NEW YORK (AP) – Kwame or Bill?

The TV-watching public was consumed Thursday with this latest burning issue cooked up by reality TV.

Specifically, by NBC’s hit reality series “The Apprentice,” whose two-hour finale would determine its big winner: the would-be apprentice who gets to work for billionaire developer Donald Trump.

Paying $250,000 for a year, this will be “the dream job of a lifetime,” as Trump has described it.

After barking “You’re fired” to 14 contenders, Trump by last week had trimmed the field to two: Kwame Jackson, a 29-year-old New Yorker and Harvard MBA, and Bill Rancic, a 32-year-old Chicagoan who turned his Web site for cigar buffs into a multimillion-dollar operation.

Then each of them was handed a major assignment.

Bill was put in charge of a major Trump golf tournament. Trump gave Kwame the chore of handling a concert by Jessica Simpson at one of his Atlantic City casino hotels.

Each was teamed with three “employees”: previously fired “Apprentice” candidates.

The success of Bill and Kwame in carrying out their projects (and in managing their former rivals) would determine which one was hired, and which became the 15th person fired.

The boardroom summits with Trump, where those “firings” take place, have helped make “The Apprentice” a sensation since its January premiere.

Created by Mark Burnett, who brought “Survivor” to the airwaves, “The Apprentice” trades on a similar survival-of-the-fittest strategy.

“It’s not a game,” Trump declares. “It’s a 13-week job interview.”

Viewers have flocked for the bravura display of competitive greed and backstabbing. Another draw, perhaps: the eight female contestants were attractive and tended to wear short skirts.

“The Apprentice” has launched Trump into stratospheric new heights of renown. Not only has he dined out on the catchphrase “you’re fired” (and threatened to copyright it), he scored deals for a Trump-brand credit card and as a celebrity spokesman for a telecommunications company.

Two weeks ago he was guest host on “Saturday Night Live” and has agreed to come back for a new edition of “The Apprentice” next season, reportedly at a substantial pay raise.

Meanwhile, the show has had several breakout characters, chief among them Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth, who’s beautiful, scheming and cantankerous. Her feigned martyrdom from falling plaster on one episode earned her the ultimate pop-culture salute: She was spoofed on “Saturday Night Live.”

Suspected hanky-panky between two other rivals, Nick Warnock and Amy Henry, has also added to the fun.

Whatever the reasons, “The Apprentice” has been a huge hit, last week ranking second in viewers, with 22 million – even edging out CBS’ “Survivor: All-Stars.” It ranks seventh for the season to date, according to Nielsen.

Taking a page from CBS’ playbook on publicizing “Survivor,” NBC blanketed its schedule with “Apprentice” promotions, especially on its news shows. “Apprentice” stories were set for “Dateline NBC” the day before and after Thursday’s finale.

And “coverage” on Thursday’s “Today” show included an appearance by a CNBC business analyst with her forecast of the winner. She predicted Kwame, whom she described as “charismatic,” “coachable” and a “complement” to Trump’s style. Trump, of course, was on hand at “Today,” too, along with his “You’re fired!” punch line.

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On the Net:

www.nbc.com

AP-ES-04-15-04 1517EDT

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