Milton Keynes hair salon-owner finishes runner-up in nail-biting Apprentice final

Milton Keynes hair salon-owner Rochelle Anthony narrowly missed becoming Lord Sugar’s new business partner after finishing runner-up in the final of The Apprentice.

Rochelle went head-to-head with Marnie Swindells in the final episode last night when they pulled together a launch campaign for their respective businesses.

Rochelle was hoping to secure a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar to allow her to expand her business, The Dollshouse Salon, with a campaign created with the help of fellow contestants to promote her business as a salon catering for every hair type.

However, though impressing Lord Sugar with her business experience she lost out to boxing gym owner Marnie Swindells, a 28-year-old court advocate and gold medal-winning boxer.

When summing up at the end of the final episode of the 17th series of the reality show, Lord Sugar said he was equally impressed with both finalists and it had been a difficult decision.

But he said he’d always been a gambler and relished the challenge of backing a business idea to invest in a community-focused boxing gym.

It is the second year in a row the BBC 1 show has had an all-female final.

Rochelle said she had applied for the show as the pandemic was "really hard for the hair and beauty industry" and that she wanted to expand her business but needed financial backing.

Following her success, Rochelle added said she felt ‘privileged and proud’ to be a finalist and that it had been a ‘rollercoaster of a journey’.

Lord Sugar’s aide Tim Campbell described Rochelle and Marnie ‘deserving finalists’ while Baroness Karen Brady described them as ‘strong leaders’.

Rochelle previously told the Citizen: “It’s been a truly amazing experience, I’m a huge fan of the show, and have watched it for years. I’ve always wanted to be a candidate, and after the hardest time during the pandemic, I knew how much I could learn from the process, and how amazing it would be to represent my home town of Milton Keynes.

“I would love to expand my business worldwide, do more in education and work on a hot tools range perfect for all hair types.”