The Apprentice 5, Episode 1: What’s the Big Deal?

Lee is quiet. He isn’t comfortable talking behind Summer’s back and says he’s never done that before. Apparently his 22 years have been rather sheltered. It’s easy to gang up on her, he adds, but she’s not totally to blame. Lee thinks the blame falls on Tarek for not coming up with a more creative idea. They didn’t have the right idea at the right time.

Synergy goes to the Wharton Club for lunch. Michael asks Trump how it feels to be a brand. Trump is philosophical and says that when you look at all of the big events that happen in the world, doing business just doesn’t seem that important. It’s a rare moment of humility, and I’m sure he went and bought, like, four buildings right after to cheer himself up.

Summer and Lenny talk back at the suite. Summer says she felt like she had no hook for calling people, plus it was a bad time of day to call. Lenny thinks she’ll be in the boardroom and wonders if he will be as well. He’s afraid that the perception will be that he worked less. That’s unfair, he says, because he did his job and did it well. I agree. It wasn’t the most glamorous, but it was still important. Lenny suggests that Summer keep quiet in the boardroom, adding, “We heard you already.” Everything Lenny says sounds totally badass because of his Russian accent. I hope that at some point, a challenge will require him to say “moose and squirrel,” but I guess that’s not likely.

Tarek asks Lee for his support. When Lee hesitates, Tarek tells him that if he’s critical, he will be setting himself up as a target. In other words, keep your mouth shut, Lee, if you know what’s good for you. Wow, that’s evil.

In the boardroom, Trump immediately proves the Betsy Lesson of the Week to be correct, asking “genius” Tarek how it feels to lose. Tarek hates it, but not because he’s in MENSA, but because he’s competitive. He takes responsibility for the loss as the project manager, but says that they didn’t lose because of a lack of leadership, but because two people didn’t step up: Lenny and Summer.

Lenny is immediately on the defensive. He explains that he’s from the area, and that’s why he was on the blimp. Trump jokes that he was sent to Siberia. Because he’s Russian. Do you get it? Yeah, I didn’t find it funny, either.

Lee thinks that the task was mismanaged, and that there were no creative ideas. Theresa disagrees, saying she liked Tarek’s excitement, and that most of the team respected him. Trump says that Tarek did not have the respect of Lee or of “the Russian.” Theresa thinks that by only making one phone call, Summer gave up on the team. Summer claims that no restaurant owner would have taken the call during the dinner rush, though she admits that she only talked to one person. Charmaine says that, going forward, she’d prefer not to have Summer on the team. Trump points out, though, that Summer was right – they did lose. Dan argues that the only time Summer was ever outspoken was in the boardroom, criticizing the team. Good point, Dan.

Tarek chooses Summer, Lenny, and Lee to come back to the boardroom. After they leave, Carolyn says that she thought Tarek lead well and that Summer should have made more calls. George says it was tough for Tarek to lead first and agrees that Summer could have brought more people to the store.

The candidates return, and Lee says that he now has “disdain” for Tarek. Lee tells Trump about how Tarek told him he’d take him to the boardroom if he spoke out against him. Lee makes Tarek look pretty weak and afraid here, I think. Lee says that he respects intelligence, but he’s not impressed with Tarek. Trump thinks he lacks common sense.

Why did Tarek bring Lenny back? Tarek says Lenny didn’t step up. George disagrees- Lenny knew the area and was able to direct the blimp. There’s value to that. “Tarek,” George barks, “didn’t this thing fail because of you?” Tarek again blames the others for lack of effort.

Carolyn asks Summer what she contributed to the team. Summer claims that her value wasn’t easy to see. Carolyn agrees and demands again to know what it is. Summer stammers that she knew product knowledge. No one is impressed. Lenny says that Summer is a strong woman and deserves to stay.

The viceroys then ask Tarek why he didn’t give anything bigger away. Lee and Lenny laugh at the gift bag with no gift. The tide in the boardroom is definitely turning against Tarek. Just then, Summer tries to interject in his defense. Trump doesn’t like that one bit, but she says she has to be truthful. Trump says that’s stupid- he was about to fire Tarek, but Summer interrupted her. He also thinks Carolyn is right that Summer didn’t contribute. Summer is fired.

Lenny shakes his head. Trump tells Tarek, “She saved your ass.” Lenny ominously says, “Not for long.” Man, do not mess with Lenny. Summer tells Tarek in the lobby that the truth will come out. Carolyn thinks Trump made the best, most obvious choice. Trump agrees, but thinks, “Tarek is totally overrated.”

I think Trump made the right call overall. Lenny and Lee both did a fine job in their respective tasks and really shouldn’t have been in the boardroom at all. Tarek made some huge mistakes. He should have come up with a more creative gimmick than he did. More importantly, he shouldn’t have alienated Lenny and Lee by bringing them to the boardroom. He now has two people on the team who don’t respect him. He was completely unfair in bringing in Lenny, and he actually threatened Lee. Good luck working with those two, Tarek. But Summer had one task that she should have been able to do well. She didn’t even try. I’m sure what she said about calling during the dinner rush is true, but she should have found another time to make those calls. Just a few more people through the door would have meant the difference between winning and losing.

Next week, Lenny and Brent cause problems for their teams. Trump’s daughter Ivanka fills in as a viceroy, along with Bill Rancic. See you then!

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

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