The Apprentice winner DEAN FRANKLIN on why he won't apologise for sex toy gaffe and not being able to explain climate change during brutal interview
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The Apprentice winner Dean Franklin says he's proud to become the first tradesman to be awarded Lord Sugar's investment for nine years after being 'petrified' of the show's boardroom.
The air conditioning business owner, 34, kept his cool to win the mogul's £250,000 prize after beating rival, pizza entrepreneur and straight-A student, Anisa Khan, 26, during Thursday night's BBC final.
In an exclusive interview with MailOnline, Dean told of how he was daunted by the intense filming process and would spend his weekly call on the phone to wife Chloe in tears over missing her and their two young children.
Dagenham-born Dean admits the toughest challenge of all was facing Lord Sugar's brutal interview process, which led to extricating scenes where he stumbled over his explanation of climate change.
But while he admits to 'crumbling' under the pressure, Dean says he has no regrets after interviewer Mike Soutar confronted him with a social media picture of a sex toy strapped to one of his air conditioning units.
In fact, Dean says that's the moment he knew winning Lord Sugar's investment was in sight given his business proposal was left unscrutinised.
He said: 'I've never had any experience in front of the camera before, so filming the Apprentice was new to me. I really struggled.
'I am a tradesman; I'm not used to being in front of the camera or the corporate speaking or any sort of public speaking.
'So, to go into that boardroom, I was petrified. I know I sat there, and I didn't look at all nervous, but I was, my heart was beating 100 miles per hour, and it was so scary.
'During the interviews, I crumbled. When I sat in that chair my mind went completely blank. I couldn't even get a sentence together it was that bad.
'I've never had it before in my life, but the pressure was unbelievable, and I knew whatever was going to come out of my mouth was going to be rubbish. My mind turned to mush, and I couldn't get anything out.'
Dean may have been lost for words as he was grilled on his business acumen by Lord Sugar's trusted advisors, which includes Claude Littner, but he feels no embarrassment over having his sex shop antics revealed on national television.
He said: 'I found it funny, and I still find it funny to this day. We were working in a sex shop, it's not like we were working in a church, it's part and parcel.
'Believe it or not there are a few more pictures like that on my Instagram because we do quite a lot of sex shops for this guy, so it's become a standard thing now.
'They were scraping the barrel with that. You go in there for them to rip your business plan apart and if they're throwing things like that at me, then I was onto a win.'
After fighting off competition from 18 candidates, Dean has become the first tradesman to win Lord Sugar's six-figure investment since plumber Joseph Valente triumphed in 2015.
He was hired over Anisa, a former London School of Economics student, whose restaurant business fused Italian and Indian cuisine to create takeout meals like a chicken tikka masala pizza.
Dean says in contrast to Anisa's academic background, after she achieved top marks at GCSE and A-level, he was lucky to finish school with any qualifications.
He said: 'Anisa was an incredible candidate. She has A*s in everything, she's top of the class and then there's me.
'I struggled to get through school, I just about left with some GCSEs, for me to then take it from that to where I am now, it just proves that you don't have to be the most educated person to be successful in business.'
And the father of two is particularly proud to have represented tradesmen on the BBC show, insisting not all entrepreneurs work in the corporate world.
He added: 'My business is already an established company, we're running and have engineers working for us and I think for the tradespeople out there that they can then look at me and say, if he can do it, so can I.
'We are the backbone of Britain, there are tradespeople out there and they're all businessmen within their own right, if they're self-employed, that's still a business, you are a businessman, just because you don't wear a suit doesn't mean you're not in business.'
As the only father to take part in this year's series, Dean says he found being separated from his family especially difficult.
The businessman has been in a relationship with wife Chloe since they were 16 years old and together the couple purchased a property and had children by their late 20s.
He believed filming Lord Sugar's show, which sees candidates live together in a Hampstead mansion worth over £17.5million, would feel like a break from parenting and running his company.
But as contestants are only given the chance to speak with their loved ones once a week, the air con expert said his 'holiday' quickly turned into a nightmare.
He explained: 'When I first got in the process and met all the candidates, I was expecting at least half of them to be parents.
'But I was the only parent on the show, which made it even harder because there was no one I could relate to. I was the only one missing my kids and missing my family. It was so hard.
'At the start, I had it in my head that I was going on the show and it would be like a holiday, no phone, I'm on my own, but the first week hit me like a ton of bricks.
'I didn't realise how much I would miss them, and it really started to take its toll on me later on in the process. I was struggling.
'You get one phone call home a week for about 10 minutes on FaceTime and me and my wife would spend the whole time crying to each other, we wouldn't be speaking, it was so emotional.'
Dean set up his air conditioning business during the Covid-19 lockdown when the UK experienced a summer heatwave.
He co-owns ADL Air Conditioning with a friend and both their wives, who have now been forced to sell their shares to Lord Sugar.
Explaining he's still yet to iron out the details, Dean joked: 'So, I am currently sleeping on the sofa because I have sold my wife's shares...
'No, the wives are still involved in the company, we are both married to our partners so what's ours is theirs. It makes no difference.
'I don't know what the plans are in the future, but they will always be involved. They were both aware of the situation and they're happy for it.'
His Apprentice win marks a milestone in Dean's life after he vowed to top the series despite being rejected by casting producers having auditioned for the show last year.
With a natural skill for selling, Dean says even as a teenager he was on the hunt for the best deals, so his desire to succeed as an entrepreneur has been there from a young age.
After keeping his win, which was prerecorded earlier this week, secret from his two children, Dean has planned a big celebration at a wedding venue, where he will broadcast the final episode live to his family and friends, and hoped to have Lord Sugar as his star guest, given he lives locally in Brentwood.
But as his new boss is currently residing at his holiday home in Florida, Dean will be the No1 wheeler-dealer at the bash.
He said: 'When I was younger, I would go to the shop and buy the Loot, it was like the paper version of the marketplace, and I was 13/14 and I would ask my parents to take me somewhere so I could buy a Nintendo or something and I would be selling it on.
'I have always done some sort of trading, buying and selling, and then I got older and started buying and selling cars, I've done a lot.
'I have always said to my wife that I would get on the Apprentice and win it, I've said it for years. It was one of my goals and I have just achieved it.
'So, I'm throwing a big party on Thursday and we're all going to celebrate. I have booked a wedding venue and we're going to go for it. There's a big screen and we get the result and party.
'Lord Sugar is in Florida at the moment, or I would have invited him because he only lives 20 minutes away.'
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