The Apprentice 2017 winner: James White’s business plan SCRAPPED 'It was for the show'

In a shock twist for the long-running BBC competition, both the 26-year-old IT recruitment hopeful and confectionery store-owner Sarah Lynn, 35, were hired in tonight’s gripping final. 

While a series’ first saw Lord Alan Sugar admitting that he genuinely couldn’t decide between the equally impressive candidates to go into business with, James has now revealed that everything viewers saw in the final, including the name and brand concept, has been ditched. 

In an interview with Express.co.uk, the Birmingham-based entrepreneur confessed: “The name and the branding isn’t the brand that we’re going to use, I’ve already got a brand and it’s called Right Time Recruitment so we’re going to stick with that.

“The name that you saw on the show was more of a concept for the show, but we’re going to stick with what we’ve got already.”

Quizzed on why the winner chose to go along with the final task without flagging up his thoughts on the company’s plan, the star explained that he was initially open to different ideas.

“We’ve started to create an image around the brand over the last few months and that would be a shame to change,” he admitted. “So we’ve had a conversation and we’re going to stick with Right Time Recruitment. We’ve already got quite a few clients and just to change it all now would be the wrong thing to do.

“I thought it could be for the business, but we just sat down and decided it’s best to keep the one we’d already chosen. But at the time of the show I absolutely thought that could have been the one for the business going forward.”

Despite the confusion surrounding his plans for the business, James revealed that he’s convinced 70-year-old Lord Sugar will have an active role in the business. 

He continued: “I think we’ll equally get the same input, I think it’s the same for everyone he’s invested in, so we’ll get regular boardroom meetings and Sarah’s business is a bit more established than mine we’ve only been going six months.

“We’ll have regular boardroom meetings and talking to the advisers, so hopefully we’ll be on the right track to success.”

The Apprentice final is available to watch on BBC iPlayer now.