THE APPRENTICE has been hit by a huge fix row after Lord Sugar crowned Dean Franklin as his business partner in tonight’s final.
Business tycoon , 78, appeared to days ahead of the episode airing – by following Dean on .
Dean, who runs an air conditioning business, went head-to-head with Anisa Khan, the founder of a bold Indian-Italian pizza fusion brand, in the tense season finale.
Both had survived the brutal interview rounds and were vying for Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment.
But some viewers were left furious, claiming the winner had already been revealed thanks to Lord Sugar’s suspicious social media activity.
In the end, their suspicions proved correct.
Lord Sugar declared Dean the winner of 2025, admitting simply that the businessman had been “quite good.”;
Speaking after his win, Dean said: “I can't believe I've just won The Apprentice. This is going to mean the world to me and my family. My kids are going to be over the moon.”
In the final, Lord Sugar met Anisa and Dean at The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn, in central , where he gave them the final challenge of launching businesses.
Lord Sugar told them they would need to create a new brand for their companies, and produce an advertising campaign, which would then be pitched to him and a group of industry figures.
He then brought back some of the show's previous contestants and allowed the finalists to choose who they wanted on their team, by taking turns.
Lord Sugar told Anisa that pizza was a “crowded market” and food businesses “go bust every day”, so she would need to prove that her business could “stand out in the face of tough competition”.
Dean was told that air conditioning made him an “honest living” but he needed to show a “scalable proposition”.
Dean’s advertisement featured fired candidates Mia Collins and Nadia Suliaman in a comedy skit, in which Mia freezes in her bed before being told about Dean’s air conditioning services by Nadia.
Lord Sugar's adviser, Baroness Brady, said the advert made “no sense at all”, and that it focused on the “secondary use” of an air conditioning unit.
Dean called the team and told them it needed to focus more on customers who are too hot.
The clip was then changed to show Mia flustered and hot, before being visited by Nadia.
Anisa’s advert was shot at a ground.
Fired candidate Amber-Rose Badrudin directed her former candidate actors to pretend to be fans of and enjoying the finalist’s pizza, fusing pizza with Indian cuisine, at a match.
Later the contestants pitched their businesses.
Anisa told the group to try her pizza and Lord Sugar, after taking a bite, was asked if he thought it was nice.
He replied: “Oh blimey, yes, this is very good.”
Anisa then told the audience her Zaal Pizza business “fixes a problem”, and it allowed people to have both a curry and a pizza if they could not decide which takeaway they wanted.
After the pitch Lord Sugar said he was concerned about how Anisa would attract people to her dark kitchen business model, in which food is delivered from a kitchen with no shop front.
Thom Elliot, of chain Pizza Pilgrims, who watched the pitch, told Lord Sugar that dark kitchens were a “hard place to build a brand”, but Anisa's “really unique” offering was a “massive, massive plus in a crowded market”.
Dean entered his pitch to Daddy Cool by Boney M, prompting a slight grin from Lord Sugar.
He then told the audience: “I am Daddy Cool.”
Dean said he wanted home-owners to know how “quick and easy” it is for them to get an air conditioning unit installed by his Domesticool company, saying he understood customers wanted it “there and then”.
Lord Sugar exclaimed “oh god” as he watched Dean’s advert, before Dean presented the group with his virtual showroom, including a function that allowed customers to use (VR) to see what a unit would look like on their wall.
In a question and answer session during the pitch, Lord Sugar asked how much it would cost to have a unit put in his bedroom.
Dean replied: “For you Lord Sugar, it would be free.”
Lord Sugar replied: “Well then you won't be hired by me if you're giving things away.”
In the boardroom, Lord Sugar praised both finalists for a “spectacular evening”, adding that Dean’s advert had “started to sound and look like a dodgy adult film“.
Asked about her thoughts on Anisa by Lord Sugar, former contestant Chisola Chitambala said: “I have been with Anisa from the beginning, from day one we've worked together a lot.
“And honestly she has just stood out, every single week, she's been incredible.”
Lord Sugar described the final as “chilli versus the chiller”, before telling the finalists he was looking for “big business”.
Before he announced Dean as the winner, Lord Sugar said they were both “very, very incredible” and the decision was “tough”.
Baroness Brady said: “I like Dean. I think the issue for him is he doesn't know how to scale up. This is where he needs you. He's lacking that bit of confidence on if the decisions he's making are the right decisions. And I think you'll give him that push that you need.
“I think the difference between the two candidates is this — Dean's got a business. You're investing in that business and helping him scale up. Anisa, yes she has a business. It's tiny but you're really investing in her.”
The two contestants made their final impassioned pitch to Lord Sugar before he made his final decision.
Lord Sugar said: “This is the way I see it.
“Dean, through the process you've been quite good. There have been a few rocky moments where you remained in it by the skin of your teeth, but do I have the confidence in the residential market?
“As opposed to food, where everyone's got to eat, and a £10, £12 pizza is affordable to most people.
“That's where I am at the moment.
“Giving it deep consideration, I'm going to say that Dean, you're going to be my business partner.”
