From Yorkshire to You're Hired: How Apprentice winner Rachel Woolford dreamt of running her own fitness business since the age of seven before opening a boutique studio just as the pandemic hit - and now is set to open more gyms with Lord Sugar's £250k

Rachel Woolford was last night crowned the winner of series 18 of The Apprentice - after tirelessly working for three years trying to set up her boutique gym business.

The fitness entrepreneur, 28, who launched North Studio during Covid, went head-to-head with fellow finalist Phil Turner to secure Lord Sugar's £250,000 investment and form a partnership with the business mogul.

After she was declared the winner during Thursday's finale, she said landing the investment was 'something beyond my wildest dreams'. 

And she told MailOnline that one of her two goals was making it down the aisle after getting engaged to her long-term boyfriend Benjy in December last year.

She said that Benjy supports her wholeheartedly and understands firsthand the sacrifices she has made by working long hours in setting up her business. 

Speaking on Thursday, she added: 'I am so lucky to have a fiancé who also has a business so knows what it takes. 

'If I'm working late or missing something, he knows it's business especially in the first few years... it's not an easy ride and I'm so grateful from an early age I got stuck in and I was never put off by things going wrong. I will continue to work like that but now all the blood, sweat and tears were worth it.

'I got engaged in December last year so a month before the Apprentice started airing. We haven't actually set a date yet because I have been a little busy, but we plan on getting married next summer.' 

The 28-year-old hails from Leeds and opened her first fitness studio in the city before adding a second at Wellington House on Cold Bath Road in Harrogate last year. 

The gym's website explains: 'We're not your typical gym. We won't tie you down with yearly contracts or complex cancellation clauses, because we know we're good enough to keep you coming back for more. 

'Instead, we offer a range of flexible options suited to all budgets and commitment levels.' 

Rachel, who helped her team secure a record-breaking £38.7 million in sponsorship during a task earlier in the series, said on Thursday: 'I was 24 years old when I started North Studio.

'I was just a girl from Leeds and now I cannot believe it, I'm going into business with Lord Sugar and he's investing in me.'

But it appears that Rachel has had the business eye since she was only seven years old. 

She explained: 'When I was seven years old, I went missing - only for my frantically worried mum to find me by the roadside selling my toys shaking a biscuit tin full of coins shouting 'toys for sale, everything must go today!'

Rachel also revealed the biggest challenge she faced during the process was being away from her business and her friends and family. 

Speaking to local Harrogate newspaper The Stray Ferret in February, she said: 'It's changed my life. It's not even about it airing – even if it hadn't been on TV it would still have changed my life.

'It made me step away from my business, which no one could ever usually make me do. It made me think about what I wanted to change in the business, where I wanted to take it and majorly took me out of my comfort zone. It takes serious balls to do.'

During an interview with Excelle Magazine in 2022, Rachel gave a snapshot into her life and career as fitness studio owner.

She said: 'Experiencing the fitness market in London , New York and LA and following the industry data that group fitness classes were in higher demand than ever, I felt Leeds was missing out on something.

'The big commercial gyms weren't delivering what consumers were looking for any more.

'Consumers demanded flexibility in how to pay for their gym and variability in types of group exercise classes on offer.'

Looking to the future, Rachel said she would use the investment to 'expand across the north' and hoped to roll out more sites in York or Manchester. 

She said: 'My business plan going in was to promote and expand North Studio. It's about making sure we provide a consistent service to roll out in the new locations. 

'North provides a very personal group workout, the whole point is for it to give clients a setting of being remembered and known. 

'It's not an intimidating or competitive environment. It's fun and I want fitness to be something people look forward to – a social thing – rather than dread. Inclusivity is my biggest thing; anyone is welcome.' 

She attended The Grammar School in Leeds, which is charging £17,523 in fees for it's senior school for the 2024/25 academic year. 

Paying tribute to Rachel as an alumnus, the school said: 'From leaving a graduate scheme in order to follow her guts, to making that gap in the market work for her, Rachel proved that a fulfilling career is not always a straight pathway.' 

Growing up, she was also a keen horse rider and was a member of Bramham Moor Pony Club.

They posted on Facebook: 'A big congratulations and good luck to former Bramham Moor PC member Rachel who has made it to the final of this years Apprentice.' 

She also appears to be a keen runner, according to her social media and took part in the New York Marathon in 2019.  

During the final boardroom, Lord Sugar's aides, Baroness Karren Brady and Tim Campbell, shared their thoughts on the two finalists.

Of Woolford, Baroness Brady said: 'This business is her life and her passion for it really comes across.

'The issue really is just how expensive it is to open gyms, and she'll burn through your investment pretty quickly.'

And Campbell felt the fitness studio owner was a 'great advocate' for her product and service, but questioned if she could scale her business beyond the gyms she had already done.

After the two finalists presented their final pitches to Lord Sugar, the business magnate came to his decision.

He said: 'This is a very tough decision, I've got to say because I've got two very, very credible people in front of me.

'I've got Rachel who claims she's making money and that she's going to make even more when she gets the second gym up and running - but gyms are, with all due respect, two-a-penny.'

Alongside getting married, her other goal is to sign up Alison Hammond as her first celebrity client in her gym business.

She said: 'It's an honour to have been chosen by Lord Sugar and for him to invest in my business which at the end of the day is my baby and something I have been working on for almost five years now.

'For him to see something in me and think my business is investable is just an incredible and overwhelming feeling. 

'I am really looking forward to working with Lord Sugar for a number of reasons. He is investing a lot of money into me to enable my business to grow to open a third site and potentially a fourth.

'We don't have a lot of big celebrities in Leeds and Harrogate but I would love Alison Hammond to come in, she's hysterical.

'I met her last week when I went on This Morning and she is so great and funny. I know Lord Sugar cycles too... I would love to get him on a spin bike.'

She went on to say that she he has coped with working long hours and often missed out on spending time with friends. 

She said: 'It's that time where everyone is going out socialising, holidaying, I have missed out on a few things because I felt like I couldn't leave my business, it has always been my no1 priority and it has paid off evidently but when you're in those first few years, it's tough.

'It was the toughest and you always question if you're doing the right thing and those late nights, early starts, things go wrong in the first few years, and you learn from them... at the time you're like what is the lesson from this? And six months later the lesson is apparent.' 

As the fifth consecutive female winner of the BBC series, Rachel hopes she can inspire a younger generation of women to go into business and not be discouraged by their gender, especially when working in a male dominated environment like the fitness sector.  

Boxing gym owner Marnie earned the title last year, which Rachel says further cements Lord Sugar's understanding of the potential earning power the fitness and wellness industry has to offer.  

She said: 'The fitness industry is traditionally very male dominated within gym owners and personal trainers and instructors so I am really proud to be a woman that owns a fitness business and most of my team aside from two are all strong, powerful women and I'm so proud to work alongside them and why shouldn't we be able to do it?  

'We're in very different markets in terms of location, London is a whole different kettle of fish. I hear Marnie has a great business. 

'It's great Lord Sugar has invested in fitness businesses two years in a row... he has obviously realised the industry is booming, especially since Covid, it's had such a positive impact.'