In some series they have completely mixed the teams from week 3 like in Series 1 and Series 7. In other series they have swapped three or four people in week 3 like in Series 5, 6 and 8.

In other series they've kept it boys vs girls until Week 4 and then completely mixed up the teams like in Series 4 and 9. In Series 2 however they pretty much kept it boys vs girls until Week 5, bar the PMs being swapped in week 4.

What do you prefer? I think its best when they keep it boys vs girls until they mix the teams up in Week 4.
That's the perfect timeframe in my opinion.

What do you prefer?

I think they should start with mixed teams for a change so 4 men and 4 women in each team. I think the men vs women at start of every series is tired now; if they had mixed teams, they could change things up by about Week 3 or 4 depending if the same team lost first two tasks. I like it when the teams are changed regularly with more than one person being switched two or three times throughout the process like happened in Series 8.

It depends how the teams are doing. If the same team loses both the first two tasks, they have to be mixed in Week 3, or else one team will have an unfair advantage.

But let's look at how it has happened in each series so far:

Series 1 - teams mixed in Week 3, after the women lose the first two tasks.
Series 2 - teams mixed in Week 4, but only by switching the Project Managers around. No specific reason given, but presumably the teams needed a bit of a shuffle, plus Sir Alan knew that Alexa was planning to do it so presents her with more of a challenge.
Series 3 - for some reason, the Project Managers were switched in Week 1.
Series 4 - teams mixed in Week 4, fully.
Series 5 - teams mixed in Week 5, but only by switching a couple of people. There were more boys than girls in that series, incidentally.
Junior Apprentice Series 1 - the Project Managers were switched in Week 2. No reason given.
Series 6 - Stella was moved over to lead the boys in Week 2, because Raleigh had left and they needed to make up numbers.
Series 7 - teams fully mixed in Week 3, after the men lose the first two tasks.
Young Apprentice Series 2 - teams fully mixed in Week 3, after the boys lose the first two tasks.
Series 8 - Teams mixed in Week 3 after the women lose both the first two tasks, but only by moving a couple of people.
Young Apprentice Series 3 - Maria and Steven were swapped for no apparent reason in Week 2.
Series 9 - Tim was shifted to lead the girls in Week 2, but I always presumed that that was just because Lord Sugar wanted to see both him and Kurt lead that task specifically.

What does interest me is that up until Series 6, Series 1 was the only series that the same team lost both the first two tasks, but from Series 7 onwards, that has happened in every series so far! Must just be coincidence, but I think it's a bit of a weird fact...

I think you're confused or that's a typo... The teams were hardly changed at all in Series 8.

Here's in what weeks the teams were shuffled and how many people were moved in the process:

Week 3: 3 people were swapped.
Week 4: 2 people were swapped.
Week 7: 2 people were swapped.
Week 9: 1 person was swapped.
Week 11: 1 person was swapped.

After Week 4, they only swapped the teams to balance up the teams gender- or number- wise.

That's one of the reasons I dislike Series 8 actually. Not enough team reshuffles... I like to see as many people interact with as many people as possible.

Oh and I'd hate it if the teams were mixed from week 1! It's easier to keep track of everyone somehow and get to know who's on which team when it's girls vs boys and that's important when there's sixteen people there!

It was the same in Series 1 - candidates were generally only moved to balance things up. Also in Series 1 and 2, Sir Alan usually let the candidates decide who they wanted to have on their teams, whereas now he just tells them. Also there was very little team shuffling in the first series of Junior Apprentice - Adam and Hannah were swapped in Week 2 and Arjun and Kirsty were swapped in Week 3 and that was it.

I agree with what you said about being mixed from the first week. As a viewer, it would be really hard to keep track on who was on what team in the first week if they did that.

Note: In the whole of Apprentice history, there have only been four candidates who have worked with everyone else from their series on a team. Jim from Series 7, Harry M from YA2, Steven from YA3 and Leah from Series 9.

That's a good point about them being allowed to choose their teams in Series 1 and 2. Also, Jadine was allowed to eject someone from her team in Week 8 (Naomi).

I think they don't want to do that anymore so that the teams are manufactured to be as entertaining as possible or something along those lines.

I don't think the teams were any less entertaining in those days. Also, I don't think Lord Sugar really cares about the entertainment levels. They're still allowed to choose sometimes - like in the ninth episode of Series 8 (sparkling wine).

I think that was really unfair that Jadine chose to eject someone! Why do it like that? It's not exactly pleasant for whoever gets ejected.

I agree about the teams not being any less entertaining. But I'm pretty sure it's the producers who decide who switches teams these days?....

Is that a guess, or do you have that sourced from somewhere? They might make suggestions, but I'm sure Lord Sugar gets the final say, just as he presumably chooses who the Project Managers are as well.

I highly doubt it. I definitely think that that is the producers' area of decision-making... Lord Sugar gets to do the hiring and firing.

Yeah, sorry, the way I worded that didn't make sense. I meant Series 8 and 9 had too little changes in teams. I think this let these series down as well. I think Series 5, 7 or Junior Apprentice Series 2 had the most team reshuffles which kept it interesting.

I think it's more difficult when there's a team filled with only men or women because some of them just blend in to background and you can't differentiate or don't know who they are until teams are mixed up.

I prefer the teams to be mixed up as soon as possible. Maybe keep it men vs women for the first two tasks and then do a complete reshuffle, or just randomly start mixing them from the start like when they switch the team leaders. Having just 1 female/male on a team full of the opposite gender seems to lead to interesting results.

Maybe they could do it more strategic. If some candidates were in the background for a task then maybe switch them to the opposite team to see if they fair any better with different people or are just not very pro-active.

He split up Paul and Saira because they couldn't get on, although admittedly that was back in the first series. I just think he has as much vested interest in seeing how people perform with who as the producers do, if not more. And ultimately I think that he gets final decisions over pretty much everything that goes on, because otherwise the point of the show about 'him being in charge', a crucial point, would be lost.

What kind of things are you talking about that you think lord Sugar has a say over? I honestly don't think he has as much control as it's made out to be. He has never claimed to be in charge of anything apart from the decisions over who's fired and hired.

Okay, here is what I know for sure:

He was the one who changed the format from a job to a business investment.
He changed the title of Junior Apprentice to Young Apprentice, apparently out of respect for the candidates who he said were 'not junior to anyone'.
He demanded to be allowed to do double-firings from Series 2 onwards, after the incident with Syed and Alexa. This is why there have been more than fourteen candidates since then.
I am also fairly sure that whilst the producers make the initial decision on candidate selection, when it is down to the last thirty or something he is allowed a voice in choosing the sixteen - I'm not 100% sure on that, but I remember reading it somewhere.

It really is not in the producers' interest not to listen to what he wants, because he's a crucial part of the show, and if he decided to stop, they'd lose a lot of money on that. He has always struck me as someone who wouldn't just bend to what a television company wants. And the programme is entertaining enough anyway that there would just be no point in the producers pulling rank over him. That's what I think, I could be wrong of course.

He'd have to run all of those things past the producers. He would have had to suggest them all perhaps with varying degrees of force. He is not the executive producer. Ultimately I still believe that a producer has the final say in everything apart from the hirings and firings. I am sure Sugar knew what he was letting himself in for when he signed up to do the show. Unless you have some concrete proof in the form of links that he was the ultimate decision-maker on all of those things.

I think you may have misunderstood what I was saying. I'm not saying that he is the one who officially makes those decisions. The producers do that in an official sense, but I'd imagine a great deal of those decisions are either suggested by him in the first place, or run by him first. After all, if he wasn't happy he'd leave. And if that's the case, then in a way he is the one who has that control.