Ratings: 'The Apprentice' cooks up 8.3m on BBC One

[dutchman]

The penultimate episode of The Apprentice series seven entertained 8.3m on Wednesday night, the latest audience data has revealed.



The Apprentice continued with 8.31m (33.7%) on BBC One in the 9pm hour, as Natasha Scribbins missed out on a place in the final after blundering in the fast food challenge. The episode peaked at 8.98m (35.6%) for Lord Sugar's decision to ditch Scribbins. Spinoff show The Apprentice: You're Fired! appealed to 3.37m (16.2%) on BBC Two from 10pm and 237k (1.1%) on the BBC HD channel.

The Glee Project, a US talent show seeking the next star of Glee, launched with 323k (1.6%) on Sky1 in the 8pm hour. A second episode of the show mustered 204k (0.8%) from 9pm.

Back on BBC One, The Great British Weather Project debuted with 4.09m (21.7%) between 7.30pm and 8.30pm, outperforming The Unforgettable Leonard Rossiter's 3.3m (17.6%) on ITV1 from 7.30pm. Crime drama Lewis mustered 3.61m (16.1%) between 8pm and 10pm, along with 212k (1%) on ITV1+1.

Comedy In With The Flynns continued with 3.02m (14.6%) on BBC One from 8.30pm and Not Going Out amused 2.05m (15.7%) from 10.45pm.

The Culture Show managed only 370k (2%) on BBC Two in the 7pm hour, before a repeat of Top Gear revved up 1.5m (7.4%) from 8pm. Italy's Bloodiest Mafia captivated 1.45m (5.9%) in the 9pm hour.

Over at Channel 4, Jo Frost: Extreme Parental Guidance attracted 1.69m (8.4%) in the 8pm hour and 124k (0.5%) on +1. 24 Hours in A&E grabbed 2.12m (8.6%) from 9pm and 323k (1.8%) on timeshift. 8 Out Of 10 Cats appealed to 1.11m (5.9%) from 10pm and 115k (1.2%) an hour later.

Garden ER premiered with 836k (4.6%) on Channel 5 from 7.30pm, before The Removal Men: Pickfords was seen by 1.05m (5.3%) in the 8pm hour. NCIS had 1.2m (4.8%) from 9pm, and then a screening of The Contractor mustered 915k (6.5%) from 10pm.

Overall, BBC One owned primetime with 23.6% against ITV1's 16.6% (+1: 0.7%). BBC Two came in third with 7.1%, followed by Channel 4 with 6.7% (+1: 0.9%) and Channel 5 with 4.6%.

Elsewhere, Tour De France 2011 Highlights rode away with 591k (3.3%) on ITV4 in the 7pm hour. New comedy Franklin and Bash entertained just 222k (1.2%) on E4 from 10pm.

BARB ratings data supplied by Attentional