The Apprentice 2023: Peterborough winner's regret at early split from Alan Sugar and five tips for success for new candidates

Peterborough’s BBC The Apprentice winner has outlined his tips for success as 18 candidates tonight begin their bid to impress tycoon Lord Sugar when this year’s business-styled reality show hits the airwaves.

But Joseph Valente, who at 25 won the hotly contested reality game show in 2015, which brought with it a £250,000 investment and a 50/50 partnership business magnate in his Yaxley-based ImpraGas plumbing business, says his one regret is his early split from Lord Sugar.

He said: “If I had my time again I would not do anything different during the show – I won so I don’t think there is anything I could have done differently or better.

“I made some mistakes and it was in those mistakes that I was able to show learning. They want to see that you are willing to learn.

"But if I wanted to do anything differently around the whole Apprentice experience I probably wouldn’t have asked to buy out Lord Sugar so soon - I would have wanted to stay in business with him longer.

“I think that was an oversight on my part as a young man wanting to go in a direction by myself.

“Now at 33 years of age I understand the value of having Lord Sugar as an ally.

"He is not an enemy but he is not an ally any more that I can just tap into which I could have had if he was still my partner.

Mr Valente added: “It is a decision that I regret and it’s one that if I was to go again I would stayed in business with him longer.”

‘I didn’t put a value on Lord Sugar’s connections’

Mr Valente ended the partnership, which he says could have gone on indefinitely, after just two years.

He said: “The problem was that if a partnership doesn’t work, you shouldn’t remain in it.

"If you are building a business you have to be aligned on the destination and me and him were not.

"I wanted to grow my business fast and Lord Sugar didn’t.

"I don’t think the business would have been successful if I had stayed with Lord Sugar – the reason for staying is because he would be great to have around now so I could access his network of connections, which at the time I did not put a value on but now I do because I know different things about business.”

Mr Valente sold ImpraGas, which employed 70 people and had an annual turnover of £10 million, to entrepreneur Andy Scott of REL Capital in January 2020.

He then created Trade Mastermind, a mentorship and training programme for sole traders and SMEs in the construction industry.

‘Own your mistakes’

Looking ahead to the start of the 2023 The Apprentice series, Mr Valente said: “The contestants look like a mirror image of last year’s -so it is quite difficult to identify a front runner at the moment but I believe it will be a man that wins this year purely on the law of averages as the last three years it has been a female winner.

"It has been too long since a man has won The Apprentice.”

And he outlined five tactics that he says are key to winning.

He said: Number one – walk the talk.

"If you’re going to say something make sure you can back it up.

"Focus on what you do right not what the others do wrong. The biggest mistake every contestant makes is to focus on who messed the task up rather than on why they should be allowed to remain because they have performed so highly.

“Don’t talk nonsense to Lord Sugar as you will get found out immediately and lose all credibility.

"If you make a mistake own it – don’t shy away from it.

"Finally, if you are on the losing team, remember you get more screen time and more time in the boardroom.

He said: “I was happy when I was on the losing time because I got to spend more time in front of Lord Sugar showing him who I was and what I was about.

“I found that losing a round was an asset because I got to spend more time in the boardroom.

"Business isn’t all about making sales, winning a pitch, developing a product.

"Losing a round was an opportunity to present a set of skills – leadership, problem solving, people management, identifying what works and what doesn't – that people don’t usually associate with the flashy success stuff.”

"Losing a round is not a bad thing so long as you don’t get fired.”

‘Amazing what show has done for me’

But Mr Valente said he is not confident that BBC The Apprentice has a great future and that he is planning to pitch how own business-related game show to TV chiefs.

He said: “I think it is getting to the point where the show has run its course.

"I know they are pitching already for a new series. It’s a shame because I think the show is amazing – it is a legendary show.

"And I wouldn’t want to take away that opportunity for anybody to have the same level of success that I had – it is amazing what that show has done for me and many others and I owe the show a lot.

“But it is just that it is time for a new show.

"The TV market for business is wide open for a new opportunity to land and I have at least three great concepts that I’ll be taking to the production companies in 2023.”