Lord Sugar's The Apprentice sidekick, Nick Hewer, has been hired as the new presenter of Channel 4's evergreen daytime show Countdown.

Hewer will replace Jeff Stelling on the Channel 4 quiz show in December, with his first on-air appearance set for 9 January.

The acerbic Hewer becomes Countdown's fifth host in the show's 30-year history, and will line up alongside maths whizz Rachel Riley and words boffin Susie Dent.

"I'm flattered to have been asked to present such an iconic programme and will work hard to justify sitting in the same seat as such great talents as Jeff Stelling, Des O'Connor and of course the great Richard Whiteley," Hewer said.

"It's particularly fitting that I should be doing this now as my spelling has started to slip quite badly. I used to be able spell chrysanthemum."

Hewer rose to prominence with his dry putdowns of hapless contestants as Sugar's sidekick on BBC1's The Apprentice, which began in 2005.

Hewer has worked alongside Sugar for almost 30 years, first when his PR firm was chosen to represent The Apprentice boss's electronics firm, Amstrad.

Hewer beat a number of high-profile candidates to the Countdown job, including Sir Terry Wogan, Rory Bremner and Sue Barker, according to the Daily Mirror.

Countdown executive producer Peter Gwyn said: "I'm absolutely delighted that Nick has agreed to take the Countdown chair, and I can't wait to see him bring his unique style and humour to this iconic format.

"With Nick at the helm and our 30th birthday next year, we've got some very exciting times ahead for Countdown viewers."

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