Let's face it, he no doubt makes more money from the BBC per series than the years salary he gives to his apprentice. He then probably hands his apprentice over to one of his many employees and probably forgets all about him. If the apprentice makes money for the company, then, bonus.

bumpity bump

As has been discussed here previously, Alan Sugar gives what he earns for doing the Apprentice to Great Ormond Street Hospital. He gains publicity and a high profile but I don't see a problem in that.

Ditto vidalia.

Silly me, I really should have known that.

Would you have preferred the 'you're talking rubbish because he actually donates the fee to charity, you fool-who-doesn't-know-what-you-are-talking-about-yet-choose-to-criticise' approach?

Whoa there! Actually, the real question of this thread was in the title and hasn't as yet been answered, never mind the fact that he donates to charity. But since this forum consists of a clique of arrogant morons, I don't really care for any further answers.

I struggle to understand how anyone can doubt how much Al cares about his apprentices! You only have to watch him in the board room to see it. He is a big emotional teddy bear that hides behind anger to get through the tough bits.

The thing that is really interesting is that he cares about all the candidates that have anything going for them, and will give them tough love to uncover the good stuff.

I honestly think he is a very emotional man who is very good at hiding it.

Yes, I'm sure he LIKES them as people. The point I'm making, is that he's only really doing this for his own gain, exposure via TV. Which is fine by me. And giving to charity is great too, of course. The whole thing is a shrewd move, hence why he's so successful.

This has become an annual show. If he REALLY needed a bunch of apprentices to further his business empire, he could hire and fire applicants evey single day and find some good ones, probably BETTER ones than the likes of the idiots and chavs in these shows, in a very short time. You think he really needs to wait a whole year before finding the next single apprentice? I'm sure he already has scores of high flying sales people.

I do think that the job is overglamourized by the nature of television.

I know that there's all this pomp and ceremony as though it's some major big deal every year, but after all, when you think about it....it's just a job.

Many of the candidates are already on high salaries.

It's just a job and after all how many employees already work for Alan Sugar anyway?

I think it's just that the artiface of television makes it appear a bigger deal than it actually is. Television makes it appear as though it's a big national event. But in reality it's just a job working for a company. Alan Sugar's company probably hires lots of people throughout the year, but all those successful applicants don't get TV shows made about them.

The artiface of television makes it appear as though we are going to find the next Alan Sugar, and as though they are going to be his understudy who will be moulded to be just like him and be in his position if AS pops his clogs or something. As though the successful candidate would be a household name in a year's time like Alan Sugar is himself. But in reality it isn't quite like that at all is it?

If you look at the people he eventually hires, they are always the worst of candidates.

Sugar is not interested in taking on entrepreneurs,he's not interested in taking on an apprentice. His only concern is hiring yet another idiot sales monkey.

You struggle to understand how anybody can doubt how much he cares about his apprentices?
You're watching a highly edited TV show and think that you only have to watch it to be able to tell???

Do you really believe that?

I'm not saying that AS doesn't care at all, but I'm absolutely astonished that you accept an edited TV show as proof of something you believe to be real and at the same struggle to understand how anybody could doubt it.
That's almost like watching a TV soap and saying that it must be real because it looks so convincing when you see it on telly.

He probably does care for all I know. But I wouldn't base proof of reality on a TV show.

I wouldn't say that really, because we simply wouldn't know. We probably hardly have a clue really.
In Series One most people said that Raj was pointless and was a waste of space there, one of the least deserving candidates, due to what we saw on the TV show. The forum widely saw him as a non-entity and that was almost his nickname. But since that series finished and it was all over and he left the show he went on to become a millionaire.
Some non-entity.
I doubt that the forum has a bloody clue despite believing that we know best due to what we've based our opinions on having seen on the show.
Watching The Apprentice doesn't make us experts, even if many believe that just by watching the show it does.

I agree with your first sentence, we are always led up the garden path. Or maybe the truth is that we lead ourselves up the garden path. We see candidates who are great at selling and presume that they are easily the best candidate who Alan Sugar would want to hire.

I remember myself during Series One, just about all of us presumed that he was looking for the best entrepreneur.
And I hold my hands up and admit that I was as guilty as anybody else.

I would imagine that any "normal" job would be a bit of a let down after all the excitement and glamour of making a TV program for 12 weeks.

I wonder how they get refocussed.