As The Apprentice returns to BBC1, Lisa Williams catches up with some of the show’s most memorable contestants and finds that losing is the best way to win.

IN BBC1’s The Apprentice, sometimes it’s not the winning that counts. The potential for business acumen might impress Lord Alan Sugar, but it’s the large – and usually loud – personalities who stick in the mind.

That’s why the names of losers like Ruth Badger, Tre Azam, Katie Hopkins and Stuart Baggs are more familiar than those of winners Simon Ambrose, Yasmina Siadatan or Michelle Dewberry.

As the seventh series begins tonight, we find out what happened to those memorable contenders who got the bullet.

KATIE HOPKINS: FIRED IN SERIES THREE

HOPKINS, who stunned the nation with her plummy, acid tongue and faux girly demeanour, has only one regret about going on the show – and it’s not making comments about Northerners or walking away from the show after making the final. Rather, the Margaret Thatcher-inspired businesswoman from Devon cringes about how her private life was dragged through the Press after her exit.

She was accused of wrecking two marriages and pictures emerged of her romping in a field with her now husband, Mark Cross.

“My one regret is the media attention that swooped down on me,” she says. “That was fine because if you put yourself out there, then tough toots, you should take what you get. But my parents didn’t ask for it. They’re very private people, and so that was unfortunate.”

Though she agrees she was cast as “the evil witch” in the third series, because of her ruthless ambition and remarks about fellow contestants, she stands by her behaviour. “Certainly, I’m a very direct person,” she admits.

“I have a Forces background, have worked largely with men and being direct has always worked best for me. I don’t believe in hiding away from telling people what I think of them.”

She lost her job at the Met Office just after The Apprentice was aired and failed in her attempt to become a member of the European Parliament. But she’s cultivated a media career with appearances on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Here! and Question Time. She also runs her own consultancy firm.

“I’m grateful to the show and for all it’s given me,” she says.

TRE AZAM: FIRED IN SERIES THREE

AZAM was on the winning team more times than anyone, but will be remembered chiefly for his temper outbursts. He’s learnt from his time on the show. “I realised I was more of a slave to my emotions than I thought,” he says.

“The most important thing I learnt was the value of people. I’d always been an entrepreneur and tried to do everything myself.

I learnt to delegate and that when you’ve got a good team behind you anything can be achieved.”

He admits his business consultancy work was affected by the reputation he garnered on the show, but he’s managed to flourish with other ventures, including selling a new computer gaming console.

“I probably had a better credibility before I went on the show, but you have to be prepared for the good, the bad and the ugly,” he says.

“There was some good that came from it and some bad – it’s all about how you use it. I used it to the best of my advantage.”

STUART BAGGS: FIRED IN SERIES SIX

THE 21-year-old communications executive from Plymouth declared himself “a brand” in his own right. He came out with ego-puffing phrases such as “Everything I touch turns to sold” and “I’m not a one-trick pony, I’m not a ten-trick pony, I’m a whole field of ponies – and they’re literally all running towards this job”.

But his tactics were often naive or underhand.

Firing him, Lord Sugar told him: “I don’t believe a word you say. I’m annoyed that you were allowed this far through the process.”

If Baggs has any qualms about his time on the show, he’s not showing them. “I could be on TV with Michael Jackson brought back from the dead and people will still think, ‘There’s Stuart Baggs The Brand on TV, oh and Michael Jackson’. I’m just that big.”

He claims his business hasn’t been damaged by his time on the show, and his media career post-Apprentice has included appearances on TV and in magazines.

“Winning The Apprentice in terms of getting a job with Sir Alan is one thing, but I’ve won in terms of the exposure for my business.

I’ve never had so many customers. Admittedly, 90 per cent of the inquiries are time wasters, but there are ten per cent who are serious.”

Baggs insists that going on The Apprentice won’t harm a career or reputation and believes it’s important to be memorable. “When I die I want to be remembered. I want to leave a mark on this world,” he says.

“On my gravestone it might say ‘That idiot from The Apprentice’, but I’d rather be remembered for something rather than nothing.”

RUTH BADGER: FIRED IN SERIES TWO

BADGER went head to head with Dewberry in the final of the second series, a faceoff dubbed The Badger versus The Blonde.

“I hope I was memorable in a good way,” says Wolverhampton-born Badger, who had her own series on Sky and now runs three businesses.

She has no regrets about her time on the show and doesn’t feel bitter about not winning.

Going on The Apprentice was “the best thing I’ve ever done”, she claims. “Doing the show taught me to push myself, to go out of my comfort zone.

“I’d spent a big part of my career in financial services, and I’d got as far as I thought I was going to get and I was only 27, so it gave me a kick up the backside.

“The moment I finished, I went straight into starting my own businesses and I’ve never looked back since.”