'The Apprentice' Host Lord Sugar Has Two Bits Of Advice For Simon Cowell To Get 'The X Factor' Back On Winning Form
Lord Sugar Has Two Bits Of Advice For Simon Cowell...
Caroline Frost— The Huffington Post UK
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Lord Sugar has not one but two bits of advice for Simon Cowell for getting his beleaguered 'X Factor' show back on track.
The host of 'The Apprentice', which has always enjoyed favourable primetime ratings and is about to return for its eleventh series, says the trick to his success is to avoid gimmicks.
Lord Sugar said today, "It’s very, very simple, it’s that the BBC, the production company and myself are not interested in gimmicks and trying to change things.
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Lord Sugar, Karren Brady, new aide Claude Littner and this year's Apprentice candidates
"It’s not broken, so don’t try and fix it. It is the consistency of keeping things the same, with some slight tweaks, but in my opinion, with the greatest of respect to 'The X Factor', gimmicks don’t seem to work."
This year's 'X Factor' has seen a decline in ratings, despite Simon Cowell bringing in new aspects to the competition, such as making the judges' houses round a live TV show. In the event, this had to be cancelled due to logistics. This year's show also has new judges in Rita Ora and Nick Grimshaw, joining Simon and Cheryl Cole.
Lord Sugar had one more bit of advice for Simon Cowell. "Shave the beard off for a start," although he added, "He wouldn't listen to me."
This year's 'Apprentice' sees a tiny tweak to the usual format, with the starting teams being mixed up of ladies and gents, although the host would not be drawn on whether this would change later in the series.
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James Hill celebrated victory in this year's Celebrity Big Brother house
The businessman was also asked about the thorny issue of some of his 'Apprentice' candidates using the show as a springboard to TV success, following the CBB victory of last year's candidate James Hill. "Who's he?" he commented.
He added, "We do our best to try and deal with that, at the selection stage. I see them first of all when you see them walk in the boardroom. I’ve not met them before.
"In my opinion, there may be some people there who think they’re there for the wrong reason, but they don’t last through the process. I’m only interested in people there who want the business deal."
The competitors have backgrounds as diverse as hairdressing, the military, sports marketing and circus performing, while their combined role models include Hugh Hefner, Emma Watson, and Victoria Beckham.
‘The Apprentice’ returns to our screens on Wednesday 14 October on BBC One, with the next episode airing the following night on Thursday 15 October.
'The Apprentice' 2015: Meet The Candidates
Aisha Kasim(01 of18)
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Age: 26Business inspiration: Victoria BeckhamSample quote: "Pressure makes diamonds. It's something I respond well to, I think it's go hard or go home." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
April Jackson(02 of18)
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Age: 26Business inspiration: Skinny Girl Cocktails' Bethenny FrankelSample quote: "I'm Jamaican. We come first, we win on the track and we will win in the boardroom." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Brett Butler-Smythe(03 of18)
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Age: 28Sample quote: "I pride myself on not having any negative or bad traits about myself, they're all good, they're all positive." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Charleine Wain(04 of18)
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Age 31:Sample quote: "I would describe myself as very determined, ambitious, and I always want to show that women can succeed in business." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Dan Callaghan(05 of18)
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Age: 23Business inspiration: Amazon's Jeff BezosSample quote: "I'm just a generally all round quite entertaining person, I think. A lot of people laugh at me." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
David Stevenson(06 of18)
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Age: 25Business inspiration: Elon MuskSample quote: "Me and Lord Sugar will work together because you've got age and beauty and those two go hand in hand all the time. Sugar's got the age and I certainly am beautiful." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Elle Stevenson(07 of18)
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Age: 21Business inspiration: Taylor SwiftSample quote: "I hate anything mediocre - I can't be middle. I hate being the person that comes second... I've never been the person that comes second. I'd rather be the one who fell over at the start of the race and never make it to the finish line." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Gary Poulton(08 of18)
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Age: 34Sample quote: "I look like the nice, easy going, laidback Brummie but once I start doing my business, people know I'm the real deal." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Jenny Garbis(09 of18)
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Age: 23Business inspiration: Emma Watson's 'He For She' campaignSample quote: "You will see my name in lights - Jenny Garbis, don't forget that. That's going to be a global name. That's going to be an entrepreneur everyone looks up to." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Joseph Valente(10 of18)
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Age: 25Role model: Hugh HefnerSample quote: "I am the definition of success, I'm a godfather of business and I'm here to make Lord Sugar a lot of money." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Mergim Butaja(11 of18)
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Age: 23Sample quote: "Why am I a worthy business partner for Lord Sugar? I'd be a challenge to him. Everyone he's met probably sucks up to him. I won't. I'll tell him like it is." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Natalie Dean(12 of18)
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Age: 25Business inspiration: Liv Garfield, the CEO of Severn TrentSample quote: "If I set my mind to something, I won't quit until I have done it." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Richard Woods(13 of18)
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Age: 31Business inspiration: Richard BransonSample quote: "I'm a Swiss army knife of bouncy skills, business skills, enthusiasm, I've got everything highly-tuned and highly-chiselled." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Ruth Whiteley(14 of18)
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Age: 47Sample quote: "Lord Sugar might think I'm a bit gushing, he might find me over-zealous, but I think he'll think I'm great." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Sam Curry(15 of18)
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Age: 23Business inspiration: Richard BransonSample quote: "I'm an interesting mix between happy go lucky and adventurous and then quite logical and sensible. It's a strange combination." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Scott Saunders(16 of18)
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Age: 27Sample quote: "People do say to me they've never met anyone like me." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Selina Waterman-Smith(17 of18)
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Age: 31Sample quote: "I am strong-minded; I do like to be the leader." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)
Vana Koutsomitis(18 of18)
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Age: 27Business inspiration: Ashton KutcherSample quote: "I believe this is a marathon and if you have stamina and if you do things with integrity, morals and direction, you can get where you want to go." (credit:Jim Marks/Boundless)