The Apprentice winner Marnie Swindells blasts critics calling BBC show ‘sexist’

BOXER Marnie Swindells won The Apprentice last night with a knockout performance — then defended it against sexism claims.

Lord Sugar hired her over fellow finalist Rochelle Anthony, 35, and will plough his £250,000 investment into her proposal for a chain of gyms.

Amid her celebrations, Marnie, 28, who is also a court advocate, hit out at complaints from viewers that there were no men in the semi-finals onwards for a second year running.

She believes that demeans the graft put in by the females on the BBC One show.

She said: “The women were definitely the most successful in the process as we made it to that final five.

Men or women, if you put the work in you will get as far as you need to get.

Lord Sugar is definitely wise enough to be picking people purely on the merit of their business plans.

“He is not doing it just to have five women in the final again.

He is doing it because we deserve to be there and the suggestion that it was just to get five women again really discredits all of our hard work as we earned that spot - we did!”

Marnie took up boxing at 17 and won competitions but was inspired to study law after meeting a barrister while working out.

She is now the co-owner of Bronx, a gym and fitness centre in London, and is proving to be an inspiration in such a “male-dominated industry”.

Marnie said: “I’ve also now had a lot of women that want to take up boxing which was one of my motivating factors before opening the business.”