FormerThe Apprentice winner Stella English couldn't believe her luck when she won a role alongside business tycoon Lord Sugar, but the job wasn't all it seemed - Stella is suing Lord Sugar after the show nearly "wrecked her life".
The 32-year-old former bank executive won the £100,000-per-year post as Lord Sugar's apprentice when she triumphed on series six of the series in 2010.
However, Stella sensationally quit the placement in September 2011, just two months shy of completing her contract, telling boss Lord Sugar: "I don't give a s**t."
Stella is so unhappy with her experience she is bringing legal proceedings against Lord Sugar for constructive dismissal - a challenge being contested.
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The professional hoped working in such a high profile role would help boost her career, but Stella, who has launched a fashion line, insists she is now worse off after gaining no real skills and spending too long away from the banking industry.
Following her win, a disappointed Stella was made project manager of a number of IT projects but claims she would never had applied for the role if it had been advertised.
She said: "It was way beneath my abilities and I was totally over-qualified for it. It was like turning the clock back 10 years."
The former reality star handed in her resignation before she was offered another role by head honcho Lord Sugar - as Commercial Manager of YouView, a company which produces television set-top boxes with an internet connection.
But Stella carried through another resignation before completing her contract, claiming Lord Sugar was absent from her professional life following the show.
However, she doesn't hold her experience against the former Amstrad impresario personally.
She said: "In a funny way this isn't about Lord Sugar. Odd as it sounds, I do quite like him as an individual - he can be
quite funny and quite charming, and in a way I wish I'd spent more time with him - that he'd taken me under his wing more.
"If he had, I don't think I would be in this situation. What I experienced had very little to do with him - and that was the problem."
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Former The Apprentice winner Stella English couldn't believe her luck when she won a role alongside business tycoon Lord Sugar, but the job wasn't all it seemed - Stella is suing Lord Sugar after the ...
Former The Apprentice winner Stella English couldn't believe her luck when she won a role alongside business tycoon Lord Sugar, but the job wasn't all it seemed - Stella is suing Lord Sugar after the ...
After their previous dawn summons to the V&A museum, the candidates were despatched this week to St Catherine’s Dock – Lord Sugar’s childhood playground –...
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JonCruddasMP
BT currently have a range of apprenticeships available for young people, follow the link on my website for more info. http://t.co/WPG5d609qT
"It was way beneath my abilities and I was totally over-qualified for it?" - you could have fooled me love! Lets hope you don't get a penny & end up more out of pocket - paying all the ridiculous costs - you deserve it!!
venlafaxine: "It was way beneath my abilities and I was totally
She isnt an oddball she is a very clever women who went to a normal school left without any qualifications and ended up in a very good job. I take my hat of to the girl. Hope she find a good job to suit her soon.
Zagapo: She isnt an oddball she is a very clever women
Stella didn't have to take the the job, and in my humble, honest, completely worthless opinion, she never should have won the series in the first place. "Knees Up Mother Brown" anyone? The mere idea that anyone is actually interested in normal everyday Londoners any more than they are the people of Grimsby should have seen her thrown off the show but she somehow survived to win the thing, despite having the personality of a world weary receptionist.
Chemical_Viking: Stella didn't have to take the the job, and in
She entered a competition in which the prize was an apprenticeship with 'Lord' Sugar. Obviously people apply for this in order to further their careers. If 'Lord' Sugar was absent during most of her time and the roles she was offered were beneath her abilities and offered no opportunity for advancement then I think she has a right to sue for constructive dismissal.
It might just be a TV show to you and I but the contestants are effectively putting their careers on the line. If she'd been fired during the show then it would be fair enough to say it was a calculated risk and she should take it on the chin, but she won, was hired and then seemingly palmed off to whatever project they had running at the time. As such she has the same employment rights as you and I, whether she took part in a television show or not.
pandoraann: She entered a competition in which the prize was an
The one thing Sugar emphasizes again and again on the show is that contestants must be capable of leadership, work under pressure and be able to use thier own initiative. Those are the essential qualities and the various contestants repeatedly claim they meet all these criteria. As regards thier careers, i would suggest that taking time out of work to participate in a reality tv show, suggest that they are not serious about their chosen careers.
GearoidOD: The one thing Sugar emphasizes again and again on the
But from the sound of it, she was never put in a position in which she could demonstrate leadership abilities, etc. It's all well and good telling someone to show initiative but they have to be in a position to do so.
I agree that anyone taking part in the show is taking a calculated risk because they're not satisfied with their current career path. But that doesn't negate her rights as an employee. She's not taking legal action as a contestant on a television show but as an employee who felt she was left no other choice than to resign, i.e. constructive dismissal.
pandoraann: But from the sound of it, she was never put
Wouldn't employ any of the arses' who take part in this programme. Shallow, selfish, self serving, backstabbing, fantasist's the lot of them. Seen more commercial nous in a cheese sandwich than in the entire series. just one more cheap route for thick cheap people craving the celebrity hit.
m80kmb: Wouldn't employ any of the arses' who take part in
I've never watched the program and have to admit I find "Lord Sugar" more irritating than an itchy rash. But if this woman's life has been "nearly" ruined she has no one to blame but herself. She sought celebrity by entering one of far to many pointless reality shows, she knew the conditions before entering, and then after winning!! yes winning, terminated her own contract.
The woman is obviously not the sharpest knife in the draw.
petethecab: I've never watched the program and have to admit I
Sounds as though she needs someone to hold her hand and guide her through all her life difficulty's. Sorry but life is not like that, She can only get higher up the ladder by her own hard work. Do not think i would employ her after reading her self pity failures
alconltd: Sounds as though she needs someone to hold her hand
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Posted: 9/04/2012 09:59 Updated: 9/04/2012 15:22