The Apprentice 2023: Who is Shannon Martin, the West Yorkshire candidate competing for Lord Sugar’s investment

A business mogul from West Yorkshire is gearing up to face Lord Alan Sugar in this year’s BBC Apprentice series. Shannon Martin, who owns a Bridal Boutique in West Yorkshire, will be among the group of 18 entrepreneurs who will battle it out in the hopes of becoming Lord Sugar’s business partner.

Each week the candidates will take on challenges to show off their business skills to Lord Sugar, and those who fall below par will be taken to the board room to determine their fate. As the series progresses, the hopefuls will share their business plan with Lord Sugar and his team, before one of them is offered a hefty £250,000 investment to kick-start their business.

Ahead of the series which starts on January 5, Shannon has said that she hopes to make her Bridal Boutique into a multi-million-pound business in the coming months if she wins. She said: “I feel that I deserve Lord Sugar’s investment because my business is all based in the UK.

“There are not many other businesses that design and manufacture wedding dresses made solely in the UK, which is exactly what my business plan is. I think it’s a really good opportunity for him; he’s never been in the bridal business before.”

Shannon is hoping to be the first business partner to bring Lord Sugar into the lucrative bridal industry and says that her USP is the fact she’s already got a million-pound business.

However, Shannon said that she might be struggling with some aspects, as she wants to do everything “there and then”.

“My biggest weakness is probably the fact that I want everything now, so I struggle to prioritise,” she said. “When I come up with an idea, I want to just do it there and then and take everybody along with me on the ride. It can cause a bit of stress because I just want it today, I need to learn to be a bit more of a planner.”

The Apprentice will return to BBC One and BBC iPlayer on Thursday, January 5 2023 at 9pm.