Radio Times: Review by:; David Butcher

Last year this teenage spin-off from Lord Sugar’s talent show delivered a nice surprise: running almost exactly the same format but with 16- and 17-year-old candidates turned out to make all the difference. It felt kinder, more positive, less vicious — and it cleaned up in the ratings.

On the regular series, ritual humiliation is a (perhaps unhealthy) part of the appeal. But here we’re rooting for them in their bid to win £25,000 to launch their business career. They’re almost kids — and they’re trying so hard!

Sugar himself is more benign, too. He smiles more, snarls less. In fact, in tonight’s opener he tells the candidates, “I actually love you lot!”, an unsettling experience for them and us. The first task for his 12 loved ones is to make and sell ice cream. We’re familiar with the types by now — the bulldozer, the gent, the sniper, the big-mouth, the wallflower, and so on — but getting to know them better over the next eight weeks will be a blast.

About this programme

1/8. New series. Alan Sugar gives another group of 12 ambitious schoolchildren a chance to kick-start a future career in business. The teenage candidates, selected from a wide pool of applicants, battle it out through a series of challenges spanning eight weeks. They begin by taking part in a boys v girls task in which they must conceptualise a new range of frozen snacks to be sold directly to members of the public.