Alan Sugar

Alan Sugar in 2009

Lord Alan Michael Sugar (born 24 March 1947 in Hackney, London) is a British businessman with a fortune estimated at about £800m and ranked 85th in the 2010 Sunday Times Rich List. Lord Sugar has starred in the BBC TV series, The Apprentice. This has had 8 series, which aired in 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011.

Quotes

• Pan Am takes good care of you. Marks & Spencer loves you. Securicor cares. I.B.M. says the customer is king. At Amstrad, we want your money!
  • Quoted in the New York Times, September 28, 1987, from an earlier public speech.[1]

• If there was a market in mass-produced portable nuclear weapons, we'd market them, too.
  • Quoted in the New York Times, September 28, 1987, from an earlier public speech.[2].

• My history of lending money from banks is that they want to know the ins and outs of the backside of a duck.
  • In interview with Gordon Brown at No 10 Downing Street, as stated in The Sun (UK) newspaper, 11th December 2009.

• I don’t believe in God and all that. But I am Jewish, and very proud to be so, very proud of the culture.
  • From an interview with Sam Wollaston in The Guardian, 25th March 2009.

• I came from an environment where I needed to succeed. There was no wealth or anything like that in the family. Not that we were paupers, but we had to fend for ourselves. Kids today are not as hungry as I was. They don’t understand how tough my generation was.
  • From an interview with Jan Moir, Daily Mail, 25th March 2009.

• If you take care of your character, your reputation will take care of itself.
  • From, The Apprentice, BBC television, 3rd June 2009 ( taken from “If I take care of my character, my reputation will take care of itself.” ― D.L. Moodysee http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/5083573.D_L_Moody ).

The Apprentice

Series 1

• Now Matthew, you are an awkward character - I'm sorry to say that to you but you are an awkward character. It seems you can't help yourself...you need confrontation! That worries me, that worries me a lot! (To Matthew Palmer, shortly before his firing).

• When it comes to bullshit, they [advertising agencies] have forgotten what you haven't already learnt about all this crap! (To Rachel - shortly before her firing, when her supposed expertise in advertising results in the failure of the advertising task).

• Most of the people I do business with are mature businessmen like me, and they are not going to take kindly to being spoken to like a wash woman in the street!! (to Saira Khan during a boardroom showdown).

Series 2

• But I've sat here four times, and there is a message coming from above....not that I am a believer in the Lord or anything.... (Immediately before Jo Cameron's firing).

• Syed, SHUT UP! (Lord Sugar speaking to Syed Ahmed).

• But you were in the restaurant business before?? Marco-Pierre White or something....The Titanic – well here's another bloody disaster you're in now! (To Syed before Alexa is fired after the infamous catering task when the Invicta team lose because they bought an excessive number of chickens to make pizzas).

• I tell you what, if any of you survive here, I promise you this: As sure as I have a hole in my bloody arse, when it gets down to the two of you, all these people who are saying nice things about you at the moment, will not! So start thinking about yourself!

Series 3

• Your back's against the wall and you're almost done for – it's Dunkirk all over again! (The Apprentice (To Paul, the ex-army Lieutenant before he is fired.)).

Series 4

• You were devastated when you got a B in your GCSE French. You're gonna be even more devastated now, because you've got the big F – you're fired! (firing Nicholas de Lacy-Brown in episode 1).

• OK, because if you're unsure, you can always pull your trousers down and we can check. (On whether or not Michael Sophacles is Jewish).

• Sian Lloyd – what was she doing there? Why did you cast and pay for a kind of celebrity for your advert? You know, I could understand if your advert was based on weather, I could understand if your advert was based on her being upset because her boyfriend blew her out for a cheeky girl, right and she's crying, but I can't understand this. She's not even a mother, what's the point? (Episode 9).

• We've got two very despondent gentlemen, we've got Claire, she will get her 500 rounds of bullshit out and stick it in her AK47 and deafen us all in here. (Episode 9).

Series 6

• All I've heard from you so far is a lot of hot air, so in the interests of climate change you're fired... (to Stuart Baggs in the boardroom).

Series 7

• A message needs to go back. Vincent - you're also fired!

• My disposals get taken away in the back of a taxi! (referring to the task in week 6, which centred around waste disposal and where Edna eventually fired).

Series 10

• Robert, I don't like people who bottle out. So Robert - You're fired. (to Robert Goodwin when he was fired before the final boardroom in the second task)

• I've got to continue the process with some candidates, some very strong candidates that are left. Let's get rid of the no-hopers. No chance. Don't waste my time. (to Ella Jade Bitton after firing Sarah Dales before the first ever triple firing in the series).