Alan Sugar: Young people ‘want to fast-track themselves to the top’

Lord Alan Sugar has said young people want to be “fast-tracked” to the top and lack the patience “to really learn a trade”.

The Apprentice star and business tycoon, 77, was appointed as a Labour peer, and later an Enterprise Champion under the Conservatives, and currently sits as a crossbench peer in the House of Lords.

Lord Sugar told BBC series Amol Rajan Interviews that no one in his business is allowed to work from home and called the younger generation “not hungry” enough, appearing to suggest they do not have the same work ethic as his generation.

“I think young people these days want to fast-track themselves to prosperity,” the former market stall holder turned billionaire said.

“They haven’t got the patience to sit down and really learn a trade or learn commerce or things like that. They want to fast-track themselves to the top.”

He added that “the ones that are perhaps not blessed academically, that leave school, unfortunately they end up needing money, and it turns them to crime, I’m afraid. And there’s too much crime going on, stealing iPhones, getting, riding around on bikes and nicking iPhones, easy way to make a living.”

Experiences of crime, as measured by the annual Office for National Statistics survey, have been on a broad downward trend since the mid-1990s.

Rajan also asked Lord Sugar for his view on the tense Oval Office meeting between US President Donald Trump, a real estate mogul who rose to greater prominence via the American version of The Apprentice, and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky.

He said that the “leader of a country, of America, publicly having a slanging match with someone else”, was one of the “things in life” he did not believe he would see.

“It’s just not right… by all means have a slanging match behind closed doors, but not publicly,” he added.

“It was humiliating for Zelensky.

“You saw that come up when Zelensky was sitting there quietly. He mentioned something. And then suddenly Trump went into action. It’s just not right. It’s not statesmanlike, is it?”

Lord Sugar said he may have done “himself a favour amongst some of the Americans that backed him”, but not the rest of the world, and called the moment “unbelievable” and “not statesmanlike”.

During the interview he confirmed he had signed up to another three years of The Apprentice, and will be fronting the show until at least 2029.

Lord Sugar also said that would-be reality stars are “part and parcel of the entertainment package” of making a show such as The Apprentice, but he maintained they will “never become the winners” as he spots them quickly.

He said: “I know what they’re there for. They’re there for the wrong reasons. Right… you can see them flicking their hair back and all that stuff and doing the lipsticks and all that, you know, and coming in with their suits.

“You can tell straight away.”

Series 19 of the business show, which sees contestants compete for Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment, is currently more than half way through on the BBC.

The show is celebrating its 20th year in 2025.

Contestants including first winner Tim Campbell, who is currently one of the show’s aides with Baroness Karren Brady, originally would go on to work for Lord Sugar’s companies, before the format was changed.

Amol Rajan Interviews: Alan Sugar is on BBC Two and BBC iPlayer.

Published: 20/03/2025 by Radio NewsHub