The Apprentice winner Dean Franklin has admitted he was “petrified” of Lord Alan Sugar’s boardroom.
The tradesperson was crowned winner of the 19th series of the BBC programme on Thursday night. Lord Sugar, 78, chose to invest in Mr Franklin’s air conditioning business despite the contestant’s difficult semi-final interviews. Business guru Mike Soutar grilled Mr Franklin, 35, about photos of a sex object stuck onto an air conditioning unit, which the tradesperson had said was “quite funny” at the time.
But Mr Franklin said this awkward encounter was less frightening than going into the iconic boardroom after every task. The dad of two, who is from Dagenham, east London, said: “To go into that boardroom, I was petrified. I know I sat there, and I didn’t look at all nervous, but I was, my heart was beating 100 miles per hour, and it was so scary.
“During the interviews, I crumbled. When I sat in that chair my mind went completely blank. I couldn’t even get a sentence together it was that bad. I’ve never had it before in my life, but the pressure was unbelievable, and I knew whatever was going to come out of my mouth was going to be rubbish. My mind turned to mush, and I couldn’t get anything out.”
Yet Mr Franklin did enough to impress Lord Sugar, who made his initial fortune with consumer electronics company Amstrad, and the host selected the proud Londoner as his winner. Mr Franklin triumphed over 26-year-old Anisa Khan, who had tried to tempt Lord Sugar into investing into her pizza company.
It makes Mr Franklin the first tradesperson to win The Apprentice in nine years. Speaking about his journey, the plucky entrepreneur told Mail Online: “I’ve never had any experience in front of the camera before, so filming the Apprentice was new to me. I really struggled. I am a tradesman; I’m not used to being in front of the camera or the corporate speaking or any sort of public speaking.”
But he conquered his last public address of the series – presenting his business to a room of industry experts – as he closed in on victory. His confident speech was almost ruined when Mr Franklin walked off stage, initially forgetting to host the question and answer part of his presentation.
The contestant’s company, ADL Air Conditioning, is jointly owned by himself and close pal Alex Scott. He kept the firm going whilst Mr Franklin entered the BBC series and now as payback he will equally benefit from Lord Sugar’s investment. It means both friends are set to become millionaires in the next few years.
At Reach and across our entities we and our partners use information collected through cookies and other identifiers from your device to improve experience on our site, analyse how it is used and to show personalised advertising. You can opt out of the sale or sharing of your data, at any time clicking the “Do Not Sell or Share my Data” button at the bottom of the webpage. Please note that your preferences are browser specific. Use of our website and any of our services represents your acceptance of the use of cookies and consent to the practices described in our Privacy Notice and Cookie Notice.
