Biography: Debra Barr

Debra Barr is 24 years old and was born in Buckinghamshire. She has a BA in English Literature and is now a senior sales consultant. In her introductory blurb from the BBC, she says that she is "tenacious" and was awarded the "mouth of the year" at her office Christmas party.

"Mouth of the year" seems an accurate description of her, based on the first three episodes of the Apprentice that have aired so far. There was conflict between her and Mona Lewis in the first episode (despite Debra being a sales consultant, her sub-team sold way less than Mona's. She was team leader in the third episode and apart from being a control freak, she seemed to spend a lot of time thinking of who could be a potential person she could take into the boardroom with her should she lose - she picked Lorraine for this role, and the criticisms were duly delivered throughout the program, and indeed in the boardroom before the result was announced. Fortunately for Lorraine, Philip came to her defence, and then it was announced that their team won - and Sir Alan promptly told Debra that she had Lorraine and Philip to thank for that! So Debra's card appears to be marked.

When the winning team went off for their celebration in episode three, the camera closed in to show Debra holding hands with Yasmina Siadatan. Clearly there is a romance going on there. After the episode, the Sun newspaper revealed that a friend of hers tried to sell them mobile footage of Debra kissing a topless blonde at a club. The Sun also reveals that Debra is currently in a relationship with a man. So not really sure what is going on with her and Yasmina. We shall all be tuning in for further episodes to find out!

Update 29th April 2009 As is usual with these shows, people who know the candidates come forward with stories about them and these stories are either heart-warming or scandalous, depending on whether friends are protective of the candidate or not. Debra Barr's acquaintances don't seem to like her much. Apart from the "friend" above who tried to sell footage of her kissing a woman, "friends" have also revealed that she had breast enhancement when she was 17, going from an A-cup to a D-cup and that she was unpopular at her school (The Beacon School in Banstead, Surrey).

Update 5th May 2009.  According to the Noorul Choudhury in the Sun, fellow contestant Philip Taylor made a pass at Debra and was knocked back by her. Philip then successfully managed to start a relationship with Kate Walsh, one of the other girls in the series.

Update 13th May 2009 Debra dodged a bullet this week as manager of the losing team. Her team lost due to poor execution, but Mona got fired instead for lack of creativity.

Update 20th May 2009 Debra was again brought into the boardroom after a loss (the fourth time she's been in the boardroom). She narrowly avoided getting fired and stayed in the competition because clearly Sir Alan quite likes her.

Update 27th May 2009. Debra really excelled this week selling solo on a TV shopping channel. It brought out a different side of her and her performance makes her a contender to win this series.

Update 3rd June 2009 Debra got fired in today's episode which was all about interveiws. I was surprised that she went as she was remarkably good in the interviews, confident with the aggresion toned down. However her previous outbursts in the series may have killed her chances of going through to the final.