Lord Sugar’s next apprentice could be the owner of a struggling sweet shop in Hull.
Megan Hornby has been revealed as one of the 18 candidates to enter the firing line in the latest series of the BBC favourite. The 26-year-old entrepreneur who is in the process of converting her The Candy Shop Newland Avenue outlet into a cafe bar after an initial boom has almost turned to bust, will debut on the show on Thursday.
She initially launched on Princes Avenue during lockdown, having started out making sweet box treats for family and friends when furloughed from her role as general manager of former restaurant Lucca. Megan went on to open a second outlet in Leeds, and had employed around 20 staff at peak.
Read more: Full list of the 18 latest candidates on The Apprentice 2023
But appearing before the city’s planning committee last month as she sought a change of use for the Hull shop, she told how fortunes had turned.
“After initially flourishing, my business has struggled for the last six to nine months, to the point that we are on the verge of going under,” she said, gaining the backing of councillors.
How long she spent away from The Candy Shop will be revealed as Series 17 of The Apprentice plays out, with plans approved for food and drinks to be served, catering for baby showers, hen parties and other intimate events. Her application may well give a clue to her big plan with Lord Sugar.
Dressed in a very similar baby pink jacket to the one she opted for when launching on Newland Avenue, Megan told producers she has found a "gap in the market" with her business idea and believes with investment it could be "nationally recognised".
She added: "I think that no matter what situation I am thrown into, I will always give 100 per cent truth, even if it’s hard to hear. I always believe that honesty is the most important thing in business.
“My biggest weakness is that I can often be overly ambitious. I can take too many things on, and sometimes I need to focus on certain aspects. But it’s just because I’m so passionate about what I do - I just want to take everything on and get involved in as much as I can.”
Megan follows in the footsteps of Hull’s series two winner Michelle Dewberry, who now has a prime time show on television channel GB News, having also stood unsuccessfully in the 2017 general election on a pro-Brexit independent ticket, then for the Brexit Party in 2019.
The Apprentice will be screened on BBC One and iPlayer, from Thursday.
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