Greg Bales

Reality’s Apprentice

My reality collided with reality TV during episode seven of NBC’s The Apprentice. The premise was a hyped-up competition over real estate. The remaining participants were challenged to renovate and rent one of two ‘rundown’ Brooklyn apartments in 48 hours. One of those apartments was a third-floor, one-bedroom in a brownstone on Third Street, where my family and I live on the first two floors. On screen, the team leaders stood outside our stoop and negotiated for the apartment above us. Off screen, we knew a few things they didn’t. A month before, for instance, the previous occupant and my upstairs neighbor had jumped out the window.

A story about the drug-addled plunge off a balcony by Hollihan’s upstairs neighbor and shooting for the seventh episode of The Apprentice. The story of how life and “reality” diverge has been told before, of course, but this one is well written and evocative.

“Reality’s Apprentice” by Keith Hollihan for The Morning News