After 10 weeks of stress, mishaps and the occasional of backbiting, plumbing business owner Joseph Valente has been crowned this year's winner of The Apprentice.
Valente became the eleventh winner after Lord Sugar chose him as a business partner instead of the other finalist Vana Koutsomitis, who hoped to launch a dating app, Date Play.
In the boardroom, Lord Sugar said: "It's very difficult, you couldn't get a wider difference between the two businesses."
But after a pitch in front of industry experts and investors, Valente triumphed with his plan to launch Prime Time Plumbers and won the coveted £250,000 investment.
It wasn't a dream...I did win The Apprentice last night! And @Lord_Sugar is my Business partner!
— Joseph Valente (@MrJosephValente) December 21, 2015
A very happy winner last night
Valente can lay claim to the title of The Apprentice better than most. After being expelled from school at the age of 15, he began work as an apprentice and later went on to found his own plumbing business. Following his win, he said would be using his new found status to help push for more workplace apprenticeships including starting one of his own.
"Off the back of this journey I'm going to make sure I go out and promote as much as possible how effective apprenticeships are. Maybe they could start earlier, and get kids into work sooner. I plan to start an apprenticeship programme within our business where we recruit employees from situations like from where I've come from."
Valente was expelled after becoming "too disruptive" at school, which he admitted was "fair enough".
If you're forcing 14, 15-year-old people to do a lesson that they're never going to learn and they constantly play up every single time - rather than keep pushing them into the same direction, why not find an alternative and see what else they can shine at?"
After crowning his winner, Lord Sugar said: "Joseph is a great example of what's possible. He turned his life around and decided he was going to go to work and here he is today, a well-deserved winner of The Apprentice and I look forward to him being my business partner. I hope it inspires a lot of people to see what is possible in this world."
Vana still hopes to launch her dating app and website
The runner-up Vana Koutsomitis said that Joseph Valente was a "better choice" to win the show. Despite coming second, the 27-year-old admitted her rival's personal story and chemistry with Lord Sugar made him better suited to be the businessman's partner.
"Joseph's story aligns very well with his and he wanted to give Joseph the chance that he needed to make his plumbing business huge", she said.
Despite not winning Lord Sugar's backing, Koutsomitis has decided to go ahead with launching her Date Play website and app. She confirmed she was speaking to investors and considering crowd-funding - and had also been approached by several of the industry experts and investors who had seen her final pitch
