Reality Check
Bill gets hired, Kwame gets Trumped on 'Apprentice'

By Pamela Sitt
Seattle Times staff reporter

	CHRIS HASTON / AP Bill Rancic, right, a Chicago entrepreneur who runs a cigar company, got the job as Donald Trump's "Apprentice."
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How do you lose Jessica Simpson twice in two hours?

Granted, it wasn't in real time. But here's the real shocker from last night's tense two-hour finale of NBC's "The Apprentice": Put America's favorite ditzy blonde on a reality show with a bunch of Donald Trump's lackeys, and she's not the one who looks like a bumbling idiot. Go figure.

We expected more from Kwame Jackson, the Harvard MBA who gave up a promising career at Goldman Sachs for a shot at being "The Apprentice." Kwame let his team's utter incompetence in coordinating a Jessica Simpson concert make him look bad. Why didn't he fire the audacious Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth when he found her prancing around Simpson's suite trying on feathered hats?

So Bill Rancic, a Chicago entrepreneur who runs a cigar company, got the job. (Side note: Before he became "The Apprentice," Bill came this close to being "The Bachelor" on ABC. Now he's reportedly dating Bachelor Andrew Firestone's ex, Jen Schefft.)

"You start working for the Trump Organization soon, like, maybe tomorrow," Trump told Bill from the Saturday Night Live studios in Manhattan last night. At this point, "The Apprentice" morphed into "The Price Is Right": Show the man what he's won! On live television, Bill had moments to choose between managing two building projects — a 90-story hotel and residential tower in Chicago or a golf course in L.A. He chose Chicago, of course. He's a hometown boy.

	HEATHER MCKINNON / THE SEATTLE TIMES

Now what?: As runner-up, Kwame has the option of taking Kentucky Fried Chicken's consolation prize: a one-week stint as chief sales officer, paid $25,000 for coming up with a marketing plan for its oven-roasted-chicken line. Or KFC could offer the job to Simpson, who presumably by now can distinguish its product from tuna (and buffalo). Meantime, we're already hungry for "The Apprentice 2," in which Trump promises "tougher tasks and tighter deadlines," with big names like Delta Airlines and General Electric attached. But more important, can the next season deliver anyone more obnoxious than Omarosa or more squirrely than Sam?

American Idol: The best part of "American Idol" this week — other than Fantasia Barrino — was Quentin Tarantino as a guest judge. Tarantino broke from the typically bland guest-judge role with his comments, delivered in his trademark nasally, manic style: "It couldn't be a song we're more sick of hearing, all right?" In this movie soundtrack-themed week, the goofy Jon Peter Lewis got the boot. And in what we hope is a sign of things to come, the awful, finger-snapping John Stevens finally placed in the bottom three.

The Bachelor: For once, Chris Harrison was right — it really was the most dramatic rose ceremony ever. In "The Bachelor" series premiere last week, new bachelor and NFL quarterback Jesse Palmer managed to (football cliché alert!) fumble during his very first rose ceremony, accidentally saying the wrong name to the delight of one bachelorette he meant to send home. After calling a time out (OK, we'll stop with the sports talk now), Palmer decided to admit his mistake to the women but offered Wrong Name the opportunity to stay, which she did. As if women who appear on dating reality shows don't look desperate enough ... Meantime, Wednesday night's show revealed Palmer's spy — a married friend who is posing as a bachelorette — to be Jenny S. She promptly told him to dump two-faced Trish, the leggy model who captured Palmer's eye from the start — but he kept her anyway. Men!

Notes: Billionaire businessman Sir Richard Branson will star in a new Fox series in which he leads a group of young entrepreneurs around the world, tackling "the types of dilemmas that help shape future billionaires." It's tentatively titled "Branson's Big Adventure," but they might as well call it "The Apprentice: An International Affair." ... Bravo has announced plans for a spinoff series titled "Queer Eye For The Straight Girl," in which a team of gay stylists (not the Fab Five) will make over Los Angeles-area women. ... NBC's "The Restaurant," starring celebrity chef Rocco DiSpirito, returns for a second season starting Monday (10 p.m., KING-TV). The new season will focus on DiSpirito's legal battle with his business partner. And yes, Mama DiSpirito and her meatballs are back. ... Seattle physician Carla Ainsworth will compete on ABC's "Who Wants To Be A Millionaire" today (4 p.m., KOMO-TV). The series may have lost its luster, but safe to say a shot at $1 million will never lose its appeal.

Pamela Sitt: 206-464-2376 or psitt@seattletimes.com

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