I was just wondering, has anyone ever applied, and if so, how far did you get in the application process?

When I am 18, if the show is still on in a few years, I would definitely apply, because even getting an audition would be a great experience!

In honesty I have thought about it, not least because I have had a lot of encouragement from people on these forums. I've never actually intended to do it though - just because I don't really want to go into business with Lord Sugar, so if I did go on it would just be for the experience. This, I feel, would be unfair on whoever it was whose place I had taken, who might actually have had a really good business idea.

How long until you are 18? Would be great to have someone on there from these forums to support. Do you know what your business plan would be?

Well I am 16 in may, so if you were to see me in the show (), it wouldn't be until at least a series that aired in 2017.

And I have no idea what my business plan would be... Emmm...I'd have to seek a gap in the market, and play on it, but maybe it would be something to do with food, art,or music, three things I find interesting!

Looking at my interests, I just thought of an idea! I have ideas from time to time - I know it is quite self-flattering, but what if someone were to steal my idea!

If you're ever stuck for an idea, you're welcome to steal my Juvenis Investments idea that I did on Virtual Apprentice. I don't want it as business isn't my thing, but I am really proud to have come up with the idea, I really do think it's a great gap in the market.

Thanks George. I'm not really sure if I can seeyself doing real business but it would be good to see what your idea was

It's a shame for you that Young Apprentice is over, I guess. You're about the right age for it now!

You know, that's exactly what I've been thinking lately! Because you don't need business experience, you just need to be eager.

One thing that would put me off, is that it's filmed in Spring I think which is quite an important time of the school year.

I think it was filmed more during the summer; broadcast during the autumn, so very much possible to film in the summer, especially because it wouldn't look good to be making teenagers miss large portions of school. I remember reading an interview with Navdeep, where she said that she had to disappear right in the middle of her school prom.

To do what? Did they get to go home between tasks? Another thing I've always wondered is, are candidates allowed to call home during their time on the show?

To go into the house and start filming, I guess.

I doubt that they get to go home in between, but I think that they are allowed to talk to their families, only not a huge amount. Saira said after the show that they got one ten-minute phone conversation every Sunday. Obviously that was back in Series 1, so they may have different rules now, but it's the only insight into it that I have found.

There is one scene in Series 1 when Adele talks on the phone to her husband, but it was also mentioned that her grandmother was quite ill, so it is possible that that conversation wasn't routine, but was allowed for her especially because there were issues going on with her family.

I could well be wrong, but I thought they had a short break mid-series to allow the remaining candidates to go home for a weekend? For sure, their ability to contact family is limited while they're in the competition. I'm never entirely sure why, though - given how far in advance the series is filmed it's not as if they can learn anything at home to help them perform better.

Going back to the original question, I know a couple of friends of friends who have applied and got quite deep into the audition process, but I've never been tempted to apply for the show. For one thing, I'm too old (I'm over 40, let's leave it at that), I don't want the publicity and I've done well enough in my career already that the prospect of working with Sugar's companies holds absolutely no attraction.

What does seem to be the case is that, like any other reality show, the producers look for a mix of genuinely good candidates, "characters", no-hopers (often these last two are the same thing) and those who tick particular boxes: the quiet one, the academic, the "totty" (both male and female), ethnic minorities and so on.

Well, that's not the prize anymore, is it? If you have a good business plan...

And Jaz was over 40! (Although in fairness she did go first...)

Oops, that really should have read "going into business with", shouldn't it? SLip of the brain!

In either the old format or the new one, though, I wouldn't be interested. There are easier and I dare say more fruitful ways to get a business off the ground than to go through this process, although obviously the publicity of having been on the show does help in terms of finding backers.

I applied! Got an audition, bit of a laugh. Then I was put in a room with ten other people who were genuinely into business and I just sort of wobbled. Nice day out, though.

Oh that's so cool! How long were you waiting for an interview? What year was it? What kind of questions did you have to answer? And what did you have to do in the room with the other business people?

It was for series eight, so 2011 - didn't meet anyone who went on to become a candidate, but there we go! My surname's quite late in the alphabet, so I was waiting for bloody ages. Not a tedious wait, though, had a chat with the other candidates. I think there's genuinely a clause about revealing anything about the audition process itself, but it's basically what you'd expect. Nothing surprising.

People are pretty quick to dismiss the Apprentice on business terms, saying it's as much a reality TV audition as anything else. Always dismissed it, but even moreso having seen the other applicants, so far from the truth! They do try to pick candidates who'll be good telly, natch, and the people I saw go through were confident, and interesting, maybe with a bit of a swagger - but the people I saw were also all business cards and credentials. You could tell the people who were just there because they were fans of the show, and they (we!) didn't stand a chance.

Alan Sugar has said that. I heard him say that those people who complain about the 'good telly' candidates should go to auditions and see the people they have there. There are people with dyed hair and all sorts! I was in Big Brother auditions a couple of years ago, met a lot of interesting people!