The Apprentice series 10 start date: Lord Sugar confirms October launch on Twitter

Nick Hewer and Karren Brady will be back to help find an apprentice

Nick Hewer, Lord Alan Sugar, Karren Brady are returning for a tenth series of The Apprentice (PA)

Lord Alan Sugar has confirmed that The Apprentice will return to our living rooms this autumn.

The English entrepreneur and TV personality announced on Twitter that the reality series, in which a group of businessmen and women battle for the opportunity to work with him, will be back in under a fortnight.

Meet the new Apprentice candidates

The launch is scheduled for Tuesday 14 October before a second episode the night after. From then on, the series will run every Wednesday at 9pm on BBC One.

For more dedicated fans, there will also be a 10th anniversary special on Monday 13 October at 10.35pm. This one-off show will remind viewers of “classic moments and characters” from past series.

Doctor Leah Totton won last year’s series after attracting Lord Sugar’s business attention with her proposition for a medical cosmetic surgery company. She won £250,000 to put towards the business.

Apprentice winner Leah Totton opens her first cosmetic surgery clinic

Lord Sugar will be back in the judge’s chair for the tenth run to tell more wannabes “You’re fired!”, accompanied once more by Nick Hewer and Karren Brady.

The show first began in 2005 on BBC Two and soon became a huge ratings success with its gripping, competitive format.

Past winners have included Tom Pellereau, Lee McQueen, Tim Campbell, Michelle Dewberry and Stella English, who took Lord Sugar to an employment tribunal in 2013.

English lost her case for claiming he treated her like “an overpaid lackey” and gave her menial tasks.

Stella English has lost her case against businessman Lord Sugar

Media columnist and commentator Katie Hopkins also originated on The Apprentice. She turned down Lord Sugar’s offer of a place in the series three final because of childcare problems and withdrew from the competition.