The Donald Is Hiring...Real People

Singer Cindy Lauper serves up burgers as part of the first challenge on this season of NBC's The Celebrity Apprentice.

Image: NBC

Real estate developer Donald Trump said on last week’s Celebrity Apprentice that despite being synonymous with the phrase “you’re fired,” he actually really likes to hire people. And he’s ready to do his part to help revive the ailing job market.

For six seasons, viewers tuned in to see Trump assign escalatingly difficult tasks to a group of entrepreneurs in “the ultimate job interview.” But interest in the show declined, and it looked like NBC was ready to give Trump the boot, when a new concept—have celebs take on the tasks for a chance at money for charity—kept the franchise alive.

It seems that a little dose of celebrity can revive just about any enterprise. The peacock network is giving Trump and nonfamous job seekers a chance at a comeback. And while in previous seasons, most of the contestants already built thriving businesses or were gainfully employed and taking a hiatus of sorts from their day jobs to appear on the show, the upcoming season is targeted at those who have “been hit hard by the current economic downturn,” NBC says.

While the Donald’s efforts are noble, will viewers just change the channel when average Joes battle it out instead of seeing Brett Michaels pitted against Cindy Lauper who’s being ridiculed by Sharon Osborne? They just might.

TV audiences embraced Mark Burnett’s other business-based reality show Shark Tank, which debuted last summer. Featuring entrepreneurs in quest of a much-needed cash infusion from a panel of celebrity sharks, which include FuBu co-founder Daymond John, real estate guru Barbara Corcoran, infomercial producer Kevin Harrington, take-no-prisoner entrepreneur Kevin O’Leary, and tech entrepreneur Robert Herjavec. Critics called it a long shot, debuting in the dead of summer and not full of bikini-clad, drunk, Jersey Shore-type antics, it was a show based on the American Dream and aired on a competing network.

Did NBC take notice that viewers wanted to see some hard work rewarded and some clear lunacy ridiculed? Perhaps. A couple of good fringe benefits for companies and job seekers: Bosses will get to watch this interview process unfold at no cost to them, and get a pick of the discarded candidates. Those looking for work can learn what it takes to make an impression in the new economic landscape.