Alan Sugar reveals the future of The Apprentice as he defends its relevance and insists it is a hit with teenage fans as show celebrates its 20th series

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Ahead of its 20th season, Alan Sugar has shared his vision for the future of The Apprentice, emphasizing that the show remains popular and appeals to a younger audience, including teenagers.

The 78-year-old British businessman has been the face of the BBC’s entrepreneurial show for more than 50 years, but he’s recently questioned whether the show still connects with audiences today.

With the show starting its 20th season, Lord Sugar announced that ‘The Apprentice’ has been renewed for another three years, and continues to motivate young people to think about becoming entrepreneurs.

In a recent interview with Radio Times, Alan discussed the programme’s impact over the past twenty years. He noted that each year, a new group of teenagers – around 13 or 15 years old – starts watching, while those who were 15 years ago are now 35.

If you were to ask him if he still watches The Apprentice, he’d respond with a strong dislike, saying it’s terrible and full of nonsense, and that the person on the show doesn’t have a clue what they’re saying.

However, today’s fifteen-year-olds are really impressed by it. Plus, the show has sparked an interest in business, which is beneficial for young people.

Alan said about its future: ‘It’s not down to me but we have agreed another three years.

Eventually, I expect I’ll either be too tired to continue, or people will start saying I’m losing my focus, like Joe Biden.

You know, the BBC occasionally does surveys – spends a bit of money asking people what they think about the show, like whether we should move on from Lord Sugar. But honestly, what I love about it is seeing young entrepreneurs build something from nothing. It’s all about that journey of starting a business, and that’s what really excites me.

Alan believes that today’s focus on buying things could prevent young people from starting their own companies. He was talking about how people view work and what they want to achieve in their careers.

He observed that children these days are mostly focused on things like the newest Nike sneakers, the iPhone 15, and TikTok. He wondered if parents might be partly responsible for this focus.

Stop complaining and find some work. Even a simple job like cleaning at McDonald’s would be better than doing nothing. It’s frustrating to hear people say they’re ‘too busy’ when they won’t even consider working.

Even when I had plenty of money, I still made my children work on Saturdays. And they continued that tradition with their own kids.

Starting in 2005, the show challenges aspiring entrepreneurs with business challenges, all for the chance to win investment from Alan. With the BBC renewing it for three more seasons, the program is well on its way to celebrating its 25th year on air.

As a huge Apprentice fan, I was completely shocked by last Thursday’s episode! It wasn’t just one person who got the dreaded ‘you’re fired,’ but three! It was a really dramatic turn of events, and honestly, I couldn’t believe how many people Lord Sugar sent packing at once.

The latest season of the popular BBC show is underway, and Lord Sugar has already eliminated six contestants who were hoping to become successful entrepreneurs.

This week the teams were tasked with putting on a corporate away day for clients in Egypt. 

One team offered customers an exciting dune buggy adventure in the desert, and the other team chose a relaxing lagoon tour.

Megan Ruiter’s team lost $290 this week after many clients requested refunds due to issues with uncooked food and having to eat while wet.

Megan faced a big decision and chose to invite Carrington Saunders and Andrea Cooper back into the meeting room.

In a surprising turn of events, Lord Sugar made television history by firing all three remaining candidates in a single week, sending them all home.

When asked if she felt the firing was fair, Carrington stated, ‘Honestly, no. I don’t believe I deserved to be fired. I admit I made a mistake, but the show judges contestants on their business acumen, not their cooking ability. It’s frustrating, especially since I can cook!’

While the refunds were quite substantial, which I understand to some degree, I still don’t believe I was truly entitled to them.

Oh my gosh, when they asked Andrea about why she was let go, she was SO right! She said the reasons they gave just didn’t add up, and she definitely wasn’t the negative person they made her out to be. Honestly, she’s the most positive person ever, and it’s just unfair they tried to paint her that way! She was so calm and collected explaining it, and you could just feel she was telling the truth.

I’m generally an optimistic person. I’ve noticed that some newcomers to the business world mistakenly view practicality as negativity. But it’s simply about good business sense – focusing on profitability, cutting costs, and finding affordable or free solutions.

Honestly, hearing Megan talk about it really struck me. She admitted it was a tough situation, and she took responsibility for the project loss. She felt, and I agree, that as project manager, a lot of the blame fell on her shoulders, and she felt she deserved it given the outcome. It was really mature of her to acknowledge that.

Handling that task wasn’t great, but I don’t think the refunds were my fault.

We would have successfully completed the project and kept the client’s funding if not for the refunds. I was personally responsible for securing that money, leveraging my experience in the events industry.

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2026-03-11 02:19