The Apprentice: most successful winners of BBC show - how many are millionaires after Lord Sugar partnership?

BBC business competition The Apprentice has returned for series 18, with another 18 candidates hoping to win the show and make it rich in partnership with Alan Sugar, but what is the victor’s chance of becoming a millionaire?

Wealth of Geeks analysed the net assets of every Apprentice winner since the show started in 2005 to find the most successful winners so far.

Despite the bluster of the scores of candidates who have vied to be Lord Sugar’s apprentice, or since 2011, to become his business partner, most of them are sent home in the loser’s taxi.

17 successful candidates have won the series so far - but according to recent analysis, only two of these (11.7%) are millionaires, and most have assets worth less than the £250,000 investment which is the current prize on the show. These are the top five winners of The Apprentice by total assets as of 2024:

Who are the most successful Apprentice winners?

5 - Mark Wright

Series 10 winner impressed Alan Sugar with his digital marketing agency Climb Online, securing a quarter of a million pound investment in the project. Wright remains CEO of the company and has an estimated net worth of £472,000. 

4 - Alana Spencer

Spencer became The Apprentice's first Welsh winner in season 12 - she used her investment to propel her luxury cake and chocolate business, Ridiculously Rich. She is now worth around £495,000.

3 - Dr Leah Totton

Dr Totton is the most successful female winner of the show to date, having bagged Lord Sugar’s investment back in season nine. Her company Cosmetic Skin Clinics, reported turnover of £2.7 million in 2022 and Totton has amassed a net worth of £664,500.

2 - Tom Pellereau

It’s a big jump from third to second place as Tom Pellereau is worth double Dr Totton. He was the first contestant to win the £250,000 investment rather than a job with Lord Sugar as the prize changed in series seven. Pellereau’s beauty product company Styleideas has been a huge success following the show and the entrepreneur and inventor is worth £1,370,000.

1 - Ricky Martin

Series eight winner Ricky Martin is top of the pile of Apprentice winners - his recruitment consultancy firm Hyper Recruitment Solutions, which he has been director of for more than a decade, is believed to have turned over more than £15 million in the last financial year. Martin himself is worth an estimated £2,260,000, making him £900,000 richer than the next most successful winner.

How many Apprentice UK winners are millionaires?

Despite the obvious success of the five richest winners of the BBC show, the vast majority of the series winners are not millionaires, with only two - Tom Pellereau and Ricky Martin claiming that coveted net worth.

Surprisingly for a show that is supposed to attract great business minds, the Wealth of Geeks' analysis found that most of the shows winners - 11 out of 17, currently have a net worth below £250,000. As Lord Sugar's £250,000 investment has been the top prize since 2011, the numbers suggest that most of the winners haven't converted that cash injection into personal wealth.