The Apprentice (U.S. season 4)
| The Apprentice (U.S. season 4) | |
|---|---|
| Country of origin | United States |
| No. of episodes | 13 |
| Release | |
| Original network | NBC |
| Original release |
September 22 – December 15, 2005 |
| Filming dates | April 2005 – May 2005 |
| No. of contestants | 18 |
| Teams | "Excel" and "Capital Edge" |
| Winner | Randal Pinkett |
| Season chronology | |
September 22 – December 15, 2005
The Apprentice 4 is the fourth season of The Apprentice, with Donald Trump as the executive producer and host. The show was aired on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. on NBC and started September 22, 2005.
This was the first season of the show not to place in the Top 20 Nielsen Ratings; it averaged #38 with 11.01 million viewers.
Starting with this season, frequent boardroom adviser George H. Ross began to lessen his involvement with the show, with The Apprentice first season winner Bill Rancic effectively sharing the role with him throughout this and the following season.
Unhappy with both the choice of candidates and the "street smarts" vs. "book smarts" premise from the preceding season, Trump went to the auditions and hand-picked 17 of the 18 candidates in season 4. In addition to candidate handpicking, Trump decided to go back to the premise of men versus women (there was eventually corporate restructuring). The all-women team named their corporation Capital Edge while the all-men team named their corporation Excel.
The winning project manager, throughout the season, may be exempt from firing for the following week only if the majority of the other members in their team believed he/she did a satisfactory job. In the previous two seasons, the winning project manager would automatically be exempt from firing.
At Randal's recommendation, Trump rescinded what could have been the first multiple-hiring and a US Apprentice first. Throughout the following week, many were critical of Randal's decision. In an interview with Larry King, Randal defended his decision and said he had no objection to Trump hiring Rebecca at a later date.
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