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 a 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 Performance chart 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 ==