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50 bucks.

That’s what it cost Sam Solovey ’98 to finagle his way to the head of the line at an audition for The Apprentice, the reality TV show that premieres Thursday night on NBC.

For Solovey, it was money well spent.

More than 215,000 people across the nation tried to get on the show, which features business tycoon Donald Trump. Only 16 people ‘ including Solovey ‘ made it.

Members of the ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ community, and NBC hopes millions of others, can now watch Solovey and the other contestants fight their way through the nasty New York City corporate world lorded over by ‘The Donald’ himself.

Taping of the show’s 15 episodes started in September. Eight men and eight women go through several challenges designed to test their business savvy and tenacity.

Working as two competing groups, the team that performs well receives a reward, such as a trip on a private jet. Members of the team that don’t fare as well have to explain themselves during a grueling interview session with Trump and his executives,  and one team member ends up being fired each week.

A winner will be announced on the show’s finale in April, and he or she will be offered a job as president of one of Trump’s divisions, which carries a $250,000 salary.

How did Solovey do’ Will he be the last person standing along with Trump, of course in the final episode’ He can’t say. NBC has put the kibosh on any discussion of the inner workings of the show, fearing leaks that could ruin the fun for viewers and dampen ratings for the network.

Solovey did say that his four years at ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ did him a world of good in competing against the other players.

An unabashed ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ supporter, he said: ‘Getting a liberal arts education, it’s the best thing. It is the most valuable type of education anyone can get.’

And who’s to argue with the 27-year-old’

Four years ago, he co-founded Potomac Tech Wire, an Internet media company in Chevy Chase, Md. The company, which Solovey calls ‘very successful,’ provides 80,000 subscribers with technology news. It serves customers in the D.C. area and six other markets in the United States and Europe.

So, it wasn’t the prospect of winning the competition and pulling down a hefty paycheck from Trump that lured Solovey to the audition.

It was the opportunity for another experience, another adventure, he says, and that desire to experience something new was fed by his years at  ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ.

‘That’s what ¸Ô±¾ÊÓƵ taught me. It’s the experiences that matter,’ said Solovey, who received a bachelor’s degree in political science.

A professional auctioneer, he returns to the university each year to emcee the auction held by Konosioni, the senior honor society. Proceeds from the auction go to help area organizations. 

Solovey was a member of Konosioni, worked as a resident assistant and head resident, and was a member of the Kappa Delta Rho fraternity.

He also hosted a call-in radio show on WRCU-FM (90.1) called The Untrained Psychologist.  Solovey, a big fan of talk radio, said doing the WRCU show during his junior and senior years was one of his best college experiences.

It was some smooth talking, and the $50, that helped Solovey get on The Apprentice. He said his mother, Traci Solovey, told him about the show and he went to an audition in July. There were about 700 people waiting to get into the audition, about a four-hour wait, so Solovey approached a man at the head of the line, offered $50 to let him walk in with him, and presto:  instant access.

The organizers of the audition heard about how he bypassed the line and, this being a show about chutzpah and moxie, liked the approach. A series of auditions and tests followed, and Solovey was selected as a contestant.

Solovey says he hasn’t watched the other reality TV shows flooding the airwaves, and doesn’t watch much television at all. But The Apprentice offered a chance to experience something new.

And it was an experience, he says, that he enjoyed. But that’s all he could say. NBC is watching, you know.