Glasgow beauty salon owner set to battle it out in Apprentice boardroom

A Scottish beauty salon owner who describes herself as 'a hustler' and compares herself to firebrand chef Gordon Ramsay is to battle it out in the boardroom in the next series of The Apprentice.

Glasgow salon owner Natalie Hughes is one of 18 contenders in the new series of The Apprentice.

Natalie Hughes, owner of VIP Boutique Salon, in the east end of Glasgow, will be one of 18 contenders hoping to secure a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar.

The 30-year-old - whose business also includes the designer fashion outlet Dolcie Boutiue - will be up against a baking entrepreneur, a fashion magazine art director, the owner of a children’s clothing company, property consultant and a recruitment agent.

In her audition for the series, Ms Hughes states: “My salon is called VIP, so I always say: ‘VIP - it’s the only way to be. Look VIP, act VIP and be VIP.

“I’ve got hundreds of enthusiasm, I’m quirky, I think off the mark, I think out the box, I’m hard-working.

“I would really liken myself to someone like Gordon Ramsay because I’m actually very forward, I like to get the job done, like he does, and I like to make changes in business. I’m always changing and keeping things interesting.

“I’m a hustler, I’ve got the hustler’s ambition. I know, I’ve done it from a young age, hustling in all different walks of life with all different kinds of people.

“I’ve got a lot to bring to the table. I know I will be successful. Failure is not an option for somebody like me.”

The new series of The Apprentice kicks off with the candidates being tasked with trying to sort out “treasure from trash” in a lock-up containing furniture, vintage clothing, toys, ceramics, silver and glassware - before attempting to sell it on at a profit.

Lord Sugar tells the new candidates: “You see 18 people here, and we’re here for 12 weeks - that tells you there are going to be occasions where more than one person is going (to be fired). And I don’t care how many it can be. I really don’t care.

“I’m very flexible and it is a very, very competitive situation. You can compare this to being on a life support machine and one of your colleagues here pulling the plug out just to charge their mobile phone up. That’s how competitive it will get.”

Other tasks for the candidates in the new series, which gets undeway on 6 October, including creating an advertising campaign for jeans, manufacturing a range of sweets, designing virtual reality games and producing and creating their own brand of gin.