Lord Alan Sugar reveals why he wants King Charles to appear on The Apprentice

Lord Alan Sugar has opened up about being keen to invite King Charles to appear in the 20th anniversary of The Apprentice, ahead of the show’s return on Thursday. 

Speaking to HELLO! and other reporters at a Q&A about doing something special for the big anniversary, Lord Sugar explained: “I think that’s what we would like to do and what I would like to do. And of course, the decision lies firmly with the BBC but we have another series coming up. Series 19. And then they need to do something very, very special for the 20th year of The Apprentice. You never know. I might invite the King to come along.” 

© Ray Burmiston

He also addressed questions about potentially making an ‘All-Star’ version of the hit show, saying: “It has been raised. The problem with that is if it's an All-Stars, throwing the question back to you, are you suggesting that the All-Stars are the 18 winners? I’m not asking them to win again because hopefully, their businesses are doing quite well.”

Lord Sugar also spoke about Saira Khan, who was runner-up to Tim Campbell in 2005, adding: “The problem is if you go back 18 years, Saira Khan who lost to Tim, dare I say and she will bite my head off for this, she might be a bit too old now.” 

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The TV personality and businessman also opened up about what it takes to appear in the show, and how they manage to get the candidates down to just 18 hopefuls. 

“The audition process is very complex thing,” Alan said. “Thousands upon thousands of people apply for it. The production company and a couple of my trusted business people sift through them, and to make a long story short it ends up with about 70.” 

“I have a quick view at some of their CBs. I have no problem with whatever they want to do. I'm not turning away John Smith because he wants to do this or do that. I'm quite happy to go along with their ideas, then they get pounded in down to 18 candidates because It is a complex process when the production people start talking to them, we find that some of them don't realise that they've got to spend 12 weeks away. They've got kids, then they don't think they can do it. So, that narrows the program because they have to be checked out very, very carefully.”