18th series of The Apprentice winds up...who will be the winner?

Cynics would say that the fashionable products and services featured on the long-running show are on there to plug Lord Sugar’s latest ventures (there does seem to be a lot of electric vehicles involved these days).

However, Lord Sugar is definitely right that we are in a difficult economic period, with businesses going to the wall on a daily basis and certain sectors on their knees.

But despite recessions, banking crashes, cost-of-living crises, Brexit and even licence-fee squeezes over the past two decades, the BBC’s flagship business show is still going strong.

While the format is clearly a winner, The Apprentice does rely on the charisma of the main man himself.

Thankfully, as the 18th series winds up tonight, it doesn’t sound like Lord Sugar is going anywhere just yet.

“Well, I love it,” he insists. “I love doing it. If I didn’t like doing it, I wouldn’t do it.

“I can assure you I’ve got plenty of other things to do in my life, but I do enjoy it.

“But bear in mind, it’s not my call, it’s the BBC’s call.

“I have a contract to do series 19, I don’t have a contract to do series 20 yet, but I’m pretty damn sure that I’ll ask them to do it and we’ll do it.”

Sugar, who turned 77 last month, also believes his current Apprentice lieutenants, Baroness Brady and Tim Campbell, deserve some of the credit for the show’s ongoing success.

He says: “Karren is brilliant. Tim is brilliant. They’ve got it.

“They’re the ones that tell me what’s going on when they’re out in the field with the candidates. I get emails, maybe 10 emails a day, as they’re going on. ‘Fred’s just fallen over. Fred’s just dropped all the ice cream. Harry’s just screwed up in front of the buyer’. I get it all.”

Eleven weeks ago, we were introduced to the latest batch of budding entrepreneurs who were hoping to secure a £250,000 investment and become Lord Sugar’s new business partner.

Now, after three months of whittling them down, the tycoon has identified his final two.

Tonight, they are challenged to launch their businesses, create a new brand, produce a digital billboard, direct and edit a TV advertisement and design a metaverse, before pitching to Lord Sugar and industry experts at a black-tie event.

And, as usual, there will be a few familiar faces returning to aid them in their endeavours.

After the main show, The Apprentice: You’re Hired (10pm) sees Tom Allen chat to the winner and runner-up.

He is also joined by some special guests – including Lord Sugar – to look back over the 18th season.

While one of the contestants’ lives will be changed by Lord Sugar’s investment, the man dishing out the dosh is hoping for a windfall of his own very soon.

“I think Bafta should give me a special award for 20 years of business,” he says.

“Simon Cowell got a special award for 10 years in music. I’ve got all the other gongs for everything else, the only one that I haven’t got is a Bafta.”