Celebrity Apprentice 2022 winner revealed

The winner of Celebrity Apprentice 2022 has been announced.

Former NRL star Benji Marshall pipped TV presenter Darren McMullen to the post, and was crowned the winner by Lord Alan Sugar on Tuesday night.

The contestants were trying to raise as much money as possible for their chosen charities, with Benji raising an eye-watering $387,105, with Darren’s total trailing behind at $172,617.

As the winner of Celebrity Apprentice, Benji also received an extra $100,000 to go towards his chosen charity, South Cares.

Linked closely with the South Sydney Rabbitohs, the charity supports disadvantaged and marginalised youth and their families, with a focus on Aboriginal and/or Torres Islander people.

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While Darren chose to put on an expensive charity dinner on Cockatoo Island, Benji had a different approach. He decided he wanted to put on a kids charity concert at Leichhardt Oval, but was adamant about making entry free for children.

“I’m making this event free because I know when I was a kid I wouldn’t have been able to afford it. I know business-wise this might not be the smartest decision, but I don’t care,” he explained.

By securing some major sponsorship deals and celebrity acts like Guy Sebastian and The Wiggles, it was unclear if his risky move would pay off.

Lord Sugar blasted the star’s decision to allow children in for free, saying that it wasn’t the best business move.

“You had three opportunities to raise money. And the first one was obviously the sponsorship. The second one was merchandise. The last one was ticket sales, and I was so impressed that you had thousands of dollars worth of merchandise sitting there. And then you just gave it away,” he told Benji.

“To be fair, I probably took a lot of bad business decisions in terms of I could have raised more money, but I just could have missed this opportunity to give her kids stuff for free,” he replied.

Darren then briefly touched on why he chose Feel the Magic as his charity, which provides intervention grief education programs for kids aged seven to 17.

“Mental health has been a big part of my life. I’ve had friends who have died early, leaving young children. I’ve had my family who have lost parents early and I’ve seen the repercussions that’s had on them. Finding their dads dead and having to try and resuscitate them,” he explained.

“It’s just, it’s really important to me. I think that we can nip that in the bud early. And they are the only charity in Australia that looks after grieving children.”

While Darren was applauded for his effort, Benji was the one who came out on top.

“Benji, I am delighted to say that you are the winner of Celebrity Apprentice. With the additional $100,000, you have raised $487,105,” Lord Sugar said.

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