kendo-ddlinsanity

HTML

<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://cdn.kendostatic.com/2013.3.1324/styles/kendo.common.min.css">
<link rel="stylesheet" href="http://cdn.kendostatic.com/2013.3.1324/styles/kendo.default.min.css">
<script src="http://cdn.kendostatic.com/2013.3.1324/js/kendo.all.min.js"></script>
<select id="dropdownlist">
    <option value="1">Item 1</option>
    <option value="2">Item 2</option>
</select>

JavaScript

$(function () {
    var items = [
        { text: 'Item 3', value: '3' },
        { text: 'Item 4', value: '4' }
    ];
    
    var dropDownListEl = $('#dropdownlist');
    dropDownListEl.kendoDropDownList({
        dataTextField: 'text',
        dataValueField: 'value',
        index: 0
    });
    
    var kDropDownList = dropDownListEl.data('kendoDropDownList'),
        ds = kDropDownList.dataSource;
    
    items.forEach(function (item) {
        ds.add(item);
    });
    
    kDropDownList.bind('select', function (e) {
         var dataItem = this.dataItem(e.item.index());
        console.log('this.value(): ' + dataItem.value);

    });
});