The Apprentice winner sued Lord Sugar and only had £90 following show tribunal case

Lord Sugar sued her back, too


A previous winner of The Apprentice was left with next to no money after winning the show and clashed with Lord Sugar so much, the pair sued each other. Stella English won the show in 2010, but it wasn’t the start of her dream career as she had hoped.

Back in 2010, winners of the show would win a £100,000 a year job with Lord Sugar, working at his company. However, she shortly quit the job, claiming she was nothing but an overpaid servant in the role. She then attempted to sue Lord Sugar over everything that had happened.

It’s been reported afterwards Stella only had £90 in the bank, no job and her marriage broke down. “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 said in 2013. She later said she had felt pressured to take the role, adding on ITV’s Daybreak in September 2013: “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.”

The Apprentice winner Stella English sued Lord Sugar after winning the show

Stella on Daybreak, via ITV

Stella had quit an £85,000 a year job after seeing the advert for The Apprentice. It’s been reported she had been driving a Porsche, spending thousands on clothes and eating out and was living the high life before it all fell down after the show. She lost a lot of money whilst filming the show, but then won the £100,000 job at the end.

“She was very disappointed and felt like a glorified PA – and told Lord Sugar exactly what she thought,” a source told The Mirror. “She was not doing the kind of things you’d envisage a top-flight career girl doing.” Lord Sugar at the time 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.”

Stella landed another job after leaving Lord Sugar, but later tried to sue him for constructive dismissal. In a tribunal, she claimed Lord Sugar told her he “didn’t give a shit” if she left his company. However, the panel decided her case was “ill-advised” and she was unsuccessful. The tribunal was very public, and meant Stella’s new workplace refused to renew her contract.

Lord Sugar then sued her back, trying to get her to pay his legal fees – lawyers reportedly had cost him £50,000 in the case. Lord Sugar’s counter claim also failed.

The Apprentice winner Stella English sued Lord Sugar after winning the show

via BBC

It’s been reported that Stella’s ex-husband blamed the entire clash and legal battle for the breakdown of their marriage. “The day that Ray left me he said ‘I wish you had never done that show.’ I just didn’t know what to say,” she told The Mirror. “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.”

“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 added. “As soon as an 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.”

After the clash with Stella, the show changed paths completely. It was then that winning candidates would then get an investment into their businesses from Lord Sugar, over a job working with him.

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