Alan Sugar has emergency heart surgery in US

The Apprentice host has operation to unblock artery while on holiday in Florida

Sir Alan Sugar
(Image credit: Eamonn M. McCormack/Getty Images)

Lord Alan Sugar has had urgent heart surgery during a winter break in Florida after tests revealed that one of his arteries had narrowed.

The 69-year-old entrepreneur and host of The Apprentice is understood to have fully recovered following the procedure, which took place in December.

The billionaire was fitted with a stent, a permanent mesh tube designed to widen a narrowed artery. Blockages to arteries can lead to serious health problems and can even be fatal. The underlying condition is evidence of possible coronary heart disease.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The procedure to place the stent is understood to have been completed under local anaesthetic. Sugar was discharged from hospital the day after the operation.

His spokesman Andrew Bloch told The Sun that Sugar was currently enjoying the rest of his holiday in Florida: "He was on the mend within a day and cleared to resume exercise after a week.

"He's in perfect medical health and plays tennis and rides his bike for 40 miles regularly."

Sugar has been pictured taking flying lessons since the procedure, though he is not legally allowed to pilot a plane for three months after the operation.

See more

On New Year's Day, he tweeted a photo of a huge English breakfast.

See more

And on Sunday, he tweeted a photo of himself posing with eight-time Grand Slam winner Jimmy Connors, indicating that his fitness levels had not declined since the operation.

Ex-US presidents George Bush and Bill Clinton have also had stents fitted, along with Dollar singer David Van Day, says The Sun.

To continue reading this article...
Continue reading this article and get limited website access each month.
Get unlimited website access, exclusive newsletters plus much more.
Cancel or pause at any time.
Already a subscriber to The Week?
Not sure which email you used for your subscription? Contact us