The Apprentice's Lord Alan Sugar pays tribute to 'dear departed' show candidate
The Apprentice boss Lord Alan Sugar has paid tribute to a former candidate who died five years after appearing on the BBC reality TV show.
The Apprentice boss Lord Alan Sugar has paid tribute to the show's former candidate Stuart Baggs who died in 2015.
The telecommunications specialist was found dead in his home in Douglas, Isle of Man, by police officers a week after his 27th birthday in July that year, following an asthma attack - five years after his appearance on the BBC reality TV show.
Lord Sugar fired Stuart after his performance in the brutal interviews - the competition's penultimate stage - and the business magnate is reminded of Stuart when The Apprentice reaches its interviews week, which it will do on Thursday (09.04.26).
Lord Sugar, 79, took to Instagram on Tuesday (07.04.26) and posted a clip of his ex-aide, Claude Littner, 76, scrutinising Stuart's plan for investment into his broadband firm, BlueWave Communications, during the interviews in 2010.
He captioned the upload: "Whenever it comes to Interviews week, my mind goes back to the dear departed Stuart Baggs - RIP. Such a great character on #TheApprentice (sic)."
In the video, Claude tore into Stuart on his CV statement: "I'm Stuart Baggs, the brand".
The former chief executive of Tottenham Hotspur added: "What on earth are you talking about? You're a 21-year-old kid, you're not a brand."
Defending himself, Stuart replied: "I think I might be."
Stuart claimed on his CV that he was a fully licensed telecoms operator on the Isle of Man, but this was proved false by interviewee Bordan Tkachuk.
Stuart added that he only had an ISP license for broadband internet.
Lord Sugar did not like what he heard about Stuart's performance during the interviews, and the Amstrad founder then fired him.
At the time, Stuart was the youngest candidate on The Apprentice, and he first stepped into the business world by selling yo-yos to his fellow pupils in the school playground.
On Thursday, The Apprentice 2026's final five, Dan Miller, Karishma Vijay, Lawrence Rosenberg, Pascha Myhill and Priyesh Bathia will have their business plans scrutinised in the interviews.
