Former wrestler Ricky Martin is the surprise winner of Apprentice crown

Former wrestler Ricky Martin was named the shock winner of The Apprentice last night, earning himself a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar.

The 27-year-old recruitment manager fought off criticism for his ridiculous and arrogant personal statement and impressed Lord Sugar with his well-planned business proposal for a niche-market recruitment company specialising in the science industry.

“I’ve now retired from the wrestling ring. I’m hanging up my boots and my Lycra and that’s it now for me,” he said.

“I’ve always wanted to be my own business owner and I knew I’d be successful in business. So for me to be successful in a brand new business, I don’t have time to wrestle.”

But he will keep his tag name of Ricky Martin, after the Latino pop star, and not revert to his real name of Richard.

The aspiring entrepreneur from Portsmouth admitted he was embarrassed hearing his personal statement read back to him in the boardroom, in which he described himself as demi-god Thor.

“I was embarrassed because I turned up to the process with a lot of bravado, I think there was a lot of the showman element to me at the start, trying to differentiate myself.

“I was embarrassed because at the stage I sat down I was a different person. I said ‘You’re meeting somebody who’s not on that piece of paper there. Look at my business plan, that’s who you are meeting now. Forget the application form’.”

Martin beat fellow finalists Jade Nash, Nick Holzherr and Tom Gearing.