On an episode of the show aired last Thursday, Martens was the frontman in a five-minute live video selling Isaac Mizrahi women’s purses. When his pitch yielded too few sales, Martens was sent home by Mr. Trump. He had made it down to the final 4 of 16 contestants competing in the 10th season of one of America’s best known reality shows.
“As a lifelong competitor it hurts to lose,” he said in a video interview posted on NBC’s website after his loss, saying he felt a little angry about it at first.
“I wholeheartedly disagree with Mr. Trump, his decision was completely irrational, and the facts he was given regarding decisions made during the task were not portrayed properly,” he said.
Aside from the loss, Martens said in an interview with The Epoch Times that he loved every minute of the seven weeks of filming they did in N.Y. to prepare for the shows, now getting down to the wire with the firing of one of the three remaining contestants, with a top-two face-off and season finale still to come.
Steuart Martens comes from a long line of Washingtonian businessmen. Just out of Purdue University, where he attended on a swimming scholarship and earned a Bachelor of Science in Management in 2005, he followed his love of food to create a gourmet food distribution company with the help of his employer at the time, Cuisine Solutions.
From there, he started Tradewinds Specialty Imports, an importer of European and South American wines, and On the Fly, an organic mobile food vending cart operation servicing the National Mall.
A savvy awareness of the importance of political connections in Washington earned him an opportunity to privatize and produce Taste of D.C., a food show that attracts 500,000 people yearly to Pennsylvania Avenue during Columbus Day weekend.
Martens tried out for "The Apprentice" on a whim to satisfy his friends and family that were driving him to try, beating out an estimated 25,000 people for a spot on the show.
“I never in a million years thought that I would go on the show. I mean when you hear something on the radio about a TV show you think ‘no way,’” said Martens.
Each episode of "The Apprentice" consists of two teams competing against each other on a highly challenging task. On Week 7, for example, the teams were tasked with staging a backers audition for a Broadway show.
The winning team, judged by industry professionals who are often friends of Mr. Trump, escapes the firing line, while the losing team has to defend itself, and ultimately lose a member.
Playing It Straight
Martens says the four that made it to the end played the game in a decent way.
“We weren’t trying to undermine people. We weren’t trying to cast people in bad lights. … I think it is a better way to play the game. We played to win every task,” he said.
Martens says what he learned from the experience was how to focus and how to slow down. “I was doing a lot more than I could really handle, leading to me not being able to finish things as successfully as I could,” he said.
Currently, Martens is busy securing locations for four (as a start) new franchise tapas and wine bars he plans to open next year, three in D.C. and one in N.Y.
“As an entrepreneur what you do is you just keep trying, you keep working to what the end goal is, that is what I am doing every day, and I am certainly not going to let the recession hold me back from being successful,” he said.
After experiencing the entertainment business first hand, Martens is now hankering to do more. He is looking for an agent, and hopes to get a gig as a television show host, or role in a movie.
“I really fell in love with the process of television, entertainment. It was a really, really amazing experience for me. I would like to duplicate it again,” said Martens.
This year’s show season cast 16 individuals who had lost their jobs or were affected by the recession to compete for the show’s top prize, a six-figure salary and a job within the Trump organization.
The show’s contestants interact with Mr. Trump, as well as his daughter Ivanka Trump, and son Donald J. Trump Jr., both play roles assessing the contestants as they carry out their tasks.
According to Martens, “[Mr. Trump] is a real genuine guy. He is who he is. I think he is very honest, and I enjoy that about him. I really think he is a good guy. If anything … he knows how to brand himself and/or something else better than anybody else out there.”
An American icon of real estate, gaming, sports and entertainment, and an author of over 10 best sellers, Trump won an Emmy-nomination as the star and coproducer of "The Apprentice," which topped television ratings charts when it first went on air.
The Season Finale Part I will air on NBC Thurs. Dec. 2, at 10/9c.
