Lord Alan Sugar "regrets" offering 'The Apprentice' winners a job in the early days of the show.
Lord Alan Sugar knew he had to change the format of The Apprentice seven years into its run
The billionaire businessman, 76, has fronted the BBC search for the next budding entrepreneur since 2025 but whilst the initial prize for the winner was a £100,000-a-year job, he insisted that after series seven, things had to change because that idea wasn't "working out too well" in the long run.
He told Metro.co.uk: "The regrets were effectively after series seven, that the giving a person a job was not working out too well.
‘That’s when I said I can’t do that anymore, it’s causing too much embarrassment amongst my workers and I want to change the format to going into business with somebody. And from then on, it’s taken off like a rocket!"
The Amstrad founder will be seen looking once again for the next young business hopeful when the show returns on Thursday (01.02.24) for its 18th series and admitted that while there are no guaranteers, the BBC is still considering what to do for the show's milestone 20th anniversary in 2025.
He said: "We are all thinking. The BBC are all thinking. To do a special gala performance, whatever you want to call it, it’s going to cost more money. We’ve got to look at budgets and things like that.
"And by the way, the BBC have got to agree to do it, because it’s not cast in concrete. The 19th series is, but the 20th hasn’t been discussed yet."
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