Apprentice star Jade Nash fell at the last hurdle on Sunday night’s BBC One final after her plans to launch a massive telemarketing operation selling on business leads was branded “grubby”.
Nearly 7 million viewers tuned in to see Nash, a business development manager at DLG, beaten to the £250,000 investment prize for a plan which is very similar to the DLG business model.
Recruitment consultant and part-time wrestler Ricky Martin, who plans to launch a specialist recruitment agency, scooped the top prize.
Red hot favourite Nick Holzherr failed to woo Lord Sugar with his business plan which was to enable consumers to order recipe ingredients online at a single click. Second favourite Tom Gearing also missed out over his plan to set up a fine wine investment bond.
Nash had been hotly tipped but Lord Sugar and his business experts decided that her business – which included calling people who had opted in receive marketing calls from firms offering services such as solar panels and electricity – could potentially damage the Amstrad tycoon’s image.
Adviser Claude Littner, chairman of former Sugar empire Viglen, ironically a heavy user of direct marketing techniques, branded her business “grubby”. Meanwhile Lord Sugar said that he did not want his name associated with a company which calls people when they are trying to watch the telly.
Nash also admitted that she had been sent hate mail by fans of Tom Gearing, when she brought him back into the boardroom in an earlier round.
“Tom’s fanbase absolutely hate me,” she toldDigital Spy. “I took him back in the boardroom for no good reason and I regretted it, but he has this passionate fanbase of little girls and they really went for me.”
Related stories
Apprentice finalist works at DLG
Charlie says: “While many people may have chuckled at the claim that a business which relies on cold calls is ‘grubby’, for the contact centre industry this is a serious image issue. With more than a million people now employed in the sector – and still growing fast – isn’t it time someone launched a charm offensive about the good work agents do, rather than concentrate on the negative aspects?”