The Apprentice 3, Episode 10: Pizza My Mind

The candidates, as always, are speculating as to who will be fired. Stephanie thinks it might be Erin, noting that she can only use her sex appeal for so long. The question is answered as Angie strides triumphantly into the suite, followed by Chris. They better check the bathroom to see if Erin swiped any of them for her wardrobe. Stephanie admits in an interview that she’s disappointed that Erin is gone. She thinks Angie and Chris are mean and rude. Angie accuses Stephanie of not helping her in the boardroom. It wasn’t really Stephanie’s fault – as you’ll recall, Trump asked Stephanie who was responsible for the loss. Stephanie said Angie, then started to elaborate, but Trump cut her off. Angie chews Stephanie out for this, and all Stephanie can do is shrug.

Alex, Kendra, and Bren have a little powwow and decide that they want Bren to be their project manager. The three of them built Magna from the beginning, and they want to keep original Magna people on top. They don’t need Craig and Tana to win. Meanwhile, Craig and Tana obliviously hang out in the kitchen.

The phone rings, and we see Angie still snoozing away. Oh, no! What will happen? Don’t panic – Kendra gets it. Robin directs the teams to meet in Trump Tower. When they arrive, Trump tells Net Worth to choose a member of Magna to join their team. After a short conversation, they happily take Alex. He hugs his new teammates. With that out of the way, Trump tells the candidates about their next task. They must create a new pizza for Domino’s (he notes that he likes meatballs) and sell it from a mobile unit. The team that makes the most money wins.

Chris says that Net Worth chose Alex because he is creative, honest, and hard working. He adds, “I hope I’m not wrong about that,” kindly providing a bit of foreshadowing. Project manager Stephanie puts him in charge of marketing, happy that they have someone savvy to do it instead of her or Angie. Stephanie explains that she is project manager because Chris is “a nutcase.” Fair enough.

The team goes to a Domino’s training facility in Brooklyn to learn how to make pizza. They review the topping list, and Angie wants to use meatballs, since Trump likes them. I think that’s exactly the kind of sucking up that Trump loves. They brainstorm about names, and Alex suggests Meatball Masterpiece. They all think it’s a great name, and Stephanie notes that this is exactly why they picked Alex.

Chris has kept his promise to Trump and is chewing sunflower seeds instead of tobacco. Maybe choosing another habit that involves spitting isn’t the best course of action. Angie, as the designated mom, points out that he’s going through nicotine withdrawal and suggests he buy some gum. Chris says he doesn’t need to, but that he may be a little short with everyone. Oh, great. Angie points out that he’s always a little short with everyone. The two of them laugh about it. Later, Alex and Chris go to a nearby construction site and sell several pizzas to the workers there.

Magna tries to choose a topping. Bren suggests barbecue sauce, chicken, and cheddar cheese. He is the project manager and tells us that he wants to prove himself to Trump, not to mention score an exemption. Tana wonders how a meatloaf pizza would taste. Kendra thinks they should have pepperoni on it, since everyone likes pepperoni. Craig tells her not to generalize or she’ll wind up believing what she’s saying – after all, not everybody likes pepperoni. Tana is frustrated. The team is not communicating, and after all, it’s just pizza. She adds, “It’s not rocket scientist.” Ironic, no? Tana’s Italian heritage kicks in, and she suggests a meatball pizza with lots of sauce. They’ll call it Meatball Manga. That would be magna meaning “eat” in Italian, not the style of comic book art. I’m not sure how you’d render that in pizza form. In an interview, Tana says that the idea for the pizza topping was totally hers, so “hoperfully that son of a bitch’ll sell tomorrow.” Hee!

And now for the Trump Lesson of the Week: “Know When to Fold.” If you have an idea you’re really attached to, but that doesn’t seem to be working out, know when to forget about it and move on. Next week, Trump will remind us that you never count your money when you’re sitting at the table. There’ll be time enough for counting when the dealing’s done. And now for the Betsy Lesson of the Week. I’m breaking with tradition and will actually give a business-based lesson I’ve learned. It’s simple – return phone calls and emails as quickly as possible. If someone leaves you a message asking you a question and you don’t have time to find the answer right away, call them back anyway and just say that you don’t have the answer, but will call them with it later. I did that all the time with a vendor I used to work with, and even though I kept calling them saying, “I’m not ready yet, but I’ll get to you soon,” they thought I was really on top of things. Of course, you do have to eventually get back to them with an answer.

Net Worth gets ready to start the day. Stephanie tells us that they hired models to help them promote, which seems like a good idea to me. A big part of her strategy is to market to college students in the dorms at nearby NYU. We watch Alex chatting up several attractive women, and Chris comments that he is doing too much flirting, not enough working.

At Magna, Tana and Kendra are in charge of marketing. Their plan is to sell large orders to area businesses for lunch. It’s a good idea, probably even better than selling to college students since it’s during the day. If they had been able to sell late at night, NYU probably would have been fantastic. Anyway, Kendra tells us that their success hinges on her and Tana getting plenty of sales and the others keeping up production. Craig and Bren seem to be having a great time making pizza and they sell a slice to George. Tana says she loves seeing businessmen in suits because she figures they’re hungry.