The Apprentice is a reality television show that originated in the United
States on N
BC. The show is hosted by Donald Trump and the final prize is a job with a
starting contract of one year at a hefty six-figure salary
Premise
(From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedias)
Each season begins with a group of contestants with backgrounds in various
enterprises, typically including real estate, restaurant management, political
consulting, sales, and marketing. During the show, these contestants live in a
communal house, allowing their relationships to build. They are placed into
teams, and each week are assigned a task and required to select a project
manager for the task. The winning team receives a reward, while the losing team
faces a boardroom showdown in order to determine which team member should be
fired (eliminated from the show).
Elimination proceeds in two stages. In the first stage, all of the losing team's
members are confronted. The project manager is asked to select up to three (one,
two, or three) of the team members who are believed to be most responsible for
the loss. In the second stage, the rest of the team is dismissed, and the
project manager and the selected members face a final confrontation in which at
least one of the two-to-four is fired. However, if one or two candidates do
especially badly on the task, then Donald will fire that candidate right on the
spot, which has happened to only eleven people so far: Elizabeth in Season 2,
Brian in Season 3, Toral in Season 4, and Brent, Lenny, Andrea, Charmaine, Tarek,
Tammy, Roxanne, and Allie all in Season 5. If all candidates in the final
boardroom confrontation did badly, all of them will be fired, which has happened
twice in season 4, and once in season 5.
When the final candidates are left, an interview process begins, involving
executives from various companies who interview each of the finalists and report
their assessments of them to the host. After that, a firing takes place. In the
event four are left, a double firing occurs. Seasons 4 and 5 were the only
exceptions to this rule, when interviews were used to eliminate one from a final
pool of three. The final two are then assigned different tasks, along with
support teams comprised of previously fired candidates. After the tasks are
done, a final boardroom occurs, with testimonials from the team members and a
last chance for the final two candidates to prove themselves to the target CEO.
Finally, the CEO hires one of the two candidates to become his/her new
apprentice.
The opening theme music used on the show is "For The Love Of Money" by the
O'Jays. The background music is written by David Vanacore, Mark T Williams and
Jeff Lippencott.
American version
The contestants live communally in a suite at Trump Tower in Manhattan and the boardroom showdown is with Trump and two of his associates (usually Carolyn Kepcher, Chief Operating Officer and General Manager for the Trump National Golf Club, and George H. Ross, Executive Vice President and Senior Counsel, The Trump Organization).
A spin-off, The Apprentice: Martha Stewart followed the same concept, with Martha Stewart as the host and eventual employer. It debuted in fall of 2005, following Stewart's release from prison and home detention. Due to poor ratings, the show was not renewed for a second season.
Seasons
Season one (January 8–April 15, 2004)
Season two (September 9–December 16, 2004)
Season three (January 20–May 19, 2005)
Season four (September 22–December 15, 2005)
Season five (February 27, 2006)
Season six (applications in progress)
The Apprentice: Martha Stewart (September 21–December 21, 2005)
Ratings
The finales for the first four seasons have attracted progressively smaller audiences:
Season one: 27.6 million
Season two: 16.9 million
Season three: 14 million
Season four: 11.8 million
Criticism
The chief criticism of the U.S. version of The Apprentice is that the challenges often amount to nothing more than commercials and product placements. This became more evident starting from the second season. The companies that have supplied challenges to the show include Planet Hollywood, Lamborghini, Domino's Pizza, Staples, Bally, Burger King, Yahoo!, Nestle, Visa, Sony, Home Depot, Microsoft and many others. These companies pay NBC to showcase their brands on the show, and usually the challenges revolve around the teams marketing existing or new products for the sponsors[1]. The second half of the show is usually set entirely in the boardroom, which typically degenerates into finger-pointing and name calling amongst the contestants.
There is also controversy regarding the jobs given to the hired Apprentices. Instead of becoming the CEO of one of Trump's companies, the winners of the show are hired as PR spokesmen for Trump and his brand. For example, Kelly Perdew, winner of the second season has been reported as working at a desk "in a small, windowless space next to the assistant to Donald Trump's wife. It was reported that Kelly's mainly involved in Sales and Marketing rather than the so called President/CEO role."