Water cooler discussions will be dominated by it. Offices and playgrounds will once more echo to the sounds of ‘You’re fired!’

And we will once again spend Wednesday night hurling abuse at the TV as a bunch of clueless young people do their utmost to mess everything up.

The annual return of The Apprentice has become something of a spring ritual in recent years, and for me, the weekly episodes just can’t come quickly enough.

There is something Laurel and Hardy–esque about The Apprentice because you just know it is all going to go horribly wrong.

Previous series have produced a bunch of arrogant, under-achieving ‘business people’ who don’t know one end of a boardroom from the other.

Few were ever truly worthy of an appearance on such a show, but the explosive mix of different characters has consistently produced a winning formula which has ranged from the proverbial car crash to the very best of reality TV.

I mean: just how did the religiously confused Michael Sophocles survive for so long last year? Didn’t 2007 winner Simon Ambrose realise what he was doing twisting those legs onto the trampoline in front of his groin? How did Lee McQueen win last year’s series after being caught lying on his CV?

And what about the seductress Katie Hopkins who accused colleague Adam of having a problem with ‘Mr Pinot and Mr Grigio’ or my favourite Apprentice of all, Ruth ‘The Badger’ Badger. How she never won the series in 2006 is a total mystery which only Sir Alan really knows the answer to – she is an absolute star, and very, very talented.

And there lies the beauty of this fantastic programme. The slow burn of the first couple of episodes will soon turn into a red top feeding frenzy as juicy tip bits about the show and the candidates being to emerge – though don’t be surprised if the Mail, Express and Telegraph fill column inches on the show through the summer as well!

The Apprentice has become a PR phenomenon – it will be the talk of the media, and the talk of many, many offices and meetings up and down the country for weeks to come. Bring it on, St Alan!