The Apprentice host Lord Alan Sugar has blasted the BBC over scheduling of the new series.
Instead of Wednesday nights, this new series will play out on Thursday nights, with one of its rivals right before it.
What did Lord Alan Sugar say about The Apprentice scheduling?
In past series, The Apprentice has been on a Wednesday night.
But now series 16 will play out on a Thursday night – with another entrepreneurial show, Dragons’ Den, before it at 8pm.
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Speaking to ED! and other journalists ahead of the series 16 launch, Lord Sugar said: “I only noticed myself this week that the BBC had decided to play Dragons’ Den beforehand and I’m not quite sure what their thinking is.
“Perhaps they’re making Thursday ‘business night’ or something, I don’t know.
“They don’t share their scheduling ideas with me.”
What else did Lord Sugar say?
However, he continued: “There is an argument that says you’ll get so bored you might not bother to tune into us afterwards.
“Sorry, that’s a joke! It is a joke, don’t take exception to it.
“I should imagine that it’ll be a nice warm-up to The Apprentice…
“They’ve moved the scheduling to a Thursday for the first time ever in 16 years.
“It’s always been a Wednesday night thing, and this was a BBC decision that was not shared with me.
“But it should make no difference whatsoever.”
What’s happening in the first episode?
The new series starts tonight (Thursday January 6) with 16 new candidates fighting to win Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment into their business.
And in that opening episode, the candidates are whisked off to Portsmouth to board a cruise ship.
Their task?
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To come up with a new cruise brand – complete with name, logo and social media and TV adverts.
This means the teams have to work together to win the challenge, but if past series have shown, anything involving making adverts does not go well.
The Apprentice starts tonight (January 6) at 9pm on BBC One
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