The Apprentice 2024: Yorkshire candidate Oliver Medforth turns negative into positive by selling 'flourless brownies' he accidentally made on the show

Oliver Medforth, 27, owner of Raisthorpe Manor and Yorkshire Tonics, was among 18 candidates on The Apprentice this year.

The candidates headed over to Inverness in the Scottish Highlands where they were tasked with hosting a corporate away day and baking in the kitchen.

Sadly, Mr Medforth, from the Yorkshire Wolds, was the first participant to be fired from the show.

However what could have been his downfall turned into a business opportunity.

“I should have been on the corporate team, but I didn’t speak up enough to be in the corporate group,” he told The Yorkshire Post.

“I'm no chef as you can see. If you watched the first episode there was a bit of a [problem] in the kitchen with my flourless brownies.

“I completely forgot to put flour in the brownies, which then sparked another business, Alternative Flourless Brownies, that I’m now selling.

“They are on the Raisthorpe Manor website in the Alternative section, so that’s quite funny. They actually tasted so good, so gooey, so I thought you know what? It could be a business idea, so I’m doing that alongside our Yorkshire Tonics and Raisthorpe distillery. I turned a negative into a positive.”

Mr Medforth owns Raisthorpe Manor and farm as well as the gin business Yorkshire Tonics along with his family.

His appearance on the show has helped boost awareness of his business.

“I just wanted to take my business Yorkshire Tonics more nationally, more money would have helped the business to grow, to get outside the region of Yorkshire and get into a more national listing with pubs, restaurants and bars,” he said.

“The £250,000 would have helped me find sales personnel all around the UK.

“It’s been good, we’ve got a lot of brownie and gin orders coming in and it’s been great for brand awareness for Raisethorpe Manor and Yorkshire Tonics.

“Now people recognise the brand a bit more because they have seen me on The Apprentice.”

Mr Medforth described his pride at making it onto the show amid more than 80,000 applicants.

“It was a fantastic experience, it was something I will always remember,” he said.

“I actually enjoyed the application process the most because I did very well on that; 80,000 applicants had applied and there were only 18 of us that made the cut.

“When I was on [the show] I met some fantastic people from all different backgrounds, ways of life and cultures and I really enjoyed going to Inverness, I’ve never been to Scotland before, it was a great experience. I’m quite a people-person, so I probably will catch up with them all once the series has ended.”

Reflecting on his time on the show, Mr Medforth explained what he would have done differently and the lessons he had learned.

“I have no regrets at all,” he said.

“I probably could have spoken up a bit louder, I was quite quiet in there. If I had just spoken up a bit more and put my points across then I probably would have won the task.

“There were some big characters that were selected for the show and just to get my word across I found it quite hard.

“Everyone was rooting to try and speak up and make their own points without talking for the rest of the team.

“That’s one of the things that Virdy should have really considered at the start of the task.”

Lord Alan Sugar and Tim Campbell made an impression on Mr Medforth.

“I’ve got a lot of time for Lord Alan Sugar,” he said.

“He’s worked very hard to get into the position that he’s in. I respected his decision at the end of the day.

“Tim was a lovely bloke, he won the first series of The Apprentice so it was great to hear a little bit of feedback from him.”

Mr Medforth admits that he sometimes gets recognised in the streets since he took part in the show.

“Instagram has gotten quite popular and TikTok,” he said.

“When I’m walking down the street more people recognise me which is quite weird. But it’s quite a fun experience to be part of.”

He has shared his future plans for his business and who he thinks should win The Apprentice this year.

“We will keep moving forward, keep pushing, keep attending the markets, we do a lot of farmers’ markets in Yorkshire.

“We do a lot of local shows, we do the Great Yorkshire Show, we’ll be attending that again this year. Get out in the van, call into local pubs, restaurants, hotels, farm shops, just try to sell it to customers.

“I got fired because of Virdy, Virdy should have been fired really, he was our PM in the first episode and because of that reason, I want him to go on and win it, then I lost to the winner and I was outed by the winner.

“I wish all of the other candidates the very best and they should try our flourless brownies, we also do a salted caramel and chocolate brownie vodka now as well, you can get that from our website.”