A salesman who lied about his CV has won a £100,000 job with Sir Alan Sugar after winning this year's The Apprentice.Lee McQueen, 30, was tonight the surprise victor of the hit BBC2 show, beating favourite Claire Young to the job. He will become the sales director of a new digital marketing company within Sir Alan's business empire, after winning the final task on the show.
McQueen won the competition after eleven gruelling weeks on the show. He went up against retail buyer Claire Young, 29, global pricing leader Helene Speight, 32 and sales manager Alex Wotherspoon, 32 in the final tasks.
The four were split into two teams with Claire and Lee up against Helene and Alex as they were given a week to create and launch a new male fragrance. Previous contestants on the series were brought back to help them for the finale of the hit reality show.
The four were split into two teams with Claire and Lee up against Helene and Alex as they were given a week to create and launch a new male fragrance. Previous contestants on the series were brought back to help them for the finale of the hit reality show.
Alpha's attempt Roulette was branded boring and unoriginal and the association with gambling was branded negative. 
But Team Renaissance's bottle proved more problematic, the dual themed bottle was costly, and would leave them with little room for profit, so it was Alex and Helene who were the last candidates to be fired.
It was then left to Lee and Claire to fight to be hired by Sir Alan in the final boardroom.
After axing devastated duo Helene and Alex from the competition, Sir Alan told the final two: "It's been a long journey as you know, and at this final hurdle I have to make a very serious decision.
"Claire you have some great attributes and Lee you're very convincing. You are very, very, very convincing. I've concluded...Lee, you're hired!"
McQueen admitted he was 'surprised' to have won because he viewed Claire as a 'formidable opponent'.Many thought she would win the show after turning around 
Sir Alan's perceptions of her around on the show and he refused to fire her when given numerous chances.
Sir Alan's perceptions of her around on the show and he refused to fire her when given numerous chances.He said: "There was an element of surprise but I have always had confidence in my ability.
"I believe I won because I was Mr Consistency. If it had been the Premier League for example I would have been top of the table because I won more than everyone else and I consistently delivered. So on that basis I should have won.""From my point of view I did not need to turn anything around. People described me as a rough diamond, but at the end of the day, if you look at it from my perspective I didn't need a b******** from Sir Alan to help me turn it around. "So I have gone into The Apprentice probably more rounded than anyone else if you look at it that way."
But the appointment of the wannabee tycoon, who previously headed a sales team in the recruitment industry, has already come under fire. Employment experts are angry that the winner, whose father is a milkman and mother is a doctor's receptionist, won after lying about his CV.
McQueen, billed as the show's 'rough diamond' suggested he had attended Thames Valley University for 2 years, when he was only there for four months. He also made a series of glaring spelling mistakes on the same CV, which were also overlooked when Sir Alan fired Lucinda Ledgerwood instead last week.
Despite these revelations coming to light on last week's penultimate show, he was allowed to stay on the series and yesterday won the whole thing. His victory has led business organisations to accuse the BBC show of 'sending out the wrong message' to the public about lying to employers.They fear his victory will give the impression, particularly to youngsters, that it is acceptable and 'worth the risk' to mislead potential bosses in your CV.
"I believe I won because I was Mr Consistency. If it had been the Premier League for example I would have been top of the table because I won more than everyone else and I consistently delivered. So on that basis I should have won.""From my point of view I did not need to turn anything around. People described me as a rough diamond, but at the end of the day, if you look at it from my perspective I didn't need a b******** from Sir Alan to help me turn it around. "So I have gone into The Apprentice probably more rounded than anyone else if you look at it that way."
But the appointment of the wannabee tycoon, who previously headed a sales team in the recruitment industry, has already come under fire. Employment experts are angry that the winner, whose father is a milkman and mother is a doctor's receptionist, won after lying about his CV.
McQueen, billed as the show's 'rough diamond' suggested he had attended Thames Valley University for 2 years, when he was only there for four months. He also made a series of glaring spelling mistakes on the same CV, which were also overlooked when Sir Alan fired Lucinda Ledgerwood instead last week.
Despite these revelations coming to light on last week's penultimate show, he was allowed to stay on the series and yesterday won the whole thing. His victory has led business organisations to accuse the BBC show of 'sending out the wrong message' to the public about lying to employers.They fear his victory will give the impression, particularly to youngsters, that it is acceptable and 'worth the risk' to mislead potential bosses in your CV.
Stephen Alambritis, head of public affairs at the Federation of Small Businesses, said: 
"The Apprentice finalist lied on his CV and he still got there. It sends out all the wrong messages and bodes badly for industrial relations in the UK."It says you can actually get away with it and that may encourage those viewing the Apprentice, who are toying with the idea of lying to leave it in, or to put a lie into their CV and use it as justification." He added: "There is not gradient of lying on a CV. A lie is a lie."
Deborah Fernon, an advisor at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said: "There's a whole range of issues here. Number one what are you doing letting spelling mistakes through. It's not sending the write message to me. The CV represents you."Also there was the casual relaxedness the show took to the fact he had lied on his CV and that they give him an opportunity to speak up about this and he did not take this. It is an interesting message to send out."She added: "It's not just about who can do the job it is also about things around having personal integrity, honesty and transparency."
Her organisation has just published a report which shows 25 per cent of organisations have withdrawn a job offers because a candidate lied in their CVs.Yesterday McQueen, who starts his new job within the next few weeks, was adamant that the issue had been addressed in the programme. But the winner, from Princes Risborough in Bucks, did reveal he was still 'ashamed of the situation' and admitted his actions had been 'not good enough'. Speaking after his victory
he said: "I am not condoning it, and I have already said I am ashamed. But at the end of the day it was a long long time ago and it just shows my frailties and insecurities about my education."
"The Apprentice finalist lied on his CV and he still got there. It sends out all the wrong messages and bodes badly for industrial relations in the UK."It says you can actually get away with it and that may encourage those viewing the Apprentice, who are toying with the idea of lying to leave it in, or to put a lie into their CV and use it as justification." He added: "There is not gradient of lying on a CV. A lie is a lie."Deborah Fernon, an advisor at the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) said: "There's a whole range of issues here. Number one what are you doing letting spelling mistakes through. It's not sending the write message to me. The CV represents you."Also there was the casual relaxedness the show took to the fact he had lied on his CV and that they give him an opportunity to speak up about this and he did not take this. It is an interesting message to send out."She added: "It's not just about who can do the job it is also about things around having personal integrity, honesty and transparency."
Her organisation has just published a report which shows 25 per cent of organisations have withdrawn a job offers because a candidate lied in their CVs.Yesterday McQueen, who starts his new job within the next few weeks, was adamant that the issue had been addressed in the programme. But the winner, from Princes Risborough in Bucks, did reveal he was still 'ashamed of the situation' and admitted his actions had been 'not good enough'. Speaking after his victory
he said: "I am not condoning it, and I have already said I am ashamed. But at the end of the day it was a long long time ago and it just shows my frailties and insecurities about my education." He claimed he had 'put it to bed' saying it would have been a different issue if he had lied directly about something that was relevant to the job. McQueen added: "I got the grilling and Sir Alan put it to bed." He said while he wrongly suggested he was at the university for two years, he had included on his CV that his studies had been incomplete there. Yesterday clearly sensitive about his academic record he refused to reveal the grades of his GCSEs. He said: "All you know is that I need to know is that I passed 8 GCSEs. I wouldn't say they were very good." He denied he had a problem working with women after he was criticised for his 
behaviour towards two women contestants on the show.
behaviour towards two women contestants on the show.In his new job he will be launching a new mystery product, building a sales team as he works closely with one of Sir Alan's trusted aides. He said: "If I does this well I will continue to work for him over and above the year long contract."
can see Alex and Lee going spare over any excuse while Lucinda would try and call a meeting to rationalise about it, then demand everyone have counselling and insist that the house change 
