Fame the career choice for half of 16-year-olds

More than half of teenagers do not want a career - they just want to be famous, a survey found today.

And more than a fifth plan to reach their goal by appearing on a reality TV show, the poll of 1,000 UK 16-year-olds shows.

Asked the question "What would you like to do for your career?", some 54 per cent answered "Become a celebrity".

One in six (15 per cent) said they wanted to go into medicine or nursing, while around one in seven are planning a career in the media.

Just 9 per cent want a career in law, 4 per cent would like to go into teaching, and 1 per cent said they will do office work.

Asked how they plan to become famous, 21 per cent said they will do so through reality TV, while 5 per cent said they planned to date a celebrity.

But almost seven in 10 (68 per cent) did not know how to become famous, and less than a fifth (19 per cent) said they believed they had the talent to reach their goals.

The survey, commissioned by experience day website http://www.intotheblue.co.uk, to mark the increase in customers searching for and buying their Superstar Singer days and dance lessons, also asked teenagers who wanted to be famous to name their role models.

Supermodel Kate Moss was top, chosen by 68 per cent of teenagers.

Footballer Wayne Rooney was second, picked by 60 per cent, followed by pop star Lady Gaga (53 per cent) and Celebrity Big Brother star Nicola T (50 per cent).

Tycoon Sir Richard Branson was fifth, chosen by 43 per cent of teenagers.

Intotheblue e-commerce and marketing manager Rob Holmes said: "We were quite surprised by the percentage of respondents who wanted to be famous rather than have a regular career and more so at some of the role models who came up."

* The survey questioned 1,032 16-year-olds earlier this month.