The Benefactor is an American reality television

Reality television

Reality television is a genre of television programming that presents purportedly unscripted dramatic or humorous situations, documents actual events, and usually features ordinary people instead of professional actors, sometimes in a contest or other situation where a prize is awarded...

 show broadcast on ABC

American Broadcasting Company

The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...

 starting on September 13, 2004. The premise involved 16 contestants vying to win US$

United States dollar

The United States dollar , also referred to as the American dollar, is the official currency of the United States of America. It is divided into 100 smaller units called cents or pennies....

1 million from billionaire entrepreneur and Dallas Mavericks

Dallas Mavericks

The Dallas Mavericks are a professional basketball team based in Dallas, Texas. They are members of the Southwest Division of the Western Conference of the National Basketball Association , and the reigning NBA champions, having defeated the Miami Heat in the 2011 NBA Finals.According to a 2011...

 owner Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban

Mark Cuban is an American business magnate and investor. He is the owner of the National Basketball Association's Dallas Mavericks, Landmark Theatres, and Magnolia Pictures, and the chairman of the HDTV cable network HDNet....

.

In late March and early April 2004, ABC held open auditions for the show in Atlanta

Atlanta, Georgia

Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...

, Boise

Boise, Idaho

Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...

, Boston, Dallas

Dallas, Texas

Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...

 and Las Vegas

Las Vegas, Nevada

Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...

 and also accepted auditions by mail.

The show and its format were kept tightly under wraps during its filming, which began on April 30, 2004 in Dallas, Texas. Mark Cuban purposefully kept details about the show to a minimum, eliciting only a small bit of information about the show on his personal blog during filming. Dallas journalists, eager to learn what was going on, routinely compiled sightings of Benefactor film crews around town.

However, the show proved to be extremely unpopular and suffered from very low ratings, despite leading in to the popular Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football

Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...

. The show also suffered from ABC stations in NFL

National Football League

The National Football League is the highest level of professional American football in the United States, and is considered the top professional American football league in the world. It was formed by eleven teams in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, with the league changing...

 markets (such as WBAY in Green Bay

Green Bay, Wisconsin

Green Bay is a city in and the county seat of Brown County in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, located at the head of Green Bay, a sub-basin of Lake Michigan, at the mouth of the Fox River. It has an elevation of above sea level and is located north of Milwaukee. As of the 2010 United States Census,...

 and Buffalo

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

's WKBW-TV

WKBW-TV

WKBW-TV, channel 7, is the ABC affiliate for the Buffalo, New York television market, and is one of many local Buffalo TV stations seen over-the-air and on cable in Canada. Its transmitter is located at 8909 Center Street in Colden. The station is owned by the Granite Broadcasting Corporation, who...

) moving the show to a timeslot after Jimmy Kimmel Live

Jimmy Kimmel Live

Jimmy Kimmel Live! is an American late-night talk show, created and hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and broadcast on ABC.The nightly hour-long show made its debut on January 26, 2003, following Super Bowl XXXVII. Jimmy Kimmel Live! is produced by Jackhole Productions in association with ABC Studios...

or another night entirely due to local sports shows devoted to NFL coverage or local pre-game shows in the pre-MNF slot. Episode three had only 4.9 million viewers, the network's least-watched show of that week. Episode four did even worse, with only 4.05 million viewers and finished sixth in its time slot among 18- to 49-year-olds.

The series was widely seen as a copycat and derivative of The Apprentice

The Apprentice (U.S. TV series)

The Apprentice is an American reality television show hosted by real estate magnate, businessman and television personality Donald Trump, created by Mark Burnett and broadcast on NBC...

, a popular show of the time that was hosted by Donald Trump

Donald Trump

Donald John Trump, Sr. is an American business magnate, television personality and author. He is the chairman and president of The Trump Organization and the founder of Trump Entertainment Resorts. Trump's extravagant lifestyle, outspoken manner and role on the NBC reality show The Apprentice have...

. The Benefactor debuted about nine months after The Apprentice did, though The Benefactor focused more on offbeat and unconventional tasks that were unrelated to business, as opposed to The Apprentice's commerce-related tasks. The Benefactor also offered a straight cash prize as opposed to an apprenticeship with salary.

Contestants

Name	Age	Hometown	Eliminated	Notes
Femia Durosinmi	22	Henderson, NV Henderson, Nevada -Demographics:According to the 2000 census, there were 175,381 people, 66,331 households, and 47,095 families residing in the city. The population density was 2,200.8 people per square mile . There were 71,149 housing units at an average density of 892.8 per square mile...	Winner
Dominic Scali - "The Rock Star"	22	Las Vegas,NV Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and is also the county seat of Clark County, Nevada. Las Vegas is an internationally renowned major resort city for gambling, shopping, and fine dining. The city bills itself as The Entertainment Capital of the World, and is famous...	Runner-Up
Linda Caruso	30	North Hampton, NH North Hampton, New Hampshire North Hampton is a town in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,301 at the 2010 census. While the majority of the town is inland, North Hampton includes a part of New Hampshire's limited Atlantic seacoast.-History:...	Week 6
Tiffaney Weisser	23	Dallas, TX Dallas, Texas Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...	Week 5
Spencer Brown	31	Atlanta, GA Atlanta, Georgia Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...	Week 5
Kevin Hall	33	Dallas, TX Dallas, Texas Dallas is the third-largest city in Texas and the ninth-largest in the United States. The Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex is the largest metropolitan area in the South and fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States...	Week 4
Chris Harris	26	Duluth, GA Duluth, Georgia Duluth is a city in Gwinnett County, Georgia and an increasingly more affluent and developed suburb of Atlanta. Unincorporated portions of Forsyth County also have Duluth as a mailing address, though this area is outside city limits...	Week 3
Shawn Wallace-Baiza	29	Hemet, CA Hemet, California Hemet is a city in the San Jacinto Valley in Riverside County, California, United States. It covers a total area of , about half of the valley, which it shares with the neighboring city of San Jacinto. The population was 78,657 at the 2010 census....	Week 3
Latane Meade	25	San Diego, CA San Diego, California San Diego is the eighth-largest city in the United States and second-largest city in California. The city is located on the coast of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, immediately adjacent to the Mexican border. The birthplace of California, San Diego is known for its mild year-round...	Week 3
Christine Agosta	25	Boise, ID Boise, Idaho Boise is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Idaho, as well as the county seat of Ada County. Located on the Boise River, it anchors the Boise City-Nampa metropolitan area and is the largest city between Salt Lake City, Utah and Portland, Oregon.As of the 2010 Census Bureau,...	Week 3
William Chappell	28	Gresham, OR Gresham, Oregon - Demographics :As of the census of 2000, there were 90,205 people, 33,327 households, and 22,695 families residing in the city. The population density was 4,071.6 people per square mile . There were 35,309 housing units at an average density of 1,593.8 per square mile...	Week 2
Mario Mendez	39	Glendale, CA Glendale, California Glendale is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. As of the 2010 Census, the city population is 191,719, down from 194,973 at the 2000 census. making it the third largest city in Los Angeles County and the 22nd largest city in the state of California...	Week 2
Katherine "Kathy" Whipple	23	Webster, NY Webster, New York Webster may refer to two municipalities in Monroe County, New York in the United States:*Webster , New York*Webster , New York, located entirely within the town...	Week 2
Grayson O'Connor	26	Portland, OR Portland, Oregon Portland is a city located in the Pacific Northwest, near the confluence of the Willamette and Columbia rivers in the U.S. state of Oregon. As of the 2010 Census, it had a population of 583,776, making it the 29th most populous city in the United States...	Week 1
Laurel	34	Santa Monica, CA Santa Monica, California Santa Monica is a beachfront city in western Los Angeles County, California, US. Situated on Santa Monica Bay, it is surrounded on three sides by the city of Los Angeles — Pacific Palisades on the northwest, Brentwood on the north, West Los Angeles on the northeast, Mar Vista on the east, and...	Week 1
Richard Martin	42	Alpharetta, GA Alpharetta, Georgia -Demographics:As of the census of 2000, there were 34,854 people, 13,911 households, and 8,916 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,631.6 people per square mile . There were 14,670 housing units at an average density of 686.7 per square mile...	Week 1

The show

Cuban said specifically that he would give the $1 million prize to the person that demonstrated that they had the skills that Cuban deemed necessary to be successful. Each game or test involved throughout the show was designed specifically by Cuban to require the contestants to demonstrate these skills.

Week 1 (September 13, 2004)

In the first week, Mark Cuban invited the sixteen contestants to a Dallas mansion to begin the game. As the contestants arrive, Cuban watches them and their interactions with the others through closed-circuit cameras. Once everyone has arrived, Cuban joins the group and announces that one of them has already failed the first test: you don't get a second chance to make a first impression. Cuban then proceeded to eliminate Richard, who Cuban believed had called the game "stupid" (In reality, he actually said that he didn't 'think ['The Benefactor'] was 'going to be one of those stupid shows.')

The next part of the game involved Cuban interviewing each of the contestants. He did so with the purpose of determining whether or not the contestants could live up to the expectations that Cuban had from them from their applications. From the interviews, Cuban sent Laurel home because she wouldn't play air guitar

Air guitar

Playing air guitar is a form of dance and movement in which the performer pretends to play rock or heavy metal-style electric guitar, including riffs, solos, etc. Playing an air guitar usually consists of exaggerated strumming and picking motions and is often coupled with loud singing or lip-synching...

 during her interview, a contrast to her application video where she checked her mail in the nude. Cuban then deliberated between sending William and Grayson home, but had a difficult time deciding, so he decided to have the two play a game of Jenga

Jenga

Jenga is a game of physical and mental skill created by Leslie Scott, and currently marketed by Parker Brothers, a division of Hasbro. During the game, players take turns to remove a block from a tower and balance it on top, creating a taller and increasingly unstable structure as the game...

 to determine who would stay by challenging their ability to handle pressure. Grayson was able to hang in the game for a while, but William eventually won and Grayson was eliminated.

Week 2 (September 20, 2004)

In the second week of the program, Cuban chose three of the remaining thirteen contestants to be "captains." The captains would then select three people to be on their team and the thirteenth would be eliminated. Linda selected Chris, Kevin and Spencer, Dominic selected Tiffaney, Femia and Christine and Shawn selected Latane, William and Mario. Kathy, the thirteenth contestant, was then eliminated from the game.

It was then announced that the three teams would be given several hours of Mark Cuban's time and $2,500 with the specific instruction of doing something that would not waste Mark's time. Linda's team was the first to go in the morning. They take Cuban to the Scottish Rite Children's Hospital in Dallas to visit the patients, but they realize they made a mistake when they realize that Cuban was a regular visitor to the hospital's patients and that the contestants didn't get much time to interact with Cuban.

Dominic's team is next, going in the afternoon. They start off by taking a flashy Hummer

Hummer

Hummer was a brand of trucks and SUVs, first marketed in 1992 when AM General began selling a civilian version of the M998 Humvee. In 1998, General Motors purchased the brand name and marketed three vehicles: the original Hummer H1, based on the Humvee; and the H2 and H3 models that were...

 limousine

Limousine

A limousine is a luxury sedan or saloon car, especially one with a lengthened wheelbase or driven by a chauffeur. The chassis of a limousine may have been extended by the manufacturer or by an independent coachbuilder. These are called "stretch" limousines and are traditionally black or white....

 to the arcade Dave & Buster's

Dave & Buster's

Dave & Buster's is an American restaurant and entertainment business headquartered in Dallas, Texas. Each D&B has a full-service restaurant and a video arcade. As of July 1, 2009, the company had 57 locations across the United States and two in Canada. The company also licenses the D&B concept...

. Cuban is very excited because he hasn't been to an arcade since he was fifteen and has a great time, capping the time off with a mid-day beer with the team.

Shawn's team goes last late in the afternoon. They take Cuban to the Speed Zone go-kart

Go-kart

thumb|A [[Kart racing|racing kart]] at the [[Commission Internationale de Karting|CIK-FIA]] European Championship 2008A go-kart is a small four-wheeled vehicle...

 park. Cuban again has a good time, but following racing, the team takes Mark to a sky-shot ride, which shoots riders into the sky on a giant slingshot. Mark, however, is afraid of heights

Acrophobia

Acrophobia is an extreme or irrational fear of heights. It belongs to a category of specific phobias, called space and motion discomfort that share both similar etiology and options for treatment.Most people experience a degree of natural fear when exposed to heights, especially if there is little...

and refuses to get on it. The team doesn't have a backup plan and they end up wasting the remaining 45 minutes of Cuban's time and, consequently, lose the competition.

The four members of Shawn's team are then put before Cuban's "Board of Advisors" - a panel of three second-graders - who will determine which two members will stay in the game and which two will have to leave. After the three second-graders ask the four contestants a series of questions, they determine to eliminate William and Mario.

(Trivia: in Cuban's "Board of Advisors", Latane was an immediate hit with the three school children, in part due to (1) his facial resemblance to Dirk Nowitzki, a star player for the Dallas Mavericks (the kids' favourite basketball team), and (2) when one of the school children ask him what his favourite candy is, Latane names a brand of candy, happens to have that candy in his pocket, and gives it to the boy, and the boy enjoys the candy very much. Shawn, however, struggles through the question period with the students and was on the bubble of being eliminated. The one answer that saved her is that when one of the questions asked to her is, "Who is your favourite Dallas Maverick?", Shawn, not familiar with NBA basketball at all, summons up the answer, "...Number 13?". At which point the boy who asked her the question exclaims with joy, "Steve Nash!" (the boy's favourite Dallas Maverick) and the other two school children also appreciate the answer. However, in the immediate NBA off-season after Mark Cuban's "The Benefactor" aired, the Dallas Mavericks would let Steve Nash go, in favour of younger point guard Jason Terry (but also to help the Dallas Mavericks' salary cap status). In an ironic twist, the Dallas Mavericks let go of the three schoolchildren's favourite NBA player, and in the two NBA seasons following the airing of "The Benefactor" and Steve Nash's subsequent release from the Dallas Mavericks to the Phoenix Suns, the Phoenix Suns would flourish with Steve Nash as their starting point guard, and Steve Nash would be named League MVP in back-to-back seasons.