Second Apprentice Winner Kelly Perdew Works in Small Windowless Office  5/15/05

Second 'Apprentice' Winner Kelly Perdew Works in Small, Windowless Office Next to the Assistant to Donald Trump's Wife

'It's a Little Bit Too Much to Ask Someone to Be President of an $800 Million Building When They Haven't Had That Kind of Experience,' Says Trump

NEW YORK, May 15 /PRNewswire/ -- As the winner of the second "Apprentice," Kelly Perdew should be in line for a top job in the Trump organization. But you'd never know that from his office, reports Associate Editor Ramin Setoodeh in the May 23 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, May 16). Perdew's desk is in a small, windowless space next to the assistant to Donald Trump's wife, Melania (Perdew has no assistant). The walls are bare, except for a dry-erase board and a U.S. map, stuck with pins marking the distributors he's signed to buy his boss's new line of bottled water, Trump Ice.

Spend some time with winners of the first two seasons of "Apprentice," and the reality of this reality show becomes clear: the apprentices' $250,000-a-year gigs are less about climbing the corporate ladder, and more about using their "Apprentice" celebrity to promote Trump, reports Setoodeh. "It's a little bit too much to ask someone to be the president of an $800 million building when they haven't had that kind of experience," says Trump.

Perdew's calendar is filled with many distractions -- speeches to entrepreneurs about Trump and "The Apprentice," deadlines for writing a book about how the military teaches business skills, and acting in an ad for the Department of Defense. Bill Rancic, the first season's winner who was ostensibly put in charge of the $800 million "Chicago: Trump Tower" project, seems to spend as much of his time reliving his TV star turn, too, reports Setoodeh. He'll warm up a crowd of real-estate brokers or potential buyers by talking about "The Apprentice," then the marketing team takes over to talk specifics.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7856555/site/newsweek/

(Read full article at http://www.Newsweek.com.) SOURCE Newsweek

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