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New series. Alan Sugar plucks another 12 young entrepreneurs from the classroom and gives them the opportunity to win a £25,000 fund to kick-start a future career in business. The teenage tycoons span a wide range of backgrounds, from council estates to private schools, and include a fashion designer, a trainee accountant, an events promoter and a farmer's daughter. Their first task harks back to Lord Sugar's early forays into the rag trade, as each team is presented with a ton of discarded clothes which they must sort, clean and sell to the public for the highest profit. But with money in the budget to customise their gear, some of the contestants splash out on grand designs, while others keep it simple.
It's week two and, as the remaining 11 candidates bid to be crowned The Young Apprentice - and take home the £25,000 prize to kick start their business ambitions - things are about to get tasty. After a punishing first task, Lord Sugar turns up the heat as the eleven remaining business-minded teenagers are called to a trendy French restaurant in London's Mayfair to discover their latest challenge. Both teams have to design and print a new cook book, before pitching it to three of Britain's biggest book sellers. The team with the most orders will win, and one member of the losing team will be sent home. The cookery book industry is worth more than 84 million pounds a year. But winning a slice of it isn't easy, as almost 2,000 new books, from celebrity titles to TV spin-offs, hit the streets every year. Both teams must first come up with a new concept, before testing their ideas at a focus group.
Lord Sugar sets the teams a challenge designed to hone their negotiating skills, as they race to find ten props for the English National Opera.
The candidates are challenged to revamp the great British tradition of afternoon tea.
Lord Sugar challenges the eight remaining candidates to come up with an original kids' club for five- to eight-year-olds and pitch it to industry professionals.
The remaining seven candidates must brand a hair styling product, shoot an advert and pitch their ideas to industry professionals.
The candidates sell products at WOMAD, a festival of world music attended by thousands.
The final four candidates must create a new brand of sportswear with the potential to go global, and launch their brand before the experts in this final episode.
