For four series The Apprentice has gloried in corporate greed. But now Sir Alan Sugar’s reality TV programme is to tone down its paean to pinstripe as it seeks to reflect the rigours of the recession.

In the new BBC series of Sir Alan’s hunt for a protégé, which begins next Wednesday, the 15 contenders for the £100,000 job will compete in pared-down challenges that will focus on boosting British businesses.

Sir Alan said that, to reflect the harsher economic conditions, it had become even more difficult to secure the top prize. “You’ll see that in the tail end of the series, with me saying that in this day and age people are not being recruited,” he said. “Companies are not taking on people that can get lost in the background and be part of some unknown part of the management. Now it’s focusing on people who are actually going to perform.

“It’s much tougher out there. I make the point to the apprentices as we’re going through. This is not me experimenting with someone. The person that comes on board is going to have to do some work.”

The effects of the downturn are evident from the opening titles of the BBC One programme, which has had its budget frozen as part of cost-cutting measures. Whereas previous series made references to Sir Alan’s wealth – once estimated as in excess of £800 million – this one makes no such claims, although a spokesman for the show said that the omission was an oversight. Programme executives said that among the challenges faced by the would-be apprentices – who include a former professional footballer and a Tanzanian beauty queen – are a rebranding of Margate, the dilapidated Kent seaside resort.

Sir Alan said: “As we go through the series you will see some shows which are specifically attuned towards recognition of what difficult times we are in. People are considering whether to go on holiday, so there was a good opportunity to reinvent one of our ramshackle old seaside towns, so one of our tasks is about that.”

The traditional overseas episode has also been scrapped for this, the fifth series, and the usual task of attempting to introduce the wares of a foreign company to the British high street has been replaced by one aimed at promoting home-grown companies.

Sir Alan said: “The apprentices always think that they can second-guess us a bit and imagine they are going on some exotic trip, but this time they ended up in Manchester and Liverpool, where they were set a task of helping local small businesses to sell their merchandise to other businesses.”

The show was set to have sixteen competitors, but one candidate fired himself before the filming of the first episode. Sir Alan said: “It was just that he got into his hotel room that night and realised, ‘This is it, I’m away for up to 12 weeks from my family and my kids’, and I think the reality hit home.”

Asked when he thought the recession would end, Sir Alan said: “I can understand why you ask people like me, but I have no clue to be honest with you and neither does anybody else.”

Jay Hunt, controller of BBC One, said: “In the current climate, The Apprentice has never seemed more relevant. That emphasis on business acumen and sheer hard graft seems more appropriate than ever before.”

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