Apprentice UK

[faceless]

I reckon the lovely Michelle will win this series. I was more than happy to see that muppet Sayed chipped out the other day - he made the tv show more interesting simply through cringe-factor, but he was never going to be a winner!

[IRiSHMaFIA]

I don't think she'll win since she seems a to have a lot of weaknesses about her and tends to drop the ball quite a bit. I feel Ruth has a far better chance at it or even Paul for that matter. They've both been pretty solid, even though Ruth looked a bit weak in the boardroom last week.

We'll see soon enough

[Ally]

I think it'll be Ruth and Paul in the final two.

[faceless]

I bet Sugar's crapping himself whoever it is that wins! I can't really see any of them fitting in with the kind of self-effacing approach that they'd probably need to work with him.

[Ally]

I'd like to see Ruth win and I don't think anyone could push her around. Her facial expressions alone have made this series fun.

[IRiSHMaFIA]

[faceless]

ahhh, I should have put a bet on weeks ago... and the fact she looked like a MOVIE STAR on the aftershow just added to my satisfaction over picking the right person!

I almost feel like I won!

[IRiSHMaFIA]

I haven't watched the whole show yet but had to peek at who won. I saw a wee bit of the aftershow and was shocked how good she looked, since I thought she looked rather plain and a bit on the drab side during the show.

I still think Ruth should have won because she was a stronger person throughout the whole show and showed a lot more talent in business. Michelle was quiet and didn't really put forth half the efford, but I reckon because of her story of working a few jobs and all that whilst growing up got to Sir Alan.

And here I thought he was near perfect! Ah well, everyone makes mistakes. I forgive him for his poor decision...and I forgive you too faceless

[faceless]

[IRiSHMaFIA]

[Ally]

I was actually pulling for Ruth to win and it wouldn't surprise me if she ended up with a permanent job with Sugar anyway. He had a difficult time deciding between the two.

They both got jobs with one of his companies after the series ended whilst they waited for the final episode to be aired where they would actually find out who won.

Ruth said she hadn't been told she was fired from that job as yet so who knows. Although she did say she started her own consultant business as well.

Michelle may of been the better choice as Apprentice since she would probably be easier to mold.

The one thing I didn't like about Michelle was the time there were doing the task for I think it was Top Shop and Michelle basically spent most of the day drinking champers and wasting time on a few women who really weren't serious about shopping. Other than that, I thought she did alright.

Ruth did win the final task but didn't get the job. Oh well good luck to Michelle. She really did look beautiful on the final night. And I'm just happy Sayed didn't win....

[Ally]

[faceless]

THE APPRENTICE winner Michelle Dewberry has told how her maniac father clubbed her over the head with a hockey stick after years of torment and horrific beatings. It was the final bloody straw that made her flee the family home?and the shocking rages of evil alcoholic David Dewberry.

Speaking exclusively to the News of the World, blonde Michelle, 26, revealed: "I ran down the road to a phone box in my bare feet, blood pouring down my face and my hair coming out in clumps. I called the police and never went back. He almost broke me but in the end it only made me stronger and more determined to survive."

Brave Michelle told how her Jekyll and Hyde father:

BATTERED her and her sisters black and blue

HUMILIATED her by calling her Fatty and treating her like a slave

HEAD-BUTTED and tried to strangle her mother

DROVE her older sister out of the house into a life of drugs, massage parlours and ultimately death

RULED the family with a rod of iron and was such a miser he only allowed them ONE light on at a time.

Watch a video of Michelle's photo shoot: CLICK HERE


The former checkout girl, who won a ?100,000-a-year job with Sir Alan Sugar on the final of the TV reality show watched by six million viewers last week, grew up with her family in a terraced house in Hull. Crammed with her in the home were housewife mum Glynis, now 51, and engineering salesman father David, 53, older sister Fiona?who would have been 29 if she'd lived? Karl, now 24, Clair, 22, and younger brothers Marc, 16 and Paul, 14.

Michelle winced as she recalled how her father battered her that terrifying day when she was 18. She said: "It was not the first time he had beaten me up but it was the worst by far. That day he knocked sense into me?to leave for good and make something out of my life. Now I really have done that.

"I have no idea what he thinks of me winning The Apprentice. I have not spoken to him for years and don't even know where he lives. I have no happy memories of him at all. The only thing I can thank him for is?in a ridiculous way? giving me the determination I have. I am scared stiff of him to this day."

The violence erupted after Michelle sneaked back from seeing her mum in hospital where she'd had a brain operation?defying her father's ban on the family visiting. She said: "When Dad got home I knew something was wrong. He slammed the door and shouted, ?What have you made me for my f***ing tea?' He came up right behind me in the kitchen and snarled, ?I know you have been to see that f***ing bitch. You're a slag.'

"I snapped for the first time ever and pushed him back. He grabbed the handle off the grill pan and started battering me in the head and then he shoved my head into the cupboard. He was hitting me over and over again. I tried to get away to ring 999. But the kids had left their hockey stick in the hall. He grabbed it and went to hit me over the head with it. I lifted my hands to protect myself and there was a huge crack as he swung it. Both my wrists flopped down. I thought they were broken but somehow I got away."

Michelle ran to a callbox, begged new boyfriend Dave to collect her and rang the police. She said: "A WPC came round and Dad said I was a liar. She only believed me when she saw the hole the hockey stick had made in the wall. But Dad was a good salesman and they never pressed charges. That was it for me, I never went back again."

When Michelle's mum got out of hospital she left for good and took the younger boys with her. Her father tracked them down and went berserk so they got a court injunction to keep him away. But Michelle recalled: "One day Mum took Marc to football practice and my dad followed her. He stamped on her foot so hard she fell to the floor and couldn't get up." Her father snarled: "If you don't give me my kids back I'll kill you."

Michelle said: "He head-butted her, and blood spurted everywhere. And then he tried to strangle her. I found her there with blood pouring down her face and Dad with his hands around her neck. He was telling her he wanted her dead and screamed, ?That's too good for you. You should be in a wheelchair, it would be more painful'. I don't know where I got the strength from but I finally managed to wrestle my dad off her. He went to the police cells for the weekend. But in court he talked his way out of it."

It was the final episode of a family life that looked perfect on the outside but behind closed doors was a total nightmare. She said: "I think he had mental problems. We were never allowed to be tactile or say we loved each other. "My dad believed if we said things like that we would turn out gay. If my little brothers cried we weren't allowed to pick them up. We had to leave them sobbing. I never, ever remember him cuddling me or bouncing me on his knee."

Her father would spend evenings in the pub getting so drunk that he would roll home and become violent or, if they were lucky, just pass out. Michelle said: "I saw him attack Mum loads of times. We tried to pull Dad off, as she did when he was beating us, but he was too strong."

Each time he told the family he was sorry and it would never happen again. But it always did. She said: "It was mental and physical violence. He would tell us, ?You are f***ing useless and fat'. He'd say to me, ?You will never get a job'. Dad was always drinking and kept his lager in the garage. He would shout, ?Get my beer, Fatty'. Apart from that there were few words said in our house. We weren't allowed to speak or have the telly on. He didn't like being in the same room. He hated us.

"We used to love him being out so we could watch TV. We had a friend up the road and when she saw him on his way back from work she would ring us and the TV would go off. But if he felt the plug was hot he would batter us. We were allowed to watch Michael Barrymore's Strike It Lucky and Coronation Street until he said the plot went crazy. But if we did it without him giving permission he hit us. He was smart, he never hit us in the face. He would nip our skin and twist it around. Or if we were out he would stamp on our foot. We never screamed, we were too scared.

"At least one of us got hit most days. Meal times were awful. If we didn't want to eat something, he would grind our heads into our food on the plate then make us eat it. And if we had a spot or a cold sore on our face he would say we were unclean and make us eat with special cutlery with blue tape on it.

"My happiest memories of childhood are him being away in the pub. He was more violent when he came back but it was worth it to be able to talk and have fun together. And he was tight. He cut bars of soap in half and the toothpaste tube into quarters to get every bit out." At 8pm, all the lights apart from the one in the living room went off? and that too was switched off when nearby Hull City played at home. Because then they had to manage with the glow of the floodlights!

He was so mean with housekeeping when the family sat down to Sunday lunch there was often not enough meat, so her mum went without. Michelle said: "I remember once having driving lessons and for some reason my dad didn't like the way I was being taught. He just punched me in the stomach and made me call the instructor. I was so winded I could hardly speak. But I don't remember him hitting the younger kids. Me and Fiona got it most. Now I hate what he did to me. But proving him wrong is a huge driving force to succeed. My family without Dad are totally different. Mum has got a new partner and radiates happiness. I adore them all.

"I hope Dad's found happiness now. He was wrong to treat us the way he did. But deep down I love him, he's my dad. I hope that he saw me on The Apprentice and thought, ?'Wow, that's my little girl'."

MICHELLE is giving the fee from this interview to a charity trust supporting one of her close family members.

-----------------------

[Kezza]

Maybe I missed it, but did it say what happened to older sister Fiona? The article says, "..if she had lived.." but I don't recall reading as to when/where/why she is no longer living.

[faceless]

She died a drug related death when she was 22 of I think - I read the full article in the paper itself, but didn't realise they hadn't mentioned her in this online version...