Martha says 'goodbye'
2005-09-22 13:00
New York - In Martha Stewart's world, a loser isn't fired. He's "asked to go home." He's bidden "goodbye." Advised he doesn't fit. And then he gets a cordial note.
At least, that was how it was done on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, which premiered on Wednesday on NBC.
The biggest question surrounding this much-awaited reality show had been how Martha would dismiss each losing candidate - her equivalent of the "you're fired" kiss-off made famous by Donald Trump with the original Apprentice edition.
On the Stewart Apprentice, a 13-week televised job interview whose prize is a $250 000 (about R1.5m) position at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, Stewart's farewell said a lot about the difference between her show and Trump's.
Throughout the hour, Stewart was businesslike but gracious. And the look of her series - which was taped at her Manhattan corporate headquarters this summer - is airy and bright.
'I also want you to succeed'
"I want you to have fun," she said up front, "but I also want you to succeed."
Instead of the dark and forbidding boardroom where Trump lords over his candidates, Stewart held forth in a cheery conference room. Her lieutenants: daughter Alexis Stewart and Charles Koppelman, the company's chairperson.
Then, having said goodbye to Jeff, a contentious creative director from New York, Martha penned a note that began, "Dear Jeffrey: I'm sorry that you are the first to go. Not to fail, but rather not to fully succeed."
The Apprentice: Martha Stewart is part of a two-pronged TV comeback for the domestic diva. Her weekday syndicated talk-and-demonstration series, Martha, premiered on September 12.
Her return to TV is part of her campaign to "revitalise this fantastic company," as she said recently - "to get people back on track about what we are and what we do here".
On the net:
www.nbc.com
- AP