The Apprentice boss Alan Sugar has joked that US President and former The Apprentice US host Donald Trump claims the British entrepreneur "works for me".
The 77-year-old former Tottenham Hotspur owner was speaking to the PA news agency ahead of the launch of series 19 of the BBC business show, which this year includes Irish contestants Aoibheann Walsh from Co Donegal and Jordan Dargan from Dublin.
Asked whether he would consider going into business with the US president, Sugar told PA: "He will tell you I am in business with him.
"Because The Apprentice format, which was originally owned by someone called Mark Burnett, he sold it to MGM, and apparently, according to President Trump, he has a little shareholding, a small shareholding in the format.
"So he always reminds people that, 'Lord Sugar works for me'.
"Would I ever go into business with him? I don't think that opportunity will ever arise, because he's too busy at the moment being president. He's just taken over and started to implement some of his promises and plans."
President Trump, who is now in his second term, hosted the first 14 series of the show's American edition between 2003 and 2015.
He was replaced by former Governor of California Arnold Schwarzenegger until the show was cancelled in the US in 2017.
Sugar, who has recently been spending time in the US, also spoke about the atmosphere in the country following the presidential election.
He said: "There is a kind of nervous atmosphere amongst people here about being deported, because there's a lot of non-US citizens here that have got jobs and help to boost the economy, and I don't know where you draw the line to leave them here but get rid of the criminals."
The upcoming series of The Apprentice will see contestants vying to become Sugar's next business partner, challenged on their skills with the latest technology including AI and holograms.
The former Amstrad boss said the show had to include it, as it is what the younger element of the audience wants to see, even if he had to learn the technology himself.
Sugar said: "The production crew are a very, very clever bunch of people. They come up with these tasks that include technology - and the first person they have to explain it to is me.
"So I have to understand it, and I have to make out I understand it deeply, and I do spend quite a bit of time going through it.
"So I do understand it in order for me to project my questions at the candidates on it.
"We have to have some up-to-date stuff. People are talking about AI, they're talking about online stuff. We have to include it, because that's what the younger audience wants to see."
Sugar said he hopes his show will inspire young people to become entrepreneurs, having explained that he feels the work ethic is becoming "too relaxed".
However, he said he is "sure" there are still youngsters who want to graft towards their goals.
He said: "I hope that my programme encourages [hard work], of course.
"I would like those people to grasp something and realise you've got to physically go and do something, physically work somewhere, or have a passion for something that you want to do.
"So I'm not painting every young person with the same brush."
Running for almost 20 years with Sugar at the helm, The Apprentice sees 18 budding businesspeople compete for £250,000 worth of investment from its host.
Contestants attempt to impress Sugar and his associates Karren Brady and Tim Campbell by completing a range of business-related tasks in each episode - with participants being fired for poor performance.
The prize was previously a job working alongside Sugar, but this was changed to investment in 2011.
The first episode of The Apprentice series 19 will air at 9pm on Thursday on BBC One.
Source: Press Association
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