The Apprentice 5, Episode 8: P’eatzza My Mind

Meanwhile, Leslie can’t find Lee. It turns out that he is talking to a local businessman about a big sale- 1,000 sandwiches big. Lee is proud of himself again and calls the deal “very Trump-like.” He talks to Leslie about how much he can offer the sandwiches for in the case of a big sale like this. She says $3. The guy counters with $2. Lee acts like a car salesman going to talk to his boss, talks to Leslie, and offers $2.50. It’s no deal, and with that, Lee’s big deal falls through. Leslie says that at least he tried. Charmaine isn’t so pleased- he spent an hour on it and it didn’t work. Nevertheless, she feels confident that they’ll win. She hopes they will because the next day is Leslie’s birthday!

The candidates meet in the Boardroom. Andrea admits that she didn’t try the sandwich because she is a vegetarian. Trump says George loves them. Gold Rush says that they liked having Michael on the team. He says he hopes he broke their losing streak. Gold Rush had an increase of 608%. Wow, that’s really good. Synergy, however, had a 997% increase. Wow, Gold Rush loses again! Synergy’s reward will be to fly to Washington, DC in a private jet for a breakfast meeting with Senator Chuck Schuler.

Synergy agrees that a private jet is a great way to travel. Sean recently got his green card and is excited to see the capital city. They meet the senator at the Hay-Adams hotel. Senator Schuler says that the Hay-Adams is the most famous hotel in Washington, obviously forgetting about the Watergate. Allie says that the hotel has the most beautiful view of the city, though she’s obviously never had a drink at the Hotel Washington. But enough nitpicking. The candidates are happy to meet with Schuler, who has known Trump for a long time. He advises them to ask on Monday mornings if they really want to go to work. If they do, they’re in the right job. After breakfast, the candidates go to see the White House. Everyone is under umbrellas but Sean, who is apparently so happy that the sun is shining on him alone. Sean says that though he’s a proud Brit, this is his home, and it’s a great experience to see the White House. Andrea says that all of them are living the American dream.

Back at the suite, there is a cake ready for Leslie, which is sad since I’m 99% sure she’s getting fired. Lee says they need to stop their habit of losing. They have lost 6 tasks. Wow, that’s bad. Michael says that they worked well together and that he fits in better than he did on Synergy. Leslie is bummed about having to go to the Boardroom on her birthday.

In the Boardroom, Leslie says the reason they lost is simple- they didn’t sell enough. She was surprised and thought they’d win. She adds that Lee wasn’t around a lot and spent 45 minutes working on a “shady” deal. There was nothing shady about the deal, and Lee says so. He tried to close a huge sale that would have won them the task, but it fell through. He adds that he thought the price was too high and told the team that. Leslie says that’s true, but she thinks that if they’d reduced the price by a dollar or so, they’d just have lost by a wider margin.

Charmaine says she thinks starting at the high price point was smart, as they could always go down if they needed to. That’s flawed, seeing as how Lee gave her that information about the price being too high and she and Leslie ignored it. Leslie says that they chose the price as a team. Carolyn can’t believe anyone would pay eight bucks for a sandwich at 7-11. Word. Did anyone ask the average price? Lee says that he did, and it’s five or six dollars, including a drink. George says it’s not hard to sell a sandwich, and the price is a determining factor.

Michael says Leslie was a good manager, but that she lost. Lee says that they lost because of price and “overall strategy.” Carolyn liked their promo item, but says their price point killed them. The other team got the price right. George says that the price was far too high for college students. Lee agrees, and George says he wasn’t loud enough. I think Lee was as loud as he could have been. Leslie says that Lee conveniently disagrees so he can cover his own butt and that other than Lenny, he never supports the project managers.

Trump asks Leslie who she’s bringing back. She opts for just Lee. The candidates start to leave, but Charmaine has something to say. Careful, Charmaine- those are dangerous waters. She says that she doesn’t think Leslie should be fired. Lee left, didn’t try to sell Leslie on the lower price, and then didn’t give 100%. Trump thanks her for her feedback.

We get a bonus Trump Lesson of the Week in a “The More You Know” public service announcement. Trump says, “Don’t smoke.” Good advice. And my “The More You Know” this week is this: Don’t let Gwyneth Paltrow name your children.

Trump asks Leslie why she only brought back Lee. She says that Michael, Charmaine, and Tarek worked hard. Lee reminds her that he negotiated for them to clear the shelves. She claims she would have done the same thing the next morning. Carolyn won’t let Leslie downplay it- it was smart.

As for the deal, Lee says he tried to make a deal, and it fell through- it happens. Leslie counters that it took too long and she needed the manpower. I don’t buy that one. How many people do you really need selling sandwiches in a 7-11? You can risk sparing Lee for an hour if the payoff is that potentially big. Lee and Leslie then talk over each other about how long she spent working on the trivia questions and whether or not Lee talks too much. Leslie claims that she spent 30 minutes on trivia, then researched price points. I question that.

Lee says he knows two groups who are extremely price sensitive: college students and senior citizens. Trump says he thought Lee was going to say something else. Was Trump about to suggest something that might get him a smackdown from two men who took off work for Yom Kippur? Keep quiet, Trump.

Trump thinks Lee is more talented that we saw on this task. Trump thinks that deal would have been amazing, and sometimes you have to try thinks like that. The concept was better than anything anyone on either team tried. Trump thinks that the price point lost the task, so Leslie is fired.

This was an easy one. Tarek, Michael, and Charmaine did a fine job as worker bees. Lee was smart enough to remove the other sandwiches, was the voice of reason when it came to pricing, and attempted to negotiate a deal that would have won them the task. Leslie chose the bad price point, so she was the one to go this week, no question.

Leslie and Lee hug goodbye. Trump says he liked her, and Carolyn thinks she’ll be successful. George dares to counter Trump and says he wasn’t as impressed. Welcome home, George!

In her cab ride, Leslie says she thought Lee was the right person to go. She laments getting fired on her birthday and wonders what the odds are of that. She might have to pick up a lottery ticket later.

Betsy Wasser is the Associate Editor of Reality News Online. She is completely without any craving for the P’eatzza. You can reach Betsy with any comments at betsywasser@gmail.com

Be sure to sign up for our e-mail update so you can stay informed about new articles on the site! For more news about this show, be sure to check out SirLinksALot’s Apprentice page!