Ambitious entrepreneurs start their fight for a life-changing investment.

The candidates must create a new shampoo brand and design an advertising campaign for it.

The candidates must find nine items and negotiate the best possible price.

The candidates try to tap into one of the UK's biggest markets - pet products.

Each team is tasked with creating their own children's book, including a written and audio version, and selling their creations to retailers around London. Connexus create a story around a dragon character, but face issues from an indecisive leader, rushed production on the audio version, and poor salespeople, alongside concerns the literature of their creation is too complex for the task's specified age group. Versatile create a story around a bee character, managing efficient production of both versions, receiving good feedback on their creation and good sales from retailers, despite friction between some members of the team.

Each team is tasked with running their own DIY business, securing work around London alongside one of two contracts arranged by Lord Sugar.

Both teams are tasked with running their own discount shop within a shopping mall in Manchester

Both teams become party planners, creating a fun-filled children's party for their respective client, using their £2,000 budget to arrange food, events and gifts

Teams become property agents, as each handle the sale of new, under development mid and high-end properties around London, making commissions on successful sales

Healthy eating is the basis of the next task, as each team comes up with a brand new range of healthy snacks, pitching their creations to retailers.

As this year's series of The Apprentice draws closer to its finale, this special episode takes a look at profiling the true story behind the five remaining candidates. Discussing their backgrounds, experiences, personality, and strengths and weaknesses, are a selection of each candidate's friends, family and colleagues, as well as Lord Sugar's aides, Claude Littner and Karren Brady.

After facing ten tasks as teams, the five remaining candidates now compete as individuals in their next task – a series of tough, gruelling interviews with four of Lord Sugar's most trusted associates

As the final looms, Lord Sugar takes a look back to the tasks he set for this year's series of The Apprentice. From an unexpected resignation and making disastrous health snacks, to shampoo branding and selling pet accessories, he relives all of the mistakes, doomed decisions, and other notable events that occurred during the process, and provides his reasons behind each firing he made amongst the candidates for the process, which ultimately whittle them down to the two finalists for this series.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

A new group of candidates set off on their first task - selling collectables at Wimbledon Car Boot Sale.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

Lords Sugar sets the candidates a task in which they must design and manufacture their own brand of sweets, before heading to Brighton to sell them.

The teams have to introduce a new product line to promote and sell in the world-famous department store, Liberty of London. They must also run a personal shopping service for some of London's most discerning shoppers.

Lord Sugar wants the candidates to help secure investment for someone else. They must help two entrepreneurs launch their new cycling product and get the public to invest through crowdfunding.

Lord Sugar sends the candidates out to work the night shift. They have to stay awake, find nine items, negotiate the best possible price and be back at the Shard by 6am. The team that spends the least amount of money will win the task.

Lord Sugar instructs the candidates to tap into one of the UK's biggest markets - the boating and leisure industry. The task is simple, pick the right products and sell them at Poole Harbour Boat Show.

The candidates are summoned to the National Portrait Gallery, where Lord Sugar instructs them to organise an exclusive late-night event at two of London's biggest tourist attractions - the London Aquarium and Madame Tussauds. In under 36 hours, each team must organise and host an event to remember, keeping an eye on profits but also pleasing the punters. From setting up refreshments and entertainment to making sure they sell enough tickets to fill their venue, both teams have a challenge on their hands.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

As the teams move into week 10, the remaining candidates are summoned to the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich. Here Lord Sugar sets them the task of creating and producing the spirit of the moment - gin. With the final in sight, the candidates are all desperate to impress. However, one team gets a little carried away with the taste testing, getting tipsy before the day has even begun, while on the other team, their pitches hit rock bottom when a key retailer reveals they don't like the colour, taste or branding of the gin. One candidate is left with a bitter taste in their mouth when the rest of the team turns against them, and tempers reach boiling point. Who will be fired?

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

We don't have an overview translated in English. Help us expand our database by adding one.

The two finalists receive a call summoning them to London's City Hall. Lord Sugar informs them that their final task is to launch their business by creating a brand and unveiling their campaign in front of a packed audience full of industry experts. A few old faces return as the two finalists choose key colleagues to try to help them secure the £250,000 investment, and it is straight to work as they set out to build a brand, make a TV advert and create a company fit for Lord Sugar. In the boardroom, business plans are evaluated and ad campaigns are assessed, but there can only one winner. It is heartbreak for one and ecstasy for the other, as Lord Sugar finally picks his next business partner.

Alan Sugar begins another search for a business partner, challenging a new group of candidates to design and manufacture their own burgers to sell to the public in London. Chaos in the kitchen throws one team into disarray, while the other team wastes valuable time deciding how to label their product. Back in the boardroom, tensions rise as the candidates face Lord Sugar for the first time.

The candidates are summoned to Stoke Park, a five-star hotel in Buckinghamshire, where they learn that this week's challenge will see them working as interior designers. The contestants are tasked with transforming a bedroom at the hotel, before pitching their ideas to the hotel manager and a leading interior designer. However, both teams encounter troublesome DIY issues, and their concepts are picked apart during the daunting pitches. Back in the boardroom, Lord Sugar sends another contestant from the losing team home.

This week, Lord Sugar summons the contestants to London's new Design Museum, where the teams find out that they are to create, programme and sell a prototype robot. The boys team create a product targeting the over 60s market, but their patronising approach does not impress the retailers. Meanwhile, the girls opt for the children's market, but an appalling pitch sees their team in melt down.

As the competition continues, Lord Sugar instructs the candidates that this week's task is to set up and run a corporate box, and sell merchandise to the masses at the Women's FA Cup Final at Wembley Stadium in London. The team members chosen to organise the boxes meet their match when they come face to face with the clients and their negative comments. The following day at the big game, guests in one of the corporate boxes are unhappy as supplies run dry, while those selling merchandise outside struggle with last minute pricing strategies.

As Lord Sugar celebrates his 70th birthday, the contestants are tasked to a shopping spree across London to purchase items that mark milestones in his life and career. The candidates have one day to find nine specific items at the best possible price, before meeting at the House of Lords. For one team, there is confusion over the mystery object, while poor planning leaves the other team lagging behind. In the boardroom, Lord Sugar gives out warnings, as well as hefty fines, before sending one contestant home.

Alan Sugar sends the candidates off to Bruges to create a high-quality tour of the beautiful Belgian city that passengers would be happy to pay good money for. The teams also try to flog souvenirs to guests to top up their profit margins, but as they sell the tickets, there's jostling between candidates for sales and overpromising on what the tour groups will get, which could lead to major disappointment. The next day on the tours, facts are forgotten, candidates get their groups lost and, with time tight, one of them keeps cracking the whip on what's supposed to be a relaxed tourist experience.

Candidates have to create advertising campaigns for a new car in Essex, splitting into two teams - one half producing a television advert and the other creating a digital billboard advert. For one of the groups, a confusing car name and a strange choice of advertisement location causes them difficulty, while the others are led off course by a lack of direction. The finished campaigns are pitched to industry experts, before Lord Sugar eliminates one candidate from the competition.

Alan Sugar tasks the candidates with running their own doggy service business. Based at an established pooch-pampering venue, the teams must try to tempt discerning dog owners to part with their cash for services aimed at their four-legged friends. One team sets up a luxury doggy spa service, while the other struggles to make their dog obedience class profitable due to a haphazard pricing strategy and, back in the boardroom, another candidate's journey reaches an end.

Lord Sugar tasks the candidates with cooking up a concept for a new recipe kit. Half-baked branding and kitchen nightmares result in sour pitches. Then in the boardroom, one candidate is toast.

This week, Lord Sugar tasks the remaining contestants to become fashion agents, and sell a range of garments from up and coming designers. The teams have to select a designer, then plan and organise a catwalk show, as well as put together a magazine cover to amplify their sales campaign. Bad negotiations leave one team exposed, while the other team's magazine pitch does not go down well.

Profiles of the remaining candidates, delving into their backgrounds, as well as looking back over their journeys in the process so far.

This time, the final five candidates are summoned to Lord Sugar's newly refurbished offices in the City of London. There they are joined by some of Lord Sugar's closest associates, ready to put the candidates through their paces in a series of tough interviews, with each candidate going head to head with a business heavyweight in an attempt to prove their worth. There are tears, tantrums and turmoil, as confidence crumbles, egos are eradicated and business plans are pulverised, before heading back to the boardroom to face Lord Sugar once more.

Ahead of the final, Lord Sugar looks back on the tasks from this year's series and assesses the candidates' performances. The business tycoon also looks back on the boardroom bust-ups and goes through the best decisions made by the contestants, as well as the worst - including five-star hotel rooms painted in shades of trifle, modern cars in medieval villages and getting lost while showing paying customers around Bruges.

The two finalists take on their last challenge to win a coveted investment from Alan Sugar, with hand-picked teams of contestants from the series returning to aid them in their endeavours. They face a three-day challenge to create brands and adverts to pitch to a room full of experts - but a poor commercial and an uninspiring brand name do neither candidate any favours. Last in the series.

The business-based reality show returns, with 16 candidates hoping to scoop a £250,000 investment from Alan Sugar. The multimillionaire sends the fresh batch of hopefuls to Valletta - capital city of Malta - for their first task, with his trusted advisers Karren Brady and Claude Littner following their every move. Their task is to bag nine Maltese items for the lowest possible prices before reuniting back at the airport. One team quickly hits the road, but they are clearly on the wrong scent, while fiery personality clashes over negotiations soon rock the boat on the other team.

The candidates are challenged to create a brand-new comic aimed at children, before pitching their ideas to leading industry figures to secure orders. The task balances creative flair with productive pitching and the team that forgets either could face a graphic showdown in the boardroom. On the story teams, while one PM takes an assertive lead, the other's sub team leader seems to lose the plot. When creating their Augmented Reality front covers, the girls run riot, while the boys team struggles to make a move.

Lord Sugar summons the candidates to an 18th-century tidal mill in the heart of London's East End. For the third task, the candidates must manufacture and sell upmarket doughnuts to both a corporate client and the public.

The candidates are challenged to sell high-end products and services at one of the world's largest bodybuilding expos based at the NEC in Birmingham. The contestants clash over which team will get to sell top notch weights, and on the services side, the low-costs massages mean the team are hard pressed all day.

The candidates congregate at London’s Adelphi Theatre, home to hit musical Kinky Boots. Hot on their heels is Lord Sugar with a challenge for them to put their best foot forward in the world of ladies’ shoe design. Candidates must create and market a brand new shoe, along with putting together an event to launch and sell their product to major industry players.

The candidates are summoned to London City Airport, where Lord Sugar sets them the task of devising a marketing campaign for a brand new budget airline. They need to come up with a distinctive brand, make a 30-second TV advert and design a uniform that flies the flag for their new airline.

Lord Sugar summons the candidates to Crossrail’s leafy roof garden, nestled above the new Elizabeth Line station in Canary Wharf, where he sets them a gardening task. The teams must set up their own urban gardening business, carrying out commercial and domestic jobs across London. On day one, both PM teams visit corporate clients to pitch a plan and secure a price for a large rooftop renovation.

Lord Sugar instructs the candidates to head north to Scotland, meeting at Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum in Glasgow, where they are tasked with becoming art dealers, selecting a contemporary artist’s work to sell at their very own gallery event. To top up takings, teams must also make merchandise adorned with their chosen artist’s work. The team that generates the most money from art commission and merchandise sales are the winners.

Lord Sugar summons the remaining candidates to TV Centre in west London, the iconic former headquarters of the BBC. On arrival, the teams are tasked with their most pressurised challenge yet. In just ten hours they will be selling live to the nation on one of Britain’s leading TV shopping channels. Teams must tune in to the best products to sell, as well as direct a promo to boost sales of one of their items. The team that generates the most sales will win.

Lord Sugar pays the six remaining candidates a flying visit, challenging them to cash in on the lucrative Christmas market.

An in-depth look at the final five candadiates, featuring interviews from family, friends and loved ones, as well as Lord Sugar’s trusted aides Baroness Brady and Claude Littner.

The final five candidates face the scrutiny of Lord Sugar’s most trusted advisors, who are primed to put each of their business plans under the microscope.

Lord Sugar looks back at the candidates who fell before the final hurdle and the tasks that took them to the brink, with the help of some previously unseen boardroom moments.

Lord Sugar summons the finalists to the heart of London’s financial district to set them their final challenge in their attempt to win his £250,000 investment. For their last chance to convince Lord Sugar they are worthy of his cash, each finalist must launch their business. Invited back to aid the two finalists are some of this year’s fired candidates.

In an intensive three-day challenge, the finalists must create a new brand for their company, produce a digital screen for the London Underground and direct and edit a television advert before pitching to Lord Sugar and a room full of industry experts at London’s City Hall.

Back in the boardroom, after 12 tough weeks, Lord Sugar declares who wins.

Lord Sugar kicks off the new series with a task like no other. Sixteen candidates are sent to South Africa to set up wine and safari tours.

The teams are challenged to create, manufacture and sell their own ranges of ice lollies.

The teams are sent back to school as Lord Sugar reveals that for this week’s task they will be creating a toy for 6-8-year-olds.

Lord Sugar summons the candidates to the London Transport Museum, where they learn that this week’s task is to create and sell their own range of electric bikes.

Lord Sugar sends the candidates to the historic university cities of Oxford and Cambridge, where they will attempt to procure nine items that are associated with both places.

Lord Sugar challenges the candidates to create and market a new rollercoaster.

The candidates must create an advertising campaign to persuade UK tourists to visit Finland. Finland is known as a winter destination, but this campaign must entice us to visit during the summer.

The teams host a corporate away day onboard the iconic Belmond British Pullman train.

Lord Sugar challenges the candidates to act as talent managers. They must audition unsigned musicians, choose which one to represent, then head to a studio to create a remix of one of their tracks.

Lord Sugar asks the candidates to don their lab coats and goggles as he challenges them to create and sell their own perfume.

The five remaining candidates are put under the microscope, revealing the real people behind the business wear.

The final five candidates go head to head with Lord Sugar's advisors as they present their business plans and face the bigwigs' scrutiny.

With the final just days away and Lord Sugar on the cusp of choosing his new business partner, we look back on the candidates who fell before the final hurdle.

To convince Lord Sugar they’re worthy of his cash, the last two candidates must now launch their businesses, with a little help from some of those who were fired.