The Rebel Billionaire (Courtesy Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia)

The Rebel Billionaire: Branson's Quest for the Best is a reality show for Fox Broadcasting Company's fall 2004 season.

Premise

The premise for the series was that billionaire Richard Branson, founder of Virgin Worldwide, challenges 16 contestants to tasks that will prove to him which is most qualified to take over as president of Virgin Worldwide. This format is strongly derivative of popular NBC reality show The Apprentice, though as well as business-related tasks it also incorporated many tough physical challenges, reflecting Branson's love of daredevil stunts. Each week also saw the contestants travel to a different country, whereas The Apprentice is just situated in one area. Shawn Nelson was the winner of the first and, so far, only season.

Presentation

The one hour show premiered on November 9, 2004 on the Fox network, and aired 12 episodes through January 2005. Although the show had over 5.5 million viewers, it was considered a ratings disappointment for American television prime-time programming. The show found ratings success internationally though, airing in 19 countries around the world, ranking as the #1 show in many countries where Richard Branson does business. The Rebel Billionaire was also reran on the Fox Reality Channel.

Contestants

(as they appeared on the show & in order of elimination)

Contestant	Occupation
Shawn Nelson (Winner)	Founder of LoveSac Corporation
Sara Blakely	Founder of Spanx, Inc.
Heather Maclean	Founder of Little Laureate Inc.
Gabriel Baldinucci	Real Estate Investor
Erica Vilardi	Model
Nicole Harvat	Labor Attorney
Candida Tolentino	Founder of Earth Cafe Living Foods
Steve Berke	Real Estate Manager/Tennis Pro
Jessica McCann	Former Owner of Sales Company
Michael Zindell	Wall Street Strategist
Jermaine Jamison	Technology Sales Specialist/Motivational Speaker
Sam Heshmati	Financial Analyst
Jennifer Grinspan	Radio Station Advertising Manager
Tim Hudson	Trial Attorney
Aisha Krump	Pharmaceutical sales representative
Spencer	Car Salesman

Broadcasting

Country	Broadcaster
	Channel Seven
	Plug TV
	FX
	Global TV
	International Channel Shanghai
	OTV
	TV3
	TVB Pearl
	KTN
	TV3
	TV3
	8TV
	TV3
	Studio 23
	MNET Series
	TV8 (Broadcast during the end of 2007 and again from March 2009)
	FX
	ITV2
	Fox
	FX

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