The co-owner of ADL Air Conditioning has made it through to week seven of the BBC show, helmed by Lord Sugar, and registered his fifth win in a row last week.
Dean was born and raised in Dagenham but moved to Hornchurch eight years ago and, since entering the BBC show, says that the community have showed him “loads of support”.
He said: “I’ve had loads of people recognising me, stopping me in Starbucks and asking for selfies which is good – I love it!
“I’ve had loads of support from the locals – I’m always on the high street so I know a lot of the shop owners and they’ve all been so supportive and happy for me.
“We’ve got a great community here.”
Dean said he has had loads of support from the Hornchurch community (Image: BBC) Having never appeared on television before, Dean explained that being in front of camera took some adjusting to but watching the episodes back with his wife Chloe and children Ted and Bonnie has been a highlight.
“It was all new to me,” said Dean.
“I’ve never been in front of cameras before so that was quite scary but you learn to just go with it.
“The whole experience of watching episodes back on TV has been unreal.
“It’s been great to watch back with my wife and kids because obviously I’ve been away from home for so long – although they’ve heard all my stories, it’s the first time they’ve seen what we’re actually doing.
“I’ve loved it, the kids have loved it – they’re talking about it with their mates at school – it has all been really good.”
Episode one saw Dean thrust into action, selling alpine tours in Austria and ultimately ending up on the losing team. He said this was the toughest period that has been aired so far.
“The first week I struggled being jetted off to Austria and I felt uncomfortable straight away.
“Nobody wants to get fired on week one and that’s what I struggled with – I don’t know how I would have dealt with being fired on week one.
“You go into fight or flight mode when you get to the boardroom – there was no way I was going – I put up a fight and said things how they were.
“It is such an iconic room and the pressure on your shoulders in there is unbelievable.”
Dean explained that the boardroom scenes can take a whole day of filming to allow everybody to speak fairly and argue their cases.
He described these scenes as “off-the-cuff and natural”.
Since episode one, Dean has not been back on the losing team and has racked up five wins in a row including most recently during a task to provide a corporate away day in Cappadocia, Turkey.
“The travelling part is good but it’s also where I struggled the most because I was away from the family. But other than that it was unbelievable,” said Dean.
“Austria is a beautiful country and Turkey was the same.
“The best part of that day was when we arrived, and it was pitch black with 150 balloons taking off into the sky.
“It was unreal – I’d recommend it to anybody.”
Dean also spoke about the reality of living with 18 direct competitors.
“At the start, everyone is a stranger – not only are you working on what to do in your task but you’re dealing with each character and working out their personalities.
“There are a few candidates from Essex who I clicked with right away: Chisola and Liam being the main two.
“Emma was also from Essex, but she went in week one.”
He continued: “I’ve never lived in a house with 18 strangers before so that was new to me, but it was fun – we had some good laughs.
“I did struggle because I can’t really cook but some of the other boys were the same.
“Some of the girls were really good though so they would cook for the whole house – that did me a favour.
“The house itself was unbelievable – its like a £10m mansion. The cinema room was unbelievable and we were in it all the time.”
Dean said that the candidates have no concept of time in the house and are woken up in the early hours of the morning as portrayed on TV.
“You do really only get 20 mins to get out the house,” he said.
“It wasn’t too bad for the boys but for the girls having to do their makeup it was tougher.”
Talking to the Recorder in January before the first episode was aired, Dean said that he wanted to put himself in uncomfortable positions and show his children what he can really do.
“I’ve never done the things that I did on the show before.
“I think from the first episode, it couldn’t get any worse for me so it was only up from there.
“I think I’ve improved from each episode. I’m not doing a lot but what I am doing is crucial to winning the tasks.”
Dean believes that his work in the tomato-based task and Easter egg task in particular had a “great impact” on the team’s performance.
“There’s loads that isn’t shown but I am happy with what they have shown of me.”
Dean described Lord Sugar as “exactly how you see him on TV” and felt as though they got on well together.
He said: “We would joke and laugh together, and I felt like we got on really well.
“I felt that he liked me, and I liked him.”
Dean concluded by saying: “The next episode is going to be a very interesting one for me.
“It’s something for people to look forward to – you’ll see me under a lot of pressure on Thursday night.”
The next episode will be shown on Thursday March 13 on BBC One.
