YOU'RE FIRED!

[MDM4AU 337]

Trump to `Apprentice' co-star: `You're fired'

Associated Press

Published September 1, 2006

Carolyn Kepcher, who sat by while her boss, Donald Trump, dismissed one would-be apprentice after another, has now felt the full force of his iconic phrase: "You're fired."

Kepcher, a co-star with Trump from the start of "The Apprentice" in 2004 and a longtime employee of the Trump Organization, has been let go.

"Mr. Trump wishes her the best," said Trump spokesman Jim Dowd, who confirmed she is no longer with the company. She had been chief operating officer of two of Trump's golf courses.

Her departure will have no impact on the coming season of "The Apprentice," originating for the first time from Los Angeles. Though production is completed, she was not part of the cast.

Kepcher's dismissal was first reported in Thursday's New York Post.

The slender, striking blond had become familiar to viewers as one of Trump's two sidekicks on the NBC series. She was an adviser to one of the rival teams and was often seated beside Trump for boardroom sessions where one or more competitors would hear Trump declare, "You're fired."

The Post story attributed Kepcher's firing to excessive self-promotion as a star at the expense of her performance at her day job, an account echoed for The Associated Press by a person close to the situation. The person insisted on anonymity because it was a personnel matter.

Kepcher could not be immediately located for comment.

CHICAGO TRIBUNE