I’m a pussy cat with my Apprentices really, says Sir Alan

5:04am Thursday 20th March 2008

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AS I sit down in my chair and straighten my shirt, my palms start sweating and I begin to feel a little sick.

Then he walks in and sits at the opposite side of the table, giving me his fierce stare, and I actually start to shake.

But then I remember, to my relief, I am not fighting to become Sir Alan Sugar's next Apprentice. I'm just here to interview him about the new series of his hit show.

Nevertheless, Essex multi-millionaire Sir Alan exudes such power and authority, you can't help feeling nervous in the his company.

In reality, he's much nicer than his television persona leads us to believe - definitely not so shouty and scary, although still pretty intimidating.

Indeed, Sir Alan thinks he's got a bit of a raw deal from the producers of BBC1's The Apprentice, which is back on Wednesday, March 26, with 16 new candidates vying to become his employee.

"It is a continual argument I have with the production people," he grumbles. "Unfortunately, like it or not - well I don't like it that much - the perception of me is I'm banging my hands on the table and screaming at people.

"We actually do have quite a bit of humour when we're filming, but the BBC has categorised me as Mr Nasty. That's what they want, so all the humour ends up on the cutting room floor.

"But as you go through the series, some of it has accidentally slipped in. I might get a comedy slot soon!"

This fourth series of the show is certainly amusing, or at least the contestants are. As we are introduced to them in the first episode, it's clear they all share two traits - they are incredibly smug and horribly arrogant. In fact, they make claims like, "I am an exceptional individual".

Of course, we're all for a bit of self-belief, but does Sir Alan think this sort of overconfidence is important in the business world?

"There's a time and place for arrogance, but continual arrogance is not a very good trait," he says.

"There are some characters this year that believe they're on a different level to others. They start off that way, but you knock a bit of that out of them as you go along."

The candidates this year are from a range of backgrounds.

Some are sales people, some are in management, while others are from legal backgrounds. One is even a satellite TV engineer.

All of their skills will be put to the test, but their first task seems relatively easy - to sell a van-load of fish at a London market and come back with a profit. Simple, right? Wrong.

The candidates are split into two teams and things start to go belly up very quickly when none of the fish is priced up correctly, and one group even sells lobsters at the bargain price of £5. We start off with something very basic," Sir Alan sighs, banging his fist on the table (I thought he didn't do that in real life?).

"The simplest task ever is to see who is going to dirty their hands, and it never fails to amaze me, they just don't grasp it.

"They waste so much time arguing amongst each other that they forget the basic things."

Sounds like something even a schoolchild should be able to understand.

But the candidates are under immense pressure and as Sir Alan points out, they are so busy thinking about beating each other they forget about the task in hand. It never ceases to shock Sir Alan that contestants haven't noted where previous unsuccessful contestants have tripped up.

"It's amazing," he groans, rolling his eyes. "I think they are distracted by this jockeying for position, rather than focusing on, Yes I did see that last year, and the bloke spent too much on the chickens'.

"But they don't, and I guess that's what provides the entertainment."

Last year's Apprentice sparked controversy when candidate Katie Hopkins, a mum of two, stood down after she was questioned about her childcare arrangements, something which wouldn't have been allowed to have been asked in real life.

Sir Alan believes employment laws have gone too far, and thinks they are actually counter-productive for women. In an interview earlier this year, he said employers are more likely to discount a women of child-rearing age without even interviewing her because they are not authorised to ask them if they are planning to have children.

But, he says, those laws do not apply to the TV show, and he wouldn't hesitate to make enquiries about a female contestant's family life again.

"The interview process I have in the Apprentice takes no notice of what I can and cannot ask under employment law, it's as simple as that," he says matter-of-factly.

Sir Alan, the son of an East End tailor, started out selling car aerials and cigarette lighters.

Aged 21, he launched his own electronics company, Amstrad - Alan Michael Sugar Trading, in 1968, before building a £2.5million factory in Shoebury in 1986.

The company was sold off to BskyB last year. However, Amstrad is still based in Brentwood.

Sir Alan is now worth more than £800million, was ranked 84th richest man in the Sunday Times Rich List 2007 and has been helping Prime Minister Gordon Brown come up with plans to inspire young people to become involved in business.

Recently, one of his ideas, the so-called McDonald's A-level, was adopted by Downing Street.

He says: "My children were brought up in quite a difficult environment, because they were the children of a wealthy man.

"Fortunately, from my background and where I came from, I was able to instil upon them some values."