An Apprentice winner claims she lost her job and her husband and was left with just £90 after a clash with show boss Lord Alan Sugar.
When applicants apply for the show they dream of being able to work alongside the big man himself and all of the opportunities presented with it.
But for one successful contestant, Stella English, who was hired by Lord Sugar in 2010, it ended in disaster, reported The Mirror.
READ MORE: The Apprentice: Fired contestant blasts Alan Sugar for axing him
Her success turned sour when she quit her £100,000 per year job with Lord Sugar, arguing she was used like an "overpaid lackey" and unsuccessfully attempting to sue her former boss.
What happened next for Stella was an astonishing fall from grace as she went from the boardroom to the job centre, her marriage collapsed and she had just £90 in the bank.
"I wish I had never gone on The Apprentice. I’m broke and on my knees. I just don’t know how I’m going to carry on," she told The Mirror in September 2013.
It all began when Stella quit her £85,000 a year role as a as manager on the trading floor of Japanese bank Daiwa when she saw an advert for The Apprentice.
At the time, Stella was driving Porsches and Bentleys, had chauffeurs, £300 designer shoes, three houses and would think nothing of spending £600 on a meal or £200 on a bottle of champagne.
Her boss advised her against it and even offered her £100,000 not to take part in the series, but Stella felt like it was "winning the lottery".
She started to lose money quickly while filming and waiting for the show to air, but was crowned the winner and secured a £100,000 job with Lord Sugar.
However, Stella moaned that her role with Lord Alan Sugar's computer company Viglen was nothing like she thought it would be.
One insider revealed: “She was very disappointed and felt like a glorified PA – and told Lord Sugar exactly what she thought.
"She was not doing the kind of things you’d envisage a top-flight career girl doing."
A company spokesman confirmed that Stella would be switching companies to join web-connected TV service YouView, of which Lord Sugar was non-executive chairman.
While Lord Sugar himself tweeted: "Stella has contributed a lot in her time at Viglen. There are exciting times ahead for YouView and I felt she was perfect to assist me on this project."
But Stella didn't enjoy her new role either and later claimed she felt pressured into taking the new position at Sugar's internet set-top box company.
Speaking on ITV's Daybreak in September 2013, she explained: "Despite [the high salary] I couldn’t actually physically stay there, because it was unbearable. I had no future there, I knew that’s why I resigned."
After resigning, Stella landed a £200,000-a-year consultant job with Citigroup.
But things got ugly when Stella tried to sue Lord Sugar for constructive dismissal.
In the March 2013 tribunal showdown, Stella claimed Lord Sugar told her that he "didn’t give a s***" if she left his company.
However, the panel decided her case "should never have been brought" and was "ill-advised".
Lord Sugar later accused her of aiming for a "tidy" out-of-court settlement, adding: "I’m afraid she underestimated me and her reputation is now in tatters."
The hearing brought a media frenzy and after Stella lost the case Citigroup refused to renew her contract.
Following the case, the tycoon counter-sued his old employee, demanding that Stella pay for lawyers he employed during her failed constructive dismissal case against him – costs amounting to £50,000.
"I do not know how I am going to feed my kids, never mind the mortgages," she told the panel during the hearing.
Lord Sugar's counter claim failed as an East London Tribunal Service panel ruled that the mother-of-two should not have to repay any of the legal fees.
Her lawyer Henry Hendron said: "My client is over the moon the employment tribunal have found in her favour and have dismissed the respondent's application for substantive costs against her."
Following the conclusion of the case, Lord Sugar told the hearing that he would take on claim culture as a "personal crusade".
But Stella's life had fallen apart as her marriage crumbled and she struggled to put food on the table for her two sons.
Ex-husband Ray blamed The Apprentice and Stella's battle with Lord Sugar for destroying their relationship.
Wiping away the tears, she told The Mirror: "The day that Ray left me he said ‘I wish you had never done that show.’ I just didn’t know what to say.
"All I wanted to know is if he loved me, so I asked the question. I said ‘Do you love me,’ but he wouldn’t answer me.
"So I asked him again and he just stared at me and said ‘No’. I tried to reason with him but he wouldn’t have it. He just got in his car and drove off.
"I don’t blame him, I feel sorry for him. He couldn’t stand the stress of it. We got through the tribunal but when Sugar’s cost application came that was the final straw.
"We were dreading letters from the tribunal and the bailiffs. He was just sick to death of it.
"He was seeing the woman he loved being jeered at by people in the street, reduced to nothing and he couldn’t take it. That’s the one thing I regret, I put all this stuff before him. I haven’t even begun to digest the split."
She couldn't afford to make phone calls and her kitchen cupboards contain only a few bags of Asda Value pasta and porridge oats.
"I’ve got £90 in the bank. I’m going to have to ask friends for money. I’m just living day by day," she said at the time.
Stella struggled to find work because of her fame and didn't hear back from job applications.
"As soon as the employer realises who I am I don’t hear back. I’ve even applied for jobs that I’m over-qualified for but I don’t hear anything," she said.
Stella then appeared as a host for Crowd Box – a TV channel that helps entrepreneurs raise money through crowd-funding – and found work as a management consultant.
Her love life also turned around as Stella found happiness with snooker player boyfriend Ali Carter in 2016.
At the time, sources told The Sunday People : "Ali has been seeing Stella for a little while now, and things are going really well so far. They’ve been hanging out at her place down in Kent, and their friends know how happy they both are."
Then the couple confirmed that Stella was pregnant when they attended the World Snooker Dinner and Awards in 2017.
Ali, who beat cancer in 2013, told the Daily Mail: "After all I've been through I can't believe my luck. Stella's been a positive influence on and off the table.
"I'm back in the top sixteen and looking forward to welcoming our little bundle in the next few weeks. We couldn't be happier!"
The Apprentice continues on BBC One and iPlayer.
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