The Apprentice winner Harpreet Kaur reveals real reason she parted ways with Lord Sugar
HARPREET Kaur has revealed the real reason behind her parting of ways with Lord Sugar.
The Dessert parlour owner won the sixteenth series of The Apprentice in 2022.
Just months after earning a quarter of a million pound investment, she split with the famous TV judge.
However, she insisted that despite receiving criticism from her former mentor, the pair did not part ways on negative terms.
In a new interview with The Mail, she commented: “What you see is what you get. Business is business. If you want investment for your business you have to take criticism.
“You get lots of feedback because the investor is testing you to see if you’re a tough cookie and you can handle these questions because if you can’t handle a little bit of criticism in the boardroom, you’ve got no chance in in the real world of business.
“He’s just asking those harsh questions that you would have to face in reality.”
She added: “I acknowledged that none of it is ever personal, he just want to find out a little bit more about you and your business.”
Harpreet gained Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment in her dessert business Oh So Yum! after winning the show.
Just 18 months after the series ended, the pair decided to go their separate ways.
However, she clarified that not only are the pair on speaking terms, she would happily pick up the phone to call him for advice.
“If I did need anything in the future, it’s good to know that we’ve got a good relationship,” Harpreet explained.
“I’m sure if I needed to I could pick up the phone.”
She controversially won the series after Lord Sugar raised concerns over scalability and the fact that she ran the company with her sister, whom Lord Sugar had not met.
However, the former reality TV contestant insisted that she has parted with the mogul on good terms and that the decision to separate was not down to her sibling.
She explained: “The decision came about through a board discussion.
“We are asked would we like to kind of take that ownership and buy back our shares but there are definitely no bad feelings.
“We may only have been with Lord Sugar for a short period but it benefited us.”
She also has plenty advice notes for entrepreneurs who maybe aspire for a place on the long-running BBC business show.
“You have to be prepared to put that groundwork in. Winning an investment isn’t a magic formula.
“Nobody’s going to hold your hand and you have to work extremely hard, there can be a lot of pressure.
“You have to be willing to take on that pressure, take on the feedback and take on board someone else’s ideas and opinions, so I think you just have to be prepared.
“There’s no hiding. With The Apprentice, I think one of the reasons that I got as far as I did is because I fully invested in myself.”
