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IN June this year, Kristina Grimes joined the ranks of the reality television "should've wons". From Gareth Gates losing out to Will Young and Ruth Badger coming second to Michelle Dewberry, viewers of the latest series of The Apprentice were stunned as Sir Alan Sugar picked ex-public schoolboy Simon Ambrose as his latest protege.
IN June this year, Kristina Grimes joined the ranks of the reality television "should've wons". From Gareth Gates losing out to Will Young and Ruth Badger coming second to Michelle Dewberry, viewers of the latest series of The Apprentice were stunned as Sir Alan Sugar picked ex-public schoolboy Simon Ambrose as his latest protege.
Kristina, a former Harrogate resident who studied in Leeds, is still constantly reminded of this choice.
"I think everybody who has ever come up to me has said 'you were robbed' or 'you should have won'," she said.
"I still get recognised all the time. It has not died down."
The 36-year-old has got over the pain of not being chosen for a top job with Sir Alan, an outcome she had never even contemplated.
"I did not go on it for any other reason than to win it," she said.
But she's had years to hone this single-minded determination.
Brought up in Wicklow, Ireland, Kristina shocked her family when she became pregnant aged 17.
She worked hard to bring up son Graeme on her own and in the early 1990s moved to Leeds and completed a maths degree in the city.
By the time she got onto The Apprentice she was living in Harrogate and working as a sales manager in the pharmaceutical industry.
Her appearance coincided with the programme becoming a huge mainstream hit after it transferred from BBC2 to prime time BBC1.
A classier brand of reality television show, each week the contestants complete a task designed to test their business skills. At the end of the programme, Sir Alan delivers the immortal line "you're fired" to one unlucky contender until the eventual winner is told "you're hired."
Kristina was a slow burner rather than an obvious victor from the start and came into her own when pitted against the ruthless – and downright nasty – Katie Hopkins.
During a boardroom showdown after a badly-lost task, Kristina revealed to Sir Alan Katie's burgeoning relationship with fellow contestant Paul Callaghan.
Then Katie hit out at Kristina, memorably calling her "too orange to be taken seriously".
But Kristina had the last laugh after Katie was forced to withdraw from the final because of her young family.
And by not getting involved with the backbiting, Kristina came out of their rivalry with her dignity intact – unlike Katie who was dubbed an "uber bitch" by the tabloids.
"My choice early on was to save my energy and focus on the task in hand," said Kristina.
"That choice has brought me a huge amount of publicity and a huge amount of respect."
Though Kristina still meets up with fellow Apprentice contestants, Katie most certainly isn't invited.
However Kristina did remain on good terms with eventual winner Simon Ambrose, despite being distraught at not being picked as Sir Alan's apprentice. "I don't know how many tears I shed – enough to fill a swimming pool probably," she said. "Then two or three weeks later I realised that somebody was probably looking after me."
They certainly were – she's now landed a top job as sales director for property developers Dandara.
The firm was one of dozens which clamoured to employ her after her appearance on TV. "They and probably 100 companies headhunted me," Kristina said. "I shortlisted it down to the types of industry I would like to work in. I was willing to look at investment banking. I was also willing to look at Alan Sugar because he offered me a job as well."
It must have been gratifying to be offered a role by the man who turned her down in front of millions, but Kristina was determined not to take the job just because of the kudos of working for Sir Alan.
It had to be a role she wanted with a firm which wanted her for her business brains, rather than her name.
She said she chose Dandara, which is responsible for iconic city centre developments, because they wanted her skills and gave her a tough interview.
She's sure she wouldn't have got her – clearly very large – salary if she had won the series and scooped Sir Alan's 100,000-a-year job.
As well as her new job she's also in demand on TV, though she's vowed not to get involved with reality television. "I do serious stuff and charity stuff, I don't mind doing a few lighthearted things but I won't do reality TV," she said.
"I was on The Apprentice because I thought I was good at business. I'll leave it up to the people who are good celebrities to be good celebrities. I think anybody that comes out of The Apprentice and takes that route should never have been on it in the first place."
Currently living in St Albans, she has recently visited Leeds because her Wakefield-born dad Alan Grimes is involved in a private firm running GP practices in the city.
Both her parents also live in North Yorkshire and her son is at university in Durham, and with her new firm also developing projects in Leeds, she's now hoping to return to the Leeds or Harrogate area to live.
And she's got no regrets about being second-choice for Sir Alan because without that, she wouldn't have her current job.
"I used to say that there was no option other than winning, it would absolutely kill me if I didn't win.
"But bar the fact that I did not get the title, everybody says I have won."
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Thursday 24 May 2012
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