The remote uses IR not Bluetooth.
Apple Remote makes it easy to play, adjust volume, move forward & back to control your Mac, iPod, or iPhone from afar. Get fast, free shipping when you shop online. The Apple Remote is a remote control introduced in October 2005 by Apple Inc. For use with a number of its products with infrared capability. It was originally designed to control the Front Row media center program on the iMac G5 and is compatible with many subsequent Macintosh computers. The first three generations of Apple TV used the Apple Remote as their primary control mechanism.
Older Macs used to come with an Apple remote for various uses but these days it's an optional extra.
Pairing is not intuitive - the remote just sends a signal with some kind of code to identify that particular remote.
When you pair a remote it makes AppleTV or Mac only respond to commands from the remote with a certain code.
By default AppleTVs and Macs are not apired so work with any remote - even if that remote is paired with another device as the rewmote has no role in pairing apart from providing a code to identify it specifically.
Try:
Use the Security pane in System Preferences to turn the infrared ('IR') reception on your Mac off (or back on). To do this:
from http://support.apple.com/kb/ht1619
Jun 15, 2013 3:32 PM