Apprentice star and recruitment business owner Flo Edwards (above) has said the TV show process was an amazing experience, despite not reaching tomorrow night’s much-anticipated final.

Going out in the final interview (semi-final) stage, Edwards said she was “really fortunate” to share her experience with the 17 “amazing candidates”, which has been whittled down to just two candidates after 11 weeks of boardroom battle.

“I think if I look at the final five and those that I was in the final with, I’m just grateful to be named among them to be honest,” Edwards told Recruiter.

Unfortunately for Edwards, she wasn’t selected in the final two as Lord Sugar’s aides pointed out some discrepancies in the business plan and the business magnate was forced to make a tough call.

However, she took the positives from her involvement and pointed back to task two, which the girls won by making more profit on their mini cheesecakes than the boys, as a point of her success and feeling like she belonged on the cut-throat show.

Recalling her initial days on the show and her most enjoyable moment, Edwards said: “It was probably when I first entered the process. I looked around and everybody had incredible businesses, and I didn’t have a business at the time. 

“So for me, it was about trying to prove myself and sort of show my business skills without having a business there. I did that and I got rewarded for it. I had a big compliment from Lord Sugar in the boardroom on task two, around having a very good negotiation. For me, that was a real confidence booster for the rest of the process.”

The Hathor Talent boss said that The Apprentice experience taught her to “back herself”, despite not having a business at the time of recording when so many of the other candidates did.

Following the show, Edwards launched her recruitment company, Hathor Talent. She says it is early days at the moment, but the business is succeeding in the current financial climate.

The Apprentice contestant said she has had her “head down and focusing on business” and following the conclusion of the TV show tomorrow, she will be able to focus all her energies on Hathor matters rather than press duties related to The Apprentice.

According to Edwards, Hathor works with “private capital on back to portfolio businesses on executive search and interim management”. There is also “senior finance hires, which are underpinned with diversity and inclusion at the company’s core”.

“It’s not just diversity in the sense of gender and sort of looking at more women in finance, but actually it’s also social mobility and ethnic minority as well,” she said.

Outside of the cut-and-thrust world of The Apprentice and recruitment in general, Edwards – a former Loughborough Lightning player in Netball Super League – plays mixed netball when she can, where men can play too.

“I think it’s interesting because business has been male dominated for the past 100 years and netball has been mostly for women, so it’s been really nice to sort of marry those two challenges that diversity is facing,” said Edwards.

“I think doing something outside of work is so important because it's your one time where you can sort of switch off, especially being a business owner,” she said. “At work, the business is your whole life and your whole brain is absorbed by it, what you’re doing and everything that is going on. 

“So to have something where you don't have to think about anything else apart from the ball, then yeah, it's something that I sort of do very frequently. Any kind of sport is very good for both physical and mental wellbeing.”

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