Apprentice winner prepares to sue Lord Sugar - report

Stella English, 2010 winner of the popular BBC reality show, to sue Amstrad tycoon for constructive dismissal, claim reports

Former The Apprentice winner Stella English is reportedly suing business tycoon Lord Sugar for constructive dismissal over claims she was forced out of her job at one of his companies.

According to a report in the Daily Mail, English is preparing to take Lord Sugar (pictured) to an employment tribunal, claiming he refused to renew her £100,000-a-year contract at set-top-box maker YouView.

After winning the 2010 series of The Apprentice, English was taken on as a project manager at system builder Viglen. She left six months later in June 2011 to work at YouView, where Lord Sugar is chairman.

In a report on ChannelWeb at the time, a representative for Lord Sugar dismissed media reports that English had left Viglen because she felt "unchallenged."

The representative said: "Having won The Apprentice at the end of 2010, Stella worked on a project to implement new systems into Viglen's Academy business.

"This work has now ended and, impressed with her work, Lord Sugar has drafted Stella in to assist him in his task as chairman of YouView. Stella remains an employee of Lord Sugar and there will be no additional cost to YouView."

According to her LinkedIn profile, English left YouView in October, despite the Daily Mail claiming her contract ran until December.

In an interview with the Daily Mail last October, she described working with Lord Sugar as an "appalling experience".

"I have wasted two years of my life when I could have been doing something better," she told the paper.

No further details were available at the time of writing about where or when the tribunal is likely to take place.