I gained the Apprentice… here’s what I’d say to Lord Sugar

A former winner of The Apprentice who fell out with Lord Sugar has called for the star to ‘move on’ so a younger host can take over.

Joseph Valente impressed the tycoon with his business plan of franchising his plumbing company in 2015, receiving a £250,000 investment.

But the entrepreneur, 35, ‘clashed’ with Alan Sugar over how to run the business, and they parted ways two years after the programme finished.

Despite regaining control of his company, the firm landed in £2million of debt.

But looking back, he told MailOnline he would thank the business magnate for the opportunities given to him and wishes he had done things differently and retain Lord Sugar, 77, as an ally.

However, despite this outlook he said Lord Sugar should ‘move on’ and the reality show is becoming stale.

Mr Valente said: ‘I think Lord Sugar needs to move on. They need a new host.

‘I want Karren Brady to do it, she’s a powerful woman and she would be absolutely incredible. It needs freshening up.’

The Baroness is an aide to Alan Sugar on The Apprentice, and the current vice-chairman of West Ham United F.C.

She is one of the big names set to speak at events hosted by Valente’s Millionaire Mastermind network.

‘Lord Sugar isn’t the guy he used to be – obviously he is very successful but he isn’t relatable to young people. They need someone younger.

‘They also need to get back to real business and not the commercial side. They need to get people on who care about business, not about the showbiz and their five minutes of fame.

‘They’re focusing too much on the entertainment side and the characters at the moment.’

Mr Valente spoke previously about how when his business declined, he struggled with ‘severe depression‘ and he ‘dreaded getting up’.

Lord Sugar shared one of the articles about his company’s struggles, titled ‘Joseph’s Gas Firm Blown’, and retweeted it saying, ‘You can’t win them all.’

But this motivated the entrepreneur set up Trade Mastermind, to help plumbers, builders, electricians and carpenters grow their businesses through one-on-one online coaching.

And after lockdown hit, business started booming for Mr Valente, who said his company is now worth £10million.

He is now running Millionaire Mastermind, a success network bringing together global entrepreneurs and ‘wealth creators’ to share their knowledge. 

Speaking to MailOnline, Mr Valente said he wouldn’t do anything differently if he was able to go back in time and go on the show again.

He said: ‘I had a plan and it worked. But I would do some things differently that I did after the show. 

‘Having Lord Sugar as an ally would have been wiser – not that we’re enemies. Now that I’ve matured into my 30s I can see the benefits of being able to leverage the name and his brand. 

‘I saw things differently in my 20s. I’m a very strong willed person and I didn’t want to listen. I wasn’t interested in taking advice from Lord Sugar and his team all the time. 

‘But in business it is important to listen to the opinions of others, whether or not you agree with them.’

When asked what he would say to Lord Sugar if he had the chance to speak to him again, he said: ‘I would say thank you for the opportunity. 

‘He has been the cause of three key moments of my life. I quit my job within a few weeks of reading his book. Then he bought my business. Then when my business went down he posted a tweet which gave me the motivation to come back from that. 

‘He posted ‘you can’t win them all’ and kind of mocked my demise. So thank you for that, and motivating me indirectly. 

‘I would’ve come back eventually, but not as quickly.’

The former winner has previously spoken about how all is not as it seems on the reality series, with producers deliberately making tasks harder than they need to be.

He also told how the show filmed two endings, one of him winning and one of runner-up Vana Koutsomitis winning.

He claimed there is a ‘rule book’ which keeps contestants limited in what names, colours and logos they can use in tasks.

The entrepreneur said this can lead to contestants coming up with things that look ‘stupid’ and said producers do it deliberately because if everyone comes up with an incredible product or service it won’t be ‘entertaining’ for the viewers.

But he told MailOnline he thinks this is a good thing, explaining: ‘What it does is show a depth of character to overcome the odds and learn to tackle the challenges which come up in business.’

Asked about what his advice to candidates would be, he said: ‘My advice would be to focus on yourself and what you’re good at, not on the other people. 

‘Don’t just hope that the others will fail and that is why you remain – focus on doing something outstanding to give Lord Sugar a reason to keep you. Focus on what you can do to shine. I was absolutely focused on what I could control.’