The Apprentice

Best of luck to @TheRealJackDee and @RomeshRanga taking over on "The Apprentice: You're Fired!" Hope you have as much fun with it as I did.

— Dara Ó Briain (@daraobriain) September 11, 2015

Excited to announce that @TheRealJackDee is the new host of "The Apprentice: You're Fired" and @RomeshRanga will be the panel regular!

— Off The Kerb (@OffTheKerb) September 11, 2015

So does this mean there's a new series round the corner? It's usually around this time of year, isn't it?

Don't find Romesh funny, and he seems to show up everywhere these days. I shan't dismiss him without seeing him ,though.

Last year the series started on Oct 14th, so a best guess would be Oct 13th this year, assuming the same pattern as last year.

The show sort of floats around the schedule depending on whether there's an election or not due to Lord Sugar's place in the House of Lords - it was originally a late winter/early spring programme, then was pushed to autumn in 2010, back to summer for 2011 and again in 2013, spring in 2012 and autumn again in 2014 and 2015.

I can find Dara O'Briain grating at times; I do prefer both Jack Dee and Romesh Ranganathan. Each to their own, I suppose.

The election thing was only because the Tories made a fuss as Nick Hewer and Lord Sugar were both members of the Labour Party. With Nick Hewer gone and Lord Sugar sitting as a Crossbencher, the only panellist with any party affiliation is Karen. But I somehow doubt the Mail will be highlighting that as an example of BBC bias.

Sugar only announced his disaffiliation with Labour shortly before the Election, so the decision on the timing of The Apprentice would have already have been made.

As another poster has said, Romesh is turning up everywhere. He has a great agent clearly on the basis he is so unfunny.

Will still try the new series of You're Fired as I enjoy it normally though really not sure if I will stick it through with him in it

It does seem that every show with a panel of guests these days has one of Romesh, Rob Beckett or Roisin Conaty on it. Not that I particularly mind, I do like all three.

Dare I suggest that with some programmes his booking might also have conveniently ticked a diversity box. I'll reserve judgement until I see the show as to whether having a regular guest will work.

Yes you dare suggest that. And I dare to suggest that you are correct

As much as I like Jack Dee it's a fairly uninspired choice IMO from the same pool of talent (from the same agency) that crops up on everything. That's the problem with Romesh too - I find him funnier now than I used too but the same handful of comics doing the panel show circuit means it's inevitable you get tired of them pretty quickly.