The Apprentice scales new heights with 9m viewers

by Daniel Farey-Jones, Brand Republic 04-Jun-09, 11:00

LONDON - 'The Apprentice' pulled in an impressive 9.2m viewers last night for BBC One as the interview stage whittled down the field from five to two, according to unofficial overnight figures.

It was the best audience for the series so far, beating the 8.9m viewers for last year's final, and gave BBC One a 38.6% share of viewing.

Debra Barr, James McQuillan and Lorriane Tighe were dumped, leaving Kate Walsh and Yasmina Siadatan in the final round, where they will be designing and manufacturing a box of chocolates.

The series concludes on Sunday night at 9pm instead of next Wednesday, due to a clash with the England football World Cup qualifying match against Andorra.

ITV1 was last night's next most watched channel at 9pm-10pm, earning a 12.4% share with 3m tuning in for 'Cops With Cameras'.

Channel 4 followed with another in its documentary series 'Embarrassing Bodies', which was seen by 2.5m and got a 10.5% share. It was watched on Channel 4+1 by 311,000 viewers.

BBC Two's 'Kate Adie Returns to Tiananmen Square' pulled in 1.2m viewers for a 5% share, while Five's 'Extraordinary People: The World's Strongest Toddler' managed 932,000 viewers and a 3.8% share.