The Apprentice 2020 officially axed

\'The Apprentice\' has been officially axed for 2020.

The BBC confirmed Lord Sugar\'s reality series will not be airing this year, due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Although the new instalment is cancelled, highlights from the past 15 years will be shown in a special series on BBC1.

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Karren Brady, Claude Littner and Lord Sugar himself will appear to give commentary.

In a statement, the broadcaster said: "Sadly we have decided to postpone \'The Apprentice\' for 2020.

"Production safety and the wellbeing of everyone involved in the show is our number one priority.

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"While this is understandably disappointing news, viewers will still be able to get their weekly fix of memorable tasks, favourite candidates and boardroom bust ups alongside brand new insights from Karren, Claude, Lord Sugar and many more from the past 15 years in a special highlights series airing on BBC1."

Producers had hoped to get the series launched and even had candidates on standby amid the pandemic, but unfortunately they ran out of time.

A source added to The Sun newspaper\'s Bizarre TV column: "\'The Apprentice\' is one of the BBC\'s biggest and most popular shows so they were desperate not to have to axe it.

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"But they could wait no longer and they\'ve run out of time."

However, the boardroom will reopen in 2021, with Lord Sugar even recently suggesting they could run two series next year to make up for it.

He said: "That\'s one of the things we\'re considering, to have two series air in one year. It will be a big challenge to do but it\'s possible.

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"The production company already has a group of candidates that were ready to be in this next series and those candidates have been told to standby and see what happens.

"It is quite obvious when you think about it, the filming normally starts in the spring, late spring and of course we don\'t see that the crisis will be over anywhere near that."

The contestants have to compete in a series of business-related challenges set by Lord Sugar, which sees them travel and interact with third-party groups, which would\'ve broken the social distancing rules set by the government.