BBC The Apprentice winner crowned after Lord Sugar makes tough decision in final

Lord Sugar has crowned fitness-fanatic Rachel Woolford as the 2024 winner of The Apprentice over runner up Phil Turner's family operated pie making business in a suspenseful final episode of the BBC show.

The decision came after twelve long weeks of challenges and saw Lord Sugar following his "gut feeling" to back Rachel's expansion plans for her boutique gym chain.

A generous investment of £250,000 from Lord Sugar did not only crown Rachel the winner but also formed a 50/50 partnership between them.

Leeds-native Rachel expressed her amazement at the result, stating: "To take part in the process has been incredible and to come out a winner is just something beyond my wildest dreams, the Mirror reports.

"I was twenty-four years old when I started North Studio. I was just a girl from Leeds and now I cannot believe it, I'm going into business with Lord Sugar and he's investing in me."

The final episode saw the two contestants presenting their business proposals followed by an impassioned argument as to why they should be chosen as Lord Sugar's next business associate.

Lord Sugar summed up the situation saying: "Let me conclude here. This is a very tough decision, I've got to say because I've got two very, very credible people in front of me."

"I've got Rachel who claims she's making money and that she's going to make even more when she gets the second gym up and running but gyms are, with all due respect, two-a-penny.

"Specialist pies are not and it's a market that I'm very interested in but how can I be interested in it if there's no light at the end of the tunnel.

"There's a loss-making business at the moment which you tell me is going to turn around and be okay and that's my dilemma."

He added: "It's very, very hard for me. I'm having trouble here. But my gut feeling is telling me that, Rachel, you're going to be my business partner."

Phil arguably lost his chance of victory when he disagreed with Lord Sugar over whether his business should concentrate on online pies sales, which have higher costs than shop sales.

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Lord Sugar said he was "distracted" by this part of the business and needed to think more about what would make more money, which he felt was opening more shops.

In the boardroom Phil said: "I take your sentiment about profits, but for me, there's more to running a business than making profits."

In response a clearly annoyed Lord Sugar said: "That is a dangerous statement. Cut the crap. We're in business to make money, I am anyway. Yeah. And if you're not in business to make money, then you're going to be no good to me, that's for sure."

After sending off the two finalists, he had a final discussion with his trusted advisors. On Rachel, Baroness Brady commented: "This business is her life and her passion for it really comes across. The issue really is just how expensive it is to open gyms, and she'll burn through your investment pretty quickly."

Tim Campbell MBE pitched in: "I think the thing with Rachel is that she's going into a great industry sector and she's a great advocate for her product and service. It's about the scalability of that. Can she systemise what she's done very well at two gyms over at many, many more?"

On Phil, Tim acknowledged: "I think the thing for his business is that you've given him clear indications of what is needed to grow this business, will he accept that direction and put into place what you're thinking he needs to grow? ".

The series kicked off with 18 candidates, and even though it's the 18th instalment, it continues to attract viewers.

This year's edition of The Apprentice has averaged around 6.9M viewers per episode so far, peaking at 7.1M for the launch.

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