Apprentice hopeful, Ian Stringer, has been branded a love rat by his estranged wife.

Ian’s wife Kirsty has hit out at her husband who reportedly left her and his young children, just weeks after she gave birth just so he could succeed on the BBC TV show.

Kirsty told The Daily Mail:

“Ian should not be prancing about on The Apprentice. He should have been looking after his family.

“The BBC should never have let him take part… what about the effect it has all had on me and the children. And all for the sake of a TV show.”

“I couldn’t believe it when he was going on about being a winner, not a loser, on the show.

“Ian’s the biggest loser of all. He’s thrown away his marriage and given up on his family.

“His behaviour has been absolutely appalling. He cheated on me when I was pregnant. What kind of man does that? The stress has been awful.

“His little daughter was missing her daddy and would wait for him by the door in the evening and get upset when he didn’t come home.

“Even some of his own family are disgusted with him.”

Not only did Ian leave home, but soon after he stopped paying the mortgage and other bills meaning Kirsty in now in the process of selling their home and moving into rented accomodation.

Ian Stringer is a 26 year old Software Sales Manager from Flitwick. Born in Blackpool, Ian is a forward thinker with a good work ethic, he is people orientated but says he “certainly is not a wallflower”.

He has worked his way up to a Software Sales Manger from his first job as a sales assistant in Dixons and gives “110%” to everything he does. A devoted father, he has a daughter and son aged two and one respectively. Ian is an avid football fan. In his spare time he has done local radio weekend match reports for his local club.

Ian’s claim to fame was that he had a No. 8 hit in the charts – the second top selling unofficial World Cup record for 2006 – when he rewrote the lyrics to Tony Christie’s Amarillo. The record was Sport Relief’s charity record and Ian even appeared in the video.

He says: “There are two types of people in the world; winners and … I don’t know how to say the word, I can’t say it.”