The Celebrity Apprentice Set for Full Series on BBC One in 2026
A six-part season of The Celebrity Apprentice is slated to premiere on BBC One in 2026, marking the first full-length run of the show featuring a lineup of well-known faces competing under the watchful eye of Lord Sugar. The upcoming series promises a deeper dive into the high-stakes world of business challenges, moving beyond the limited scope of previous celebrity editions.
Festive Preview Coming This Month
Before the full series launch, viewers will be treated to a special festive edition of The Celebrity Apprentice airing December 29th and 30th. This installment will star a diverse cast including Rob Rinder, Jake Wood, Eddie Kadi, JB Gill, Thomas Skinner, Matt Morsia, AJ Odudu, Kadeena Cox, Charlie Hedges, Sarah Hadland, Shazia Mirza, and Angela Scanlon.
The celebrity candidates will journey to Lapland to tackle a unique challenge: crafting a magical gingerbread biscuit. For the first time in the show’s history, the resulting creations will be pitched to major UK retailers and sold in stores nationwide, with a portion of the proceeds benefiting BBC Children in Need.
Lord Sugar on the Expanded Format
Lord Sugar expressed his enthusiasm for the expanded format, stating, “We’ve had some great celebrity names walk into my boardroom over the years, but they’ve only ever had a small taster of what it’s like to be a candidate.” He anticipates it will be “interesting to see how our future celebrities fare across a full series, removing their PAs, PRs, agents and all the other assistance they have in their day-to-day lives to fully immerse themselves into The Apprentice world.”
A New Level of Immersion for Celebrities
The shift to a full series is designed to strip away the usual support systems celebrities rely on, forcing them to confront the pressures of the business world without their customary teams. According to one analyst, this heightened level of immersion will provide a more authentic and compelling viewing experience.
BBC and Naked on the Upcoming Series
Kalpna Patel-Knight, Head of Entertainment at the BBC, affirmed the show’s enduring appeal, noting, “The Apprentice is a much-loved part of the BBC’s entertainment offering and we can’t wait to see how the celebrity candidates rise to the challenge when the series launches later in 2026.”
Paul Broadbent, Director of Programmes at Naked (a Fremantle label), added, “It’s a joy to be bringing The Celebrity Apprentice to our screens for a full series. Viewers have our two fantastic Christmas specials to come, which will give them a taste of what to expect from the next series. The celebrities will need to leave their ego at the boardroom door and prepare to roll their sleeves up for some very challenging – and hugely entertaining – tasks.”
Format Considerations for a Full Series
Previous experience with celebrity editions has informed the approach to the full series. Lord Sugar previously explained that the format of the Christmas specials, while successful as one-offs, wouldn’t translate seamlessly to a longer run. He pointed out that the main series often involves products being immediately sold to trade and the public, a dynamic difficult to replicate with the lead times required for mass-produced items. Karren Brady echoed this sentiment, emphasizing the logistical challenges of maintaining reactivity and ease of execution over an extended filming schedule.
The first full-length series of The Celebrity Apprentice will be available on BBC One and iPlayer in 2026, promising a fresh and engaging take on the beloved business competition.
