It’s a good time to be a thirtysomething north London Arsenal fan in the United States. At least it is for Sean Yazbeck, 33, who has triumphed in the American version of The Apprentice and scooped an annual job contract worth $250,0000 (£136,000) with Donald Trump, America’s Sir Alan Sugar, in the hire ’em fire ’em television fest.

It’s the fifth run of the series there and Yazbeck is the first foreigner to win the show in which the public must decide on the final hiring. He scooped 10m votes.

Yazbeck, who was educated at William Ellis state secondary in Camden and Southampton Solent University, where he studied business and took a first, is quietly confident about his success.

“Do I think Donald Trump has taken a risk in hiring me?” he asks, with mock amazement. “No. I have great business acumen. I have already done multi-million-dollar deals in over 30 countries around the world and my skills are transferable. Business is business, after all.” He has worked for the past three years as a recruitment consultant in the Miami branch of the IT company Glotel.

Yet what is it about America that persuaded Yazbeck to cultivate his considerable business acumen there, rather than here? “I think the American environment is more encouraging to entrepreneurs,” says Yazbeck, who was allowed a green card work permit because he demonstrated outstanding business skills.

“The American business culture means it doesn’t matter where you are from. If you have enthusiasm and ambition you can make it.

“It’s a cliché, but it’s true. If you are determined you can make it; the whole country is founded upon that belief. And Mr Trump loves that.”

So, the American dream in action. However, once he had applied to, and been accepted on, the American programme (“Getting on the show was quite rigorous. But I watched it from the start and analysed the performance of past winners before I applied”), Yazbeck says he depended largely on good old British values for his performance during the series, which will be aired in Britain this year.

“Americans do work much longer hours. They are much more outgoing. But I think that our British reserve comes across like intelligence. And I think it was refreshing on the show to see someone being intelligently assertive. Rather than just aggressive,” he says. “Everyone else was rather loud.”

Using this quiet British confidence he managed to skewer his co-finalist, Lee Bienstock, who apparently insisted on tiresomely vaunting Ivy League achievements.

“He kept on saying that he got a 4.0 from Cornell, which is akin to a first. I had to explain to him that I was the top student — or valedictorian — in my entire year at Southampton Solent University, and that I too got a first.

“Once we had sorted out the educational backgrounds we got going.”

Indeed, Yazbeck, whose father is Lebanese and mother is Irish, says his state education is the key to his mental breadth and flexibility in stressful situations in the boardroom. “I’m British, and proud to be, but first and foremost I’m from London. My friends are all from different types of cultures, but that’s the benefit of Camden for you.

“And my education afforded me great opportunities. If you have a diverse background like mine you are able to appreciate different mentalities. Perhaps I find it easier to relate to people’s nuances than someone who comes from a single cultural background.”

Having won the show (and the heart of fellow contestant Tammy Trenta, 33, who is now his girlfriend), Yazbeck must take up his position within the Trump team. He will live in one of Trump’s Manhattan apartments, and will help oversee a giant project in SoHo, Manhattan; a five-star Trump hotel and residential block. “I am overseeing the project with two of Mr Trump’s children, Don Jr and Ivanka. It’s going to be the tallest building in SoHo, with a 360-degree view of the city and loft-inspired interiors,” says Yazbeck.

First, however, he will take a break in Miami with his parents, whom he has just flown over from London.

He’ll drive them around a bit in his new toy, a black Pontiac G6 hard-top convertible, which is also part of his prize.

Did he ever think he was going to win? “Of course not,” he laughs, his north London accent utterly untouched by even the remotest of American twangs.

“To be honest I was reluctant to apply. A million people apply and statistically you are highly unlikely even to get picked to get on the show.”

He will admit to one secret weapon, with which it is probably fair to say none of his American rivals had the foresight to arm themselves. “It’s an attitude modelled around an Arsenal formation,” says Yazbeck. “You never give up, even when it looks like you are down. And if you keep going, to the very, very end, you can turn things around.

“You must have a positive attitude, find your strengths and utilise them. And Mr Trump loved it.”