The Apprentice 2018: Meet Lord Sugar's new candidates
Thirteen years of hapless sales technique and public humiliation hasn't stopped plucky, self-confessed “team players” from signing up to be Alan Sugar's apprentice. Ahead of the new series, here are the shiny suits and bradaggio-filled estate agents set to dominate your small screen:
Alex Finn
Who? A 21-year-old IT analyst from The Wirral
Alex boldly claims he knows “Everything. Call me ‘Google’, it's my middle name.” He says Elon Musk, the increasingly disgraced space tourism entrepreneur, is his role model.
Camilla Ainsworth
Who? A 22-year-old from Lancashire who owns a Nut Milk Brand
Fond of a self-indulgent catchphrase, “ain't no Vanilla Camilla” puts faith in her people skills and, when not selling nut milk, enjoys extreme sports.
Daniel Elahi
Who? A 28-year-old Londoner who founded his own "lifestyle brand" in 2017
Elahi likes to compare himself to famous dwarf-throwing Qualuude fan Jordan Belfort, the inspiration behind The Wolf of Wall Street. "I have the beauty and the brains, typically people only have one," he says. "I was blessed with both in abundance.”
David Alden
Who? A tax advisor from East Yorkshire. He's 32.
Guaranteed to be posited as the "Nice Guy" – or maybe just hoping he will be – David says that he can get on with anyone but has been let down by his trusting nature.
Frank Brooks
Who? A 27-year-old senior marketing manager from London.
Frank says he enjoys pushing boundaries with his humour, which means he probably offends people when he makes jokes. He is guilty, he says, of playing people against each other to achieve his own aims.
Jackie Fast
Who?A 34-year-old sponsorship consultant from London.
Jackie admits she takes criticism badly, but she's also sold a company and published a business book, which she definitely won't tell anybody about.
Jasmine Kundra
Who?A 34-year-old learning and development manager from the West Midlands
Kundra apes the career of US millionaire life coach Tony Robbins having spent her career teaching others to improve their lives. Don't be fooled into think she's a soft touch, though: “All is fair in love and war,” she says, “and business is war.”
Kayode Damali
Who?A 26-year-old professional speaker from Cheshire
What does Kayode speak professionally about? It remains a mystery. Maybe he can motivationally talk his way to the top, though.
Khadija Kalifa
Who?The 28-year-old owner of the Eco Cleaning Company, from Lincolnshire
Khadija says she's “a serious Mumpreneur who doesn’t have time for timewasters and idiocy”. She also says she has a "hot head", which may make life difficult for the idiots on the series.
Kurran Pooni
Who? A 22-year-old law graduate from London
Kurran doesn't cite showbiz entrepreneurs as his inspiration, but his father, who started his own airline. He's definitely not just the privileged son of a successful businessman, though: “I’ll be honest, I don’t eat, sleep, breathe business but I do eat, sleep and breathe success.”
Rick Monk
Who?A 33-year-old quality controller from Lancashire
Rick prides himself on being able to separate business from pleasure, but warns that he's a "wolf in sheep's clothing", and is up for making duplicitous friendships with his fellow apprentices.
Sabrina Stocker
Who? Sabrina owns a tennis events company. She's 22 and from Middlesex.
Sabrina's business role models are either fictional or not actually business leaders. She looks to actress Emma Watson, who bought a house over Skype, because she is "always clear-headed and makes good decisions", and Willy Wonka "drinking an espresso martini: classy and sophisticated on the outside; inside, a little bit crazy and wacky but full of brilliant ideas".
Sarah Byrne
Who? The 29-year-old owner of a children's acting academy from Manchester
Given her profession, one might imagine Byrne's experience around entitled children may bode well for her time on The Apprentice. She's not a fan of those people in business who turn their noses up at the working-class demographic, saying: “I am me, I don’t have a posh accent or pretend to be anyone else.”
Sarah Ann Magson
Who? A 37-year-old solicitor from Teesside
In spite of the worrying news that solicitor Sarah says she struggles with timekeeping and organisation, she does say she's charming enough to beat her competitors. She also likes to make up bad strap lines about herself: “I am used to laying down the law in the courtroom, but now I’m going to lay down the law in the boardroom.”
Sian Gabbidon
Who? A Leeds-based swimwear brand owner. Sian is 25.
Sian identifies with Coco Chanel's rags-to-riches narrative and prides herself on being ruthless. She sounds a bit of a threat to health and safety, too: “I bring both the passion and the fire – in the boardroom, I will be merciless.”
Tom Bunday
Who? A 28-year-old from Southampton who has his own tree surgery business.
Tom says he is loyal and boldly states he can rise to any challenge, such as The Apprentice. “There are very few people that can genuinely say they’re going to make it – but I know that I’m going to.”
