Fans of the hit TV show will know that now it’s official: Who Lies Wins. Recruitment sales manager Lee McQueen last night beat 15 other candidates and has been crowned Sir Alan Sugar’s £100,000-a-year apprentice, despite telling a huge whopper on his CV – and, more unforgivably still, being caught.  He claimed that he attended Thames University for two years when he had stuck it out for just four months.

However, his admission that he lied on his CV has provoked controversy.

He is by no means the first high profile job candidate to be caught out embelishing his qualifications: below is a selection of the most infamous cases

Name: Alison Ryan

Job: Communications manager, Manchester United

Claim: First-class degree from Cambridge

Truth: She got a second class degree and had been banned from practising as a lawyer

What happened: Ryan got the £125,000-a-year job after being interviewed by Sir Alex Ferguson but was sacked after lies were exposed.

Name: Patrick Imbardelli

Job: Chief executive of the Asia Pacific arm of UK-based InterContinental Hotels Group.

Claim: Two degrees from Cornell University in the US and one from Victoria University, Australia

Truth: He attended classes at both universities but did not graduate from either

What happened: Imbardelli resigned

Name: Ronald Zarrella

Job: Chairman and chief executive of Bausch & Lomb

Claim: MBA from the Stern School of Business at New York University Truth: Mr Zarrella did not have an MBA and was exposed by a business website

What happened: He offered to resign following an “error of judgement” but the board backed him to continue. Forfeited a bonus of more than £500,000

Name: James Stocks

Job: Chef at top Scottish hotel Balbirnie House in Fife

Claim: Worked for Marco Pierre White and Gordon Ramsay

Truth: They denied knowing him

What happened: He admitted “beefing up” jobs he had done at previous restaurants on his CV and resigned.

Name: David Edmondson

Job: Chief executive of electronics retailer Radio Shack

Claim: Degrees in theology and psychology

Truth: He only completed two terms at the Pacific Coast Baptist Bible College in California

What happened: He resigned but received a payout of more than £500,000

Lee McQueen was clearly by the end of the Series the right man for the job and we say to him congratulatons. However, as ethical recruiters and members of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, we have to advise our candidates that “Factual Discrepencies” or Fibs are not at all to be condoned. Yes of course your CV is a sales document but if the Employer is going to make a hiring committment to you as a permanent staff member you can be sure that checks on ‘details’ will be made. So if you were thinking of putting a little extra polish on your CV, please don’t. If like Lee, you were meant for that role, it will be yours anyway without the need for a lie.

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