Series 15 (UK)

Series Fifteen of The Apprentice (UK), a British reality television series, is due to begin broadcasting in the UK from 2 October 2019 on BBC One, and will again feature 16 candidates.

Candidates

Candidate	Background	Age	Result
Carina Lepore	Artisan Bakery Owner	30	Winner
Scarlett Allen-Horton	Recruitment Company Owner	32	Runner-up
Pamela Laird	Beauty Brand Owner	29	Fired after interviews stage
Lewis Ellis	Digital Marketing Project Manager	28	Fired after interviews stage
Lottie Lion	Librarian	19	Fired after interviews stage
Dean Ahmad	Sports Management Agency Owner	20	Fired after tenth task
Marianne Rawlins	Risk Management Consultancy Owner	36	Fired after ninth task
Thomas Skinner	Owner, Pillow Company	28	Fired after ninth task
Ryan-Mark Parsons	Luxury Womenswear Consultant	19	Fired after eighth task
Jemelin Artigas	Network Marketing Consultant	34	Fired after seventh task
Iasha Masood	Account Manager	27	Fired after sixth task
Riyonn Farsad	Events Manager	30	Fired after fifth task
Lubna Farhan	Finance Manager	33	Fired after fourth task
Souleyman Bah	Paralympic Athlete and Motivational Speaker	20	Fired after third task
Kenna Ngoma	Owner, Ice Cream Company	24	Fired after second task
Shahin Hassan	Chartered Engineer	36	Fired after first task

Performance Chart

Candidate	Task Number
	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12
Carina	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	HIRED
Scarlett	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	Template:Nowrap
Pamela	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	BR	LOSE	FIRED
Lewis	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	BR	FIRED
Lottie	IN	IN	BR	IN	IN	BR	IN	WIN	IN	IN	FIRED
Dean	BR	BR	IN	IN	IN	BR	WIN	IN	WIN	FIRED
Marianne	IN	IN	IN	BR	WIN	IN	LOSE	BR	FIRED
Thomas	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	BR	FIRED
Ryan-Mark	IN	BR	IN	IN	BR	IN	BR	FIRED
Jemelin	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	FIRED
Iasha	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	FIRED
Riyonn	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	FIRED
Lubna	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Souleyman	IN	IN	FIRED
Kenna	IN	FIRED
Shahin	FIRED

Key:

Template:Color box The candidate won this series of The Apprentice.

Template:Color box The candidate was the runner-up.

Template:Color box The candidate won as project manager on his/her team, for this task.

Template:Color box The candidate lost as project manager on his/her team, for this task.

Template:Color box The candidate was on the winning team for this task / they passed the Interviews stage.

Template:Color box The candidate was on the losing team for this task.

Template:Color box The candidate was brought to the final boardroom for this task.

Template:Color box The candidate was fired in this task.

Template:Color box The candidate lost as project manager for this task and was fired.

Episodes

Week 1: South Africa

• Original Air Date: 2 October 2019
• Men's Team: Lewis (Project Manager), Dean, Kenna, Riyonn, Ryan-Mark, Shahin, Souleyman and Thomas
• Women's Team: Scarlett (Project Manager), Carina, Iasha, Jemelin, Lottie, Lubna, Marianne and Pamela
• Task: Set up a safari and vineyard tour in Cape Town, South Africa.
• Task Review: The women opted for a vineyard tour however sold some of their tickets at a high price. Lubna also caused issues during the tour by getting lost and Lottie was disruptive. The guests that paid the top ticket price were refunded after they complained that they were not sold the luxury tour that they were promised. The men opted for a safari tour, however they failed to sell all their tickets, overpromised and poorly negotiated commission with the gift shop after Shahin hijacked the negotiations by accepting a lower commission. Despite the team giving a better tour that received no refunds, the team ultimately spent way more and sold almost nothing at the gift shop, effectively ruining any chance of victory.
• Result: The men made £476.19, while the women made £520.93.
• Winner: The Women, by £44.74.
• Reward: Champagne back at the house.
• Brought into the boardroom: Lewis, Dean and Shahin
• Fired: Shahin - For selling nothing, hijacking Thomas' negotiations, and agreeing to accept a lower commission with the gift shop.
• You're Fired Panel: Mike Soutar, Matt Edmondson and Judi Love.
• Notes:

Week 2: Ice Lollies

• Original Air Date: 9 October 2019
• Men's Team: Kenna (Project Manager), Dean, Lewis, Riyonn, Ryan-Mark, Souleyman and Thomas
• Women's Team: Carina (Project Manager), Iasha, Jemelin, Lottie, Lubna, Marianne, Pamela and Scarlett
• Task: Manufacture flavours of ice lollies, sell to a corporate client and the public. Most profit, wins.
• Task Overview: The women opted for cola and liquorice lollies to sell to the public, and grape, edible flowers and rosemary lollies to the corporate client. Despite getting a reduced fee from the client and that Lubna incorrectly stored their lollies for the public that affected their quality, they did sell well. The men opted for lavender lollies which sold very well, thanks to Thomas however their coconut milk and raspberry lollies failed to impress their corporate client due to their poor quality, leading the team to walk away with nothing. The loss of the corporate deal ruined any chances of a victory.
• Result: The men made £371.43, while the women made £545.21.
• Winner: ​​​​​The Women, by £173.78.
• Reward: Spa Treatment at South Kensington House.
• Brought into the Boardroom: ​​​​​Kenna, Dean and Ryan-Mark​
• Fired: Kenna - For manufacturing a poor corporate lolly, losing the respect of his teammates and failing on a task that he was the most qualified to lead.
• You're Fired Panel: Claude Littner, Frances Dickens and Shazia Mirza.
• Notes:
  • Dean is the fourth person in the history of the show to be brought back to the final boardroom during the first two weeks. The first was Leon Doyle in Series 7, the second was David O​​​dhiambo in series 3 of Young Apprentice and the third was series 12 winner Alana Spencer.

Week 3: Toys

• Original Air Date: 16 October 2019
• Empower: Pamela (Project Manager), Carina, Dean, Iasha, Jemelin​​​​​, Lewis and Ryan-Mark
• Unison: Riyonn (Project Manager), Lottie, Lubna, Marianne, Scarlett, Souleyman and Thomas
• Task: Design a toy for 6-8 year olds and viral advertisement. Pitch to two major retailers. Most orders, wins.
• Task Overview: Empower focused on a unicorn toy with slime under the brand name "Slime Kingdom". Despite some poor decisions that Pamela made with the toy and branding and that the toy received mixed feedback, one retailer was impressed with their viral video and presentation and placed an order. Unison focused on a talking turtle toy that could be attached to a glove that was branded as "Animal Kingdom" Despite the good intentions of the product, the retailers thought that the toy was more suitable for a younger demographic and their viral video was quite poor, leading them to receive orders from neither retailer and lose the task.
• Result: Empower received 2,000 orders, while Unison received no orders.
• Winner: Empower, by 2,000 orders.
• Reward: Visit to a toy shop bar.
• Brought into the Boardroom: Riyonn, Lottie and Souleyman
• Fired: Souleyman, with regret - For being extremely negative on the task, barely contributing to the task, failing to come up with solutions to problems and his poor performance in Unison's viral video.
• You're Fired Panel: Peter Jenkinson, Angela Scanlon and Daliso Chaponda.
• Notes:

Week 4: Electric Bikes

• Original Air Date: 23 October 2019
• Empower: Iasha (Project Manager), Carina, Dean, Jemelin, Lewis, Pamela and Ryan-Mark
• Unison: ​​Thomas (Project M​anager), Lottie, Lubna, Marianne, Riyonn and Scarlett
• Task: Create a new branded electric bike to sell to retailers at a launch event, along with a biking accessory. Most sales, wins.
• Task Overview: Unison focused on mature riders and branded their bike as "E-fit" and chose a range of bike lyra suits as their accessory. However the team was let down by the overall design of the bike, poor sales negotiations and by the choice of accessory which limited the amount of sales they could have made. Empower focused on female bikers and branded their bike as "Aphrodite" and chose a helmet with a built-in front and LED lights as their accessory. Despite the team having problems with Iasha as their project manager and her poor presentation, both the bikes and the accessory sold very well and gave the team, the largest victory ever on the show.
• Result: Unison's sales were £437,700, while Empower's total sales were £1,265,210.
• Winner: Empower, by £827,510.
• Reward: Indoor go-kart track.
• Brought into the Boardroom: Thomas, Lubna and Marianne
• Fired: Lubna, with regret - For selling nothing, poorly defending herself in the boardroom and lack of noteworthy contributions throughout all four tasks.
• You're Fired Panel: Patrick Wallace, Ore Oduba and Sindhu Vee.
• Notes: 
  • Empower's victory in this task set a record for the largest victory in the history of the show, the record had previously been held by Venture in Series 7 Week 9, while Unison now holds the record for the largest defeat in the show's history, just topping Logic's defeat, also in Series 7 Week 9.
  • Unusually, the episode ended with Lord Sugar briefing the candidates about the following task, also moving Dean & Iasha over to Unison and Riyonn was moved to Empower.

Week 5: Oxford and Cambridge Discount Buying

• Original Air Date: 30 October 2019
• Empower: Jemelin (Project Manager), Carina, Lewis, Pamela, Riyonn and Ryan-Mark 
• Unison: Marianne (Project Manager), Dean, Iasha, Lottie, Scarlett and Thomas
• Task: Purchase a list of nine items, half in Cambridge, half in Oxford, negotiating for low prices. Least money spent, after the addition of fines, wins.
• Task Overview: Unison performed well on the task and managed to secure all of nine of the items at a low price, however the team incured a fine as one of their items was incomplete. Marianne also misread the dossiers and purchased an Alice in Wonderland book that didn't match specifications, which they later replaced. Lottie was also quite disruptive. Empower performed poorly on the task as they had difficulties in identifying most of their items, leading them to only purchase seven of them, with most of them being purchased for a much higher price than Unison. The team also suffered from a lack of direction from Jemelin, who proved to be a very indecisive project manager. The fines for the items they failed to purchase, along with their poor negotiations, cost them victory.
• Result: Empower's total spend was £631.20 (including fines), while Unison's total spend was £369.49 (including fines).
• Winner: Unison, by £261.71.
• Reward: Indoor rowing tank with double Olympic champion Helen Glover.
• Brought into the Boardroom: Jemelin, Riyonn and Ryan-Mark
• Fired: Riyonn - For his poor negotiation skills, failing to purchase the snaffle and constantly being on the losing team.
• You're Fired Panel: Karren Brady, Kavita Oberoi and Darren Harriott.
• Notes: 
  • The nine items were a mortar board, toad (vodka), a bushel of apples, eggs, a book from the Alice in Wonderland series that must pre-date World War II, a university plate that must have 31 college crests, a snaffle, a rigger jigger and a quant.
  • This was the only time that Thomas was on a winning team, in contrast, this is Carina's only loss in the series, making her the second candidate after Helen Milligan in series 7 to only lose one task, but unlike Helen who was the runner-up, Carina would eventually win this series.
  • Lord Sugar expressed extreme disappointment with Empower's performance as they had only bought seven items which were purchased at a much higher price than Unison's, but also their total fines outweighed their total expenditure. Pamela also became the topic of a small debate as it had came to light that she had actually been told what toad was on the phone but neglected to tell her teammates.
  • While she was not fired, Jemelin's leadership was greatly criticised and also for taking on a task in which she clearly had no experience in. While he was not fired, Ryan-Mark was accused by Lord Sugar, Karren and Jemelin of ducking out of the management role and passing the blame onto others.

Week 6: Theme Park

• Original Air Date: 6 November 2019
• Empower: Carina (Project Manager), Jemelin, Lewis, Pamela and Ryan-Mark
• Unison: Scarlett (Project Manager), Dean, Iasha, Lottie, Marianne and Thomas
• Task: Promote and design a new roller-coaster attraction to a group of experts through the use of a 3D video presentation. Best design, wins.
• Task Overview: Empower went with a fantasy/dream theme for their ride which included a backwards drop which they branded as "Insomnia" Despite having a misleading poster and logo which received mixed feedback and a lack of scare factor, they provided a very entertaining design. Unison created a fast-paced sci-fi themed ride, branded as "The Final Loop" Despite having better branding and bold presentation, they were let down by their overall design, failing to put prominent details onto their promo material and the overabundance of loops did make some of the experts feel sick. This ultimately was the cause of Unison's loss.
• Winner: Empower - Chosen by the panel.
• Reward: Eating a meal while suspended above London.
• Brought into the Boardroom: Scarlett, Dean, Iasha and Lottie
• Fired: Iasha - For lacking assertiveness, remaining in the background for too long and poorly defending herself in the final boardroom.
• You're Fired Panel: Rosie Jones, Cally Beaton and Brendan Walker
• Notes:
  • Scarlett Initially struggled on choosing a second person to bring back along with Iasha. Lord Sugar responded by sending Marianne & Thomas back to the house and asking the remaining members of Unison to accompany Scarlett & Iasha to the boardroom, leading to four coming back instead of the usual three.
  • After Iasha was fired, Lord Sugar flipped a coin to decide on Unison's next project manager out of Dean & Lottie. Dean won the toss. Dean had also been criticised greatly by Lottie for his contributions and Lord Sugar wanted him to step up.
  • This is the last time that Unison lost a task and Empower won a task.

Week 7: Finland Advertising

• Original Air Date: 13 November 2019
• Empower: Marianne (Project Manager), Jemelin, Pamela, Thomas and Ryan-Mark
• Unison: Dean (Project Manager), Carina, Lewis, Lottie and Scarlett
• Task: Create an advertising campaign to promote Finland as a summer holiday destination including digital billboard to be shown in Piccadilly Circus and television advert, pitch to industry experts. Best campaign, wins.
• Task Overview: Unison focused on promoting Finland as an adventure destination, however the team initially struggled from a lack of leadership from Dean, which resulted in Carina making most of the decisions for him. Despite this their pitch and overall campaign was praised. Empower focused on promoting Finland as a hotspot for the LGBT community, however their campaign focused too much on Helsinki Pride and their advert was panned for not fitting the task brief. This ultimately cost Empower, victory.
• Winner: Unison - For having more cohesion with their campaign.
• Reward: Indoor ski-slope.
• Brought into the Boardroom: Marianne, Jemelin and Ryan-Mark
• Fired: Jemelin - For creating a poor advert, lack of noteworthy contributions throughout the process and her poor leadership in the fifth task.
• You're Fired Panel: Linda Plant, Ranji Singh and Zoe Lyons
• Notes:
  • For this task, Marianne & Thomas were moved to Empower while Carina & Lewis were moved to Unison.

Week 8: Steam Train

• Original Air Date: 20 November 2019,
• Empower: Ryan-Mark (Project Manager), Lewis, Marianne, Pamela and Thomas
• Unison: Lottie (Project Manager), Carina, Dean and Scarlett
• Task: Run a corporate away day onboard a Belmond British Pullman Train. Most profit made, wins.
• Task Overview: Unison went with a circus theme and despite having issues with Lottie's autocratic leadership style who also made the decision to not book entertainment only to be ignored by Carina & Scarlett and overpromising unlimited drink which resulted in a refund, their food and overall service was praised. Empower went with a royalty theme however had several issues on the task as they fail to consider the allergens of one client and they had severe issues in the kitchen, which caused their meals to be served late. The refunds from the mistakes that they made along with their expenditure for entertainment, ultimately cost them the task by a very small margin.
• Result: Empower made a profit of £1,812.75, while Unison made a profit of £1,828.25.
• Winner: Unison, by £15.50.
• Reward: Learning the art of sabrage.
• Brought into the Boardroom: Ryan-Mark, Marianne and Thomas
• Fired: Ryan-Mark, with regret - For his arrogance, making too many excuses, ducking out of responsibility on multiple occassions, failing to monitor his team's expenditure and Lord Sugar felt that he was no longer suitable to become his business partner.
• You're Fired Panel: Claudine Collins, Tameka Empson and Dominic Holland.
• Notes:
  • For this task, Lewis was moved to Empower.
  • Initially, Ryan-Mark wanted to bring Pamela back with Marianne, however Thomas argued with this decision and volunteered to come back in her place. If the UK version operated in the same manner as the US version, Thomas would have been fired for this decision as Bradford Cohen in Season 2 and Tionne "T-Boz" Watkins in Season 8 of the US version were fired over this.
  • Despite this being his seventh loss and being responsible for booking the entertainment, Thomas was not fired as Lord Sugar saw more potential in him and for his courageous decision to comeback in Pamela's space, whom had been criticised for a lack of contribution for the last few tasks. While she was not fired, Marianne was given another warning over her mistakes and for her poor performance as sub-team leader.

Week 9: Music Managers

• Original Air Date: 27 November 2019
• Empower: Lewis (Project Manager), Marianne, Pamela and Thomas
• Unison: Dean (Project Manager), Carina, Lottie and Scarlett
• Task Overview: Unison secured a 30% commission with indie band N-A-I-V-E-S, despite their client paying a reduced fee after the team failed to impress them, they had very strong sales at their event. Empower secured a 35% commission with R&B act, Royal after losing out on N-A-I-V-E-S after Thomas wanted a 50% commission. However this forced them to heavily edit their song, using a remix performed by Marianne due to the artist not being suitable for their client, however Lewis went in too high, asking for more than what the client originally agreed to pay, resulting in the client terminating the deal. Despite a few good sales at their event, it could do nothing to salvage a victory.
• Result: Empower made commissions of £10,001.25, while Unison made commissions of £15,045.
• Winner: Unison, by £5,043.75.
• Reward: Private performance by Bastille at BBC 1 Radio's lounge.
• Brought into the Boardroom: Lewis, Marianne, Pamela and Thomas
• Fired:
  • Thomas, with regret - For having the worst track record in the show's history, being responsible for the team's loss of N-A-I-V-E-S and constantly bulldozing his ideas onto his team.
  • Marianne - For making her fourth appearance in the final boardroom, failing to manage Thomas and weak track record throughout the process.
• You're Fired Panel: Mandy Plumb, Reuben Kaye and Russell Kane
• Notes:
  • This is the second time in this series that four people were recalled to the boardroom.
  • This was Thomas' eighth loss overall, making him the least successful candidate in the British incarnation of the show. The only candidate who ever came close to this was Harry Maxwell from Young Apprentice who lost seven consecutive tasks before his termination, however unlike Harry, Thomas had at least one victory.

Week 10: Perfume

• Original Air Date: 4 December 2019
• Empower: Pamela (Project Manager), Dean and Lewis
• Unison: Carina (Project Manager), Lottie and Scarlett
• Task: Create a new luxury scent of perfume, including bottle design and brand, pitch to two major retailers. Most orders received, wins.
• Task Overview: Unison marketed their perfume towards a unisex market with "Captivation" as their brand name. Despite their perfume being criticised for being overpowering and a lack of cohesion between their packaging and their poster, the team impressed one of the retailers to put in an order. Empower targeted a female market and branded their perfume as "Determined" However creative differences between the sub-teams, caused a lack of cohesion between their advertising material and packaging. The retailers also picked up on this, as well as finding spelling errors on the packaging, and while one retailer did place an order, it did nothing to prevent Empower's defeat.
• Result: Unison received 9,000 orders, while Empower received 8,000 orders.
• Winner: Unison, by 1,000 orders.
• Reward: Boat trip on the Thames with champagne.
• Brought into the Boardroom: Pamela, Dean and Lewis
• Fired: Dean, with regret - For a lack of positive contributions to tasks, dodging responsibility, his arrogance, not taking a more active role, despite being given the chance and Lord Sugar felt that he was incredibly lucky to get this far.
• You're Fired Panel: Larry Dean, Lewis Peacock and Chizzy Akudolu
• Notes: 
  • To even out the teams, Lord Sugar moved Dean to Empower.

Week 11: Interviews

• Original Air Date: 11 December 2019
• Semi-Finalists: Carina, Lewis, Lottie, Pamela and Scarlett
• Task: The final five candidates undergo a gruelling interview process from four interviewers - Mike Soutar, Claude Littner, Claudine Collins and Linda Plant. Lord Sugar decides on which two will proceed, based on the feedback of their CVs and business plans.
• Candidate Review:
• Decision:
• Fired:
  • Lottie, with regret - For offering an unappealing & risky business plan in which she had no experience in and failing to include costings for her proposal.
  • Lewis  - For a lack of experience with his business plan that was also catering to a failing industry, not sticking to his background in digital marketing and being too ambitious.
  • Pamela, with regret - For offering a flawed business plan in a competitive market and not offering a more unique product range.
• You're Fired Panel:
• Notes:

Week 12: The Final

• Original Air Date: 18 December 2019
• Finalists: Carina and Scarlett
• Carina's Team: Jemelin, Pamela, Ryan-Mark and Thomas
• Scarlett's Team: Dean, Lewis, Lottie and Marianne
• Task: Finalists prepare a pitch for their business plan, including campaigns and branding, before presenting it to a panel of experts. Lord Sugar decides on who is his business partner, based on the feedback on the plan and their overall performance.
• Task Review: Carina worked to pitch her idea of running a chain of family run Artisan bakeries called "Lepore's Bakehouse". Despite Carina being nervous during her presentation and doubts about its success in a competitive market, her branding, advert and sample bread were highly praised. Meanwhile Scarlett worked to pitch her idea for a new recruitment company to target female executives called "Stanton Lily" While her pitch was prasied, her adverts and logo were criticised for being incredibly confusing and the experts also felt that she had failed to promote her USP in her presentation or branding.
• Decision: Lord Sugar felt that Scarlett failed to promote her business plan's USP enough with its promotional material, plus he had already invested in two recruitment companies before. While investing in Carina, carried a huge risk of entering into a very competitive market, Lord Sugar felt that she had performed better in the final task, effectively making her Lord Sugar's new business partner.
• Runner-Up: Scarlett - For offering a proposal that had less potential of scaling up and failing to differentiate her business from other recruitment companies.
• Hired: Carina - For offering a more lucrative proposal and her strong track record throughout the process.
• You're Hired Panel: Lord Sugar, Karren Brady and Claude Littner
• Notes:
  • This is the first time that the series finale was broadcast on Wednesday since 2008. Prior to this, the finale was aired on Sunday.
  • Series Thirteen candidate Michaela Wain makes an appearance in this episode.
  • Winning nine out of the ten tasks, makes Carina the most successful winner in the British incarnation of the show. The only other person who claimed such a track record was Brenda Shanahan, the winner of the first edition of The Apprentice Ireland who also won nine tasks. Similarly, their only loss was in week 5. Carina is also the first winner since Lee McQueen in series 4 to never have been in the final boardroom after a loss.

References

[[Category:The Apprentice (UK TV series) seasons]|}