Lord Alan Sugar is best known for pointing the finger on The Apprentice - but the business mogul has voiced his controversial opinions outside of the boardroom too.
The 76-year-old business mogul has made headlines over the years for numerous feuds with well-known faces, including his spat with former close pal Piers Morgan, when Alan dubbed Piers an "obnoxious self-centred t***er", and the journalist said it ruined their friendship for years.
Alan went on to admit that he'd like to punch Money Saving Expert Martin Lewis in the face, and wasn't afraid to lash out at TV chef Gordon Ramsay, who ruffled his feathers with an Apprentice-style foodie programme, which Alan slammed as a "virtual rip-off" of his beloved BBC series. Here, we take a look at them all.
Piers Morgan
Alan and Piers were good friends before they had a big fallout in 2020 (Twitter)Lord Sugar had an ongoing feud with Piers Morgan for a while, and a Twitter rant in 2020 added more fuel to the fire when he dubbed Piers an "obnoxious self-centred t***er". It came after Piers took on Conservative MP Andrew Brigden over Boris Johnson's plans to lift lockdown amid lockdown.
Alan slammed: "It seems he is hyperactive spewing out Gov criticism." He also dragged presenter Susanna Reid into the fray and said: "True. I am a bit disappointed with @susannareid100 she seems to have been poisoned into @piersmorgan mode."
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He also told The Sun: "It's terrible reporting, I'm sick and tired of him, he's doing it for his own profile." Alan compared Piers to Hitler, claiming he didn't really "give a s**t" about the topics he was ranting about, but that he just used them to get people on his side.
In an interview with The Sunday Times, Piers explained: "It's gone way beyond a joke, and for me it's ruined our friendship. I think we're done as friends. I can't see through the behaviour." So the world was surprised when Piers revealed he'd ended his feud with Alan in 2021.
They reconnected for the first time in almost two years, as Piers wrote in his Daily Mail column that he'd "begun to miss the old goat". He wrote: "Beneath his gnarly, blunt and often breathtakingly rude exterior, he's got a good heart," and explained Lord Sugar wrote him an "incredibly kind letter" when his father had a stroke.
Piers admitted he and his nemesis were "more similar than either of [them] would ever care to admit" and that he thought it would be "two-faced" to cut Alan off for disagreeing with him. He revealed he'd missed Alan's wife Ann Simons especially.
Martin Lewis
Alan said he'd like to punch Martin Lewis in the face 'for no reason' (ITV)Lord Sugar once admitted money mogul Martin Lewis was on his list of people he'd like to punch in the face. He explained on Twitterin 2021: "I often discuss with my wife about people's faces you would like to punch for no real reason. I know it's not fair, they may be perfectly nice people. She has her list of faces. Martin Lewis is one of mine. He is most probably a nice guy. I am sure some people think the same about me."
He added: "Michael Gove is another face I would like to punch. Never met him though." But Martin refused to stoop low and urged Alan to delete his tweet. He replied: "I don't understand the point of this tweet or of copying me in. If you're trying to start an argument I'm not biting. It's unnecessary, and if I may suggest would be best for all if you deleted."
Gordon Ramsay
Alan said he couldn't believe 'lawyers allowed' Gordon to launch a business cooking competition (Variety via Getty Images)In 2022, Lord Sugar sparked a feud with Gordon Ramsay after the potty-mouthed restaurant owner launched Gordon Ramsay's Future Food Stars. No stranger to controversy, when asked if he was hoping to upstage Alan with the format - which saw Ramsay invest £150,000 of his own money into the winner - Gordon admitted he was keen to do just that.
He said: "Very much so. Alan's at his best when he gets his, you know, feathers ruffled. And I'm not saying he's up for retirement, but it's about time the new kid was on the block. I was excited when the BBC were keen to have an Apprentice-style foodie programme that was adventurous, creative and unearthing new talent. And it's good to ruffle feathers."
News of the show was met with fierce criticism from Alan who claimed the chef's TV project was a "cockamamie idea". He told the MailOnline: "I like Gordon and I think he's very good and should stick to what he should do, cooking and all that stuff. He had something, which was like, I don't know how the lawyers allowed it because it was a virtual rip-off of The Apprentice. No disrespect to Gordon but stick to your day job mate that's all I would say."
In an interview with The Sun last March, Gordon hit back at the business mogul, urging him to stop talking "absolute b*****s". He said: "He has no right to start throwing his toys out the pram. Do you think Simon Cowell started complaining about The Voice when he was running The X Factor? Of course he didn't."
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- The Apprentice airs on BBC One and BBC iPlayer tonight at 9pm on February 1.
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