The Apprentice (British TV series) series 20
| The Apprentice | |
|---|---|
| Series 20 | |
| Starring | |
| Release | |
| Original network | BBC One |
| Original release | 29 January 2026 |
| Series chronology | |
The twentieth series of British reality television series The Apprentice premiered on 29 January 2026.[1] Karren Brady and Tim Campbell returned as Lord Sugar's aides. The series featured twenty candidates, the highest number since the tenth series in 2014.[2]
Production
In April 2024, prior to the airing of the previous series, the BBC announced that applications were open for the twentieth series.[3][4] They closed on 15 February 2025.[5] Lord Sugar announced that he would return for this series, and at least two further series thereafter.[6] Karren Brady and Tim Campbell are set to return as Sugar's aides.[7] Tom Allen stepped down from the programme's spin off show The Apprentice: You're Fired! after seven years, with Angela Scanlon taking over as host and the programme being rebranded as The Apprentice: Unfinished Business.[8]
Series overview
Candidates
The twenty candidates appearing in the twentieth series were announced on 19 January 2026.[9]
| Candidate | Background | Age | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Andrea Cooper | Lettings agency owner | 46 | TBA |
| Carrington Saunders | Online loungewear business owner | 23 | TBA |
| Conor Galvin | Photobooth business owner | 29 | TBA |
| Dan Miller | Student recruitment company owner | 27 | TBA |
| Harry Clough | Financial sales manager | 27 | TBA |
| Karishma Vijay | Beauty brand owner | 28 | TBA |
| Kieran McCartney | Estate agent | 26 | TBA |
| Lawrence Rosenberg | Public relations specialist | 28 | TBA |
| Levi Hague | Former RAF gunner and HGV driver | 32 | TBA |
| Megan Ruiter | Online clothing brand owner | 26 | TBA |
| Pascha Myhill | Recruitment consultant | 21 | TBA |
| Priyesh Bathia | Global account manager | 28 | TBA |
| Rajan Gill | Pharmaceutical sales specialist | 30 | TBA |
| Rothna Akhtar | Student wellbeing advisor | 28 | TBA |
| Roxanne Hamedi | Pharmacist | 32 | TBA |
| Vanessa Tetteh-Squire | Technology project manager | 28 | TBA |
| Tanmay Hingorani | AI product consultant | 28 | Fired in the third task |
| Marcus Donkoh | Barber shop owner | 28 | Fired in the second task |
| Georgina Newton | Actress and events manager | 31 | Fired in the first task |
| Nikki Jetha | Mortgage broker | 33 |
Performance chart
| Task Number | ||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 |
| Andrea | BR | WIN | LOSS | |||||||||
| Carrington | BR | IN | LOSE | |||||||||
| Conor | IN | LOSS | IN | |||||||||
| Dan | IN | BR | WIN | |||||||||
| Harry | IN | LOSS | IN | |||||||||
| Karishma | LOSS | IN | LOSS | |||||||||
| Kieran | WIN | BR | LOSS | |||||||||
| Lawrence | IN | LOSS | LOSS | |||||||||
| Levi | IN | IN[a] | ILL | |||||||||
| Megan | LOSS | IN | BR | |||||||||
| Pascha | LOSS | IN | IN | |||||||||
| Priyesh | IN | BR | LOSS | |||||||||
| Rajan | IN | LOSS | IN | |||||||||
| Rothna | BR | IN | IN | |||||||||
| Roxanne | BR | IN | IN | |||||||||
| Vanessa | LOSS | IN | IN | |||||||||
| Tanmay | IN | LOSS | FIRED | |||||||||
| Marcus | IN | FIRED | ||||||||||
| Georgina | FIRED | |||||||||||
| Nikki | FIRED | |||||||||||
- HIRED The candidate won this series of The Apprentice.
- RUNNER-UP The candidate was the runner-up.
- WIN The candidate won as project manager on their team, for this task.
- LOSE The candidate lost as project manager on their team, for this task.
- IN The candidate was on the winning team for this task / passed the Interviews stage.
- LOSS The candidate was on the losing team for this task.
- BR The candidate was brought to the final boardroom for this task.
- FIRED The candidate was fired in this task.
- FIRED The candidate lost as project manager for this task and was fired.
- LEFT The candidate lost as project manager for this task and left the process.
- ILL The candidate did not participate in the task due to illness.
Notes
- ^ Levi did not return for the boardroom following the second task due to illness, and was ultimately unable to compete in the third task.
Episodes
| No. overall | No. in series | Title | Original release date | UK viewers (millions) [10] | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 261 | 1 | "Hong Kong" | 29 January 2026 | TBD | |
|
Lord Sugar begins his search for a new business partner for 2026 amongst twenty new candidates.[11] For their first task, the teams are sent to Hong Kong and tasked with buying a list of nine items. Whichever team spends the least, including any fines for missing or incorrect items will win. Both teams suffer from severe disorganisation and struggle to identify the correct items. The men's team emerge victorious due to purchasing one more item than the women's team and not being as late back. Following scrutiny over the women’s team’s disastrous performance, Lord Sugar decides to ask both the project manager and the sub-team leader to bring two of their colleagues each back into the boardroom, and he proceeded to fire one person from each sub-team. Nikki Jetha becomes the first to be fired for her lack of strategy and poor leadership of the team as a whole, while Georgina Newton is also dismissed for her unsuitable personality. | |||||
| 262 | 2 | "Children's Story" | 5 February 2026 | TBD | |
|
The teams are summoned to the Paddington Bear Experience, where they are tasked with creating a children's story and an accompanying audiobook. They are to pitch the stories to retailers, with the winners being whoever shifts more copies. The men's team create a story about an astronaut looking for somewhere to go to the toilet, while the women's team, reinforced by a transfer from the men's team, opt for a story about a zebra on his first day of school. Both stories have some problems, with the men's story lacking illustrations on two pages and thought to have too much toilet humour, while the women's story contains visual elements not acknowledged in the narrative. In the end, retailers order more copies of the women's story, leaving the men facing questions about their flawed product. Of the final four, Marcus Donkoh is dismissed for his poor leadership, attempting to back a flawed story, and failing to bring back the sub-team members responsible for the said story into the boardroom. | |||||
| 263 | 3 | "Chicken v Egg" | 12 February 2026 | TBD | |
|
The teams are summoned to the historic Café Royal Grill where they are tasked with making a profit on either a recipe of chicken or eggs. Team Alpha is given 25 kilograms of chicken and produce chicken and mushroom pie to sell to the public, but struggles stem from some unclear instructions and partial indecision from the project manager and raised questions about the chicken and courgette canapé flavor. Team Eclipse are given 25 kilograms of eggs and make carbonara to sell to the public and egg skewers to sell as a canapé corporate order but struggles include dietary restrictions across the recipe team, an inability to calculate the cost of ingredients, poor negotiation skills (negotiating an immediate lower price), struggles in the kitchen and tardiness of the sub-team in service for the corporate side. Despite a larger refund, Team Alpha emerge victorious after it's revealed they achieved a higher profit than Team Eclipse, leaving the latter under scrutiny. Of the final three, Lord Sugar fires Tanmay Hingorani, deeming him culpable for the negotiation that doomed the team. | |||||
| 264 | 4 | "Advertising Water" | 19 February 2026 | TBD | |
|
The candidates must tap into the bottled water market to create a TV advertisement and a social media campaign for their product. | |||||
| 265 | 5 | "Flowers" | 26 February 2026 | TBD | |
|
The candidates turn petals into profits, selling flowers to the public and corporate clients, in a special twist on the very first ever task on the first series of the Apprentice. | |||||
References
- ^ "The Apprentice returns this month… but you'll have to wait longer for series 20". Tech Advisor. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
- ^ Sansome, Jessica (19 January 2026). "The Apprentice 2026 line-up confirmed amid BBC show 'first'". Manchester Evening News. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
- ^ Staples, Louis (6 February 2025). "The Apprentice at 20: how Trump and Alan Sugar's reality TV baby became little more than ritual humiliation". The Guardian. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
- ^ "The Apprentice | Shows and tours". BBC. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
- ^ "All you need to know about new The Apprentice from candidates to start date". Wandsworth Times. 20 January 2025. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
- ^ "The Apprentice: Lord Sugar signs up to stay on show into his 80s". BBC. 20 March 2025. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
- ^ Molina-Whyte, Lidia. "The Apprentice's Lord Sugar confirms 3 more seasons in works | Radio Times". Radio Times. Retrieved 12 December 2025.
- ^ "The Apprentice: Unfinished Business is coming to BBC Two, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds". BBC. Retrieved 16 January 2026.
- ^ "The Apprentice 2026: Meet the 20 hopefuls vying for Lord Sugar's investment". The Independent. 19 January 2026. Retrieved 19 January 2026.
- ^ "Weekly top 50 shows". BARB. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- ^ "The Apprentice - Series 20: 1. Hong Kong" – via www.bbc.co.uk.