The Apprentice: Martha Stewart

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The Apprentice: Martha Stewart
Apprentice-MarthaStewart-NBC.jpg
Genre Reality television
Presented by Martha Stewart
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producers
Running time60 minutes
Production company Mark Burnett Productions
Original release
Network NBC
ReleaseSeptember 21 (2005-09-21) 
December 21, 2005 (2005-12-21)

The Apprentice: Martha Stewart is an American reality television series broadcast by NBC. Hosted by businesswoman Martha Stewart, the series premiered on September 21, 2005, and concluded with its thirteenth episode on December 21, 2005.

Contents

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 simply saying goodbye with her own catchphrase of "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 the 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 second-place finisher Bethenny Frankel parlaying 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. [2] A third contestant, Shawn Killinger, would go on to be a popular on air host at QVC.

Candidates

CandidateBackgroundOriginal teamAgeHometownResult
Dawna StoneMagazine PublisherPrimarius37 St. Petersburg, Florida Hired by Martha Stewart
Bethenny Frankel Natural Foods ChefMatchstick34 New York City, New York Sent home in the finale
Jim BozziniAd ExecutiveMatchstick36 Gilbertsville, Pennsylvania Sent home in week 12
Ryan DanzRecent Law GraduatePrimarius28 Cardiff, California Sent home in week 11
Marcela Valladolid Cooking InstructorMatchstick27 Tijuana, Mexico
Leslie Sanchez Marketing Company OwnerPrimarius36 Alexandria, Virginia Sent home in week 10
Amanda HillAttorneyPrimarius30 Austin, Texas Sent home in week 9
Howie GreenspanFashion Company OwnerPrimarius33 Closter, New Jersey Sent home in week 8
Carrie GuggerCreative DirectorPrimarius31 San Diego, California Sent home in week 7
Sarah BrennanEvent PlannerPrimarius25 Washington, D.C.
David KarandishInternet Company OwnerMatchstick22 Maplewood, Missouri Sent home in week 6
Jennifer LeProsecutorPrimarius32 Los Angeles, California Sent home in week 5
Dawn SilviaPR ConsultantMatchstick33 Boston, Massachusetts Sent home in week 4
Shawn KillingerTV NewscasterMatchstick32 Grosse Pointe, Michigan Sent home in week 3
Chuck SoldanoInterior DesignerMatchstick38 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Sent home in week 2
Jeff RudellCreative DirectorMatchstick42 New York City, New York Sent home in week 1

Weekly results

CandidateOriginal teamWeek 4 teamWeek 5 teamWeek 8 teamApplication resultRecord as project manager
Dawna StonePrimariusPrimariusMatchstickPrimariusHired by Martha Stewart3-0 (win in weeks 1, 7 & 10)
Bethenny FrankelMatchstickMatchstickPrimariusPrimariusSent home in the Series Finale1-1 (win in week 11, loss in week 8)
Jim BozziniMatchstickMatchstickPrimariusPrimariusSent home in week 122-0 (win in weeks 6 & 9)
Ryan DanzPrimariusPrimariusMatchstickMatchstickSent home in week 112-1 (win in weeks 5 & 8, loss in week 11)
Marcela ValladolidMatchstickMatchstickMatchstickMatchstickSent home in week 110-2 (loss in week 6 & 9)
Leslie SanchezPrimariusMatchstickMatchstickMatchstickSent home in week 100-2 (loss in weeks 4 & 10)
Amanda HillPrimariusPrimariusMatchstickMatchstickSent home in week 91-0 (win in week 4)
Howie GreenspanPrimariusPrimariusPrimariusPrimariusSent home in week 81-0 (win in week 3)
Carrie GuggerPrimariusPrimariusPrimariusSent home in week 71-0 (win in week 2)
Sarah BrennanPrimariusPrimariusPrimariusSent home in week 70-1 (loss in week 7)
David KarandishMatchstickMatchstickMatchstickSent home in week 60-1 (loss in week 3)
Jennifer LePrimariusPrimariusPrimariusSent home in week 50-1 (loss in week 5)
Dawn SilviaMatchstickMatchstickSent home in week 4
Shawn KillingerMatchstickSent home in week 3
Chuck SoldanoMatchstickSent home in week 20-1 (loss in week 2)
Jeff RudellMatchstickSent home in week 10-1 (loss in week 1)
Elimination chart
No.Candidate12345678910111213
1DawnaWININININININWINININWINININ HIRED
2BethennyININBRBRININBRLOSEININWININFIRED
3JimBRBRBRINBRWININBRWINININFIRED
4RyanININININWINININWINBRBRFIRED
5MarcelaININBRININLOSEININLOSEBRFIRED
6LeslieINININLOSEINININININFIRED
7AmandaINININWINININININFIRED
8HowieININWININININBRFIRED
9CarrieINWINININININFIRED
10SarahININININININFIRED
11DavidININLOSEININFIRED
12JenniferININININFIRED
13DawnBRBRBRFIRED
14ShawnININFIRED
15ChuckINFIRED
16JeffFIRED
  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 on the winning team for this task / they passed the Interviews stage.
  The candidate was on the losing team for this task.
  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 and Dream

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

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References

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  2. Kwiatkowski, Elizabeth (November 26, 2012). "'The Amazing Race' eliminates Racers Abbie Ginsberg and Ryan Danz". Reality TV World. Retrieved December 3, 2020.
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