The Apprentice’s Lord Sugar lampooned for ‘ironic’ detail while complaining about home working

Viewers couldn’t help but point out the issue with ‘Apprentice’ tycoon’s complaint

(BBC)

Lord Sugar is being lampooned for his interview location while complaining about people who work from home.

The business tycoon, whose BBC competition The Apprentice is returning with 18 new candidates on Thursday (1 February), has long expressed his negative views about those who prefer working from home over travelling into an office. In August 2022, he attracted criticism for saying people should be “paid less” for working at home.

Sugar reiterated his views on the subject during an interview on BBC Breakfast.

However, while it’s unknown where Sugar is in the world, many couldn’t help but highlight the irony that Sugar had not travelled into the studios to be interviewed, but was on a video call.

“Couldn’t make it into the studio, Alan?” one person asked on X/Twitter, with another stating: “If he’s not a fan of remote working/WFH why didn’t he make the journey into the studio to record this segment???”

An additional post read: “Says he’s not a fan of WFH yet did an interview at home rather than go to the studio,” with another pointing out: “He’s not in the studio so he’s literally remote working.”

It’s unknown where in the world Sugar was

The tycoon recently claimed that “entitled” younger generations are averse to hard work and “don’t want to put the graft in”.

The Hackney-born businessman, whose net worth is estimated at over £1bn, added that he’s learnt nothing from The Apprentice contestants except an “array of excuses”.

Speaking to Mail Online, the British entrepreneur, 76, lamented a “different culture” today than when he was growing up, adding he notices a sense of entitlement “in all walks of life now”.

Lord Sugar complaining about remote working while being interviewed remotely (BBC)

Sugar criticised a new generation of The Apprentice aspirants for “a lack of hunger, wanting a quick fix, not wanting to put the graft in and get there through hard work” while explaining how he picks contestants for the long-running BBC One show.

“You select people that have the good old-fashioned hard-graft culture. The others can go their own way,” the Amstrad founder said.

Baroness Karren Brady and season one winner Tim Campbell will return to help the Amstrad founder decide which contestant is worthy of being crowned winner in the new series of The Apprentice, which airs Thursdays at 9pm on BBC One.