7.9m see Phillip fired from 'Apprentice'

Last night's episode of The Apprentice performed well for BBC One, according to the latest viewing figures.

7.86m (31.7%) tuned in at 9pm to see Phillip Taylor become the latest candidate to be sacked from the reality series.

The episode drew 400k more viewers than last week's, and charted in first place during the hour. Its nearest rival, Midsomer Murders, averaged 4.03m (17.1%) for ITV1 between 8pm and 10pm.

The final Grand Designs on Channel 4 interested 2.03m (8.2%), and BBC Two's weather documentary Snow took 1.29m (5.2%).

Five's Extraordinary People: The Man Who Shared His Liver, which saw a man donate half of his liver in order to save his mother's life, grabbed 618k (2.5%).

Waterloo Road led the 8pm hour, putting in 4.16m (18.7%) for BBC One. The fourth episode of Channel 4's Embarrassing Bodies was seen by 2.99m (13.4%), and BBC Two's Coast managed 1.51m (6.8%).

Oil Riggers came last during the hour, attracting 733k (3.3%) for Five.

Overall, BBC One came top during primetime with an average share of 22.3% to ITV1's 20.5%. Channel 4 was third with 8.7% (+1: 1,2%), followed by BBC Two with 7.8% and Five's 3%.

Elsewhere, the last in BBC Four documentary series, Mud, Sweat And Tractors: The Story Of Agriculture interested 340k (1.5%) at 9pm, beating ITV2's Gossip Girl, which took a lowly 201k (0.9%).

Ratings data supplied by Attentional