Lord Sugar threatened to quit The Apprentice

Lord Alan Sugar threatened to quit The Apprentice - because he no longer wanted to employ the winner.

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The 69-year-old businessman has admitted the original prize, which saw the triumphant candidate earn a job at one of his companies, infuriated his staff so much so he was forced to give the BBC an ultimatum in 2011.

He told The Sun: “It wasn’t a good idea and that was it. I said, ‘I’m not doing that any more’. Giving someone a job was turning out to be quite difficult.

"It was problematic as far as other employees were concerned. You don’t just create a job out of thin air. Otherwise you don’t have a good business do you? There was never an empty job.

"I would frankly not be still doing this if I hadn’t changed the format.”

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The BBC retained Lord Sugar by changing the format so that the candidates compete for a £250,000 investment from the billionaire to help kick-start their own business.

But the entrepreneur thinks even that won’t be enough to keep the programme going in “20 years” because the ideas are getting bigger and better.

He said: “The only change could be if it goes on for the next 20 years, it won’t be £250,000, it’ll be £25 million.”

Lord Sugar is known for his quick-witted responses and no-nonsense approach on the show, and insists his quips aren’t scripted.

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He added: “I don’t know how you can script things to say when you’re sat with 18 people in front of you.

"You don’t know what’s coming out of their mouths next. It’s off the cuff, obviously.”

A new series of The Apprentice will kick off on Thursday on BBC One at 9pm.