EPISODE ONE

BURGER WARS

A new season of The Apprentice brings with it new faces, new challenges and a surprising new twist that reshapes the competitive landscape. The eighteen fresh candidates arrived at Trump Tower and waited outside the infamous boardroom. (Click here to meet the candidates!) The Donald welcomed the candidates to their sixteen week job interview and warned them it was going to be rough, and revealed that this time he wasn't going to split the group into men versus women; instead it was going to be college grads versus high school grads. Of the eighteen men and women assembled, nine had college degrees while the other nine had entered the workforce right after high school. The thing they had in common was that they were all very successful. Trumped dubbed the new competition Book Smarts (Team Magna) versus Street Smarts (Team Net Worth).

Trump also pointed out one other major difference between the two groups - those with only a high school diploma earn three times as much as the college grads! Next, Trump laid out the familiar ground rules. The two teams would compete in weekly business tasks. The winning team would get a reward and the Project Manager would be exempt from firing on the following task. The losing team would meet back in the boardroom where someone would be fired.

The next morning, the teams gathered on the rooftop of Trump Tower, with its incredible view of the city. The teams presented their new names and Trump approved of both. Then Trump laid out the first task. Each team would choose one of six new burgers that Burger King had developed to market and sell, then each group would operate a Burger King franchise for the day and offer their new burger to the public. The team that earned the most revenue from sales of their new burger would win. The losing team would meet Trump back in the boardroom where someone would be fired.

 John stepped up and said that he had restaurant experience, so Net Worth (Street Smarts) elected him as project manager. On Magna (Book Smarts), Todd said that he had run his own restaurant - and that was enough for his teammates, who agreed that Todd should lead for this task.

NET WORTH “STREET SMARTS”	MAGNA “BOOK SMARTS”
MARKETING Ability to attract people into the store through effective advertising tied to a product or promotion “Get them in the Door”
Pass/Fail	Pass/Fail
MERCHANDISING Using design, packaging, display and salesmanship to stimulate consumers to purchase a particular product “Push the Product”
Pass/Fail	Pass/Fail
POINT OF SALE Ensuring customers are provided with the product and a quick and smooth transaction “Make the Sale”
Pass/Fail	Pass/Fail
WINNER
WHO SHOULD BE FIRED? WHY?