'Some go to the opening of an envelope' Lord Alan Sugar berates ex-Apprentice candidates
THE SHOW'S top prize is a quarter of a million pound business investment from Lord Alan Sugar.
But according to the millionaire entrepreneur, many Apprentice candidates use the show for an altogether different reason.
Speaking at a press conference ahead of the series 10 launch next week, the 67-year-old revealed that a fare few try to use their TV presence for fame.
"The production people do a very very good job in trying to pick out candidates who are there for the right reason," he said.
"But we always get a couple who believe this is their Andy Warhol moment."
"When they leave the show and the TV screen, it suddenly gets to them. They have withdrawal symptoms when they're not in the board room, not being under scrutiny or being on a task.
"It's kind of like an anti-climax."
He added: "They would go to the opening of an envelope if somebody asked them to go - as long as it had something to do with television.
"They really demean themselves to get themselves back in front of the camera again.
However, he went on: "I can go back over the past ten years and look at some of them who had their five minutes of fame and in most cases, it's Fred who?"
The first episode of the new series goes out next Tuesday before settling into a weekly Wednesday slot and sees 20 contestants begin the battle to win a quarter of a million pounds investment in their businesses.
The task involves selling some of the stock from previous challenges including sausages, T-shirts and inflatable animals, but the girls get off to a bad start when Lord Sugar tells them their team name is not up to scratch and orders a rethink.
Hewer warned against picking out an early candidate to win the show, saying: "The ones that win are the ones that learn. Those are the winners and they creep through."
Previous winners include last year's victor Leah Totton, who set up a cosmetic clinic with Lord Sugar, as well as Tom Pellereau, who enjoyed success with his curved nail file, and Lee McQueen, who rang in sick on his first day in the new £100,000 job and no longer works for the tycoon.
Some former candidates, such as Katie Hopkins, who joined I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here!, and Luisa Zissman, who appeared on Celebrity Big Brother, have chased the spotlight since their time on The Apprentice.