Karren Brady will quit The Apprentice when Lord Sugar goes

Karren Brady has said that when Lord Sugar leaves The Apprentice she'll be going too, quashing rumours that she could one day replace him in the big chair.

Lord Sugar is 76 now and he has been talking about what the future holds for The Apprentice, which is still going strong as one of the BBC's most popular shows.

Addressing rumours that he could end up stepping down soon, he's said he could still see himself on the show for a few more years.

The first season of The Apprentice was shown in the UK in 2005 and Lord Sugar has said there's 'no reason why I can't go on to do 25 years', adding that he doesn't 'know whether it stops at 20'.

BBC

While his time on The Apprentice would seem to be closer to the end than the beginning it doesn't sound like the latest season was the last one we're going to get.

Still, the future of such a show does need to be considered and Lord Sugar has said there would be 'loads of people that would queue up' to take over from him when he leaves, though he 'can't think of anybody' he'd pick out as an anointed successor.

If the producers of The Apprentice were thinking of an internal promotion then their hopes might be dashed on that front as Karren Brady, Lord Sugar's aide on the show, has said she'll leave when he does.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, she said she thinks the show ends when Lord Sugar goes and she's not interested in sticking around to see what it'll be like without him.

"When Alan steps down, I step down," she explained, appearing to quash rumours that she could one day take over the job of telling hapless candidates 'you're fired'.

"I wouldn't do it, there's only one person who can sit in that chair and that's him. The Apprentice is Alan."

BBC

There have been personnel changes on the show before but the middle seat of that boardroom has always been Lord Sugar's.

Back when The Apprentice started he was flanked by Nick Hewer and Margaret Mountford, but eventually Nick and Margaret became Nick and Karren, and then Karren and Claude.

In recent times, Claude Littner has missed episodes due to health issues and it's been Karren and Tim, with the winner of the first season of The Apprentice making it to the other side of the boardroom.

While the supporting cast may have changed plenty over the years and there appears to be no shortage of clueless candidates aiming to secure that £250,000 business investment, it sounds like The Apprentice might not last long beyond Lord Sugar's departure.