The Apprentice (2004)

Game-Show · Reality-TV

The ultimate sixteen-week job interview where eighteen Americans compete in a series of rigorous business tasks, many of which include prominent Fortune 500 companies and require street smarts and intelligence to conquer, in order to show the boss that they are the best candidate for his companies. In each episode, the losing team is sent to the boardroom where they are judged on their performance in the task. One person is fired and sent home.

IMDb rating: 4.3 (12,072 votes)
Episode average: 4.0 -0.3 vs IMDb
Seasons: 15
Streaming (US): Amazon Prime Video
Language: EN
Type: TV series

Slow burn trajectory: later seasons lift off. Rising Shows ranks whole shows by the shape of their rating trend rather than one average score, which is how you find a show that got better rather than a show that started well. See every Slow burn show in the explorer →

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Ratings refreshed Oct 3, 2026 · 15 seasons indexed

Cast

Arnold Schwarzenegger Self - Host

Seasons

Season 1 (2004)

3.54 avg 16 episodes 4.7 → 3.2 42 min avg

Season 1 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Meet the Billionaire	4.7	210
2	Sex, Lies and Altitude	4.2	153
3	Respect	3.9	133
4	Ethics Shmethics	3.4	121
5	Trading Places	3.4	114
6	Tit for Tat	3.4	109
7	Dupe-lex	3.5	110
8	Ice Escapades	3.3	107
9	DNA, Heads and the Undead Kitty	3.4	103
10	Wheeling and Dealing	3.2	103
11	A Look Back	3.0	104
12	Circus, Circus	3.4	103
13	The Price Is Height	3.3	97
14	Down to the Wire: Part 1	3.6	102
15	Down to the Wire: Part 2	3.7	111
16	Down to the Wire: Part 3	3.2	95

Season 2 (2004)

3.36 avg 15 episodes 3.7 → 3.5 46 min avg

Season 2 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Toying with Disaster	3.7	93
2	Scoop Dreams	3.5	81
3	Send in the Crowns	3.6	78
4	The Last Supper	3.6	78
5	Lights! Camera! Transaction!	3.5	74
6	Crimes of Fashion	3.5	73
7	Barking Up the Wrong Tree	3.5	69
8	A Tale of Two Leaders	3.5	69
9	Bringing Down the House	3.1	65
10	Runaway Pride	3.0	68
11	The Butt Stops Here	3.1	67
12	The Pepsi Challenged	3.2	65
13	Sweet and Lowdown	3.1	66
14	Intellectual Horsepower	3.0	65
15	Decision Time	3.5	72

Season 3 (2005)

3.28 avg 18 episodes 3.4 → 3.4 43 min avg

Season 3 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Whopper 101	3.4	71
2	Motel 666	3.5	65
3	Trouble Is Brewing	3.2	60
4	Soap Dopes	3.6	63
5	Airstream of Consciousness	3.6	62
6	The Writing on the Wall	3.3	58
7	Project Putt Putt	3.3	59
8	Bling It On	3.2	62
9	What You Didn't See	3.0	57
10	Pandora's Box	3.2	58
11	The Pie's the Limit	3.3	58
12	Seams Stress	3.2	59
13	A Lonely Drive	3.4	62
14	I Can't Believe It's Not Clutter	3.4	60
15	Bedazzled by a Beefy T	3.1	59
16	The Games People Play	3.0	57
17	Into the Stretch: Part 1	2.9	182
18	Into the Stretch: Part 2	3.4	62

Season 4 (2005)

3.34 avg 14 episodes 3.4 → 3.5 45 min avg

Season 4 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Let's Get Physical	3.4	60
2	There's No 'I' in Team	3.4	58
3	Something Old, Something New	3.3	54
4	Ice Cream of Genie	3.4	54
5	Lost in Space	3.3	56
6	Take Me Out to the Boardroom	3.5	55
7	Back to School	3.5	53
8	Store Wars	3.3	50
9	One Hit Blunder	3.3	53
10	Clip Show	3.1	50
11	Shaniagans	3.5	55
12	To Lead or Not to Lead	3.1	49
13	The Final Showdown	3.2	50
14	Season Finale	3.5	53

Season 5 (2006)

3.77 avg 15 episodes 4.1 → 3.8 43 min avg

Season 5 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Summer of Sam's	4.1	56
2	The Razor's Edge	3.8	49
3	Get It in Gear	3.7	51
4	Cereal Killers	3.8	49
5	Cruise Control	3.8	50
6	King of the Jingle	3.9	51
7	It's More Than Décor	3.6	49
8	A Slice of Heaven	3.9	51
9	Assault on Battery	3.8	49
10	Blow Out	3.8	49
11	Back to School	3.8	49
12	Backs Against the Wal-Mart	3.9	52
13	Who Wears the Pants?	3.6	47
14	The Final Battle	3.3	46
15	Season Finale	3.8	53

Season 6 (2007)

4.05 avg 14 episodes 4.4 → 4.2 45 min avg

Season 6 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	To Have and Have Not	4.4	61
2	Pink Is the New Black	3.9	49
3	Hollywood Walk of Shame	4.0	51
4	Drive-Thru Duel	3.7	47
5	To Bee or Not to Bee	3.7	46
6	Travel Sweepstakes Smackdown	4.1	50
7	Life in the Luxury Lane	4.4	51
8	Bend It Like Donald	3.6	49
9	Soap Gets in Your Eyes	4.1	51
10	Girls on Rollerskates	3.9	49
11	Shut Your Smartmouth	4.1	51
12	Las Vegas, Baby!	4.3	50
13	The Final Four	4.3	54
14	Decision Time	4.2	53

Season 7 (2008)

4.43 avg 13 episodes 4.6 → 4.1 54 min avg

Rollercoaster

Season 7 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Task: Selling Hot Dogs	4.6	104
2	Its All About Business 101	4.3	98
3	Mr. Outside the Box	4.8	63
4	A Knight on Broadway	4.5	64
5	The Croc and the Rat	5.0	104
6	Window of Opportunity	4.3	92
7	The Mane Event	4.5	57
8	Quality, Value and Chaos	4.6	57
9	The Money Shot	3.8	86
10	Painting by Numbers	4.7	69
11	Bread and Badda-Bing	4.7	59
12	Going Once, Going Twice, You're Fired	3.7	89
13	Under the Hammer	4.1	96

Season 8 (2009)

4.54 avg 11 episodes 4.7 → 4.4 126 min avg

Season 8 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Cupcake Challenge	4.7	76
2	Comic Book Character Challenge	4.6	59
3	Wedding Dress Challenge	4.7	63
4	Video Camera Challenge	4.6	60
5	Hotel Challenge	4.7	67
6	Viral Video Challenge	4.2	55
7	Life Lock and Jewelry Challenges	4.5	55
8	Jewelry Auction Challenge	4.5	59
9	Deodorant Ad Challenge	4.5	53
10	Ad Jingle Challenge	4.5	54
11	The Final Challenge	4.4	53

Season 9 (2010)

4.40 avg 11 episodes 4.7 → 4.2 85 min avg

Season 9 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Diner Task	4.7	67
2	Kodak Task	4.4	59
3	Episode #9.3	3.9	57
4	Episode #9.4	4.3	56
5	Shooting with the Stars	4.4	59
6	Music Makeover	4.6	61
7	Episode #9.7	4.5	57
8	Episode #9.8	4.4	56
9	Episode #9.9	4.4	53
10	Episode #9.10	4.6	56
11	Episode #9.11	4.2	54

Season 10 (2010)

4.06 avg 13 episodes 4.3 → 3.8 43 min avg

Season 10 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Episode #10.1	4.3	51
2	Episode #10.2	4.1	43
3	Episode #10.3	4.0	45
4	Snack Attack	4.4	44
5	Rock the Catwalk	4.2	44
6	Pedicab Confessions	4.2	44
7	Broadway Boardroom	4.0	44
8	Dressed to Kill	4.2	44
9	Episode #10.9	4.0	43
10	Must-See Mobile TV	3.9	44
11	Driving Miz-Rahi	3.8	41
12	Tee'd Off	3.9	41
13	Welcome to the Club	3.8	42

Season 11 (2011)

4.75 avg 12 episodes 5.0 → 4.5 89 min avg

Season 11 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Pepperoni Profit	5.0	91
2	Child's Play	4.9	65
3	Unhappy Campers	4.8	63
4	Off the Hook	4.7	59
5	The Art of the Deal	5.0	75
6	Australian Gold	4.7	58
7	Raising the Steaks	4.8	60
8	Bitter Suites	4.6	57
9	Shear Madness	4.6	54
10	Laugh On	4.7	53
11	Retro Rumble	4.7	54
12	7Up Finale Part 2: Sweet Victory	4.5	54

Season 12 (2012)

4.56 avg 14 episodes 4.8 → 4.5 89 min avg

Season 12 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	Hero Worship	4.8	72
2	Getting Medieval	4.8	61
3	How Much is That Celebrity in the Window?	4.5	58
4	Failure to Launch	4.5	57
5	I'm Going to Mop the Floor with You	4.5	54
6	Party Like a Mock-Star	4.5	58
7	Walking Papers	4.4	87
8	Ad Hawk	4.6	64
9	Puppet Up!	4.7	53
10	Winning by a Nose	4.6	52
11	Jingle All the Way Home	4.6	54
12	Blown Away	4.4	61
13	And Then There Were Two	4.4	48
14	And the Winner Is ...	4.5	51

Season 13 (2013)

4.60 avg 12 episodes 4.9 → 4.2 78 min avg

Season 13 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	The Wolf in Charge of the Hen House	4.9	110
2	Just as Simple as Making Soup	4.7	58
3	I'm Being Punked by a Jackson	4.7	61
4	Men in Black Are Gonna Come Get Him	4.6	54
5	Lightning Strikes Mr. Hang Brain	4.7	56
6	How Do You Spell Melania	4.5	52
7	The First Leaf That Hits the Ground	4.6	52
8	Are You My Zulu Dancing Man?	4.7	55
9	Ahab's in Charge, and He's Gone Mad	4.6	56
10	The Mayor of Stress Town	4.6	56
11	May the Spoon Be with You	4.4	53
12	One of Us Will Win, But Not by Much	4.2	53

Season 14 (2015)

4.61 avg 9 episodes 4.7 → 4.5 51 min avg

Season 14 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	May the Gods of Good Pies Be with Us	4.7	77
2	Nobody Out Thinks Donald Trump	4.6	63
3	A Family Affair	4.7	59
4	I Wish I Had a Project Manager	4.8	61
5	It's Like a Booze Cruise with Knowledge	4.7	54
6	Who Stole My Phone?	4.9	64
7	Universal Wizards	4.6	53
8	Top Feuds, Firings and Fails	4.0	36
9	Live Finale: A New Celebrity Apprentice Is Crowned	4.5	63

Season 15 (2017)

4.16 avg 7 episodes 5.2 → 3.7 44 min avg

Front-loaded

Season 15 episodes - IMDb ratings
#	Title	Rating	Votes
1	In Here You Call Me Governor	5.2	161
2	Fire Up That Chopper	4.6	108
3	Candy for a Billionaire	4.4	99
4	Scissors and Some Creativity	4.2	96
5	I'm Going Full Ballmer	3.5	90
6	Bon Voyage	3.5	86
7	I Don't Have Time for Anyone's Ego Except My Own	3.7	188

The Apprentice (2004)

Cast

Seasons

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