Paul Bowen is a contender in this year’s series of the BBC’s The Apprentice as he looks to win £250,000 in investment from Lord Alan Sugar.
But what’s the story behind Bowen’s entrepreneurial past – and when else has he appeared on TV?
Who is Paul Bowen?
Paul Bowen is a 34-year-old businessman from Chorley in Lancashire, where he runs his own pie company.
Taking after the owner’s surname, Bowen Pies has been a family-run business since 1994. The company says that its “award-winning pies are individually made according to our secret recipes, some of which are over 30 years old”.
In the last five years, since becoming company director, Bowen’s business has taken on a number of high profile clients, including Premier League champions Manchester City.
Bowen has described the deal with the football club as his “biggest business success to date”, with the company’s pies served at every home game at the Etihad Stadium.
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While his business has gone from strength to strength in recent years, Bowen admits that he has been hit by some personal financial setbacks.
“My biggest failure personally has been with the stock market,” he admitted ahead of The Apprentice.
“Let’s just say I won’t be swapping pies for shares any time soon.”
A surprising past in TV and UK sport
The Apprentice isn’t the first time that Paul Bowen has appeared on TV. In 2018 he starred on the Channel 4 series First Dates. Paired up with Kimmie, he even opened up about having gone bald at the age of just 20.
“I went to this clinic and I said I was thinking of a hair transplant, but he said, ‘Sorry Paul you’re too late for a hair transplant it’s too far gone’,” he explained.
Outside of business, Bowen also has a history in motor racing. He previously competed as a speedway rider in Britain’s National Development League for the Manchester-based Belle Vue Colts.