The Apprentice 2, Episode 5 Extras: It Works, but Apex Doesn’t

If you’re like me (and I’m sure you at least wish you were), you cannot get enough of Trump-tastic Apprentice goodness. That’s why I was eager to check out the bonus footage from the show on Yahoo. Plenty of interesting stuff happened that we didn’t see on the show Thursday night. Here are the highlights.

The first segment shows Apex right after the previous week’s boardroom. All of the women are frustrated and tired. Elizabeth says in an interview that the women are each other’s worst enemies, and the team is tearing itself apart. What’s more, every time they go to the boardroom, it gets worse. Both teams hang out and make dinner, a shrimp and pasta dish that looks really good. Someone asks Pamela how she feels about her decision in the first task to join the men’s team. Pamela is diplomatic. Instead of saying, “I am so glad I don’t have to deal with you crazy people,” she says that she loves her team, loves the guys, and hopes she has a chance to work with the women sometime as well. Elizabeth says that she wishes the women could quit fighting, because she thinks they could be great together.

Next, we head to QVC headquarters where Mosaic is choosing a product to sell. Chris says in an interview that they had a choice between selling the It Works cleaning block and selling the panini maker. That’s interesting. My mom emailed me after she watched the show (hi, Mom!) and said she thought the women would have done much better if they could have sold a cute sweater set, jewelry… something more glamorous than the product they chose. Now we know that they didn’t have much of a choice. Anyway, Andy thinks the grill is the best choice, but John wants to make a case for the cleaning blocks. He thinks they demonstrate well and would look impressive on the air. One of the guys starts to interrupt him, and he asks for a chance to make his case. He’s nice about it at the time, but in an interview says that some of the guys just need to shut up sometimes.

Chris thinks the grill is a better choice because of the brand name and its commercial look. The team takes an initial vote, and they’re divided. Chris argues that the grill is a more practical purchase – how often do people really get crayon marks on the walls anyway? In an interview, he adds that as an Italian guy who likes to cook, he really thinks he could sell the grill better. The guys decide on the grill, but Chris is worried. He thinks the task is 80% about the product, and 20% about the pitch. If they chose wrong, it could be tough.

Knowing that the choice was between the cleaning blocks and the grill, there’s no doubt in my mind that the guys made the right choice. The grill is a total guy toy – it’s a fun kitchen gadget, exactly the kind of thing my dad might order. I could easily believe that a good looking young guy like John (the one that did the main pitch on the air) used that grill. It would be much more of a stretch to imagine that John has a problem with crayon marks on his walls at home.

We learn a little more about what went on behind the scenes as Mosaic tours QVC. Kevin is impressed with the sets – they basically have all of the rooms in a house – bedrooms, living room, home office, kitchen, and even a garage- in which they can demonstrate their products. Then, they go to the studio where they’ll be working, and it’s just an empty shell. Raj jokingly asks if they can just move the kitchen set into that space. Of course, it’s not that easy. They need to build a new kitchen set from scratch. Kevin, who is in charge of set design, is overwhelmed by everything they need to do. We get to see some fun speeded-up footage of the building process, and in the end, their blank space is transformed into a realistic looking kitchen. Neat!

The next clip focuses on what was apparently Apex’s downfall: selecting the price for their sponges. Lil Stacy suggests $19.99, but not in a very decisive way. Pamela is frustrated and wants Stacy to give her a firm answer. In an interview, Pamela says that the men are much more team-oriented. If she asked for someone to pick up dog poop, they’d all raise their hands, but that none of the women want to step up and be in charge of pricing. Curiously, this is Pamela’s second reference to dog poop on the show – in the gelato task, she said that if they mixed dog poop in with the ice cream, it would still taste good. Isn’t that odd? Anyway, Pamela and Stacy talk about the pricing further, and Pamela says that it’s a mistake to price your product too low. Stacy still isn’t convinced – she says that one of the things that’s important to QVC is value. It’s what the V stands for! Pamela decides to take charge of pricing and talks to Ivana about her plan. She figures they can sell the product for a buck a sponge, so they should set their price at around $30. Ivana strongly and clearly disagrees with her, and thinks $19.99 would be a better price.

Next, we see a little more of Mosaic’s tennis reward. After Raj loses his bet with Anna Kournikova, Anna and the rest of the guys dare him to take a lap of the stadium in his boxers. There’s just one problem, though – Raj is going commando. That’s right – he’s not wearing boxers. As Nicole Richie would say, that’s hot. He offers to do his lap wearing a towel, but the team deems that unacceptable. Finally, John McEnroe tosses him a pair of boxers to wear.

With fun and games over, it’s time to see a segment aptly titled “Plot Against Pamela.” Raj talks to several of the women about the upcoming trip to the boardroom. He stresses that they should get rid of Pamela, saying that if the guys had the choice, they’d have put her there after every single task because she didn’t contribute to the team. He also doesn’t like her attitude, saying, “She’s smug. She’s joked about Donald Trump being her apprentice.” Raj also says that Pamela smirks every time the women lose. Ivana says in an interview that all of the guys agree that Pamela needs to go. Raj puts it in his own unique way, saying, “You have a spider of great poison and cunning in your presence.”

Elizabeth says in an interview that she wants to base her opinion of Pamela on what she has personally seen, but does think it’s awfully interesting that all of the guys think she’s terrible. Pamela tells Elizabeth that women tend to be sensitive and have trouble accepting feedback. It would have been awesome if Elizabeth had burst into tears upon hearing that, but she doesn’t. In an interview, Pamela says that Elizabeth was in charge of production, but that it wasn’t that big of a job, and she really could have used more of Elizabeth’s help in strategy.

Meanwhile, Maria cuts her own hair with a pair of clippers as Sandy looks on. In an interview, Sandy says that Maria has a strong sales background, but a tendency to talk really fast. Sandy thinks she overhyped her public speaking abilities, and thus let Pamela down. Maria says that she thinks Pamela is safe. Trump seems to like her and thinks she’s direct and strong.