He was the most legendary character ever to appear on The Apprentice – as his cringeworthy attempts to appear authoritative via a string of catchphrases backfired spectacularly.
So when Stuart Baggs was found dead after an asthma attack aged just 27, the news caused genuine consternation around the country.
Now, ahead of the tenth anniversary of his death, his family have spoken exclusively to MailOnline about their memories of the man who famously styled himself ‘Stuart Baggs, the brand’ – and their enduring regret that he didn’t live to make the millions he was convinced were his business destiny.
Stuart quickly became famous for one-liners like this, including: ‘Everything I touch turns to sold’ and ‘I’m not a one-trick pony, I’m not a ten-trick pony, I’m a whole field of ponies’.
And we discovered that the latter catchphrase has particularly poignant associations for his family – as they will explain.
But first his parents, Rosemary, 68, and Steve, 69, are keen to stress the fact that Stuart’s on-screen persona was not an invention – but simply a manifestation of the larger-than-life personality he had from childhood.
‘He was much like he was on screen really,’ Mrs Baggs said. ‘Full of beans, full of life. He was full on, business-orientated and loved tech.’
Stuart Baggs appeared on The Apprentice back in 2010, quickly becoming known for his cheeky-chappie persona. Tragically, a few years later he died at just age 27
Stuart Baggs, age six, winning the school technology prize, which his mother said was ‘the start of it all’
After his stint on the Apprentice, Stuart appeared at the Edinburgh Fringe under an event called ‘Stuart Baggs and his field of ponies’
Born in Plymouth but brought up on the Isle of Man where his family ran a pub, Stuart, at just 21, would become The Apprentice’s youngest ever contestant when he appeared in series six in 2010, reaching the last five.
But he had to overcome many obstacles to get there and find ways to harness his talents.
From a young age Stuart, who had dyslexia and dyspraxia, became obsessed with tech – even winning his school’s technology prize at just six-years-old.
‘Whenever we got our first computer, when Stuart was really young, that kick-started his whole life really,’ his mum recalled.
His father added: ‘He was also money orientated and really wanted a business, probably because he saw us in the pub with all the cash. He then started selling things at school.’
At just 13, ‘adrenaline junkie’ Stuart, who had plans to become a lawyer if he failed as an entrepreneur, registered his business BlueWave communications to provide internet services to those on the Isle of Man.
‘He just sort of came up with this plan out of the blue and was putting Wi-Fi on the boats around here,’ Mr Baggs said.
Living on the island helped ‘nurture’ Stuart and gave him the opportunity to build his business, which his parents don’t believe he would have had in the UK.
Stuart famously styled himself as ‘Stuart Baggs, the brand’ – a catch phrase many remember
Stuart on a ‘casual Friday’ at Blue Wave in his favourite jumper
Stuart and his older sister Charlotte pictured in 1993
It was while at university and also juggling his growing company, that Stuart decided to try out for The Apprentice, catching the ferry over to Manchester to audition.
He had initially wanted to go onto Dragon’s Den but following his mother’s advice, who was concerned the judges would ‘ridicule’ him for being so young, he applied for the BBC show instead.
‘He was running the business over here, he was at uni and he decided he was going to go on the Apprentice,’ Mr Baggs said.
‘There a big group of them and he had been told to leave through the backdoor, so he thought that’s it, they don’t want me. But it ended up that he was the one they wanted.’
While Stuart told his parents he had been accepted onto the show he kept it a big secret from his friends and even his older sister, Charlotte.
‘I didn’t know where he really was when it was being filmed. I was told he was installing WIFI to oil rigs in the North Sea and was heading off Island for helicopter training,’ his sister said back in 2010. ‘Stuart completely pulled the wool over my eyes.’
During filming, his parents by chance ran in to Stuart and the crew while they were on a day out to the Old Trafford Centre in Manchester.
Mr and Mrs Baggs had been doing a pre-holiday shopping trip in the centre when they bumped into a familiar face.
Stuart (pictured front) with Ed Giddins, Paula Hamilton, Christopher Biggins and Shelia Ferguson on the television programme Celebrity Five
Stuart pictured in 2011 testing out a BMW
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‘We shouldn’t have seen him while he was filming. It was a bizarre coincidence,’ Mr Baggs said.
‘But when we got to the Trafford Centre there were all these film crews rushing around and Stuart was there amongst all the other contestants.
‘He saw us straight away and he asked for permission to speak to us. Then I think he just wanted us out the way. But we thought what are the odds.’
When the show finally aired later in the year, the Baggs family watched each episode together, seeing Stuart adapt his big personality for the screen.
There were, however, moments his parents found ‘hurtful’, particularly when Claude Littner told him he was ‘not a fish in a big pond or a little pond you are not even a fish’ in the world of business.
‘I didn’t really mind any of it but the bit I did not like was when they made fun of his achievements,’ his mother said.
‘He was 21-years-old and in my mind, and I know I am his mother, but he had actually done really well.
‘I thought it was rude and unnecessary. It is reality television but at the end of the day they are people as well.
Stuart is pictured here with fellow candidate Stella English who appears confused with what her rival is saying in the boardroom back in 2010
‘But he was so unbothered by it, water off a duck’s back. He would say to me ‘it’s TV mother, don’t worry about it’.
His father added: ‘There was no such thing as bad publicity in his mind and every episode he did was another step in his career.
‘It gave him a massive leap as not only did he get recognition from the show which brought in business. He also got quite a bit of money out of it.’
After Lord Alan Sugar fired Stuart from the show in the semi-final, he continued to go from strength to strength, propelling his business and appearing on other reality television shows, such as Come Dine With Me.
A self-described ‘workaholic’ Stuart said he would regularly work 18 hour days to push his business to the next level.
He helped install Wi-Fi onto the Isle of Man Steam Packet Ferry and for other boats based around the island.
A few weeks after his 27th birthday, he excitedly spoke of the launch of his new home hub network.
He told his local paper The Isle of Man Examiner at the time: ‘We are an island, let’s pull together. Let us show some innovation.
‘By God this has cost an absolute fortune, but the winners will be the people of the Isle of Man.’
Of his work ethic he added: ‘I work, as my hair will tell you, at least 18 hours a day. I sleep for four hours religiously, I would not have it any other way, like Margaret Thatcher.
‘But also I’m a geek, I make no excuse for it. I started this business as a geek.’
Tragically, he was to die, the very night he had just launched that brand new 4G internet hub on the Isle of Man in July 2015, suffering from an acute asthma attack, a condition he had since childhood.
He was tragically found dead at his seaside flat on the island’s capital of Douglas.
His parents had seen Stuart just hours before his death.
Following Stuart’s death Lord Alan Sugar offered his ‘sincere condolences to his family and friends’
Stuart’s mother Rosemary touches his coffin following his funeral in August 2015
Stuart’s father Stephen and sister Charlotte at his funeral in August 2015
‘On the evening he passed, we had gone out with friends and were driving along Douglass promenade and he was just coming back from the gym,’ Mrs Baggs said. ‘We waved to each other and were shouting hi.’
‘Just wish we stopped now but it is what it is. That was the last time we saw him,’ his father added. ‘He went home and then sometime in the night had this massive asthma attack.
‘He has had asthma since he was a kid and had his first attack when I was camping with him in Spain.
‘It was horrendous. You never get over it but you learn to live with it.’
The fact that Stuart was just 27 saw him join the so-called ’27 Club’ of celebrities who died at that age alongside Kurt Cobain, Amy Winehouse, Jim Morrison and Jimi Hendrix – but for his family Stuard will always be the young man couldn’t be more proud of.
In the last decade, the couple have learnt to live with their grief and continue with a some-what normal life, retiring in the countryside on the Isle of Man.
His sister Charlotte runs an equestrian school on the farm and they have their own ‘field of ponies’ with five horses.
In fact it was from his sister’s love of horses, which Stuart was ironically allergic to, that he came up with his iconic and most well-known catchphrase.
‘It is weird because in your everyday life it becomes normal and it sort of sits in the background,’ his mother said.
‘But then you are driving along the road and you see something which reminds you of him, or you hear a song which he used to love, and then that’s what hits you then because it is unexpected and it catches you off guard.’
‘To sum it up we were, and still are, very proud of him’, Mr Baggs added.
To this day, BlueWave communications is still flourishing and operating out of the Isle of Man, with dozens of contracts including with Starlink.
Following Stuart’s death, the company was taken over from his mentor from his year in industry while at university, after asking his parents how he could help them in their grief.
They handed Adam Beaumont the business allowing him to successfully carry the legacy of ‘Stuart Baggs the Brand’.
