The Apprentice's Alan Sugar says he once felt sorry for Katie Hopkins – but ‘only for a minute’

Lord Sugar has admitted that he once felt sorry for former Apprentice candidate Katie Hopkins.

The business mogul, 68, made the admission while promoting his new book, Unscripted - My Ten Years in Telly, on This Morning.

Speaking of the opinionated columnist – who was this week slammed for referring to a disabled child as “it” – he said he only felt sorry for her for “about a minute”.

“I was at the wrap party where she had made no friends amongst the other candidates there and all the others were talking, and she was just standing on her own,” he said. “I looked and thought ‘oh dear’ so I went over and had a chat with her because I felt a bit sorry for her being isolated and everybody had decided not to talk to her.

“And I think we can understand why perhaps they decided not to talk to her now.”

Sugar also revealed that he was the third choice for the role of boardroom head on the BBC show.

Speaking to Holly Willoughby and Phillip Schofield he said: "Apparently, although they won’t ever admit it because they realise what a genius I was in the end!"

The Amstrad founder will return to The Apprentice alongside Karren Brady and new aide Claude Littner later this month.

Last week he tweeted a teaser trailer for the new series showing a handful of candidates wearing protective clothing to face a boardroom onslaught.

As Littner rolls his eyes, Sugar can be heard telling the new contestants: “Call yourself candidates? Nothing in my board room is going to protect you.”