RECRUITMENT specialist James White survived week one of The Apprentice.

James, who grew up in Rowhedge, is one of the 16 candidates vying to become Lord Sugar's business partner and win a £250,000 investment from Britain’s most belligerent boss.

The 26-year-old, who now lives in Birmingham, was part of the boys' team 'Vitality'.

Despite losing the task by a long way to the girls' team, 'Graphene', James was not one of the two candidates brought back into the boardroom to face the ire of Lord Sugar. 

The opening episode's challenge saw the teams tasked with making gourmet burgers and flogging them to passers-by as well as restaurants. 

While the girls opted to hit a bustling Canary Wharf to sell to office workers, the boys set up home in Brixton Food Market - only  to find there was no one there because they arrived late. 

After a feisty boardroom bust-up, online cosmetics retailer Danny Grant was fired after failing as project manager. 

Before last night's show, the entrepreneur, who now owns his own company, Right Time Recruitment, told the Gazette: “When I was 12 or 13 I was running a couple of paper rounds but I just wanted to do more.

“So I set up my own car wash business - it was called Star Wash and I would go around offering to clean people’s cars.

“I really enjoyed buying and selling things so naturally I got the nickname Del Boy.

“Absolutely nobody is surprised I’m going to be on the show.

“Whenever I have told people they have always said they could see me going on it at some stage.”

He added: “I’m going to analyse everybody else to start with.

“I definitely do not want to be one of the people who tries to take a back seat.

“I want to be right at the front from the off - there is no point trying to be fake or someone who are not because you are always going to get found out eventually.

“When it comes to the boardroom, a lot of the candidates scream a lot.

“I don’t want to shout if I need to be heard but I will definitely speak up when it is needed.”

The 26-year-old went to Sir Charles Lucas secondary school , now Colchester Academy in Greenstead, and Colchester Sixth Form College before continuing his studies at Keele University in Stoke-on-Trent.