THIS time last year, Millie Humphries was working in bars, trying to work out what to do with her life after dropping out of her politics course at university.

Now she is having the time of her life, trying out ‘experiences’ – from anti-gravity yoga to millinery – for an Internet voucher company.

Ms Humphries, 23, an ex-student of Wallingford School, won her job after an Apprentice-style challenge, spending a week sharing a house with four other candidates while being filmed for a BBC3 programme.

She said: “After leaving Sussex University I stayed on in Brighton for a while, working in bars. Then I moved to London to try and find a job where I could use all my skills.

“I worked unpaid for a fashion stylist at the same time as working in a bar, and then this came up.”

She spotted an advert on a recruitment website for a ‘mysterious-sounding’ job, with the 10-day recruitment process being filmed for TV.

“I hadn’t done anything like that before. I used to sing in the school jazz band but I was terrified of being on TV,” she said. But I got used to it.”

The programme was broadcast under the title The Insider, but the candidates were never told what the title was, and they didn’t realise that one of the five, Matt North, was sales director of Groupon, the company offering the ‘dream job’.

He worked and lived with the group as a ‘spy’ while they undertook assignments and group tasks.

Each candidate then made a presentation to the board of Groupon, but it was Mr North who picked the winner.

Ms Humphries said: “He was reporting back to one of the directors and had his finger on the pulse.”

The programme was described by Time Out as “a milder, kinder Apprentice”, but when Ms Humphries realised the deception, she said she was “quite upset”.

She said: “We had worked together and become quite close. It was very much a shock.”

Fortunately all the candidates have now found jobs. “I think everyone learned a lot about themselves in terms of teamwork. Everyone took something from it.”

Groupon – keen to engage with under 25s – created a job just for her. As local experience manager, she is now identifying the latest local and national consumer trends and finding new merchant partners and experiences that tie into these trends.

As ‘guinea pig’, testing new experiences on sale through Groupon, she writes a blog describing her ‘Fitsteps’ session, ‘Make a Dress in a Day’ beginners course and sushi making. As well as the blog, she also responds to customer queries through social media.