Ex-teacher tells of ‘headmaster’ Sugar in Apprentice showdown

The 42-year-old former teacher, who now runs her own education company, told how the roles were reversed when she became the first candidate to be given the axe in the new series of the BBC show.

Ampaw-Farr was fired after volunteering to be project manager of the girls’ team in a task which involved selling off random items from a shipping container. They lost to the boys’ team by just £58.

She said: “When Lord Sugar comes into the boardroom you just go into ‘I’m in sixth form again and this is my headteacher and I’m in massive trouble’-mode.

“There’s a kind of fear factor too, it is very daunting. I was at secondary school again and Lord Sugar was the headmaster and he was not happy with me.”

This year’s line-up has been called the most glamorous yet, with contestants including a trained jazz singer, a businesswoman who stripped for a nude photoshoot and a make-up brand owner.

Mother-of-three Ampaw-Farr is the oldest contestant this year and admitted she did not feel like she fitted in with the others.

“I remember standing in reception as people were coming in and thinking, ‘Oh please don’t let me be the fattest here. I can’t believe it!’ Because everyone was so thin and glamorous,” she said.

“It’s not my world. All hair products and fake nails. It did seem that everyone is particularly glamorous.