Hoping to hear 'You're hired'

Tim Urban loves tacos and smoothies, but may soon favor caviar and champagne.

The 25-year-old Newton native appears on the new season of "The Apprentice," one of 18 contestants hoping never to hear Donald Trump say, "You're fired!"

For the sixth season, the reality show traded the streets of New York for the Strip in Los Angeles, where all the episodes but the finale -- which airs live -- were filmed. The debut is set for 9:30 Sunday night on NBC.

Urban lives in LA, where he runs an academic tutoring company and is pursuing his passion for piano. He'll be pitting his business skills against a crew that includes a three-time Olympic medalist, an Internet entrepreneur, a real estate developer, and six lawyers. They range in age from 24 to 37.

The group is split into two teams to compete in tasks; contestants in the past have had to develop and market a new ice cream flavor, promote a new razor, and create and sell a new toy. Losers endure a blistering critique from a panel that includes Trump; daughter, Ivanka; son, Donald Jr.; and special guests (look for Hugh Hefner on this season's second show).

The ultimate "Apprentice" will win a job with the Trump Organization at a salary of $250,000.

Urban showed up for an open casting call for "The Apprentice" in March of last year. He was already a veteran of television auditions, having won a regular reporting position at age 9 on a Boston children's TV show.

This time he was at Universal Studios in Hollywood, along with more than 1,000 "Apprentice" hopefuls. He was plucked from the masses, asked a litany of questions, and met with Trump for two minutes. He was then told to return for a second interview the following week.

The search team then visited 16 other cities and combed through online applications.

Urban made it through subsequent rounds in which he had to submit a video slice of his life and undergo a rigorous background check. The final 50 were put up for a week in a hotel.

"We were not allowed to speak to, smile at, make eye contact with, or interact in any way with the other 49 finalists," he wrote in his blog, Under the Turban. "There were a series of painfully long psychological tests, an IQ test, and a bunch of nerve-racking one-on-one interviews and debates. We were told when to eat and could not leave our room under any circumstances, unless summoned."

NBC forbids contestants from talking to the news media until they are either "fired" or win. When Urban realized this he quickly removed the blog entry, but he's since been allowed to repost it (timurban.blogspot.com).

What was the Trump administration looking for when trolling for Season 6 contestants?

"Prospective applicants should: be able to take risks, bounce back after failing, succeed in a cutthroat environment, go against the tide, remain focused, think creatively, and be a leader," NBC publicist Jill Carmen wrote in an e-mail from Los Angeles.

Newton North standout

Urban may not be able to do any public speaking but his blog, friends, and family reveal a lot about him.

"Obviously it's shocking to hear that your brother is going to be on 'The Apprentice' -- or on a reality show in general -- but if you know Tim, it's just something that would happen to him," said Jordan Urban , the younger of his two sisters.

"I know it was presumptuous," said the 17-year-old Newton North High School senior, "but I really felt like he was going to get it,"

Jamie D'Orazio , Urban's sophomore honors English teacher at Newton North High School, can vouch for his mastery of some essential "Apprentice" skills -- leadership and bargaining.

"If kids felt there was too much homework, he would be the one to negotiate what was most fair for them," said D'Orazio. "He didn't whine or complain. It was always done with a sense of humor."

Urban was elected class president both his junior and senior years. He also established the school's tradition of participating in Project Bread's Walk for Hunger.

Despite his achievements, "he's not a pretentious kid at all," said his father, Andrew, a Boston lawyer.

His other sister, Lindsay, will attest to that. "Tim didn't tell anyone that he applied to Harvard because he wasn't sure he'd get in. When we all found out, we were shocked."

Lindsay, a 19-year-old sophomore at Tulane University, said her brother "has basically been able to achieve any goal he has ever had."

After graduating from Harvard in 2004, where he majored in government, Urban drove his 8-year-old Honda Accord to LA intent on becoming a composer and pianist. To pay the bills, he tutored middle and high school students, which he had done while still at Newton North.

The tutoring enterprise appears to be paying off. He and a partner launched The Cartim Group, which has a staff of 20 and projects annual revenue to exceed $1 million.

Urban's music career recently got a boost when he hooked up with five-time Grammy award winning producer Glen Ballard, who has worked with the Dave Matthews Band, Michael Jackson, and Aerosmith. He performs his own music on his debut CD, due out early this year.

Rocking in his rocker

Perhaps Urban can thank his parents for the early jump on his musical career.

"When Tim was about 6 months old, we would put headphones on him," said his mother, Robin Bass, a retired teacher who lives in Newton . "He'd sit and listen to music and we were able to have dinner in peace." His favorite song, she said, was "Rock Around the Clock."

Urban started taking piano lessons at the age of 4 and at 9 was accepted as a student of George Litterst at the New England Conservatory.

"The curriculum that I was teaching was largely classical and it became quite apparent as time went on that his interest lay a little bit more in pop music," Litterst said. "He was always coming in and playing his own arrangements."

As his repertoire expanded, along with his ability to improvise, he would play any time there was an opportunity.

"Whenever we would go on vacation and he saw a piano -- like in a hotel lobby -- he would sit down and play," said Bass. "And people would put money down before they left."

One year, when the family stayed at a hotel near the Grand Canyon, the manager tracked them down to say that the guests were asking what time he would be returning.

When Urban was 9, he began a three-year stint on "The FOX 25 Kids Club," conducting interviews and promoting kids' shows in 60-second spots.

During that time, he was a guest ringmaster when the circus came to town; had interviews with basketball legends Larry Bird and Michael Jordan; and rode in the limo with the cast of the teen drama series, "Party of Five," when they visited Boston. Among them: "Lost" star Matthew Fox and Neve Campbell.

The buzz builds

A die-hard Red Sox and Patriots fan who favors jeans and T-shirts, Urban said, "I'm out of my element out here," in an audition video interview. But he's still keeping his cool.

"I feel like when the pressure mounts, I become more calm."

Urban would be the first Massachusetts winner. Past seasons saw three candidates from Boston and one from Cambridge.

Momentum for Sunday's show already is building, with reality show fans gathering in chat rooms to discuss the looks, personalities, character, and potential of this season's contestants. The show is promoted on the NBC website and on apprentice.tv.yahoo.com.

Bass finds it both odd and amusing to read everything that is being written about her son, such as those on "Television Without Pity" (forums.televisionwithoutpity.com).

"He looks like: Deep-fried sex on a plate" reads one. "Fake . . . Hugh Grant knock-off," says another.

Bass said: "My friends have already planned weekly parties for us to watch the show together."

Susan Chaityn Lebovits can be reached at Lebovits@globe.com.