Luisa_Zissman

Luisa Zissman

Luisa Zissman

English retail entrepreneur and reality television personality


Luisa Christina Zissman[2] (born Louisa Christina Kalozois;[3] 4 June 1987[4]) is an English retail entrepreneur and reality television personality.[5] She was the runner-up on the ninth series of The Apprentice and finished fourth on Celebrity Big Brother 13.[6] She later became a presenter and regular panellist on Big Brother's Bit on the Side.[7] Zissman is also one half of podcast LuAnna: The Podcast with Anna Williamson.

Quick Facts Born, Years active ...

Early life and education

Zissman was born in Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire to Mr and Mrs Zo Kalozois, now of Hertfordshire;[8] her father is Greek.[9] She attended the Grove Independent school in Loughton, Milton Keynes[10] and Northampton High School for Girls.[11]

Career

Zissman took her first job at an estate agent on Saturdays[12] at 16 to pay the upkeep costs for a horse her parents bought for her. One of her first post-school jobs was at Electronic Data Systems,[13] but she later stated that she decided to go into business because she disliked being told what to do.[10]

She is based in St Albans, Hertfordshire,[12] and she had her own baking website and eBay electronics business. Her cupcake shop Dixie's Cupcakery, named after her daughter, is now closed.[14][15] Although she claimed on several occasions that these three businesses have a net worth of £1.5 million,[16] The Independent valued the three businesses, all trading names of Boutique Trading Ltd of which Zissman is listed as director and company secretary, at £194.[2][17] They also noted that the eBay electronics store she owned was a "one-stop shop for several sellers, including electronics, baking and beauty products".[2]

Zissman came to public attention when she appeared on the ninth series of The Apprentice in 2013, where she was runner-up.[6][18] On 23 July 2013, Zissman appeared on BBC Radio 1's Innuendo Bingo.[19] In November 2013 she launched her business, named Bakers Toolkit, at the Cake International Show. Earlier, there had been some debate about whether the name should include an apostrophe.[20] She joined the thirteenth series of Celebrity Big Brother on 3 January 2014.[21] She finished fourth overall behind Jim Davidson, Dappy and Ollie Locke.[22] Zissman revealed she received a six-figure sum for her stint on the show. She also regularly appears on This Morning and Good Morning Britain as a guest to debate current new stories. She has since appeared on Reality Bites,[23] News Thing, Loose Women and Sam & Billie: The Mummy Diaries on ITVBe.

Personal life

Zissman married her first husband, entrepreneur Oliver Zissman, in 2009. Zissman gave birth to her first daughter, Dixie in 2010. Zissman and her husband divorced in 2014.[24] While taking part in Celebrity Big Brother in 2014, she came out as bisexual, and had sought treatment for sex addiction.[25][26] Zissman married her second husband, Irish businessman Andrew Collins, in 2015.[citation needed]


References

  1. "Poll and video: St Albans' Luisa Zissman in tonight's Celebrity Big Brother final - News - Herts Advertiser". Hertsad.co.uk. 29 January 2014. Retrieved 6 March 2014.
  2. Paul Gallagher (17 July 2013). "The Apprentice Final 2013: Doubts cast over Luisa Zissman's business claims - News - TV & Radio". The Independent. Retrieved 5 February 2014.
  3. "Apprentice runner-up Luisa Zissman enters Celebrity Big Brother house". St Albans & Harpenden Review. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  4. Wightman, Catronia (16 May 2014). "Big Brother: Luisa Zissman joins Bit on the Side, Bit on the Psych". Digital Spy.
  5. Country Life, vol. CCXIII, no. 43, October 23, 2019, p. 25
  6. "The Final Five". One-off spin-off of The Apprentice. BBC One. 8 July 2013.
  7. Sunday Times Money Section p10, 27 October 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2013
  8. "Celebrity Big Brother for St Albans cupcake shop owner Luisa Zissman". Herts Advertiser. 31 December 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  9. "St Albans thieves are foiled by cupcake crimefighter". Herts Advertiser. 6 January 2013. Retrieved 5 January 2014.
  10. "Week 11: Interviews - Semi Final". The Apprentice. BBC One. 10 July 2013.
  11. BBC Radio 1 (23 July 2013). "Luisa Zissman Innuendo Bingo" via YouTube.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  12. "Day 27". Celebrity Big Brother 13. Channel 5. 29 January 2014.
  13. Reality Bites. 5 February 2015. ITV2.
  14. "Boardroom broigeses! Lord Alan Sugar returns in The Apprentice". 10 May 2013. Archived from the original on 11 December 2013. Retrieved 6 March 2014.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)

Share this article:

This article uses material from the Wikipedia article Luisa_Zissman, and is written by contributors. Text is available under a CC BY-SA 4.0 International License; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.