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The Apprentice has been a huge, multi-season hit for NBC, and was an immediate breakout hit for the network when it first aired during the 2003-2004 television season. Interestingly enough, NBC was in a major slump at the time, having just sealed the final shows on the mega hit series Friends and Frasier. The Apprentice took the Thursday night spot, heralded under the tagline “Must See TV”. The show, led by American real-estate mogul Donald Trump was an immediate hit for the network, and still remains one of the most watched programs on NBC in the 18-49 age demographic.
The premise of the show begins with a group of contestants who are representative of a vast number of entrepreneurial industries. Individuals of all ages come together to compete for the final prize -- a six figure job working for one of Trump's companies. The contestants come from different enterprises such as real estate, corporate sales, marketing, restaurant development, hotels and political affinities. The contestants are divided up into two competitive teams, each team working under some sort of corporate moniker or power phrase as their identifying name. Both groups are then pitted against each other in a series of big business tasks focusing on essential areas such as retailing, sales and marketing. When the task is assigned, each team is required to select a project manager. At the end of the challenge, the winning team gains some sort of reward while the other team is sent to a Trump Tower boardroom for a "firing" ceremony run by Donald Trump, who is joined by Carolyn Kepcher, Chief Operating Officer for the Trump National Golf Club, and George H. Ross, Executive Vice President and Senior Counsel for The Trump Organization. After a heated discussion over the team's loss, one team member is declared the primary reason for the overall failure. That individual is then on the receiving end of the resounding catch phrase The Apprentice is known for – “You're Fired!”
At the end of the season, the remaining contestants go through multiple interviews with heads of several American corporations. One of the more genius elements of the show is the involvement of multiple sponsors and US corporations such as Burger King, Nestle, Dominos, and Yahoo! and Sony. The final two are assigned different tasks, and after references are checked, the final apprentice is hired by Trump during a live television event.