Changes made to The Apprentice final

A shake-up of 'The Apprentice' means the last task will now be the interview with business experts, meaning axed contestants will not make a return.

Axed 'Apprentice' contenders will not feature in this year's final.

Lord Alan Sugar traditionally invites the former contestants back to assist the remaining hopefuls in their last task, but a shake-up of the process means the gruelling interviews with business leaders - usually the semi-final stage - will now be the decider on who lands the £250,000 investment.

A source explained to The Sun newspaper: "This year as the prize is different we wanted to shake things up a bit.

"Viewers love the interview round because it really is the toughest thing about the show.

"And this series will be even harder. Lord Sugar has even more at stake this year as he'll be investing £250,000 of his own cash into a business with the winner."

To make the task more difficult, four contestants will be in the final.

The source added: "And instead of there just being two people in the final, there will be four - making the contest even tougher and more tense.

"No longer will they be able to rely on exploiting the weak points of just one rival."

Interviewing the finalists will be Lord Sugar's former assistant Margaret Mountford, business troubleshooter Claude Littner, magazine chief Mike Soutar and IT boss Matthew Riley.

'The Apprentice' final will be screened on BBC1 on July 20.