2023

coincides with the completion of May sweeps. Season Winner Winner's Project Timeslot Season Premiere Season Finale TV Season Ranking Viewers (in millions) Finale Viewers (in millions) 1 Bill Rancic Trump Tower Chicago Thursday 9:00PM January 8, 2004 April 15, 2004 2003-04 7 20.7[10] 28.1[11] 2 Kelly Perdew Trump Place September 9, 2004 December 16, 2004 2004-05 11 16.1[12] 16.9[13] 3 Kendra Todd Palm Beach Mansion January 20, 2005 May 19, 2005 15 14.0[12] 14.0[14] 4 Randal Pinkett Trump Entertainment September 22, 2005 December 15, 2005 2005-06 38 11.0[15] 12.8[16] 5 Sean Yazbeck Trump SoHo Monday 9:00PM February 27, 2006 June 5, 2006 51 9.7[15] 11.3[17] 6 Stefanie Schaeffer Cap Cana Sunday 10:00PM January 7, 2007 April 22, 2007 2006-07 75 7.5[18] 10.6 10 Brandy Kuentzel N/A Thursday 10:00PM September 16, 2010 December 9, 2010 2010-11 113 4.7[19] 4.5 (Note: Given the show has a sequel TV series known as Celebrity Apprentice, the above chart is continued on the article of the show's follow-up TV series, found under "statistics by season" for Celebrity Apprentice. Note as well that season 10 is included in the above chart given the show reverted back to The Apprentice for that season) The Apprentice was the breakout rookie hit of the 2003–04 U.S. television season and helped NBC at a time when the network's two long-running successful comedies, Friends and Frasier, were ending their series' runs. The Apprentice filled the void on Thursday nights as NBC held on to the tagline Must See TV, even though CBS was quickly becoming the most-watched network on Thursday night. Although the series was one of the most-watched programs on NBC in the advertiser-friendly 18–49 age demographic, the franchise's total audience gradually dissolved, starting in late 2004, when it aired its second season that culminated in, what most Apprentice fans deem, an "overextended"[20] 3-hour season finale on December 16, 2004. The audience numbers (11.25 million viewers)[2