Lord Sugar has admitted that he too found the interviews on the most recent series of The Apprentice “hard to watch”.
The BBC reality show drew criticism from viewers earlier this year, when the semi-finalists were put through an intensive interview process by Lord Sugar’s advisors, who tore many of their business plans to shreds.
Many viewers noted that the process seemed crueller and more humiliating than previous years, with some candidates even pushed to tears.
In a new interview with The Times, Lord Sugar has agreed, and said the process will be “toned down” in the next series.
After it was suggested real-life candidates would not have been spoken to in such a way, the businessman said: “I agree. I think we need to tone that down a bit. I found it hard to watch.”
He continued: “Unfortunately when that was recorded, I wasn’t there. Anyway, I’m not making any excuses. When I saw it in the end, I thought, ‘This is too harsh’, and we’re going to tone it down now.
“I don’t think it’s entertaining. It used to be entertaining. All the previous boardroom [episode] 11s were entertaining. This one was very harsh. I agree with you.”
Lord Sugar added that he had spoken with his advisors, adding: “Believe me, it won’t be happening again.”
This year’s series saw Marnie Swindells win a £250,000 investment to open a new boxing gym in the City of London.
Lord Sugar, who has been a part of The Apprentice since its inception in 2005, recently said there is “no reason” why he can’t continue until the show reaches its 25th milestone series.
Speaking to The Sun, he said: “There’s no reason why I can’t go on to do 25 years. I’m very fit, so I don’t know whether it stops at 20. But if I ever did stop, I get a feeling the BBC wouldn’t stop it. I think they would try to find someone new to do it and that’s where it may kill itself off.”
Pointing at the changes to the original US version, Lord Sugar continued: “When Donald Trump gave up his one in the US they got Arnold Schwarzenegger to do it. But he was pathetic — and Trump was bad enough. It really destroyed the format.”