Apprentice winner revealed as gym owner Rachel Woolford after Lord Sugar awards ... trends now
Apprentice winner Rachel Woolford has set two new goals after being crowned 2024 champion – signing up Alison Hammond as her first celebrity client in her gym business and getting married.
The fitness entrepreneur, 28, from Leeds has become the fifth female candidate in a row to win Lord Sugar's £250,000 investment after beating pie shop owner Phil Turner, 37, in Thursday night's final.
And she already has a list of targets she hopes to achieve including opening a third and fourth space with her gym North Studio and eventually making it down the aisle, after getting engaged to her long-term boyfriend in December last year.
She also aims to recruit Alison Hammond as her first celebrity client after she met the presenter on This Morning a week before she was crowned Apprentice winner.
Rachel successfully convinced Lord Sugar she and her boutique business were a worthy investment despite last year's winner, boxer Marnie Swindells, also being a gym owner.
Apprentice winner Rachel Woolford has set two new goals after being crowned champion – signing up Alison Hammond as her first celebrity client at her gym and getting married
The fitness entrepreneur from Leeds has become the fifth female candidate in a row to win Lord Sugar's investment after beating pie shop owner Phil Turner in Thursday night's final
Rachel already has a list of targets she hopes to achieve including opening a third and fourth space with her gym North Studio and eventually making it down the aisle
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, she said: 'It's an honour to have been chosen by Lord Sugar and for him to invest in my business which at the end of the day is my baby and something I have been working on for almost five years now.
'For him to see something in me and think my business is investable is just an incredible and overwhelming feeling.
'I am really looking forward to working with Lord Sugar for a number of reasons. He is investing a lot of money into me to enable my business to grow to open a third site and potentially a fourth.
'We don't have a lot of big celebrities in Leeds and Harrogate but I would love Alison Hammond to come in, she's hysterical. I met her last week when I went on This Morning and she is so great and funny. I know Lord Sugar cycles too... I would love to get him on a spin bike.'
Rachel beat rival Phil to win The Apprentice this year after presenting her business to industry professionals from the likes of upmarket gyms F45 and Barry's Bootcamp.
Becoming the show's champion marks the end of a four-year grind for Rachel, who says after setting up her business aged 23, she has coped with working long hours and often missed out on spending time with friends.
She said: 'It's that time where everyone is going out socialising, holidaying, I have missed out on a few things because I felt like I couldn't leave my business, it has always been my no1 priority and it has paid off evidently but when you're in those first few years, it's tough.
'It was the toughest and you always question if you're doing the right thing and those late nights, early starts, things go wrong in the first few years, and you learn from them... at the time you're like what is the lesson from this? And six months later the lesson is apparent.'
