Sir Alan hires Michelle

The woman who stunned TV viewers by losing out on the top prize in The Apprentice said today that she felt "gutted", but is still a winner.

Ruth Badger, who was favourite to win the final of the BBC2 show, finished as runner-up to former checkout girl Michelle Dewberry.

She found it hard to hide her disappointment after she missed out on a £100,000-a-year job with Amstrad tycoon Sir Alan Sugar - a man she " absolutely worships". But she revealed she has set up her own business consultancy after being inundated with offers.

"I am setting up my own business consultancy company offering sales, business, motivation and training services to large and small companies throughout the UK, USA and Europe," said the 28-year-old former sales manager from Wolverhampton.

"I believe that I have demonstrated throughout the series my expertise in sales and how to win in business and can share my experiences with similarly ambitious and successful companies and individuals."

She added: "I'm genuinely, genuinely happy for Michelle but I'm absolutely gutted that I'm not working for Sir Alan. I've never in my career or my life fought for something so much. There's nobody in this country that inspires me more than Sir Alan. Even though I've come second I absolutely worship the man."

Ms Dewberry, 26, from Hull celebrated last night with a

party. She had impressed Sir Alan with her ice- cool demeanour and organisational skills, and won despite losing the final task with her James Bond party on Tower Bridge after making less profit than her rival - who staged a murder mystery night with can-can dancers. Friends said she would not be intimidated working for the tough-talking Sugar after growing up under a disciplinarian father.

Her ex-boyfriend Lee Appleby, 31, said of her estranged father: "I did not like him, he was into discipline with his kids and would shout at them. Michelle told me that one night, he got all the kids up and made them march around the garden."

Ms Dewberry, who grew up on a council estate, left school with two GCSEs. A year later her sister Fiona, 19, fell to her death from an eighth-floor window.

Michelle said of the tragedy: "It was devastating. I just want to make her proud of me."

Her first task as Sir Alan's apprentice is to launch a new business called Xenon Green, disposing of companies' unwanted computer equipment.