‘I won The Apprentice - I thought I’d lost because of one unaired scene’

After just over two months on our screens, on Thursday, 18 April a new individual will be crowned winner of The Apprentice and will walk away with a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar.

This year’s winners will follow in the footsteps of Marnie Swindells who won last year’s series and has since been busy working on her Bronx Boxing Club in London. But despite coming out on top, in an exclusive interview with OK! Marnie has revealed that she did not think she was going to win after having a “slight meltdown” while in the final boardroom of the series.

“Honestly I was in absolute shock. In my gut, I really didn't think it had gone my way. So when he said that it was me, I was just totally overwhelmed,” she said.

“What you don't see in the edit of that final boardroom is me having a slight meltdown. Up until that point, I feel like I'd been fairly cool, calm, collected and composed. In that final boardroom, I just put it all on the line and pulled my heart out to Lord Sugar.

“At that point I thought I've gone too far and said too much and this is, this isn't gonna go my way.”

Luckily Marnie’s concerns proved to be nothing to worry about and Lord Sugar chose to invest in her business pitch for Bronx over fellow finalist Rochelle Anthony, who is the owner of The Dollshouse hair salon.

For Marnie, The Apprentice has changed her life for the better and the TV personality states that the whole experience has made her “more resilient” after forcing her to face her first year in business while also navigating being in the limelight.

“I think I've become a much hardier person, a more resilient person. I've been thrust into a situation I wasn't expecting, whereby people have opinions on you. People have comments to make and I've had to learn to grow really thick skin, which has been difficult,” she said.

“You never know how you're going to be received. That's probably been the steepest learning curve.”

However, things are looking bright for Marnie and for Bronx as she plans on expanding her gym and focuses on making the sport she so dearly loves more accessible for us all.

“Bronx, my boxing gym in South East London, will be opening a whole second floor. That’s actually where Lord Sugar’s investment is going. There’ll be a weights gym, a sauna, another boxing studio and a cafe,” she explained.

“It'll enhance this idea that boxing is for everybody, which has been my mission from the start.”