Lord Sugar on The Apprentice: 'I only do it for the PR and I don't give a ****'

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Did you talk to him?

I tried to talk to him. Basically just saying "hi" and he was so rude in a way which would make you feel about an inch tall and his time and life is too precious. It was at one of the local shops surprisingly close by where he lives (he has a HUGE estate next to a private school in the area) and even an on looker felt so bad for me.

Reply 61

419

Original post by RazaKaMazaa

Typical behaviour of an elitist prick.

Reply 62

RazaKaMazaa

Original post by 419

Typical behaviour of an elitist prick.

Yeah man, I felt so humiliated, like when you feel you're blushing so much you can feel your face burning . Never been so embarrassed in my life and I didn't even want an autograph I just wanted to tell him I'm a big fan as an entrepreneur and of his show. Even if this is true, as a human being I can't say I find him very admirable. I don't even watch his show any more because it reminds me of this.

Reply 63

Runninground

Original post by RazaKaMazaa

What did he do that was so rude?

Reply 64

Tycho

Original post by Runninground

What did he do that was so rude?

He probably just smiled.

One thing I agree with Alan Sugar on is that nobody's like him. He's unique, as he keeps telling everyone. He's right, however, very few people are as much of an ******* as he is.

Sugar is a self-serving, capitalist scum bag. I wouldn't watch his show if the alternative was having my balls ripped off and fed slowly through a mangle. Not to mention the fact that the idiots who tend to make up the show's participants are pretentious, wannabe failures. People who really have the skills and experience that those tossers boast of having don't need to sit on Sugar's knee to make money. And the tasks are as cringe-worthy as watching a deaf person try to sing a Whitney Houston song on the X-Factor.

The notion that you have to be horrible and climb on people to make a fortune is nonsense. Just go ask Richard Branson.

Reply 65

Runninground

Original post by Tycho

Sugar doesn't care what his show is promoting. He said himself, it's for PR. If it wasn't for the Apprentice, us younger generation wouldn't have a clue who he is. Amstrad is hardly a household name any more, so we wouldn't know who is is or what he does.

The Apprentice isn't there to show you how you should behave in a job to get a top job. It's there for entertainment. Would you still watch it if everyone was nice to each other and each task was completed and completed well, with everyone helping each other? No, because there is no entertainment value.

It's the same with Dragons Den- it's not there to teach people about business or pitching to investors, it's there for entertainment. Would you still watch it if every pitch was perfect and no one was slagged off? No, because it would be boring. Lots of investors have said Dragons Den is nothing like getting an investment in real life. DD wasn't created to promote investment or business, it was created to entertain, to get views and to increase the audience number for the BBC- that's the real reason behind these shows.

And in terms of Sugars attitude- he has found it works and it made him millions. Why change? He knows that acting like he does gets him what he wants. He's not going to decide to be nice because it doesn't work for him. No two people are the same. You don't decide you want to be successful so you follow someone else's path, it won't work for you. You have to find your own way that works for you.

Reply 66

Fullofsurprises

Original post by Tycho

Although there have been stories out of the Virgin empire in the past that put a less flattering light on Branson, I'm sure that like all top business people he has his harsher side - it's not likely he would have done so well without at least a dash of ruthlessness.

It seems a bit unfair (in the postings above) to castigate Sugar for not being chatty in a shop to someone he's never met before, you have to put yourself in the shoes of someone that famous, people are probably doing wierd things around him all the time. Given that lots of people who are intensely well known effectively go into hiding, I would give him some points for doing his own shopping trips.

Reply 67

Fullofsurprises

Today's update.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/tvandradio/9918656/Apprentice-winner-Stella-English-ran-to-the-teacher-by-complaining-to-Lord-Sugar.html

Sounds like things are hotting up - the heat is on! Who will win this battle??

Reply 68

Tycho

Original post by Runninground

...that's the real reason behind these shows.

Precisely why I don't and wouldn't watch these shows. They try to convey themselves as something they aren't, and anyone with a bit of sense can see right through it. I take issue with them phrasing the opening to the Apprentice as "country's best business people" (not sure on exact wording, but it's something along those lines). The country's best business people are out there running successful businesses, not lying through their teeth on a tv show to try to satisfy their pretentious egos. And let's face it, £100k a year is laughable for someone winning such a show or being Sugar's "apprentice". I know several people who run successful businesses who make considerably more than that. You don't have to run a particularly big business to earn £100k. If people like Stella were as amazing as the Apprentice tried to portray, she wouldn't need such a stepping stone to that salary.

Reply 69

Runninground

Original post by Tycho

Perfect.

Reply 70

Fullofsurprises

Original post by Tycho

You're right about the £100K thing, that's always been a 'crowd-pleaser', it sounds a lot to Joe Average watching the tele from his maisonette in the Midlands, but in reality, in business terms, it's trivial.

I'm not sure the voiceovers at the beginning describe the contestants in that way (as the country's best business people) - they describe Lord Sugar and his colleagues in those kinds of terms, the would-be Apprentices are described using words like 'bright young hopefuls' and 'talented young business people', etc. However, obviously 90% of the show is pap.

There is still something about it though - really, the compelling element is Lord S himself, who although he can obviously be very acerbic and even nasty, is also a nice example of a very astute working class man in a position of power, using his judgement shrewdly and telling it like it is. I always enjoy the chats he has with contestants, his put-downs are often very funny, but he also has an almost sweet side, where he tells people who made an effort why he can't use them, or why they aren't cut out for it, but in useful, smart ways.

Reply 71

FSP

I stopped watching the apprentice. Some of the tasks just seem to test random skills with very biased editing hard to know whats really going on.

Stella had a top career in Investment Banking, a shame she gave it up for a 12 month temp job as a walking advert for an IT company.Going through such a public,exhausting and huminliating and long process you would expect a proper career at the end of it. Sugar is full of himself, hope he looses the case

Reply 72

FSP

Original post by Runninground

Of course he does it for the PR. If he wasn't doing the Apprentice now we wouldn't know who is (We'd have forgotten). That's not a bad thing though, all celebs do it for the PR. Heck, even Stella English was doing it for the PR.

The way he describes Stella wouldn't surprise me. I know a lot of people who are like that. They worry about a lot of things and seek reassurance a lot. I imagine that being given a £100k a year job, you are the one who makes a lot of decisions- you aren't given jobs to do as she was expecting.

The whole idea is a bit unproductive- She has no experience of Sugar's company or industry and she expects to get a top paying job within the sector. That's like me getting a 'Risk Analyst Manager' job at Easyjet. I don't know how airlines operate, I don't have experience so I can't expect to get that job.

On the other hand, two articles have come out recently suggesting that Sugar is hot headed and 'verbal' (The one about him quitting YouView). But who can blame him, you can't run a huge company by being Mr Nice.

I don't even know why she went on the Apprentice. She had a great banking job in the City and she climbed from the bottom. Why not stick in the banking sector in London where the salary potential is much higher than a £100k job doing something you have no experience in.

Unless the job is technical, it quite possible for a CEO or Junior Manager of a SuperMarket to start working for a Mobile Company etc Skills are transferrable and if you do well in 1 industry, no reason why you cant learn about another.

Reply 73

Hal.E.Lujah

I'm just going to come out and say it... Did anyone actually think this wouldn't be the case? :smile:

Reply 74

shooks

TSR Community Staff

Just being announced that she's lost...

Reply 75

Runninground

Original post by shooks

Just being announced that she's lost...

Yep, here is the official document: http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Judgments/emp-trib-judgment-english-v-amshold-grp-ltd.pdf

It gets interesting at point 8 onwards.

Reply 76

Fullofsurprises

Lord S was in a celebratory mood, unsurprisingly. Apparently he is now going to run a campaign against the 'compensation culture'.

I am taking that with a bit of a pinch of salt, I'm sure he's sued plenty of people in the past when he was aggrieved about how he or his companies had been treated.