The Apprentice Tim Campbell is calm, thoughtful and self-effacing. Quite the opposite of his boss, the irascible, overbearing Sir Alan Sugar.

He is calm, thoughtful and self-effacing. Quite the opposite of the irascible, overbearing Sir Alan Sugar. So the news that Tim Campbell, the first winner of The Apprentice, is leaving his boss to start his own male grooming business is an encouraging success in the unreal world of reality television shows.

That Campbell will also launch the Bright Ideas Trust to give away at least £1m a year to budding entrepreneurs is also a feel-good story in advance of the new series of the BBC show, which pits 16 hopefuls against one another for the prize of a £100,000 salary to work for the belligerent tycoon for a year.

It may dilute some of the negative publicity following the parting of ways between Sir Alan and last year's winner, Michelle Dewberry, but the big question remains: does the show reflect or require the qualities needed for success in the real world?

One of Scotland's most successful entrepreneurs, John Boyle, deliberately set out to show how mentoring rather than criticism could boost young entrepreneurs in the TV series Tricky Business last year. Boyle is the founder of Direct Holidays, joint owner with his brother of the airline Zoom and an investor in a number of businesses. He spent six months giving advice to the businesses, partly because he believed that other business reality programmes such as The Apprentice and Dragons' Den give the impression that in order to succeed, entrepreneurs need to be "loud, aggressive and rude". As he says: "It may be great TV but it does not send out the right signals to people aspiring to run their own businesses."

Yet even wrong signals do not dent the determination of some committed young businesswomen. "The Apprentice is absolutely gripping," says Louise Carruthers, who analyses each episode the next morning with her business partner, Paula Russell. Together they set up Strung Out Guitars, which repairs and sells musical instruments, three years ago, after meeting on a specialist college course.

"The programme has more to do with what makes good television than real life, but it can sometimes be instructive," she says. "When you watch them carry out projects, you think, no, they should not have done that, or that's a good idea."

They initially set up their business after working in London "for someone who wasn't doing things in the best way".

"Starting a business is a huge risk and you have to have a certain amount of confidence, but we were too busy with all the practicalities of lawyers and loans to worry about what would happen if it did not work. It helps if you are young and single," adds Carruthers, who was 25 - Russell was 23 - when they set up the business three years ago.

With no collateral, they were turned down for a bank loan, but secured a £5000 loan from the Prince's Scottish Youth Business Trust. "We opened the shop with no stock and did repairs to get money to buy it, but we've also built up a business selling instruments for other people on commission, which has developed into a guitar-finding service," explains Carruthers.

Unexpectedly, she adds that if she found herself having to present a case for a bank loan now, she would do it differently - partly because of what she has learned from watching unsuccessful pitches made on Dragons' Den, the show where would-be entrepreneurs persuade investors to back their businesses. "You get some absolutely awful pitches, and you soon realise the people making them have not focused on real projections and they really should not be there.

"I don't find The Apprentice realistic, but I suppose in that sort of environment you have to be ruthless. It does illustrate good and bad teamwork, however. From watching things like that, you appreciate what you've got. You could get landed with someone who is self-absorbed. I would never put myself in that situation."

Richard Starrett did put himself in that sort of situation. He and Neil Mackay set up Beautiful Vending, which provides hair straighteners in gyms, nightclubs and shopping centres, but not content with a clutch of awards for their innovative idea, last year they entered the Big Idea on Sky TV which offered a prize of £100,000 to invest in the business. They reached the semi-final.

"We got some publicity out of it, but it did not generate as much business as we thought it would," he says. Now 31, Beautiful Vending is his third business and his advice is that there is no substitute for hard work, starting with careful research and test-marketing.

"A prize of a £100,000 job is a huge attraction, but I think The Apprentice is more for career-minded people than entrepreneurs. To get on in business, you need to have your own opinions and stick to them and to want to win at all costs within reason, but the cut-throat competition on the show is more done for TV.

"Young people starting out in business do need advice. I went to a course on intellectual property run by Scottish Enterprise, which was very helpful. We also have a mentor from the Glasgow Chamber of Commerce mentoring programme, and that has been very beneficial. The main problem with TV programmes is that first and foremost they are for the television audience," he adds.

Andrew Meek set up his shop- fitting business, AGM Interiors, when he was just 21. After a degree in mechanical engineering and an apprenticeship with a shopfitting firm in Birmingham, he spotted a gap in the market. On visits home to Gourock he realised that contractors based in England were sending teams north to carry out work in Scotland. "I thought there's space here for a Scottish-based contractor," he says.

Taking part in a competition for young entrepreneur of the year - and winning the title for Renfrewshire last year - not only netted him some prize money to plough back into the business, but also acted as an extra prod. "Meeting the other competitors spurred us on to get our teeth into it. We are now looking at areas we might move into beyond shopfitting," says Meek, now 25. However, he dismisses the notion that watching TV programmes with a similarly competitive ethos has that sort of effect.

In fact, Meek has never watched The Apprentice. "The idea of everybody hailing Alan Sugar just does not appeal to me. I have seen Dragons' Den once or twice and the idea of a panel of very experienced people is valuable. Of course, I respect Alan Sugar as well. I have had a few mentors from the Business Gateway in Glasgow. I walked in with my idea and they were very helpful and arranged a meeting with an adviser who has been there and done it. You can go back for advice over the next few years, which is really useful."

Firmly anchored in the real world, Meek says that courses in the practical skills of accounting and finance have proved more useful than notions of the kind of personal qualities required to become an entrepreneur. "I think getting shot down in public is more likely to put people off than encourage them," he adds.

Even so, 10,000 hopefuls applied to take part in the new series of The Apprentice, and the most successful survivor of ordeal by television is determined to encourage others.

Tim Campbell, the first Apprentice, says: "I believe that anybody can be in business. Some people think qualifications get you ahead or think you have to talk in a certain way, but those are simply barriers. You just need the will to succeed."

The new series of The Apprentice starts on Wednesday March 28, on BBC2 at 9pm.