Previous Candidate: Kelly Perdew

[Vidiette]

Kelly Perdew highly recommends people do not watch reality TV.

"It's not the best use of time," says The Apprentice 2 winner.

"But, I mean, if you are going to watch one, I think The Apprentice is definitely the one to watch. There are a lot of great lessons you can learn from it."

Perdew, 39, became famous when Donald Trump hired him in 2004, but feels he'd have been a success with or without his 15 minutes in the spotlight.

"Certainly the exposure has been beneficial and I feel incredibly fortunate for having been a part of it. But I think there are a lot of different ways to accomplish what you are looking to accomplish.

"Some people went on (the show) really to work for Donald, but I just wanted an apprenticeship. I wanted to learn and I did."

Prior to winning, Perdew served in the U.S. Army as a military intelligence officer and was president of CoreObjects, a software development outsourcing company.

Today he is focusing on real estate, recently closing a US$50 million deal on self-storage facilities called Perdew Properties, and developing a 600-acre hunting and fishing preserve in Montana.

"Working for Donald Trump was fantastic -- he was incredibly supportive of everything I wanted to do. I learned a lot about real estate and I learned even more about branding and marketing.

"The interesting aspect of this is figuring out what you want to be with your brand. You only have a certain amount of time before it begins to fade unless you do things to enable it to continue."

In the past two years, Perdew has certainly taken advantage of his new-found fame. He hosted a show on the Military Channel called GI Factory, published a book titled Take Command: 10 Leadership Principles I Learned in the Military and Put to Work for Donald Trump and created the Terrorist Attack Survival Kit CD, which gives people access to the same materials used to train the federal government and military.

Perdew is also the managing director of Angel-Leveraged Capital, a US$50 million venture-capital fund, and a motivational speaker.

President George W. Bush has appointed him to the Council on Civic Participation and Service.

On top of all that, Perdew manages to have some fun thanks to his celebrity.

"There has been some star-power stuff like walking down red carpets or being the auctioneer for Larry King ... and playing golf with Emmitt Smith.

"But the biggest thing for me would be my work with the three different charities I support."

By TARA MERRIN -- Calgary Sun