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The Apprentice: interrogating Sir Alan

The Apprentice: interrogating Sir Alan
  • Posted at 12:29pm
  • 18 March 2009
  • by VincentGraff-RT
  • 2 comments

As a new bunch of Apprentice wannabes head to the boardroom for a grilling, we turn the tables on Sir Alan Sugar by asking a dozen friends of Radio Times to interrogate the grand inquisitor.

Dave Gorman (comedian): Sir Alan, do you really insist on being called 'Sir Alan'?

"No, not at all. I've stopped my wife calling me Sir Alan now. But people I've never met before should call me Sir Alan. It's got nothing to do with having a knighthood or anything like that. People shouldn't call me Alan if they don't know me. I felt like this when I was Mr Sugar. I don't like people who are so familiar. I'm old-fashioned like that.

Obviously people like Nick [Hewer, back at Sir Alan's side along with Margaret Mountford] don't call me Sir Alan. Employees who've known me for years don't, either, but they will refer to me as Sir Alan if they're speaking to someone else who does not know me: 'Well, you'd better ask Sir Alan that question.'

Of course if you're in America, you accept being addressed by your first name because you know it's a cultural thing. Over there, the detectives call criminals by their first names. It's a case of 'When in Rome'. So you put up with it."

Paul O'Grady (presenter): So many of the people on The Apprentice look useless. What's the spark that tells you 'This person will make a good employee'?

"No disrespect to Paul O'Grady, but they're not useless. They're under tremendous pressure. If you take people out of their comfort zone and throw them into the tasks you see on the programme, it's bound to be difficult. So it takes them a bit of time to settle in.

You can't really spot someone early on. The picture starts to build up as the series goes on, when you see how well they cope in the tasks. That's when you notice the spark."

Tracey Emin (artist): Do you think the tax system is fair to higher earners?

"Yes - we pay more than lower earners, and that's how it should be. Do I think the rich pay too much? No. But I don't think they should pay any more. I think the 40 per cent top income tax rate we have now is a good balance. If it went a lot higher, people would lose the incentive to work.

I don't really approve of people who move their financial dealings abroad to avoid paying tax in this country. My main holding company is based in Jersey because it makes it simpler for the accountants to do the accounts - but it's registered for UK tax. I like living in England. And if you live in England, while the tax is fair, you should pay your way."

Jeremy Paxman (Newsnight presenter): Why do you think so many people on television consider it necessary to be unpleasant to make their rather predictable point?

"That's the pot talking to the kettle, isn't it? He should answer his own question. I mean, he is the most unpleasant person going.

I'd like to get into a debate with him one day, without him having a day to think up questions to make people seem awkward. I'd like to see how clever he is then.

Jeremy Paxman has never interviewed me. I don't know the fellow and I've never met him, but I'd like to be thrown in a room with him to debate something that someone throws at the pair of us rather than him having a crib sheet hiding under the table. In my opinion that's cheating, quite honestly."

Saira Khan (former Apprentice contestant): Why isn't there a single woman in a senior position in your company?

"There is. The person who runs our business in Hong Kong - and always has done - is a woman. She's been there for 15 years. And when we had a business in France, we had a woman running that, too. And in Italy.

Saira shoots from the hip and doesn't get her facts right. When did she become an expert on me? What does she know? Her whole opinion is based on her not winning The Apprentice [in the first series, Saira was beaten in the final by Tim Campbell]. And the year after she was on the programme, a woman [Michelle Dewberry] did win. She forgot to mention that."

Jeremy Vine (Radio 2 presenter and host of Panorama): Is there a difference between the entrepreneur that you were when you started and the 20-somethings you see around you now?

"Well, everybody's different. There are no replicas of people, are there? Anyway, 'entrepreneur' is an over-used word. When I started up in Hackney, I didn't know what the word meant. Now people say to me, 'Hello, I'm John. I'm an entrepreneur.' That winds me up straight away. I say, 'I'll let you know if you're an entrepreneur or not.' They're normally not."

Piers Morgan (presenter and former Daily Mirror editor): Have your good looks, inherent sensitivity and natural modesty been a help or a hindrance in your career?

"A tremendous help. I'm so pleased Piers noticed."

Adrian Chiles (presenter of The Apprentice: You're Fired!): It strikes me that you rarely like or trust someone at first sight. Is that right?

"That's a very good observation. I do take time before I warm to someone. I don't allow people to try to impress me at first sight. If you're a multimillionaire with everybody up your a**e, you think that way."

Jacqueline Gold (businesswoman): Do you ever say, 'Sorry, I was wrong'?

"All the time. If you get the wrong end of the stick about something, you say, 'Sorry I got that wrong'."

Gregg Wallace (MasterChef presenter): How bad is this recession? Will it be worse than the last one?

"I think it is worse than the last recession. Having been in business for 40 years, I can see this is a bad one. Bloody hell, the banks nearly went bust. Has the recession affected me? Well, it affects the businesses, obviously. Not me personally. Because I can afford to do exactly what I want to do."

Gill Hudson (editor of Radio Times): If you were Chancellor, what would you do to get us out of this recession?

"My priority would be to get the banks sorted out. We need now to have confidence in them because they are the basis of the economy. If they're no good then we're all in trouble.

I think the cut in VAT was a bit silly, to be honest with you. It was too small to have any effect. The reason is that retailers will always target a price at £9.99, £19.99 and so on.

So for one week, they had to be honest and reduce their price to £19.82 or whatever - but then as soon as that product sold out, the next product went on sale for £19.99 again. If you took VAT off completely for six months, that would be something. But a two-and-a-half per cent reduction was just a gesture, it was too small, and I've told Mr Brown that. I think in hindsight, if they thought about it again, the flak they took over it, he'd agree it was hardly worth doing."

Robson Green (actor): Given the chance, would you take over Newcastle United and make us a club again?

"No. No. And no."

**

For more Apprentice content, including a photo gallery of the 2009 candidates, visit our dedicated Apprentice section.

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Comments

  • Posted on 24 April 2009
  • at 11:04am
  • by Wilf

Maybe your CV didn't get through due to poor grammar and spelling, perhaps it was nothing to do with your age.

  • Posted on 25 March 2009
  • at 10:14pm
  • by chris fox

this programme is agist they might employ people to judge who are older to get over it but we can still see that everyone on the te main ative team isunder forty. b*****ds

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