CONTESTANTS DIVE INTO SWIMSUIT COMPETITION FOR FAMED FASHION DESIGNER TRINA TURK ON NBC'S "THE APPRENTICE: LOS ANGELES," AIRING SUNDAY, JANUARY 14 (9-10 P.M. ET)

CONTESTANTS DIVE INTO SWIMSUIT COMPETITION FOR FAMED FASHION DESIGNER TRINA TURK ON NBC'S "THE APPRENTICE: LOS ANGELES," AIRING SUNDAY, JANUARY 14 (9-10 P.M. ET)

Winning Team Visits Hugh Hefner At Playboy Mansion

BURBANK � January 10, 2007 � Contestants dive into the competitive world of swimsuit design and create new lines for a fashion beach show in episode two of NBC's "The Apprentice: Los Angeles," airing Sunday, January 14 (9-10 p.m. ET). The episode also features a special guest appearance by Hugh Hefner.

The task for teams "Kinetic" and "Arrow" is to design and manufacture men and women's swimwear for famed fashion designer Trina Turk. While one team struggles with a runaway designer, the other argues over the finer points of a bikini. In the end, they model their swimsuit creations at a beach fashion show in Santa Monica with buyers in attendance, and whichever team sells the most wins an evening at the Playboy mansion with Hugh Hefner, founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine.

Viewers of "The Apprentice: Los Angeles" can win a weekly Grand Prize random drawing of $10,000 by playing the live interactive "Get Rich with Trump" game during each episode. "Get Rich with Trump" can be played by sending a text message from a cell phone or by logging on NBC.com/Apprentice. Please log onto NBC.com for complete rules. For the premiere, the game outperformed every episode, including the live finale, of season 5 of "The Apprentice."

"The Apprentice: Los Angeles" premiere on Sunday, January 7, from 9:30-11 p.m. ET (4.1 rating, 10 share in adults 18-49, 9.1 million viewers overall) generated NBC's highest rating in this time period with non-sports series programming in more than a year (since November 6, 2005). "The Apprentice" was up 28 percent in adults 18-49 versus NBC's non-sports average in this time period last season, and was up 5 percent in 18-49 versus the "Apprentice 5" premiere (4.1/10 vs. 3.9/9 on Monday, Feb. 27, 2006 from 9-10 p.m.). From its first half-hour to its third, "The Apprentice" built by 25 percent in 18-49 (to a 4.5/11 from a 3.6/8) and by 10 percent in overall viewers (to 9.5 million from 8.6 million).

"The Apprentice: Los Angeles" is produced by Mark Burnett Productions in association with Trump Productions LLC. Mark Burnett, Donald J. Trump and Jay Bienstock are executive producers. Conrad Riggs, Page Feldman and James Canniffe are co-executive producers.