The foreboding cords of Prokofiev's Dance of the Knights; the ridiculously earnest team names; the intense back-of-a-taxi phone conversations on loud speaker; the sight of Lord Alan Sugar jabbing his index finger at a forlorn dead man or woman walking. Breathe in the smell of the boardroom because The Apprentice is back, with series 18 now well underway.
You can watch The Apprentice series 18 for FREE in the UK on the BBC iPlayer streaming service. But don't worry if you're on holiday while it's on, because you can watch The Apprentice on iPlayer from anywhere with a VPN.
UK: iPlayer (free with licence fee)
US: N/A
How to use a VPN to watch any stream
Yep, another group of gluttons for punishment – including a bonafide garage music legend and two pie company experts – are attemptin to impress Lord Sugar, Baroness Karren Brady and series 1 winner Tim Campbell with their business acumen and ultimately land a £250,000 business investment.
Standing in their way are the usual array of challenges and tasks, humiliating interviews and desperate boardroom clashes to save their own bacon from that famous catchphrase: "You're fired"
Having been pushed back a few weeks from its original slot to make way for The Traitors season 2, episode 1 of this year's The Apprentice continued in its wake by kicking things off in the Scottish Highlands to host a corporate away day. Och aye, what could possibly go wrong...
In addition to the main show, The Apprentice: You're Fired hosted by comedian Tom Allen is also back, analyzing, rationalizing and generally poking gentle fun at the wannabe apprentices. The sister show goes out at 10 pm UK on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer, immediately after each episode of The Apprentice.
Ready to see this fresh crop of 'natural born sellers' stitch themselves up in the boardroom? Here's how to watch The Apprentice series 18 from anywhere in the world, with all the information you'll need below.
How to watch The Apprentice series 18 in the UK
Can I watch The Apprentice in the US?
Despite having had its own extremely popular version hosted by Donald Trump, the UK version of The Apprentice doesn't venture across the Atlantic.
If you're a Brit abroad and desperate to watch Lord Sugar tearing shreds off the hopefuls, then you can try using a VPN to stream the episodes as if you were back at home...
How to watch The Apprentice from anywhere with a VPN
You can watch The Apprentice on the BBC iPlayer by using a VPN — no matter where you are in the world!
Normally the streaming service will know where you are trying to tune in from and block you if you're not in the right country but a Virtual Private Network (VPN) is an app that hides your location. That means you can access your usual sports and entertainment services even while you're traveling abroad.
Our favorite VPN is ExpressVPN, which is the No. 1-rated VPN in the world right now according to our sister site, TechRadar, where you'll find a deeper reader on the best VPN services available right now.
How to use a VPN to watch any stream
- Download the app at ExpressVPN
- Choose the location of the streaming service you want to watch (UK, US, etc)
- Navigate to the streaming service and start watching!
What is the The Apprentice series 18 release date?
The twelve-episode series 18 of The Apprentice started at 9 pm UK on BBC One (and the BBC iPlayer streaming service) on Thursday, February 1 and now airs at the same time every Thursday.
That means the final should be broadcast on Thursday, April 4.
Meet the The Apprentice S18 contestants
We won't spoil who has taken the taxi home thus far, but here's the starting crop of 2024 candidates:
Amina Khan – Pharmacist from Ilford
Amina has a successful skincare and supplement business that had its first turnover of £1 million within two years of launching. She’s hoping to prove to Lord Sugar that her business acumen is more than skin deep.
Dr Asif Manaf – Wellness brand owner from Sheffield
Describing himself on his CV as “beauty, brains, body and business,” Dr Asif launched his own business while working 12-hours shifts as a doctor during COVID, and even appeared on Dragons’ Den with his D.A.T.E Smoothie.
Flo Edwards – Recruitment Consultant from London
Never one to back down from a challenge, Flo started her own consultancy and has proven herself with great performance history. Is she ready to take on one of the toughest processes around?
Foluso Falade – Project manager from Manchester
Foluso wants to help young people get a head start in business, as the self-proclaimed 'Mary Poppins of business'. She wants to run the first Social Enterprise to win Lord Sugar’s investment.
Jack Davies – Recruitment Director from Bristol
Aspirational recruitment director and food reviewer Jack is used to moving up the ranks quickly. Lord Sugar’s investment could be his next step to success, or will he bite off more than he can chew?
Maura Rath – Yoga company owner from Wexford
Yoga teacher Maura’s business is rooted in the promotion of her clients’ well-being in a way that makes business boom. She wants to scale up with the help of Lord Sugar’s investment.
Noor Bouziane – Jewellery firm owner from Liverpool
Ambitious owner of a premium jewellery company, Noor believes Lord Sugar would be missing out on plenty of cash if he were not to invest in her accessory business.
Oliver Medforth – Sales exec from Yorkshire
Never doing “owt for nowt”, Oliver’s background in selling at markets has him looking forward to the famous (and infamous) sales tasks. After supervising stores up and down the country, he’s ready to face the boardroom.
Onyeka Nweze – Chartered company secretary from London
Onyeka’s successful corporate background and money-making business plan have her hoping for Lord Sugar’s first tech business investment in eighteen series.
Paul Bowen – Director of a pie company from Lancashire
One of two pie company experts entering the process, Paul prides his business on big name clients such as Manchester City Football Club. He’s looking to unite his passion for business with Lord Sugar’s strategic expertise.
Dr. Paul Midha – Dental group owner from Leeds
Paul started his practice using every resource he had. Used to extensive learning from studying as a dentist, Paul is set on Lord Sugar’s investment and all that he can teach him about the world of business.
Phil Turner – Pie company owner from Bognor Regis
Phil was awarded ‘Supreme Pie Champion’ in 2020 for his family-owned pie business, which dates back to the 1930s. He’s hoping to prove himself to Lord Sugar and start making him some real dough.
Rachel Woolford – Boutique fitness studio owner from Leeds
Business-minded from a very young age, Rachel has plenty of experience managing her work independently. Could a business partnership with Lord Sugar be the next big step?
Raj Chohan – Mortgage broker from Leamington Spa
Raj takes her work seriously but knows to have fun while doing so. A self-confessed ‘dog with a bone’ when meeting her targets, she wants to hit a gap in the market and will do whatever it takes for success.
Sam Saadet – Pre and Post Natal fitness coach from Essex
Friends call Sam a real Del Boy for being “part-wheeler dealer” as well as her eye for a bargain. An online fitness coach with a focus on mums and mums-to-be, she’s hoping to prove her business brain to Lord Sugar.
Steve Darken – Management consultant from London
Steve claims that he shares Lord Sugar’s sharp mind and sense of humour. Consulting for “some of the biggest companies in the world”, he’s ready to take on the boardroom.
Tre Lowe – Music and wellness entrepreneur from London
You may recognise Tre from the UK garage band Architechs. He has high hopes for his wellness business, Tre is drawing on experience from several industries to see him through the process.
Virdi Singh Mazaria – Music producer from Leicester
DJ Virdi wants to introduce Lord Sugar to a lucrative industry that he’s yet to invest in – music. His background as both an auditor and a producer has Virdi hoping for some hits in the boardroom.
All you need to know about The Apprentice series 18
Who is Alan Sugar?
Lord Alan Sugar is a 76-year-old billionaire entrepreneur and businessman from London.
Sugar founded the import/exports business Amstrad aged 21, which went on to become a pioneering home computing manufacturer in the 1980s. He went on to own English football club Tottenham Hotspur in the 1990s, before becoming the chairman of the board in the TV show The Apprentice in 2005.
Sugar was knighted in 2000 and became a life peer in 2009, anointing him Lord Sugar.
What is The Apprentice: You're Fired?
The Apprentice: You're Fired is a sister show that immediately follows each episode of the main programme.
Hosted by comedian Tom Allen, it sees: "A panel of special guest fans take a wry look at the week’s task, and viewers share their opinions on the candidate's progress."
What is The Apprentice theme music?
The famous theme music to The Apprentice comes from composer Sergei Prokofiev's ballet Romeo and Juliet from 1935.
Specifically, it is the Dance of the Knights from scene 2 at the Capulets' ball where Juliet and Romeo first meet.
Q&A interview with Lord Alan Sugar
You’re back for series 18 on February 1, 2024 – how excited are you for the audience to see this series?
Well, I'm very pleased with this series because the quality of the candidates that we have attracted this year is superb, I have to say. This year, we've got a lot to work with.
What do you think has changed?
This year, we had more business focused tasks early in the audition process so that my team and the production company could filter out and find serious potential businesspeople.
What makes you keep coming back to the show?
Well, I love it. I love doing it. If I didn't like doing it, I wouldn't do it. I can assure you I've got plenty of other things to do in my life, but I do enjoy it. And what I enjoy about it is that it's growing acorns to oak trees. It's finding a person and starting all over again and doing exactly what I did back in the '60s.
Do you have an idea of how long you want to do the show given the 20th anniversary is around the corner?
Well, obviously we're going to do that. No question. But bear in mind, it's not my call, it's the BBC's call. They're the ones that will decide whether the programme has got longevity beyond 20 series. I have a contract to do series 19, I don't have a contract to do series 20 yet, but I'm pretty damn sure that I'll ask them to do it and we'll do it. But it's really up to them. It's up to their scheduling and all that type of thing.
Me personally, I love it. I love doing it. I know Karren loves doing it. Tim loves doing it. And bear in mind that we've got people coming along now who 20 years ago weren't even born. Or we've got people coming along now who were five years or six years old when they first started watching The Apprentice through their mums and dads. And now they're coming on the show. So, it's great. It's fantastic. And it's a great BBC programme.
How important are Baroness Brady and Tim Campbell to you in this process?
Unbelievable. Karren is brilliant. Tim is brilliant. They've got it. They're the ones that tell me what's going on when they're out in the field with the candidates. I get emails, maybe 10 emails a day, as they're going on. "Fred's just fallen over. Fred's just dropped all the ice cream. Harry's just screwed up in front of the buyer." I get it all. That's how I get my information to actually question the candidates in the boardroom. They're brilliant because they've done it for so long, right? They're experts. They know what to look for and they know what to tell me and they know when to shut the candidates up and to steer them in the right direction.
They are very important to me when it comes to deciding who I’m going to fire and hire. I mean, you could say the show is all Lord Sugar, it's not. It's Lord Sugar, Karren and Tim. It’s definitely down to them also as much as me. I can't get all my questions out to the candidates without them telling me what went on in the task.
A large percentage of your audience is the much sought after 16-24 age bracket, why do you think you are attracting that age range when people might expect them to be focussed on dating shows or streamers?
First of all, what you need to understand is, and I don't wish to be disrespectful to any other host of business programmes, but I have done everything. I've literally done everything. When I'm questioning the candidates, I question them from a position of absolute experience of knowing every single facet of starting a business from scratch right the way up to becoming a multi-billion-pound turnover business. I think what happens is the interrogation or the questioning, put it that way, of the candidates, is what attracts the youngsters. If I’m walking down the street, it is that age group of people who come up to me to ask for a signature or a photograph or something like that.
Despite all that you still haven’t personally won a Bafta for what you’ve done for business!
We have won Baftas, of course, the programme's won. And then I came up with the idea of the Junior Apprentice, right? And guess what? That also won. I think Bafta should give me a special award for 20 years of business. Simon Cowell got a special award for 10 years in music. Why can't I have a special award for 20 years of business? I've got all the other gongs for everything else, the only one that I haven't got is a Bafta.
When you go into a new series, what is it that you are looking for in a business partner, and has that changed over the years?
No. When you're confronted initially with 18 new people, you don't know them, all I've received is 18 CVs. Detailed CVs, not just a single page, but a thick document of about 15 pages. I read that carefully and, it's not until we kick off and as the weeks go by that I start to get a feeling for individuals. There have been many times in the early stages of process, Karren, Tim, Claude or Nick Hewer have said, "that bloke's good or this girl's great, this one's good”, and all that. And then suddenly, throughout the course of the process, the others start to climb, and you change your mind as it's going through. The most frequently asked question to me is, do you know who's going to win as soon as you see the whole lot? The answer is absolutely not. I don't know who's going to win until we really get through to the end of the series.
You really do study the candidates before you meet them?
I do. I've looked at them carefully and I make notes on their CVs, they are all marked up. It's 15 pages. For example, I would highlight page 15 and things that they've written in their CVs. I will highlight it and then I can go straight to that page in the boardroom, what they're claiming, I've got their tactics, I've got their regrets, I've got their best efforts, their worst efforts, what angers them, what their hobbies are, who their role models are. I know them before they walk through the door. There’s no pulling the wool over my eyes, I know them before we even meet.
How important are first impressions because the candidates tend to make quite bold statements at the beginning?
Yes, important. But I don't blame them for saying these things. It's when we get down to the nitty gritty, when I'm really talking to them, when I'm asking them questions and looking at their answers, that's when I'm forming an opinion of the individuals.
When it comes to the boardroom, how do you find the balance between entertaining but also being authentic?
Well, I think it is important that it is entertaining as well. And that's one of the reasons why we've got these young people following us. I explain to people business mistakes and good bits of business and the youngsters pick up on it. They love it, but they also love it when I give some people a bit of stick or when I make some jokes about their mistakes and all that stuff. There’s a fine balance of keeping it entertaining but also taking the business seriously.
Your one liners though are legendary!
I do have a good sense of humour! I think I get it from my mum. She had a very dry sense of humour.
What are you looking for from the candidates in those tense boardroom moments?
I'm looking for character, I'm looking for brain power. And this is the most important thing, do they get it? A lot of the candidates in the early stages simply don't get it. And that's why I let them go. Do you get it? It's as simple as that. All the shouting and screaming amongst each other, I have to shut them up. Just be quiet. They just start screaming. It's not good. I'm always telling them, "One at a time. I'll let you all speak. I'll let everybody speak. No need to shout and scream over each other." I'm just looking for do they get it? Simple as that.
This series sees tasks around electric cars, vegan cheese and virtual escape rooms. Is it important to you that tasks reflect the changing markets?
They're keeping me up to date also over the years, all this bloody virtual reality and all that type of thing. Of course, I'm a technical person, so I've been in the electronics industry and software industry all of my life. It’s not too bad. I'm able to keep up with it. Don't forget, 30 years ago I introduced computers for games playing. I know all about that.
With the country facing economic turmoil, does that impact the type of business you’re interested in?
I've been in business for 60 years nearly, and I've gone through valleys and mountains of recessions, booms and busts and all that stuff. And to be honest with you, I’ve just kept my head down and got on with my business. I'm focused on my business and that's what we do and that's what we do with the winners of The Apprentice. I don't let myself get dragged into, "Oh, I'm not going to do that now because there's a recession out there or the cost-of-living crisis." No, sorry, I can't do that.
How much of success is based on taking risks outside of your comfort zone? Or is it about detailed preparation?
All success is about risk. Risk, reward. Yes, calculated risks. Sensible gambles, sensible risks. Entrepreneurs stand out because they're prepared to make bold moves when other people are scared. I always tell people don't get involved in something that you have no experience in. That's my ethos. I only deal in areas that I do have experience in. I wouldn't go off and try and start an airline tomorrow. I wouldn't go off and start a mobile phone company. I'll stick to what I know. And that's why I say to the candidates, when the tasks come up, don't dive in because you want to be a project manager. Do you know anything about this? Is it synergistic to your business or to your knowledge? If it's not, stay away.
