Perhaps I’m in the minority here, but this news has me more jazzed than my morning coffee. Donald Trump has announced that he and NBC are bringing back the original format of The Apprentice this fall, in which 14 ordinary candidates vie for a job.
It’s been way too long.
Season 6 of the show marked the last time the series showcased “average” contestants, in a competition that saw Stefanie Schaeffer edge out Frank Lombardi, Nicole D’Ambrosio and James Sun in a final-four showdown.
Since then, the show has survived in a celebrity format, a shift that only somewhat resurrected the series’ faltering ratings and saw both Piers Morgan and Joan Rivers crowned winners.
“Since the economy went down the tubes, people have been saying, ‘Would it be possible to bring back the original?’” Trump said in a conference call before the third season of Celebrity Apprentice began.
“In a way, it’s more important now than when we first did it.”
In the past, the Mark Burnett series has thrown certain twists into the casting, such as pitting street smarts against brain smarts, or making the cast sleep in tents when they lost.
This time, Trump maintains he wants 14 smart people who have either been let go thanks to the economy, can’t find a post-grad job in their respective fields or are stuck in a menial job in order to get by.
Taping will begin this summer, with the goal of airing the show this fall. Whether viewers will flock to the “normal” version is unknown: whereas the first season finale, in which Bill Rancic was hired by Trump, garnered 28.5 million viewers, the Season 6 finale only nabbed 7.94 million viewers.
With the revived format comes one change, however. Rather than sending the fired candidates off in cabs once Trump is done with them, he will sit them down for some good old-fashioned advice.
Gee, and one thing I didn’t miss about the original format was Trump’s savvy business moments, where he lectured the camera about how great he is.
A character is a character is a character, I suppose.
The current season of The Celebrity Apprentice airs Sundays, 9 p.m. ET/PT on Global/NBC.
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