The Apprentice winner Sian Gabbidon interview: 'Lord Sugar and I will make a great team'

The 14th series's victorious candidate on becoming the tycoon's latest business partner

After 12 weeks of arduous tasks, the winner of The Apprentice 2018 has been named.

Lord Sugar eventually decided that his £250,000 investment would go to Sian Gabbidon following an unpredictable showdown that saw Camilla Ainsworth walk away as this year's runner-up.

Despite the tycoon having some concerns with Gabbidon's luxury swimwear business, her creative flair meant that she pipped Camilla to the post, with Sugar stating: “On reflection, you have a great aptitude and a talent for design – you’re going to be my business partner.”

Fresh from her win, Gabbidon spoke to us about how it feels to become the series's latest winner, her struggles with going head-to-head with Ainsworth in the boardroom and why she thinks she was this year’s underdog.

An obvious question, but how does it feel to win The Apprentice?

It feels amazing. It’s a once in a lifetime opportunity, and to win it is is like, “Is this real?” I keep pinching myself. Has this actually happened?

Were you always confident that you had a fighting chance of winning?

I think going into the process before meeting all the other candidates, I wasn’t sure how I was going to do in the tasks. I’m very confident in myself as a person, and I know I work well in business, but you just never know with the tasks. The first couple of weeks were really hard. It was really difficult. But the further I went on, the more I was thinking, “Actually, if I put my head down and do the right things, I could bloody win this.” I felt I grew a lot more in confidence during the process and eventually won it. So yeah, I did something right.

You never once raised your voice throughout the competition. Was it a conscious effort to stay out of the fights?

One of the key things for me going in was to just be myself. I tried to stay calm. I did not want the aggressive label. In business sometimes, that’s how people are and that’s what works for them, but that’s not how I would want to manage my own. So I tried to keep out of confrontation, focus on the prize and keep people on board. But by the end, I wanted to show myself a bit more. I think everything I did worked really well and, obviously I’ve won so... I cant even believe I’m saying that.

What was that final boardroom showdown like?

It was a funny one, actually. It was tough but it was great because I didn’t need to start using things like you would in tasks. Usually, you’d have to remind yourself what happened but this part was just selling myself and my business, and that’s my passion. That’s what I know everything about. So by that point, it was great to be able to just talk abut the business and to sell it.

Your passion seemed to carry you through. Do you think you had more than your other candidates?

I think that everybody’s different. Camilla’s business is a fab one and she’s smashing it with that. I think my passion comes from the fact that this is what I’ve always done in life. I’ve been in fashion, I’ve worked in the industry and I’m an expert in my field. But that’s not to say that somebody like Camilla, who went away, did what she did and set her business up, can’t make a success of it – although, I wouldn’t say she’s got the passion like I have. I think Lord Sugar brought into me as a person as well. I think I proved myself to him and showed I was a strong candidate and that the business could be successful.

Would you say you were this year’s underdog?

I think I was at first. Massively. And I’m sure I was to the public a little bit. I bet people never thought Lord Sugar would invest in a swimwear brand. I wouldn’t say I was quiet but I stepped up where I wanted to and felt I needed to, but I didn’t get involved in the dramas and I wasn’t the loudest person. I didn’t want to go in and be someone I’m not so I was probably a bit of an underdog. I think a couple of tasks in, I started to get the respect of the candidates which was important as well.

One thing that surprised me at the end was Camilla getting quite personal. Did that surprise you?

You know, it’s very intense in those situations. I wouldn’t sit here and say I’m offended and bothered by it; it’s just what happened. We had a level of professionalism and we were businesswomen in that situation, and that’s how you had to be. Off camera and back at the house, we’re friends. We get on well, so in no way did we hold anything against each other. It hurts to hear negative things about yourself, but as a business person you have to learn to deal with them.

If you could employ any of your fellow candidates, who would you choose?

In the final, I had Khadija on my team. You probably didn’t see it as much as I did, but she was a massive help for me that day. She was like my big sister. She really understood the business, so I would probably say Khadija. But Camilla is very much my target market and she would definitely wear one of my swimwear pieces.

I like that you believed in Kurran. He was such a misunderstood candidate this year.

He was one of my favourites! I loved Kurran. He’s a crazy guy and he wants an actor and this, that and the other, but I trusted him and he pulled through when I needed him. I like the advert that he did. He’s a really nice guy.

Now that you’re officially Lord Sugar’s business partner, I’m assuming you’ve met him away from the cameras. How’s that been?

It’s been great. I’m very much a workaholic and people are like, “Are you gonna have time off?” and yeah, I probably will but I’m happy to go straight into it. We’ve met up and chatted about the business and discussed plans and it’s really exciting. I’ve had a crazy few weeks of tasks, but now this is the first and most important step really.

What are you going to do to abate the concerns he initially had about your business?

Lord Sugar knows his stuff and I think we’d work through any concerns he was to raise together. He [might have concerns with things surrounding] the influencers and celebs and stuff that I know about, and if there’s something we might have to chat through, we’ll work out whether we want to do them or not. Based on what I’ve done previously, I know the work and I think Lord Sugar knows that as well. So we’ll try the things he has queries about and if they don’t work, we’ll move on and try something else. But we’re going to be a great team. I can already feel it.

Impossible question, this, but how would you surmise your Apprentice experience?

This is quite lame, but it's been life-changing. It’s something you couldn’t ever describe and it’s been a whirlwind and a rollercoaster of emotions. But I’ve grown as a person and now it’s the first day of the rest of my life and it’s a huge opportunity for me and sianmarie.com.

The Apprentice will return to the BBC in 2019