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
Age: 35
Career: Business strategist
Qualifications: LLB in law and postgraduate diploma in legal practice
Lives: Birmingham
A cricket fanatic, qualified lawyer and self-confessed perfectionist.
Anita led a team to win at the Visa Business School in 2008 and,
inspired by Dragon’s Den judge James Caan, believes you can be
successful by investing in relationships and being nice to people.
Anita considers herself to be a humanitarian with a Bridget Jones alter
ego.Debra Barr
Age: 24
Career: Senior sales consultant
Qualifications: BA in English Literature
Lives: Surrey
Buckinghamshire-born Debra considers herself to be a direct and driven
saleswoman with a passion for business. She has had to fight illiteracy
in her youth and, aged 10, had the reading age of a six-year-old.
Embodying her belief in overcoming obstacles, Debra went on to study
English Literature at university. Inspired by Bill Gates and Sir
Richard Branson, she is a go-getter who would rather ask for
forgiveness than permission.Kate Walsh
Age: 27
Career: Licensing development manager
Qualifications: BSc in psychology and management
Lives: Hampshire
Staffordshire-born Kate is confident and resilient. She is an indie
music fan who is interested in cooking, snowboarding and gym workouts.
Kate, who says she regrets not applying to Oxbridge, describes herself
as a highly motivated and ambitious professional with an educated
opinion on most issues.Kimberly Davis
Age: 33
Career: Marketing consultant
Qualifications: BA in music management
Lives: London
Born in the Bronx, New-Yorker Kimberly is an accomplished musician and
business owner who launched a highly successful marketing and
development business. Kimberly has performed Mozart at Carnegie Hall
and toured the US East Coast playing violin with the Essex County
Chamber Orchestra. A strong believer in karma, Kimberly insists she has
no poker face and lists Tiffany & Co, Chanel and Apple as her most
inspiring brands.Lorraine Tighe
Age: 36
Career: National accounts manager
Qualifications: NHC in business studies
Lives: Kent
Mother-of-two Lorraine was born in London and left school at 16. Since
then she has gone on to be the top salesperson in every company she has
worked for and admires Victoria Beckham for being resourceful when
doubted for having “not much talent”. Talkative Lorraine admits to
having very little education and sums up her attitude to business as
the ability to drive a dead horse to the winning line.Mona Lewis
Age: 28
Career: Senior financial manager
Qualifications: A-levels
Lives: Kent
Born in Karachi, former Tanzanian beauty queen and mother-of-one Mona
counts Tesco as one of her most admired businesses. She sees herself as
shrewd and honest in business and believes that personal emotions
should never interfere with decision-making. Mona chose to apply for The Apprentice to step out of her comfort zone and change the lives of her and her son.Paula Jones
Age: 29
Career: Human resource consultant
Qualifications: Masters degree in industrial relations and human resource management
Lives: Walsall, West Midlands
Paula is an academic with a love for interior design. Born and raised
in Walsall, Paula, a self-confessed scatterbrain, was a four-star
sergeant in the army cadets and represented the army at county level in
shooting.Yasmina Siadatan
Age: 27
Career: Restaurateur
Qualifications: BSc Economic history with population studies
Lives: London
Highly ambitious restaurant owner and marathon runner Yasmina was born
in Hull and spent time living in Los Angeles and Iran before settling
in London. Yasmina, who first experienced the world of business in her
dad’s restaurant, describes herself as dominaant yet adaptable and
believes that business is about spotting a gap in the market and
filling it better than anyone else can. She admires Sir Richard
Branson’s attitude to personal service and would love to have been the
brains behind Microsoft.Ben Clarke
Age: 22
Career: Trainee stockbroker
Qualifications: BA (Hons) economics and business
Lives: Belfast
Belfast born and bred, Ben is a rebellious stockbroker. The former
Gavin Henson lookalike cites Hugh Heffner as one of his most admired
business figures. Rugby-playing Ben admits to being “cocky” but insists
he takes business very seriously.Howard Ebison
Age: 24
Career: Retail business manager
Qualifications: CIMA part-qualified accountant – BSc (Hons) maths and business studies
Lives: Derby
Born in Surrey, Howard is an enthusiastic businessman, award-winning
dancer, self-trained musician and area manager to 10 pubs. Howard hopes
one day to set up his own consultancy specialising in customer service.James McQuillan
Age: 32
Career: Senior commercial manager
Qualifications: MA (Hons) economics
Lives: Surrey
Football referee, sports fanatic and former child chess champion James
lists Al Pacino and JK Rowling as inspirational figures. James has
worked as a labourer, trolley collector and a nightclub doorman before
finding his niche in commercial management. He describes himself as
likeable and selfless and would love to have been the brains behind The
A-Team.Majid Nagra
Age: 28
Career: Business development manager
Qualifications: BSc computer science
Lives: Coventry
Reformed rebel Maj sees himself as loyal and believes business is the
backbone to the world. Born in Coventry, Maj was expelled from school
for wayward behaviour but now works with youth centres and charities
while running his own car hire business. Describing himself as funny
and talkative, Maj says he never shies away from the spotlight.Noorul Choudhury
Age: 33
Career: Science teacher
Qualifications: GTTP, CIM
Lives: Rochdale
Science teacher Noorul hopes to become a property development
millionaire. He aims one day to start up a men’s tailoring business.
Describing himself as a straight-talking leader, he loves being kept on
his feet and confesses to always putting work first. He believes
business is a cut-throat, dog-eat-dog game that you must play to win.Phillip Taylor
Age: 29
Career: Estate Agent
Qualifications: NEBS Certificate in Management
Lives: County Durham
Born and raised in County Durham, Phillip, who describes himself as
“confident and charming”, believes he can deal with people on any
level. A self-confessed control freak, he is passionate about all
projects he involves himself in and considers himself to be a nice guy
who people can relate to.Rocky Andrews
Age: 21
Career: Sandwich chain owner
Qualifications: N/A
Lives: North Yorkshire
Rocky is this year’s youngest candidate and already earns more than the
six-figure salary on offer from Sir Alan. He left school at 16 to
pursue a career in football with Middlesbrough but was diagnosed with
arthritis. Aged 17, Rocky started up a sandwich business – which now
includes 15 shops across north-east England.
