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<\/p>\nTOM SKINNER ranks alongside Del Boy as the UK\u2019s most famous market trader.<\/p>\n
Since the Romford-born wheeler dealer, 32, was fired by Lord Sugar on The Apprentice, he\u2019s turned into a social media superstar known for his massive breakfasts, motivational battle cries and \u201cBosh!\u201d catchphrase.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
And now he\u2019s telling all about his life in his very first memoir, titled Graft: How To Smash Life, out October 12.<\/p>\n
It contains some hilarious anecdotes about some of his best, and worst, business deals – plus how his \u201cgift of the gab\u201d has got him out of the trickiest of situations…<\/p>\n
After impressing on The Apprentice in 2019, Tom was asked by two American businessmen – who were involved in one of the tasks on the show – if he could sell bicycles on their behalf at a trade show in Germany, near the Italian border, and was offered \u00a315,000 for a weekend\u2019s work.<\/p>\n
Much to their delight, he sold \u00a31million worth of stock to a sharp-suited Italian gentleman after buttering him up by \u201ctaking the mickey out of Italian football.\u201d<\/p>\n
Later that night, Tom and the Americans headed to a bar to celebrate the deal – the biggest in their history – when they bumped into their flush buyer and the market trader was told of his real identity.<\/p>\n He explains: \u201cThe booze was flowing. It all got a bit hazy, but at some point in the evening someone came over to the table, tapped me on the shoulder and asked me to pop outside with him for a cigarette.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen we were safely away from prying ears he leaned in and said, \u2018You do know they\u2019re mafia, right?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cHe was deadly serious and explained that the mafia owned a lot of cycle shops in Italy.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n \u201cThey used them to launder money. I made a mental note to ease up on the banter.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cLuckily the older gentlemen \u2013 the dons \u2013 couldn\u2019t speak English.<\/p>\n \u201cThen I laughed. \u2018I made them an offer they couldn\u2019t refuse,\u2019 I replied.\u201d<\/p>\n Before finding fame, Tom wasn\u2019t always so squeaky clean.<\/p>\n He bought a money-spinning \u201cmagic key\u201d from a local crook for \u00a32,000, which put \u00a350 of electricity on household pre-pay meters.<\/p>\n Tom explains: \u201cI had a plan. I went out and bought a couple of hi-vis jackets and got them printed with a logo for a made-up company.<\/p>\n \u201cThere was a big council estate in Romford where 99 per cent of the homes were on top-up meters so that was the target.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom and a pal offered hard-up residents a one-time promotional offer of \u00a350 of electricity for just \u00a310.<\/p>\n \u201cI couldn\u2019t really see what was so wrong,\u201d he says. \u201cElectricity is just there, right? It comes out of clouds in thunderstorms. We were giving people something that comes free in a lightning bolt.\u00a0<\/p>\n Electricity is just there, right? It comes out of clouds in thunderstorms. We were giving people something that comes free in a lightning bolt<\/p>\n \u201cThey benefited. We benefited. Everyone was happy.\u201d<\/p>\n However, their plan was foiled after the energy company supplying the estate found out.<\/p>\n Tom adds: \u201cOne day we knocked on a door and gave our usual spiel and the elderly bloke who opened the door told us he couldn\u2019t speak to us.<\/p>\n \u2018I had a letter from the energy company. I\u2019m not allowed to accept any offers,\u2019 he said regretfully.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was the same story with the next door we knocked. \u201cWe realised that the game was up and our scheme providing cheap energy to the good people of Romford was over. It had been a nice little earner while it lasted.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom\u2019s life on the market has come with plenty of ups and downs.<\/p>\n Some of his stock has flown off the shelves, others have flopped, but one particular purchase still gives him a headache.<\/p>\n Tom says: \u201cOne of my worst buying decisions involved half a lorry load of laughing monkeys.<\/p>\n \u201cOn reflection, I reckon I was blindsided by them because when I bought them I wasn\u2019t a parent, so I didn\u2019t appreciate just how f*****g annoying they were.\u201d<\/p>\n After being told they were from Hamleys and retailed at \u00a329.99, but he could have them for \u201c\u00a33 a pop\u201d, he bought 2,500 for \u00a37,500 just in time for Christmas.<\/p>\n But it didn\u2019t take long for him to realise why the motion sensor toys were being sold so cheaply.<\/p>\n One of my worst buying decisions involved half a lorry load of laughing monkeys… I wasn\u2019t a parent, so I didn\u2019t appreciate just how f*****g annoying they were<\/p>\n He explains: \u201cI lined up about 20 in the front of the stall, pride of place so anyone passing could see them.<\/p>\n \u201cI realised straight away that it didn\u2019t matter where they went, you couldn\u2019t miss them because as soon as someone moved, they started laughing, and it wasn\u2019t a pleasant chuckle.<\/p>\n \u201cI heard a few comments. \u2018What\u2019s that f****** awful noise?!\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThey were right. These things sounded demonic. After an hour they were driving us mad.<\/p>\n \u201cI ended up giving them to a charity shop about six months later.<\/p>\n \u201cI can\u2019t remember which one, but it should have been one for the hard of hearing.\u201d<\/p>\n As well as big fry-ups, Tom also enjoys the finer things in life and brought out his own range of sparkling wine.<\/p>\n And he believed \u201cvino\u201d could be his latest Del Boy-style earner after discovering during a trip to France that wine is a fraction of the price compared to the UK.<\/p>\n He purchased hundreds of \u00a31.20 bottles of cheap plonk in a warehouse in Calais, brought them back to the UK and asked his grandmother \u201cNanny Skinner\u201d to help steam off the labels in her bath.<\/p>\n Tom replaced them with new personalised labels his pal, who owns a printing shop, designed on his behalf.<\/p>\n He then took them into London to sell to posh restaurants, claiming the sparkling wine was high-end champagne.<\/p>\n Tom adds: \u201cI sold them cheap, but the margins still made it worth the trip and the reports I had back from customers were all positive.<\/p>\n \u201cOne restaurant owner said it was better than the branded champagne he was selling.<\/p>\n \u201cIt was so popular that I got a regular little supply run going and returned to France several times to get stock.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom could have got his big break in TV before The Apprentice when the makers of reality show The Only Way Is Essex came calling.<\/p>\n And he was seriously tempted, because at that time he was flat broke.\u00a0<\/p>\n He says: \u201cI was going through one of my skint periods at the time and had about \u00a340 on me and some plastic and when I went to the cash point to get some more readies it told me I had \u00a312 left in my account.<\/p>\n \u201cI also had to dodge past the barber because I owed him \u00a320 for a haircut.<\/p>\n \u201cThis was not an unusual set of circumstances. Life was often feast or famine. I remembered that I\u2019d run out of aftershave and went into Boots on the way to use one of their testers, so I probably went into the interview stinking of Kouros.\u201d<\/p>\n Towie wanted Tom and his pal Lou, a close friend of Gemma Collins, and the pair downed two bottles of bubbly in London before their meeting to pass the time.<\/p>\n Tom adds: \u201cDespite being drunk I must have made an impression because I got a call a few days later telling me they wanted me on the show.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019d only gone up for a laugh and I declined their offer straight away.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the time my life involved selling gear from the back of a van, so I had no interest in being involved in the programme.<\/p>\n \u201cAnd I couldn\u2019t see the Towie production team getting themselves down the market at 5am to film me anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n Tom\u2019s \u201cgift of the gab\u201d hasn\u2019t just boosted his coffers, but also got him out of trouble on more than a few occasions.<\/p>\n And never before has his \u201cbanter\u201d been so effective than during a romantic holiday in the Dominican Republic with a former girlfriend when he accidentally ran into Haiti gangsters while looking for a hotel massage hut.<\/p>\n Unbeknown to him, they had stepped foot inside the neighbouring border, a lawless society notorious for kidnapping foreigners for ransom, and entered a compound full of shacks – and Tom was asked to hand over all his money.<\/p>\n He explains: \u201cThey had guns and a mad leader with no legs and a whistle round his neck. These boys weren\u2019t messing around.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe were being robbed and I knew that if I got away with losing just my money, I would be lucky. But some urge deep inside me refused to let me just stand there and get tucked up.<\/p>\n They had guns and a mad leader with no legs and a whistle round his neck. These boys weren\u2019t messing around<\/p>\n \u201cIf he was going to take my money, which he obviously was because he and his mate had guns, I wanted something in return, just to make it seem a bit fairer.<\/p>\n \u2018I can\u2019t give you that, I need more money for the rest of my holiday,\u2019 I said. Then I suggested, \u2018Why don\u2019t we have a trade instead?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cThe leader thought about this for a minute, and I saw a look on his face that I\u2019d seen a million times before. His eyes lit up at the thought of doing a deal.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe might have been from different sides of the world and divided by different backgrounds and environments, but he recognised a fellow trader and there was a spark of connection.\u201d<\/p>\n He ended up trading his cash for \u201cfive fat cigars\u201d before leaving swiftly, unharmed.<\/p>\n On why he included the story in the book, he says: \u201cHaving a laugh and a joke with people gets you a long way in life and can also get you out of all kinds of problems.\u201d<\/p>\n Another one of Tom\u2019s notorious business deals resulted in scenes echoing something out of Brit gangster flick Lock, Stock and Two Smoking Barrels.<\/p>\n He sold pots of face cream to a local gangster, nicknamed The Sergeant, whose wife accused them of being \u201cknock off\u201d.<\/p>\n He arranged to meet in a Romford pub and arrived flanked by \u201cheavies\u201d intent on getting his money back.<\/p>\n But Tom had spent the cash on a fresh investment and now had the feeling of a \u201ccondemned man\u201d.<\/p>\n Tom and his pal said he would accompany the gangster to Central London and visit a cosmetics shore to check its validity.<\/p>\n He explains: \u201cI asked The Sergeant for the pot and spoke to the lady behind the counter.<\/p>\n \u201c\u2018Excuse me, I bought this from another store when I was on holiday and my wife reckons it\u2019s fake. You couldn\u2019t check and tell me if I\u2019ve been stitched up could you?\u2019<\/p>\n \u201cShe was happy to oblige. She took the lid off. She looked at it carefully, sniffed it, dabbed a bit on her hand and rubbed it in.<\/p>\n \u2018Of course it\u2019s genuine,\u2019 she said. Even though I knew it was, the relief was instant.<\/p>\n \u201cWe walked outside in silence. I wasn\u2019t going to punch the air or anything. I handed The Sergeant back his pot.<\/p>\n \u2018I owe you a favour,\u2019 he said simply, then got in his car along with his muscle and drove off, leaving me feeling like we\u2019d just been given a reprieve from Death Row.\u201d<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/TM-comp-APPRENTICE-WINNER.jpg\")
<\/picture>FIRED UP <\/span><\/p>\nI worked 3 jobs on \u00a33 an hour and scrubbed hotel toilets\u2026 now I run a \u00a315m empire<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/KH-COMP-APPRENTICE-RICH-LIST-1.jpg\")
<\/picture>YOU'RE HIGHER! <\/span><\/p>\nThe Apprentice rich list revealed including fired star now worth \u00a313million<\/h3>\n
Most read in Reality<\/h2>\n
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<\/picture>bake off air <\/span><\/p>\nBake Off pulled from screens next week in fresh schedule shake-up<\/h3>\n
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<\/picture>BRO NO <\/span><\/p>\nBig Brother’s Hallie opens up about being trans – but fans fume at Farida’s question<\/h3>\n
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<\/picture>tough start <\/span><\/p>\nBig Brother fans convinced contestant will QUIT show saying \u2018he wants to walk\u2019<\/h3>\n
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<\/picture>tough time <\/span><\/p>\nSpringwatch presenter reveals he had secret heart attack<\/h3>\n
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8<\/span>'Robin Hood of Romford'<\/h2>\n
Monkey business<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nBosh bubbly<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/10\/grafted-hard-week-parked-vans-848790979.jpg\")
<\/p>\nTurned down Towie<\/h2>\n
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<\/p>\nHoliday from Hell<\/h2>\n
Run-in with gangsters<\/h2>\n
Read More on The Sun<\/h2>\n
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