The Apprentice 5, Episode 9: Missing the Boat

Gold Rush, including a shirtless Lee that I could have done without seeing, is up at the crack of dawn to get the best location. Lee thinks price, position, and selling are the keys to winning the task. Lee says that 90% of people who go to Ellis Island leave from Battery Park. People standing in line at the ferry are a captive audience, and that’s who Gold Rush is going to go after. The programs look great, and Tarek and Charmaine are really excited. They hawk the programs, talking up the charity angle. Lee says that he’ll lower the price to a quarter, badmouth the other team, whatever it takes, if Synergy shows up in the same place.

Synergy arrives and finds Gold Rush selling to tons of people. Sean is freaking out = the other team has a huge head start. Sean is wearing Gold Rush’s team outfit: a red NY baseball cap, jeans, a black top, an American flag tie, and a big tote bag that says New York on it. They all look a bit silly. Gold Rush, by the way, went simpler in matching red fleece jackets. But I digress. Tammy reports to Allie that Gold Rush is selling programs for $3 and that they are much nicer. Roxanne tries to sell, finds that people have already bought programs from Gold Rush. Andrea thinks they should go to the museum and sell there. Allie agrees. Don is watching all of this and thinks it’s a mistake. They’ll be hitting up people who have already been approached by the competitors.

They arrive at the island, but things aren’t much better there. Sean says that everyone has already brought a Gold Rush brochure. He’s very frustrated. Unfortunately, he doesn’t call anyone a wanker this time around.

In contrast, all of the members of Gold Rush are selling like crazy. Better still, Lee gets a call from one of the places that Charmaine had tried the day before. Lee says she made hundreds of calls, and someone actually bit. Charmaine quickly sells 100 for $85. Nice work, Charmaine! Lee thinks it’s all about thinking differently and thinking smart. He hopes that their risk will turn into a victory, but he doesn’t want to underestimate Synergy.

Synergy continues to try to sell, and one thing becomes very clear: Andrea is terrible and awkward. Allie says, “Andrea bombs at sales.” She is terrible at schmoozing with people. She’s just bad at it, Allie says, and everything we see sure seems to bear that out. Andrea offers to do bulk sales. She says that she’s good at it. Allie can’t believe she’s busting that little skill out at the eleventh hour. If they lose, she intends to blame Andrea.

In the boardroom, Don says it was an interesting experience. He thinks they’re good, smart people. Ivanka had fun doing this with her brother. Now for the results. Allie admits they’ve done better on other tasks and that she feels less confident. She adds that Andrea is weak at sales. Trump thought Andrea was a star. Roxanne says she’s not as strong as Trump thinks. Trump can’t believe it. Andrea says she’s shocked to hear all of this.

Don reports that Synergy sold at Ellis Island, bringing in $843.43. Lee thinks they won. Is he right? Ivanka says Gold Rush sold at Battery Park, playing to a captive audience and cutting out Synergy. They brought in $1,548.68! Gold Rush wins by a landslide. Lee smiles and says, “It’s about time, Mr. Trump.” Trump says that Ameriquest is so happy with both programs that they are going to donate additional money to Ellis Island. And since this is not the Martha Stewart version of the show, there is another requard, and Trump is going to join them. They’ll be playing golf with pro player Vijay Singh. Trump says when they play together, he remembers what a bad golfer he is by comparison. Plus, each Gold Rusher will get a set of clubs. Synergy looks bummed.

Back at the suite, Andrea is furious that Allie and Roxanne questioned her selling abilities. Andrea says she had $110 at noon. Andrea tells Allie it was stupid of her to lie. Allie says her statement wasn’t based on a number, but rather on the experience. Andrea calls Allie a liar, saying that by the end of the day, she’d made $210. She thinks that the rest of the team contrived to blame something on her. Andrea says she’s pissed, but Allie is too. In the kitchen, Andrea mutters, “bitches” as she breaks into the chocolate. I think we’ve all been there, right?

At the Trump National Golf Course, Lee is very proud of himself. He broke their losing streak, won a reward, and gets to hang out with Trump in an informal setting. He feels amazing and comes up with this line: “Winning: the best remedy for feeling like crap.” Charmaine says it’s a bittersweet win for her because this makes Lee look good, which he does not deserve. They all have a good time playing golf. Tarek helpfully ties things together for us, saying that Vijay Singh is a consistent golfer, and that they all need to be more consistent.

During the commercials, we learn that the majority of people vote to fire Andrea. Will Trump?

Allie says that they need to convince Trump in a short period of time that Andrea was not a star. Sean is reluctant to vilify Andrea and wants to learn the truth about what happened. Andrea listens outside the door. Allie, Tammy, and Roxanne tell Sean to go talk to Andrea and make his own decision. Andrea tells them that she heard everything. Roxanne says, “That’s fine.” What else can you say? Sean says he’s in an awkward position and is not taking sides. The others, he says, are convinced that he is brainwashed for thinking well of her. Allie, Roxanne, and Tammy think that they can go after her and she’ll be fired. Sean wants to stay above politics. Andrea says she intends to go after Allie. Allie says they’ll tear her apart and it’ll be the ugliest boardroom ever. She repeats several times, “There will be blood on the walls.” It’s really creepy.

It’s boardroom time, and for those just reading this, now is a good time to mention that Donald Trump has some beautiful children. This must be due in large part to his love of beautiful women, because little baby Barron is pretty darned cute, too. Anyway, back to the subject at hand. Allie says several things went wrong, but would blame Andrea for the loss. Trump thought she was a star. Roxanne says that’s not the case. Because they’ve won four tasks in a row, Trump doesn’t quite know what’s happening with their team. Roxanne thinks Andrea is difficult, not a team player. Roxanne doesn’t think she’s a strong leader, either. She adds that Andrea quit at putting together the program. In crunch time, you have to keep working.

Andrea says she thinks the team is going after her because she’s strong. Sean says he supports Andrea, that she is a great leader. He does not agree “wholeheartedly” with the team. Don tells him to take a stand and asks who he’d fire. Sean hates to say it, but he would fire Allie. There’s a lack of ability to manage relationships- she doesn’t adapt to the different personalities. Sean says that both Andrea and Allie don’t adapt well to working together. Ivanka points out that as the project manager, it was Allie’s job to make their relationship work. Allie says she gave Andrea a large role - coming up with the graphics. Andrea had touted herself as a graphic design expert, but Allie thought the program was “shoddy.” She tried her best to make it better. Ivanka thinks she Allie should have been there herself, not wandering around Ellis Island. Allie says she trusted that Andrea knew what she was talking about. When that proved not to be the case, Allie made drastic improvements.