Fame hungry teenagers are planning to ditch education and live in dreamland. More than one in 10 (11 per cent) young people would drop out of education or training to be on TV, according to new research from the Learning and Skills Council (LSC). And more than one in six (16 per cent) young people believe that they will actually become famous. However, the odds of being picked for a Big Brother style reality TV show and being successful afterwards are around one in 30 million - worse odds than winning the lottery jackpot.

Despite the odds being stacked against them, almost one in 10 (nine per cent) young people say that they think fame is a great way to earn money without skills or qualifications. An additional 11 per cent are sitting around 'waiting to be discovered'.

But, according to official statistics, leaving education or training without a minimum set of qualifications, such as 5 good GCSEs or the equivalent, will leave young people with a greater chance of unemployment and earning less than their peers who have these qualifications.

And, many young people admitted they would prefer to follow in the footsteps of respected public figures. Almost one in 20 (four per cent) young people would like to be Tony Blair and eight per cent would like to be J K Rowling - both of whom are educated to degree level. John Simpson, Stephen Hawking and David Attenborough also featured as celebrities that young people aspire to be.

Ruth Bullen from the Learning and Skills Council said that she hoped the findings would encourage young people to stay on in education or training: "For many young people trying to be famous through reality television can be tempting, particularly if they are unsure as to the direction they want their lives to take.

"The truth is, however, that the majority will not achieve fame and so it is essential that they gain a minimum set of qualifications - such as five GCSEs at grades A*-C or the equivalents.

"If making money is the reason a young person want to become famous, then by staying on in education or training they can significantly increase their future earning power by gaining these essential qualifications."

Top 10 reasons that young people want to be famous:

1. Money (56 per cent)
2. Success (56 per cent)
3. Wanting to prove people wrong (26 per cent)
4. Wanting everyone to know who I am (19 per cent)
5. Have always wanted to be famous (11 per cent)
6. It's an easy way of earning money without skills and qualifications (nine per cent)
7. Wanting to feel accepted (nine per cent)
8. Wanting to appear more attractive (seven per cent)
9. Think it's the only way to be successful (five per cent)
10. Not knowing what else to do (three per cent)

Top 10 people 16-19 year olds aspire to be

1. Richard Branson
2. J K Rowling
3. David Beckham
4. Freddy Flintoff
5. Tony Blair
6. David Attenborough
7. Frank Lampard
8. Stephen Hawking
9. Ms Dynamite
10. Alan Sugar

For more information about staying on in education, young people can visit www.getsetforlife.org.uk or contact their local Connexions centre. To apply for Education Maintenance Allowance, young people can call 080 810 16 2 19 or visit www.direct.gov.uk/ema.

BIG BROTHER CALCULATION

To calculate the chance of being chosen for Big Brother: There are 45,500,000 people over the age of 18 in the UK according to the Office of National Statistics (Census data, 2004). There is an average of 12 contestants chosen from the population every year so to calculate the likelihood of being chosen 12/45,500,000 = 0.000000264. Over six series (77 contestants), there have been ten contestants that are to some degree still 'famous' today according to Heat Magazine. This calculates as an approximate one in eight chance (0.13) so multiplying the two events together: 0.000000264 X 0.13 = 0.000000034, which is approximately one in 30 million. The odds of winning the National Lottery jackpot by matching 6 numbers is one in 13,983,816 (National Lottery Commission).

Big Brother contestants still 'famous'

• Craig Phillips, Nick Bateman (series 1)
• Jade Goody, Brian Dowling (series 2)
• Kate Lawler (series 3)
• Jon Tickle (series 4)
• Nadia Aldama, Michelle Bass (series 5)
• Anthony Hutton, Eugene Sully (series 6)

Big Brother contestants no longer famous

Series 1
Anna Nolan, Darren Ramsey, Mel Hill, Claire Strutton, Tom McDermott, Nichola
Holt, Andy Davidson, Sada Walkington

Series 2
Helen Adams, Dean O'Loughlin, Elizabeth Woodcock, Paul Clarke, Josh Rafter,
Amma Antunri, Paul Ferguson (Bubble), Narinder Kaur, Stuart Hosking, Penny
Ellis

Series 3
Jonny Regan, Alex Sibley, Tim Culley, PJ Ellis, Adele Roberts, Sophie
Pritchard, Spencer Smith, Lee Davey, Sandy Cumming, Lynne Moncrieff, Sunita
Sharma

Series 4
Cameron Stout, Ray Shah, Scott Turner, Steph Coldicott, Nush Nowak, Lisa
Jeynes, Gos (Herjender Gosal), Tania Do-Nascimento, Federico Martone, Sissy
(Joanne Rooney), Justine Sellman, Anouska Golebiewski

Series 5
Daniel Bryan, Shell Jubin, Stuart Wilson , Michelle Bass, Victor
Ebuwa, Ahmed Aghil, Becki Seddiki, Marco Sabba, Vanessa Nimmo, Emma
Greenwood, Kitten Pinder

Series 6
Eugene Sully, Makosi Musambasi, Kinga Karolczak, Craig Coates, Derek Laud,
Kemal Shahin, Orlaith McAllister, Science (Kieron Harvey), Venessa
Layton-McIntosh, Maxwell Ward, Saskia Howard-Clarke, Roberto Conte, Sam
Heuston, Lesley Sanderson, Mary O'Leary

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