For some time I’ve been getting increasingly frustrated with the way business is portrayed on TV and in the media.

At first Lord Sugar’s The Apprentice seemed to be an excellent “aspirational” business programme that had a fairly realistic premise at its core: could Lord Sugar and his team find the future stars of British business?

The winner would be someone who’d be an example to young people watching who would hopefully then be inspired by what they saw and see the commercial world as one that was full of fantastic career opportunities. And it’s fair to say the first couple of series pretty much delivered on this.

However, for the past few series it’s clear the primary focus is now on pure entertainment and most of the contestants are wannabe celebrities looking to make a name for themselves and carve out a media career from their limited time in the spotlight.

The real shame is that although anyone in business can see these people for what they are, there is always the real danger that because of all the hype and attention the programme now gets, all the banal antics, the arrogance and childish behaviour that we all cringe at might well be seen by the public as representative of what business is really like.

The extreme types of behaviour that the would-be apprentices display aren’t the characteristics that any of our clients ask us to look out for. For us it’s not just about getting the foot in the door, getting a quick sale, moving on. It’s about building relationships and that requires being able to see the bigger picture and taking a longer-term view.

That’s obviously not a luxury you have on a one-hour TV programme, but even so I can’t see many Apprentice alumni being snapped up by any of my clients.

It would seem that I’m not alone in that view as in the Daily Mail recently Sir Terry Leahy was quoted as saying the show was not a very accurate reflection of business.

“Getting on with others and a work ethic of giving more than you take are far more valuable assets. For a successful society you need a successful economy and to have a successful economy you want the best and the brightest wanting to go into business,” he said.

While Sir Terry Leahy has done an awesome job at Tesco, I can see why having someone like Lord Sugar behind the boardroom table makes for better TV ratings. The majority of us might not be able to concern ourselves with a grand issue like creating a successful society but most people would like to work in successful businesses and benefit from a growing economy.

So it does matter how young people perceive the world of business and that’s why it’s important that we get some realistic role models on our screens as soon as possible.