The parents of a Derbyshire candidate appearing on The Apprentice have spoken of their pride at seeing their son on prime-time TV and say they are pleased he stayed true to himself.
Dan Miller, originally from Smalley and the founder of careers company Young Professionals, is taking part in the programme’s 20th series, which launched on BBC One last night.
His parents, Martyn and Krishna Miller, travelled to London to watch the opening episode at a launch party hosted by one of Dan’s longest-standing clients, law firm Browne Jacobson.
They said they were enormously proud that Dan had beaten thousands of applicants to secure a place on the show and that he was demonstrating the honesty and determination they have always encouraged in him.
Martyn, who is an independent mortgage adviser, said: “Dan gets his leadership qualities from his mum, who is Chief Nurse at Chesterfield Hospital, but he has always been incredibly determined. Even as a small boy, if he wanted to build a den he believed it could be done and that nothing was impossible.
“Although Dan was fairly quiet on last night’s programme, I’m pleased he stayed true to himself. He isn’t a feisty or fiery person and he acted respectfully at all times, which is how we brought him up. He wasn’t being pretentious in any way; he was straightforward and honest.
“I think Dan realised some of the other candidates had a lot to say, so he chose to be more diplomatic. He was observing how the process works and what the other people were like and hopefully we’ll see more of his personality if he progresses in the process.”
The first episode of the series kicked off with a bang as the candidates travelled to Hong Kong for a fan-favourite task. Split into boys’ and girls’ teams, they were challenged to source a list of unusual items – with the pressure ramping up as they hunted for bargains in an unfamiliar location.
The teams were tasked with finding nine items, including shrimp paste, a dragon boat head, an erhu and a golden pineapple. The girls’ team suffered a disastrous start to the series, managing to find just two of the nine items. To make matters worse, they arrived at the finish line two hours late.
The spectacular failure proved costly, with Lord Alan Sugar firing two candidates just hours into the process.
While the boys’ team won the challenge, they didn’t escape criticism. Lord Sugar branded their performance “a disgrace” after they found only one more item than the girls, bought several incorrect items and were left running in circles as they struggled to navigate the city.
Dan said: “We don’t get to see the programme beforehand, so it was exciting to finally watch it. The trip to Hong Kong was five days and filming was across three days – so to see it condensed into an hour was really interesting.
“We were quite literally just plonked in the middle of Hong Kong – where none of us had been before – and given a map and a shopping list. I was in a car with four really big characters, who were all shouting at each other, and a massive map that I found hard to navigate because I’m dyslexic.
“I wanted to observe the process in week one, and try to remain as diplomatic as possible, just to really see how the mechanics of the filming worked. We had no idea that two candidates were going to be fired and we literally never saw them again – they never even made it to the house.”
Dan’s business, Young Professionals, specifically helps students in school and university secure opportunities with companies via their apprenticeship, graduate and work experience programmes.
Many of his clients were at the launch party and some of his business mentors attended too, including Judy Naake who turned the St. Tropez self-tanning brand into a multimillion-pound, household name.
Dan added: “It was really nice to be able to watch the programme with some of the people who guided and supported me as I built my business.
“People like Judy have become friends as well as mentors, and I hope I will do them proud when they watch the show.”
Following this week’s double firing, Dan and the remaining candidates will move onto week two where they are tasked with creating a brand-new children’s story book aimed at four-to-six-year-olds.
This story was written and shared by Sarah Newton. Can we share your news and get you in the headlines too? Find out how we can help by getting in touch.
