The Apprentice

*The Apprentice 7 screens on Tuesday, May 10 and Wednesday, May 11 on BBC1*

BBC One’s BAFTA Award-wining show The Apprentice returns for another gripping series as 16 eager-to-impress hopefuls face Lord Sugar to battle it out for boardroom domination.

But it's no longer the 'job interview from hell'. Instead, the 16 would-be entrepreneurs are battling for a £250,000 start-up fund from the good Lord, who will be their business partner in a new venture.

Lord Sugar said: “I’m going to inject £250,000 worth of cash and value into a business, your business, and you’re going to run it. And I say you’re going to run it because don’t expect me to be doing all the work because I’m not looking for a 'sleeping' partner. I’m not Saint Alan, the patron saint of bloody losers... You can look at it as a bit of an uncivil partnership, so to speak.”

“I want you to treat this first task as if it’s your own business. Here’s something to note, this is an investment, and I want some return on my money.”

Gulp. Doing battle for the right to be Lord Sugar's business partner are 16 contestants with wildly diverse CVs, varying from a former cycling champion to a teenage market stall holder, an actress and a charity entrepreneur who won a renowned award as a 'woman of the future'.

But all that counts for nothing as they face this series' tasks, which have been created to test their entrepreneurial skills.

The Apprentice contestants will face tasks based on business start-ups, so they will design a mobile phone application, be tested in the beauty industry, create new pet food, launch a magazine, explore the lucrative possibilities of biscuits, transform rubbish into money, start a restaurant chain and trade internationally.

Assisting Lord Sugar will be his able lieutenants Karren Brady and Nick Hewer and each episode will be followed by The Apprentice: You're Fired! on BBC Two.