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After two years off air, The Apprentice<\/a> is back for series 16, with 16 new candidates stepping into the boardroom. And, there\u2019s still more to come, with Lord Sugar hoping to get the BBC One show to 20 series, and then some.<\/p>\n Speaking ahead of the launch, the entrepreneur revealed he has \u201cno plans\u201d to quit the series, following speculation that it could be coming to an end after the 20th year.<\/p>\n \u201cFirst of all, I publicly stated that I really wanted to make it to 20 years. So this one is 16 and I\u2019ve got four more to do to achieve that goal,\u201d he told press including RadioTimes.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n Joking that he\u2019ll keep going for as long as physically possible, he added: \u201cI\u2019ve already worked out the final task in one of the series is to arrange my funeral, to see how well they\u2019d arrange it and what kind of coffin they will get for me.\u201d<\/p>\n He added: \u201cI\u2019m not going nowhere, and the programme\u2019s going nowhere. Please enjoy this current series, which I\u2019m sure you will, but I can assure you there\u2019s going to be a lot more. While I\u2019ve got health and strength in my body, I will carry on!\u201d<\/p> Series 16 will start on BBC One on Thursday 6th January, and will see The Apprentice 2022 cast<\/a> competing in a series of challenges in a bid to impress Lord Sugar, Karren Brady, and former Apprentice winner Tim Campbell<\/a>, who stands in for Claude Littner for the new series.<\/p>\n So, what can we expect from the upcoming episodes?<\/p>\n \u201cYou can look forward to a few fireworks from me and some wonderful contributions from Karren and Tim,\u201d Lord Sugar added.<\/p>\n Addressing how COVID-19 impacted on filming, he added: \u201cThe challenge of doing this thing through COVID, we just took it in our stride. And in a funny way, some great things came out of it.<\/p>\n \u201cSo we\u2019ve got a lot of good stuff to look to look forward to. It\u2019s a great series. We\u2019re all absolutely 100 per cent delighted to be back. And you know when you\u2019re away for a couple of years, like we were, you get into the swing of things very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n