The Apprentice 2023: Hampshire's Sohail Chowdhary on BBC show

Sohail Chowdhary is one of 18 candidates who will be seeking to secure a £250,000 investment from Lord Alan Sugar on the BBC show, which starts on January 5. 

Sohail, a former Peter Symonds student and University of Southampton graduate, was an accountant before being fired five years ago. 

He then started up a martial arts class in Southampton.

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The class was a success so he expanded and now operates classes for 600 people across Hampshire with his business AG Martial Arts.

In a message to his fellow contestants, Sohail said: “I am calm and collected but if they do come at me? I will bite and I will sting and I will leave my mark.”

Sohail added that he was "proud" to have been raised in a council house which he said meant he had to "fight hard" to earn the "comfortable life" he leads today.

Sohail described himself as having a proven track record (Image: BBC/Fremantle Media/Ray Burmiston)

He added: "I’ve got a proven track record behind me and if the previous five years are anything to go by, the next five are going to be something special. Plus, owning a martial arts business means Lord Sugar can learn how to kick ass for free."

When describing his unique selling point he stated: "My USP is systemisation and automation. That means, to put it simply, turning my laziness into a positive by creating smart solutions and simple shortcuts to difficult problems. I can achieve the same results as others in half the time."

Meanwhile, in describing his biggest weakness he said: "My biggest weakness would be sometimes not listening to others when on the very rare occasion I might be wrong.

"I’ll always be the person that looks out for the little guy and sometimes that means that I will put emotions before business. I will make sure that people are looked after, first and foremost, over anything else."

The Apprentice will air from Thursday, January 5 on BBC One and iPlayer.