By Noelle McElhatton, Marketing Direct, 22 May 2009, 10:50am

Home shopping task to test remaining Apprentice candidates

LONDON - The remaining six candidates on BBC1's smash hit series The Apprentice will be tested next week by having to sell products on a home shopping TV channel.

The teams must select, from thousands of products, the ones they think they can sell best during just one hour of live television.

The task set by Sir Alan Sugar is not about performing as a TV presenter. The exercise is designed to see who can identify the right products for the right market and sell the most.

The home shopping Apprentice episode will be aired next Wednesday 27 May at 9pm on BBC One.

On Wednesday The Apprentice attracted its best audience so far this series, as 8.4 million people tuned in to watch the remaining contestants exhibit at the country's biggest baby show.

Sir Alan Sugar has signed a six-figure deal to present a new Junior Apprentice show.

Junior Apprentice will feature five girls and five boys aged 16 and 17, who will be set a variety of business tasks to test their entrepreneurial skills. Filming will begin later this year for screening in 2010.