THE RIVALS
New Apprentice stars include a former pole dancer & an anti-Wag’ Accounts reveal 25% of businesses run by hopefuls are in the RED
AS The Apprentice returns to our screens, one hopeful is in pole position to deliver for Lord Sugar – on the ratings front.
Stunning Jessica Cunningham describes herself as an online fashion entrepreneur and “a female Jim Carrey”.
And just a few years ago she was working as a stripper and pole dancer at venues across the north of England.
A source said she was making between £40 and £300 a night as she gyrated for punters.
One of the venues, X In The City, describes i t s elf as “Liverpool’s number one lap dancing bar for stag nights”.
Jessica, from Dronfield, northeast Derbyshire, confirmed to the Sunday People: “I briefly worked in a strip club a long time ago for a couple of months and this is very much a part of my past.”
Pole
Yesterday, a friend added: “Her favourite song to perform to was Private Dancer by Tina Turner.
“When that came on, she would work the pole and entice the punters to get a dance from her for £5 or £10. For richer clients, she would offer them private dances at £50 a time.
“It was a means to an end but Jess made the most of it. She’s dropdead gorgeous and was a real hit with the punters.
“But that time in her life is firmly behind her. She is now focused on growing her fashion business.
“She has invested a lot of energy in it and s he’s had a tough life, which has made her even more determined to do well.”
But Jessica is not the only one likely to raise the eyebrows of Lord Sugar and aides Baroness Karren Brady and Claude Littner. Self- proclaimed “anti-Wag” Frances Bishop, who is married to Scunthorpe United footballer Neal, likes to let her hair down too – as proved in a snap a pal posted on Twitter of her having Archers poured down her throat straight from the bottle. Cheesy Karthik Nagesan , who describes himself as a “billion- dollar unicorn” with a big monobrow, proudly posted snaps of himself naked in the shower after he embarked on a health kick. And camp art director Dillon St Paul is a party-lover who has been snapped with celebrities including former S Club 7 singer Rachel Stevens and Made In Chelsea’s Spencer Matthews.
Meanwhile, we can also reveal that the latest available figures suggest the businesses of more than a quarter of this year’s hopefuls appear to be in the red.
Sausage- maker Oliver NohlOsser was appointed director and then secretary of James Alexander Fine Foods Ltd, whose 2015 accounts show losses of £72,000.
Torpedo
Aleksandra King, 38 – who claims that “like the Tasmanian devil in the famous cartoon, I will torpedo my way through to the win” – runs business consultancy Aleksandra King Ltd, where the last annual accounts revealed a loss of £19,980.
Essex boy Courtney Wood, 29, runs novelty gift company Bubblegum Stuff Ltd, which last year showed losses of more than £15,000.
The Pud Store Limited, a children’s clothing business set up by anti-WAG Frances, 25, made a loss of nearly £6,000 in 2015.
And while one of 25-year-old Michelle Niziol’s five companies made profits of over £136,000, two others recorded losses totalling over £87,000.
In the first task this Thursday the 18 candidates have to turn a profit by flogging antiques – and this year’s series also promises a challenge involving virtual reality.
Lord Sugar’s aide Karren said as they compete for the £250,000 opportunity with Lord Sugar, this series will prove to be the most explosive yet.
She said: “This series is shaping up to be a fantastic one.
“We’ve got such a mixed bunch of candidates from a diverse range of backgrounds.
“It’s definitely one of the more explosive and entertaining series, the complexity of the tasks has really taken it up.
“There are 18 candidates and only one winner, so it gets pretty ruthless.
“The very first task is about being given a lock- up full of collectables and antiques and working out which ones are the high-value items and which are junk and then selling them all to make the most money.
“We have one team selling a £7 vase for £175 and the other team sell a pair of vases worth £300 for £5 or something.
“It’s not going to bode well for one of them – in fact they get fired by Lord Sugar, so he certainly wasn’t happy.
“They also have to create an ad campaign for jeans, manufacture a range of sweets and design a virtual reality game.
“They also have to create their own brand of gin with me and Claude as the official tasters.
“It wasn’t bad actually, it didn’t look very nice but it tasted OK.”
Last year’s winner was Joseph Valente, who won an investment in his Prime Time Plumbers business.
Highlights in 2015 included Lord Sugar’s first words of the series being him ordering contestant Dan Callaghan to get his hands out of his pockets in the boardroom – and Mergim Butaja trying to flog a load of fish fingers to a vegan.