Baroness Karren Brady has vowed to step down when Lord Alan Sugar does (Picture: BBC / Fremantlemedia Limited)
Baroness Karren Brady has vowed to quit The Apprentice when the time comes for Lord Alan Sugar to step down.
Having sat beside the media tycoon first as his assistant in 2009 and then as his trusted aide, rumours have begun to emerge that she could be his successor.
But Baroness Brady has insisted she won’t be taking his place.
The 54-year-old said: ‘When Alan steps down, I step down.
‘I wouldn’t do it, there’s only one person who can sit in that chair and that’s him. The Apprentice is Alan.’
She added to Mail Online: ‘He’s one of the most successful entrepreneurs in the world, look at what he’s achieved.
‘He left school with no qualifications and built a business into a global force and all the different elements and different businesses he’s worked in, he’s unique.
‘There’s only one person who can sit in that chair and that’s him.’ (Picture: BBC)
‘He had a genuine desire to help people start their own businesses. Everything about him resonates with the viewer and I really don’t think the show exists without him.’
This comes after Lord Sugar himself insisted The Apprentice would flop without him.
He said: ‘I don’t want to sound too big-headed but a lot of people underestimate me. They hear me talking like a cockney, but I know everything, I really do.
‘I’m not degrading people like (Dragons’ Den star) Peter Jones, because they’ve done a lot also. But none of them have done as much as I have.’
Lord Sugar doesn’t plan on leaving The Apprentice anytime soon (Picture: BBC / Fremantlemedia Limited)
The 75-year-old continued: ‘Who would I put in my place? I can’t think of anybody. There’s loads of people that would queue up.
‘There’s no reason why I can’t go on to do 25 years. I’m very fit, so I don’t know whether it stops at 20. But if I ever did stop, I get a feeling the BBC wouldn’t stop it.’
Lord Sugar added to The Sun that if the broadcaster found ‘someone new’ to replace him, ‘that’s where it may kill itself off’.
‘I think it should be, “Thank you very much, it’s been great, but maybe in ten years’ time we’ll bring it back” like Who Wants To Be A Millionaire?, but with different characters hosting.’
The Apprentice is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.
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‘I really don’t think the show exists without him.’