The Apprentice 2012: Top Ten Moments

It’s that time of year again: this year’s series of The Apprentice is now over, with the part-time wrestler that shares a name with everyone’s favourite Puerto Rican superstar (that’s Ricky Martin, of course) being crowned the winner.

2012 may have been one of the best years yet for Apprentice fans, featuring an array of characters that may easily take Stuart Baggs’ title as the most memorable contestant of all time. Now, all that is left to do is to take that annual journey down memory lane and recap our favourite moments of this year’s series – a tough task, given the weekly hilarity provided by both the challenges and the contestants. So, see if you agree with our top ten moments of The Apprentice 2012:

Team Sterling’s Cheesy Wine Ad. Cheese is usually a perfect accompaniment for a good wine, but the outcome of Team Sterling’s efforts in week nine really took the biscuit. They created a promotional video for a new English sparkling wine but, despite their motto of ‘Less fizz, more sparkle!’, their advert really fell flat with Lord Sugar, who unfavourably likened it to a Carry On film – though for someone who looks so much like Sid James, you’d think he would have approved.

Adam and Tom ‘Research’ English Sparkling Wine. Adam and Tom were part of the winning team in Week nine, their success perhaps being down to their thorough research and development process. The pair went off on a very merry trip to a wine tasting, from which wine expert Tom emerged with a decidedly clear vision in mind for the task ahead: ‘We’ve really got to grips with the English wine sparkling, sorry…English wine, sparkling…?’

Maria O Connor’s Penchant for Purple. She may have only lasted until week two, but Maria’s love for liberally-applied bright purple eyeshadow was on our lips for the rest of the series! To be fair, she did cleverly manage to find a blouse in the exact same shade, quite a feat outside of 1982.

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Duane’s Chilli Induced Near-Chunder. In Week 3, the teams had to create a condiment to excite the tastebuds of food stockists. Duane’s team came up with Infusion, a chilli-infused pineapple chutney for which trial and error proved a necessity; it only took a teaspoon of the stuff to rid Duane of his ability to speak through the coughing and retching brought on by the product’s mega hot chilli content. Luckily, his reaction meant that they reduced the amount of chilli before sending the chutney off for sampling, saving themselves from ending up red-faced (either from extreme embarrassment, or from extreme heat!).

Stephen’s Boardroom Face. Not so much a singular moment, but whenever Stephen ended up in the bottom three called back into the boardroom, you knew that his face would be the one to watch. After repeatedly demanding that people ‘be specific, be specific’ in their blaming of him, his bemused and belittling facial expressions roused by their criticisms were comedy gold, and the topic of much discussion for the likes of radio presenter Sara Cox.

Adam the Art Connoisseur. In Week 8, the teams faced the challenge of setting up an exhibition of modern art, and of securing the best artists. Greengrocer Adam freely admitted that he had no experience or knowledge of modern art, but that didn’t stop him getting in touch with his inner Damien Hirst; his ramblings and ‘interpretations’ being the source of many a laugh for us, a theme that would continue into the next week as he found a nose for fine wines that he dubiously declared smelt of ‘Granny Smiths’ and ‘Christmas cake’.

He’s Related To WHO?? Technically, this revelation came from The Apprentice: You’re Fired over on BBC2, but it still counts as one of the top moments of the series. After leaving the competition in Week 5, it emerged that Duane Bryan was the brother of none other than Simon Webbe – one quarter of boy band Blue! Not a hugely funny discovery, but still a surprising and memorable moment for Apprentice fans.

Liar Liar, Jade, You’re Fired. The final of The Apprentice brings the interview stage, which is notorious for exposing the little white lies and glitches in every C.V and business plan. This year, it was poor Jade that gave us our top interview guff, as Mike Sauter revealed that of the four websites that she claimed to have purchased, one was in fact owned by him! Bad moment for Jade, excellent moment for us!

Angel Gabrielle. Oh bless her, lovely Gabrielle’s habit of giving a friendly pat on the shoulders of those teammates left in the firing line was quite endearing. It was also quite weird. As she safely left the boardroom after each disappointing task failure, we began to notice the saintly touch that she bestowed on each contestant she passed. Sweet, but it still raised a few giggles and perplexed questions of ‘Why? Why does she do that?! ’. As much as Lord Sugar liked her, unfortunatelyAngel Gabrielle ultimately let her halo slip, and she and Stephen were part of a double firing in Week 10.

Azhar’s Exercise Video Debut. In Week 5 the teams battled it out Rocky style, the task being to create a promotional video for a new breed of workout. Azhar’s team went retro with ‘Groove Train’, incorporating space hoppers, hula hoops and dance moves that your dad would be proud of; and, as if that wasn’t enough, Azhar grooved his way through the routine in a matching red headband and dangerously tiny shorts combo that would have been best left to the 118 chaps. This most definitely has to be given the gold medal for being the best moment of the series!

The Apprentice 2012: Top Ten Moments

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