WITH the latest series of BBC’s The Apprentice having last week reached its conclusion, we have seen entrepreneurial hopefuls put through their paces by a positively ferocious Sir Alan Sugar.

But despite his increasingly harsh attacks on the apprentices’ business acumen, Sir Alan has come out top in a recent poll of preferred celebrity bosses.

The business leader perhaps won’t be too surprised by the news, as he has declared that he is “no bully”.

“Unfortunately, like it or not – well I won’t like it that much – the perception of me is that I’m banging my hands on the table and screaming at people,” says Sir Alan.

“We actually do have quite a bit of humour when we’re filming but the BBC has categorised me as Mr Nasty. That’s what they want, so all the humour ends up on the cutting room floor.”

Sir Alan Sugar came out way ahead in the survey by Pitman Training Group, which asked people across the UK to choose their preferred boss from a list of popular celebrities. He secured more than a third (35.7 per cent) of the votes.

George Clooney was second choice with almost 25 per cent of votes; followed by Jacqueline Gold and Gordon Brown in joint third place. Katie Price was second from last with 10 per cent of votes and Amy Winehouse was the least favourite choice of someone to work for with just two per cent.

It’s perhaps Sir Alan’s love of enterprise and the support he shows for creative thinking that has pushed him to the top of the list.

The son of an East End tailor, who is now worth more than £800 million and was ranked as the 84th richest man in the Sunday Times Rich List 2007, he’s been helping the Prime Minister come up with plans to inspire young people to become involved in business.

Earlier this year, one of his ideas, the so-called McDonald’s A-level, was adopted by Downing Street.

It’s a project he’s passionate about. He says: “My children were brought up in quite a difficult environment because they were the children of a wealthy man. Fortunately, from my background and where I came from, I was able to instil upon them some values.

“But some of the youngsters today live in a dream world. They’re not focused on what they are going to do when they leave education, not focused on the fact they have to support themselves and how there’s a necessity for finance, there’s a necessity for enterprise and there’s the necessity of being self-sufficient.

“We want to try to instil some spirit of enterprise into young people. We can’t all be city slickers sitting in front of screens – someone’s got to make something.”

Claire Lister, managing director of Pitman Training Group, says: “It was interesting to see that Sir Alan Sugar received the highest number of votes; it shows that people respect his business prowess and aren’t put off by his no-nonsense approach.

“This latest series of The Apprentice has definitely shown that a loud mouth and bags of confidence aren’t enough to secure you the job of your dreams.

“Many of the candidates who were quick to brag about their superb sales ability and multitude of achievements simply didn’t have the practical skills and common sense to succeed in the tasks set,” Claire added.

The chances are the next job you go for won’t be televised and that Sir Alan Sugar is unlikely to ever be your boss but the pressure and competition can sometimes feel just as great in the real world.

Sir Alan appreciates confidence but he draws the line at out-and-out arrogance, he says.

“There’s a time and place for arrogance. Continual arrogance is not a very good trait,” he says.

“There were some characters this year that believed they were on a different level to others. They start off that way but you knock a bit of that out of them as you go along.

“I hope they realise it's done them a bit of good. I hope they look at themselves and perhaps adapt their demeanour.”