No air time with D. Trump

On Friday, March 31st, I took my shot at working for The Donald. Yes my friends, I tried out for The Apprentice. The open casting call was held at the NBC affiliate in Sacramento, where hundreds of wannabe executives dressed in corporate attire tried to woo the casting agents for the popular NBC show.

My wife had recommended I try it out, so I figured what do I have to lose? I drove up to Fairfield the night before the casting call and stayed with our wonderful cousins Jeff and Sonia Cooper. I was up and moving at 3 a.m. and hit the road for Sac-town by not-so-bright 4 a.m. By arriving early, I was No. 16 in line and one of the first to go through the auditions.

They took 48 into the building and separated us into groups of 12. The first two sets of 12 were walked into a studio where we found two tables with 13 chairs. Each table was staffed by a moderator.

We were asked to introduce ourselves and say one thing that separated us from the rest. Of course, most replied with the standard, "I'm a born leader." I simply mentioned that I'm unique because I can sit here in a suit and talk business or politics and follow it with a trip to some of the greatest clubs in the world to photograph world-class DJs in a nocturnal environment.

After our introductions, the moderator gave us a question to debate. The question: what do you think about the separation of church and state. I could go into a long diatribe about this, so I'm saving it for another blog. Long story short, I got into it with two ladies about this issue and the use of the word "God" in the Pledge of Allegiance.

After some mild ranting around the table, we were asked to use one word about us for the moderator to remember us by. My word was simply: Republican.

Yeah, I got some chuckles from the table, but it truly spoke to who I am and my beliefs. And I figured it was one of the more unique responses she would probably get all day. And with that said, that was the end of it. We were told we would get a call back that night if they felt we were Apprentice material and if not, thanks for trying.

Needless to say, my phone never rang. But it was an awesome experience and I would definitely do it again. And if I could change anything, I would probably tone down my debating slightly, as I was trying for the Apprentice, not The O'Reilly Factor. And if I could say I gained anything from it, I would say the debating reminded me of how much I love talking and debating politics with other intelligent people. Be sure to check out my Apprentice photo gallery on dougvansant.com.

posted by DVS @ 2:44 PM 3 comments