I can't see why he would be joking... jokes have to be taken in context, and I'm not sure many people would really get why he'd lie about that.

Well LS is sayig he's not allowed to say when it is starting - why would Dara be allowed to reveal it but not LS?

I don't know, but why wouldn't Dara just say that if it was a problem? Maybe Lord Sugar is more obedient than Dara... after all, Dara is used on a lot more shows than Lord Sugar, so he's probably less worried about getting into trouble, because a lot of people like him and it would be a blow to the BBC to lose him.

As I have said before I think he said it to wind us up, and to get the fans who keep asking off of his back! They have no reason to put it back to mid-November, when they've had since June to do the editing - and it's not been for so long!

Dara should know the start date better than LS because he has to clear his diary for the taping of YF

and he also won't want to lose his twitter following by lying about the start date imo

I guess that could work. Maybe we'd then get a double bill to close the series too?

Or maybe The Apprentice might get moved to a different day?

I really don't see how a mid-November start could work. The Beeb won't show two episodes a week every week, and it makes no sense to me to break mid-run for the Christmas break. There is NO way the Beeb will run it over Christmas - if it's still in its Wednesday slot, that would mean transmission on both Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve. So hopefully Dara was joking.

This is what I think - makes no sense.

Names out to the media by the end of this week I reckon....

They were revealed 1 week before the first show last year - we know it's not starting for 3 weeks at least, so we won't be seeing identities for about 2 weeks

names to the media but embargoed for a period of time before released to the public as is usual so 2 weeks sounds right.

Last year I was abroad when it started and couldn't watch it for the first five weeks, so I had to completely avoid going on the Internet so as not to find out anything... but of course I had a lot of fun watching that many episodes back-to-back.

It's definitely back in October.

Why do you think that?

I agree, with you, but what's your reasoning?

Lord Sugar says it's back in a few weeks again. He would NOT say that if it was back in mid-November.

He also says it's gonna be a great series, but then I guess he would say that

See here - that as good as confirms an October TX date, at least.

I'm still waiting to be told about the release of embargoed series information, as I'm going to be doing weekly reviews for the Metro. I expect I'll see something in the next week to ten days. If I do I'll let you know that there's news forthcoming (although obviously I won't be able to share actual information ...)

14th and 15th of October - it's gotta be. If we were running the same way as last year, we could get a trailer or something like that today!

My guess is it will be later than that - unlikely to be more than two weeks pre-TX. But soon, definitely.

With a bit of luck I'll get tickets to a You're Hired recording and am planning to write two different weekly reviews - a bite-sized review for Metro and my usual more detailed analysis for my own blog - which will hopefully go up straight after each episode airs.

'Apprentice back in a few weeks, but don't bother watching it, it's rubbish this year'

I think we're about 2-3 weeks away...

That was my source too.

Ohmygodohmygodohmygodohmygod this trailer from last year just aired on BBC One:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjD3pggCKjg

Last year, this trailer was aired three weeks and 4 days before the first episode - however, for the series to be over by Christmas, it has to start with a double bill on the 14th and 15th of October, which is two weeks, and 3 days away! Hopefully we get our first teaser towardns the end of next week, with the identities of the candidates being revealed the Tuesday after.

I can't believe we could know the candidates in 11 days!


THE WAIT IS ALMOST OVER PEOPLE.

They also showed the trailer (which I didn't think was very good) between the end of Match of the Day and the start of the Football League show and said "coming soon". Can't wait - bring it on! Hope there's a candidate from Norn Iron again

I'm going to do my best not to find out the identities of the candidates before it starts - which is very difficult for someone like me who has to look things up constantly. No spoilers for me!

If I remember correctly, you said that last year and didn;t succeed

Looks like The Apprentice will be on TV in around 2-3 weeks now. Having apprentice withdrawal symptoms haha, lets hope it lives up to the long wait and also that its not the last one.