Dominic, The Rock Star

Last night after Monday Night Football, Billionaire Mark Cuban gave $1,000 to each of the ten remaining contestants on his show, The Benefactor, and twelve hours to prove themselves.

His reality TV show, created by ABC, is being used by schools to teach business acumen. It is required viewing in many entrepreneurial classes and business classes in colleges, Cuban told CBS' MarketWatch.

Seeking the most creative, competitive risk-taker out of ten contestants, the founder of Broadcast.com and now HD.net, started his game with sixteen people. Last night, ten competitors remained to be narrowed by the end of the night to six.

The last person standing at the end of the season will receive $1 million.

Individual Head-to-Head Competition

Last week, the contestants showed Mark how they performed in a group.

This week's test was an individual one.

Cuban's goal: To separate the doers from the dreamers.

"You have until 8pm to prove to me that there is something special about you," the Dallas Mavericks owner said to his team of ten, last night.

His only piece of advice: "Be a star!"

At the end of the evening, six would remain and four would be let go.

For the first twenty minutes, we watched them brainstorm, struggle, make phone calls, tap into the computer, identify connections, get turned down, and eventually put together a game plan to show they can talk-the-talk and walk-the-walk that may turn their $1,000 into $1 million.

The audience's twenty viewing minutes represented twelve hours to the cast.

After reassembling his cast of characters, Cuban said, "As an entrepreneur, I know exactly what it feels like when you're excited and you're terrified at the same time because there is so much at stake."

He said, "The key to being successful in these situations is to take control over your own destiny."

$10,000 & 120 Hours Invested

Three of the ten contestants used their money to take lessons: hockey, dancing, and guitar. The guitar player was one of three who attempted to become a rock star.

One paid an attorney to file a patent on his behalf.

One wrote a book.

One went skydiving.

One designed a fashion line.

And two created a web site.

The surprising thing was that not one of the ten contestants tied their $1,000 as further leverage towards the greater $1 million to be gained.

Just half of the contenders proved they were stars in Mark's eyes and able to separate themselves from the pack.

Tiffaney

Tiffaney, The Balls & Babies Sky-Diver

Tiffaney went skydiving, an (ad)venture so risky Cuban claimed even a billion dollars would not get him to try such a feat.

Cuban gave Tiffaney a lot of points for doing something that he wouldn't touch with a ten foot pole.

Spencer, The Patent-Pending Engineer

Spencer spent the day drafting the paperwork and then identifying an attorney to file a patent for the idea he engineered: an Internet-based Airborn Air Traffic Control Analysis System (ATAS). Twelve hours later, he walked in with a patent application that enabled him to tell Mark that his idea was now "patent pending."

Cuban called Spencer "The Intellectual Star of the Group." "Out of nowhere he did exactly what I would have done," said Cuban.

"He found a great patent attorney and he filed for a patent. That was brilliant in my mind."

Kevin

Kevin, The Survivalist Musician

Kevin spent his time writing, singing the lead and back-up vocals and co-producing a song in a professional studio which he presented to everyone on a boom box.

His song: "One Scene Left" is about not giving up, even after life unexpectedly hands you a raw deal.

In Spencer's case, he chose not to give up even after his father died when he was fourteen.

Cuban awarded Kevin a spot because everything he did was personal.

Femia

Femia, The Festive Fashion Designer

Fashion designer, Femia (think "Female") understands what it means to take a chance. Cuban was pleasantly surprised by her boldness and her creation.

Femia came dressed in her own celebratory bright yellow and orange wrap dress.

She not only modeled her own design, she presented a man and a woman model in two of the designs she created that day.

Femia was able to do this by purchasing already-made clothes and redesigning them to show off her fashion design style and label.

To Cuban, she did something that took courage, and something that was out of her comfort zone.

The fact that she achieved something that difficult to do, and something that she had not done before, scored big points with The Benefactor.

Dominic, The Don't Say 'Maybe' Say 'Yes' Rock Star

Dominic spent exactly $1,000 to buy an electric guitar and a lesson book. And then he succeeded at dropping Mark Cuban's name to get a professional rock band in Dallas called Bacas to come perform with him.

The song they performed, with Dominic as the lead guitarist, was called "Maybe."

Dominic was one of our stars until the end of his performance when he trashed his beautiful new guitar.

A $1,000,000 rock star can get away with this kind of radical act. But a $1,000 rock star? We didn't think so.

Then again, we weren't the judges.

"So far everything he's done," said Cuban, "has put the biggest smile on my face."

Impressed with their efforts, Cuban kept Dominic, Famia, Kevin and Spencer in the game.

Of the four, Dominic was the easiest pick for Cuban. Cuban said, "He entertained me. He went out of his comfort zone. He had a blast doing it. He was a star!"

Three contenders didn't do it for Mark. He did not think they challenged themselves to a point that pushed beyond their boundaries.

They were:

Latane, The Who Is Not Going To Be A Rock Star

Latane went out and bought the web domain name WhosGoingToBeAStar.com, and then created a preliminary business plan. His hope: to generate enough traffic in order to attract advertisers to follow.

Mark wasn't impressed with Latane's wig. It showed to him he didn't have confidence in his idea. Cuban's impression was that Latane needed a gimmick to get "over the top."

Shawn, The Game Ends Now Author

Shawn wrote her own children's book called The Game Starts Now.

She illustrated each page and wrote:

Life is a game of highs and lows which way do you go? Around every corner are twists and turns. You play the game hard and fight to stay strong. Then some days you wonder just where you went wrong.

Years flow with a drop of a hat.
For a million dollars...
Imagine That!
When the game is all over
and life's just begun
you'll look in the mirror
and see you have won!

In one day she said to Mark, "I am officially an author."

Cuban was clearly not impressed.

Christine, The Dallas Maverick Dancer-for-a-Day

Christine spent $1,000 doing something she's never had the money to do, the time to pursue, or the access to talent like this from Idaho.

She spent two hours with the choreographer and director for the Dallas Mavericks Dancers. She plans to take what she learned with her back to the classes she teaches.

These three lost their shot at $1 million.

Two contenders were a toss up of indecision for Cuban.

Cuban elected to leave it to the five winners of the night to eliminate one of them.

Chris, The Puck Stops Here Hockey Player

Chris wanted to know what it would be like to become a Dallas Star by getting a coaching session with Dallas Stars Head Hockey Coach, Dave Tippett.

Cuban thought he had a shot going in, but didn't feel he stepped out of his comfort zone. Upon Chris departure he said to Cuban, "No cowards no cry babies." Chris left feeling confident he brought his A Game. But it was his competitors, not Cuban, who chose to

Linda, The Pierced Tongue Tootsy Pop

Terrified of computers, she was bound and determined to make use of this tool in a positive, impactful way. But first she needed to find it. The web page she created, that is. Earlier in the day, she turned to a team of professionals to create a site designed to "make something good out of a tragic happening" related to her mother. Apparently, her mother had become an unwanted celebrity in her town, as a result of a drunk driving accident.

Tough as a tootsy pop on the outside but soft on the inside, Linda couldn't convince Cuban she was the real deal. He was less impressed with her presentation, and more concerned about whether or not she was trumping up her computer phobia to get on his good side. No dice.

Four of the five winners of the night elected to keep Linda. Femia chose Rich because she thought he was less of a threat to her in being able to stay in the game.

If you were watching, didn't it just get your wheels turning?

How would you spend that $1,000?

Here's what I would have done.

I would have written a business plan summary for my current company which would reference Mark Cuban as a seed investor. (With $1,000 in hand, this may have been a stretch, but Cuban is always encouraging people to "stretch their boundaries.")

I would have then identified and contacted a number of top-notch investors, who know and appreciate Mark Cuban for what he has accomplished, and who would consider becoming a co-investor with him.

I would call them up and tell them, "Mark Cuban has made an investment in my business. I have an opportunity for you to participate, but we need a decision before the end of business, today. Are you interested?"

After investing the balance of the day pitching prospective investors, I would step up to the plate at 8 o'clock in front of Mark and present our term sheet of co-investors. I would tell Mark that if I win the $1 million at stake, I will put that money to work in the company, as well as the initial "seed-round" of $1,000.

The only catch is that I would have to ask ABC not to film me while I pitched my plan to Cuban. Five million viewers is just too many potential competitors to catch wind of this plan, worth well more than $1 million.

So, what do you think? Would I be canned? Or would I end up one of the Top Six last night?

Of course, the other challenge, as Cuban has made clear, he's got to like you, as much as your dream.

If The Benefactor succeeds this season, what I'd really like to see are sixteen of the the top business school students at Stanford, Harvard, MIT, Tuck, Wharton (Univ. of PA), Carnegie Melon, Ross (Univ. of MI), University of Chicago, Yale, Northwestern, Columbia, UNC Chapel Hill, Univ. of Virginia, Duke, Haas (Cal Berkeley), McComb (Univ. of Texas at Austin), New York University, Cornell and UCLA, and put them to the test against a group of Mark Cuban-like street savvy entrepreneurs.

Then, ABC would have a program they could sell to every business school in the country. Not to mention the high school, community college and undergraduate universities that would love to use this as a tool in their classroom.

Like, the U.K. and U.S. versions of Idol, ABC could have European business schools compete with each other and then with the top contender selected from the U.S. Benefactor. I've got to believe advertisers would really get their money's worth because the audience would stick around next season, and the ratings would go through the roof.

Femia in Action

As far as this season is concerned on The Benefactor, I'm banking on Kevin, Spencer and Femia. Meanwhile, hopefully, Dominic will redeem himself next week. He definitely has a star quality about him, despite his antics.

Here's to healthy, adventuresome, soulful, star quality and well invested living!

~ Jennifer King

P.S. How would you spend Mark Cuban's $1,000? Let us know what you would do to earn a shot at $1 million, via the comments link below.