Billionaire businessman Alan Sugar is back on BBC One with a new series of The Apprentice, as 18 new candidates compete to avoid the firing line.
Series 17 will see two Irish contestants take part to try to bag a €280,000 investment and the opportunity to become the latest business partner of British tycoon Sugar. Kildare’s Emma Browne and Dubliner Kevin D’Arcy will be among the contestants featuring in the boardroom this season.
As Sugar enters the 17th series of the show, could he see himself ever doing another reality TV show?
Alan Sugar, host
I was contacted by the BBC in 2003 to consider doing The Apprentice. I’d heard Donald Trump had been very successful in the American version, so I was up for it. They asked me to find a couple of advisers: Margaret Mountford, my lawyer for many years, and Nick Hewer, my publicity man. It was really an excuse to get across my business acumen, as well as to become a TV personality. It was very exciting.
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It’s quite theatrical, me entering the boardroom from the back, but that’s poetic licence. I mean, I’ve got to come into the room somehow. One of the things I’ve got used to is needing patience. There’s a lot of hanging around between board meetings. The boardroom sessions go on for three-and-a-half hours but you only see 25 minutes. The monkeys at the production company pick the moments where I’m banging my hands on the table. In reality I’m polite and sensitive towards the candidates, but that doesn’t make good telly.
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Winning a job was something we inherited from the American format. But it wasn’t very practical, because you can’t just invent a job, plus the high £100,000 (€113,200) salary alienated a lot of my staff. Since we changed the prize to going into business with me for £250,000, it’s been very successful. Not 100 per cent successful, but I can name at least five winners who are now millionaires.
If I was a candidate, I’d win every time – simple as that. I’ll continue doing it for as long as I enjoy it. I don’t think anything needs to change. That’s the demise of so many television programmes: some brain surgeon somewhere decides “Let’s jazz it up” and it ends up being gimmicky, ridiculous and sometimes pathetic. Maybe I need to polish up my boardroom, paint it up a bit, but what changes every year is the candidates, who are what people want to see. I suppose I’ve got to take a bit of credit myself. I have a way of interrogating that the public seem to like. It’s the combination of me interrogating and a bunch of new characters that make the show. Would I ever do another reality show? I’ve been asked to do them all, but no.
Karren Brady, aide since series six
I’d known Alan for a long time. When I started working in football in 1993 (as managing director of Birmingham FC), he was the chairman of Tottenham. Our paths crossed and we got on well. He asked me to do the first Comic Relief Does the Apprentice in 2007, with Jo Brand, Cheryl Cole, Maureen Lipman and Trinny Woodall. I remember him saying in the boardroom: “Karren, you’ve got the most to lose because you’re the business person.” I thought: “Christ, I really have to up my game.” The girls made me project manager, we wiped the floor with the boys and raised more than £750,000.
I did the guest interviews for a series. Then Alan phoned and said: “Margaret is leaving. There’s no one I’d like more to replace her, but I have to warn you: it’s very long and arduous, think carefully, you’ll spend a long time away from home.” My kids were young, I was still just in my 30s, so I talked it over and they said: “We want you to do it, mum.” Then Alan said, “Margaret’s changed her mind.” I thought: “That’s the first time I’ve been fired before I’ve been hired!”
But the following year, Margaret did leave, and I started with Junior Apprentice that rolled into the main series. Margaret phoned and said: “Karren, I’m going to give you a bit of advice. You’re on your feet all day. Wear comfortable shoes.” When The Apprentice says it’s 4am, it really is 4am, and the days are 12 hours. I spent my first day filming in a market in high heels. That night, I was in the bath, my feet were throbbing. I texted Margaret: “You’re quite right.” I never made that mistake again.
Normally in reality TV, you win and that’s it. Winning The Apprentice is life-changing. The day after the final, £250,000 is sent from Alan’s account and they can do whatever they want with it. The authenticity is important, but it’s such a simple format. Alan tells the candidates what the task is, they complete that and someone on the losing team gets fired. But it’s the characters and the interaction that make the show. People love shouting at the television: “Why are you doing this? You should be doing that.” I think it’s that kind of programme we’d all like to have a go at to show how good we are. And, of course, if I were a candidate against Lord Sugar, I’d beat him hands down. – Guardian
The Apprentice is on Thursdays at 9pm on BBC One and BBC iPlayer
