Sugar slams 'Apprentice' producers

Sir Alan Sugar has accused producers of BBC Two's The Apprentice of "lacking brainpower".

While speaking at a fundraising launch, the tycoon complained that the show's creators couldn't figure out how to keep the winner's identity a secret.

"Within the organisation there's not a lot of brainpower," Sir Alan said. "If it was ever run like a business, 80 per cent of them would be out of a job."

The problem of secrecy was only approached moments before the final scene was filmed, Sugar claims. Eventually, it was decided that alternate endings would be filmed, showing both finalists, Tim Campbell and Saira Khan, being told that they had won a job with Amstrad.

"The nasty thing was when one poor sod thought they had won, and then I said: 'Actually, it's only a joke, we're going to do that again'," Sir Alan added.

Despite his complaints, Sugar has already agreed to appear in a second series.