History YMMV / TheApprentice

** Ronnie from the 2022 Celebrity series. If it wasn't already his playing mind games, his manipulations with Beck to get [[spoiler:Sammie]] fired or his gaslighting of Turia, for many - including some of the other contestants - he crossed the MoralEventHorizon by falsely claiming that [[spoiler:Jean]] had dementia. Many viewers - and several of the contestants - were delighted when Darren called him and Beck out for their conniving in the boardroom.

** Ronnie from the 2022 Celebrity series. If it wasn't already his playing mind games, manipulations with Beck and gaslighting of Turia, for many - including some of the other contestants - he crossed the MoralEventHorizon by [[spoiler:mocking Jean by telling her she had dementia]].

* MemeticMutation: "You're fired"
** Paired with HarsherInHindsight and HilariousInHindsight after Trump lost his bid for reelection in 2020, when it promptly went ''viral''.
** Even before the election, the high turnover of officials in the White House lead to many jokes that Trump was still using his Apprentice catchphrase frequently in the Oval Office.

* CriticalResearchFailure:
** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HCh3VDK_S9Y Michael Sophocles]], who claimed to be a "Good Jewish Boy" on his application form, purchased ''halal'' chicken instead of ''kosher'' chicken. Later on in the boardroom, Sir Alan (who is himself Jewish) started to crack a joke based around the Jewish greeting "L'chaim" at his expense... only to be left totally stunned when Michael admitted that he had no idea what ''that'' meant either.
** Another team in the previous season decided it'd be a great idea to take cheap, mass-produced cheddar cheese to a fine produce market in France. A country that has more variety of home grown cheeses than any other in the world. Even Nick Hewer, who normally leaves Sir Alan Sugar to conduct the boardroom tongue lashings, took the time to berate the team's blatant stupidity in the task post-mortem. To cap it all, they also tried to sell top-end pork sausages to a halal butcher in the middle of the day during Ramadan. The opposing team also fouled up by trying to sell tea, which is ''literally'' fifty times less popular than coffee in France, but got away with it because it wasn't their main item.
** In Series 6's London tour challenge, Jamie the tour guide described the Thames to visitors as 'the second largest river in London' (even ''Nick'' almost laughed), and said that the face of the clock on Big Ben's tower was 'twenty diameters in width'.
** Series 7's fast food task, in which one of the teams put together a restaurant serving all-British food. One of the items was named after that great British explorer and discoverer of the potato, [[ArtisticLicense Christopher Columbus]].
** While the other team in the Series 7 fast food task named their Mexican-themed restaurant "Caracas" - initially thinking they were those shaky musical instruments called ''maracas''. Naming a Mexican restaurant after the capital of ''Venezuela'' was eventually called out by Lord Sugar in the boardroom.
** In the real world, it's generally a good idea to do research on the company you're applying to before an interview. A number of candidates have gone into the interview rounds knowing little about Alan Sugar's companies, such as Paul from Series 2 and Joanna from Series 6.

* IdiotPlot: The Series 12 jeans task

* OvershadowedByControversy: The show gets attention nowadays largely due to the fact that Donald Trump was the host of the show.

** Paired with FunnyAneurysmMoment and HilariousInHindsight after Trump lost his bid for reelection in 2020, when it promptly went ''viral''.

* WhatAnIdiot: [[WhatAnIdiot/TheApprentice Has its own page.]]

* HarsherInHindsight: In Season 11 (Celebrity 4), Jose Canseco mentions his father would kill him if he saw him portraying an effeminate gay man in an advertisement. Later in the season, Canseco withdraws from the competition because his father is terminally ill.
* HilariousInHindsight:
** Creator/DonaldTrump has himself been fired from NBC. As a result of Creator/ArnoldSchwarzenegger replacing Trump as host of the series, [[http://s.quickmeme.com/img/47/477135cf9ddce6b91011cf307e55c79dd7e3fba1ebde5058510dd2b40db28b2d.png this Photoshopped meme]] featuring an infamous scene from from ''Film/TrueLies'' where [[spoiler:Arnold's character "fires" the main antagonist]] made the rounds.
** Donald Trump also got 'fired' from his next job as President of the United States following the 2020 election.
** One of the guest [=CEOs=] from Season 5 of ''The Apprentice'' was Creator/DreamWorksAnimation founder and former Creator/{{Disney}} [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon studio]] [[UsefulNotes/NoteworthyDisneyStaff chief Jeffrey Katzenberg]] (Disney, of course, have their own [[WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck Donald]]), who is a good friend of producer Mark Burnett and worked with him on another NBC show, ''The Contender''. A decade later, Trump ran for president against UsefulNotes/HillaryClinton, with Katzenberg, Burnett, and Disney boss Bob Iger being three of her biggest donors in an all-out war against Trump (Katzenberg's former boss, Michael Eisner, is no fonder of Trump at this point than they are; Iger had given a tongue-lashing to Bernie Sanders earlier that year for criticizing his business).

** Series 7's fast food task, in which one of the teams put together a restaurant serving all-British food. One of the items was named after that great British explorer and discoverer of the potato, Christopher Columbus.

** One of the guest [=CEOs=] from Season 5 of ''The Apprentice'' was Creator/DreamWorksAnimation founder and former Creator/{{Disney}} [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon studio]] [[UsefulNotes/NoteworthyDisneyStaff chief Jeffrey Katzenberg]] (Disney, of course, have their own [[WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck Donald]]), who is a good friend of producer Mark Burnett and worked with him on another NBC show, ''The Contender''. A decade later, Trump is running for president against Hillary Clinton, with Katzenberg, Burnett, and Disney boss Bob Iger being three of her biggest donors in an all-out war against Trump (Katzenberg's former boss, Michael Eisner, is no fonder of Trump at this point than they are; Iger had given a tongue-lashing to Bernie Sanders earlier that year for criticizing his business).

portraying a couple brought together by a dating app, for the video segment of Vana's pitch.
* FridgeLogic: OK the double/multiple firings are exciting and keeps the contestants on their toes, but it must really screw with the BBC (or whatever network is showing it)'s schedule as now the series will be shorter by one episode!

** Stuart Baggs's tragic death in 2015 from an Asthma attack, at only 27.

** Simon Smith, the nice guy of series 4 which was otherwise notorious for backstabbing. You can tell by his reception on The Apprentice You're Fired.

** Despite his criticisms, Oliver from Series 12 found some praise off the show: Susan Calman described him as "adorable", JD remarked that "everyone had a soft spot" for him while Jessica remarked that he "was one of those people where as soon as you see his little face, you just smile.". Even Twitter enjoyed him.