Saturday, 12 April 2008

• Prev
• Next

Scandals rock The Apprentice

We reveal the stories the candidates would rather keep under wraps

Just three weeks after this year's brilliant batch of Apprentice wannabes first appeared on our screens, their sordid secrets have started coming to light.

It turns out that some of the series four candidates have a few skeletons in their closets and figures from their past are revealing all.

The love rat

Swaggering IT expert Ian Stringer, 26 - who became the 3rd contestant to get fired - left his wife Kirsty 3 weeks after she'd given birth to their second child.

The charmer cheated on her during her pregnancy with a woman he'd invited to their wedding. After their divorce, he left his job for The Apprentice and promptly stopped paying the bills and mortgage. His wife, left with their two small children, now has to sell their home.

The former male escort

Self-proclaimed exhibitionist Michael Sophocles, 25, used to earn £50 an hour as a gigolo. He paid his way through college by dating lonely older women and boasted that he could double his fee if he slept with his clients. 'He was a good looking young fella and he was raking in the money,' a friend recalls.

The bigamist's wife

Jennifer Celerier, 36, was a single mum when at 19 she married Dean McLellan, then a US airman stationed in Britain. He claims that she slept with their lodger, so he moved back home to America and remarried. It was another three years before his divorce from Jennifer came through.

The ex-drug addict

Ex-soldier Simon Smith, 35, served in Bosnia and Northern Ireland, but struggled to adjust to civilian life and was in rehab for drug problems. His pals recently posted a clip on YouTube of him drunkenly celebrating an England footy victory by tipping a bin full of cold water over his head.



See the full story in Now magazine - out now!