‘ we knew we were going to get married’

As The Apprenticehits our screens again, 18 new hopefuls will fight it out for the chance to land Lord Alan Sugar’s £250,000 investment and mentorship.

With boardroom battles seeing candidates throw each other under the bus to avoid getting fired, there’s often no love lost between the ruthless contestants. But despite the demanding tasks, Akshay Thakrar and Harpreet Kaur fell head over heels for each other after the 2022 season.

“It’s funny because my mum made jokes about it. She said, ‘Good luck, you might find your wife,’” Akshay, 30, tells us. “I told her to not be silly because it was a business show and such a high-pressure environment.

“But within 12 months, we’ve bought a home, got engaged and have been planning a wedding.”

During their time on our screens, Harpreet, 32, was crowned the winner of The Apprentice, while Akshay was ninth to be eliminated.

“I never thought I’d meet someone on the show. I just didn’t expect it at all,” adds a loved-up Harpreet.

And if first impressions are anything to go by, she says things didn’t look too promising. “Akshay came in and gave me a mini glance and looked the other way. I thought, ‘Wow, he’s here for some serious business. He does not look very friendly.’ Two years later, we’re getting married,” says Harpreet, who co-owns dessert business Oh So Yum! with her sister Gurvinder.

“I had a plan that I wasn’t going to make friends. I wanted everyone to be scared of me,” says Akshay. “But there was a point where Harpreet was doing a pitch and I thought, ‘I’d love a partner like her.’”

Since then, it’s been a whirlwind. The couple went public with their relationship in August 2022 after three months of dating, while their families had met by the six-month mark.

“It escalated really quickly. We had that foundation of trust and friendship so we already felt like we knew each other. In a way, we’d been through a very similar experience,” says Harpreet. “We almost knew we were going to get married at some point.”

A year later, Akshay got down on one knee and popped the question in May 2023. However, in true The Apprentice style, the task was far from smooth sailing, even with proposal planners involved.

“It was really intense. I was going to propose facing London Bridge, but the wind was so ba