The Apprentice – Martha Stewart Version

A couple of more things to consider.

Randal lost his grandmother early in the process. Instead of dropping out, he vowed he would carry on and make his grandmother proud of him by becoming The Apprentice in front of 30 million people. He had every right to think that once he won, he would not be forced to dilute the victory by having to share it. This is not a mere job interview-this is a competition held in front of the country and person at the end is not just a new employee, but the champion of a grueling process.

Another thing. Sure, Trump could hire anyone anytime he likes. And you must have noticed how much Trump is into power on this show. He interrupts, he cuts candidates off, he specializes in keeping people off balance and uncomfortable in his presence. The very fact that Trump felt it necessary to ask Randal before hiring Rebecca says quite a lot. Trump does not normally give other people power over his decisions-he excercises power over them. Trump would not feel it necessary to consult Randal before hiring Rebecca unless he did recognize the fact that it would consititute an unfair diminuation of Randal's prize.

Randal won the prize fair and square, it is completely unfair to hold against him that he was unwilling to share it after going through so much to attain it. The others didn't.

Larry King
Larry King Live

Both Rebecca and Randal appeared on Larry King Live.

Again, Randal displayed his egotistical selfishness. He declared himself to be the clear winner by every conceivable criteria. He is of the opinion that he is far superior than any of the past winners of the Apprentice. Given his exceedingly high opinion of himself, he wasn't willing to share the spotlight with someone whom he didn't consider to be his equal. He made it clear that the evening was all about HIM.

Larry King noted that Randal was extremely self confident. (Pride goeth before the fall.)

Donald Trump appeared on the show by telephone. He admitted that he thought Randal would say yes. He admitted that he wanted to hire Rebecca and still wanted to hire her.

However, Trump acknowledged since Thursday, he is aware that Rebecca has been offered positions with Yahoo! and Microsoft and a few other companies. Rebecca acknowledged that she has several offers on the table. She was absolutely beaming!

At the very end of the show, Larry King leaned over to Rebecca said it was the luckiest thing that ever happened to her (when Randal surprised everyone and said there can only be one apprentice (HIM)).

While Randal is cursed with that "I'm better than everyone else" pride thing, the true shining star in the whole controversy is Rebecca.

It's a shame.

Randal just spent several months on the air.

He won every task he was in charge of.

He won the confidence and admiration of all the people he worked with-even those who were sent packing because they lost to him.

Because of his personality and obvious decency, he was picked first by any team when they had the chance. Remember when the women's team was asked which guy they wanted to come over to their team? "Raandaaaal!!!!!" they all cried out at once.

So when Randal wins the showdown, the only thing he did was answer that Rebecca should not be hired that night as co-Apprentice. He made it clear that was his only objection. He did not preclude any other position she could be hired for at any other time.

For this, he gets labelled a selfish jerk.

Is there no justice in the world?

I did not get a chance to see Larry King.

But I will say this about the so-called "selfish, egotistical" Randal.

He spends his professional life in the rough, impoverished Newark New Jersey.

Out of 340+ cities measured, Newark, NJ has the 12th highest murder rate-over five times the national average.

With Randal's education, his Rhodes scholarship and all the other accomplishments, Randal could easily have a job in sleek midtown Manhattan and live in some swank suburb. But he operates businesses in Newark, and works for the city government there.

Perhaps some of his reason for not sharing the spotlight might be that he wants the visibility to be a role model for other African-Americans.

Notice how Randal won the contest. He aced every task, he impressed every contestant with his personality and general knowledge. No in-your-face attitude, no thug clothes. It is almost impossible to imagine Randal wearing anything but a suit.

Perhaps Randal dwelled on his record on Larry King because, quite frankly, Rebecca's record on the show could not compare to his. Perhaps Randal is stung that he is portrayed as selfish, and is trying to remind everyone just how much he really did deserve the title. If you want to be fair about it, you must admit-Rebecca really had no chance to win on that show, if justice was done.

If you examine Randal's life, as well as his behavior on the show, it become clear that Randal dedicates himself to fulfilling his own high intellectual and moral expectations, and to be a role model for others. That is clear. Winning the contest, becoming The Apprentice, was his chance to be thrust into the spotlight where he could even more visible as a role model for young black men than ever before.

I think it is a shame that one misunderstood response of his will, in the minds of too many of the public, wipe all that good away and they will buy into this idea that Randal was the selfish one who didn't want Rebecca to get a job too. It really wasn't like that.

Well, on to Martha Stewart's version of The Apprentice.

I'd be very surprised if Bethenny doesn't get the job. In fact, I am almost sure she will.

Two reasons:

A) I believe the editing for the show is done after the decision is made, and for the last seveal weeks Bethenny has been positioned in the middle between the artistic temperament of artist Jim and the organized-but-so-drab Dawna. Generally, Americans like the middle way-if you want to get elected in politics, pin the label "extremist" on your opponent. The editing is placing Bethenny as the middle choice between two extremes.

B) Remember Martha's Thank You note to Jim? It said that she looked forward to working with Jim in the future! Jim is a graphic artist, nobody has complained about all the graphic art he has done on these tasks, so he is probably very good. But he lives in Ohio, and New York is full of graphic artists with talent. It is plain that Bethenny has already been hired, and she, in turn, has already hired Jim.

I don't see Dawna hiring Jim, do you? She hates his guts, with some justification. Jim identified her as the biggest threat, and has been aiming to get rid of her for several weeks. The only way I see that Jim is brought into the company is if Bethenny gets the job.

At the end of the last episode, Bethenny was staring at a whole crew of circus performers with no place to put them. Pretty bad.

Dawna was in apparently somewhat better shape, but the Liz Claiborne people did not like her choice of clothes for the fashion show.

Bethenny's crew was openly criticizing her managing job so far. Not good.

But in a certain sense, Bethenny is in better shape than Dawna. Because I believe, despite the lecture she is receiving from one of the sponsors, that Bethenny will find some place to put the performers and somebody, somewhere, has to remember how the show is organized. The performers have probably done this same show many times before, they've got it all memorized by now. And at least Bethenny's crew wants to work for her, they are just waiting for her to step up.

Dawna's crew, however, is largely the reason she is in trouble. Howie and Amanda did a lousy job selecting outfits. And from what I saw on previous episodes, I wouldn't trust Amanda with anything. Her attitude is-if I can't run the thing, I'll take down the person who is. She's treacherous.

In my opinion, the show will go like this. Dawna will have the fashion show go smoothly, but people will be less than thrilled with the clothes shown. But everything will go as scheduled. A fair amount of money will be collected.

Bethenny's show will be a little ragged, but she will get through things without it being a disaster. The after circus party for the bigwigs will be a rousing success, however, and the time she spends fund raising will pay off as she exceeds expectations in the money department. So she gets to be The Apprentice, even though her event is not run as smoothly.

That's the way it is shaping up, as far as I can see.

I might have to eat these words after tomorrow night, LOL.

Well, whoever wins will be unique.

The show will not be back next year.

Keltic whether it is assumed or not by advertising in the show that there is one winner - there is still no guarantee.

Also, I never said Randal didn't deserve to win, just that I lost interest him the minute his ego surfaced. I did not like his egotisical attitude and thought he made a wrong decision when turning down the offer to hire Rebecca. However, the same as Trump can hire who he likes, Randal can make his decision as he likes.

I just do not agree with Randal's decision and personally think in the long run Rebecca may be the better choice.