Well, it seems the nation has gone mad for The Apprentice. While this fourth series of the series has smashed personal best ratings records pretty much episode to episode, I am somewhat surprised that the final managed to scale the heights of 8.9 million in the overnights. Even more startling is that over 10 million tuned in for the final 15 minutes as Sir Alan Sugar deliberated over the remaining candidates to choose Lee McQueen has his latest recruit.
I know The Apprentice is good - entertaining, funny, tense and infuriating all at the same time, I do wonder what it is about this particular series that has sent its popularity through the roof. Do we truly have a slow burning hit here that has smouldered away for three years to finally hit the mainstream? Yes, it did well last year on BBC1, garnering respectable ratings following the switch from BBC2, but this year has been something else.
And last night saw the BBC have a beano of night in the ratings, generally ruling the roost from EastEnders at 8pm, right through to 11pm and beyond. The Apprentice effect snowballed across Auntie’s pair of terrestrial channels, with 4.6 million switching over to BBC2 for The Apprentice - You’re Fired (and this following a Euro 2008 game that pulled in 4.7 million). Then it was back over to BBC1 at 10.40pm for The Apprentice - You’re Hired (see what they did there?) as Adrian Chiles interviewed McQueen and his new boss, Sir A for the pleasure of 5 million viewers. That won’t do the audience share for either channel any harm at all, and an ITV suddenly minus the spike of Britain’s Got Talent, will be struggling to keep up this week.
As for the outcome of The Apprentice 2008, were there any real surprises in Sir A’s choice? It was very close to call between McQueen and Claire Young, and I think I favoured Claire to be honest. I must have felt threatened by all the raw testosterone that Lee had following him around in a metro sexual cloud like Pig Pen from Peanuts. But he seems like a good guy who will be like a loyal puppy dog to his new boss - and they could talk about football and stuff…
Speaking of Claire, I notice that she hasn’t been backwards in coming forwards to get her profile up and out there, with a snazzy website, complete with details of PR representation. And as we have seen in previous years, the runners up can come out of the experience better than the winner (witness the Badger/Dewberry outcome of series two).
Inevitably, The Apprentice will be back next year, but has it peaked with this series? Will we see ratings of this magnitude in 2009 or will the audience start to see through the format? I do hope not - as reality TV goes, this is the best of the bunch. And if Nick and Margaret don’t get their own spin-off show - preferably where they investigate crime in picturesque villages - there will be trouble!
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