The BBC has signed Alan Sugar to do two more series of The Apprentice and he hopes to front the 20th.
Series 17 kicks off on Thursday, with 18 candidates fighting for a £250,000 investment from Lord Sugar.
The 75-year-old billionaire businessman said: “I have agreed to do two more series which will bring me up to 19 – and I’d be delighted to do a 20th.
“I enjoy doing it. I’ve made some of my winners millionaires. What I get out of this is starting from scratch again with a new partner, and motivating these young people.
“I think this programme does a good service to help motivate young people into business.
“Every year we have a new bunch of characters. That’s why it’s not the same.”
He said he still had a lot of involvement in the candidate selection, and was looking for people “who get it”. One of the latest candidates compares himself to James Bond, while another likens herself to Kim Kardashian, and all 18 have one thing in common – massive egos.
Karren Brady, returning as Lord Sugar’s eyes and ears during the tasks, said: “They all start off with these huge egos, they all think they’re the best at everything, and have some ridiculous statements.
"I mean, ‘I’m the James Bond of business’? But the ones who make it to the end are the ones who learn from the process, they listen to the advice. Every single one of them wants to win.
“They think their sheer force of nature will help them to win the process, but the tasks are to test their skills.
“The ones who learn, adapt, change, grow up, put themselves forward, hold their hands up, those are the ones who make it to the end.“
Baroness Brady, a Conservative peer and vice-chairwoman of West Ham football club, said she returned to The Apprentice every year because she loved making the show.
She said: “We have a lot of fun. Alan and I always say friendship first, football second – because we both have different teams – and politics last – because we have different parties.
“We go to the most incredible places and have seen some incredible things. There’s nothing else I’d rather be doing.”
Her favourite task is the one where candidates are sent off to find 10 items.
She said: “It turns into a treasure hunt – it’s supposed to see how well they can negotiate and organise themselves, but it’s more like Supermarket Sweep.”
This year, Claude Littner returns for the first episode, during which the teams are sent to Antigua to be tour guides, but then has to pull out on medical grounds. He is again replaced by Tim Campbell, the first winner of The Apprentice, but returns for the final interviews.
