Thought I'd share this with you all... a picture of the entire Apprentice 5 cast and a little description on each candidate --

The Apprentice 5 Cast

Pinning thread and changing title. Thanks for the info.

I seriously cannot wait! My pre-show faves are Dan, Andrea, and Tarek.

The people I think who have a good chance of winning are:

Women:

Leslie, Allie & Charmaine (in that order)

Men:

Sean & Lenny (ditto)

There is the distinct possibility of a double hiring. It's almost certain that one of the finalists will be a woman under 30.

Thanks so much for posting this info

Based on this alone, I am impressed with:
Ladies:
Charmaine and Allie

Men:
Pepi, Sean and Tarek

looking forward to the season!

Is it just me, or do some of the candidates look like 2.0 versions of Sandy, Danny, Andy, Rebecca, Clay, and the Jennifers from last season?

Maybe it's just me but I would be seriously POed to have Ivanka and Junior sitting in the boardroom and judging my performance. Ivanka hasn't even graduated college yet and Junior couldn't run a corner lemonade stand without his old man's backing. These are some very accomplished people and the show looses credibility
if Trump's nepotism is allowed to continue.

Although I only like it when Carolyn and George are there, Ivanka did graduate college (Wharton) and is/was working for a real estate firm in Brooklyn, and Donald Jr. has learned a lot, is very knowledgeable and well respected in his father's firm.

Highlander you are correct. Ivanka did graduate in 2004. But that doesn't change my opinion. I think the person judging someone on these shows should at least be as accomplished as those they are judging. Neither Junior or Juniorette make the grade. It would like me being a judge on Dancing with the Stars.

The cast seems to be very interesting. I don't have any definite favorites right now. However, both Allie and Sean seem to be promising candidates. I'll just have to wait and see.

Ok, allow me to play devil's advocate - how reliable is this source? I mean, Roxanne "moonlights as a Jazzercise instructor..." ?? Also, where are Andrea's legs!? (#1) She looks like she was cut-and-pasted in from another photo all together....anyone? Anyone? Bueller? Just me? Ok.

I'll go slink back to Cynical Land now ...

OMG YEAHH!!!!!!! My school chum Andrea emailed me yesterday to say that she can finally tell her friends - SHE IS ON APPRENTICE! She says they filmed Sept-November, but cannot spill any secrets.

I am so excited and proud that my friend made it where she is in life - and on the show! Now I have a legitimate excuse to watch, instead of just endulging my guilty pleasure.

I am SOOOOO suprised they picked her, because one of her many companies is a tshirt company called Anti Establishment that produces the shirts that say "The CIA sold me crack" and "I'd rather be high and eating donuts right now", etc.

Everyone- I call you all to rally for Andrea! I hope they edit her kindly, 'cause she is a really nice person. <cough... Wendy Pepper...cough>

It's interesting (or ironic--take your pick) that, after the way he so openly dissed Martha Stewart and her version of TA, Donald should follow her example of using HIS OWN CHILDREN as Not!George and Not!Carolyn this season. Hypocritical much, Mr. Trump?

Here's hoping that Junior and Ivanka do to him what Alexis Stewart did to Martha on their show.

P.S. Alexis sends her best (and is laughing her butt off at the same time.)

ITA. With George we got someone who has been in the business for many, many years and was very successful before Trump talked him into coming into the Trump organization. Carolyn is working for Trump for over 10 years and worked herself up to a high position. If I were a candidate who owned my own business or company or has worked myself up in a company, I would not be happy being judged or criticized by Trump's kids. Although, knowing Trump, he will probably shut up Donald Jr. (who has more experience than Ivanka) as he did with George sometimes. It feels like when Trump found out that Martha was taping with her daughter as one of the viceroys, he decided to do the same to give his kids national exposure as George and Carolyn received.

ETA: Trump's kids better not write a book after their stint on TA. Can you imagine?

Dear sweet Lord if he still has an accent that's it. He can be the worst player but he'll still be my apprentice.

And Roxanne! Appelate lawyer and Jazzercize instructor? What's not to love!?

Oh wait, I mixed up Sean with Michael. Oh well! British accent!

Andrea sounds awesome.

Big difference between Alexis and the Trump Kids:

Don Jr. and Ivanka already have shown some different visions from their father, and in my opinion they will be far tougher critics in the boardroom than George and Carolyn have ever been. Any candidate who thought they'd have an easy time because they are Trump's kids I think found out when they were there (since this actually filmed in the fall) they were much tougher than anyone would have ever expected.

NBCUMV.COM has posted more detailed biographies of the candidates here. Still waiting for the photographs to be posted.

Kelly, Kendra and Randall must really be bombing out if Trump is reduced to bringing his own spawn on instead.

Yep, my money's definitely on Tarek to win this season. The detailed bios of all the candidates just reaffirmed my first impression. Here's hoping he doesn't go down in a blaze of glory. I speculate a Lenny/Tarek final 2 showdown.

My two cents (probably not worth even that much):

I think we can fairly safely write off all the lawyers as a whole. I'm not trying to be mean, but let's be realistic. This is a show about business and I've never quite understood why they take so many lawyers who don't also have a background in business. The legal profession can certainly give someone great skills in leadership, strategizing, presentation, etc., which can come in handy in business, but it's usually not enough. Out of the four winners of this show only one was a lawyer (Kendra) and she also had some sort of real estate background, IIRC. So that eliminates Brent, Pepi, Roxanne, and Stacy.

Then, of course, I always write off every Realtor automatically as being incapable of winning this show. Just call it the Katrina (S1) principle. So that leaves Leslie out.

Then, of course, there's the psychotherapist (Theresa). 'Nuff said. If lawyers and PR consultants have no place on this show, then psychotherapists certainly don't. I mean, what's next . . . philosophers?

Then we need to consider the people whose resumes are padded with fancy words that, often as not, mean nothing. (I admit there seems to be less of this this season than there has been in the past, but it's still there). My take:

Charmaine--seems to be good at sales, but as we have seen on this show before sales strategy varies from market to market and depending on what you are selling, so these skills are not always directly transferrable. The parts of her resume which raised a flag for me were "area manager for a Fortune 500 company", "consultant" and "highly involved in local real estate community." OK, the first one--Fortune 500 is moderately impressive, but the term "area manager" could mean lots of things and is probably not a high executive position; the term "consultant," as we all know, is highly flexible and may mean very little, especially if the consulting is of an independent nature, which it seems to be here. And as for the "highly involved in real estate community" comment, I'm not sure where to begin. I have a feeling this is a puffed up way of saying that she would like to be a player in the real estate market, but isn't, and wanted to put that in to impress Trump. I mean, if she owned real estate, why wouldn't it just say that? I'm not sure how one goes about being "involved in the real estate community" unless one either owns or sells real estate, and it appears she may do neither. Anyway, she's not necessarily a bad candidate, but her bio makes me suspicious.

Lenny--Two things concern me on his bio: 1) "own medical trading company" and 2) restaurant owner. The first, again, is suspicious because of the highly fluid nature of such language--is this a major company that employs people and has a large customer base? Or is it something run out of his basement which barely breaks even? And I have nothing against restaurant owners--it's more practical business experience than many on this show ever have. But again it's a rather specific skill set that doesn't necessarily transfer well, as other restaurant owners on this show have proven. I do, however, admire his drive; he has worked hard (as in, actual physical manual labor) to get where he is.

Summer--Also a restaurant owner--see above

So, who does that leave:
Allie and Andrea both look promising, if their bios can be believed. Bryce appears to have lots of experience in building, which could be promising as the "job" that one wins usually involves building, but does he have skills in any other area to get him through to the end? And probably the one I like the best just on spec so far is Tammy. I like the fact that she has been involved in two very different types of business. She runs her own briefcase manufacturer and, if the bio is correct, "oversees every stage of products' original creation from design to final marketing." If that's true then she has experience with many different areas of business which could be good. She is also a Certified Financial Planner and helps guide millionaires on how to invest and spend their money. So I think she may have the kind of skill needed.

So, in conclusion: resume padding---bad!; Lawyer-being--bad!; Realtor--bad!; psychotherapist--what were they thinking!?; Restaurant owner--Meh; Single-area-experience having--bad! Multi-area-experience having (minus all the things above)--GOOD!!

I agree with you wholeheartedly on the lawyers. However, Kendra was never a lawyer (she was a realtor), Kelly was the only Apprentice to have a law degree (which he didn't use in a court of law). Being a lawyer on the Apprentice is like the kiss of death in the Apprentice world. They can make a good case in the boardroom, but sooner or later, they crash and burn.



From the looks of her bio, it seems as if she were involved in selling real estate first, then switched to drafting documents for the real estate firm.



I agree, Tammy seems like she will go far as compared to most of her competitors. I can see her as final four material. I can even see her as final two.

That's exactly what I was thinking too. Andrea = Sandy, Lee = Andy and so on. I think at this point it's hard to come up with an "original" candidate that doesn't resemble any of the previous candidates. I actually thought that this was a fairly boring bunch, maybe I just got desensitized by multitudes of degrees by Season 2 and by inflated resumes from the other seasons.

RhondaGC, I thought that was a very interesting, and a very realistic assessment of the candidates. At this point it's hard to predict who will crash and burn, but it's pretty easy to determine who does not have a chance in hell already, based on the previous seasons.

Regarding Ivanka and Don Jr. being the judges, I really hate that idea. I think Carolyn has almost always been the voice of reason, and by disagreeing with Trump she exposed his poor decision-making. I doubt his children would be allowed to disagree much, and even when they do Trump will impatiently hear them out (like Martha) and then do what he wants. He always did what he wanted at the end, but at least he paid attention to Carolyn's advice, even if he did not act on it in the same boardroom.

Trump's children are impressive if you compare them to the Hilton sisters, but it is pretty obvious that many of their accomplishments did not come without daddy's help, and I think it's too early to tell if they will ever amount to anything big on their own. At this point I really respect Ivanka for not following the Hilton sisters' road, even if she was a model, she seemed to understand that education is important in life.

Bill was also a real estate developer (as his audition tapes show) although that never really came out in the show. Indeed had Katrina not gone over the top about real estate being her *passion* and had Tammy kept her mouth shut Bill would have been fired for his poor negotiation in the real estate considering his background.

The NBC site for Season 5 is now up. Here it is.

Apprentice 5

Unfortunately, only the video section of that site is active right now.

I guess I got confused. I thought Kendra was a lawyer and Kelly was not. But either way I still stand by the Realtor designation being the kiss of death. I believe that is different than real estate developer or investor. I suppose it was Katrina's deluded belief that she was a great business person because she also happened to be a sucessful Realtor that turned me off to anyone in the profession. But you are quite correct that several people with backgrounds in real estate of some kind have been successful on this show. Although, in the case of Boyfriend Bill there were obviously many other skills, not the least of which was good management skills (witness the restaurant task) which helped him win.

I'm still standing by my dislike of lawyers on this show, though.

I'm kind of bummed that The Apprentice is moving to Monday nights. I enjoyed watching the show right after Survivor.

Can't really blame Randal since this season was taped before he was declared the winner, I think. As for Kendra, she was a victim of a crappy season. Not too sure about Kelly, although both him and Jen weren't really what the Donald had hoped for. In the end, I think Bill gets to be the man since he won the game first.

I think Trump's kids replacing George and Carolyn sometimes will be interesting. It's kind of odd, but given Trump's background, I'd imagine that slacking off in Trump's family was not an option, which meant that everyone had to perform to the best of their ability and then some. Given that, I think they'll do well.

As for the move, right now it seems as if I might stick with the show, based on the fact that 24 has been a snore as of late (not really that great). It sucks to have a reality show (especially this one) on a Monday, but I really don't want to miss a season based on the fact that it's opposite another decent program.

Since Trump's all about the branding, it doesn't surprise me in the least that Don, Jr. and Ivanka will be on TA5. Nor will I be remotely surprised if one or both of them come out with some sort of branded product line or other before the end of the season. By having them on the show Trumpy adds their names and visages into the brand as he's done with Melania.

But me? I'd rather have all George and Carolyn.

At least it's NOT Kelly or Kendra. Mehness R us.

You know, I've always wondered how Kelly and Kendra would be on the other side of the tables in the boardroom. Well, Kendra at least. I am interested in seeing how much (or how little) she has learned since her win. Kelly needs not say anything else based on his brief and ditzy appearence on Apprentice 4. He can stay in his windowless cubicle and continue to comtemplate having himself committed until the work day is done.

If I may, I'd like to add that college degree seems to be very important in Trump's world. Therefore, no formal college education/degree -- BAD!!!
I think we can safely write off all "uneducated" candidates.

Is this the place to talk about the promos for TA5? Hope so.

I was just wondering if anyone else knows what the deal is with the graphic at the end of all the promos that has Trump in the upper left hand (I think) corner, a bunch of buildings around him and then an airplane careening toward the audience from the upper right. I'm just wondering about the significance of the airplane, if there is any. It just seems so conspicuous. Is it supposed to tell us something about the new season? That there are actual *gasp* "foreigners" involved in the show? That the contestants will be travelling more? That the winner will someday be such a successful business person that he/she will be able to buy such a plane?

Or it could just be filler to make the graphic "interesting," I suppose.

I have to say I did kind of giggle a little at the Apprentice/Medium crossover promo that Trump does where he wakes Arquette up out of bed and says the new slogan is: "Monday nights--go from "yooooge to Medium." Heh. Oh, come on. It's a little bit funny.

I think Trump wants his kids as the judges because in his opinion why not give them the exposure and fame in a business show as Bill who is not his kid received. Bill received national exposure as someone who is a businessman and that Trump valued. Trump is thinking imo, why have Kendra or Kelly when he can do for his kids what he did for Bill. Of course, Martha having her daughter helped Trump make the decision. Donald Jr. is highly respected in the real estate industry and I don't think will make a fool of himself. However, you never know-just look at Trump Sr. with Adam in S4.
I also agree that non-college candidates have no chance, as well as attorneys. I still think Trump will pick someone with a solid educational background, even an impressive one as long as they are not like Toral.

FYI, the candidate bios and interviews have been posted on the NBC site. Still waiting for the "Up Close" and "Quotes" sections.

I think Allie, Dan, and Charmaine will go far in this competition. Also, Leslie, Pepi (in case they are looking for someone to work with George), and Tarek will possibly be in the top eight.

Stacy has such a short application and standard background (lawyer) that I can only assume that she is on the show because she is a complete nutbag. Tarek looks like Orlando Bloom but is cute anyway. But buy a TV, Tarek! Theresa interests me and I suspect she will be busy psychoanalyzing all the personality disorders that emerge during the show . I find Sean hot and that shames me, for some reason. Andrea is intriguingly robotic. Buy a TV, Andrea, and fritter away your potential just like me! Predicted winner: Tarek or Allie.

I think this move is being made in an attempt to save The Apprentice as a series. It was being killed running opposite CSI on Thursday nights. The low ratings have made it vulnerable to cancellation.

I just finished looking over the bios and interview questions. I'm with the majority of Allie being F2 material just from that. Others that I like are Bryce (He had such nice short answers to the questions. Kind of reminds me of Mark from S4), Charmaine (top 8), Dan, Leslie (looks like Sandy), Pepi (top 4), Sean (handsome! He will be either awesome, or another goofball like Raj.), Tarek (will he be a "Bren-lite" with his "balls of steel comment"?).

I'm guessing Stacy will either be our Alla (S4) or the "Big O" for this season since she "likes to shake things up". I'm going for Alla being the good and well....the rest in self explanatory. Anyone else have any thought from the interviews?

I cannot wait for this to start. How sad is it that I have a friend coming in from out of state for one night only and I'm po'd that it's the 27th and I'll have to record Apprentice and watch later.

Damn. Can't the producers give me time to miss the damn show? It feels like the last one just ended. I mean, I imagine I'll get on board eventually, but . . . wow.

I've got six words for NBC: Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? Okay, it's a little clunky, but still - the point is the same. Sometimes less is more.

I thought Allie looked promising on paper (in print?) Then, I watched her video interview on the Yahoo! Apprentice site (which is up here.) I saw the amount of cleavage she was flashing in the first scene, and thought, well, I'll still give her a chance, but the bikini-on-the-boat-scene was too much: I didn't watch the rest. Out of curiousity, I also watched some of Stacy's video, and ended up thinking a bit more of her than I expected (considering that I was expecting to hate her) though I don't see her as a contender. Charmaine is very composed and comes across as focused, although the fact that she hasn't run a business will make it tougher for her to reach the final two: I see the same problem with Allie, Stacy, Brent, Tarek and the other candidates who haven't run businesses. (I believe it's significant that all of the winners have run a business, alone or with a partner.)

Actually, I've only watched some of the videos, but on a human level, like Lenny the best; he's kind of funny, and he doesn't spout off canned answers. If he shows some versatility in his approach to the tasks, he may be a tough contender, though I'm unsure if he'd make the final two. I agree that Bryce and Dan look promising, too. Still figuring out what I think about the rest.

ETA: OOPS! Already mixing them up.

Don't many yet, but
. Bryce is Brice Gahagen,
. Dan is Dan Brody (an orthodox jew - that might be interesting in how that plays),
. Roxanne is Roxanne Wilson, and
. Tarek is Tarek Saab. Lots of publications. Not sure if they are all his or if he is Jr.

Sean is the only one who favorites that seem like genuine favorites. I think Michael is the only one who lists The Shawshank Redemption as one of his favorite movies and got the title right.

Right now, I'm most drawn to Lennie. He seems pretty cool. However, he also seems rather arrogant given about he claims that he can crush others and was a 'big shot' in Russia. Still, he can't be all that bad and I'm sure he can back himself up pretty easily.

I have correctly named the last 2 Apprentices before the first show based on their pre-show interview tape. I think it has to do with their likeability to the other candidates, calmness, and how they present themselves. Of this batch, I say that it will either be Dan or Tarek and I am leaning toward Dan. Of course, in the first few weeks, it is a crap shoot since Trump does not really have anything much to go on. YMMV

TA4's ratings were not "bad" last fall, in that it was low enough to warrant cancellation. It was at least in the top 30, it's just not trendy anymore, which I like.

NBC wants to Thursdays to be a sitcom block again.

"Who want to be..?" ran 5 nights a week. Also, "Survivor" runs two seasons a year and is not dying.

Survivorsucks thread with possible spoilery info about the cast/season for season 5.

We haven't gotten to see any closeup individual pics yet but from just looking at the photo Tammy looks like a stunner. If she's as good at business as she looks good she's got a great chance.

Dan seems to be quite the entrepreneur also. I think Trump will probably like that.

Contestant-specific discussion can be moved to their brand-spankin' new threads.

Locking.