£250 Business Start Up

The stakes are raised higher than ever in this series of The Apprentice, as this time there is no six-figure salary job on offer. Instead, the sixteen candidates are vying for one life changing opportunity: £250,000 investment to start their own company, with Lord Sugar as their business partner.

Lord Sugar wastes no time showing the candidates he means business, using the first task to challenge his potential partners' entrepreneurial skills. Each team are given £250 to invest in fresh fruit and vegetables, and Lord Sugar makes it clear that he expects a high return.

Packed off to New Covent Garden Market, the teams race to buy the best produce at the cheapest price and set to work adding value to their haul by making juices, fruit salads and soups, and pasta to tempt London's hungry workforce. With the pressure on to exploit both the lucrative breakfast and lunch trade, it's not long before the tension rises and the blame game begins.

The highly competitive candidates desperately attempt to sell their stock, bring back the highest return and avoid the firing line in the boardroom.

But for one candidate, business dreams are crushed as they are the first to hear the dreaded words 'You're fired'.