Interviews with The Apprentice 2012's Tom Gearing, Jade Nash and Nick Holzherr

They may not have won, but Tom Gearing, Jade Nash and Nick Holzherr managed to make the final four of Lord Sugar's panel in The Apprentice 2012. MSN TV had a good gander to them about it all.

Runner-Up: 23-year-old wine investor Tom Gearing

Hi Tom, how are you?
"I'm good thanks. A little bit hungover actually. We had a litle party yesterday."

How are you feeling about it all and not winning?
"It's obviously disappointing not to have won and to have gotten so far. But, the final two is a great achievemnt, and I'm still looking to do what I intended to and hopefully I can use this as a platform to go on to better things. I had some very positive comments from Lord Sugar and Karen, which was absolutely amazing, and I couldn't have lost to a better person. If I was going to lose to anyone, I'm glad it was Ricky, he's a top guy and he fully deserves it."

At 23 you were the youngest contestant. Lord Sugar mentioned your age a couple of times. How did you feel about it?
"I was fine. I knew it was one of the angles they were going to come at me from. I've only been out of university for three years now, I haven't got the experience some of the other guys have, but I have run my own business which is something that not everyone had done in that process. So,I knew that was the angle that they would come at me from. I was just defending myself to show them I was someone that Lord Sugar could trust with the investment."

Lord Sugar described you as the risk factor in the final. You said yourself you're happy to take risks. Do you think that played to your advantage?
"Do you know what, I think through that process, I think everyone takes a risk going through this process so I think everyone had a risk side to them, their character and I think maybe mine came out more than other peopele's. But every time I did take a risk, I got praise for it, Lord Sugar and Karen were complimentary about. I think every time I took a risk it was calculated and I think it played in my favour."

What did you learn about yourself doing this show?
"I learnt that I don't like early mornings that much! I learnt how to deal with sleeping in a room with four guys - especially when they snore so much! But on a serious note, I think that it was such an incredible experience. You learn so many new things, like getting to pitch to people like Amazon, and huge health clubs, you get to throw yourself into different industries you'd normally never get to do, and I learnt loads of skills. I also realised I can have a bit of a tantrum if things don't go my way...!"

Nick Holzherr
25-year-old technology entrepreneur

Watching the show now, were you happy with how you were portrayed and would you have done anything differently?
"Not at all, I think I'm happy with how I was portrayed. I think I came across as quite a credible candidate. I was on the winning team a lot. And yeah, I guess, sometimes I came across as looking a bit quiet. I wouldn't change anything, for me, having one strategy in the team and following that through was the correct strategy to follow. I really enjoyed the series and all of the tasks."

How do you feel about Ricky winning?
I'm really happy for Ricky, I think all of the candidates in the final were really credible. We all had very different business plans and we had different characters, so Lord Sugar had quite a selection to choose from. And he wanted something that was a bit safer and Ricky's very credible in the recruitment industry, so I think, I'm really happy for Ricky. My aim was always to get to the final, to have the opportunity to pitch to Lord Sugar."

Have you had any exciting offers since doing the show?
"I'm carrying on with the business I pitched to Lord Sugar. I'll be announcing the details in about 10 days time. We've got a really exciting team coming together and I've got credible investors who I'm talking to and I'll be launching the business properly in about six or seven weeks' time. There's some exciting news on the horizon there. I've come out of the show being really happy with how I was portrayed, I've learnt a huge amount on the show, and I'm looking forward to the life after it as well."

Jade Nash
29-year-old business development manager

You were the only girl in the final four!
"I know, I'd love to say that made me special but I don't think gender has anything to do with it."

How did you feel about Ricky winning?
"He's amazing. We obviously all became good mates, and we still are, and it's like one of your really good mates getting an investment from Lord Sugar. So I'm really happy for him."

What are you going to do now?
"I've had lots of offers, I'm just going to see what happens. I really want to focus more on having my business plan... I think my business plan wasn't really... I was going in more for the money rather than love or passion of what I was doing and I think if you do this you've got to love it. So I think I need to re-focus. But at the moment I've got a really good job now so I'm just going to stay with that for now."

Have you watched the series? What did you think of how you came across?
"I have. In some of the shows they don't show you very much. I think I was really gutted on the Strategy task, I looked like a right idiot. It was me, I'm very direct. I was made to look quite moody, like I don't smile very much, which I'm pretty much, I just smile all of the time."

Do you have any time off now?
"I'm going to go on holiday to Egypt in a few weeks!"