Sugar Daddy Set Me On Way To £1m

Apr 20 2008 By Graeme Lennox

Ghaz Bounces Back So.. You Want To Be An Apprentice

FORMER Apprentice contestant Ghazal Asif reckons this year's crop of TV wannabes aren't even fit to polish Sir Alan's shoes.

Glasgow-born Ghazal held off competition from more than 10,000 applicants to become the show's youngest contestant at the age of 23 last year.

She now reckons the experience will help her fulfil her ambition of making £1million by the time she is 30.

Since being kicked out of The Apprentice, she has landed a job with a global IT firm.

She writes a business column for an Asian women's magazine and is an ambassador for The Prince's Trust.

Next month she will launch her own fashion outlet, Ghazal's Couture, in Glasgow.

She said: "A good business person knows their strengths but is willing to take some risks. I loved my time on The Apprentice but in five years I expect to have proved Sir Alan wrong and achieved my goal of becoming a millionaire."

Ex-squaddie Simon Smith got his final marching orders from Sir Alan on last week's show.

And Ghazal doesn't hold out much hope for the remaining candidates.

She said: "They claim to be the best business people in Europe but they are coming across as idiots.

"No one is shining and I would like to know how they are backing up these claims."

The Apprentice remains an inspiration to thousands of young entrepreneurs and self-starters who dream of having their own business empire.

Auditions for series four of the hit BBC show attracted 20,000 hopefuls, desperate to prove they could be the next Apprentice and land the £100,000 salary.

Having survived until episode eight of last year's show, Ghazal has every sympathy with the candidates.

She said: "I feel sorry for them.

This lot are really being put through their paces and the tasks have been extremely tough.

"It is easy to criticise when you are on the outside looking in but you have no idea of the restrictions placed on the candidates. We were given a dossier full of rules and regulations.

You just cannot afford to slip up."

Ghazal's father owned a chain of shops but she was never businessminded as a child. Her desire to succeed was triggered when she fell on hard times after dropping out of a media studies course at Stirling University.

She said: "I was so skint, I needed to work. I was a timid, shy girl at school but something happened to me when I was at university.

"When I was exposed to the fast-changing world of business, I immediately got the buzz. To be on the show you have to have that special something the producers are looking for.

"We had to do four interviews, screen tests and even had interviews with a psychiatrist. You're up against competitive, aggressive people who will stop at nothing to get what they want and the pressure is intense."

Sir Alan's decision-making has been called into question in recent weeks, with critics suggesting he is favouring candidates who make good television over genuine business achievers.

Ghazal was kicked off the show after a boardroom bust-up with bitchy Katie Hopkins and Kristina Grimes.

But despite failing to get her former mentor's backing in the boardroom, she insists there are no hard feelings.

She said: "Katie was portrayed as an evil schemer but I don't have a bad word to say about her. I don't think Sir Alan has an agenda. It is the producers who decide to keep the most entertaining people."

This year's winner? Regional sales manager Alex Wotherspoon.