The Apprentice boss Alan Sugar slams fame hungry contestants

Lord Sugar has hit out at candidates to appear on The Apprentice for fame.

The business mogul is back on screen next week with a brand new series of The Apprentice.

16 brand new candidates have been revealed who will all be competing for a £250,000 prize fund.

And Lord Sugar has sent a warning to those who may have signed up “for the wrong reasons.”

Speaking at the show’s launch this week, he said: “While we do as best as possible and the BBC do as best as possible to ensure in screening those people and asking them those questions, there is no question of a doubt some of them do come for the wrong reason.

“Nevertheless we weed them out throughout the course of the process and they don’t get the fame that they were trying to get, and we end up with proper contestants who are there for the right reasons and have a business mind.”

Over the past eight years, Lord Sugar has invested a staggering £2.25 million into nine fledgling businesses.

The brand new series kicks off with one of the biggest ever task, as Lord Sugar whisks the business hopefuls away to Cape Town, South Africa. For the 15th series, Lord Sugar sets the candidates one of the most difficult tasks ever; to create, set up and run bespoke tours on the outskirts of Cape Town.

Other tasks over the series sees the candidates running a corporate away day on a Steam Train, designing a theme park ride using the latest technology, travelling to Finland to create an advertising campaign, and hit the streets of Oxford and Cambridge to find and buy nine items.

The hopeful entrepreneurs will also create a new Electric Bicycle to pitch to the market, and head into the world of music management by marketing an unsigned artist.

As always, Baroness Brady and Claude Littner return as Lord Sugar’s trusted advisors, who are once again on hand to scrutinise the candidate’s every move.

After each task, the candidates must face Lord Sugar in the boardroom, where they will have to fight it out to avoid hearing the dreaded: “You’re fired.”

The Apprentice will air weekly on Wednesdays at 9pm on BBC One, from Wednesday 2 October, followed by You’re Fired at 10pm on BBC Two.