Gary Lineker among celebs cut from Celebrity Apprentice 2025 special after appearances filmed
The Rest Is Football host filmed scenes for the BBC's Celebrity Apprentice Christmas special back in March.
Gary Lineker’s appearance has been cut from the BBC's Celebrity Apprentice 2025 Christmas special.
The ex-footballer and pundit, who stepped down as host of flagship football programme Match of the Day earlier this year, is among the famous faces who have not made the edit in the upcoming Celebrity Apprentice specials for Children in Need, after filming scenes back in March.
RadioTimes.com understands that Lineker was one of multiple celebrities who filmed videos for the show, which didn’t make the final cut in the planned episode due to time constraints.
However, these celebrity videos are expected to be shared online in the coming weeks as the specials air.
The upcoming Celebrity Apprentice specials will see 12 star candidates head to Lapland, where they’ll be tasked with making and selling festive biscuits.
Lord Sugar’s assistant Baroness Karren Brady said of the special upon its announcement last month: “There are so many people that are coming to help us, and they’re coming because they love the show, they love the charity, and clearly they have a connection with the celebrities.
“So Olivia Colman, Benedict Cumberbatch, Robbie Williams. Piers Morgan – I don’t think we should forget that one. And Rylan Clark and Gary Lineker.”
Lord Sugar added: “I was very impressed that they managed to call these people in, they are top names.
“The main thing is that these celebrities, and I have a lot of respect for them, is they give up three days of their busy time for this great cause, it’s the money that’s raised for Children in Need.”
Lineker left the BBC back in May after sharing a now-deleted social media post that was deemed antisemitic by various groups on social media.
Lineker later “apologised unreservedly” and said he deleted the post "as soon as I became aware of the issue", adding that he would “never knowingly share anything antisemitic”.
He has since gone on to present an upcoming game show on ITV called The Box, and will be bringing his The Rest Is Football podcast to Netflix for daily instalments during the 2026 World Cup alongside Alan Shearer and Micah Richards.
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The Celebrity Apprentice will air on Monday 29th December and Tuesday 30th December at 9pm on BBC One and iPlayer.
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Authors
Molly Moss is a Trends Writer for Radio Times, covering the latest trends across TV, film and more. She has an MA in Newspaper Journalism and has previously written for publications including The Guardian, The Times and The Sun Online.
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