The Apprentice reveals its 2022 winner after Kathryn and Harpreet go head-to-head

After 12 gripping weeks that have kept us glued to our sofas, season 16 of The Apprentice concluded on Thursday evening and crowned its 2022.

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The finale saw Harpreet Kaur and Kathryn Louise Burn battle it out to be Lord Sugar's new business partner but in the end, only one walked away with his £250,000 investment...

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As usual, the two finalists were tasked with creating a digital billboard, product prototypes and a TV advert with the help of previously fired candidates.

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Kathryn and Harpreet were given just three days to launch their new businesses before pitching to Lord Sugar and a room full of industry experts at London's Pennington Street Warehouse. 

© Photo: BBC

Harpreet has been named Lord Sugar's new business partner

After much deliberating, Lord Sugar made the decision to his invest his money into Harpreet dessert parlour business rather than Kathryn's family (and dog) friendly pyjama line.

Reacting to her win, Harpreet gushed: "I cannot believe Lord Sugar has chosen me to be his new business partner. I have dreamt of this moment and it just completely proves that if you work hard and believe in yourself dreams can come true."

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The 30-year-old is the owner of a dessert parlour Barni's Desserts, which she runs with her sister. Her sister's involvement in the business did cause concern for Lord Sugar's aide Claude Littner during the interview stage in the penultimate episode and Harpreet was grilled in the boardroom about the undeclared partnership.

As viewers may have spotted, two of this year's line-up did not make a comeback for the episode. While Shama Amin left the series early on due to health reasons, Aaron Willis revealed on Instagram earlier today that his absence was due to his wedding anniversary clashing with the finale filming days.