THE APPRENTICE RETURNS TO BBC ONE IN 2023 WITH BIGGEST SERIES YET

The BBC’s award-winning business show, The Apprentice, will return to our screens for a 17th series in 2023. With more candidates and tasks overseas, as well as in the UK, this series is set to be bigger and better than ever.

Joining Lord Sugar will be his trusted advisors Baroness Karren Brady, Tim Campbell MBE and Claude Littner, who returns for two episodes.

For the first time since series 13, the show will return with 18 new candidates, all competing to win a life-changing £250,000 investment in their businesses. Thrown in at the deep end from day one, the candidates travel to Antigua where they are tasked with creating and selling excursions to tourists.

Candidates who aren’t cast away in the first task are back to face a host of equally tough challenges for the series ahead.

From creating their own cartoon, to the world of male beauty, from immersive events to street food, our aspiring titans of industry will once again have to prove that they have what it takes.

With the stakes higher than ever and the loser’s cab on standby, as always there’s no easing gently back into boardroom life in this series as our candidates bid to become Lord Sugar’s next business partner and winner of The Apprentice.

Over the years, Lord Sugar has invested close to a staggering £3million into winning pitches, and this year’s ambitious entrepreneurs will be doing their utmost to prove they mean business as they fight it out for the life-changing investment opportunity.

Comedian, writer and actor Tom Allen will return as host of The Apprentice: You’re Fired, which will air each week on BBC Two, straight after the main show.

Casting a wry eye over each week’s events, Tom will be joined by a host of celebrity fans and business professionals to dissect and debate the candidates' progress through each task.

Series 16 of The Apprentice saw a record return, peaking at 8.9M for the launch episode (highest ep since 2017 final). The series saw a standout young performance averaging 2.1M across the series, making it one of the highest rating young titles on the BBC of this year.

The Apprentice is a co-production with Naked (a Fremantle label) and MGM UK for BBC One.