SHARJAH, 30 January 2005 — The Emaar Group, Emirate’s leading real estate developers, has announced plans to launch a pan-Arab version of NBC’s hit business TV show The Apprentice, with Dubai offering the bustling big city backdrop in a straight switch for New York. The contest is open to all Arabs.
The Apprentice, scheduled to be broadcast weekly on LBCSat over a 15-week period from October this year will see the winner appointed from 16 contestants to run one of the Emaar companies for a year while being paid a $300,000 salary.
Mohammed Al-Alabbar, who combines the chairmanship of Emaar with running real estate, hospitality, fashion and financial services businesses in different countries, will decide who qualifies for the job.
The event is inspired by New York real estate mogul Donald Trump’s show on NBC. “New York with its mixture of soaring towers and luxury mansions for the mega-rich provided the perfect backdrop for the original US version of the show and the aspirations of the contestants.
Now Dubai’s non-stop modern cityscape is to play a similar role for the thousands of aspiring apprentices who are expected to queue up for the once in a lifetime opportunity the show will offer,” Emaar said in a press release. The announcement was made at a media launch at the Burj Dubai Presentation Center attended by Pierre El Daher, chairman of LBCSat.
The Apprentice format is owned by Mark Burnett and distributed by Freemantle Media.
Filming will begin in April and a region-wide audience in millions is expected to follow each episode. Recruitment for business apprentices will take place across all Arab countries and thousands will be interviewed for this life-changing opportunity.
“This program is not about me or even the people who are competing for the top prize. It is about creating a new dream for the Arab world, one that touches us all and that can be achieved through business.
I want apprentices to be everywhere in the Arab world, learning and planning and building businesses. We also have to learn and acquire the winning habit and this program will help toward that,” Alabbar said.
The Apprentice recreates the format owned by Burnett, but will be tailored to reflect the ethos of the Arab world.
The biggest change sees Dubai’s rich panorama replacing New York’s metropolitan chic and drive as the backdrop for the action.
However, the tasks the would-be apprentices are allocated could take them to any part of the region. The program will recruit 16 of the Arab world’s finest talent — youngsters who can act as role models for millions of their peers.
It will screen and broadcast the would-be apprentices competing against each other in two teams of eight to carry out a set project.
Alabbar is also the final arbiter and judge — the one who each week passes the sentence that ejects a candidate from the contest and from viewers’ screens.
“Contestants will be assessed on their intelligence, personality, drive and street smartness. They will face numerous challenges and must complete difficult assignments. They will need to show imagination and management ability to win — the very qualities Emaar looks for in its executives.
Contestants might be told to run a grocery store in a difficult locality, or to start a manufacturing business with few natural and human resources,” Emaar said.
“Dubai is the ideal replacement for New York and Alabbar is the ideal person to host the show. Dubai encapsulates the new Arab dream and has grasped the art of turning the possible into reality.
It has all the best qualities of New York, its vibrancy, cosmopolitan variety and wealth of opportunity, yet it remains an Arab city,” Sheikh Pierre said.
