Summary

  • BBC Essex hosted a live chat with four of this year's candidates in The Apprentice

  • The BBC TV show ended last week as Lord Sugar picked the winner who will receive his £250,000 investment

  • BBC Essex's Ben Fryer welcomed that winner and three other candidates from Essex to ask them about their experiences on the show

  • The chat and live video stream took place on Tuesday lunchtime

  • You can watch a recording of the conversation by clicking on the link on the top post, or by visiting the "Watch & Listen" section

Live Reporting

  1. Apprentice winner and rivals chatting on BBC Essex

    Emma Rothwell, Liam Snellin and Chisola Chitambala sitting on one side of a radio studio, with presenter Ben Fryer sitting at the mixing desk.

    Welcome to this special live video streaming page for fans of BBC TV's The Apprentice.

    This year four of the 18 hopefuls came from Essex/east London.

    BBC Essex talked to them live in the studio in Chelmsford (with winner Dean Franklin on the phone) for a chat about their experiences of the show.

    While it wasn't quite as tense as Lord Sugar's boardroom grillings, it was just as entertaining.

    You can watch a video recording of the live chat here:

    The Apprentice winner and candidates from Essex debrief in the BBC Essex 'boardroom'.

    If you still haven't caught up with last week's final on the on the BBC iPlayer- now is a good time to do so!

  2. Meet the candidates

    A woman with long light hair is stood against the london skyline at sunset. She has a white shirt and pink suitBBC/Naked/Ray Burmiston

    Emma Rothwell

    Emma is an online gift store owner based in Harlow. The northerner started her business in her boyfriend's garage during lockdown and it has now made more than 40,000 sales.

    She claimed to be "a problem-solver who never lets anything or anyone stop me for long".

    However, she was stopped by Lord Sugar who fired her in the first episode after she failed to sell any tour tickets on a task set in the Austrian Alps.

    A man with short brown hair is wearing a light coloured suit and stood against a sky at dusk.BBC/Naked/Ray Burmiston

    Liam Snellin

    The Leigh-on-Sea electrician owns a workwear brand and made it to final episode, but was fired before he got to present his business plan to Lord Sugar.

    In his final task, his team had to design a brand and show it off at a fashion show.

    Liam was rejected by the rest of his team when he asked to put his experience to use as team leader, and he wasn’t thrilled with the final product the team produced.

    After 10 tasks, Lord Sugar fired him.

    A woman has long dark hair and you can see the shoulders of her green blazer. She has a white shirt. She is stood against a dusk sky.BBC/Naked/Ray Burmiston

    Chisola Chitambala

    Chisola is from Hullbridge and is the owner of a virtual assistant company.

    Despite making it to the final five, Lord Sugar could not see her business plan for her own company working.

    She had wanted to "revolutionise the way entrepreneurs connect with vetted investors".

    Sadly Lord Sugar was not swayed by her impressive CV - which revealed she’s involved with her choir, her local netball team and she can yodel.

    A man with combed back dark hair is wearing a suit and stood against a dusk sky.BBC/Naked/Ray Burmiston

    Dean Franklin

    This year’s winner is from Hornchurch in east London.

    The family man walked away with a £250,000 investment in his air conditioning company, which he hopes to be able to use to move his base from his home to a showroom.

    Lord Sugar told Dean there had been "a few rocky moments" where he had only remained in the programme "by the skin of your teeth".

    Ownership of Dean's company was previously split between his existing business partner and their two wives, with each having a 25% share.

    But Lord Sugar will now be given the wives' 50% in return for his investment.

    Franklin's appearance on BBC Essex comes in a week when newspapers have alleged his company has not had the correct documentation to fit air conditioning systems and he was under investigation.

    Talking on the show, he said his F gas certificate has been in place "since 2014" and he was "not aware" of any investigation by the Environment Agency.

    When asked for a statement, the agency issued a statement that said: "We are clear that it is against the law to work with F gas without the correct qualifications and certification.

    "We are investigating reports of a potential breach of these regulations."