The Big Interview: Lord Sugar on the return of The Apprentice

The Apprentice returns for its landmark 20th series and to mark the occasion, there will be 20 candidates looking to impress Lord Sugar and secure his £250,000 investment in their business plan as well his priceless mentorship. And to kick things off in style, for the first time ever, Lord Sugar’s boardroom will move to Hong Kong after the candidates complete a task in one of the world’s most vibrant trading hubs.

Back alongside his formidable advisors Baroness Karren Brady CBE and Tim Campbell MBE, Lord Sugar will whittle down the 20 candidates across 12 episodes in a bid to choose the candidate that will receive his life changing investment.

The stakes are high from the offset and the first task kicks off with a fan-favourite buying challenge. What follows is a demanding run of tasks that takes the candidates across London and beyond, testing their instincts for branding, selling and negotiation. Viewers can expect to see the candidates create a children’s books, sell live on television and host a corporate away day on the Red Sea in El Gouna, Egypt, before tackling a second helping of the discount buying task on the Isle of Wight. It all leads to interviews week, where the final five face Lord Sugar’s closest associates, their business plans stripped back and examined in detail.

Lord Sugar

Congratulations on reaching your 20th series. How are you feeling about that milestone?

Well, it is an amazing milestone. When we started recording this series, you start to think to yourself, ‘Wow, this is 20 years now’. What’s amazing, of course, is Tim Campbell is now one of my advisors, and he was the one that won it in the very first series, so it's full circle, in a great way. I think the programme itself brings in a new audience every year, because 20 years ago, I had nine-year-olds watching it who are now 29. And the new generation of 16-year-olds are coming in and loving it. So the audience is growing. The audience is holding up, and that's why the BBC keeps doing it.

But let's not undermine the fact that the production people are brilliant. They come up with these amazing ideas year after year, they do a hell of a lot of work behind the scenes. I take it for granted because I just turn up at, say, St Paul’s Cathedral, and all the lighting is there, everything works, it’s all done. It’s quite amazing.

Did you ever imagine when you started this that you’d be still going strong all these years later?

I never imagined back in series one that I’d still be here two decades later. I didn’t know what to expect, I recorded it and then didn’t even know what to expect when it was broadcast. It was only then that I realised that it was going to be successful.

Do you still get the same buzz walking into the boardroom now as you did on that first day?

Well, the thing is, the initial format was that the winner would get a £100,000 a year job working for me but for series seven I changed it to the winner entering into a 50/50 business of their choice with me and I would inject £250,000. That's what makes it exciting for me, even now. It’s really exciting because I'm starting from scratch again with these people and I'm teaching them what not to do and going over what it was like when I first started.

For the first time ever you have moved the boardroom out of London, what was the thinking behind that?

Yeah, in the first episode we go to Hong Kong, my old hunting ground! The thinking behind it was it's the 20th series and what can we do that's different? So I thought, ‘Well, why don't I jump on a plane and surprise them in Hong Kong?’ It’s not as if I'm surprising them in Hounslow or something like that. They didn't know I was there. They knew they were going to Hong Kong, which is fine, they've been to South Africa, they've been all over the world, we've sent them to many places. But I've never turned up. So all of a sudden they come into this boardroom and there I am. So that was a nice surprise for them. They were surprised but they weren't unhappy with it - maybe a little excited.

How would you sum up this series?

There's no one thing I can put my finger on, watch out for this or watch out for that because they're all great episodes. One of the things about the series is the way that we've adapted to modern day things like AI or computer games. We've adapted to those things but still kept the same values of buying and selling goods and looking for things. They're all great episodes. The first episode is excellent, and it was excellent because the boardroom was excellent. The events that occurred leading up to that boardroom were very, very good because there were conflicts among a couple of candidates that really played out well. And if I say so myself, I think I was very good in it!

Do you see The Apprentice as part of your legacy or just another successful business within your empire?

Well, I mean, it's obviously something that I will remember forever, and I suppose I will be remembered for it forever. Although Donald Trump will tell you that he gave me the job (which he did not). But to be fair, he was the first one to do it in America. But, yeah, I might be remembered for it? I don't know. I mean, that is a great achievement, I guess, to have helped so many businesses and inspired so many young people to consider business.

And it's a great achievement, I think, getting to 20 series. One has to thank the BBC for continuing to invest in this great product because that's what it is. 

The Apprentice starts Thursday, January 29, 2026 at 9pm.