Website: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/theapprenti ... ealed.html15 'Apprentice' candidates revealed
The identities of the fifteen contestants taking part in this year's Apprentice have been revealed.
Eight females and seven males will compete for a job working with multi-millionaire Sir Alan Sugar in the business-based reality show. The series kicks off on March 25 on BBC One.
This year's hopefuls include a city stockbroker, a teacher, an award-winning restaurant owner and an ex-professional footballer.
Sugar's no-nonsense advisers Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford will return, while spinoff show The Apprentice: You're Fired! hosted by Adrian Chiles is also back on Wednesday nights.
The list of contestants in full:
Anita Shah - A 35-year-old business strategist from Birmingham. She is a cricket fanatic and law graduate, who wants to one day create a business "providing emotional, psychological and spiritual therapy". She describes herself as a "humanitarian with a Bridget Jones alter-ego".
Debra Barr - A 24-year-old senior sales consultant from Surrey. Awarded the 'Mouth Of The Year' prize at her office Christmas party, Debra admits to being "tenacious". She battled with illiteracy in her youth, but went on to get a English literature BA. Her business heroes are Bill Gates and Richard Branson.
Kate Walsh - A licensing development manager from Hampshire, Kate is an indie music fan with a passion for snowboarding, cooking and the gym. She admires Sex & The City's Samantha's approach to business. "My CV speaks for itself," says the 27-year-old BSc graduate.
Kimberly Davis - Born in the Bronx, Kimberly now works as a marketing consultant in London. Her first business was at the age of five when she sold lemonade from an iced-tea stand. The 33-year-old New Yorker has performed Mozart at Carnegie Hall and performed on stage on Disney Land and Disney World. "I bring honesty to the table. I don't lie, cheat or backstab," she says.
Lorraine Tighe - A 36-year-old national accounts manager, who is a mother-of-two. She left school at 16, but claims to have been the top sales person at every company she's worked for. She admires Victoria Beckham for being resourceful with "not much talent", and claims her career has been a battle "against the odds".
Mona Lewis - A 28-year-old senior financial manager, who was previously a Tanzanian beauty queen. She is a mother-of-one and considers herself a shrewd and honest worker. She wants to appear on The Apprentice to go outside of her comfort zone. "I knew I would be selected," she says.
Paula Jones - A 29-year-old human resources consultant from Walsall. She is a fashion conscious academic, who enjoys interior design. She admits to being a "scatter brain" and "shying away from conflict". A former four-star sergeant in the army cadets, she represented the army at county level in shooting.
Yasmina Siadatan - A restaurant owner in London, Yasmina has spent time in Hull, Los Angeles and Iran. She describes herself as "dominating yet adaptable" and cites Richard Branson as a business hero. The 27-year-old says she would have loved to have been the brains behind Microsoft.
Ben Clarke - A 22-year-old trainee stockbroker, Ben admits to being ruthless and money-obsessed. He has worked as a Gavin Henson lookalike and describes himself as "cocky". He is inspired by Hugh Hefner's Playboy brand and believes "making money is better than sex".
Howard Ebison - A 24-year-old retail business manager from Derby, Howard is a dancer, self-trained musician and area manager at ten pubs. He claims to be "family orientated" but "ambitious". He wants to one day set up his own consultancy specialising in customer service.
James McQuillan - A 32-year-old self-styled "schmoozer", who works as a senior commercial manager. A former child chess champion, doorman and trolley collector, he says that Al Pacino and J.K. Rowling are his inspirational figures. He admits to suffering from "foot in mouth syndrome" and says he would love to have been the brains behind the A-Team.
Majid Nagra - A 28 year-old business development manager from Coventry, Maj is a "reformed rebel". Expelled from school for wayward behaviour, he now works in youth centres and charities while running his own car hire service. He describes himself as "funny" and "talkative".
Noorul Choudhury - A science teacher from Rochdale, Noorul wants to become a property developer millionaire. He claims to be a straight-talking leader and says that he always puts work first. The 33-year-old believes business is a "dog eat dog game that you must play to win".
Phillip Taylor - A 29-year-old from Country Durham, who claims to be "confident and charming". He works as an estate agent and confesses to being a "control freak". He says, "Business is the new rock 'n' roll and I'm Elvis Presley."
Rocky Andrews - The youngest contestant at 21, Rocky runs a 15-store sandwich chain in the North of England. He was a footballer at Middlesbrough United, but was diagnosed with arthritis, bringing his career to an early halt. He believes business is about "hard work" and "learning from these mistakes".
Website: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/showbiz/a15 ... sugar.htmlTen Things You Never Knew About Sir Alan Sugar
Sir Alan Sugar will kick off the fifth series of The Apprentice tonight, launching a hunt for a new £100,000-a-year employee. The East End entrepreneur has been one the country's most successful businessmen during the last 30 years as the founder of Amstrad and one-time owner of Tottenham Hotspur football club. But what do you really know about Sir Alan beyond his fierce reputation and boardroom battles? Here's ten tantalising facts about the bearded millionaire that you may not have heard.
1. Sir Alan was born in Hackney on March 24 in 1947 to Fay and Nathan Sugar. At the age of 13 he was already making more money than his dad, who was a tailor, by boiling beetroots, making ginger beer and selling photographic film to school friends.
2. Sugar is a qualified pilot with 30 years of experience. He apparently owns a Cirrus SR20 four-seat aircraft, based at Stapleford Airfield. Very flash!
3. TV fame obviously runs in Sugar's family. His niece is Rita Simons, who plays Roxy Mitchell in EastEnders.
4. Sir Alan is patriotic when it comes to The Apprentice. Speaking about Donald Trump's US version, Sugar said: "When you're on a winner, you stick to the winner. You polish it and enhance it and try to make it more interesting to the public...they've made the fatal error of trying to change things just for the sake of it and it backfired."
5. Sir Alan famously said that he didn't like "schmoozers" and "a**e-lickers", but what does the East End boy think of academic University types? "Qualifications are meaningless in the world of business. They are a badge that shows a person is at a certain level of intelligence - it doesn't demonstrate that they are an expert in anything," he says. Well that's told us!
6. Sugar's triumphs as a businessman are well documented, but as a football chairman he was far less successful. During his nine-year run as owner of Spurs, Sugar's team only won one measly trophy, the 1999 Worthington Cup.
7. Sir Alan's dislike for journalists is well known, but who does he hate more than tabloid hacks? "Football players are scum, total scum," he said. "They're bigger scum than journalists, don't you understand? They don't know what honesty or loyalty is. They're the biggest scum that walk on this planet and, if they weren't football players, most of them would be in prison, it's as simple as that."
8. When he's not busy grilling people in the boardroom and making big money deals, Sugar has been known to give up his time and cash for charity. He's raised large sums of money for Great Ormond Street, the Hackney Empire and Jewish Care.
9. Is Sir Alan Sugar as grumpy as he's made out to be on The Apprentice? His trusty aide Nick Hewer certainly thinks so. "He's not cuddly. I've seen him being charming, but it's not an everyday thing. He can be pretty gruff with his friends, too. He can tear into you if you've made a mistake," said Hewer.
10. Sir Alan has frequently been accused of sexism during his time on The Apprentice, so where does he really stand on women in the workplace? "I have great sympathy for women," he said. "I think some of the employment laws are counter-productive. They prevent employers asking questions, which 99% of the women would be happy to answer...Where they live, whether they have children, have they made provision to have their children looked after. It gets blown out of proportion by the media."
Website: http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/theapprenti ... fired.htmlFirst 'Apprentice' candidate is fired
Business strategist Anita Shah became the first Apprentice candidate to be fired by Sir Alan Sugar tonight.
Sugar said that Shah, 35, had failed to live up to her billing as "one of Britain's best business prospects".
"You showed no initiative in spotting that you were going for a disaster," said Sugar. "And on that basis, Anita, you're fired!"
Shah was brought in the boardroom alongside senior sales consultant Debra Barr by team leader Mona Lewis, after the girls' team Ignite lost out to the boys' team Empire in a cleaning challenge.
Empire, led by Howard Ebison, made £239.61 profit compared to Ignite's £160.55.
Confronting the girls about their failure, Sir Alan said: "There are reasons why each one of you should be fired. Mona, you haven't shown me any business acumen. Anita, you were on the back of that van and you were seeing the money flow out. Debra, at the end of the day you were seriously responsible for a lot of things that went wrong on this task."
Speaking about her exit afterwards, the law graduate blamed her early departure on Sir Alan's dislike for lawyers.
"I'm bitterly disappointed but I accept that I wasn't a stellar performer, and without appearing to have a chip on my shoulder I just think that Sir Alan doesn't particularly like lawyers," she said. "Let's see in 10 years if he doesn't sit and think, 'maybe I made the wrong decision'."
The Apprentice continues next Wednesday on BBC One at 9pm.
I watched the first episode and thought it was really good.