GYM boss Rachel Woolford was crowned winner of The Apprentice last night — and put it down to keeping her mouth shut in front of Lord Alan Sugar.
Rachel, 27, landed the mogul’s £250,000 investment after going head-to-head with pie maker Phil Turner in the final of the BBC show.
The win surprised many viewers as Rachel barely appeared on screen until the third episode.
She said: “To come out a winner is beyond my wildest dreams. I was just a girl from Leeds, and now I’m going into business with Lord Sugar.
“I went into The Apprentice promising I would just be myself, and not turn it on in any way in front of the cameras, throw anyone else under the bus or be bitchy. I wanted to prove you don’t need to be the loudest voice and screaming at the others.
“For that, people saw me as a bit of an underdog. But my main value in business, and in life, is that you don’t have to shout to get your point across.
“I wasn’t getting any airtime in the beginning because I wasn’t talking over people.
“But it worked out, as I was instead busy making little actions here and there to show up in the task and impress Lord Sugar.
To come out a winner is beyond my wildest dreams
Rachel
“You can’t be a wallflower — you do have to know how to speak up and defend yourself. But keeping your head down and working hard is the key.”
Rachel battled it out with 18 candidates, including fellow fitness fanatics, dentists, doctors, and a former garage music star in the 11-week series, which was watched by an average 6.9million viewers each episode.
Lord Sugar, 77, picked her with the help of advisors Tim Campbell and Baroness Karren Brady.
He announced: “It’s very hard for me, but my gut feeling is that Rachel, you’re going to be my business partner.”
You can’t be a wallflower — you do have to know how to speak up and defend yourself
Rachel
He added on the final episode of spin-off You’re Fired: “Rachel has been resilient throughout the whole process. She is very determined, very focused.”
He joked: “I don’t offer any yoga exercises or fitness exercises. The only fitness that I do is flicking the cheque book.”
Rachel, who runs gym brand North Studios in Leeds and Harrogate, is engaged. She said: “I did get plenty of interesting messages online, but I definitely won’t be taking any of them up. I was flattered to get some nice compliments in my DMs, though.”
Rival Phil, 37, of Bognor Regis, West Sussex, was seeking backing for family business Turner’s Pies.
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