Profiles

Jenny Celerier is a 36-year-old Sales Manager and single mum from Leicester.

She was fired in the seventh week of The Apprentice by Sir Alan Sugar, losing out in the competition for the £100,000 job.

Listen: Interview with Jenny Celerier

BBC Leicester's Tony Wadsworth spoke to Jenny Celerier and her boss in Leicester, Bill Rumble...

Jenny says that even though Sir Alan attacked her morals and publicly humiliated her in the boardroom, she's still glad she went on the programme:

"It's all about learning to be a better business person.

"I'm hoping that I'll take away all of the lessons that I've learnt while taking part in the competition and be so much better as a consequence of it. No regrets whatever."

You're Fired!

Sparks will fly

In the after-show programme, 'You're Fired', pundit Vanessa Feltz told Jenny that she "behaved despicably" and "victimised the other people."

Jenny says she's sorry for her behaviour on the programme and didn't realise it would be as tough as it was. However, she insists there were good moments as well as bad:

"We worked very well a lot of the time together but when you have a lot of competitive people all competing for one job you are going to have sparks fly.

"If you didn't have spark fly I would be more concerned because that would mean people wouldn't be standing up for what they truly believe in."

Welcome back

Jenny's boss back in Leicester, Bill Rumble, says that Jenny definitely has a job to come back to with his firm, The Mark Group.

He thinks she came across well in 'You're Fired' and gave some frank answers to the questions.

"I think we do need to make the distinction that what we're watching isn't real life, people draw parallels with business, but it's not.

"What we saw yesterday [on the episode where Jenny was fired] was essentially a treasure hunt and yes, there are some interesting insights, business insights, that come out from that show.

"It's hugely entertaining but you've got to accept it for what it is."

Jenny says she's learnt a lot from her time with Sir Alan:

"My biggest lesson is that I do need to soften my edges an awful lot more.

"I've learnt so much about business, not only from Sir Alan and Margaret and Nick, but from the fantastic candidates that I've worked with for the past seven weeks, so a whole host of things to take away."

Jenny is backing candidate Helene Speight to win the £100,000 job.

BACKGROUND: Jenny

Jenny used to work for the Mark Group, which is based in Beaumont Leys.

Jenny's former boss, Bill Rumble, spoke to BBC Leicester's Chris Baxter about his protegee before The Apprentice 2008 began...

The Mark Group is one of the biggest installers of energy efficient technology in the country. Jenny had worked there for almost two years before stardom beckoned:

"One day she banged on my door and fairly sheepishly...said that she was through to last few to be selected for the show.

"I had mixed feelings. I was excited for her but I also thought I could lose her and I knew how good she was."

Battling meningitis

Life hasn't always been easy for Jenny, she was seriously ill before she started work at the Mark Group:

"She didn't put some of her achievements on her CV because she felt that if she said she had several awards for selling and so on she'd be considered over-qualified...

"It wasn't too long before we noticed her, supported her and she grew her own team. She headed up her own team of sixteen doing multi-million pound deals."

Backing Jenny

Bill has a high opinion of Jenny and her single-mindedness and thinks she has what it takes to succeed on The Apprentice:

"She educated herself to degree level. Brought up a son. Recovered from a life-threatening disease...

"She isn't interested in the limelight but she is very determined, great fun and has a lot of energy...

"This is a once in a life-time opportunity for her. She has mine and the company's full support."