Major update on future of The Apprentice winner whose firm went bust with £200k debt – despite £250k from Lord Sugar
Inside James White's relationship with Lord Alan Sugar
A MAJOR update on James White’s recruitment firm has been revealed after the company went into liquidation.
James, 33, won series 13 of The Apprentice in 2017, scoring a £250,000 investment for Right Time Recruitment from Lord Sugar.
Three years later, in 2020, Lord Sugar quit his role as joint shareholder – leaving James as the sole owner and boss.
Last month, Companies House issued a compulsory strike-off order for Right Time – which at one point had offices in London, Birmingham and Chicago.
This week James appointed a liquidator to close Right Time.
The extent of its cash woes was revealed by The Sun on Tuesday, reporting that the recruitment firm had gone into liquidation owing nearly £200,000, seven years after the big TV win.
Right Time Recruitment owes £10,000 to HMRC, £52,500 to Lloyds Bank and more than £33,000 to a secretarial company.
James set up a tax consultancy business called Mileage Reclaim Limited in 2020, which is owed £100,000 of cash from his recruitment firm.
Right Time’s Statement of Affairs said it expected there to be a “total deficiency” of £199,763.71.
But in the latest update on Companies House, dated June 11, it was revealed that compulsory strike-off action has been discontinued.
A one-page PDF document uploaded to the site reads: “Cause has been shown why the above company [Right Time Recruitment Limited] should not be struck off the register.
“Accordingly the Registrar is taking no further action under section 1000 of the Companies Act 2006 pursuant to the Notice dated 10/06/2024.”
James had won series 13 of the BBC reality show – and had a fling with fellow contestant Jade English.
He got Lord Sugar’s backing for Right Time, which specialises in recruitment within the IT and consultancy industries.
Former PR worker Jade split with her boyfriend of three years after her fling with James.
Writing about it in 2017, she said: “As the weeks progressed, the different friendship groups became clearer and it was apparent that James and I had a lot in common.
“We were both competitive, into our fitness and I think we just had a genuine connection and felt that we could rely on each other in the house.
“We used to go outside and play bat and ball and stay up talking about how the world has no limits. It was inspiring to be around someone else who had as much ambition and vision in life as I do.”
Apprentice stars facing hardships
THE Apprentice’s youngest ever winner said she almost threw in the towel on her second week on the show – but is so thankful she didn’t.
Alana Spencer, 32, took out the top spot in 2016 with her cake business Ridiculously Rich.
She partnered up with Lord Sugar and worked with him for three years before buying his shares and going out on her own.
But the 32-year-old almost didn’t get to that point – or running her £1.2milliion business – as she was ready to quit The Apprentice just two weeks in, The Sun reported in April.
Alana said she was in floods of tears, questioning whether she could make it through the show.
She wasn’t doing well in competitions, says she was shy and struggled with how the other competitors were “out for blood”.
Plus, this meant the entrepreneur kept coming face-to-face with the bosses.
Recalling the difficulties, Alana told The Sun: “My journey on there really was like very tough at the beginning, and then by the end, I was kind of like reborn this new woman with confidence.
“And it it really felt like that when I was in there I nearly quit on week two. I really struggled.
“You don’t get to talk to your family apart from like 10-minute phone call a week. And I spoke to them on the second week, and I was in floods of tears, and didn’t know if I could carry on.
“But it’s all broke me down and then rebuilt me.”
In another instance of candidates overcoming hardships, Alex Mills signed up for The Apprentice in 2013 aged just 22, and quickly became a fan favourite due to his immaculately plucked eyebrows.
The Welsh businessman, who started his career as a laundry boy and housekeeper on £4.20 an hour, was fired after a disastrous horror-themed ready meal challenge.
But Alex eventually went on to set up his own insurance company, Dynamo Cover, which made £30,000 in its first month in 2017.
The Barry-based company has continued to grow and, in 2021, Alex was named on the Sunday Times Rich List of young millionaires.
The Sun reported in April that we was the richest contestant to ever appear on the BBC reality show and loves to show off his fleet of luxury cars and designer watches on social media.
Another contestant, Reece Donnelly, featured in the 2023 series of The Apprentice and flew out with his fellow contestants to Dubai before going missing from the rest of the show.
Viewers and fellow competitors were told he had been forced to leave for “health reasons”.
He said: “I could not continue in The Apprentice due to being unable to complete the task in Dubai for health reasons.”
However, it was later reported he had been sacked by bosses due to boozing on the flight.
Speaking to the , Reece said: “I was distraught, like I’m not going to lie. I had no intention to go there and not win.
“When I took unwell, I was just like, s***. But now that I reflect, I kind of think the universe was looking out for me, because I don’t need to split my wages and I’m very grateful for that.”
He added: “It was actually myself that asked for the medic to come in. I was looked after in a way that I thought was good, to be honest. The minute I was like, ‘guys I don’t feel well’ we had doctors in. And then I was on antibiotics and sickness tablets.”
Reece, who landed his first professional acting role aged seven and has appeared on Waterloo Road, hasn’t let him hold him back though.
He is the founder of Theatre School of Scotland and Theatre College of Scotland, which had a recent turnover of £1million.
Speaking last year, he said: “I’m living my dream … but I am all about the motivation, and I firmly believe that somebody up there was just sending me a golden nugget to open that school.”