TAMPA TRIBUNE

They're Hired, They Hope

By WALT BELCHER

FEBRUARY 12, 2005

TAMPA - Allen Berube brought lobster rolls. Jim Schalk brought toffee. Meredith Myers brought her bags. Jarad Held brought his attitude.

"I want to show the world what I and my friends already know - how great I am," said Held, a 30-year-old self-assured Tampa businessman.

Held was among more than 400 people braving chilly winds Friday for a chance to be on a reality TV show.

Even those who hated reality shows came.

"I can't stand them, but I'm hooked on 'The Apprentice' because that's my lifestyle," said David Rogers, 33, a Tampa real estate investor and former airline pilot.

The hopefuls started showing up before dawn at an open casting for the NBC show "The Apprentice" and a similar but untitled, upcoming Martha Stewart reality series.

Most said they longed to hear Donald Trump say "You're hired!" A few were interested working for Stewart's organization.

"To work for Trump would be the opportunity of the lifetime. I had to be here first," said Brian Delamer, a 39-year- old risk management consultant with GE.

Delamer arrived at 4:45 a.m. Some people attempted to camp-out the night before at the audition site - The News Center on Parker Street, which houses The Tampa Tribune, TBO.com and NBC affiliate WFLA, Channel 8. But security officials turned them away.

The line starting forming before 5:30 a.m. and included people of all ages, sizes, shapes and professions - from a 22- year-old former skate park manager to a 58-year-old retired law enforcement officer.

"I think I've got the street smarts and the book smarts to make it," said Angelo Santos, 28, a Department of Defense contractor who has worked in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The current season of the show pits a team of "street-smart" experienced businesspeople against "book-smart" college graduates.

Saletta Coleman, 26, a public relations consultant from Clearwater, said she has "the book smarts to win 'The Apprentice' and more common sense" than many people she sees with advanced degrees.

Accountants, salespeople, homemakers, students, teachers, lawyers and the unemployed were in line.

"If I can handle 60 employees and 600 parents and students, I can handle anything in the corporate world," said Sandy Lippe, a 37-year-old assistant principal at Orange Grove Middle Magnet School in Tampa.

Also in line were numerous entrepreneurs: Berube, 29, owner of the Monstah Lobstah restaurants in Tampa; Schalk, 46, who launched the south Tampa candy company Toffee To Go; and Myers, 30, a Clearwater woman who designs handbags, brought samples of their wares to impress the talent scouts.

"That's nice, but the only thing that works is how well someone does in the interview sessions," said casting director Paul Gordon, who works for 'Apprentice' producer Mark Burnett.

"It doesn't work to be a kiss-up or too arrogant," he noted during the casting marathon that began at 10 a.m. and ran to 3 p.m.

Gordon and Kelly Perdew, winner of the last 'Apprentice,' herded groups of 16 to 20 applicants into a room where they were seated around tables.

Each group had 10 minutes to discuss topics, such as "Who fares better in the corporate world: men or women?" or "Who was better for the economy: Bill Clinton or George Bush?"

What one answered wasn't as important as how one answered.

Some shouted their opinions. Others sat in stunned silence. Some were animated. Others were intimidated. Often it sounded like utter confusion.

"It may seem like a free-for-all with everyone shouting at the same time, but I know what to look for," Gordon said. "It's all about having the right Type A personality."

Robert Timan was surprised. "It wasn't what I expected," observed the 42-year-old personal chef trying out for the Stewart version of "The Apprentice."

Timan had hoped to talk about his experience in cooking and managing a business and how his mother once worked with Stewart in New York. Instead, he found himself trying to get in a word or two during a heated debate over whether women were unfairly treated in the workplace.

Perdew, who will be working on the 52-story Trump Tower Tampa, said the first impressions are most important.

"You can't bluff your way in," he said. "It's best to let your real personality show. And you can tell by looking at some of the people that Trump would never hire them." Gordon said those who made the cut were called Friday night to schedule longer one-on-one interviews in the coming days that will be videotaped. From the tapes, the producers will select a few to be considered for future casts, he said.

The current season of "The Apprentice" airs at 9 p.m. Thursdays on NBC. The schedule for the fourth season and the Stewart project have not been announced.