An ex-professional footballer will try to prove he has the tycoon touch on hit reality TV show The Apprentice.

Ansell Henry, 34, from Brighton, left school at 16 to join Millwall FC for four years before becoming a sales manager.

He is one of 14 men and women chosen from more than 100,000 applicants to take part in the second series of the BBC Two show.

They will compete over 12 weeks to impress Amstrad boss Sir Alan Sugar and win the prize of a high-flying job with a six-figure salary.

Mr Henry said: "I want to test myself against the best because I don't have a great educational background."

But he said his character and experience were more than a match for anyone's academic abilities and described himself as a decision-maker, a tough character and a constant overachiever.

He said: "I look imposing. I could be a bouncer rather than an office type. People will see I am a person who can stop things kicking off. I can calm people down.

"One of the things many peoplefear on The Apprentice is standing up and having to sell to a complete stranger, but I do that for a living."

The contestants, aged between 25 and 39, have all now quit their jobs for the show.

They include a lawyer, a Cambridge graduate, an university lecturer, a management consultant, a cancer survivor, a financial adviser, a pharmacist, an IT manager, a black belt martial artist, a restaurant manager and a former supermarket checkout girl.

Each week ambition, business flair and wit will be tested as the hopefuls compete in various business tasks. The group will be divided into teams and the team that wins the weekly challenge will get a reward but the losers must report to the boardroom for a showdown with Sir Alan and his two assistants, Margaret Mountford and Nick Hewer.

After a grilling on their mistakes, one will then be singled out for the sack - the cue for Sir Alan's catchphrase "you're fired".

Sir Alan said: "One of them is going to get a job working for me.

But in order to do that, they are going to have to prove to me that they have the business acumen, the brains, the intelligence and the entrepreneurial spirit that I need.

"The winning apprentice will help run one of my multi-million pound companies. This is not a game. It is for real."

The Apprentice starts at 9pm on February 22 on BBC Two.

Thursday, February 9, 2006