Apprentice finalist Phil Turner, dubbed Pie Man as viewers watched him recover from nine straight defeats, riled Lord Sugar when it mattered the most with his profit making confession

Beaten Apprentice finalist Phil Turner hasn’t regretted the moment that appeared to nail his Lord Sugar investment coffin for a minute.

Rival Rachel Woolford secured the tycoon’s £250,000 prize as she defeated the pie-making entrepreneur in a tense BBC series finale. Viewers watched in horror as Phil made an ill-advised comment to Lord Sugar in the boardroom minutes before the multi-millionaire decided to go for Yorkshire businesswoman Rachel instead.

Phil left the room of moguls visibly shaken as he exclaimed: “There’s more to business than making profit” – which went down like a lead balloon with baffled Lord Sugar. He told the candidate: “That is a very dangerous statement to make” and told him to “cut the c**p” saying he would be “no good to me, we’re in business to make money. Well, I am anyway.”

The finalist moved swiftly to clarify that he was referring to the fact he felt staying loyal to his staff meaning more than cash in the bank – but there was no coming back from the remark and fitness studio boss Rachel was soon named 2024’s winner after he took advice from Baroness Karren Brady and Tim Campbell.

Rachel was the winner – but did Phil nail his own coffin? (
Image:
PA)

Lord Sugar didn’t like his profit confession and told him to ‘cut the c**p’ (
Image:
PA)

Proud runner up Phil wouldn’t turn back time and told The Mirror: “I wouldn’t say I knew the game was up at that point. But I think it was clearer then that maybe our outlooks on business were a bit different. I have been running a profitable business for some time and the point I was trying to make was that for me, looking after the staff, the customers and the product is far more important than looking after the bottom line.

“Especially in the Cost of Living crisis. We may have taken a little hit last year but we’re profitable again. I would rather keep someone on during a tough time and repay them the loyalty they’ve shown us than make the numbers add up. One of the things Lord Sugar liked about me was that I wasn’t just on the process to avoid getting fired.

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“I went on because I love his no bulls**t approach to business. I wasn’t going to go there and start sugar coating stuff. As much as I respect Lord Sugar on the highest level, I pushed back and I’m not going to change my business integrity for anyone. I think he respected the fact that I stood my ground.”

He says he was desperate to totally transform things after nine weeks in a row on the losing side. Phil said: “Do you remember Liverpool’s Champions League final with AC Milan? They were 3-0 down and dead and buried – I had that mindset. It’s not over until the final whistle. I’ve been the underdog my whole life, the more I was struggling and the more Lord Sugar was asking me if I was a loser, the more determined I was to get to the end.

Phil joked that he deserved a cafe loyalty card after being on the losing side nine weeks running (
Image:
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“It was hard being on the losing side so often. The cafe owners are sick of the sight of me. I should have had a loyalty card – I’d earned my free coffee! They probably knew my order by the end of it ‘just the usual, is it?’! It’s not the best place to be and it’s very uncomfortable. I usually only ordered water.”

After a last impassioned pitch from each finalist for why they should become his business partner, Lord Sugar made his final decision saying: “Let me conclude here. This is a very tough decision, I’ve got to say because I’ve got two very, very credible people in front of me.”

Tonight, we saw Lord Sugar make his decision. He said: “I’ve got Rachel who claims she’s making money and that she’s going to make even more when she gets the second gym up and running but gyms are with all due respect, two-a-penny. Specialist pies are not and it’s a market that I’m very interested in but how can I be interested in it if there’s no light at the end of the tunnel.

“There’s a loss-making business at the moment which you tell me is going to turn around and be okay and that’s my dilemma. It’s very, very hard for me. I’m having trouble here. But my gut feeling is telling me that, Rachel, you’re going to be my business partner.”