The Apprentice winner Dean Franklin left in tears during weekly calls with family

The emotional winner of Dean Franklin has told of the toll the show took on his family life - meaning he regularly sobbed on the phone because he missed them so much.

He was away from his wife Chloe, 33, and kids Bonnie, seven, and Ted, nine, for over two months on total competing on the show which was filmed last year. It meant he missed both his wife and son’s birthday and strict rules meant he was only allowed one phone call a week.

Dean said: “There were all these new emotions I didn't know I had. I mean, it was so hard. I've never been away from my wife and kids for longer than a couple of days before, and when I first signed up to the process, I thought, You know what this, this might be a nice little break, you know, nice little break away from work, away from the family, signed me up, but then it hit me like a ton of bricks, that was not the reality of it.

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“We was away for two and a half months. And yeah, you get one phone call home every every week for 10 minutes, and that's all you get. And the 10 minutes goes really quick, especially when you're both crying on the phone to each other.

“I missed my son's birthday. I missed my wife's birthday. I missed one of my good mates mum's funeral. I missed a lot. But to come out on the other side as the winner. I mean, it's just all worth it in the end.”

The family were all watching the final together, with Dean keeping the result a secret from his kids. Dean was crowned winner in the final after opted to invest in his air conditioning business and he beat Anisa Khan in the final. Lord Sugar, who was choosing between Dean’s firm and Anisa’s pizza business, ended the show by saying: “This is the way I see it. Dean, through the process you’ve been quite good.

"There've 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. Given it deep consideration. I’m going to say that, Dean you’re going to be my business partner.”

After learning of his win, Dean said: “I can’t believe I’ve just won The Apprentice. This is going to mean the to me and my family. My kids are going to be over the moon.” For the final task, finalists Anisa Khan and Dean Franklin went head-to-head to prove to Lord Sugar why they deserved to receive his £250,000 investment and form a 50/50 partnership with the business mogul.

On hand were some of the candidates fired earlier in the series who returned to help the two finalists bring their business plans to life before they took on the biggest pitch of their lives to Lord Sugar and industry experts. Looking to the future after setting up the business in 2020, Dean said: “We've not had it easy. You know, there's been times where we have struggled, and I think a lot of people can relate to that. You know, we've always worked.

"And I think starting the business was a massive risk that I took in a very scary time. You know, during the pandemic, people were losing jobs. People were working from home. There was a lot of crazy stuff going on, a lot of changes, and no one could sort of predict the future. And for me to then risk it all and quit a very, very good paying job and just go from go for it as such, and start my own thing was a very, very scary time.

“Now it comes to a point where the business is sort of bursting at the seams, as I said in the show, I do need a bit of help and guidance on how I can take it to the next level and what I can do, and Lord Sugar is the perfect man for that.”

The result may have surprised some viewers as in the semi final interview stage Dean made a series of blunders. He claimed that everyone needs air conditioning "now more than ever, especially with the increase in climate control” instead of climate change and later called it the climate zone. And business guru Mike Soutar then showed a picture Dean had posted on social media of a sex object stuck onto an air conditioning unit. A red-faced Dean explains that they had been working in a sex shop and he thought it would be "quite funny”. Soutar was not amused and said it did not show him a “trusted organisation”.

But Lord Sugar was not put off by these mistakes and Dean’s company already makes a substantial profit from its Essex base which they hope they can upscale to make millions.

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