ANDREA Cooper’s Apprentice journey led her from Hong Kong to Egypt but after being part of a momentous triple firing on the hit BBC show she admits she’s happy to be back in her hometown of Barnsley.

The 46-year-old grew up in Shafton, attending Priory School, and now resides in Kingstone.

The mother-of-five and grandmother-of-one runs two businesses in the town and has been quite the success story.

She successfully achieved a midwifery first class honours degree when she was 40, whilst juggling two businesses and running a family - even delivering her grandson five weeks before the show was due to start.

Andrea applied for the show ahead of its 20th year and just a day after submitting her application she was invited to an interview in Manchester.

She told the Chronicle: “It was just ten questions and online and it took me five minutes to do - I didn’t really think about the answers.

“The next morning I got an email saying that I’d been invited to do an interview.

“I went on the Saturday and originally I wasn’t going to go.

“You never know where you’re going when you’re there - you’re just brought out of the room and then put into another.

“I was there for the full four hours and went through to the last room with some cameras on me.

“There was a really in-depth process - but you’ve just got to be yourself.

“There’s no point putting on a show because they’re looking for certain people.

“I just thought ‘I’m just going to go and be exactly like myself and if I get through, I get through.’.

Andrea found out she was successful just three weeks before filming for the show was due to start - made all the more hectic by the fact she delivered her grandson just weeks before.

She added: “I delivered my grandson last year in March at home because it was unexpected as he was five weeks early.

“So now I know why I’ve got my midwifery degree - it did come in handy for something.

“I spent five weeks with him and then I went off to The Apprentice house.

“I was away for just short of five weeks but there’s no contact with the outside world.

“You just get a ten minute phone call a week to discuss my business and then speak with my kids.

“In the three weeks beforehand I had to train somebody to run my business while I was gone and do the business plan.

“And then you’ve got to buy all the outfits and get them approved which was chaotic.”

Andrea made it to week six of the show before she was a part of a shocking triple firing by Lord Sugar.

But it was quite the journey for Andrea who worked on water campaigns and pitched to booksellers.

She says her favourite task was the flower show but admits she could sense she was about to be fired.

“We saw Baroness Brady and Tim when they followed us around but you wouldn’t chat with them,” she added.

“You’d literally see them out of the corner of your eye and then when you’re in the boardroom you can speak with them but it’s all on camera.

“I think at the point of the firing, I was probably ready to come home.

“Obviously you don’t know who’s going to get fired or how many people will be fired.

“But the numbers needed to dwindle down because there were still a lot of us left halfway through the process.

“I felt like I left on a high and wasn’t negative.”