The Apprentice: Martha Stewart

The Apprentice: Martha Stewart

Logo
Created by Mark Burnett
Donald Trump
Starring Martha Stewart
Theme music composer Annie Lennox
David A. Stewart
Opening theme "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)"
Performed by Eurythmics
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 13
Production
Running time 60 minutes
Release
Original network NBC
Original release September 21 (2005-09-21) – December 21, 2005 (2005-12-21)

The Apprentice: Martha Stewart is a reality game show and a spin-off from the series, The Apprentice, that ran in the fall of 2005. Broadcast on NBC, the show featured business tycoon Martha Stewart. Tasks were centered on Stewart's areas of expertise: media, culinary arts, entertaining, decorating, crafts, design, merchandising, and style. The tone of the show was somewhat muted compared to the original, as Stewart brought her own sensibilities to the elimination process, often using her catchphrase: "You just don't fit in" in contrast to original series host Donald Trump's catchphrase: "You're fired." She also wrote a cordial letter to the candidate who was fired; many times she took subtle jabs at the fired candidate and gave frank reasons for why the candidate did not succeed on the show. Several segments featuring Stewart were filmed at her home in Bedford, New York because at the time, she was serving the five-month house arrest portion of her ImClone scandal conviction.[1]

Donald Trump, Mark Burnett and Jay Bienstock executive produced the show. Businessman Charles Koppelman and Stewart's daughter, Alexis Stewart accompanied the two teams during tasks and reported their observations to Stewart in the boardroom.[1]

The two teams, Matchstick and Primarius, competed in 11 challenges. Overall, Primarius won eight, while Matchstick (candidates were reshuffled after Matchstick lost several times in a row) won only three.

The show's theme song is "Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)" by Eurythmics. The logo is a businesswoman in a dress running with a bag instead of a businessman running with a briefcase. The background music is written by David Vanacore, Mark T, Williams, and Jeff Lippencott.

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

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. 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. Stewart responded in turn that she was supposed to have "fired" Trump in the premiere episode, making her a successor to Trump rather than the host of a spinoff. In mid-November 2005, NBC announced that it would not bring back the show for a second season, although the network and Stewart claimed that the show was initially planned as a one-season endeavor.

Within a few years of the end of the series, three of the top runners-up (Bethenny, Marcela, and Leslie) were participating in other television ventures, with 2nd-place finisher Bethenny Frankel parleying her fame from the inaugural cast The Real Housewives of New York City into further reality shows, television hosting, books, and a successful business - Skinnygirl Cocktails. Fourth-place finisher Ryan Danz appeared on the 21st season of The Amazing Race alongside his girlfriend Abbie Ginsberg. They finished in 5th place. A third contestant, Shawn Killinger, would go on to be a popular on air host at QVC.

Candidates

Candidate Background Original team Age Hometown Result
Dawna Stone Magazine Publisher Primarius 37 St. Petersburg, Florida Hired by Martha Stewart
Bethenny Frankel Natural Foods Chef Matchstick 34 New York City, New York Sent home in the Series Finale
Jim Bozzini Ad Executive Matchstick 36 Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania Sent home in week 12
Ryan Danz Recent Law Graduate Primarius 28 Cardiff, California Sent home in week 11
Marcela Valladolid Cooking Instructor Matchstick 27 Tijuana, Mexico
Leslie Sanchez Marketing Company Owner Primarius 36 Alexandria, Virginia Sent home in week 10
Amanda Hill Attorney Primarius 30 Austin, Texas Sent home in week 9
Howie Greenspan Fashion Company Owner Primarius 33 Closter, New Jersey Sent home in week 8
Carrie Gugger Creative Director Primarius 31 San Diego, California Sent home in week 7
Sarah Brennan Event Planner Primarius 25 Washington, D.C.
David Karandish Internet Company Owner Matchstick 22 Maplewood, Missouri Sent home in week 6
Jennifer Le Prosecutor Primarius 32 Los Angeles, California Sent home in week 5
Dawn Silvia PR Consultant Matchstick 33 Boston, Massachusetts Sent home in week 4
Shawn Killinger TV Newscaster Matchstick 32 Grosse Pointe, Michigan Sent home in week 3
Chuck Soldano Interior Designer Matchstick 38 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Sent home in week 2
Jeff Rudell Creative Director Matchstick 42 New York City, New York Sent home in week 1

Weekly results

Candidate Original team Week 4 team Week 5 team Week 8 team Application Result Record as Project Manager
Dawna Stone Primarius Primarius Matchstick Primarius Hired by Martha Stewart 3-0 (win in weeks 1, 7 & 10)
Bethenny Frankel Matchstick Matchstick Primarius Primarius Sent home in the Series Finale 1-1 (win in week 11, loss in week 8)
Jim Bozzini Matchstick Matchstick Primarius Primarius Sent home in week 12 2-0 (win in weeks 6 & 9)
Ryan Danz Primarius Primarius Matchstick Matchstick Sent home in week 11 2-1 (win in weeks 5 & 8, loss in week 11)
Marcela Valladolid Matchstick Matchstick Matchstick Matchstick Sent home in week 11 0-2 (loss in week 6 & 9)
Leslie Sanchez Primarius Matchstick Matchstick Matchstick Sent home in week 10 0-2 (loss in weeks 4 & 10)
Amanda Hill Primarius Primarius Matchstick Matchstick Sent home in week 9 1-0 (win in week 4)
Howie Greenspan Primarius Primarius Primarius Primarius Sent home in week 8 1-0 (win in week 3)
Carrie Gugger Primarius Primarius Primarius Sent home in week 7 1-0 (win in week 2)
Sarah Brennan Primarius Primarius Primarius Sent home in week 7 0-1 (loss in week 7)
David Karandish Matchstick Matchstick Matchstick Sent home in week 6 0-1 (loss in week 3)
Jennifer Le Primarius Primarius Primarius Sent home in week 5 0-1 (loss in week 5)
Dawn Silvia Matchstick Matchstick Sent home in week 4
Shawn Killinger Matchstick Sent home in week 3
Chuck Soldano Matchstick Sent home in week 2 0-1 (loss in week 2)
Jeff Rudell Matchstick Sent home in week 1 0-1 (loss in week 1)
Elimination chart
Candidate 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13
Dawna WIN IN IN IN IN IN WIN IN IN WIN IN IN HIRED
Bethenny IN IN BR BR IN IN BR LOSE IN IN WIN IN FIRED
Jim BR BR BR IN BR WIN IN BR WIN IN IN FIRED
Ryan IN IN IN IN WIN IN IN WIN BR BR FIRED
Marcela IN IN BR IN IN LOSE IN IN LOSE BR FIRED
Leslie IN IN IN LOSE IN IN IN IN IN FIRED
Amanda IN IN IN WIN IN IN ININFIRED
Howie IN IN WIN IN IN IN BR FIRED
Carrie IN WIN IN IN IN IN FIRED
Sarah IN IN IN IN IN IN FIRED
David IN IN LOSE IN INFIRED
Jennifer IN IN IN IN FIRED
Dawn BR BR BR FIRED
Shawn IN IN FIRED
Chuck IN FIRED
Jeff FIRED
     The candidate was hired and won the competition
     The candidate won as project manager on his/her team
     The candidate lost as project manager on his/her team
     The candidate was brought to the final boardroom
     The candidate was sent home or fired
     The candidate lost as project manager and was sent home or fired

Episodes

Week 1: Once Upon a Time

Week 2: Business is Blooming

Week 3: Bake It 'Til You Make It

Week 4: Sweet Suite

Week 5: Mixed Greens

Week 6: Every Dog Has His Day

Week 7: Swimming Against the Tide

Week 8: Don't Touch That Dial

Week 9: The Coffee Achievers

Week 10: A Ridiculous Display

Week 11: Final Approach

Week 12: The Interviews and the Ultimate Task

Week 13: Decision Time

Television syndication

References

  1. 1 2 Sellers, Patricia (14 November 2005). "Remodeling Martha". Fortune. Time Warner Company. Retrieved 29 June 2012.
  2. "Jennifer Hutt website". Retrieved 29 June 2012.
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