Intersection

[Our Metropolis] Don’t ask The Donald how to find the men’s room

Apprentice champ and Trump International executive Stefanie Schaeffer finds a home—and hotel—in Las Vegas

John Katsilometes

This is an excerpt from the radio show Our Metropolis, a half-hour issues and affairs program that airs Tuesdays at 6 p.m. on KUNV 91.5-FM and is hosted by Las Vegas Weekly writer at large John Katsilometes. Tune in next week to hear the rest of this interview with Trump International Las Vegas executive and The Apprentice Season 6 champion Stefanie Schaeffer. The luxury resort hotel opens March 31:

You had a successful career unfolding even before you auditioned for The Apprentice, right?

I went to a casting call and auditioned in San Diego, and the senior partner in my law firm practically forced me to audition. He said, “You have to try out for this show. We think you’d be great,” and as a result of the show I ended up having to resign because I made it on the show. So then, he wasn’t very happy. I don’t know what the rationale was [laughs]. … But I was having lots of fun as a trial attorney. I was defending California employers against worker’s-compensation claims. I also did some construction law for a period of years for developers like Mr. Trump. I also did some modeling, and I worked as a real-estate broker, so I have a bit of a background.

What was your first interaction with Donald Trump like?

If my memory serves me correctly, it might have been in the driveway of the mansion on the first day of filming, and Mr. Trump stood before all 18 contestants and said, “Okay, introduce yourselves. Tell me who you are and what you do.” I told him who I was and what I did, and remember he said, “You know, I can use someone like you.” That stuck with me all the way through filming, and evidently it worked out to my benefit. I got it to him in 10 seconds or less. You really can’t be verbose when you’re dealing with Mr. Trump. The old adage is true—you never get a second chance to make a first impression. One contestant made a really bad first impression by asking to use the men’s room before saying anything else, and he was the first one fired. Mr. Trump was not impressed.

Did you ever consider what this job would entail when you were on the show?

During the filming of the show, you don’t have much of a chance to consider what the job would be like after the show. You are living in the moment, and you are so anxiety-ridden that you are focused on surviving and doing it in an ethical and honorable way. That’s really all I was thinking about. Then it hit me that I actually had to go to work for this man, where on the show all I had to worry about was not getting fired and to impress him. But working for him is vastly different than being on a TV show where you are just trying to avoid being fired. It’s not what I thought it would be, but then again, expectation was so scattered based on what I had seen during previous Apprentices that I went into it with a very open mind and thought, “Let me craft my own position,” and so I took a much more active, ambitious role than some of the other winners of Apprentice had. … He is really amazing, bright and thoughtful. When he asks you a question, he is genuinely interested in what you have to say and makes thoughtful, well-thought-out opinions.

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