Apprentice Betting 2009

The fifth business reality series of the Apprentice is under way having started on the 25th March for twelve weeks. Fifteen candidates including a former Tanzanian beauty and an ex- professional football player are put through their paces at the hands of Sir Alan Sugar, famous for his catchphrase ‘Your Fired!’

Yasmina Siadatan is the new Apprentice for 2009

The Girls

  • Anita Shah - Fired, Week One
  • Debra Barr
  • Kimberly Davis - Fired, Week Five
  • Lorraine Tighe
  • Mona Lewis - Fired, Week Eight
  • Paula Jones - Fired, Week Four
  • Kate Walsh
  • Yasmina Siadatan

    • The Boys

  • Rocky Andrews - Fired, Week Two
  • Philip Taylor - Fired, Week Seven
  • Noorul Choudhury - Fired, Week Six
  • Majid Nagra - Fired, Week Three
  • James McQuillan
  • Howard Ebison - Fired, Week Ten
  • Ben Clarke - Fired, Week Nine

    • The Tough-talking business mogul and his equally no prisoner-taking sidekicks Margaret Mountford and Nick Hewer, are thrust back onto our small screens on prime time Wednesday evenings henceforth as the latest series of The Apprentice is launched on BBC1.

    Promising the usual mix of venomous barbs, caustic quips, underhand exploits and exhibitionist’s posturing, this – the fifth consecutive – series of The Apprentice will again see 12 business hopefuls handed contrived yet challenging tasks week in, week out so as to provide evidence as to their commercial awareness and acumen across a number of diverse markets as each seeks to become Sir Alan Sugar’s next apprentice.

    Pitting against one another (and that’s just jostling members of the same sides) the two teams will attempt to impress the notoriously hard to please Chairman of Amstrad whilst under the scrutinising gaze of Sugar’s eyes and ears, Mountford and Hewer.

    Boys v Girls in The Apprentice

    Split into two opposing factions as boy and girl contingent teams to begin with, the former chose the confidence building name ‘Empire’ as their moniker, whilst the later opted for the sparky ‘Ignite’. It remains to be seen if history repeats itself and a volcanic force wipes out an entire male dominated civilisation as the weeks mount up.

    At the end of each episode – and once the tasks are completed in the time frame afforded them when initially briefed by Sir Alan – all team members are invited to the former Tottenham Hotspur owner’s boardroom for the post mortem; culminating in the traditional ‘firing’ of the candidate collectively deemed the least useful/successful/motivated/liked by fellow members of the team adjudged to have lost the task set.

    Expect to be confronted with a cross section of the most irritating, self-centred and opinionated 20 and 30-somethings and you won’t be disappointed. Effectively though you’ll be either lunging for the remote control or positively glued to your TV for the next 12 weeks as one by one 12 become 1. Or rather 11 become 1, as before the latest show got under way one of the contestants decided he didn’t fancy leaving his wife and kids behind whilst the programme was being made. Or truth be told, didn’t want to be surrounded by self congratulatory egotists on a 24 hour basis.

    Betting on The Apprentice

    In terms of early betting patterns alluding to the eventual winner of the show – albeit at this, the outset – and Paddypower is among the front runners to set out its stall (and therein implying that it didn’t think any of the new candidates would make the grade) by offering odds of just 10/1 that Sugar would be equally as unimpressed as to ignore the potential of any of the line-up and withdraw the prize. Elsewhere, and the same online bookmaker suggests that the likelihood of a male winner is worth 1 / 2 and that for an attractive price of 12/1 they’ll pay out if the 2009 winner is made redundant within his/her first year in their dream job.

    The Apprentice Boardroom

    Sir Alan Sugar’s loyal boardroom aids, Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford bring their years of experience to each of the candidates tasks as well as keeping a watchful eye on each of them, then reporting back to the big boss, Alan Sugar before the dreaded boardroom meeting where one of the candidates will be gutted to hear the words ‘Your fired!’ and told to leave the Apprentice.

    The Apprentice series

    The first episode kicks off with the candidates being set the task of raising as much money as possible setting up a cleaning business. Betting fans will soon get the feel on who might be the strong contenders; usually they are keen to make their mark during the early episodes.

    Incidentally – and according to reliable industry figures – the first show of the 2009 series of The Apprentice drew in a peak TV audience of some 8.3 million viewers; in itself a record for an opening night of the popular show. Sir Alan’s initial challenge for his entrepreneurial charges was for them to set up and run a prestige car valeting business, a task too far for Ignite who failed and therefore unfortuitiously lost one of their members for their none efforts.