With The Apprentice gearing up for another season, and Lord Sugar set to make an appearance on TVs across the UK, there are no doubt a huge amount of students, workers and job hunters alike looking forward to tuning in and watching this year’s hopefuls.

Whilst the show does offer an interesting insight into the daily life of business owners, recent research that we conducted amongst our candidates suggests that it may actually be deterring people from starting up their own business and venturing down the entrepreneurial path.

It should come as no surprise to learn that today’s job hunters tap into a variety of resources when researching potential career paths and the daily tasks that might be involved, however, our research has actually revealed that over half (53.9%) of candidates use reality TV shows to decide whether they’d like to work in a particular industry or take a specific career path.

The overall results were fairly positive, as the findings showed that the majority of people (59%) believe that these programmes offer a realistic insight into an industry; in fact, a huge 70.5% of job hunters went one step further, suggesting that shows of these type are actually beneficial to the profession they represent.

But sadly, the same cannot be said of The Apprentice, as two-fifths admitted that they think the show is damaging to the business sector, and is driving candidates away from starting up their own business.

Worse still, the show ranked second on the list of the top five TV shows (as voted for by candidates) which are ultimately damaging to the profession, beaten only by Gordon Ramsay’s Hotel Hell. So, with the UK’s economy still up against uncertainty, and the small business sector constantly facing fresh challenges, what exactly is the issue?

Well, put simply, the show is unrealistic.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, these programmes don’t always provide real insight into an industry, with many scenes dramatised for entertainment purposes. And while this should be expected, after all, The Apprentice is primarily a TV show, this could well be a big turn-off for would-be entrepreneurs.

It goes without saying that starting up a business is a mammoth challenge, and it’s highly likely that Lord Sugar’s ruthless challenges and often frank dismissals are off-putting for any budding entrepreneurs who may be gearing up to start their own business.

While there will undoubtedly be trying times and obstacles to overcome, could it be that shows such as The Apprentice add to the already increasing fear of failure which persists amongst today’s workers?

SMEs and start-ups make an invaluable contribution to the nation’s economy, and the fact that over half of the respondents feel that general reality TV shows offer good insight into any given profession is worrying, and ultimately likely to continue driving away potential talent.

As job hunters continue to fight for the best opportunities, start-ups are often key in creating new roles and opportunities, and the truth is that the UK’s job market would struggle to survive without them; so this latest news that The Apprentice could be deterring entrepreneurs is likely to come as a blow to the business sector as a whole.

Ultimately, more must be done to overcome the negative stigma that has become associated with certain industry-focused TV shows; businesses should ensure that would-be entrepreneurs see the real profession, and not the dramatised version, which will help to protect the pipeline of future talent.

Lee Biggins is founder and managing director of CV-Library.