01:52 PM EDT on Tuesday, April 13, 2004

By WCNC.com Staff

Charlotte residents are on the edge of their seats waiting for the two hour live season finale of NBC’s “The Apprentice.” Charlotte native Kwame Jackson is one step away from becoming an apprentice for Donald Trump.

Here’s what’s coming up on WCNC-TV for "The Apprentice" finale:

Below is a recap of last week's epside from Brian Moran, special to WCNC.com:

Charlotte native fires way into top two

Thursday night’s “The Apprentice” created a local sensation overnight. Charlotte native Kwame Jackson is one step away from working for Donald Trump.

Mr. passive-aggressive Tar Heel was able to get it done in the most horrifying interview experience I could ever dream up. With my favorite Troy getting a bum deal last week, I almost slipped a disc jumping on the Kwame bandwagon. He and Bill are head to head on live television next Thursday to decide who will be the apprentice. I’m hoping he will show up in a shirt with a giant 704 area code on it like Reuben used to. Actually, scratch that idea, it might cost him the job.

I’ll admit I have not been a believer in Kwame until just recently. He’s probably the smartest of the bunch but his ideas and leadership ability have lacked. But now I honestly think he’s got a chance. He’s likable. He’s good looking. He never gets emotional in the least. You never what the heck he’s thinking. And he’s got the coolest name in the world: Kwame Jackson.

In one of the missions they actually sold basketballs with his autograph on it. Why were they able to pull that off? It’s obviously because of his name. As names go, it ranks up there with Michael Jordan. That would never fly with Crazy Sam Solovey or Omarosa Manigault-Stallworth. No way.

Things kicked off Thursday night with the job interview from hell. Trump sent them to the wolves by having them sit with a panel of his advisors, one of whom was listed as great with acquisitions. That translates to, he’s extremely competent at hostile takeovers of struggling companies and subsequently firing all the middle management. That’s not the kind of guy I want perusing my resume.

I haven’t interviewed for a job in a while but I don’t remember any questions like what they heard. I guess the days of “Where do you see yourself in five years?” or “Do you prefer working alone or in groups?” are long gone. After watching this episode, I might with stay my current company until death.

The panel felt that Nick came off as too slick and Amy came off as irritating. I was waiting for one of them to be like, “and I think they were making out in the waiting room?” No such luck. Kwame was nicked for lacking energy but he said he prefers to keep his energy bottled up so it has no effect on others.

We get treated to a return of the final eight players before we’ve really had a chance to truly miss them, especially Omarosa. The top two get to pick their respective teams for their final mission. Bill gets to manage a golf tourney which is cool enough but Kwame gets to manage a Jessica Simpson concert which sounds unreal. Kwame makes what Jessica would call an “uh-oh” by picking Omarosa over Nick. I’m worried about him already.

The blunder proves costly early as she shirks off lining up travel reservations because her tummy was growling. Then she lies to cover it up: vintage Omarosa. She can make a subplot out of nothing, it’s great.

Kwame cleans up her mess nicely while Bill tries to convince his disgruntled staff that he knows what he’s doing. He gets huffy and Nick could care less. I’m starting to believe that Kwame might make this happen.

The credits roll as the stage is set for the two hour finale next week. Kwame has Charlotte back in the national spotlight only three months removed from the Super bowl. Hopefully, Kwame can do what the Panthers came so close to doing: win the big one. It will take hard work, determination and a little bit of luck. Either that, or Bill will have a total melt down when Nick and Amy go to town in the greens keepers shed. Quite honestly, I’ll take it either way. And I’ll bet so would Kwame.

Brian Moran is a freelance writer for WCNC.com.