The Apprentice 3, Episode 5: Trailer Trashed

Stephanie and Michael talk in the suite. She suggests that the two of them stick together in the boardroom. Michael says in an interview that he is the team’s scapegoat, and he doesn’t trust anyone. “I think they’re all evil people,” he says. Stephanie tells him that she will bring up the trip to Queens. Michael says he’s sure she will. He interviews that Stephanie had such a bad attitude that she brought the rest of the team down. Bren vows that he will be “ a vicious, mean little son of a bitch,” and will take someone else down.

The candidates gather in the boardroom. Bren tells Trump that he thinks the concept and location were good, but that they failed in their marketing. He thinks they’re less creative than the other team, and it’s a source of problems for them. Trump asks how they, as college grads, feel losing to people without advanced degrees. Bren simply says that the other team is more creative than they are.

Trump asks Bren if the team would be better if he had some of the Net Worth people on his team. Bren says they would be, and would trade Michael and Stephanie for members of the other team. Michael, he says, is not a team player and doesn’t work hard. Michael disagrees and says he told Bren how hard it is for a man to sell massages. Bren says Michael claims to be “the sexiest man in the suite,” so surely he could sell massages. Everyone laughs at Michael’s claim of sexiness, because, duh, John is the sexiest one. I may have added that last part. Michael asks Bren if he really thinks that’s why they lost. Bren says it was a big part of it. Bren says he’d replace Stephanie because she’s negative and tends to cover her own butt in the event of losing, rather than helping the team to win. Stephanie would have fit right in with Season 2.

Stephanie says that Bren was “okay” as a leader, but not the best. In particular, he isn’t good at time management. She cites the Queens trip as an example. Alex says he liked Bren as a leader. Stephanie, he tells Trump, creates a negative attitude. She spends too much time making lists of reasons to not get fired. Kendra, who is also on this show, says that Michael didn’t make the effort that the rest of them did. Trump tells the sexy Michael, “The girls aren’t into you, Michael.” He says that he’s a scapegoat for the team.

Jill says that she believes Manga lost because of weak marketing. She thinks they should have tried different approaches. Erin admits that Michael has become “a boardroom cliché,” and Trump interrupts her to say that she gives “good lines of crap.” He is so right, and Erin decides to accept that as a compliment. She goes on to say that on this task, they needed to be street hustlers. Even though that’s not something she usually does, she did it and did well. Michael, on the other hand, lacked the drive to succeed at that. She says he did not get a single customer for them. Erin really has a way with words and is excellent in the boardroom. I think she’ll be around for a while. She won’t win, though, if for no other reason than that RNO writer Phil Kural has adopted her as his favorite, and Phil’s favorites never win. It’s the Phil Kural Kiss of Death, and sadly, Erin how has it. But I digress. Michael says he tried to come up with other ideas, but when Jill asks him what, he has no real answer.

Not surprisingly, Bren picks Michael and Stephanie for the final boardroom. As everyone heads out to the lobby, Michael pats Bren on the shoulder. Trump tells him not to kiss up to Bren, that there’s no point. Michael tries to defend himself, but Trump isn’t interested. He tells Jill and George, “I hate that phony stuff.” George tells Trump that Stephanie brings the rest of the team down. Jill says that Michael didn’t get the word out well, but that Stephanie was too negative. Trump sends the candidates back in.

Trump observes that the three of them don’t like each other. Stephanie denies it and says that she respects both of them. However, “my honesty with my team has been taken personally.” Michael says that Bren left the team in the dust. Trump tells Michael that he came up short, and Michael claims again that it’s hard for a man to sell massages. Jill won’t hear it – they offered other services, like express manicures, and if a man came up to her and offered her a manicure, she’d be flattered. Jill really is like Carolyn Lite.

Trump asks Bren who he’d fire, and he chooses Stephanie. She may work harder, he says, but she’s too negative. He talks about how, at the trailer place, she gave him a list of things that he did wrong, but never once did she call him to try to prevent the problems from happening.

Michael says that he came up with names for the business. Trump asks him why he’s interrupting Bren’s criticism of Stephanie. After all, Bren is giving it to her pretty good and hasn’t mentioned Michael. Why not just let it happen? “How stupid can you be,” Trump wonders. Finally Trump lays it out for Michael. “You claim to be like me?” Trump says, “The difference is, I work hard.” Michael is fired. Michael tries to give Trump his business card as he leaves, but Trump doesn’t seem interested. As the candidates leave, Trump asks George if he made the right choice. George is happy, so Trump is happy.

I’m happy, too. It’s hard to say exactly why Magna lost. Maybe they would have done better if they’d come up with a more creative idea, and maybe they could have done a better job of marketing, but the contest was really close. If you look at team dynamics, Stephanie’s negativity does seem to be affecting the team, but Michael’s lack of effort was also driving down morale. If you have to choose to fire just one person who brings everyone down, you should fire the one who also doesn’t do any work. Bye, Michael.

In Michael’s final words, he says that the other members of his team were “backstabbers.” Looked to me like they were pretty honest and up-front with what they thought of him. He calls them morons and idiots and says his team was full of lawyers who’d twist your words. He believes Net Worth will beat Magna time and time again. Then, he contradicts all of the negative things he just said about his team and claims to have no hard feelings. Yeah, right.

Next week, the teams have to design graffiti ads to promote Playstation. And in the boardroom, two stories don’t add up. Intriguing!

Betsy Wasser is the Associate Editor of Reality News Online. She can be reached with any comments at betsyw42@hotmail.com .

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