Not many of us could bake the perfect show-stopper or ace a technical that earns us a famous Paul Hollywood handshake, but that doesn’t stop us scrutinising the perfect Victoria sponge. Remember Joanne Wheatley from series two, Nancy Birtwhistle of series five and 2015’s winner Nadiya Hussain? These leading ladies all had stay-at-home jobs. That extra time spent at home seems to have paid off.

It’s no secret Love Island is the nation’s guilty pleasure and we love is so much that we dedicate an hour every evening for six weeks to rooting for our favourite couples. If you’re thinking of auditioning for the show next year, our research suggests couples from the South of England are most likely to win out in the end. Look at Cara De La Hoyde and Nathan Massey from series two and Jack and Dani from series four – not only did both Southern couples win but they’re also two of the few couples to still be together after the show.

Fourteen seasons on and a whole host of awful team names later, The Apprentice has had us all bickering over who deserves to be in the boardroom bottom three. But if you’re thinking of trying out for the show next year you might want to consider your odds. Almost one third (28%) of the winner’s names have started with the letter ‘S’ while on the other hand, if you’re name is Daniel – or a shortened version similar – you’ve got no hope.

Opera singers like Paul Potts, dance troupes like Diversity and pets with more stage presence than their owners have taken the world by storm. Unlike its rival talent show also hosted by Simon Cowell, group acts take the top spot more often than solo artists and male contestants win out in eight of the twelve seasons. So, if you’re an all-male act with talent worthy of The Royal Variety Performance, next year could be your year.

Simon Cowell may have gone soft in recent years but our judging techniques have only grown stronger in the last 14 years. It’s the show that’s given some of today’s most popular British artists their big break including Leona Lewis, Little Mix and James Arthur – all of which have gone on to reach number one in the official charts. But what have most winners got in common? They’re solo artists living in London and over the years, 10 of the 15 winners have been men.

Do you have what it takes to make it through the blind audition? And how would you feel about leaving the daily grind behind? Many of the winners to date have been from the North West of England and students, making some extra money by singing in pubs, clubs and leisure resorts, all in the hope of doing what they love for real one day.

During 18 seasons, more than 200 housemates have graced the Big Brother house – some we loved, some we didn’t and others we loved to hate. It may be over forever, but that doesn’t stop us looking back on the winners that won our hearts and the unlucky evictee’s that left before they had a chance. As it turns out the research shows more than half of the winning housemates were male and contestants in their mid-twenties from the North of England came out on top more often than not.