Delia Smith has been sounded out for an Apprentice spinoff show, The Sun reported today.

Even though Sir Alan Sugar is coming back for the second UK series, plans are apparently afoot to develop a second show with a female businesswoman at the helm.

"She is somebody we have been looking at," Apprentice creator Mark Burnett told the newspaper.

In the US, celebrity convict Martha Stewart is to appear in her own Apprentice series this Autumn.