Look what I found out about the Apprentice
Apprentice' Veers From Reality
By Sarah Hall
Apparently, so-called 'reality' television doesn't always live up to its name.
A woman who says she was an unwitting participant on Donald Trump's smash hit, The Apprentice, claims the show isn't what it seems.
The show features two teams of Trump-wannabes, each battling for a shot at a one-year, $250,000 executive contract at one of Trump's corporate outlets.
On last week's episode, Trump's competing teams of backbiters were each assigned a fixer-upper of an apartment in Brooklyn and told to make the place livable.
Each team's goal was then to rent out the redone space at an inflated rate.
The Donald ensured his peons would have their work cut out for them by selecting apartments that looked dilapidated enough to make a seasoned decorator weep in despair.
However, the palpable desperation of the team members, combined with a little help from the magic of television, fused to create living spaces that actually looked desirable.
Then came the challenge of renting. Team Versacorp struggled to find a taker, but with three hours left before the 5 p.m. deadline, they managed to sign a lease with a woman at a 10 percent markup.
Next it was Team Protege's turn. According to NBC's official summary of the episode, the team had given up on renting the property, when in the nick of time, a woman walked off the street who 'just happened to need a place as soon as possible.' Protege apparently pulled off the coup of signing her to the lease at a 27 percent markup.
Except, according to an account in the Staten Island Advance by Deborah Young, the woman who rented the apartment, Protg did not succeed at playing her for the fool she looked.
Young claims that the property's landlord had already offered the apartment to her at a lower price, but later turned it over for use on The Apprentice.
Though Young appeared to enter the apartment just before the 5 p.m. deadline, she says she was actually there earlier in the afternoon to witness the circus of producers, camera crews and microphones parading through the one-bedroom space.
When she asked what the show was about, she said she was told that it was top secret and she would have to watch NBC to find out.
Young left without bidding on the apartment, but still empty-handed later in the day, she returned to the clutches of Protege, who were only too willing to sign her to a lease.
However, before she signed the lease, she apparently obtained an off-camera promise from the landlord that he would rent her the apartment at the original price he had quoted--which he did.
Meanwhile, Protege's 'winning' rent hike of 27 percent sent Versacorp--with their hike of only 10 percent--to the boardroom, where Tammy was fired. Questionable business tactics at best.
Phony, or no, viewers are buying are buying into The Apprentice. Last week, the show took eighth place in the ratings, with nearly 20 million watching.
NBC has already hired the Donald on for a second season of the show, and is currently taking applications for the next round of aspiring moguls on their Website.
That just ticks me off. I thought that Versacorp did a much better job at redecorating their apt. And it makes me wonder if they only got the 27% markup because the renter already knew she would get the apartment at the price the landlord originally bid on.
I wonder if they'll address it on the show, if it's true. Probably not. Which means Versacorp was the group that was *really* duped.
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By Sarah Hall
Apparently, so-called 'reality' television doesn't always live up to its name.
A woman who says she was an unwitting participant on Donald Trump's smash hit, The Apprentice, claims the show isn't what it seems.
The show features two teams of Trump-wannabes, each battling for a shot at a one-year, $250,000 executive contract at one of Trump's corporate outlets.
On last week's episode, Trump's competing teams of backbiters were each assigned a fixer-upper of an apartment in Brooklyn and told to make the place livable.
Each team's goal was then to rent out the redone space at an inflated rate.
The Donald ensured his peons would have their work cut out for them by selecting apartments that looked dilapidated enough to make a seasoned decorator weep in despair.
However, the palpable desperation of the team members, combined with a little help from the magic of television, fused to create living spaces that actually looked desirable.
Then came the challenge of renting. Team Versacorp struggled to find a taker, but with three hours left before the 5 p.m. deadline, they managed to sign a lease with a woman at a 10 percent markup.
Next it was Team Protege's turn. According to NBC's official summary of the episode, the team had given up on renting the property, when in the nick of time, a woman walked off the street who 'just happened to need a place as soon as possible.' Protege apparently pulled off the coup of signing her to the lease at a 27 percent markup.
Except, according to an account in the Staten Island Advance by Deborah Young, the woman who rented the apartment, Protg did not succeed at playing her for the fool she looked.
Young claims that the property's landlord had already offered the apartment to her at a lower price, but later turned it over for use on The Apprentice.
Though Young appeared to enter the apartment just before the 5 p.m. deadline, she says she was actually there earlier in the afternoon to witness the circus of producers, camera crews and microphones parading through the one-bedroom space.
When she asked what the show was about, she said she was told that it was top secret and she would have to watch NBC to find out.
Young left without bidding on the apartment, but still empty-handed later in the day, she returned to the clutches of Protege, who were only too willing to sign her to a lease.
However, before she signed the lease, she apparently obtained an off-camera promise from the landlord that he would rent her the apartment at the original price he had quoted--which he did.
Meanwhile, Protege's 'winning' rent hike of 27 percent sent Versacorp--with their hike of only 10 percent--to the boardroom, where Tammy was fired. Questionable business tactics at best.
Phony, or no, viewers are buying are buying into The Apprentice. Last week, the show took eighth place in the ratings, with nearly 20 million watching.
NBC has already hired the Donald on for a second season of the show, and is currently taking applications for the next round of aspiring moguls on their Website.
That just ticks me off. I thought that Versacorp did a much better job at redecorating their apt. And it makes me wonder if they only got the 27% markup because the renter already knew she would get the apartment at the price the landlord originally bid on.
I wonder if they'll address it on the show, if it's true. Probably not. Which means Versacorp was the group that was *really* duped.
