"The Apprentice: Martha Stewart," episode 1

If you are a (a) reality show junkie or (b) fan of Martha Stewart, then you no doubt caught last night's premiere episode of "The Apprentice: Martha Stewart." It has basically the same formula as the original "Apprentice" - the contestants live together, they are split into teams to perform various tasks, the losing team goes to a room to face the consequences of its failure, and a contestant is sent off each week. What I find fascinating are not the similarities between the Donald Trump and Martha versions, but the differences.

In the premiere, every effort has been made to show that Martha is a different person than Donald. Martha has been known (or at least rumoured) to be quite tough with and very demanding of her employees. The smallest details are phenomenally important, and she expects no less than perfection.

However, we don't see that aspect of her - at least not in last night's episode. Martha is much more caring, more personable, less hostile to the losing team than Donald ever was. She trades the commanding imperative "you're fired" to a more relaxed and passive "you just don't fit in." She wrote a farewell letter to the person sent home. Etiquette is of utmost importance here, but wouldn't you have been surprised if it wasn't? Martha's first task for the teams (creative Matchstick and corporate Primarius) was to write a children's book - see, Martha cares about children's development - whereas Donald's first task in the first season was to sell lemonade.

The conference room meeting with the losing team was very interesting. Several contestants attacked each other and Martha didn't know quite what to make it. I couldn't tell from the editing whether Martha was really reacting to what was happening, or if her reactions had been taped later and she was told to "look as if someone is saying the craziest thing ever." The project manager Jeff was sent home packing, primarily for being a "control freak." (You can't have two of those, I guess - Martha is enough for one company) Personally, I would have sent home the creative writer who wanted to shush everyone while she worked.

Next show promises to be more intense, with someone threatening to leave the loft and Martha telling a female contestant that a businesswoman shouldn't cry.