Yahoo News The Apprentice: Lord Alan Sugar calls for BBC winners spin-off show
Lord Alan Sugar has called on the BBC to commission a new programme to follow up with the past winners of The Apprentice.
The business magnate, 69, said that such a series “would show what a great service the programme is performing for young entrepreneurs, young people, to inspire them.”
Copyright [WENN/BBC]
Ahead of the twelfth series next week, a special launch event was held in Central London on Tuesday to give Lord Sugar – and boardroom buddies Claude Littner and Karren Brady – the opportunity to answer some questions.
Speaking about the show’s champions, Lord Sugar said: “They’ve turned into great business people. I think the BBC need to do something about that. They need to do a programme, for example, on where they are now.”
The Apprentice boss added that the success of the past winners was “what motivates me to carry on doing [the show].”
Copyright [BBC]
“They’re doing very well, and they don’t get enough publicity. The BBC doesn’t get enough publicity over the purpose of this programme.
“I enjoy watching these young people grow a business from scratch really, and that’s why I get a great buzz out of it.
Suggesting that a spin-off series would help to inspire budding entrepreneurs, he continued: “Some of these people, their lives have changed.
“They’ve bought houses, most of them have got married, they’ve got families, they’ve got security and they’re employing people and they’ve turned into great business people.”
Copyright [BBC]
Joseph Valente was crowned the winner of The Apprentice in 2015 after impressing Lord Sugar with his business plan, and subsequently secured a £250,000 investment for his gas and plumbing engineering company.
But who will hear those magic words ‘you’re hired’ this year?
“There’s excitement of some of the tasks we’ve got going, the freshness of the tasks and the freshness of the contestants,” Lord Sugar revealed about the upcoming series.
"One of them for example, was 11 years old when The Apprentice first started and they’ve turned up to be one of the contestants in the show.”
The Apprentice launches on Thursday, October 6 at 9pm on BBC One.
