Sir Alan Sugar slams his apprentices

Friday 23rd March 2007

Sir Alan Sugar has criticised contestants on his award winning show The Apprentice for not doing their homework before the competition begins.

The multimillionaire businessman is astounded that some hopefuls don't know the first thing about him or his business. He says:

"You'd have thought ... they'd have done their homework, seen every programme, looked out for certain things to do and not to do, in certain tasks.

"(But) in the second series, they didn't even know who I was, some of them, or what my business was: what I do, what I've sold, what I make, so there you go."

But despite this latest tongue lashing, Sir Alan insists he isn't as nasty as he seems. He explains:

"The only thing that I am a bit upset about is that, especially in the second series, there was a desire to see me banging my hands on the table and being nasty and horrible and all that stuff, and of course that's not really me.

"There's another side - I'm not saying I can't be tough and demanding - but I think maybe throughout the course of this series you might see a slightly more lighthearted version of me. But not too lighthearted!"

The new series of The Apprentice starts on Wednesday at 9pm on BBC1.