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1* ShockingElimination: [[ShockingElimination/TheApprentice Has its own page.]]
2
3'''US Series:'''
4* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation:
5** Donald Trump - a powerful, confident businessman and adept entertainer, or just a guy who knows how to press everybody's buttons?
6** In Season 2, Bradford initially reads Pamela as an overly aggressive ice queen, based entirely on her posture (hands on hips, nose in the air). But was she really trying to look intimidating, or perhaps secretly insecure about her weak chin and trying to hide it by keeping her head tilted up all the time to avoid the dreaded double chin? After all, it's impractical for [[StatuesqueStunner a woman as tall as her]] to have her head tilted back so far all the time.
7** Bradford himself, confident businessman or KnowNothingKnowItAll? He got canned on the second episode.
8** In Season 4, we had Toral Metha, [[InformedAttribute a successful businesswoman]] who repeatedly came across as a bumbling idiot. Unfavorable editing or just smart enough to hire smart people and be the figurehead at her company?
9* EnsembleDarkhorse: Pamela Day from season 2, many loved her [[TheLadette "one of the boys" personality]].
10* 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 led to many jokes that Trump was still using his Apprentice catchphrase frequently in the Oval Office.
11* OvershadowedByControversy: The show gets attention nowadays largely due to the fact that UsefulNotes/DonaldTrump was the host of the show.
12* ReplacementScrappy:
13** Virtually all of the boardroom judges other than George, Carolyn, and possibly Bill Rancic tend to be regarded as this, at least initially. Even though the Trump children -- Donald Jr., Ivanka and Eric -- have all been successful businesspeople in their own right, their family connection to the contest's head honcho has left a sour taste in the mouths of certain viewers. Ivanka tended to be more divisive than outright hated, as she's actually the most successful businessperson of the three, but most of her successes weren't until after she became an ''Apprentice'' judge.
14** Arnold himself, as even many haters admitted [[WeWantOurJerkBack the show isn't the same without Donald Trump]].
15* RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap: By the end of Trump's time on the show, Ivanka had mostly shed the haters that she had. More pronounced with Donald Jr., who tended to be very surly and awkward during Seasons 5 and 6, but actually became quite witty and entertaining as the ''Celebrity'' seasons went on. Eric was less lucky however, never quite winning over the viewers.
16* TheScrappy:
17** Omarosa from the first regular and ''Celebrity Apprentice'' seasons. Barely tolerable bitch (and saboteur) in the former, raging egotist (and terrible project manager) in the latter. For haters of Donald Trump, she was sort of rescued from the scrappy heap.
18** Stacy R. from Season 2 did absolutely nothing but complain, yet somehow lasted to the halfway point of the season before her complaining and NeverMyFault attitude resulted in Trump firing her for annoying him. Granted, virtually every woman in that season was a "Scrappy" in her own right.
19** Verna from Season 3 is quite unpopular among viewers for walking out on her team during the second task and later leaving for good before the third task. Many viewers think that she shouldn't have had the right to be on the show. Considering the large number of applicants that slots on the show get, they might have a point.
20** Brent from Season 5 was regarded as The Scrappy ''by his team-mates'', though he did at least contribute the occasional good idea.
21* TearJerker: Dennis Rodman's firing in ''Celebrity Apprentice 2''. Even Annie Duke, who was one of the tougher players from that season, was visibly crying when Trump told Dennis he was fired.
22* TheyChangedItNowItSucks: The Los Angeles season was a pretty major case of this. There were a lot of changes that were simply pointless and/or annoying -- project managers having to do the job every week until they lost, the winning project manager getting to be a boardroom judge, the losing team having to live in tents with no real amenities -- but the major deal-breaker for most of the show's few remaining fans was that only about ten minutes per episode were devoted to the tasks, with the episodes being filled instead with longer boardroom sessions, and lengthy scenes showing the losing candidates arguing in "Tent City." It didn't help that George and Carolyn had left as well, though that one was at least due to RealLifeWritesThePlot (George was already winding down his involvement with the show and had been replaced by Bill Rancic for much of Season 5, while Carolyn had quit the show in order to advance her own career). Even Trump himself has gone on record as saying that he dislikes this season.
23* UnintentionalPeriodPiece: While this is par for the course with reality shows, it's particularly pronounced with pre-2008 episodes of the US and UK editions, with the Great Recession having wiped out a good chunk of the businesses that the candidates were either advertising for (in the US version) or trying to sell products to (in the UK version) during those episodes.
24
25'''UK Series:'''
26* {{Adorkable}}: [[https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/tvandradioblog/2011/jun/29/apprentice-television Adorable geek]] Tom from season 7 was a cross between a mad inventor and a business man, and most of the audience loved him. Especially his 'Emergency Biscuits'.
27* AlternativeCharacterInterpretation: Chris Bates's deal in the series 6 tourism task to give the [[OneSceneWonder woman at the tourist office]] 20% of ''everything'' his team made, including all the ticket sales the team made on their own and even including things like tips. Shrewd and daring business decision that won a crucial partner, or massive cock-up that fluked into success?
28* BizarroEpisode: The Fast Food task from Series 7. It took place with only five candidates left, when the final five would usually move onto the interview stage. One team had only two members, extra wait staff and cooks were hired to help out the teams and Lord Sugar himself came to try out both restaurants, instead of leaving it to industry experts and only seeing the teams in the boardroom. There also wasn't a treat planned for the winning team, who were simply told that they were in the final and went back to the house. Even the ''candidates'' seemed surprised that there was going to be another task.
29* BrokenBase: Nothing inflames fan opinions quite so much as the cardboard skeleton mess from Series 10. On the one side, some feel that it was an idiotic bit of [[RulesLawyer rules lawyering]] from Felipe, and that he fully deserved the firing he got. Others feel that it was a brilliant move that showed Felipe as a potential winner, and that Lord Sugar's disqualifying the team and firing him was not only the worst decision he ever made on ''The Apprentice'', but possibly even the moment the show jumped the shark. An in-between viewpoint is that while Sugar was right to disqualify the skeleton on the grounds that it clearly wasn't what was being asked for, Felipe shouldn't have been fired, and that team leader Daniel should have taken the fall for not shutting the idea down immediately.
30* EnsembleDarkhorse:
31** Granted, it's in a sort of "love to hate him" way, but series 6's Stuart Baggs is certainly known for his immense entertainment value.
32** Nick Hewer, especially as British panel game shows have started hiring him. He is one of the most popular guests on ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'' and managed to combine the almost incompatible qualities of wit and MagnificentBastard-like ability to fib on ''Series/WouldILieToYou.''
33** Claude Littner, for his utterly uncompromising interviewing style, complete with numerous [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech the Reason You Suck Speeches]] that makes him a joy to watch in the interview weeks. He then went on to become an AscendedExtra following Nick's departure but still kept his amazingly abrasive style of interrogation.
34** Between his charm and charisma that meant he could sell you your own shoes, hilariously upbeat attitude, loyalty to the other candidates seen when he offered to take Pamela's place in the boardroom and commended Carina in the final task, and [[MemeticMutation Memetic Mutation]] status that came with Tommy the Talking Turtle, all wrapped up in a giant, 40-something cockney teddy-bear of a man, Thomas Skinner of Series 15 ended up being, without a doubt, the most popular apprentice candidate of the entire season, and any naysayers he did have changed their minds immediately after he [[HeroicSacrifice stood up for Pamela]].
35* FanNickname:
36** "Siralan" or "Surallan" for Sir Alan Sugar, as he was known prior to ''Junior Apprentice''. Has continued to be used by fans, since "Lord Sugar" doesn't really have the same ring.
37** ''[[UsefulNotes/BritishNewspapers The Guardian]]'' coined "Lady Ribenaberet" for Lucinda Ledgerwood.
38** Series 7 has "Jedi Jim", after a ''You're Fired'' sequence compared his ability to persuade another candidate to change his mind and not bring him back into the boardroom to a JediMindTrick. The nickname stuck with fans and has gone on to become a popular hashtag on Twitter.
39** "[[PunnyName Cafe d'Espair]]" or "Cafe del Fail" for the GreasySpoon to which defeated teams are sent.
40* FridgeLogic: OK the double/multiple firings are exciting and keeps the contestants on their toes, but it must really screw with Creator/TheBBC's schedule as now the series will be shorter by one episode!
41** A double firing would have caused this problem in the first two series (which is why there weren't any) but from the third series onward the show started with 16 candidates rather than 14, without adding extra episodes. Consequently the format could now cope with double firings (or candidates leaving for other reasons, such as Raleigh in Series 6).
42* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff: Granted, the show's loss of popularity in the US was more a result of mishandling by the network than anything else, but the UK version of the show has managed to work its way into the popular imagination in a way that even the US version never quite managed.
43* GrowingTheBeard: While the main series never really needed to do this -- some would still argue that it did so in Series 3, with multi-firings now possible, increasing the tension in boardroom situations -- the early years of companion show ''You're Fired'', hosted by Adrian Chiles, were generally seen as bland schedule filler, which mostly served to showcase deleted scenes that nowadays would more likely be posted online. Chiles's replacement by Dara O'Briain, who reinvented the series into essentially being an ''Apprentice''-themed comedy panel show, is seen as where ''You're Fired'' really came into its own, with all the subsequent hosts coming from stand-up comedy backgrounds.
44* HilariousInHindsight: Michael Sophocles from Series 4 was a generally unpopular EliminationHoudini, who continually skirted elimination until he was finally eliminated with two weeks remaining. His girlfriend at the time happened to be one Katie Waissel, who later became a contestant on the 2010 series of ''Series/TheXFactor'' -- where she proved to be a generally unpopular Elimination Houdini who continually skirted elimination until she was finally eliminated with two weeks to go.
45* HoYay: A tradition in every series for a pair of male candidates to get along extremely well which is then lampshaded hilariously in Apprentice: You're Fired with a video montage
46** Series 7 deserves special mention for Jim and Leon, Jim and Vincent, Jim and Tom, Jim and Glenn... you get the gist.
47*** Nick Hewer on Jim's business proposal: "I think that he studied [Lord Sugar] before he started to write that business plan, and it is one ''long'' seduction letter."
48* MemeticMutation: Raleigh Addington's "It was shameful!" speech in the boardroom from Series 6.
49** From Series 7: Jim is a Jedi. See FanNickname above.
50** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uAygyFQfN94 Pantsman]] - the character Phil Taylor came up with in the breakfast cereal task - achieved MemeticMutation status during Series 5. (That's Phil singing in the ad, by the way.)
51** From Series 4: Alex Wotherspoon is only 24. Also [=Lee McQueen's=] Reverse Pterodactyl and "That's what I'm talking about!" And Raef Bjayou is practically a ''living'' Memetic Mutation.
52** From Series 3: Rory Laing goes ''fucking crazy'' for discipline. Also the "I am your boss!/You're not my boss, you're nothing to me" exchange he got involved in with Tre Azam.
53** From Series 2: The introduction to Nargis Ara's sales pitch: "Did you know that there are six million cat owners in the UK alone?" While selling a calendar for a children's hospital no less.
54* MisaimedFandom: There was a surprisingly large backlash over Stuart's firing in Series 6, probably even moreso than when Liz suffered a ShockingElimination the previous week. Apparently a lot of people considered him to have been representing the "young tech geek" demographic, and were outraged that he was fired over what they saw as a minor wording detail -- seemingly failing to realize that in the business world, you do ''not'' misrepresent your company in such a blatant way and get away with it.
55* OneSceneWonder: Series 6's Raleigh didn't do much of note before leaving after the first episode due to a very understandable family emergency, but he did give us an iconic boardroom quote before leaving ("It was ''shameful''!")
56* RetroactiveRecognition: Jennifer Maguire from series 4 would later go on to have a successful career at Creator/{{RTE}} as a presenter and comedian.
57* TheScrappy: After episode 2 of season 12, fans were left considering ''none'' of the candidates suitable for Lord Sugar's investment. Some even demanded that the show be cancelled because of it.
58** Believe it or not, Katie Hopkins was considered one even during her run on the show. Her later career of "say shockingly bigoted things to get media attention over it" didn't exactly help.
59** Shazia from Season 17. She was considered insufferable by most of the fanbase, who were glad when she was fired in the fifth task.
60* SeasonalRot: Despite being the series that saw the show go from a moderately popular niche show to being a national mega-hit (or perhaps [[ItsPopularNowItSucks because of that]]), most fans regard Series 4 as the show's lowest point, due to the intensely dislikeable personalities of all but a handful of that year's candidates.
61* TearJerker: James [=McQuillan's=] exit after he was fired from the interview round in Season 5, shown [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=INN0g1cqx3A here]]. It even made Debra Barr cry, and she was one of the toughest contestants in the series.
62** And then one series later, there's Joanna Riley's firing in the interview round. Also doubles as a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}, with Lord Sugar giving one of the nicest firing speeches he's ever made.
63-->'''Lord Sugar''': "Joanna, we all admire what you've done here, and I'm gonna give you...the best bit of advice, and you should take it. You don't like what you're doing at the moment. ''Get'' to like it and do more of it. (...) But you leave here with your head high, let me tell you that. You leave here with your head high, because you're a prime example of someone who's prepared to work hard and sling yourself into things. You've done very, very well. Joanna, I'm sorry to say...you're fired."
64** Stuart Baggs' tragic death in 2015 from an Asthma attack, at only 27.
65* TheWoobie:
66** Tom Pellereau of series 7 is one of the most genuinely lovely people the Apprentice has featured. Never aggressive, hopelessly geeky, and completely free of even a shred of ego, he's incredibly difficult to dislike. This is further compounded by frequent bursts of adorability - from juggling oranges in the first task to making decisions by playing rock, paper, scissors. Inevitable, then, that even though he's quite perceptive, the other candidates tend to trample all over him. Melody, in particular, managed to single-handedly ruin his first turn as PM through sheer force of will.
67** 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''.
68** Gabrielle Omar and possibly Adam Corbally in series 8. Gabrielle for being an incredibly nice person and somehow unintentionally funny, as well as rarely being seen without a smile on her face. Adam for 'always out of his comfort zone' and coming across as a genuinely nice guy on You're Fired. He even made a sweet quip after he was fired, making Lord Sugar smile.
69** Lucinda Ledgerwood, too, for being the victim of a lot of bullying. Somewhat more passive-aggressive than Tom, and surprisingly bitey when provoked, she's perhaps not quite as tragic a figure as Tom, but she was bludgeoned enough to qualify.
70** Joy Stefanicki from Series Six is a possible inclusion, if for not being given a real chance. From what could be seen of her from her little airtime on the show and on You're Fired, she came across as rather sweet (literally bouncing up and down with excitement during the task) and non-confrontational (to the point where she raised her hand to try and make a point, while the rest of the team bickered loudly). When the girls' team descended into a massive argument mid-task and Laura, the Project Manager, left the room in tears, Joy was the only member of the team to attempt to calm her down. She also tried to break up the verbal brawl in the boardroom, but was shouted down before Karen delivered her [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech take on the matter]]. Whether rightly or wrongly, this non-aggression lead to her being perceived as not contributing to the team, along with genuine indecisiveness, and she was fired that week.
71** From the same series, Alex Epstein had a moment of this in the 'Fashion' task. Admittedly, he wasn't a stellar candidate, and he had made a fairly large mistake with his choice of promotional stand, but it's difficult not to feel for him when the entire team lambasted him continually for it, to the point where Paloma (PM) refused to give him credit for the TV ad that he secured which (according to Lord Sugar in 'Why I Fired Them') more than redeemed his previous mistake.
72** Jason Leech from Series 9. He was an adorkable, bumbling, softly spoken Hugh Grant-type who spent much of his time getting snapped at by louder candidates like [[AlphaBitch Luisa]] and ultimately got fired after ''standing down as Project Manager'' (the only person ever to have done that on the UK series). His biggest success was in selling caravans to the elderly, likely because they all wanted to mother him.
73** 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 Website/{{Twitter}} enjoyed him.
74
75'''Australian Series:'''
76* TheScrappy:
77** 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, and subsequent insincere apology. Many viewers - and several of the contestants - were delighted when Darren called him and Beck out for their conniving in the boardroom.

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