Lord Alan Sugar dishes on Celebrity Apprentice and why he allowed Thomas Skinner to return for it

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

Merry Christmas, Sugar Claus! If you were Father Christmas, which public figures would you put on your naughty list?

I would have to say no comment on this whatsoever, my friend. As you will know, the BBC has guidelines. I have to keep my big mouth shut and not make personal or political comments like that.

In that case, can we assume the contestants in your Celebrity Apprentice Christmas specials went straight on the nice list?

Nah! That’s the excitement of it. Most of the time, they’re schmoozed by everybody, told how marvellous they are. Then they get a gig where I’m telling them what a load of rubbish they are. They’re masochists, really. Still, it’s worth remembering they don’t get paid anything at all. They do it for charity and that is very, very commendable.

What will you be making the brave contestants do in the two festive episodes?

They’re going up to Lapland and meeting Father Christmas. There was snow and ice, as you can imagine, reindeers and sledges. The contestants were split into two teams and each team had to create a special Christmas biscuit. Then they came back to London and presented their biscuits to big supermarkets and the best biscuit won. The interesting thing is, for the first time ever, the products created in the programme are actually going on sale in the supermarkets. All the money is going to Children in Need.

Does the show create its own celebrities now? Did you decide whether Thomas Skinner could come back as a “celebrity”?

I’m not sure over the 20 years how many people who have appeared on my show have actually made a name for themselves. I can think of maybe three: Saira Khan did quite well, then Katie Hopkins, who everybody loves to hate, and Thomas Skinner, who ended up on Strictly. But I don’t have any input. I’m presented with these celebrities; the BBC seek these people out and find them. And it’s not easy, because you can imagine that some of them are working and can’t take four or five days off. I can dream and say, “Oh, I’d love Madonna, I’d love Adele, I’d love the ginger bloke with a guitar...” What’s his name? Ed Sheeran.

So, it’s not a matter of you ringing up the Beeb and going, “Get me Piers Morgan”?

Well, funny you should say that. He was in the very first Celebrity Apprentice and I fired him. I keep reminding Piers that I gave him his TV debut, but he says, “I was on TV before that.” But you know what an arrogant bloke he is. He’d never admit it.

Did you enjoy Christmas when you were growing up in Hackney in the 1950s?

Our family weren’t very religious Jews, so we semi-celebrated Christmas, but more the happy side of things. We put Christmas decorations up and all that stuff. As a kid, I’d look forward to getting a Christmas present. I remember when I was 10 or 11 getting a pair of metal roller skates with rubber wheels on them that you adjusted with a little spanner. Mum and Dad saved up and bought them for me and my sisters and brother.

As I grew older, I didn’t dish out Christmas presents to people. We used to give the staff financial bonuses and things like that, not physical things.

Where will you be spending Christmas this year?

I’ve had Christmas away from England the last 40 years. I spend five to six months of the year in America, so I’ll be here in Florida. My family also have homes here, so we’ll all be together. The grandkids as well, though they’re not kids any more. We’ll have a big traditional at-home British Christmas lunch with turkey and things like that.

Won’t you miss cold, rainy old Hackney?

No.

Will you be having any special Christmas treats?

My wife went to the supermarket today and bought my favourite thing – chestnuts. It’s the time for them, isn’t it, Christmas? I remember the vendors on Oxford Street when I was a boy, those black ovens with coal underneath and the chestnuts sitting on the top. You’d buy a white paper bag full of them off the bloke for sixpence.

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