The Apprentice: Martha Stewart

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The Apprentice: Martha Stewart
Image:Apprentice_Martha_Stewart.jpg
The Apprentice: Martha Stewart Logo
Genre Reality
Creator(s) Mark Burnett
Donald Trump
Starring Martha Stewart
Country of origin Flag of United States United States
No. of episodes 13
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Broadcast
Original channel NBC
Original run September 21, 2005 – December 21, 2005


The Apprentice: Martha Stewart is the first spin-off from the American reality television series The Apprentice. The series premiered on September 21, 2005. The show is broadcast on NBC and is hosted by business tycoon Martha Stewart. The format of the show is tailored to suit Stewart's personality and brand identity. The tasks are centered around Stewart's areas of expertise: media, culinary arts, entertaining, decorating, crafts, design, merchandising, and style. Stewart brings her own sensibilities and creativity to the elimination process. Sometimes, but not always, she uses her catchphrase: "Goodbye." This is her equivalent to Donald Trump's catchphrase: "You're fired." It's rumored that that earlier reports frequently reported incorrectly that her phrase was "You just don't fit in" but this turned out to only be a commentary on the first eliminated contestant. She also writes a cordial letter to the candidate who is fired. Although the letter is designed to give comfort, many times she takes subtle jabs at the fired candidate and gives frank reasons for why the candidate did not succeed on the show.

Donald Trump and Mark Burnett are executive producers for the show. Businessman Charles Koppelman and Stewart's daughter, Alexis Stewart, are Martha Stewart's eyes and ears. They closely watch the two teams through the week and report their observations to Stewart.

The two teams, Matchstick and Primarius, competed in 11 challenges. Overall, Primarius won eight, while Matchstick (completely jettisoned by Martha in week 11) won only three.

The show's theme song is "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by Eurythmics. The background music is written by David Vanacore, Mark T, Williams, and Jeff Lippencott.

Despite the fairly big initial hype, ratings for this spinoff were relatively weak. This show averaged only 7 million viewers, and garnered a mediocre 2.5 average in the very important demographic of 18-49 year old viewers. However, it should be noted that this program airs against very tough competition, including ABC's massive hit Lost. After the second episode, the show was moved from the 8 p.m. timeslot to the 9 p.m. slot, and in spite of facing Lost, saw a slight increase in ratings.

Martha Stewart with Donald Trump
Martha Stewart with Donald Trump

There have been numerous rumors thrown out as to why the show failed, including: "too much" Martha Stewart (her Martha daytime program and this prime time program), confusion between this version and Trump's version which airs the day after (on Thursday nights), apathy over reality shows in general, NBC's declining fortunes, fatigue with the Apprentice franchise itself, and weak casting, although some felt the cast was superior to Apprentice 4, which ran concurrently. It's rumored that Trump blamed the Martha series for the declining ratings of his own version, even though the ratings for his show began to fall over a year before Martha's version premiered. In mid-November 2005, NBC announced that it would not bring back the show for a second season, although the network stressed that the show was initially planned as a one-season endeavor.

It's been rumored that Martha had once stated that she originally wanted to do a show called The Entrepreneur, but was forced to do her own version of The Apprentice instead.

[edit] Candidates

See: The Apprentice: Martha Stewart Candidates

[edit] Episodes

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

[edit] Week 1: Once Upon a Time

  • Airdate: September 21, 2005
  • Hosting Company: Random House
  • Project: Teams had to design and write a children's book and read it to a group of first graders.
  • Primarius project manager: Dawna
  • Matchstick project manager: Jeff
  • Winning team: Primarius
    • Primarius' reward: A Japanese dinner with Martha
  • Losing team: Matchstick
    • Sent to Conference Room: Jeff, Dawn, Jim
    • Dismissed: Jeff, for taking over the entire project and not listening to his teammates. (Martha to Jeff: "You just don't fit in.")

[edit] Week 2: Business is Blooming

  • Airdate: September 28, 2005
  • Hosting Company: Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia
  • Project: Teams had to sell flowers in high-end floral shops.
  • Primarius project manager: Carrie
  • Matchstick project manager: Chuck
  • Winning team: Primarius
    • Primarius' reward: Volunteering with New York Cares (New York City's leading volunteer organization - www.nycares.org) to create a garden for a Community Center in the Chelsea neighborhood
  • Losing team: Matchstick
    • Sent to Conference Room: Chuck, Dawn, Jim
    • Dismissed: Chuck, for poor leadership and for threatening to quit during the task.

[edit] Week 3: Bake It 'Til You Make It

  • Airdate: October 5, 2005
  • Hosting Company: Michael C. Fina
  • Project: Teams had to design and sell a wedding cake.
  • Primarius project manager: Howie
  • Matchstick project manager: David
  • Winning team: Primarius
  • Losing team: Matchstick
    • Sent to Conference Room: David, Marcela, Dawn (Bethenny, Shawn and Jim recalled to the boardroom by Martha)
    • Dismissed: Shawn, for off-handed remarks, including telling Charles during the task that if they lost, she should be dismissed, and telling Martha that "fake it 'til you make it" was an important idea in the business world.
  • Special notes:
    • Jim's wife has a baby. Jim talks to her over the phone.
    • This episode was a first for either of the Trump series - although Trump had previously asked players to return to the boardroom, that was only to help clarify accusations made against a player who was taken to the final boardroom. Martha felt that Marcela and Dawn were unfairly chosen and decided the sales team (Bethenny, Jim and Shawn) was the real problem. Due to Shawn's previous remarks, Martha dismissed her.
    • Matchstick sold 0 cakes for $0, undoubtedly, a clear loss.

[edit] Week 4: Sweet Suite

  • Airdate: October 12, 2005
  • Hosting Company: Westin Hotels
  • Project: Teams had to create a fantasy suite in a Westin Hotel.
  • Primarius project manager: Amanda
  • Matchstick project manager: Leslie
  • Winning team: Primarius
    • Primarius' reward: Enjoying the hotel suite that they had finished, with a surprise visit from Martha.
  • Losing team: Matchstick
    • Sent to Conference Room: Leslie, Bethenny, Dawn
    • Dismissed: Dawn, for not waking up when the project manager woke everyone else on the team except her, for not painting because she has severe allergies, and for being on a team with four consecutive corporate losses.
  • Special note: Leslie volunteers to move to Matchstick from Primarius and becomes the project manager.

[edit] Week 5: Mixed Greens

  • Airdate: October 19, 2005
  • Hosting Company: Wishbone
  • Project: Teams had to create and sell a Salad Dressing.
  • Primarius project manager: Jennifer
  • Matchstick project manager: Ryan
  • Winning team: Matchstick
  • Losing team: Primarius
    • Sent to Conference Room: Jennifer, Jim
    • Dismissed: Jennifer, for not taking Jim off the task when he behaved badly.
  • Special notes:
    • Martha asks Primarius which players have not been Project Manager yet. Ryan, Jennifer and Sarah raise their hands. Martha chooses Jennifer to lead Primarius and Ryan to lead Matchstick, and each (starting with Jennifer) pick from the remaining players. In consecutive order, Jennifer chooses Howie, Sarah, Carrie, Bethenny and Jim. Ryan chooses Dawna, Amanda, Leslie, David and Marcela.
    • Officially Ryan, Amanda and Dawna are transferred to Matchstick. Jim and Bethenny are transferred to Primarius.
    • Matchstick wins for the first time in the series.
    • This is the first time a two-person boardroom takes place and it is the first time Martha chooses the final boardroom candidates instead of the project manager.
    • Wishbone debuted a new television commercial during this episode, featuring Charles and Alexis eating Wishbone salad dressing. In the ad, Alexis jokingly whispers to Charles that they can't let her mother know they're eating Wishbone dressing.

[edit] Week 6: Every Dog Has His Day

  • Airdate: October 26, 2005
  • Hosting Company: Purina Beneful
  • Project: Teams had to create an auction package with various celebrities and then raise the most money during the auction.
  • Primarius project manager: Jim
  • Matchstick project manager: Marcela
  • Winning team: Primarius
    • Primarius' reward: No reward, as this was a charity event.
  • Losing team: Matchstick
    • Sent to Conference Room: Marcela, David
    • Dismissed: David, for not contributing that much on the task and for being young and inexperienced.
  • Special notes:

[edit] Week 7: Swimming Against the Tide

  • Airdate: November 2, 2005
  • Hosting Company: Tide
  • Project: Teams had to create a live/performing billboard showcasing the new Tide to Go pen.
  • Primarius project manager: Sarah
  • Matchstick project manager: Dawna
  • Winning team: Matchstick
    • Matchstick's reward: Breakfast at Martha Stewart's home in Bedford with Peter Arnell.
  • Losing team: Primarius
    • Sent to Conference Room: Sarah, Carrie, Bethenny, Howie
    • Dismissed: Sarah, for having no leadership ability, along with Carrie, for being Sarah's assistant for a poorly managed event and doing next to nothing on the task.
  • Special notes:
    • Martha dismisses two people for the first time in the history of the show.
    • This is the third occurrence of more than one person being fired/dismissed on the Apprentice series. The first was Maria & Wes in the 2nd Season of Donald Trump's Apprentice. The second had ironically occurred the previous week when Josh, Jennifer M., James and Mark were oddly enough all fired for mass incompetence in the worst managed task in the history of the show. A few weeks later, once again on Trump's Apprentice, Trump fired Brian and Marshawn, and then a few weeks after that, Trump fired Felisha and Alla.
    • Martha uses the phrase: "You both don't fit in." in the form "Neither of you fit in", for the first time since the first episode.
    • Martha dubbed Primarius's loss the most disastrous in the history of the show. The previews for the episode had featured Ryan (of Matchstick) in spandex as superhero "Tide-to-Go Joe", mock-punching Marcela (dressed up as a ketchup stain), thus leading many viewers to assume that Matchstick failed miserably. As it turned out, Peter Arnell loved their presentation.
    • Dawna is the first person to be project manager twice, as well as the first to win twice.
    • Tide debuted a new television commercial during the episode, featuring a drill sergeant brandishing the Tide-to-Go pen and offering a contest for free tickets to The Apprentice: Martha Stewart live finale. Primarius, however, even though at first wanted to go with the boxing style, they instead decided to make a spectacle of dancers and sing the chant: It's time for Tide to Go; It's time for Tide to Go!

[edit] Week 8: Don't Touch That Dial

  • Airdate: November 9, 2005
  • Hosting Company: QVC
  • Project: Teams had to sell items on QVC. Matchstick sold a Self-Retracting Hose and Primarius sold the Bonnaire cordless self inflater.
  • Primarius project manager: Bethenny
  • Matchstick project manager: Ryan
  • Winning team: Matchstick
  • Losing team: Primarius
    • Sent to Conference Room: Bethenny, Howie, Jim
    • Dismissed: Howie, for refusing to pitch the product.
  • Special notes:
    • Due to having the best performance record, Dawna is transferred back to Primarius.
    • Bethenny admits after announcing who she would send to the Final Boardroom she made a mistake in not wanting Dawna to be sent, and she apologised to both men. Bethenny tried to bring Dawna back in, but Charles shut her down.
    • The QVC task was first seen in The Apprentice season 2 episode 5.
    • Ads for this episode zeroed in on Jim, calling him "the male Omarosa", a reference to controversial Apprentice personality Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth.

[edit] Week 9: The Coffee Achievers

  • Airdate: November 16, 2005
  • Hosting Company: Tassimo
  • Project: Teams had to sell the Tassimo Coffee Maker.
  • Primarius project manager: Jim
  • Matchstick project manager: Marcela
  • Winning team: Primarius
    • Primarius' reward: A plane ride to Bar Harbor, Maine and a tour of one of Martha Stewart's homes with her daughter Alexis.
  • Losing team: Matchstick
    • Sent to Conference Room: Marcela, Amanda, Ryan
    • Dismissed: Amanda, for being disloyal and unhelpful to Marcela.
  • Special notes:
    • Jim encouraged Marcela, who had said if she lost as PM twice she would be ready to go home, to fight against Ryan and Amanda because he claimed he was previously in the scapegoat position (although he himself had put Dawn in a scapegoat position in episode 2).
    • This was the first reward for Bethenny and Jim. Their sole previous task win, the charity auction, had no reward, as Martha felt giving to charity was reward enough.

[edit] Week 10: A Ridiculous Display

  • Airdate: November 30, 2005
  • Hosting Company: Buick
  • Project: Teams had set up a show room for the new Buick Lucerne.
  • Primarius project manager: Dawna
  • Matchstick project manager: Leslie
  • Winning team: Primarius
    • Primarius' reward: A dinner at the Four Seasons Hotel with Charles Koppelman, Chairman of MSO, and Susan Lyne, President and Chief Executive Officer.
  • Losing team: Matchstick
    • Sent to Conference Room: Leslie, Ryan, and Marcela
    • Dismissed: Leslie, for not being able to think for herself.
  • Special notes:
    • With this Primarius victory, Dawna now has three wins as Project Manager, but more noteworthy is her spotless record.

[edit] Week 11: Final Approach

  • Airdate: December 7, 2005
  • Hosting Company: Song Airlines
  • Project: Teams had create a thirty-second commercial for a $99 Song Airlines flight from New York's JFK to Los Angeles' LAX.
  • Primarius project manager: Bethenny
  • Matchstick project manager: Ryan
  • Winning team: Primarius
    • Primarius' reward: Horseback riding with Martha Stewart at her Bedford home and a game of Scrabble.
  • Losing team: Matchstick
    • Sent to Conference Room: Ryan and Marcela
    • Dismissed: Both
      • Marcela for her poor record as a Project Manager and for not contributing anything during the task
      • Ryan for drinking during the task and producing an ad that is not appropriate for the Airline's target audience
  • Special notes:
    • This is the second time Martha sent home more than one candidate, six including Trump's multiple-firings throughout the history of The Apprentice.
      • Martha uses the "don't fit in" phrase to dismiss the candidates.
    • Matchstick is "out of business", as both Marcela and Ryan were the last members of the group.
      • Including Trump's Season 4, there has been two instances where a company has been shut down simply because the remaining candidates were dismissed.
        • This is the third instance where all final boardroom candidates have been dismissed.
    • Dawna is the only candidate entering the next task having not been to the conference room. She leads the series with a corporate record of 9-2, and a PM record of 3-0.
    • This episode aired after Delta Air Lines, which owns and operates Song, announced would eradicate the Song brand name in May 2006, and incorporate its aircraft into Delta's main operations

[edit] Week 12: The Interviews and the Ultimate Task

  • Airdate: December 14, 2005
  • Task: One-on-one interviews with four important executives from Martha Stewart Living, including some the candidates might recognize from their reward dinners.
  • Dismissed: Jim, for being a loose cannon, treating the entire process as a game, and at the recommendation of the four executives.
    • Final Two: Dawna and Bethenny
    • For the final task, Bethenny and Dawna had to select three of the 14 dismissed candidates since the stakes of the final task is abnormally high
  • Final Project for Bethenny: Hold a Circus event for the Apple & Eve Circus in association with the Boys and Girls Clubs of America
    • Bethenny's Recruits: Ryan, Jim, and Carrie
  • Final Project for Dawna: Liz Claiborne Fashion Show and Charity Event for Safe Horizon (an organization combating domestic violence)
    • Dawna's Recruits: Amanda, Howie, and Sarah
  • Special notes:
    • There are no more teams or project managers—all candidates are now on their own.
    • The one-on-one interviews with the executives has always been an Apprentice Tradition.
    • After being announced as the final two, Bethenny and Dawna congratulated each other upon returning to the loft, and celebrated their coronation as finalists with champagne.
    • Both finalists also browsed a photo album containing pictures of the fourteen dismissed candidates.
    • Jim, although happy to work with Bethenny, was perplexed as to why she chose Carrie, who she argued with in episode 6, and Ryan, who she never worked with. Jim said that Bethenny had no friends and that's why she chose a rather odd group of people.
    • In pure Apprentice tradition, the first part of the final task ended with the final two facing conflicts that could lead to failure. In this case, Dawna thinks Howie could cost her the job, and Bethenny with numerous workers who have no tasks.

[edit] Week 13: Decision Time

  • Airdate: December 21, 2005
  • Setting: The studio in which Martha's daytime show, Martha takes place, live in The Apprentice tradition.
  • Pre-Recorded Material: Conclusion of the final tasks
    • Bethenny's circus event was fun and successful, but Bethenny was a bit cold towards her teammates.
      • Bethenny's coldness was especially evident at the end of the task, when she left her teammates without saying much in the way of praise, in stark contrast to Dawna's emotional farewell to her team.
      • Martha was also concerned that Bethenny disregarded her subordinates and had a few rough edges, which jeopardized Bethenny's job application nearing the end of the finale.
    • Dawna's Liz Claiborne fashion show event went smoothly as well
      • The company's main concern was that the event programmes were rushed, but ultimately none of Dawna's weaknesses affected her job application.
  • Dismissed: Bethenny for showing disrespect to her subordinates, for being a show-off, and having excessive need to make physical impressions.
  • Hired: Dawna, for her exemplanary business experience and her competency in management. (Martha to Dawna: "I would like to offer you the job of being my apprentice.")
  • Special notes
    • The Live Finale was only one hour long (as opposed to two for Donald Trump's Apprentice).
    • At the end of the show, champagne was passed around to the candidates in celebration of Dawna's coronation. However, Martha refused to offer any alcohol to Dawna herself, since she instead wanted Dawna to celebrate her coronation driving away in a new Buick Lucerne.
    • As the series began, a possible conflict of interest arose, as Frankel used to be friends with Jennifer Koppelman Hutt. Hutt is the daughter of Charles Koppelman, and is also Alexis Stewart's partner and co-host on a radio program broadcast through the Sirius Satellite Radio network. Koppelman and Alexis Stewart served as Martha's "eyes and ears," observing the performance of candidates during various tasks in the competition.

[edit] Week by Week Results

Candidate Original Team Episode 4 Team Episode 5 Team Episode 8 Team Finish
Jeff Rudell Matchstick Sent Home Week 1
Chuck Soldano Matchstick Sent Home Week 2
Shawn Killinger Matchstick Sent Home Week 3
Dawn Silvia Matchstick Sent Home Week 4
Jennifer Le Primarius Primarius Primarius Sent Home Week 5
David Karandish Matchstick Matchstick Matchstick Sent Home Week 6
Sarah Brennan Primarius Primarius Primarius Sent Home Week 7
Carrie Gugger Primarius Primarius Primarius Sent Home Week 7
Howie Greenspan Primarius Primarius Primarius Primarius Sent Home Week 8
Amanda Hill Primarius Primarius Matchstick Matchstick Sent Home Week 9
Leslie Sanchez Primarius Matchstick Matchstick Matchstick Sent Home Week 10
Marcela Valladolid Matchstick Matchstick Matchstick Matchstick Sent Home Week 11
Ryan Danz Primarius Primarius Matchstick Matchstick Sent Home Week 11
Jim Bozzini Matchstick Matchstick Primarius Primarius Sent Home Week 12
Bethenny Frankel Matchstick Matchstick Primarius Primarius Sent Home in the Series Finale
Dawna Stone Primarius Primarius Matchstick Primarius Hired by Martha Stewart

[edit] Television Syndication

[edit] References

  • Sellers, Patricia (Nov. 14, 2005). "Remodeling Martha". Fortune, p. 49–62.

[edit] External links

[edit] Contestants' Websites

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Season 6 (January 7, 2007): Aaron Altscher (week 5) • Heidi Androl • Derek Arteta (week 7) • Martin Clarke (week 1) • Nicole D'Ambrosio • Marisa DeMato (week 4) • Muna Heaven (week 9) • Jenn Hoffman (week 7) • Kristine Lefebvre • Frank Lombardi • Angela Ruggiero (week 10) • Stefani Schaeffer • Carey Sherrell (week 2) • Michelle Sorro (week 3) • James Sun • Aimee Trottier (week 6) • Tim Urban (week 11) • Surya Yalamanchili (week 8)

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Past seasons

Season 1 (January 8–April 15, 2004): Bill Rancic, winner • Season 2 (September 9–December 16, 2004): Kelly Perdew, winner
Season 3 (January 20–May 19, 2005): Kendra Todd, winner • Season 4 (September 22–December 15, 2005): Randal Pinkett, winner
Season 5 (February 27–June 5, 2006): Sean Yazbeck, winner
The Apprentice: Martha Stewart (September 21–December 21, 2005) starring Martha Stewart, Charles Koppelman and Alexis Stewart; Dawna Stone, winner
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