Interview with Bethenny Frankel of The Apprentice: Martha Stewart
Bethenny Frankel
If you think someone's fifteen minutes of reality fame will have them set for life, think again. It actually takes effort.
Bethenny Frankel was the runner-up on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart one year ago, and her popularity is on the rise. This is a rare case. Bethenny said reality show contestants can't depend on the show to make them successful. "You need something to back it up. I had a brand before the show so it worked. But if you're relying on reality to make you famous and get you tons of offers, don't do it."
Bethenny is doing it the right way. When she meets people, unless they bring it up first, Bethenny never mentions that she was on a reality show. Secondly, she made a name for herself before being on the show. Bethenny, a natural food chef, owns BethennyBakes.com, where visitors can read her blog and sign up for her one-on-one health advice. She has cooked for big names like Alicia Silverstone, The Hiltons, Jerry Bruckheimer, Elizabeth Berkeley, Michael J. Fox, Mariska Hargitay, and Ethan and Jenna from Survivor. (Ethan and Jenna had lost thirty pounds while on Survivor. When they returned home they couldn't stop eating and gained a lot of weight back. Bethenny cooked for them for one year to help them get back on the right track.)
As for Mariska Hargitay, Bethenny met her a year ago in Italy. Bethenny was in line to rent a boat, and when she found out how expensive it was, she turned to the person behind her and, as she said Hargitay tells the story, "looked her up and down to see if she was cool enough." It just so happened that person was Hargitay and they ended up sharing a boat for the day. Bethenny has since cooked for Hargitay, and Bethenny's boyfriend Kevin Mazur of WireImage.com took the photos of Hargitay for the July 31 issue of TV Guide magazine.
Bethenny is always that outgoing, as its part of her ambitious nature. She wants to rise to the top, and with her drive, she most likely will. Perhaps more importantly her ambition is coupled with a love for her job, which completes the equation. (My lunch that day at Michaels was the healthiest I've ever been. Of course it was because I had Bethenny pick out what I should order.)
Bethenny, who commented that a person's "diet is a bank account" and "cooking is all chemistry," said her goal is "to make being healthy realistic and balanced. You should be able to live your life and not just drink water and eat steamed vegetables." Bethenny, who describes herself as a "health foodie," even relates food to her TV situation. "You have to be a self aware person to be on reality TV." Someone's personality on a reality show is "like a reduction of a sauce. It's boiled down to a carmelized liquid of who you are."
Because of that, Bethenny said, "People who freak out about how they're going to act" shouldn't be on a reality show. "You get one hour of sleep in two days. You're not editing who you are. You're irrational."
Prior to being on The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, Bethenny had watched Trump's Apprentice. "I thought I had a plan... I was obsessed with thinking of scenarios of how to win." Yet once Bethenny got on the show, she said, "Nothing is what it seems. It feels like you're launched out of a cannon. It's the most grueling, exhausting experience. It's not natural. You don't eat and you don't sleep. You live on power bars and Red Bulls."
Even so, Bethenny said reality contestants shouldn't get upset with how they are portrayed. "Reality TV is like a blind date. Within the first few minutes you have a good idea about a person." While reality shows usually don't present every aspect of a person's personality, they don't lie either. On Martha Stewart: The Apprentice, they showed that Jim was crazy and Bethenny was frenzied and overexcited. Granted, that's not 100% of Bethenny's personality, but even she admits, "Jim is nuts. I'm manic."
Originally Bethenny wanted more than anything to be on The Apprentice. "I wanted to be on that show. Most people won't admit they want to be on a reality show, which is the biggest crock of shit," she said, considering for The Apprentice, potential contestants had to go through physical, psychological, and IQ tests.
Bethenny herself experienced a lot throughout the course of the show. According to the The New York Post, Bethenny was supposed to be the winner of The Apprentice: Martha Stewart. Apparently on the night of the finale, the winner was changed to Dawna Stone at the last minute after the granddaughter of Charles Koppleman, Martha Stewart's top advisor, announced that Bethenny was the winner to a room filled with the eliminated contestants. The granddaughter added that Martha Stewart didn't like Dawna's execution of her final challenge, which was a Liz Claiborne fashion show. Bethenny said, "I even won the final task. The Liz Claiborne people said I had won it. And they didn't say it on the show, but I raised $15,000 for my charity. Dawna raised $5,000." Bethenny was in her dressing room getting ready for the finale when some of the contestants came in and told her she had won. Then, right before the show was going to air, she was told there was a script change, and Dawna was announced as the winner.
Bethenny is anything but bitter. In fact, she said it's better because she can continue to build her own brand. If she had won The Apprentice: Martha Stewart, she would "want to be a part of Martha's throne. It's good I didn't win because Martha would never give up part of her throne to someone else." Apparently being a reality show winner isn't always all it's cracked up to be. A note to all future reality show contestants: runner-up might just be the right way to go.
To read interviews with eliminated contestants from other reality shows, click here.
