Why Alan Sugar’s Apprentice contestants are paying £150,000… despite a £250,000 prize

The contestants on the hit TV show The Apprentice are billed as Britain’s brightest business minds, but seem to lack one key skill: a solid understanding of economics.

The £250,000 prize for the winner of the hit show was set a decade ago. But due to runaway inflation, the value of the pot has plummeted in real terms ever since.

Inflation is currently rising by more than 10 percent as the price of everything from fuel to food has skyrocketed. If Lord Sugar had increased the prize in line with inflation, this season’s winner would receive almost £400,000 [£395,346].

Despite their claims of business acumen, the contestants do not appear to have realized that they are missing out on £150,000 because Lord Sugar has frozen their prize money.

Mark Dixon, founder of the fair market economy think tank, said: “If I were on the Apprentice, I’d say to Lord Sugar: ‘You’re fired!’

A prize that is not indexed to inflation gets smaller every year, especially in these times, and will therefore naturally attract less and less savvy entrepreneurs. The sugar needs to sweeten the prize.

American businesswoman Amy Anzel, who made it halfway through last year’s series, said the amount of money is now “very little.”

“He and the BBC should have decided to address that,” said the owner of the beauty brand.

‘I absolutely believe that the amount of investment should be much higher. If you’re starting a business, £250,000 is good. But how far will it really take you these days?

The £250,000 prize for the winner of the hit show was set a decade ago. But due to runaway inflation, the value of the pot has plummeted in real terms ever since.

Last year’s runner-up Kathryn Burn, owner of Pyjamily, said: “They definitely need to ramp that up.”

She said: ‘I figured that out last year when I was on it. She was thinking it was about time they bumped it up to about £500,000, wasn’t she?

Lord Sugar last increased the prize, which is now a quarter of a million pounds as an investment in the winner’s business, back in 2011.

Before that, the tycoon offered the winner a job worth £100,000 a year. Hargreaves Lansdown business analyst Susannah Streeter said the winning trainees had “missed a trick” by failing to point out the prize pot’s falling value, but added that the gruff fellow would have given them little attention had they dared. to confront him.

But he added: “Such is the demand to be on the show, to gain public attention for their fledgling businesses and potentially gain financial backing, they know they would have been met with little attention had they taken a stand before filming began.” .

“It’s not the cash prize itself, but the mentoring and exposure on prime time television and social media that is the real pot of gold for would-be winners.”