The Apprentice contestants Michaela Wain and Harrison Jones have announced their engagement on Instagram, eight years after competing against each other on the show.
The pair appeared on season 13 of the long-running BBC reality show in 2017, on a mission to impress Lord Alan Sugar so he would support their business idea. Neither Wain nor Jones won the show, but they met each other, fell in love and have been together ever since.
Wain first announced their engagement on 29 October, sharing a post of images from their recent trip to Tokyo, where Wain was sporting a new shiny ring. “A Tale of Tokyo,” Wain captioned the post with a wedding ring emoji, implying that they had got engaged.
On Sunday, Wain confirmed the pair got engaged in the Japanese city, posting a video of pictures and videos they’ve taken on the trip. In one picture, a sign saying “Will You Marry Me?” can be seen in the background while Wain is wearing the ring in the foreground.
A day later, Jones reflected on their love story, sharing a post that included screengrabs of their time on The Apprentice and pictures of the couple with their children. Wain’s eldest son, Harrison, is from a previous relationship, and she gave birth to the couple’s first son, Gregory, in 2018.
“From meeting in the most unique, once in a lifetime way, to becoming a dad to the most amazing little boy, starting a family, and getting engaged in Tokyo,” Jones captioned the post. “It’s been a pretty nuts journey, so far.”
Wain and Jones have received congratulatory comments from their former castmates, including Sarah Lynn and James White, who won season 13.
“You might have even beaten me in The Apprentice if all your decisions had been this good H,” Lynn wrote.
Josh Ritchie, the Love Island star and Wain’s sister, also congratulated the happy couple on Jones’ post.
Wain wrote in an Instagram post in 2024 that she “knew by day three” she wanted to be with Jones forever, but it took longer for Jones to realise he liked her.
Wain told The Sun in 2023 that the couple were friends first and only got close after the show stopped filming, but before it aired on TV.
“We were allowed to drink alcohol then – which is when me and Harrison grew closer,” she said.
Wain and Jones are not the first contestants from the business-focused series to date, or to get engaged.
Season 16’s winner, Harpreet Kaur, and fellow contestant Akshay Thakrar married in 2024 after they began dating in 2022, after the series had finished filming. Kate Walsh and Philip Taylor, who appeared on season five in 2009, also dated after appearing on the show, despite Walsh turning on Taylor in the boardroom, leading to his firing.
