{"id":535183,"date":"2026-04-17T02:08:16","date_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:08:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/535183\/"},"modified":"2026-04-17T02:08:16","modified_gmt":"2026-04-17T02:08:16","slug":"alan-sugars-honest-response-over-future-of-the-apprentice","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/535183\/","title":{"rendered":"Alan Sugar’s ‘honest’ response over future of The Apprentice"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Apprentice series finale airs tonight with Karishma Vijay and Pascha Myhill competing in an all-female final for the \u00a3250,000 investment<\/p>\n

18:28, 16 Apr 2026Updated 18:30, 16 Apr 2026<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Apprentice final airs tonight (Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

Lord Alan Sugar<\/a> hadn’t envisaged a future for The Apprentice, he’s confessed.<\/p>\n

The BBC<\/a> contest launched back in 2005, and this year features an all-female finale, with Karishma Vijay<\/a> competing against Pascha Myhill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Prior to the final being broadcast, Lord Sugar spoke with presenter Angela Scanlon to look back on the programme’s achievements.<\/p>\n

When questioned whether he anticipated reaching this milestone on the series, marking twenty years on television, Lord Sugar responded: “Honestly speaking, no. Was it 2005 or something like that? 2004, when we recorded the first one, and I thought, ‘it’s been great, exciting, interesting’, but never, ever thought it would run on for this long.”<\/p>\n

\"Lord<\/p>\n

Lord Sugar admitted he didn’t think The Apprentice would go on as long as it has(Image: BBC\/Fremantle)<\/p>\n

READ MORE: Apprentice star Karishma defiantly vows \u2018I\u2019m making money without Lord Sugar\u2019<\/a>READ MORE: ‘I’m making history on The Apprentice final and I can do it by myself’<\/a><\/p>\n

Reflecting on a photograph of himself from that inaugural series, the business tycoon joked that he was “a handsome fella” and revealed the secret behind his appearance at 79, reports the Mirror<\/a>.<\/p>\n

“I do a lot of exercise, I suppose, and running the businesses,” he stated.<\/p>\n

Initially, Lord Sugar had been seeking to offer winners opportunities to work for him, whereas he now provides investment in their own ventures.<\/p>\n

“The original format was that people would come to work for me, and I would give them a six-figure job, and back in 2005, a six-figure job was quite a lot of money, so you can imagine the resentment and possible disruption it caused within my company,” he outlined.<\/p>\n

\"Lord<\/p>\n

The Apprentice began in 2005(Image: Fremantle\/BBC)<\/p>\n

“So I changed it after about series six to this 50\/50 business deal, which is great, that’s what’s really kept me at it.<\/p>\n

“The calibre of the winners are different because they’re entrepreneurs, they’re my partners, and as I say to them, ‘You’re the expert, you’re the one that knows what you’re supposed to be doing in this business, I’m just there to tell you what not to do’.”<\/p>\n

He went on to say: “I’m looking for someone whose got that entrepreneurial spirit, some spark of brilliance.”<\/p>\n

This follows Lord Sugar addressing the future of The Apprentice, disclosing that the programme will continue for at least several more years.<\/p>\n

\"Lord<\/p>\n

Lord Sugar is about to crown the winner of the 20th series(Image: BBC)<\/p>\n

Speaking to Amol Rajan last year, Lord Sugar stated he was “absolutely” proud of the show’s legacy, and that, at the time, he had committed to three further series.<\/p>\n

He said: “Listen, when I took the job on of The Apprentice, I was already a multi-millionaire. I didn’t do it for the money.”<\/p>\n

Earlier this year, he quipped that he received an “electronic Zimmer frame” from the BBC upon agreeing to carry the series into his 80s.<\/p>\n

He told The Mirror: “Part of the contract is the BBC has got to provide me with an electronic Zimmer frame! I mean, three years takes me to about 82 I suppose, the time I’m finished, but I’ll carry on as long as the BBC want me to and I will know personally when it’s time for me to kind of hang up my finger, if you know what I mean.<\/p>\n

“As the footballers say, they hang up their boots, hang up my finger or something. I’m happy about it. I’m a very fit person.”<\/p>\n

The finale of The Apprentice airs tonight at 21:00 on BBC One and iPlayer with The Apprentice: Unfinished Business airing straight after on BBC Two and iPlayer.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Apprentice series finale airs tonight with Karishma Vijay and Pascha Myhill competing in an all-female final for…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":535184,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[243,96,33746,391,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-535183","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tv","tag-bbc","tag-entertainment","tag-the-apprentice","tag-tv","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535183","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=535183"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/535183\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/535184"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=535183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=535183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=535183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}