BRITAIN: Former checkout worker Michelle Dewberry emerged as winner of BBC2's The Apprentice last night. The 26-year-old from Hull beat rival Ruth Badger in the all-woman final to land a £100,000-a-year job with Amstrad tycoon Sir Alan Sugar.
The winner was revealed in the climax of the BBC2 show when Sir Alan uttered the words: "Michelle - you're hired."
He told her: "All you have ever done in your life is work hard and you have become a great achiever." Ms Dewberry left school with only two GCSEs and a year later her older sister Fiona (19), fell to her death from an eighth-floor window. The tragedy spurred Ms Dewberry on to success and by 24 she was running her own telecoms business. "For someone like Sir Alan to recognise my ability is unbelievable," she said.
"It wasn't until right at the very end when he said I'd won that I believed it."
Fellow finalist Ruth (27), a sales manager from Wolverhampton, could not hide her disappointment at losing the contest. If Ms Dewberry was hoping to land a glamorous job on winning the show, she may be disappointed.
Sir Alan has asked her to launch a new business called Xenon Green, disposing of companies' unwanted computer equipment.