The Apprentice (franchise)

The following description of the show is based primarily on the American version of The Apprentice, though the general format applies to all other versions. Each season begins with a new group of contestants vying to earn a place in one of the organizations run by the host. The contestants (who are referred to as "candidates") have come from business backgrounds in various enterprises, including real estate, accounting, restaurant management, management consulting, sales and marketing. The candidates are divided into two teams or "corporations" within the show. These corporations select a name they are subsequently referred to through the rest of the show. Each week, the teams are assigned a task and required to select one of their members to lead the team as "project manager", who is to take responsibility for organizing the team and making executive decisions. Tasks are generally business oriented and tend to highlight one of several business skills. Tasks most commonly revolve around sales (selling the most items or earning the most money) and marketing (producing a specific marketing material or campaign that is judged by a company's executives). During the tasks, the teams are usually visited by one of the host's "advisors" for that week. Tasks typically last for one or two days. In the global ONE Championship edition, an additional physical task is added before a business task, with candidates partaking physical challenges for various rewards and advantages, though usually meant to train and showcase candidates of physical prowess. Business tasks followed with boardroom meetings. At the end of each task, the remaining candidates on both teams gather in the boardroom to be briefed on the task by the host and the advisors. Team members are asked about how the task went and whether there were any strong or weak players. Teams are sometimes asked to comment on materials or products produced by the opposing team. The host or advisors would usually provide future advice to candidates on improvement or address any criticisms, followed by the results for the task; members from the winning team are immune from elimination and depending on season, are being permitted to view the next stage of the boardroom on the TV in their suite. Members from the losing team remain in/return to the boardroom and are confronted with their loss from the hosts, who are then interrogated as to the reasons for their loss and which players contributed to it or failed at the task. The project manager is asked to select a certain number of teammates (typically two, but on occasion one or three) to bring back into the final-stage boardroom meeting, though in some cases the host can overrule their decision to choose candidates instead if they see fit. These selected teammates then step out of the boardroom momentarily so the host can consult with the advisors. Upon returning to the boardroom for the final stage, the host and the advisors continue interrogating the remaining players on their defeats. The project manager is sometimes further interrogated about their choice of teammates to bring back into the boardroom, and explain their reasons of their choices and any pleas to stay on the competition if required. Usually, the host would eliminate any candidates who have performed poorly in both the task and overall consistency from the show (via its iconic catchphrase of "you're fired" or any words or phrases that are synonymous herein) and has broad discretion to eliminate candidates outside of this usual process, including firing multiple candidates at a time and/or firing someone on the spot prior to the final boardroom; occasionally, the host may even cancel any elimination if the candidates performed with satisfactory standards. The eliminated candidates are shown leaving the boardroom with their luggage and entering a taxi cab, during which they are given time to recount on their elimination that is shown over the episode's credits; the host would usually explain any reasons for eliminating the candidate before or after their firing if required. Numerous weeks (in the case where a "corporation" had uneven number of candidates) may result in a corporate restructuring by reassigning candidates to a different team, which usually determined by the host itself, though in some cases candidates can choose who they want to be transferred with. When no more than five candidates remain (typically three or four depending on season), these candidates go through a final phase of the competition where they would go through a series of small business tasks, unified as a team to work as a whole (as first seen in ONE Championship), and/or faced an interview with the executives, based on various companies interview the finalists and report their assessments to the host. Based on the interviews and tasks, along with the candidate's track record, if applicable, the host will select two candidates to compete in the finale. The final two candidates are then each assigned a different final task. Each is given a support team of previously eliminated candidates. Final tasks generally require the finalists to organize (to various degrees) an event such as a party or a fundraiser which has multiple planning elements. Another boardroom takes place and the candidates had to plead on their case on why they deserve to win. Ultimately, one candidate will be "hired" (named the winner) as the titular Apprentice, with the winner offered a starting contract (usually a year valued at $250,000) to work with the company. ==Original series==