It has emerged that everyone’s favourite Apprentice contestant took part in a trial run of Big Brother seven years ago – the year the very first Big Brother aired in this country! 

The two week trial stint is often done before the actual show to make sure the house is live-able, and in some years those that take part go on to be stand-bys for the actual show (if someone drops out) and, in some cases, actually appear in it.

Big Brother 1, of course, featured “Nasty” Nick. I wonder how Katie would have sorted him out? Perhaps she’d have been the hero of the whole show? “Nasty” Nick, if you remember, was thrown out for writing things down on bits of paper which ISN’T ALLOWED in the BB house. (Oh alright, he was trying to sway people’s voting…)

Apprentice’s Katie Hopkins was in Big Brother

In previous years of The Apprentice, almost all contestants suddenly spring up websites that celebrates how great they are, what fantastic money-making schemes they’re involved in, how they didn’t want to be The Apprentice anyway... So, as the latest series has just finished, let’s take a look at what the current crop are up to, web-wise.

Simon Ambrose‘s site features a cool dude – not Simon – holding a globe and doing a thumbs up in a wacky Paul McCartney kind of way. Cheers mate!

Kristina Grimes is ultra clever, she’s clearly making a lot of money with those pay-per-click ads! Oh wait, it’s a parked domain…

What’s pantomime villan Katie Hopkins got? She’s gone down the same route as Kristina… I thought they were bitter rivals, but who knew they shared a mutual appreciation for PPC ads?

Tre Azam does much better, his website is actually about his company, IDMM. However, he loses marks by using his official photo from The Apprentice as his photo on the site, although he’s added his company logo in the background…and it looks like he’s going to be engulfed by a lot of smoke any second now…

Lohit Kalburgi is a relief! Go to his website and you see his lovely smiling face. Find out his thoughts on the show! What he’s doing next! His mobile number! (Not really)

Naomi Lay has quite a few pop-art style photos of herself (and one of Sir Alan, how flattering!) but, much more interestingly, has a blog for her time in The Apprentice. Worth a read if you want a behind-the-scenes perspective.

Week 8’s casulty, Ghazal Asif, tries to show that she means business with a harsh grey background to her site, but is a girly-girl at heart – wow, that’s a bright pink colour! Oh hang on, scratch what I said about business. Her “Let’s Talk Business” doesn’t feature anything, but will be up and running soon.

Jadine Johnson has another parked domain, the rotter! Although the top ad on it does state “Get Laser Eye Surgery Like Simon Ambrose”. He’s helping to shift products by association already!

Your favourite carsalesman and mine, Adam Hosker, has acquired some serious glasses for his website, and he now means BUSINESS. Or something. I don’t know what he actually means, because he doesn’t say much on his site. But he does get a few points for getting new photos of himself done, and not merely using the one from the show.

Katie’s one-time paramour Paul Callaghan has decided to go into wedding photography. Interesting career move. Oh, alright, it’s not the same one Paul Callaghan. Can’t find a website for him. Shame on him! That’s a business opportunity wasted, you’re fired! Oh, he already is…

Natalie Wood has a more personal touch on her website, with lots of talk about her (one of her middle names is Tryphina!), her studies and her babies. Aww…

Dr Sophie Kain‘s website is called “Sugar Kain”. Oh ha ha, I see what’s he’s done there. BUT she does do a well-written commentary of each episode (sadly, not beyond episode 8 – yet, I hope!) and provide interesting insider comments so well worth a read.

Gerri Blackwood is perhaps trying to market herself to the pre-tweens? “Funky” music accompanies her website (luckily, you can turn if off) with cartoon stars heading different sections. I actually like this site, quite chatty and fun. Not sure about the weird brown background though.

Rory Laing has gone down the tried-and-tested domain parking route, but with a different provider. Zzzzzz… Come on, you could be talking about your “famous” spats with Tre!

Ifti Chaudhri‘s website, much like his appearance on The Apprentice, is permanently “coming soon”. Ho hum. Was he even really “on” The Apprentice?

Now, by looking at this website, I think – think – Andy Jackson might have made it himself. And that’s not just because I heard him on Radio 1 saying so. But judging by his press and business pages, he seems like a busy lad so I’m not going to hold that against him.

So, down to the last two candidates – 36-year-old Kristina Grimes, a pharmaceutical sales manager, and 27-year-old Simon Ambrose, an “Internet Entrepreneur”. (Although quite frankly, who isn’t?) 

What exciting task would Alan Sugar come up for them to prove their worth in the final battle? He’s apparently recently required a building on London’s South Bank for £120 million (ooh, the show off!) that he plans to develop. The job for each candidate, therefore, was to come up with – in four days – a conceptual idea of a new building for that space, and present that idea to a roomful of “property experts”.

And, as always, the final sees former contestants come back to help with task. After being re-introduced to them, two teams formed: on Simon’s there were Tre, Jadine, Lohit and Rory, whilst Kristina found herself with Paul, Adam, Natalie and Naomi.

The first day on this final task seemed very chilled out. Both teams went on school field trips. Naomi and Adam went to the Science Museum. Lohit, Rory and Jadine talked about nature at Kew Gardens. Simon and Tre went to the Aquarium and even brought Mummy Margaret Mumford along for the ride. I joke! They weren’t on field trips, they were doing “research” of course… Of course, silly me.

But down to the nitty gritty: designing buildings. Both teams ended up with initial ideas that were subsequently scrapped. Simon (in strong collaboration with bestest bud Tre) came up with a ship design. With much persuasion from Rory, and in discussion with the proper architects the next day, this was changed to a building consisting of three waves. Kristina’s team thought up a “long building” with two angels at either end, also changed to a big spikey-shaped thing (im my eyes, anyway) that was supposed to symbolise a phoenix rising from the ashes. Or something. (In reality, a brand-spanking new building replacing an old one. Ahh, see what you’ve done there. Clever.)

So, blah blah blah, they both made presentations to Sir Alan and his assembled property experts. And the next day, back it was to the boardroom for the final decision. The interesting thing about this task was that there was no way to clearly judge the winner; no “X made a profit of £500, Y made a profit of £1000”.

I thought both contestants had fair claim to becoming The Apprentice, both had positive and negative points throughout the entire series. Certainly in the final task, they performed equally well. Both were likeable – unlike, say, the Series 1 Final, where quiet and calm Tim was up against gobby Saira.

They were also quite different: Kristina being the more mature, having more business experience, and being a very good salesperson. Simon seemed incredibly enthusiastic in most task, and at his young age would be more easily moulded into what Alan Sugar wanted of an apprentice.

So, who won? Simon! The halls of Amstrad will be a much brighter place with his colourful socks…