MUMBAI: Over the past couple of years Donald Trump has been very much in the limelight courtesy his reality show The Apprentice which airs in the US on NBC.

Now the corporate magnate has announced that he will leave the show after completing five seasons. NBC will start airing the third season of The Apprentice on 20 January. In India the show airs on Star World.

A report in Inside Track informs that Trump has almost finished taping the third season. The shows creator Mark Burnett has planned some very different tasks for the contestants in order to maintain the fresh quality of the show.

Data from Nielsen Media Research indicates that the show has been slipping in the ratings. The second season averaged just under 16 million viewers, down 19 per cent from the 19.6 million it averaged going into the first season's finale.

NBC has attributed the decline in ratings to the fact that Friends came to a close earlier this year. However, the broadcaster reiterated that the show is still among the top 10 among young people.