The Apprentice 3, Episode 1: Have it Your Way

Net Worth has their drawing at the end of the day. Tara is hopeful that they’ll win and says that everyone worked really hard.

The teams go to the boardroom to learn the results. George says that Magna sold 139 of their burgers for a total of $553.22. Carolyn says Net Worth sold 182 units and brought in $596.96. Net Worth wins! Trump congratulates John, who says that his team did a great job. For their reward, they’ll go to the 21 Club for dinner.

That night, Trump and Melania meet Net Worth at the 21 Club. Tara says that the place is fabulous. Over dinner, Trump tells them he’s not surprised they won the first challenge. He congratulates John again and shakes his hand, which John says in an interview was a thrill. Brian asks Trump about a story he heard – Trump’s limo broke down on the way to Atlantic City and a couple helped him out. A few weeks later, the couple found out that Trump had paid off their house for them – is the story true? Trump tells Brian that it is, to which Brian responds, “That is #$%king awesome!” Brian then drops the f-bomb again as he leads a toast to not being the first person to get fired. I believe we’ll soon be seeing that Brian is a tad rough around the edges.

In the suite, Magna meets to talk about what went wrong. Todd says that the marketing was the root of all of their frustrations. Not surprisingly, Danny disagrees and says that the problem was not having enough people at the registers. In a melodramatic interview, Danny says that he, the team cheerleader and morale officer, is being accused of treason! The nerve! Later, Todd tells Alex privately that he thinks Alex missed an opportunity in upselling the product and will take him to the boardroom, too. Alex says in an interview that Todd was a terrible leader, but that Danny was “a steamroller with a drunk driver at the helm.” I hope Alex is around for a while, because he’s funny. Also, kind of cute. As soon as I think that, Todd potentially jinxes that by telling Alex that he’s sure Alex will be safe.

Stephanie tells Danny that she knows she did a great job with the marketing, and so did he. She says they will survive, and that she’ll support Danny and go after Todd. Meanwhile, Erin flops down on Todd’s bed in a crying fit and says that she hates to backstab people she likes. She just doesn’t know how she’s going to handle going into the boardroom and telling Trump who she’d fire. First of all, has Erin never seen this show? Didn’t she know this was part of the deal? Second of all, you’re not stabbing anyone in the back; you’re stabbing them in the front. Third, what’s that phrase in the opening credits of the show? Oh, that’s right: It’s not personal. It’s business. How on earth is Erin a lawyer if this is how she handles pressure and confrontation?

In the boardroom, as you might expect, Trump immediately chastises the college grads for losing to people with high school diplomas. Todd says his strategy was to divide the team into two groups – Danny and Stephanie on marketing, everyone else in the restaurant. One problem was that Magna only had two people trained to work the registers, whereas the other team had three. George says that was a huge problem.

Carolyn says the promotion was an issue as well, adding, “I have never seen a worse promotion, ever.” And keep in mind that among the promotions Carolyn has seen was, “I’ll drop my skirt for twenty dollars.” George agrees, and says that when he saw Danny’s throw the ball in the box thing, he had no idea what it was even supposed to be, so imagine how confused the customers must have been. Danny looked like a street performer, not a promoter. Danny says that he actually was victorious – his goal was to get attention, and people did come in the store. Carolyn says his goal wasn’t just to get people in the store, but also to get them to buy that specific sandwich. Todd says that the marketing was horrible. Trump says that since he was the team leader, he should have had more control over it.

Next, Trump asks about the way Danny dresses. Todd says that Danny’s clothes are stylish “for him,” but that they wouldn’t work if he was in the Trump organization. Danny says that his clothes reflect his character, and that he’s an individual, not a clone. George is offended and asks if he’s a clone. Danny says that he has worked with huge companies, and they are more interested in his expertise than in his attire. Verna thinks Danny’s clothes put him at a disadvantage and that he isn’t talented enough to overcome it. Trump starts to ask Erin about Danny’s clothes, then gets sidetracked and asks her if she loves to sue men. It’s a non-starter, as Erin denies it. She says that she doesn’t personally like Danny’s clothes and thinks that they need to dress appropriately. This from the woman who wore a pink bath mat, though to be fair, she didn’t wear the bath mat to the boardroom.

Who would everyone on the team fire? Verna says Danny, because the marketing just wasn’t strong enough. Danny is shocked that Verna named him (though I can’t see why he’s surprised). He says he’d fire Todd because he didn’t train enough people and Todd himself was not trained. Stephanie names Danny. Now that is a surprise, since she said she’d go after Todd. Stephanie says that she and Danny spent all day working together and Danny couldn’t make a decision. Danny asks Stephanie if she wasn’t also part of this failed marketing strategy. Stephanie says that she had plenty of ideas, but that Danny didn’t listen to her. Bren says he’d fire Danny. Kendra, on the other hand, would fire Todd for being unable to control Danny. Finally, Alex would fire Danny because he might be impossible to manage. Todd chooses Alex and Danny to accompany him to the final boardroom.

George says that Danny defines the term “loose cannon,” but that the team actually lost because they didn’t have enough people at point of sale. Carolyn says that the team is ganging up on Danny, except for Kendra, who Carolyn thinks is smart. She agrees that Todd is the reason they lost the task.