The Apprentice 2023: All the pieces to know as the truth sport present makes its long-awaited return

The Apprentice returns to screens for its hotly-anticipated seventeenth sequence on Thursday January 5 as a brand new batch of candidates battle it out to win Lord Alan Sugar’s funding.

It is the chance of a lifetime for a enterprise proprietor, and the 18 entrepreneurs are all hoping to win the £250,000 money injection and invaluable recommendation from the enterprise magnate.

With the brand new sequence simply across the nook and the total line-up having been launched simply in time, this is every thing that you must know concerning the BBC sport present…

When does The Apprentice 2023 begin?

Thursday January 5 will see the favored present make its return – and it guarantees to be ‘larger and higher than ever’.

Sequence 17 will see a whopping 18 candidates – essentially the most since sequence 13 – vie for Lord Sugar’s £250,000 enterprise funding, with the competitors as robust as ever as they’re thrown into the deep finish from day one.

The upcoming BBC sequence will see the candidates flown to Antigua the place they’re tasked with creating and promoting excursions to vacationers.

Whereas these not fortunate sufficient to be whisked off to the sunny location within the first activity will face their very own robust challenges again dwelling.

Different challenges awaiting the candidates this sequence embrace creating their very own cartoon, making and promoting road meals, internet hosting immersive occasions and delving into the world of male magnificence.

With extra challengers dealing with them, the stakes for sequence 17 are increased than ever because the wannabe businessmen and businesswomen battle it out within the boardroom whereas hoping to keep away from the dreaded black cab.

Who’re the contestants?

This yr’s group options 9 males and 9 ladies who will all do their greatest to impress Lord Sugar and his advisors, Baroness Karren Brady, Tim Campbell and Claude Littner.

It started in 2005 as a groundbreaking present which featured a number of the nation’s greatest younger enterprise minds hoping to safe a job with the then Sir Alan.

Nevertheless the programme has slowly became a extra actuality TV-inspired fare, with huge personalities gloating irreverently about their abilities in enterprise.

Amongst them are two sweetshop house owners, two hairdressers, a martial arts teacher, and a pest management firm proprietor and they are going to be put by means of their paces by means of a sequence of tough duties, with the primary set in Antigua.

The twentieth anniversary of the sequence will air subsequent yr, with Lord Sugar saying he would do 20 years after which retire, having invested over £3million of his personal cash over time.

Meet all 18 candidates hoping to safe an funding for his or her enterprise concepts.

ROCHELLE ANTHONY 

‘I’m at all times being in comparison with the Kim Kardashian of the enterprise world as a result of I’m doing enterprise with a touch of glam.’

Rochelle owns a hair salon and academy in Bedfordshire and has in contrast herself to Kim Kardashian within the enterprise world. 

She describes herself as ‘tenacious, fierce and decided’ and says along with Lord Sugar they might be ‘an absolute drive to be reckoned with.’

Based on Rochelle, her greatest weak point is she would not just like the phrase ‘no’ and may’t let go, as an alternative turning it right into a ‘not but’, however learns from her errors.

GREGORY EBBS 

‘My greatest weak point, some may name a power for my part, is typically being just a little too uncommon.’ 

Gregory is the proprietor of a web-based antiques market based mostly in Shropshire and can be a neighborhood coucillor, whereas he beforehand labored as knowledgeable cannon-firer.

He says his USP is ‘my potential to assume outdoors the field and check out new and various things’ and confesses to being ‘barely extra uncommon than most’.

He says: ‘I might say, a willingness to attempt various things and never being afraid to be barely completely different is one in every of my greatest strengths. 

Talking on his enterprise concept, Gregory stated: ‘I feel the probabilities of making this enterprise tremendous profitable is larger than anyone else’s, as a result of it’s such a improbable precept.’ 

AVI SHARMA

‘Some say I am delusional, I choose the time period optimistic.’

Avi is that this yr’s youngest candidate, and works as a metropolis banker in London.

He describes himself as ‘assured’ and ‘optimistic’ and says he can ‘convey a smile to essentially the most depressing face!’

He needs Lord Sugar’s funding to assist get him out of the ‘rat race’ of a banking job, boasting: ‘I am the toughest working rat he’ll ever meet.’ 

BRADLEY JOHNSON

‘I’ve a marketing strategy that can see us flip over seven figures after yr three and who is aware of the place else that would take us.’ 

Bradley is a self-made businessman, who’s the director of a building firm in North Yorkshire.

He prides himself on his work ethic and drive which he claims has allowed him to create a enterprise that turns over half-a-million after being made redundant simply 4 years in the past.

He admits that his greatest weak point is public talking, confessing: ‘I used to be at all times the shy child at college, I hated having to face up and skim in English lesson’. 

DANI DONOVAN

‘My greatest weak point can be my greatest power.’

Dani owns a hair salon in Hertfordshire, which she began as a young person and believes the important thing to enterprise is ‘ardour’.

She says she has a ‘distinctive’ persona and describes herself as ‘a special sort of enterprise proprietor, which is much more relatable to folks.’

Her self-confessed weak point, is ‘that nothing is ever adequate and that I at all times need extra. It is a weak point as a result of then I am by no means content material with what I’ve achieved. But it surely’s additionally a humongous power – it’s what has pushed me to come back to this point.’

She believes she deserves to win the programme as a result of her enterprise fills a ‘enormous hole’ available in the market, saying: ‘It baffles me that nobody has executed it but!’

DENISHA KAUR BHARJ 

‘I’ve at all times recognized what I needed in life. I do know the goals I wish to obtain. There’s just one Denisha Kaur.’

Denisha works as a monetary controller in Leicestershire and says she’s not afraid of getting out of her consolation zone.

She describes herself as ‘robust, motivated and hard-working’ and says she will be able to work below stress, overcoming each skilled and private exams to achieve success.

Denisha says she needs the funding alternative as a result of she needs to ‘be  mentored by one of the best to be one of the best.’

She argues she deserves it, as a result of: ‘I am a girl who needs to create an empire and have all of it; to have the ability to present for my household and to be an inspiration to younger ladies. I dream huge, however I work further onerous and know every thing is feasible.’ 

EMMA BROWNE

‘I’m disgustingly aggressive. I’ll go to any lengths to win this funding.’

Emma is a senior account govt in County Kildare and says she is ‘extraordinarily aggressive’ and a ‘workaholic’ who will ‘do something succeed’.

She has over 5 years of hands-on gross sales expertise and says she needs to make sure she’s going to win duties by being trustworthy about her opinions.

Describing her enterprise concept, she says: ‘I’m assured that whether or not I win the funding from Lord Sugar or not, I’m going to make my firm one of the crucial profitable concepts to ever come out of The Apprentice. Watch this house.

JOSEPH PHILLIPS

‘If Lord Sugar needs to spend money on a enterprise to assist save the ocean, one lip balm at a time, then I’m his man.’

Joseph is a safari information in South Africa, from Worcestershire and he believes that offers him the sting to be ‘distinctive sufficient to reach the method’, describing himself because the ‘James Bond of the enterprise world’.

He admits that his greatest weak point is his dyslexia and say he ‘struggled to maintain my head above water’ at college and sustain together with his friends.

However Joseph stated the analysis has now turn out to be a driving drive to succeed and go additional as he needed to show that you could nonetheless be something you wish to be with dyslexia.

He graciously provides: ‘I don’t deserve Lord Sugar’s funding greater than anybody else within the course of, however I do assume I’ve one thing that they don’t.’  

KEVIN D’ARCY

‘With Lord Sugar as my enterprise associate, I do know we will trip that wave into the UK and past…’

Kevin is an accountant from Dublin who started his water sports activities gear enterprise throughout lockdown whereas juggling his job.

He claims his enterprise has turned over slightly below half one million in two years and says that mixed together with his 10-year profession in monetary service units him aside from the remainder.

Kevin admits his greatest weak point to be: ‘I could be a little outspoken, so most likely not realizing when to close up.’

MARK MOSELEY

‘If Lord Sugar doesn’t choose me, then he’s lacking a trick.’ 

Mark is the proprietor of a pest management firm in London, arguing that Lord Sugar can make investments as a result of the business is value tons of of thousands and thousands of kilos a yr within the UK.

He’s additionally a former soldier who has labored all around the world in distant and hostile environments, which means he ought to be proper at dwelling within the boardroom.

He describes himself as ‘very talkative with the allure to match – I can promote to anybody’ and claims to have met celebrities and members of the royal household.

Mark confesses he might be ‘just a little bit over-confident occasionally’ however explains that ‘folks purchase into confidence’.

MARNIE SWINDELLS 

‘I’ve fought tooth and nail to get to the place I’m right now with my enterprise.’ 

Marnie is a courtroom advocate in London who can be a gold medal-winning boxer and imaginative businesswoman who is able to face off towards the opposite candidates.

She says her USP is her ‘creativeness and creativity’ however admits her ardour and eagerness can typically translate as being too ‘headstrong’.

She says she deserves Lord Sugar’s funding as a result of: ‘I feel that taking the expertise I’ve within the boxing business and all of the expertise that he has within the enterprise business, collectively we’d be a profitable mixture.’

MEGAN HORNBY

 

‘I feel that it doesn’t matter what scenario I’m thrown into, I’ll at all times give a hundred percent fact, even when it’s onerous to listen to.’

Megan is the proprietor of a candy store and café in East Yorkshire and says her enterprise has a ‘actual area of interest’ in a niche available in the market.

She says her greatest asset is her honesty, saying it is the ‘most essential factor in enterprise’.

Her greatest weak point is her ambition, confessing: ‘I can take too many issues on, and typically I have to concentrate on sure points.’

She says she ought to have the £250k as a result of: ‘I actually assume that with Lord Sugar’s funding, my enterprise may very well be nationally recognised’. 

REECE DONNELLY

‘I will be turning over one million kilos earlier than I’m thirty.’

Reece is the proprietor of a performing arts faculty in Glasgow who is decided to turn out to be the primary Scottish candidate to safe Lord Sugar’s funding.

He says he’s the youngest CEO of an extra training school within the UK and says he has ‘all of the expertise, drive, and persona’ to succeed.

He admits that he might be responsible of neglecting the grunt work, saying: ‘Admin or accounting duties aren’t fairly for me’ however that this makes him a greater chief who is ready to delegate.

Reece says he needs to show: ‘Scotland is crammed with forward-thinking entrepreneurs and that we’re not in reality a haggis-eating, kilt-wearing nation.

SHANNON MARTIN

‘Lord Sugar must be my subsequent enterprise associate, so I could make him thousands and thousands.’

Shannon is the proprietor of bridal boutique from West Yorkshire and is hoping to be the primary enterprise associate to convey Lord Sugar into the profitable bridal business.

She admits she struggles to prioritise and plan as a result of ‘I need every thing now’ and that it will possibly trigger a little bit of stress.

She believes she deserves the funding as a result of: ‘There should not many different companies that design, and manufacture wedding ceremony attire made solely within the UK, which is precisely what my marketing strategy is.’

SHAZIA HUSSAIN

‘I don’t want any pals in enterprise. I’m right here to win this.’

Shazia is a expertise recruiter in London and desires to encourage a assorted illustration of numerous ladies on this planet of enterprise.

She says her ADHD is each her USP and largest weak point, saying she will be able to course of data quicker, react faster and see issues in a different way, however can lose focus shortly.

She says she ought to get the win as a result of: ‘It’s essential to see a assorted illustration of ladies, together with ladies with neurodiversity in enterprise, as folks with neurodiversity are linked to being more and more profitable throughout the company sector. I hope that I’ll encourage extra folks like me to not be ashamed of their distinction.’

SIMBA RWAMBIWA

‘My USP is myself. If folks can’t purchase into you, they’ll by no means purchase something from you.’

Simba is a senior gross sales consultant from Birmingham and says he is a perfectionist as he at all times needs to ‘get issues proper’.

He says he deserves the funding alternative as a result of his enterprise assure revenue, ‘but additionally ensures to enhance the standard of peoples’ lives’.

SOHAIL CHOWHARY

‘I’m calm and picked up, but when they do come at me? I’ll chunk and I’ll sting, and I’ll depart my mark.’ 

Sohail owns a martial arts faculty in Southampton and desires the opposite candidates to be ‘cautious’ of him.

He says his greatest asset is ‘turning my laziness right into a optimistic by creating sensible options and easy shortcuts to troublesome issues.’

He admits his greatest weak point shouldn’t be listening to others when ‘on the very uncommon event I could be improper’ however says: ‘I’ll at all times be the person who appears out for the little man and typically that implies that I’ll put feelings earlier than enterprise.’

Sohail is proud to have grown up in a council home and labored his means up and provides: ‘Proudly owning a martial arts enterprise means Lord Sugar can discover ways to kick ass at no cost.’

VICTORIA GOULBOURNE 

‘My enterprise took off shortly and with Lord Sugar’s funding I do know it may fly.’

Victoria is the proprietor of a web-based candy enterprise in Merseyside, which she started in lockdown and has since turn out to be a social media success.

Due to her expertise as a former flight attendant she has travelled all around the world and says: ‘I’m not afraid to tackle a problem.’

Victoria says she might be ‘direct and outspoken’ however places this right down to her ardour and information of what works.

She says she deserves the funding as a result of she is ‘adaptable’ and has a ‘eager enterprise acumen’ after altering careers within the pandemic.

Who’re the advisors?

Lord Sugar shall be joined by his trusted advisors Baroness Karren Brady and Tim Campbell MBE, who’ll be available to report again the candidate’s progress to the boss.

The brand new sequence can even see the return of no-nonsense businessman Claude Littner for 2 episodes, after he missed having a foremost position within the final sequence as a result of a horrific biking accident. 

Along with the primary present, comic and actor Tom Allen will return as host of The Apprentice: You are Fired which can air weekly on BBC Two after the first programme.

Who gained final yr’s sequence?

Harpreet Kaur was topped because the winner of The Apprentice and took dwelling Lord Sugar’s £250,000 funding after a dramatic last showdown towards Kathryn Burn.

The dessert parlour proprietor, 30, stated she plans to ‘stage up’ her profitable espresso and muffins enterprise after her victory in a bid to turn out to be a number one model within the UK.

Talking about her victory, Harpreet, who additionally runs a candy deal with supply firm, gushed: ‘I can’t imagine Lord Sugar has chosen me to be his enterprise associate!

‘I’ve dreamed of this second, and it simply fully proves that in case you work onerous and also you imagine in your self, goals do come true.’

The devoted businesswoman stated she is not within the enterprise to ‘make pals’ however plans to ‘generate profits’ in her new partnership with enterprise magnate Lord Sugar.

She stated: ‘I am undoubtedly not in enterprise to make pals, I am right here to generate profits, and I am fairly positive Lord Sugar is not on the lookout for a brand new mate.’

The explosive all-female last noticed Harpreet and Kathryn go head-to-head to show to Lord Sugar to show why they deserved the £250,000 funding cash.

Within the last boardroom earlier than Lord Sugar made his determination, Karren Brady and Tim Campbell described Harpreet as ‘revered’ however questioned whether or not her enterprise enterprise could be ‘scalable’.

Tim, 44, stated: ‘She’s been a very good candidate. A lot of the opposite folks within the course of actually respect her, they adopted her and she or he’s delivered a number of occasions.’

Whereas Karren, 52, requested: ‘The query it’s important to ask your self is, is it scalable? What is exclusive that turns her from her two shops, to the 100 shops that she has the ambition to be?’

Talking about Harpreet’s opponent Kathryn, who owns a web-based pyjama store, Karren stated she thought-about herself an ‘professional’ when she was solely simply beginning to construct her enterprise.

She added: ‘She thinks she’s an professional when she’s actually simply starting to construct her enterprise – if you questioned the jungle pattern, she wasn’t having it – the entire a part of being your small business associate is to tackle board your recommendation.’

However Tim stated: ‘If she listens, takes the sensible phrases, this may very well be one.’

After a final impassioned pitch from every finalist, Lord Sugar made his much-anticipated last determination, bringing to an finish a jam-packed sequence.

He stated: ‘It’s a very, very troublesome scenario for me…Harpreet I am unsure whether or not this enterprise is scalable or whether or not you are attempting to do an excessive amount of and that is what I am frightened about in the meanwhile.

‘Kathryn, I am involved on the longevity of it, and the recognition of it, it is very onerous, that is troublesome for me…

‘A number of the businesses that I spend money on are a begin from scratch scenario, principally what Kathryn is proposing, so women, I feel that I’ve determined now… Harpreet, you are going to be my enterprise associate.’