Dara O Briain to leave Apprentice spin-off

Dara O Briain has fired himself from the next series of The Apprentice spin-off show You're Fired.

The stand-up, who has hosted the BBC Two companion show for five years, said he wants to spend more time on his own comedy.

He said: ‘After five years hosting You're Fired, I've decided to pass the chair on to someone else. In that time I've interviewed 84 wannabe apprentices.

‘If I interview any more, I'll turn into Claude Littner [who’s on the interview panel for the show.

‘Mainly though, I'm back on tour again this year and I'd like to enjoy getting laughs off my own incompetence for a while. ‘Best of luck to whoever takes over the chair, you'll have lots of fun with them.’

His departure comes after Nick Hewer stepped down after a decade as Lord Sugar's right-hand man on the BBC One show to present Channel 4’s Countdown.

Patrick Holland, executive producer of The Apprentice and You're Fired, said: ‘Dara has been an absolutely fantastic host of You're Fired, bringing his hilarious observations, sharp insights and terrific sense of fun to the show.

‘It has been a great privilege to work with him and we wish him the very best with his next projects.’

Mark Linsey, the BBC’s controller of entertainment commissioning says: ‘Dara has been nothing short of outstanding as the host of You’re Fired over the last five years and I can’t thank him enough for all the humour, wit and intelligence he brought to the show. We will miss him. We will be announcing the replacement host in due course’

Applications for the 11th series of The Apprentice close at midnight on January 26.

Published: 10 Jan 2015