim in the Firing Line 19 February 2006 2.26 25

References

External links

Amstrad Site Blog of the 2nd series written by marketing expert Steve Gibson