The Apprentice 2018 winner revealed: "it's a dream come true!"
Lord Sugar has picked his winner from finalists Camilla Ainsworth and Sian Gabbidon – spoilers ahead!
Sian Gabbidon is the winner of The Apprentice 2018.
Lord Sugar announced the 25-year-old swimwear designer as his new business partner in the show’s 14th final on Sunday night, securing the contestant a £250,000 investment.
“I'm overwhelmed. I can't believe it – It's a dream come true!” Sian told RadioTimes.com after her win. “I keep pinching myself thinking, 'Is this real?'”
Sian went up against 22-year-old Camilla Ainsworth in the final, with both candidates tasked with launching a version of their business plans.
But after a closely-fought boardroom at the episode’s close, it was Sian’s swimwear brand SYO that triumphed over Camilla’s nut milk company.
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“Sian, it’s a crowded market – that’s a big, big concern for me, but you are an expert in your field, and you are a good designer, there’s no question of that,” Lord Sugar said at the end of the episode.
“I think that yours is a growing market [Camilla], and yours is a massive market [Sian], it’s very tough for me to make a decision. But on reflection, Sian, you have a great aptitude and a talent for design – you’re going to be my business partner.”
Despite Sugar and aides Claude Littner and Karen Brady praising Sian throughout the task, the win took the contestant by surprise.
“By the end, I genuinely did not know what Lord Sugar was going to do!” Sian said. “It's not like I was sitting there thinking, 'Oh, my business is way better'. It wasn't like that. it was just his preference, in a sense. I like to think he saw more in me as a person, as well.”
Sian also revealed that despite the fiery boardroom, in which the finalists argued who had more experience in business, she is still on good terms with Camilla.
“It got a little bit personal, didn't it?” she laughs. “We both said things, but we're professional and, as businesswomen, that's what we had to do. But off camera everything is cool – we're friends.”
Sian also answered the big question of the final episode: why, out of all the returning candidates, she wanted Kurran – the man who still believes he’s going to win an actual Oscar – on her team?
“I never worked with Kurran on a task, so I didn't have an opinion on him, really. I just saw bits in the boardroom, which now [after watching], I'm like, 'Wow!',” she said.
“I really trusted Kurran and we got on really well. When he did that advert in the airline task, that was when I thought it wasn't for the airline, but it was right for me and my brand. That's what I wanted. And he pulled through and I was really happy with it in the end. He was cool."
Sian is now set to take a short break before Christmas before she continues her current business, Sian Marie Fashion, with Lord Sugar in the new year.
