When viewers search for apprentice candidates, they are rarely looking for a bare list of names on a page. They want the shape of the whole season: who arrived with the strongest business pitch, who grew under pressure in the tasks, who collapsed in the boardroom, and who finally walked away with Lord Sugar’s investment. That is exactly why the twentieth series of the BBC’s The Apprentice drew so much attention across UK entertainment coverage, because it combined a milestone anniversary, the largest cast in more than a decade, and a finale that felt genuinely competitive right up to the last boardroom decision.
Series 20 began on 29 January 2026 and concluded on 16 April 2026 after a twelve-episode run. By the end, Karishma Vijay had been chosen as the winner, beating fellow finalist Pascha Myhill and securing Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment alongside a fifty-fifty business partnership. This updated guide is designed as a complete, reader-friendly companion to that season: the full line-up, the businesses behind the contestants, the week-by-week story of the competition, the final five, the interview stage, and what comes next for the show.
Series 20 at a Glance: Dates, Teams and the Road to the Final
The twentieth series arrived with built-in momentum because it marked a genuine milestone for one of British television’s most durable reality formats. Twenty candidates took part, the highest number since the tenth series back in 2014, and the cast was announced on 19 January 2026, just ten days before the launch episode. Lord Sugar returned alongside his aides Baroness Karren Brady and Tim Campbell, while the spin-off show was rebranded as The Apprentice: Unfinished Business with Angela Scanlon taking over as host after Tom Allen stepped down. The candidates were split into two teams, Alpha and Eclipse, and the full series record confirms the twelve-episode structure that carried the contest from late January to the April final.
The season opened in spectacular fashion in Hong Kong, where the candidates were thrown straight into a classic buying task that tested organisation, negotiation and group discipline from the very first day. From there the series moved through familiar but demanding territory, with episodes covering a children’s story task, a chicken-versus-egg challenge, advertising water, a flower-selling task, a corporate away day in Egypt, gamified fitness, discount buying, television selling and a pet product task. The Egypt trip in episode six gave the series a genuine sense of scale, while the later tasks increasingly rewarded contestants who could translate ideas into something a buyer or client would understand quickly and pay for.
Apprentice Candidates: The Full 2026 Line-Up
The apprentice candidates announced in January 2026 came from strikingly varied professional backgrounds, which is one reason the season felt so reflective of modern British entrepreneurship. The first group included Andrea Cooper, a lettings agency owner from Barnsley; Carrington Saunders, an online loungewear business owner; Conor Galvin, a photobooth business owner from Cork; Dan Miller, a student recruitment company owner; Georgina Newton, an actress and events manager; Harry Clough, a financial sales manager; Karishma Vijay, a beauty brand owner; Kieran McCartney, an estate agent; Lawrence Rosenberg, a public relations specialist; and Levi Hague, a former RAF gunner turned HGV driver. That spread alone signalled that the boardroom arguments would come from very different ways of thinking about business.
The second half of the cast added Marcus Donkoh, a barber shop owner; Megan Ruiter, an online clothing brand owner; Nikki Jetha, a mortgage broker from Hornchurch; Pascha Myhill, a recruitment consultant from Reading; Priyesh Bathia, a global account manager; Rajan Gill, a pharmaceutical sales specialist; Rothna Akhtar, a student wellbeing advisor; Roxanne Hamedi, a pharmacist; Tanmay Hingorani, an AI product consultant; and Vanessa Tetteh-Squire, a technology project manager. Together the twenty covered property, beauty, recruitment, fashion, pharmaceuticals, technology, barbershop retail, public relations, finance and education-linked services, giving the series a commercial breadth that kept almost every task unpredictable.
How the Series Unfolded: Tasks, Firings and Turning Points
Among the apprentice candidates, the early weeks quickly established a rough hierarchy built on leadership, commercial instinct and the ability to survive Lord Sugar’s boardroom logic. Georgina Newton was fired after the first task in Hong Kong, Marcus Donkoh followed in week two, Tanmay Hingorani went in week three, Roxanne Hamedi in week four, Vanessa Tetteh-Squire in week five and Andrea Cooper in week six. Those exits were rarely about television drama alone; they confirmed patterns the audience could already see, such as unclear leadership, weak ownership of failure, or business ideas that could not survive contact with real customers and real numbers.
The middle section of the series tightened the contest considerably as the field narrowed toward genuinely investable contenders. Rajan Gill was fired in week seven and Harry Clough in week eight, before Conor Galvin’s exit in week nine reduced the numbers further. Week ten then delivered a double blow: Rothna Akhtar was fired while Kieran McCartney departed the process voluntarily, a reminder that the pressure of the competition affects even confident candidates. By that stage the remaining hopefuls were no longer simply surviving tasks; they were entering the phase where business plans, credibility and long-term viability would be examined in forensic detail.
The Final Five and the Dreaded Interview Stage
By the time the series reached the interviews, the field had narrowed to Karishma Vijay, Pascha Myhill, Dan Miller, Lawrence Rosenberg and Priyesh Bathia. That final five mixed visibly different business styles and communication patterns, from Karishma’s disciplined consumer-brand focus to Dan’s mission-led student recruitment venture and Pascha’s composed, steadily improving presence. The interview stage matters precisely because it removes the protection of team structure: each candidate faces Lord Sugar’s most formidable business associates alone, with Claude Littner, Claudine Collins, Linda Plant and Mike Soutar probing every claim, testing products blind and demanding evidence behind every projection.
Radio Times reported that Dan, Lawrence and Priyesh did not survive the interview stage, leaving Karishma and Pascha as the final two. That outcome tells its own story about what the process actually rewards at the sharp end. Reaching the last five proves durability across weeks of tasks, but the interviews demand sharper evidence: realistic numbers, a coherent structure and a plan that holds together when experienced operators pull at its weak points. Plenty of contestants look strong in team tasks and still unravel when forced to defend the logic of their own business in detail, which is why the interview cull so often reshapes the expected finishing order.
Why Karishma Vijay Won Lord Sugar’s £250,000 Investment
Karishma Vijay won because the final decision rewarded a rare blend of consistency, business clarity and self-belief across the entire twelve-week run. She entered the process with Kishkin, a skincare-led business aimed at cutting through cluttered beauty routines and building consumer trust through stronger product focus, and she defended that proposition with growing authority as the weeks progressed. Crucially, she treated the show as a commercial vehicle rather than a personality contest, reportedly joining for investment and a business partner rather than television fame, which gave her boardroom performances a seriousness that set her apart when the contest shifted from weekly tasks to long-term potential.
The final boardroom itself was far closer than many reality-show endings, with entertainment coverage described as close enough for Karishma herself to believe Lord Sugar might hire both finalists. Radio Times reported her saying she thought a double hire was genuinely possible, which underlines how narrowly the decision was balanced between two credible investment cases. In the end Lord Sugar chose Karishma, a verdict that suggests her consumer-facing brand, clearer route to scale and relentless work ethic combined into the most convincing overall package when the season’s performance and the business plan were weighed together.
Pascha Myhill’s journey deserves equal respect because runner-up stories often reveal as much about a season as the winner does. The twenty-one-year-old recruitment consultant arrived with a healthcare employment consultancy concept focused on supplying professionals to care settings, a proposition rooted in recognisable market demand rather than glamour. She reportedly told Radio Times that she had not expected to survive beyond week four, yet she grew visibly in confidence and competence until she stood as a genuinely credible finalist. Like the best Apprentice runners-up, she left the boardroom disappointed but not diminished, with a business idea she still believed in and intended to pursue.
What Is Next: Series 21, Series 22 Applications and Where to Watch
With Series 20 complete, attention naturally turns to what comes next for the format. Series 21 is expected to air in 2027, with applications for that series having closed back on 23 January 2026, which means its cast has been selected away from the cameras and will be revealed in the usual pre-launch announcements. Looking further ahead, applications for Series 22 are currently open through the official applications page, with entries due to close on 22 January 2027. In September 2026 Lord Sugar even posted on Instagram calling for Series 22 candidates, singling out applicants from Belfast, Bristol, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Sunderland, Newcastle and Manchester in particular.
For viewers who missed episodes or want to revisit the 2026 season, Radio Times reported that The Apprentice is available to stream on BBC iPlayer, where all twelve episodes of Series 20 can be watched back. That catch-up afterlife keeps cast guides like this one useful long after the finale, because readers can move from an article straight into the programme and judge the narrative for themselves. The prize itself remains unchanged for future candidates: up to £250,000 of investment and a fifty-fifty partnership with Lord Sugar, whose application site notes he has now invested more than £3,000,000 in businesses through the show’s winners over the years.
Frequently Asked Questions
Who are the apprentice candidates for The Apprentice 2026?
The apprentice candidates for the 2026 series were Andrea Cooper, Carrington Saunders, Conor Galvin, Dan Miller, Georgina Newton, Harry Clough, Karishma Vijay, Kieran McCartney, Lawrence Rosenberg, Levi Hague, Marcus Donkoh, Megan Ruiter, Nikki Jetha, Pascha Myhill, Priyesh Bathia, Rajan Gill, Rothna Akhtar, Roxanne Hamedi, Tanmay Hingorani and Vanessa Tetteh-Squire. Announced on 19 January 2026, the twenty were split into two teams, Alpha and Eclipse, making it the largest cast since the tenth series in 2014. Their backgrounds spanned beauty, recruitment, property, pharmaceuticals, technology, fashion, public relations, finance and education-linked services, which gave the season its unusually broad commercial flavour.
Who won The Apprentice 2026 and who was the runner-up?
Karishma Vijay won The Apprentice 2026, beating Pascha Myhill in the final boardroom on 16 April 2026 to secure Lord Sugar’s £250,000 investment and a fifty-fifty business partnership. Karishma, a twenty-eight-year-old beauty brand owner, pitched Kishkin, a skincare-led business aimed at simplifying cluttered routines. Pascha Myhill, a twenty-one-year-old recruitment consultant, finished as runner-up with a healthcare employment consultancy concept. The final was widely described as one of the closest in recent years, with Karishma herself reportedly believing Lord Sugar might hire both finalists before he chose her alone.
How many episodes and tasks were there in Series 20?
Series 20 ran for twelve episodes from 29 January to 16 April 2026. The tasks included a buying task in Hong Kong, a children’s story challenge, a chicken-versus-egg task, advertising water, flower selling and corporate installations, a corporate away day in Egypt, gamified fitness, discount buying, television selling and a pet product task, followed by the dreaded interview stage and the grand final. The Hong Kong opener was a first for the show and was staged to mark the twentieth-series milestone, while the Egypt episode gave the mid-season a genuine sense of international scale.
What businesses did the winner and the runner-up pitch?
Karishma Vijay pitched Kishkin, a skincare-led beauty brand designed to cut through overcomplicated routines and build consumer trust through focused, high-quality products. Pascha Myhill pitched a healthcare recruitment consultancy supplying professionals to private care facilities, a concept built around clear and practical market demand. Both finalists therefore offered Lord Sugar very different commercial lanes: one a consumer-facing brand with lifestyle appeal, the other a service business tied to workforce needs. The contrast is part of why the final felt like a contest between two credible directions rather than an obvious winner and a placeholder challenger.
When will The Apprentice return for Series 21?
Series 21 of The Apprentice is expected to air in 2027, although the BBC had not confirmed exact transmission dates at the time of writing. Applications for Series 21 closed on 23 January 2026, so the cast is already selected and will be announced closer to launch, following the show’s usual pattern of revealing candidates in mid-January. Applications for Series 22 are currently open and due to close on 22 January 2027. All episodes of Series 20 remain available to stream on BBC iPlayer for viewers who want to catch up before the next series begins.
Conclusion
The 2026 season proved that a long-running format can still feel relevant when the cast brings real variety and the final decision feels commercially believable. From the twenty-person launch and the Hong Kong opener through the Egypt away day, the interview stage and the close finish between Karishma Vijay and Pascha Myhill, Series 20 gave viewers a complete season arc rather than a sequence of disconnected episodes. That coherence is why it continues to generate search interest months after the winner was announced, and why a full understanding of the line-up matters more than any single result.
For anyone researching apprentice candidates today, the clearest takeaway is that this was a season defined by range and credibility. The full twenty offered different kinds of ambition, but the strongest contestants were those who combined personality with commercial logic under sustained pressure. In the end Karishma Vijay’s proposition won the investment, Pascha Myhill left as a highly credible runner-up, and the twentieth series delivered the kind of finish that makes a cast worth revisiting rather than simply filing away.
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