Lord Sugar blasts 'pathetic' attempts to replicate The Apprentice
'The Apprentice' host Lord Sugar doesn't think other shows will ever be able to replicate the success of the long-running BBC reality series.
Lord Sugar has slammed "pathetic" attempts to imitate 'The Apprentice'.
The 77-year-old businessman will once again be fronting the BBC reality series as it returns for a 19th season and has hit out at the failed bids by other channels to recreate the success of the long-running show – such as ITV's 'Natural Born Sellers' and Channel 4's 'Tricky Business'.
Lord Sugar is quoted by the Daily Star newspaper's Hot TV column as saying: "'The Apprentice' is often copied... but people that have tried that have failed.
"Unfortunately some of the imitations are pretty pathetic."
'The Apprentice' – which returns to screens on Thursday (30.01.25) - is still a ratings winner for the BBC 20 years on from its first episode and Lord Sugar believes authenticity is the key to the programme's enduring appeal.
He explained: "I am part of the show and I've done everything. With all of these tasks, I've done it. I've done every single thing.
"I've loaded lorries, I've packed parcels and I've travelled all over the world.
"I don't ask these people to do anything I can't do myself, that's why it rolls off my tongue in the boardroom. I don't have a script."
The entrepreneur recently described how it has been "refreshing" to do the show without gendered teams as it was revealed that the contestants won't be split up by sex this time around.
He said: "We’ve split them into sexes in the past purely to help the audience get to know the candidates quickly, it just felt like an easy thing to do. But this year we decided to mix it up from the outset.
"I think it's quite a refreshing addition to the first episode and it’s interesting to see how they handle being a mixed team because it’s not what they necessarily expected from the start."
