Hired Or Fired

Thanks for the opportunity, Sir Alan...Macclesfield businesswoman Jade English tells JANET REEDER what it’s like to take part in the reality TV show The Apprentice

- Janet Reeder

IT’S difficult meeting Jade English in the early weeks of The Apprentice TV series not least because I want her to tell me if she’s won, and there again, I don’t! But as it happens I don’t have to issue a spoiler alert, as she is sworn to secrecy about the outcome.

The Apprentice - for anyone who has been living on the moon for the past 13 years - is a BBC reality programme in which aspiring entrepreneurs enter a ‘process’ which ends in tycoon Lord Alan Sugar backing one of them to the tune of £250k.

It aims to create a tough environment in which contestants have to prove to the moneybags lord that they are worthy of the cash. But with the varying levels of arrogance and incompetence exhibited by the wannabe business moguls, not to mention the in-fighting and petty betrayals, it’s also very entertaining.

This year one of those to make the latest crop of apprentices is Jade. She’s the pretty, elegant blonde one who’s not afraid to speak up for herself and in episode three project-managed the girl team (Graphene) who made a surprising £54k selling a robot prototype to John Lewis.

In person, contrary to the feisty go-getting slightly scary image she projects on the show, Jade is a lovely, warm, open young woman who was a content marketing manager for Bank Media in Trafford before getting the call from Lord Sugar to enter the ‘process’ .

The reason she applied is simple. She had a business idea and she also believed she could cut it on TV.

‘I can’t explain in full detail exactly what the idea is - but it’s digital and will help people get into careers that they want and hopefully teach them some skills along the way,’ she tells me.