The Apprentice 5, Episode 9: Missing the Boat

Invaka says their biggest obstacle was having to concede their location. Don agrees. Roxanne says they sold more at Ellis Island than they had at Battery Park. Allie says that’s true, because Gold Rush’s brochure was so much better. Don points out that Allie supposedly changed it, so wouldn’t the poor quality be her fault? Man, Trump’s kids are tough! I wonder if they used to do this kind of thing around the dinner table at night. Maybe right after their money fights. Allie says the program was so bad that they couldn’t save it.

Trump asks Tammy if she can defend Andrea. Andrea murmurs, “of course not.” Tammy says Andrea questioned all of the decisions. She created stress and is “exceptionally difficult to be with.” Not only is she incapable of being managed, but Andrea also fails to inspire people as a leader. Andrea thinks that’s not true. Allie says that they won Andrea’s tasks in spite of her. Allie claims she totally outsold her on the 7-11 task. Tammy and Roxanne agree. Roxanne says she likes Allie because she’s smart, charismatic, and has a good heart. Trump tells Roxanne that she’s a good speaker. He’d like to have Roxanne represent him in court. Roxanne agrees that she would be “semi-devastated” if he fired Allie instead of Andrea.

Andrea says that they lost because they didn’t do bulk sales. Don seems to recall that Andrea is an expert in bulk sales, and Allie lights up like Christmas. Ivanka thinks that Allie should have asked Andrea to do that. Andrea says she told Allie how well she’d do. Allie says she should have known from the beginning. Maybe Andrea is good at bulk sales, because she certainly can’t sell face to face. Trump says he should have told everyone about this strength. Andrea says she is not the best salesperson- she hires great people. Same with graphics. Her expertise, Andrea says, is in operations and implementation. Andrea tried to help Allie, but Allie doesn’t like her and wouldn’t listen.

Allie says she likes all types of people. Trump points out obviously not Andrea. He then asks Andrea if she gets along with people. Andrea pauses. Trump doesn’t think they’re “a vile and vicious group.” God knows that by now, Trump should be able to recognize a vile and vicious group. He thinks she might be the reason they lost. She caused a lack of chemistry in the team. Plus, a really great leader can also follow. Andrea can’t follow and destroys the chemistry on the team. Andrea is fired.

Andrea hugs Sean- and only Sean. Trump thinks was the right choice. Don says there was no choice. Ivanka agrees that there’s no chemistry. I think, though, that if you talked to Ivanka alone, she’d say Allie would have been a good choice. Ivanka really seemed to be going after her. Trump says he’s surprised that he ended up firing someone who he thought was a star. He then adds, “Good job, kids!”

Andrea says it was a great experience. It sounds like she’s learned from it, because she says, “I guess there’s a reason that I work for myself.” The one time she got fired, it was by Trump, so that’s pretty cool. She wipes away a tear as she says that she thinks Trump respects her.

This was an interesting episode. Gold Rush really did an incredible job, and it was nice to see them win. I tend to agree with Charmaine that Lee didn’t have a lot to do with it. Tarek and Michael put the brochure together and did a great job. She pursued the high-volume sales (though that one sale really wasn’t needed, they were so far ahead). Really, Gold Rush won because they were smart and demonstrated good team work. The biggest thing they did was to wake up early and get to the ferry line first.

Andrea was a natural choice for firing this week. She seems to be very difficult to work with, which is not a good thing if you’re hiring a manager. She is unwilling to listen to anyone else’s opinion and does have a tendency to undermine. Allie made some mistakes- she really should have stayed on the boat, leaving just Tammy behind, for one- but none of them were really game-losing tasks. It was time for Andrea to go.

Next week, egos clash and my boyfriend Sean might just be having a fling with Tammy… or is he just playing her? We’ll find out in a week. See you then.

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

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