The Apprentice pushed back to summer

The sixth series of BBC1's The Apprentice has been pushed back to summer 2010, from its traditional spring start. The reason for the scheduling change is that its normal slot would likely coincide with a General Election if one is called next year, and the BBC cannot be perceived as endorsing any particular party through Lord Alan Sugar's association with the government as enterprise tsar.

Interestingly, this means The Apprentice will now compete against Channel 4's last series of Big Brother.