The Apprentice 2 candidates

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This page gives biographical information on the eighteen candidates on The Apprentice 2:

Kevin Allen, Raj Bhakta, Maria Boren, Bradford Cohen, Jennifer Crisafulli, Pamela Day, Sandy Ferreira, Rob Flanagan, Elizabeth Jarosz, Stacie Jones Upchurch, Andy Litinsky, Ivana Ma, Jennifer Massey, Wes Moss, Kelly Perdew, Stacy Rotner, Chris Russo, John Willenborg


Contents


[edit] Kevin Allen

Kevin Allen is a law student at the University of Chicago in Chicago, Illinois. He was 29 years old when The Apprentice 2 aired.

Allen grew up in Silver Spring, Maryland. He attended the Wharton School of Business. He was on his way to a career as a professional football player, but gave up this aspiration when his brother was diagnosed with leukemia. Allen later went on to earn an MBA in mergers and acquisitions and finance from Emory University. He has founded a software company with his brother.

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[edit] Raj Bhakta

Raj Peter Bhakta of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was a candidate on the second season of The Apprentice, an American job-candidate search reality show.

Bhakta is known for his eccentricities, including wearing colorful clothing, bowties, and walking with a cane. He was 28 at the time the show aired.

Bhakta graduated from The Hill School (with Donald Trump's son, Donald Jr.) and holds degrees in Economics and History from Boston College. He has worked in the investment banking and automotive industries. He currently works in real estate development.

[edit] Performance

He led the Apex team during week 9. The task was renovating dilapidated homes for appraisal. Because of poor communication and tactical errors, Apex came up short. In the boardroom, Bhakta admitted responsibility, hoping to deflect blame for his poor decision making. Trump fired him, however, because his mistakes were the most glaring and costly. On his way out of the boardroom, Bhakta attempted to secure the phone number of Robin, the desk attendant, but was denied. On the finale, however, it was revealed that the two did have coffee together after Bhakta's dismissal.

He tried to secure a date with Anna Kournikova, who agreed if he could return just one of five serves. If he failed, she would then be able to dare him to perform a forfeit. He ended up running around the Arthur Ashe Stadium in his underwear, while the rest of his team, Ms. Kournikova and John McEnroe fired tennis balls at him.

[edit] After "The Apprentice"

"America has not seen the end of Raj," he said after his rejection. In response to that statement, Bhakta dove into the political realm. Starting a non-partisan group, the Coalition for the Advancement of the Republic(C.A.R.), he wishes to make his political aspirations public and unite those in favor. C.A.R. is housed in Fort Washington, Pennsylvania. In March 2006, Bhakta, a self-proclaimed "Teddy Roosevelt Republican", announced his candidacy for U.S. Congress in the 2006 elections for Pennsylvania's 13th Congressional District as a Republican. Although winning the Republican party's nomination in an uncontested primary, Bhakta lost the election to one-term Democratic incumbent Allyson Y. Schwartz.

[edit] Media coverage

Bhakta appeared on the cover of the October 3-9, 2004 issue of TV Guide, along with Donald Trump and fellow candidate Maria Boren.

Bhakta also was the Yahoo! analyst for The Apprentice 3.

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[edit] Maria Boren

Maria Boren is a marketing executive from Virginia Beach, Virginia. She was age 31 when The Apprentice 2 aired. Boren grew up in Tallahassee, Florida. She holds a B.S. degree in business from Pensacola Christian College, an unaccredited college, and an MBA in entrepreneurial marketing from Regent University in Virginia. She was the Vice President of Marketing for a Real Estate Investment Trust (REIT) in Richmond, Virginia.

[edit] Performance

Boren is aggressive and sometimes domineering in her task work. After a weak performance in week 5 where her public speaking skills came into question, Boren was given the helm during week 6 and led her team to an easy victory. In week 11, the task was to create a catalog for Levi's jeans. Boren proved herself as a weak team player, and refused to listen to the directions of the project manager. He was unable to control her as she became increasingly emotional and passive aggressive. Mosaic subsequently lost. In the boardroom, Boren was chastised for her belligerent behavior towards her Project Manager and was fired.

[edit] Media coverage

Boren appeared on the cover of the October 3-9, 2004 issue of TV Guide, along with Donald Trump and fellow candidate Raj Bhakta. She also posed for a lingerie photo spread along with fellow Apprentice 2 contestants in the December 2004 issue of FHM; she also appeared on one of two alternate covers of the magazine (One included her and Jennifer C, the other Stacie J and Sandy).

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[edit] Bradford Cohen

Fort Lauderdale Criminal Defense Lawyer Bradford Cohen of Fort Lauderdale, Florida was a candidate on The Apprentice 2. He was fired the second week after waiving his exemption.

[edit] Performance

High profile Fort Lauderdale Criminal Defense Lawyer Bradford Cohen was the Project Manager for Apex the first week. He led the women's team to its first out of only two victories, earning him an exemption from being fired the next week should his team lose. His team did lose the second week. In the heat of the moment in the boardroom, he waived his exemption. Simply on the basis that he was willing to put himself on the line, Ivana Ma chose him and two others to accompany her to the final boardroom. Much to Ivana's surprise, Donald Trump fired Cohen, stating that although he felt Cohen was the best on the team, an impulsive decision like that could sink a company in the real world.

After the show he ran for City Commissioner of Fort Lauderdale, Florida, losing by 3% of the vote. He can currently be seen as a frequent legal commentator on NBC, CNN, Court TV, and Fox News. He is the Vice President of the Broward Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers and a member of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Florida Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, the Middle and Southern Districts of Florida, Federal Court, and the 11th Circuit Court of Appeals. He is well known for his representation of high profile clients in difficult legal matters. Most recently he successfully handled the criminal case regarding Rob Van Winkle "Vanilla Ice" in West Palm Beach, Florida. He has handled both Federal and State Criminal jury trials in and out of the State of Florida. Florida Criminal Defense Lawyer Bradford Cohen is also known for being available to his clients on a 24 hour 7 day a week schedule. The slogan on his website is that he "proves himself with every case"

[edit] Media Coverage

Bradford has been covered in Ocean Drive Magazine, The Daily Business Review, Fortune Magazine, The New York Post, TV Guide, US Weekly, Star Magazine, OK Magazine, The New York Times, USA Today, The Sun-Sentinel, The Miami Herald, People Magazine, The cover of Entertainment Weekly, IMUS Show, Dan Abrams Show, Rita Cosby Show, Dennis Miller Show, Celebrity Justice, Entertainment Tonight, Extra, CNN headline news, CNN power lunch.

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[edit] Jennifer Crisafulli

Jennifer Crisafulli, of New York City who was 31 years old on The Apprentice 2, graduated with honors and a BFA degree from Syracuse University. She was one of the youngest photo editors at a leading entertainment magazine, and worked at many top selling publications with some of the world's most famous celebrities.

After leaving the entertainment business, Crisafulli began working in real estate, getting a job at Prudential Douglas Elliman in New York City. Jennifer went into multiple contracts within her first six weeks in business, and is now selling high-end residential real estate. She is also an award-winning equestrian.

[edit] Performance

Jennifer was the fourth person to be fired. Her teammates accused her of being a poor leader, and of bringing teammates into the boardroom for personal reasons, choosing to ignore the faults of her subordinates, and not taking Bill Rancic's advice of executing the job interview for business gain.

In the fourth episode when she described a pair of elderly customers as "two old Jewish ladies", she was accused by fellow contestant Stacey R. of having made anti-Semitic remarks. Despite having a Jewish brother and using the phrase only to describe the pair to another contestant, she was nonetheless accused of being a bigot and terminated from her position at Prudential Douglas Elliman. This is the first time a candidate has been fired from their regular job due to behavior on the show.

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[edit] Pamela Day

Pamela Day
Born November 4, 1971 (1971-11-04) (age 36)
New Jersey
Education B.A. in Economics (University of Pennsylvania); M.B.A. (Harvard Business School)
Occupation Real Estate
Spouse David Vernon 1999-2004
Website
PamDay.com

Pamela Day (born in Colts Neck, NJ) currently resides in Los Angeles, California is the Managing Partner of Crimson Fund Advisors, a real estate investment firm which she co-founded in 2002. Day is best known for her performance as a participant in NBC’s The Apprentice 2 which aired in 2004.

[edit] Education

Day graduated from St. John Vianney High School in Holmdel Township, New Jersey in 1989 and went on to earn a bachelors degree in Economics from the University of Pennsylvania in 1993 and a MBA from Harvard Business School in 1997. She holds SEC Series 63 and 7 licenses and is a licensed California real estate broker.

[edit] Professional Career

After graduating from HBS in 1997, Day worked as an associate at Jones Lang LaSalle, a real estate services & money management firm. In 1998, she entered the dot com economy as Vice President of Corporate Finance at AllAdvantage.com. In 1999, Day founded Blazent, a computer software company which she sold to Cohesiant in 2001. She remained as EVP and Chairman until 2002.[1] Later that year, she co-founded Crimson Holdings LLC, a company dealing in real estate investments and private equity placement.[2]

[edit] Family

Day married David Vernon on September 4, 1999 in New York City. Vernon was a classmate at U Penn and a year behind Pamela at HBS. They spent their honeymoon at the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. In 2004, the couple divorced. At the time, Day stated that her participation in the show did not contribute to the split.[3]

[edit] Performance

On the show, Pamela was portrayed as a tough, no-nonsense businesswoman. Her initial successes convinced trump to transfer her to the competitors team in order to help them finally win. Ironically, in this episode, Day was terminated. The reason Trump fired Day was for her poor judgment of people despite the fact that her team lost by less than ten dollars. After leaving the Apprentice, Day worked to distance herself from the show, thinking herself to be better than the other participants.[4]

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[edit] Sandy Ferreira

Sandy Ferreira is a bridal salon owner from Rockville, Maryland. She was 28 years old when The Apprentice 2 aired.

Ferreira started her salon at the age of 21, becoming the youngest bridal salon owner in the country. She is also a wedding and event planner, as well as investing in real estate.

Ferreira's parents are immigrants from Portugal.

[edit] Performance

Ferreira won twice as Project Manager and had an important role in one of Kelly's victories: the task involved managing a bridal store. She surprised the other candidates for getting so far in the competition, since she didn't have a college degree. Ferreira was one of the final four applicants, but was fired for not impressing the interviewers.

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[edit] Rob Flanagan

Rob Flanagan, 32 years old on The Apprentice 2, came from Frisco, Texas. He is married and has two children.

Flanagan grew up in Plano, Texas. He earned an American football scholarship to Truman State University (formerly Northeast Missouri State University), and started at the linebacker position for four years. After graduating with a Bachelor of Science degree in Kinesiology from the University of Texas at Austin, he and his wife founded Flanagan Enterprises, Inc. They turned Flanagan Enterprises into a multi-million dollar company, selling corporate-branded items and custom solution packaging products worldwide.

In November 2003, Rob partnered with HotLink, Inc., [1] based in Austin, Texas and is now Vice President of Dallas Texas Sales.

[edit] Performance

Flanagan's teammates accused him of not contributing enough during their first task, and he attempted to place the blame on his teammates for not utilizing him well enough. Donald Trump decided it was his fault for not taking the initiative, making Flanagan the first candidate fired from The Apprentice 2.

Flanagan was able to return in Week 9 to work with Mosaic. Trump thought he was a good worker, even though he was the first fired.

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[edit] Elizabeth Jarosz

Elizabeth Jarosz was a candidate on the second season of The Apprentice. Jarosz was 31 at the time the program aired. She hails from Marina Del Rey, California and owns a consulting firm. Jarosz attended Divine Child Elementary School and Divine Child High School in Dearborn, Michigan, and went on to graduate from the University of Michigan Business School with a 4.0 grade point average. She previously worked at Procter & Gamble, which coincidentally was a sponsor of one of the tasks. Jarosz wrote, produced, directed, and edited the 2000 film Trick... or Treat?, which won the Best Short Drama award at the New York International Independent Film & Video Festival.

[edit] Performance

Jarosz was fired week 8 for being an indecisive leader. In an unprecedented move, Trump didn't even wait for her to bring two people back with her for the second round of the board room, since Trump felt that he already had enough evidence to rule her out of the competition. She was eventually brought back in the final two weeks to work for the finalists, where she was the first of all the candidates selected by Kelly. After the tasks, Mr. Trump complimented her for her hard work.

[edit] Filmography

  • Traffic (2000) as High School Student
  • Rock n' Roll Cops (2002) as Detective Elizabeth White
  • Pandemonium (2002) as Taron
  • King's Highway (2002) as Mrs. Kemer
  • Mind Games (2003) as Elizabeth Greene

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[edit] Stacie Jones Upchurch

Stacie Jones Upchurch, age 35 on The Apprentice 2, came from New York City. She has a BA from Emory University and an MBA from Mercer University.

Jones Upchurch grew up in Colorado. She is a professional model with Ford Models and Elite Model Management. She also owns a Subway Sandwich Shop in Harlem, New York.

[edit] Performance

Jones Upchurch disturbed many of her teammates in their first task by repeatedly referring to a Magic 8-ball while awaiting the outcome of the task. This was the first impression she made with her teammates and it eventually led to her termination. At the end of the third task, her teammates still remembered her "schizophrenic"-like episode, and brought it up in the boardroom. Concerned about the issue, Trump ordered all team members back into the boardroom to discuss it. After hearing each woman confirm Jones Upchurch's behavior, Trump decided to make her the third candidate fired from The Apprentice 2. His reasoning was that he did not want someone causing the rest of the candidates upset or nervousness.

Jones Upchurch was invited back to the program for the 9th installment. Trump brought back his first four firings to help with that week's task. In the boardroom, he acknowledged Jones Upchurch for her "hard work."

[edit] External links


[edit] Andy Litinsky

Andy Litinsky was a candidate on the second season of The Apprentice. He was 23 when the program aired. He graduated cum laude from Harvard University in 2004. He comes from Boca Raton, Florida and is a graduate of Pine Crest School in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. In 1999, Litinsky won the U.S. National Debate Championship in Commentary Speaking. He now is an executive producer along with Trump on the MTV show "Pageant Place."

[edit] Performance

Litinsky was described as having "nine lives" by another contestant for his ability to face Trump in the boardroom and emerge unscathed. When given a chance to lead, he helped Mosaic create an effective, emotionally-based advertising campaign for the New York Police Department in week 8.

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[edit] Ivana Ma

Ivana Ma is a venture capitalist from Boston, Massachusetts. She was age 28 when The Apprentice 2 aired. She lives in Los Angeles with her husband, Brian, who attended Harvard Business School.

Ma earned her B.S. from the McIntire School of Commerce at the University of Virginia with a concentration in Finance.

Ma shares her first name with Donald Trump's former wife, Ivana, a coincidence Mr. Trump often poked fun at.

Ma attended the prestigious Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology which is widely considered to be the best high school in the country with an acceptance rate that rivals many elite universities

[edit] Performance

Ivana proved herself to be a tireless worker in the game despite her penchant for finishing the majority of tasks on the losing side. Ivana's record as Project Manager, though, was extremely shoddy: 0 wins for 2 losses. During the M&M's M-Azing Candy Bar challenge, Ivana failed to bring her team under control and behaved rather unprofessionally in the street (specifically, she offered to pull down her skirt for whoever paid for the chocolate she was selling--and her team still lost). In spite of Kevin's low-pricing strategy, Ivana was fired then, in Week 13, the M&M's Candy Bar Challenge.

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[edit] Jennifer Massey

Jennifer Massey (Born Jennifer Jarratt)[2] was a candidate on the second season of The Apprentice. She was 30 at the time the program aired. She is an attorney from San Francisco, California. She graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Princeton University with an undergraduate degree in English. She earned her law degree at Harvard University. Massey is an associate at the law firm of Clifford Chance. Massey's husband is named Aron.

[edit] Performance

In Weeks 12 and 14, Massey got into a verbal fight with Ferreira. While Massey made it to the finals, she was not well liked, and was perceived as being abrasive. Her winning record was not as strong as Perdew's and was perhaps the largest single factor in Trump's decision not to hire her. Additional criticism of her revolved around the fact that Jennifer was often able to hide her personal shortcomings in a task behind the errors of others on her team.

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[edit] Wes Moss

Wes Moss, post-Apprentice.
Wes Moss, post-Apprentice.

Wes Moss of Atlanta, Georgia was 28 years old at the time The Apprentice 2 aired. He is a vice president at a major investment firm and manages money for wealthy individuals and companies. He also teaches classes at Emory University's Center for Life Long Learning Emory University.

Since age 15, when he started both a landscaping company and summer camp for Pennsylvania's rural children, he has been involved with business and entrepreneurship.[5]

Moss holds a degree in economics from University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

[edit] Life After the Apprentice

Since his journey to New York Wes went back to Atlanta, wrote a book called ""Starting from Scratch"", is an active speaker on the subject of business and entrepreneurship, and continues to grow his wealth management practice. Moss authored Starting from Scratch - Secrets from 21 ordinary people who made the entrepreneurial leap for Kaplan Publishing.[6] He tours as a speaker.[7]

[edit] External links


[edit] Kelly Perdew

Main article: Kelly Perdew

Kelly Perdew, who was 37 years old and he hails from Carlsbad, California is a Military Intelligence Officer.

[edit] Stacy Rotner

Stacy Rotner, of New York City, New York, is an attorney. She was 26 at the time of the show.

[edit] Accomplishments

Rotner has a B.A. in Art History from Columbia University, where she graduated with honors. Stacy received her J.D. from Brooklyn Law School, and she currently practices corporate law at a top law firm in New York.

She has also practiced intellectual property law dealing with issues that include copyright, trademark, entertainment law and art law. In addition, Rotner has significant public speaking experience.

Rotner has worked at the legal departments of Sotheby's auction house and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

She speaks French, having studied abroad in Paris. She is an "avid art lover".

[edit] Performance

As of the first episode of the series, Rotner had little presence. She appeared to many to be trying to "fly under the radar" for a while, a trick that often either works on reality shows, or completely falls apart.

Rotner mostly argued with the project managers in the tasks. This led her to being picked to go to the board room several times. She was shown constantly arguing with Jen C., Pamela, and Wes. She was fired for not taking responsibility in the failure of the tasks and placing all the blame on the project manager. Rotner later returned in the final two weeks of the show to work as an employee for Jennifer.

Oregon newspaper The Trades noted Rotner has a habit of rolling her eyes a little too regularly.

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[edit] Chris Russo

Chris Russo is a stockbroker from Long Island, New York. He works for Worldwide Wealth Management in Westbury, New York. He was 30 years old when The Apprentice 2 aired.

[edit] Business experience

Russo got his start in business at an early age. He launched a candy business at the age of 11 and had a landscaping business by the time he was 14. He also sold flowers and Christmas trees. Russo has also worked as a paperboy and in the restaurant business.

Russo opened his own firm after being a stockbroker for seven years. He ranked 13th out of over 1,000 brokers after only five months.

[edit] Performance

Russo found himself in hot water during week 9. In the boardroom, he complained that his team's "chemistry was horrible" and that if it was composed of the same people the following week, they would surely lose. This outburst was seen as disloyal by Carolyn who chastised him by saying she didn't want to hear about his team's futility. "Don't tell us about it. Fix it!" Trump then named Russo Project Manager for the following week. Early in the task for week 10, he threw up his arms and declared it "impossible". Russo subsequently led his team to the most humiliating defeat in the history of the program. In the boardroom, Trump mentioned how much he liked his accent, saying it made him comfortable and reminded him of his boyhood. Then he fired him.

[edit] Trivia

  • Russo does not have any formal education beyond high school.
  • Russo speaks with a heavy Long Island accent.

[edit] External links


[edit] John Willenborg

John Willenborg is a marketing director from San Francisco, California. He was 24 years old when The Apprentice 2 aired.

Willenborg graduated from the University of California, Berkeley in 2003. In college, he won three Division I national titles in rugby union. Since his firing, Willenborg has been hired by Fox Cable Group's SPEED Channel to become a reporter for their new series, NASCAR Nation. Ironically, while in college, Willenborg had been an intern at Speed.

[edit] Performance

In one of the episodes, the teams were supposed to get great reviews for their restaurant. When a group of four supposedly homosexual men entered his team's restaurant, Chris Russo told John to use his sexuality to get the necessary positive reviews. The gay men were criticising about how awful the food was. Then, Raj suggested the John, being the best looking of the group, go out, bend over, and tie his shoes in front of the group of gay men. John did not go with Raj's suggestion but he did deliver the food to the table and turned on some charm to butter-up the gay customers. Trump gave the strategy a positive comment, comparing it with women using their looks to get what they want.

However, John was fired at the end of episode 6 when he made too many bad decisions when he became the project manager.

[edit] External links


[edit] References

  1. ^ Blazent
  2. ^ Crimson Holdings LLC
  3. ^ "The Apprentice"'s Pamela Day Getting Divorced [Archive] - Movie Discussion Forum & Message Board
  4. ^ Fast Talk: What I Learned on The Apprentice
  5. ^ Echo Online :: News :: Would-be "Apprentice" inspires
  6. ^ Amazon.com: Starting From Scratch: Secrets from 21 Ordinary People Who Made the Entrepreneurial Leap: Books: Wes Moss
  7. ^ Wes Moss