Jack Dee to host The Apprentice You're Fired
Jack Dee has been announced as the new host of BBC Two's You're Fired - the companion show to reality challenge show The Apprentice, starring Alan Sugar.
Additionally, fellow comic Romesh Ranganathan has been signed up to take a regular place on the panel alongside the business experts and celebrities who appear each week to discuss the outgoing candidate's performance.
Jack Dee takes over from Dara O Briain, who has hosted the show since 2010 (with Adrian Chiles the original presenter). The Mock The Week host said last year that he was stepping down as the front man of You're Fired after five years at the helm so he could spend more time on his own comedy.
Talking about Jack Dee taking over, the BBC says: "Jack enjoys a special empathy with the candidates as he has been through the process himself, taking part in 2009's Comic Relief Does The Apprentice. Jack made it into the final boardroom only to be beaten by Michelle Mone of the women's team."
Jack Dee himself comments: "I'm very much looking forward to hosting You're Fired and hope that the luckless candidates will see me as the friendly face at the end of a difficult time in their lives."
Romesh Ranganathan adds: "As a massive fan of The Apprentice, this is very exciting for me. I love You're Fired and am looking forward to putting all the questions to the candidates that people at home want to see asked. I also have a number of business proposals of my own that I think Lord Sugar will be pretty interested in..."
Dee and Ranganathan have worked together before, with Ranganathan acting as a regular panellist on the BBC Two series Jack Dee's Election Helpdesk.
Mark Linsey, Controller of Entertainment Commissioning at the BBC, says: "It's great news that we have someone of Jack's comedy calibre as host of You're Fired, and I'm really excited that he will be aided and abetted by the hugely talented Romesh. Jack will be brilliant at guiding us through the highlights of The Apprentice and as a super-fan of the series, Romesh will provide us with his own uniquely funny perspective."
Kim Shillinglaw, Controller of BBC Two, explains: "BBC Two should always be fantastic company and who better than Jack Dee and Romesh Ranganathan to share the candidates' highs and lows with us and bring their wonderfully funny take on the week's events - I'm delighted to welcome them both to You're Fired."
There will be 11 episodes of You're Fired and one episode of You're Hired broadcast when the show returns to the BBC later this year.