'I feel privileged to have met Lord Sugar'

A Worthing woman who hopes to become Lord Sugar's next business partner has told BBC Radio Sussex the business magnate is "a very nice guy".

Melica Morshiri, the owner of a tech recruitment firm focussing on AI, is one of 18 hopefuls appearing in the new series of The Apprentice, which starts on BBC1 at 21:00 GMT on Thursday.

Candidates are eliminated over 12 weeks through business related tasks, with the winner getting a £250,000 investment.

"Lord Sugar is exactly how you see him on TV" she said, "I feel absolutely privileged to have met him and been under his guidance."

Ms Morshiri said she was urged to apply to the show by a cousin.

"I was watching EastEnders and we saw the advert come up.

"I've always been entrepreneurial and driven so I thought 'why not, I've got nothing to lose?'

"Next minute I got invited to the interview process."

With a business plan that involved taking her recruitment firm global, she said she was impressed by her fellow candidates.

"They're so driven, of course we're in a very competitive situation, we're all very competitive people.

"I thought, 'gosh, these people are so clever', and some of them are younger than me.

"I feel so privileged to have me them all. I'm still in touch with a lot of them today."

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