Michelle Dewberry

Michelle Louise Faye Dewberry (born 9 October 1979) is a British reality television contestant and businesswoman from Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. Dewberry first came into the public eye in 2006 as the winner of the second series of British television programme The Apprentice.^[1][2]

Background

Dewberry was born on 9 October 1979 to parents David and Glynis. She has four siblings: Karl, Claire, Marc, and Paul.^[3] Her elder sister, Fiona, died in 1996 when she fell from the eighth floor of a tower block in Hull, aged 19.^[4]

From her first job working on the checkouts in Kwik Save, she rose through the business ranks in different firms to become a self-employed global telecoms programme director, living in London. She was already earning a salary of around £160,000pa before joining the TV show, working globally with clients such as COLT Telecom.^{[citation needed]} She cited her reasons for entering The Apprentice as being for the experience and not the money.^[5]

After winning the show, Dewberry told of her difficult childhood at the hands of her abusive father.^{[citation needed]} She spent time in social services care as a child, along with domestic violence refuges.^[3] She donated the fee for the interview to charity.^{[citation needed]}

The Apprentice

In 2006, Dewberry beat off competition from over 15,000 people to become the winner of the second British series of reality TV show The Apprentice, in which candidates compete for a £100,000-a-year job working for business magnate Sir Alan Sugar. Dewberry's quiet but steely demeanour led to her being nicknamed the "Silent Assassin",^[6] "Steel Pixie"^[7] and "Ice Queen"^{[citation needed]} by the British press. Pointedly, she is the only winner of The Apprentice whose photograph is not shown in Lord Sugar's autobiography.

After The Apprentice

After her victory, Dewberry was given a role within Sir Alan Sugar's company Amstrad aiding the launch of new venture Xenon Green,^[8] which specialises in disposing of the unwanted computer equipment of other businesses in an environmentally friendly way. Sugar was reported to consider this a growing market due to the demands of the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive (WEEE Directive) introduced by the European Union in 2003.^{[citation needed]}

Between the show's filming and its transmission on BBC2, Dewberry worked for Sir Alan for a total of 8 months.^{[citation needed]} After winning the television series and before beginning her new role, Dewberry took a short sabbatical during which she made several appearances on chat shows, was interviewed for various newspapers and played in the England ladies' celebrity football team in the BSkyB-commissioned Celebrity World Cup Soccer Six.

In July 2006, The Sun newspaper revealed that she was pregnant by Syed Ahmed, a fellow contestant on The Apprentice, with whom she had formed a romantic relationship.^[9] After being admitted to hospital with stomach pains in August 2006, Dewberry was told that she had lost the baby.^[10]

Dewberry has subsequently ceased working for Sir Alan, and runs her own consultancy: Michelle Dewberry Ltd (MDL) and www.chiconomise.com.^[11] In total, she worked for him for 11 months.

In November 2006 she appeared in Celebrity Scissorhands, a BBC One reality show in aid of Children in Need.

In 2007 she released an autobiography, Anything is Possible. ^[12]

Dewberry also runs workshops for both companies and individuals, teaching them that "Anything is Possible" and focusing on goal-setting, self-belief, confidence and people skills. She is also a successful public speaker, contributing to a number of high-profile business events.^{[citation needed]}

Dewberry appeared in the first test-of-skills challenge in the CBBC political reality television show Election. She was the first celebrity mentor on the show and set the contestants a task in which they had to explain their unique selling point in thirty seconds.^{[citation needed]}

In December 2009 Dewberry joined Business Matters magazine as a monthly columnist alongside Duncan Bannatyne ^[13] In July 2010 she opened Michelle Dewberry's Work and Money Surgery on women's lifestyle website iVillage.co.uk.

Michelle now works weekly on Sky News Sunrise programme alongside Eamonn Holmes as a current affairs commentator.

Michelle actively is involved in getting people back into the work place and works with The Sun and various other places.

In March 2012, Michelle covered Lorraine Kelly's column in the Sunday Post after Ms Kelly fell ill.

As of June 2012, Michelle has her own Career column in the newly revamped MORE! Magazine

Web based businesses

Dewberry set up Chiconomise.com in 2009 and thedailychic.com as a 'Group Buying' aggregator in late 2010. In March 2011 she launched likebees.com. It is a social buying site aimed purely at the family market. In April 2011 she launched her employment programme for parents across the country.

Charity work

Dewberry is an active supporter of various charities including the NSPCC, Prince's Trust, Make Your Mark, Children's Society and Women's Aid.^{[citation needed]} In 2007, she ran the London Marathon in 4hrs 33mins 20secs to raise funds and awareness for the NSPCC.^[14] She completed the 2009 London Marathon in 4hrs 26mins 23secs and is currently in training to compete in the MS Challenger 4 day event to again raise funds for the NSPCC.^[15][16]

See also

• The Apprentice (UK TV series)
• The Apprentice (UK Series Two)

Notes

References

• Dewberry, Michelle; Billowes, Mel (2007). Anything is Possible. Orion. ISBN 0-7528-8891-9. 

External links

• Likebees
• Chiconomise
• The Daily Chic
• Michelle Dewberry's official web site
• Amstrad official web site
• BBC's Apprentice mini-site
• Michelle Dewberry Interview: The Jitty
• Michelle Dewberry's iVillage blog