Rachel Woolford has been crowned winner of ‘The Apprentice’.

Rachel Woolford has been crowned winner of ‘The Apprentice’

Rachel Woolford has been crowned winner of ‘The Apprentice’

The 28-year-old fitness entrepreneur from Leeds is the fifth female contestant in a row to win the BBC reality show, judged by 77-year-old Lord Alan Sugar.

She revealed after her victory was announced on Thursday (18.04.24) she has two goals – signing TV host Alison Hammond as the first client for her gum business, and getting married.

She told Mail Online after beating 37-year-old pie shop owner Phil Turner to Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment prize: “It's an honour to have been chosen by Lord Sugar and for him to invest in my business which at the end of the day is my baby and something I have been working on for almost five years now.

“For him to see something in me and think my business is investable is just an incredible and overwhelming feeling.

“I am really looking forward to working with Lord Sugar for a number of reasons. He is investing a lot of money into me to enable my business to grow to open a third site and potentially a fourth.

“We don't have a lot of big celebrities in Leeds and Harrogate but I would love Alison Hammond to come in, she's hysterical. I met her last week when I went on ‘This Morning’ and she is so great and funny. I know Lord Sugar cycles too... I would love to get him on a spin bike.”

Rachel set up her boutique North Studio fitness business aged 23 and added she misses out on “socialising” like her other friends in her 20s due to grafting on her firm.

She paid tribute to her fellow business owner partner Benjy for understanding the sacrifices she has made.

Rachel added: “I am so lucky to have a fiancé who also has a business so knows what it takes. If I'm working late or missing something, he knows it's business especially in the first few years... it's not an easy ride and I'm so grateful from an early age I got stuck in and I was never put off by things going wrong. I will continue to work like that but now all the blood, sweat and tears were worth it.

“I got engaged in December last year so a month before ‘The Apprentice’ started airing. We haven't actually set a date yet because I have been a little busy, but we plan on getting married next summer.” 

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