ALAN Sugar reduced some contestants on Junior Apprentice to tears when he told them: "You're fired!"

The tough tycoon, 63, had been expected to go easier on the 16 and 17-year-olds.

But insiders said some of the ten wannabe entrepreneurs left his famous boardroom sobbing.

The scenes will be shown when the series launches on BBC1 on May 12.

An insider said: "Some people might have been expecting a kind of CBBC show but it's not like that at all.

"Alan showed understanding for the teenagers as he knows how tough it is to be in business at that age.

"But he was never going to be easy on them - and they wouldn't have wanted him to.

"There are some real characters in the show. Some of them give the adults from the main series a run for their money."

Lord Sugar has said he wanted to do a Junior Apprentice as he left school at 16 with no money or qualifications, but still managed to build a business empire.

The youngsters lived together in a house while the series was filmed.

But there was no "hanky panky" among them - unlike the adult contestants.

The source said: "Lord Sugar worked them all very hard - they were too tired to get up to anything."

The show marks the Apprentice debut for new mentor Karren Brady, who joins Nick Hewer and Sugar.

The main series is due in November.

The Sun, 04/05/10.

I hope this is good. It will seem strange without Margaret so let's hope Ms. Brady does a decent job. One to look forward to.

I will miss Margaret. She had nothing to prove. She was just there to do a job and she did it well until it was time for her to move on.

Brady is an unknown. Whilst I hope that she proves me wrong, I think she is in this to promote herself as a celebrity business person.

Starts tonight at 9pm.

Quite interesting. Usually with The Apprentice the opening videos where the contestants brag about how wonderful they are makes me squirm, hearing similar boasts from 16/17 yr. olds just doubled the cringe factor. However just like their more senior counterparts we soon see they are (or can be) just as hapless and it may be cruel but watching their confidence drain away as things fall apart was fun to watch.
I am so happy that Jordan was first out, I don't think I could have taken too many weeks of him.

A good opening episode. I soon forgot how old they were.

Yes, he had to go.

Junior Apprentice: Fired Jordan De Courcy hits out at rivals

The first contestant told “You're fired” on Junior Apprentice has blasted his rivals for not working as a team ...

... And boss Lord Sugar told the Mirror that incredibly, Jordan was still grateful for the experience.

He said: “Jordan has been in business ever since, don't worry about him.

“He has been emailing me almost daily thanking me for letting him come in and be a part of it.

“Young Jordan now has his own smoothie business. He has had his own website for ages and now he has bought industrial size smoothie makers and takes them out to festivals and markets.

“He is a real enterprising young man who will do well.” ...

Full article, Mirror, 13/05/10.



Good luck to Jordan for the future.

I just hope that he leaves himself with some spare time to enjoy his youth.

A good and entertaining episode. I am enjoying this series.

Hibah really did not deserve to go last night. That product and the material it was made from were not her ideas. She spoke out against them throughout the task. However, she failed to fight her corner in front of AS.

Adam was lucky to survive. He really was resposnsible. That speech he made in the board room saved him ... showing his well weathered hands to AS.

Totally agree Eddy. The team leader was hopeless and he only survived because he was a mouthy Sugar mini-me. Even when asked who he wanted brought back to the boardroom he could not make a decision. He said Zoe(?) did a great job pitching but brought her back anyway. Funny how within each team when they are split the two halves turn against each other.

Not sure how I feel about this evening's decision.

Reese was ineffectual but I felt that was, to a certain extent, a protective reaction to his team's attitude towards him. they treated him like a joke from the word go.

Maybe AS was right to say that his age was the issue and that he just needs to get a little older.

I would have fired Tim. He really has been deliberately taking the back seat making certain that he does and says nothing that can put him in the firing line.

I was in two minds. Rhys did not get much help from his team but he did rather sit back himself, certainly at the beginning. On that team only Kirsty showed any initiative but I don't see her as a natural salesperson. I agree about Tim. From week one he has stepped back and done next to nothing. The other team were frankly little better.

I laughed when Tim immediately let us know he was out of his comfort zone. Same old, same old.

A nice lad who led his team well. He was lucky to survive as he showed himself to be useless at business negotiation and sales. He was really lucky with that restauranteur who had been pushed his way.

Having said all that I think AS got rid of the right candidate tonight. A nice enough lass but too young. A year or two and she will be OK. She needs to build-up her self-confidence. She looked so lost handing out those leaflets.

KA - I am going to Cyprus and will be away from tomorrow night, returning on the evening of 18/06/10. I am hoping you will post here who gets thrown out and why whilst I am out of tyhe UK. I will be visiting this place from Cyprus.

It was a tough call tonight but on balance I agree AS probably got it right.
I don't like Zoe on the other team, she is one pushy madam. My money would be on little Arjen who just gets on with things. I will do my best with updates Eddy.

I am finding Kirsty extremely annoying. She is so 'adult' that's it's almost as if she acting a part. Not natural at all.

Kirsty really showed herself up when chosing the art. It was almost as she was embarrassed to be there.
Still, I'm glad she wasn't fired - I think the right person left.

As a fellow Scot I'm gonna stick up for Kirsty! None of those three were comfortable with art and it was Hannah (?) who quickly suggested Kirsty should be sent off on her own. Hannah then just took notes and was useless at setting up the gallery. We Scots tell it like it is and can't be bothered with the artifice of the luvvie art scene.

I'm rather warming to Kirsty too.

I'm really enjoying this series and I'm very impressed at how well these youngsters are handling the tasks.

I can't warm to Zoe and find Tim a bit annoying. Kirsty is very shrewed, but Arjen has the best business sense and is good at sales too. The others haven't registered so much with me... so little, I've forgotten their names already...

Who went last night?

Eddy my friend, I would love to give you a detailed account of what happened this evening but to be honest I found it a tad confusing. So here are a few basics. (Maybe someone else can explain more clearly.)
Only five left but they remained in two teams. Kirsty/Tim against Emma/Arjush/Zoe. The task was to go to Amsterdam to meet six designers who wanted to introduce their products to the UK. Tim did rather well asking lots of pertinent questions, on the other team with one designer at least Emma and Zoe were downright rude. Each picked one product but for their second both wanted the same thing. PM's Kirsty and Arjush had a negotiation and it looked at first as if Kirsty had caved...
Zoe was pretty narky the whole way through. Victory however went to Kirsty and Tim who managed to sell nearly £40k worth of goods.
The final boardroom was dramatic with Emma making an emotional plea but Lord Sugar decided that based on all five weeks Emma had to go.
So next we have the final and it is on tomorrow. I will do my best to keep up.

Thanks KA.

Explanation clear enough. It sounds like it was a good episode and I shall try to watch it myself when I return.

It was a good episode - and I changed my mind about Tim, who did really well with Kirsty to make the highest amount of profit ever on The Apprentice. Well done to them

The Final

The four finalists were split into two teams, boys v. girls. All previously eliminated contenders brought back as helpers. The task was to create and brand a new bottled water. Tim/Arjush went for the twentysomething market and chose the literal name "A bottle of water" (which I rather liked.) Kirsty/Zoe went for the teenage market and picked the name "Drip Drop." Each team had to make a TV ad and pitch to industry experts. Though both sides made mistakes it has to be said they were both pretty darn good. Industry feedback suggested the teen market was a poor idea so the boys won. The final decision was mighty close, I would not like to have called it, both guys were exceptional. In the end it was young Arjush who took the prize. Many congratulations to him and the others who all put up a good fight.

A very worthy winner I thought.

I thought the back ground music on the final was very evocative. At one stage I knew from the music that Zoe and Kirsty were going to be the losers