| Genre: | Reality television |
| Country: | United States |
| Language: | English |
| Num Seasons: | 1 |
| Num Episodes: | 10 |
| Location: | Chicago, Illinois |
| Runtime: | 42–46 minutes |
| Company: | Rocket Science Laboratories |
| Network: | Fox |
| Related: | My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance |
My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss is an American reality television series broadcast by the Fox Broadcasting Company (Fox). The series premiered on November 7, 2004, while its tenth and final episode aired on December 12, 2004. Filmed in Chicago, Illinois, the series depicted twelve contestants in competition for a position at the venture capital firm Iocor.
Similar to My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiance, it was a parody of shows such as The Apprentice. The contestants performed several tasks that they were all told would help them win a job at the Chicago-based conglomerate IOCOR and a $250,000 prize. However, none of the contestants knew that the company – and the position – were fake. The show was usually punctuated by the actions of the "boss" Mr. N. Paul Todd, whose name was an anagram of that of Donald Trump. The contestants learn about his multibillion-dollar venture capital firm IOCOR, and in any episode, he or a member of his "family" could usually be found doing something either to unsettle the contestants or to test the limit of their blindness to truth. The show received low ratings in the United States and was canceled after five episodes. Fox released the remaining 5 episodes online in late March 2005. In 2005, My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss was one of several television programs cited in a class-action lawsuit filed by the Writers Guild of America concerning labor law violations.
The rules of the game were similar to The Apprentice. The teams would then compete in a challenge test the contestant's skills in business-related objectives - however, the tasks are absurd in nature, included selling hot soup on a hot day, creating and selling art they made out of scraps and promoting other ridiculous products. The members of the losing team met Mr. Todd in the boardroom on the next day, where he derided their performance. The team boss nominated two teammates for elimination – Unlike The Apprentice (where the team leader is also eligible for elimination alongside their nominees),the losing boss is awarded total Immunity from that week's elimination because Mr. Todd explained that, in real life, the boss is never held responsible. The audience would then see N. Paul Todd referring to "the real boss" for the decision on who was to go between the bottom 2. The player not eliminated became the team boss, and the winning team named a new team boss.
The real boss was not seen or heard until the final episode and was kept a complete secret from the contestants. The official website suggested that the real boss could be Donald Trump's ex-wife Ivana Trump or Oprah Winfrey, although David Hickman did refer to the boss as a "him." The real boss gave no reason for the decision, so Todd was given free rein to make it up as he went along. In the final episode, "the real boss" was revealed to be a chimpanzee who responded to the name of "Mowgli" and who made his decisions by spinning a wheel with the names of the contestants.
N. Paul Todd was played by actor William August, a graduate of Harvard University and an experienced California attorney. August described Todd as a man who "probably has a number of sexual harassment lawsuits pending." A variety of assistants helped Mr. Todd with his contests. His alleged Vice President Jamie Samuels is sent to hate the women, while the COO David Hickman is "a little too excited about these fresh-faced young men." Mr. Todd also relies on his wife Lynn and his son Kent to help judge the competition when a member of the executive team is not available.
Fox originally announced the legal reality television series The Partner for a premiere date of November 7, 2004, however, it opted to broadcast My Big Fat Obnoxious Boss instead. Gail Berman explained "We had a lot of fun with Fiance, and this seemed like the next logical take on what’s going on in reality right now".[1]
| Role | Real name | "Position" | |
|---|---|---|---|
| N. Paul Todd | William August | The Obnoxious Boss | |
| Jamie Samuels | Jamie Denbo | Executive Vice President, IOCOR | |
| David Hickman | David Jahn | Chief Operations Officer (COO), IOCOR | |
| Lynn Todd | Tamara Clatterbuck | Wife of N. Paul Todd | |
| Kent Todd | Kent Sublette | Son of N. Paul Todd | |
| Danielle Todd | Danielle Schneider | Daughter of N. Paul Todd | |
| Shannon | Shannon Hall | Executive Assistant to N. Paul Todd | |
| Jason | Jason Kollar | Bodyguard to N. Paul Todd | |
| Michael Delaney | Michael Keenan | IOCOR Board Member | |
| John Benjamin | John Gilbert | IOCOR Board Member |
| Candidate | Age | Hometown | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annette Dziamba – Business Development Executive | 24 | Whippany, New Jersey | Winner of $350,000 | |
| Michael Gregorio – Liquor Distribution Executive | 34 | Reading, Massachusetts | Runner-up; winner of $200,000 | |
| Kerry McCloskey – Media Marketing Director | 29 | Jersey City, New Jersey | Eliminated in episode 10 | |
| Damien Scott – Strategic Financial Consultant | 29 | Chicago, Illinois | Eliminated in episode 9 | |
| David Harper – Certified Financial Accountant | 25 | Atlanta, Georgia | Eliminated in episode 8 | |
| Douglas Dennard – Equity Research Analyst | 24 | Greenville, North Carolina | Eliminated in episode 7 | |
| Whitney LaBelle – Shipping Executive | 26 | Atlanta, Georgia | Eliminated in episode 6 | |
| Robert Hospidor – Mortgage Broker | 28 | Middlesex, New Jersey | Eliminated in episode 5 | |
| Tonia Jacobs – Aerial Construction Worker | 35 | San Marcos, Texas | Eliminated in episode 4 | |
| Elli Frank – Marketing Firm President | 26 | Jacksonville, Florida | Eliminated in episode 3 | |
| Christy Hollie – Entrepreneur | 30 | Austin, Texas | Eliminated in episode 2 | |
| Daniel Richardson – Automobile Finance Manager | 29 | Lewisville, Texas | Eliminated in episode 1 |
The contestants were initially split into a male and female team. Each team was responsible for naming their opponent. The men named the female team Femron, a portmanteau of female and Enron. The women named the male team Concad, a portmanteau of con and cad.
The teams were re-organized in episode 4 based on the contestants' attractiveness. At the beginning of episode 8, the remaining five players were combined into a united team for an elimination, where Damien was named team boss. Afterwards, the four players left over were split into two teams for the episode's challenge. Following that challenge, the three finalists were on their own.
| Candidate | Episode 1 team | Episode 4 team | Episode 8 team | Result | Team Boss (Win/Loss) | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Annette Dziamba | Femron | Femron | Femron | Winner | 1-2 (win in task 5, loss in tasks 2 & 7) | |
| Michael Gregorio | Concad | Femron | Concad | Runner-up | 0-1 (loss in task 1) | |
| Kerry McCloskey | Femron | Concad | Femron | Eliminated in episode 10 | 0-2 (loss in tasks 3 & 5) | |
| Damien Scott | Concad | Concad | Concad | Eliminated in episode 9 | 2-0 (win in tasks 3 & 7) | |
| David Harper | Concad | Concad | Eliminated in episode 8 | 1-1 (win in task 6, loss in task 4) | ||
| Douglas Dennard | Concad | Femron | Eliminated in episode 7 | 0-1 (loss in task 6) | ||
| Whitney LaBelle | Femron | Femron | Eliminated in episode 6 | 1-0 (win in task 4) | ||
| Robert Hospidor | Concad | Concad | Eliminated in episode 5 | 1-0 (win in task 2) | ||
| Tonia Jacobs | Femron | Concad | Eliminated in episode 4 | 1-0 (win in task 1) | ||
| Elli Frank | Femron | Eliminated in episode 3 | ||||
| Christy Hollie | Femron | Eliminated in episode 2 | ||||
| Daniel Richardson | Concad | Eliminated in episode 1 |
| Elimination chart | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Candidate | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | ||||
| Annette | IN | LOSE | IN | IN | WIN | BR | LOSE | IN | WIN | IN | WIN | ||||
| Michael | LOSE | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | BR | IN | BR | WIN | FIRED | ||||
| Kerry | IN | BR | LOSE | BR | LOSE | IN | IN | IN | WIN | FIRED | |||||
| Damien | IN | IN | WIN | IN | IN | IN | WIN | WIN | FIRED | ||||||
| David | IN | IN | IN | LOSE | BR | WIN | IN | FIRED | |||||||
| Douglas | IN | IN | IN | IN | IN | LOSE | FIRED | ||||||||
| Whitney | IN | IN | BR | WIN | IN | FIRED | |||||||||
| Robert | BR | WIN | IN | IN | FIRED | ||||||||||
| Tonia | WIN | IN | IN | FIRED | |||||||||||
| Elli | IN | IN | FIRED | ||||||||||||
| Christy | IN | FIRED | |||||||||||||
| Daniel | FIRED | ||||||||||||||
The contestant won the competition.
The contestant won as team boss on his/her team.
The contestant lost as team boss on his/her team - but was awarded immunity per the rules.
The contestant was on the winning team for this task.
The contestant was on the losing team for this task.
The contestant was brought to the final boardroom.
The contestant was fired.
The contestant won a task granting him/her immunity.
Annette became a professional model, and ironically, later appeared as "Trump's Executive Assistant" (boardroom lobby receptionist) on several episodes of The Celebrity Apprentice.[2] Kerry wrote a book. As of 2007, Elli remained the president of Eye5. Jamie Denbo and Kent Sublette both moved on to late night television programs, with Denbo being featured on The Late Late Show and Sublette joining the writing staff of Saturday Night Live in 2007. Robert appeared on the 2014 reality show Utopia.