episodes of the programme that had been commissioned. After the first series of the British version proved to be a success, Sir Alan signed on for subsequent series. Format Candidate selection The show's initial stage, which is not filmed, focuses on open auditions and interviews held across the country; this stage searches for the candidates for a series before filming of it begins, which often attracts thousands of applicants. A second round will usually be held in London for a small percentage of applicants, who divide into groups and are asked to do various exercises to test their business skills and to gauge how they work as a team. Following this, between 20 and 30 applicants are chosen and given an assessment by a psychologist, receiving further checks by the production team and providing them with references, before the final line-up is selected from this group and filming can begin. The number of candidates who appear in a series has varied over the show's history, though the general arrangement is that each series always consists of a balanced number of men and women when it begins. Tasks Once the candidates are selected, they are divided into teams and given a series of business-themed tasks – every series focuses on ten team-oriented tasks, with the exception of the seventh and eighth series where it was eleven. Each episode covers a single task, which is designed to test candidates on important business skills – salesmanship, negotiation, requisitioning, strategy, leadership, teamwork, and organisation. Before each task is given, the teams are briefed by Sugar over what kind of challenge they will be conducting, what rules they must adhere to during the timespan of the task, and the conditions for winning – an example of this could be that they must buy supplies on a limited budget, convert them into a product, and then sell their creation all within a single day, with the win determined on who makes the highest profit from their concept. Before a task begins, each team must assign a project manager (PM) to lead them, whose roles involves denoting each member's role on the task, tackle the important key decisions, and manage team members carefully to avoid potential friction and disruptions. The role of PM is mainly chosen by the team – the choice, decided on a vote, can be influenced by factors, the most common being a candidate's