The Apprentice's Lord Alan Sugar Says BBC Should 'Kick Out' Its 'Suits' And Pay Talent More

‘The Apprentice’ chief Lord Sugar has called for a shake-up at the BBC, claiming the corporation’s talent should be making more money.

Earlier this year, the BBC was required to publish the salaries of its highest-earning stars, including Chris Evans, Gary Lineker, Graham Norton and Claudia Winkleman, the top-earning female presenter at the company.

But while these stars were all paid six or seven figures a year, Lord Sugar has told The Sun: “I ­actually think the problem with the BBC is that they don’t pay their ­talent enough.”

He continued: “They can’t compete now. They don’t overpay for anything, they are restricted by the hierarchy not to be competitive.

“They can’t compete, that’s why they lost ‘The Voice’ and ‘Bake Off’ because they wouldn’t pay for the format.”

Lord Sugar went on to say how things would be different were he to take over the BBC, claiming his first order of business would be “kicking out” half of the “suits” behind the scenes.

He said: “[I would] keep the workers and shut down a lot of internal bureaucracy.

“It would save hundreds of millions of pounds, and I’d take that money and throw it into the ‘Bake Off’ and ‘The Voice’, compete in the market place and pay presenters what they’re supposed to be paid.

“Then the BBC could come back and be the great broadcaster that it once was.”

Intriguingly, his comments come right before the launch of the new series of ‘The Apprentice’... on the BBC.

Karren Brady and Claude Littner will both be returning as aides to Lord Sugar, and while a gender pay gap was exposed thanks to the publication of BBC stars’ salaries, Karren has disclosed that she and Claude are on the same wage for their ‘Apprentice’ roles.

The reality show returns for its 13th series on Wednesday (4 October) at 9pm on BBC One.