The Apprentice: Season 01 (2004)

Member Rating:

The first season of The Apprentice finds the series' host, billionaire real-estate entrepreneur Donald Trump, presiding over two teams of budding apprentices, each consisting of eight contestants. The teams are divided along gender lines, with the male players comprising the "Versacom" corporation, and the women making up the "Protégé" corporation. For their first assignment, the teams literally start at the bottom, ordered to sell lemonade on the streets. As the season progresses, the assignments become increasingly prestigious and challenging: managing an A-list restaurant, trading in a flea market, operating a fundraising concern, renovating real-estate properties, marketing a new product, art dealing, enticing gamblers to attend The Donald's Taj Mahal casino, and the like. Of course, each episode ends with Trump barking "You're fired!" to the least successful player; those who make the final cut are seen going on a round robin of job interviews within Trump's inner circle of friends and business associates. Although she isn't the final winner, Protégé's Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth emerges as the most famous contestant of season one -- or perhaps "infamous" would be a better word, given her terrifying temperamental outbursts, her blood feuds with the other players, and her (to put it mildly) inadequate "people skills" with potential customers. And speaking of famous, several of The Donald's high-profile celebrity acquaintances show up in the course of events, notably George Steinbrenner, Regis Philbin, Carson Daly, and Jessica Simpson. The season finale, in which the winner of the 250,000-dollar-per-year job with the Trump Organization is announced, was originally telecast live from NBC's legendary Studio 8-H. ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi