The Apprentice rejects who had last laugh over Lord Sugar… including star ‘kicked off for boozing’ & flop now worth £16m
IT’S already been dubbed as “pies versus pilates” by Lord Sugar and fans are on tenterhooks to find out who will be crowned the winner of this year’s Apprentice.
Piemaker Phil Turner, 37, and fitness entrepreneur Rachel Woolford, 27, will battle it out in tomorrow night’s final in a bid to win £250,000 investment from the business mogul.
There may only be one winner but it doesn’t have to mean the end of the road for the runner-up.
Since starring on the hit BBC1 show, a number of contestants who were given the pointed-finger treatment have gone on to make a mint.
Here, we reveal The Apprentice rejects who had the last laugh on Lord Sugar – from the star who got kicked off show for boozing and is now worth £1million, to the richest ever contestant with £16million in the bank.
Alex Mills
Alex was just 22 when he signed up to The Apprentice in 2013 and quickly became a fan favourite due to his impeccably plucked eyebrows.
The Welsh businessman, who started his career as a laundry boy and housekeeper on £4.20 an hour, was fired after a disastrous horror-themed ready meal challenge.
Alex, now 33, eventually went on to set up his own insurance company, Dynamo Cover, which made £30,000 in its first month in 2017.
The Barry-based company has continued to grow and, in 2021, Alex was named on the Sunday Times Rich List of young millionaires.
He is now the richest contestant to ever appear on the BBC reality show and loves to show off his fleet of luxury cars and designer watches on social media.
Speaking in 2021, Alex, who lives in a huge house in Wenvoe, near the Vale of Glamorgan, with wife Emma, said: “I always wanted to be the first Welsh dragon on Dragon’s Den. It was always a goal, but now I want to replace Alan Sugar.
“I don’t see why not. If I’ve been able to go from zero to £16million in personal terms, in the space of three years, that sort of rate, I’m sure I can get to a suitable size that I’d be interesting.”
Reece Donnelly
Scottish theatre boss Reece Donnelly featured in the 2023 series of The Apprentice and flew out with his fellow contestants to Dubai before going missing from the rest of the show.
Viewers and fellow competitors were told he had been forced to leave for “health reasons”.
He said: “I could not continue in The Apprentice due to being unable to complete the task in Dubai for health reasons.”
However, it was later reported he had been sacked by bosses due to boozing on the flight.
Speaking to the Mail Online, Reece said: “I was distraught, like I’m not going to lie. I had no intention to go there and not win.
“When I took unwell, I was just like, s***. But now that I reflect, I kind of think the universe was looking out for me, because I don’t need to split my wages and I’m very grateful for that.”
He added: “It was actually myself that asked for the medic to come in. I was looked after in a way that I thought was good, to be honest. The minute I was like, ‘guys I don’t feel well’ we had doctors in. And then I was on antibiotics and sickness tablets.”
Reece, now 27, who landed his first professional acting role aged seven and has appeared on Waterloo Road, hasn’t let him hold him back though. He is the founder of Theatre School of Scotland and Theatre College of Scotland, which had a recent turnover of £1million.
Speaking last year, he said: “I’m living my dream … but I am all about the motivation, and I firmly believe that somebody up there was just sending me a golden nugget to open that school.”
Ruth Badger
Wolverhampton-born Ruth Badger, now Hall, made it all the way into the final during the second series in 2006 but lost out to Michelle Dewberry.
Now, she runs two businesses in Manchester with a combined annual turnover of £6million. She is the co-founder and managing director of IT company Everything Tech and also runs Ruth Badger Consultancy.
Speaking about the secret to her success in 2022, the 45-year-old says she has learnt never to take no for an answer.
Straight-talking Ruth, who is also in demand as an after dinner speaker, said: “When I was 26 years old, I had a major shareholder in a Plc tell me that I couldn’t be sales director because I was a young woman, but what was interesting is that within a year I was the sales director. The board saw past it.
“The reality is you can have two attitudes, you say either say okay, or you think no, I’m going to get to where I want to get to. I left school with few qualifications but had the aspiration to be rich. I didn’t have a plan, I just worked hard.”
Ghazal Asif
Ghazal Asif, from Glasgow, became the show’s youngest ever contestant when she took part in the third series aged 23 back in 2007.
She vowed she would be a millionaire by the time she turned 30 but became the ninth person to be fired by Lord Sugar.
Failure spurred the tech boss on and she became head of sales with Google for Europe, the Middle East and Africa after a stint in Silicon Valley.
Speaking in 2022, she said: “I need to go back in time and say I was going to be a millionaire by the time I’m 40, not 30.
“I’m on track for a seven-figure income next year and I couldn’t have ever dreamed of that.”
And Ghazal, 40, who now splits her time between Glasgow and San Francisco, added: “I’m glad I didn’t win because I think I learned more from not winning the show.”
Saira Khan
Saira, a sales manager from Derbyshire, was a contestant on the first series of The Apprentice back in 2005, finishing as a runner-up to Tim Campbell, 46, who now works as one of Lord Sugar’s advisors on the show.
Lord Sugar was so impressed he still offered her a job with a six-figure salary but she turned it down.
And hasn’t done too badly for herself since. The following year, she fronted the TV show, Temper Your Temper, about dealing with anger management, and has been a firm fixture on our screens ever since.
Saira, who had a five-year stint on ITV’s Loose Women as a panellist, was reportedly paid £100,000 for appearing on Celebrity Big Brother in 2016.
Now worth more than £3.5million, the mum-of-two, who lives in a £1.6million house in Oxford, with her businessman husband, Steve Hyde, also founded Miamoo, which specialises in natural skin care products for babies, and has also written a self-help book, P.U.S.H. For Success.
Reflecting on the life lessons she has learnt, Saira, now 53, said last year: “I don’t have to prove myself to people who aren’t important to me. I don’t think you can ever live your life until you don’t care what those people think.”
Susie Ma
Susie Ma ended up finishing third place on the seventh series of The Apprentice in 2011 but Lord Sugar invested £200,000 for a 50 per cent share of her skincare business Tropic after firing her.
She said in 2021: “To him, £200k investment was like £20. In the meeting, it was like he was just signing a bill. It was the best moment of my life. I did a little hop when I left his boardroom.”
Susie, from Croydon, south London, was just 15 when she set up the natural, vegan and cruelty-free skincare brand on a Greenwich market stall.
In 2021, the company boasted profits of £10.7million and also employs 450 staff. It means she has been able to splash out on luxury holidays, including a trip to Richard Branson’s Necker Island.
Susie, 35, has also raised £150,000 for food bank charity The Trussell Trust.
Luisa Zissman
The 36-year-old was a runner-up on the ninth series of The Apprentice in 2013.
Despite missing out on Lord Sugar’s investment in her cupcake company, she’s gone on to make a mint.
Now Luisa Collins, she came fourth on Celebrity Big Brother 2014, reportedly earning a six-figure sum, and has regularly appeared on shows, including Good Morning Britain and Loose Women.
The mum-of-three, from St Albans, Herts, who is married to Irish businessman Andrew Collins, has also run an online electronics store on eBay and a baking website.