You're Hired

Now in its 13th series, The Apprentice comes to a head this month when we’ll find out who Lord Sugar will hire as his next business partner. Here Rebecca Younger meets Surrey hopeful Anisa Topan

- Rebecca Younger

AS reality TV shows go, The Apprentice is pretty hard hitting and for Chessington contestant Anisa Topan, it was one of the most difficult things she has ever experienced.

“Losing my dad in 2011 was the hardest thing I have ever had to go through but this was a close second, if not on par,” she says. “I knew it would be tough but I hadn’t quite anticipated how difficult it would be living with your competitors – it was relentless.”

Anisa, 36, is much bubblier than she comes across on television. As we sit in the living room of the home she moved into earlier this year with her husband, Tristan, she talks candidly about married life, being a step mum and her passion for sustainable fashion, which she champions through her PR company The Twenty Fifth Hour.

At the time of our meeting, the sixth episode of this year’s The Apprentice had just aired, where the teams headed to Bruges for a task involving the organisation of a city tour for tourists visiting from a cruise ship. The episode gave Anisa, who grew up in Surbiton and attended Tolworth Girls’ School and later studied fashion at trendy Central St Martin’s College, her first lengthy piece of air time but was also one of her worst tasks.