Having talked about the idea for years, it seems that Sir Alan Sugar is going to preside over a junior version of The Apprentice next year, with five girls and five boys aged 16 and 17 getting the chance to show off their entrepreneurial skills in a series of tasks. The only difference this time is that the winner doesn’t actually get to work for Sir Alan, instead going away with a prize worth up to £25,000, tailored to suit their career needs.

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Sir Alan has long talked about launching a special version of the show for young apprentices, although obviously there remains the problem of the boardroom showdown turning ugly – even he himself admits he couldn’t bring himself to “fire an 11-year-old child” (obviously the slightly older age of the candidates might allow him to use his trademark catchphrase).

What will be interesting though is seeing whether or not the young budding entrepreneurs make a better job of their tasks than their older counterparts do. There has long since been a tradition of kiddie versions of shows in which the younger contestants rather outdo the adults, which can either be read as cute and charming, or incredibly irritating for the viewer.

Take the case of Junior Masterchef for example, in which a bunch of 12-year-olds demonstrated their culinary skills by creating dishes that even an experienced, much older chef might find challenging. And more often than not they did them perfectly. I would often sit in front of the show open-mouthed with amazement, wondering where on earth they acquired these skills at such tender years (and of course why they weren’t just sat in front of the PlayStation like most people their age – not that I am one to encourage sloth in our children, mind…..) and of course feeling woefully inadequate that my own culinary skills don’t match up to those of a pre-teen with a nice line in filet mignons.

And there is Junior Mastermind. Now I actually like it more than the grown-up equivalent on account of the fact I can actually answer a lot more of the questions (which probably says more about my levels of intellectualism than anything else). But it still amazes me just how many of the young contestants display a wide knowledge of things that happened before they were born -possibly even before I was born, in some cases. Don’t get me wrong, it’s impressive, but you’re still left wondering where on earth they found time to learn all this stuff, never mind commit it to memory ahead of a date with the famous black chair.

Obviously not all programmes suit the Junior format (I can’t imagine there being a Junior Top Gear or a Junior Newsnight any time soon……), but The Apprentice is one that could really work. Now if you’ll excuse me I am off to teach my three-year-old daughter how to make seared lamb chops with a roast tomato reduction, cram knowledge on Shakespearian Tragedies 1587-1594 into her head and help her to start her own business. She’ll be on the Junior shows before we know it.