The Apprentice 5, Episode 11: Girls Against Boys

Carolyn asks about the cheerleaders. Leecalls out Michael on the idea sharing the squad with Synergy. Michael says that he wanted to be fair. He says he wanted the coach to feel comfortable. He didn’t say yes; he said he’d look into it. Sean thinks that sharing was crazy. Michael says he let Lee make the call. Lee didn’t even think about it- the answer was obviously no. Trump says it wasn’t a question of being fair, just stupid for giving up an advantage. Why give up your assets? Lee says they had an exclusive. Michael says he himself negotiated that exclusivity.

Carolyn says the other team won because they sold. What was the incentive to buy from Gold Rush? The price was low. Carolyn says the women’s incentive to buy was delivery. Lee says there were thousands of people at his tent. Trump isn’t impressed. He sends them all out and seems disgusted. Before they leave, Lee has something to say. Oh, shut up, Lee! Never speak unless you have to. Did you learn nothing from Lenny? Lee says that he’s been PM three times, twice in two weeks. He stuck his neck out, but you can’t win ‘em all. Carolyn thinks it sounded “kind of desperate.”

George thinks the price was wrong and they were over confident. Carolyn can’t believe Michael was going to give up some cheerleaders. He has no competitive edge.

They return to the boardroom. Carolyn doesn’t know what was worse- bad negotiations or creating a spectacle and not selling. Sean thinks that Michael’s mistake was far worse. Michael says he didn’t lose the task. Trump hates handing over an asset. They didn’t give it up, but only because of Lee and Sean. Trump blathers about how he’s learned that if you have a cheerleader, you never let her go. Carolyn wants to know where the competitive edge is. Would Michael just roll over in a business setting?

Michael asks to be heard out. He says wanted to give Coach Christine the idea that they were listening. Trump still doesn’t get it. Michael repeats that he wanted them to feel comfortable. At this point, Michael is trying to cover his butt with some revisionist history. Back when the whole thing went down, he never said in his interviews that he was trying to reassure the coach; he said he thought it would be fair. Trump doesn’t like that Michael didn’t sell and was willing to give up an asset. Michael is fired.

Trump adds that the other two did a lousy job also. Carolyn thinks it was easy, as does George.

In his final cab ride, Michael says you don’t realize that small things could bite you in the butt. He can’t believe what he did is considered worse than actually losing the task. It’s frustrating to go so far and be fired over something so small.

The thing is, Michael’s mistake wasn’t small. The team’s strategy was pretty simple- they created a huge party with lots of buzz so that people would hang out there and buy steaks. It doesn’t make sense at all to give away any of your attractions to help the other team. That’s why he negotiated exclusivity in the first place. Lee’s strategy is what lost them the task, but I think if they’d had more people on the team, they could have had some people run events while others sold, and they would have won.

I also think that Synergy got really, really lucky. For the longest time, the women really didn’t have a plan other than to know that bloomin’ onions are tasty and to wear cheerleading uniforms. The were behind the men for most of the task- they were second to call the cheerleading coach. They were second to arrive at the pep rally- and with just one person and no flyers. They didn’t promote themselves around campus the way the men did. Delivering food to tailgaters was a great strategy, but one they apparently didn’t think of until the day of the game. They won, and they won big, but it was really not an impressive performance.

Next week, the show is on an hour later. Our girl Ivanka will be there, which is always awesome, and the teams will be promoting the X Box 360. See you then!

Betsy Wasser is the Associate Editor of Reality News Online. At her college, tailgating involved wearing nice dresses and drinking bourbon, but rarely ever watching football, and she liked it that way. She can be reached with comments at 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!