Apprentice star Reece Donnelly ‘living dream’ as boss with £1 million turnover after show exit amid alcohol accusations

A former Apprentice contestant, who was accused of being kicked off the BBC show after drinking too much alcohol on a flight to Dubai, has said he was “distraught” after seeing “melodramatic” headlines online but he is now “living (his) dream” with hundreds of students at his performing arts centres and a recent turnover of £1 million.

Reece Donnelly, 26, the founder of Theatre School of Scotland and Theatre College of Scotland, landed his first professional acting role at the age of seven, later working on programmes including Waterloo Road.

Growing up in a working class area of Glasgow, Reece never dreamed he would become a successful business owner in his early 20s with a £1 million turnover, seeing students work on projects such as Grandpa’s Great Escape, The Responder, Matilda, Harry Styles’ music video Adore You, and other leading roles for the BBC, CBBC and Netflix.

When the opportunity arose for Reece to join The Apprentice earlier this year to showcase his business and “fly the flag for Scotland”, he jumped at it.

However, Reece said he quit the show early after becoming unwell while they were filming in Dubai, and he was then faced with a barrage of news accusing him of being kicked off due to drinking too much on a plane on his way to the country.

Reece has said the story is false and there was no evidence for it taking place, but it prompted journalists to arrive outside his home, with some “verbally abusing” his mother.

“I was distraught; I had given three months of my life to a show, and I was happy to bow out after becoming unwell, but people wanted that narrative to be true,” Reece told PA Real Life.

Despite this, Reece has continued to focus on his passion for performing arts, where he educates and inspires the next generation, he has launched a podcast, and he said he is “living (his) dream”.

He has plans to franchise the business, with a northern, southern and Irish headquarters, and as a personal goal, he would love to commission his own BBC or CBBC show to encourage kids to “go out and get it”.

“Life is a movie, and you are the lead role – that is the only way I can describe my journey,” he said.

“I’m living my dream … but I am all about the motivation, and I firmly believe that somebody up there was just sending me a golden nugget to open that school.

“I am the most grateful person in the world. I’m obsessed with the school, and I’m obsessed with it because it’s given me a life that I just never thought I would ever have.”

Reece had humble beginnings in Glasgow, but he said he was never going to let his working-class background hold him back.

As a “cheeky, confident, young individual”, he was scouted at primary school and landed his first acting role, aged seven, on CBeebies’ Carrie and David’s Popshop!, before later joining the cast of Waterloo Road, where he worked professionally for two years.

After obtaining a BA (Hons) in Drama at the University of Sunderland, he combined his passion for acting, teaching and business and launched the Theatre School of Scotland in 2017 – and “the beast was born”.

From there, he said “it just grew arms and legs” – but its success has not come without hard work.

“I genuinely think my motivation comes from a place of wanting to better my future life and my family’s future life, and make performing arts accessible for everyone,” Reece explained.

“I’ve worked like hell to have what I’ve got, but I thought, ‘I have been presented with an opportunity here and I can either run with it, or I can scale it back’.”

After seeing the school “grow and grow and grow”, and launching a scholarship programme, he decided to invest £250,000 into building a brand new HQ building in the centre of Glasgow, which he is “wholeheartedly obsessed with”, along with two other centres which are now open in Edinburgh and Greenock.

He also founded the Theatre College of Scotland, which was approved by the Scottish Qualifications Authority when he was 24, making him the youngest owner of a college in the UK.

Now boasting approximately 700 students across the school and college, and recently generating a turnover of £1 million, Reece has seen students land dream roles in a number of TV shows and films, and he plans to franchise the business, opening headquarters in England, Wales and Ireland in the future.

“At the start I had a hell of a lot of imposter syndrome and thought, ‘Is this going to all end? Am I the right person for the job?’,” he said.

“But I think the mental strength has come from really understanding that you’ve worked to be here, you should be here, and you were in the right place at the right time.”

Reece was approached to join BBC’s The Apprentice as a contestant earlier this year, and he said he jumped at the opportunity as it “collided his worlds as an actor and business owner”.

“I had no lines to learn, I was just showing up, chatting, loving my life, throwing myself into the deep end with the tasks, and I’ll never forget, (Baroness Brady) said: ‘You’re thriving’,” he said.

“With my background, I felt that I should never have ended up on telly, so I was just taking it all in my strides as a wee guy from Glasgow, and I just loved it.

“But it was a very strategic business decision, as I thought, let’s go on here and show the rest of the UK my business, for millions of viewers every Thursday night, and if Lord Sugar wants to give me a quarter of a million pounds, he can give me a quarter of a million pounds.”

Although it was “brutal” and he and the other contestants were made to look like “a pack of idiots” at times for entertainment value, he said he was extremely grateful for the opportunity and loved his time on the show – until he had to leave and saw the “melodrama” unfold afterwards.

Reece explained that he quit the BBC show early as a result of becoming unwell and seeking medical attention from a doctor after a day’s filming in Dubai, however, there was a “narrative” that he got drunk on the outbound flight – which he said is false and a “dramatisation” of the truth.

“There is this stereotype in Scotland that everyone drinks, but the harsh reality is, I probably drink once every two months, and it’s for a special occasion if I do,” he said.

“All people wanted to do was to try to create a narrative that suited them, that was going to run for titles, and it was extremely hard for me and my parents.

“There were people outside our front door, there were people verbally abusing my mum – it was horrible.”

Despite this, Reece said he loved his time on the show and described it as an “amazing experience”, and reflecting on his life now, he feels he has “the best job in the world”.

Given his business’s success in just six years, Reece said he is excited for what the future holds and hopes to one day participate in another TV show such as SAS: Who Dares Wins or Dancing on Ice.

“People always say ‘some people get it that fast, they lose it all’, and it’s something that I have had to mentally work through,” Reece explained.

“We have had to work from the ground up, and I think my mental strength comes from the Scottish mentality that you just work and work and work, and I love that.

“I love Scottish people and I just think we’re a force to be reckoned with.”

To find out more about the Theatre School of Scotland, visit: theatreschoolofscotland.co.uk/