The Apprentice: Why Tammy Lost

I’ve been waiting to write this column for a while. OK, so I just started writing this column last week, but you know what I mean. Tammy has been a constant source of irritation to not only the viewers, but all of her team members as well. So how has she managed to stick around so long? Because she was lucky enough that she was always on the winning team until now. But finally we get to take a look at why Tammy lost.

In trying to think back about what we’ve seen of Tammy, I can only think of one contribution she gave to her group that was actually worthwhile: She came up with the phallic idea for the Marquis Jet Card. What’s interesting is that even then, some of her teammates thought she was nuts. They had no idea. As it turned out, the idea won because the judges didn’t want business as usual – and that idea certainly wasn’t. However, it was an incredibly risky move and could have just as easily gone the opposite direction. It seems her team won because the ad was different, not because it was necessarily good.

Other than that, nothing she has done has been memorable except the stupid things. In fact, that’s all I think about when I think of Tammy – her saying stupid things.

Early on, she asked Donald Trump’s girlfriend how she keeps the apartment clean. Um. Yeah, that was a smart question. OK, so it didn’t have any effect on the game, but it was a hint of things to come.

As we progressed in the game, Tammy was a constant source of irritation for her teammates and anybody who was supposed to be working with them. At the most inappropriate moments, she would say things that just made you wonder what planet she is from.

Some perfect examples occurred in Episode 6. The teams were supposed to be negotiating with celebrities for special auction packages to benefit charity. The first time we saw Tammy trying to be a part of this challenge was in the negotiation with Carson Daly. Ereka and Amy were talking to Daly and inquiring if he was hosting any shows or doing anything else for which he might be able to donate backstage passes. They got him to agree to donate a limo ride and passes for a special Christmas concert. But just as things seemed to be looking good, Tammy chimed in. She wanted to know if he could get Tiger Woods to play a round of golf with him and the winner of the auction. Daly tried to be polite and get out of it, but Tammy just kept pushing right ahead, completely oblivious to the fact that he wasn’t interested and she was making it seem like they were more interested in somebody other than him.

As they say in the infomercials: But wait, there’s more! When that didn’t go over, she suggested a romantic weekend getaway with Daly! Um. He puts the kibosh on that since, well, he wouldn’t even know the person. So certainly she finally got the hint and shut up at that point, right? Wrong. As Amy tried to get the discussion back to the real world, Tammy tried to bring it back to golf with a different famous friend.

Thankfully, the other two prevailed and they got something from Daly. But it was completely in spite of what Tammy was doing.

Cut to their meeting with Rocco Dispirito. The guy runs a restaurant, so it would make sense to do something related to that. Ah, but not to Tammy! She suggested that Rocco rent a chateau in Europe to take a vacation with the person who bids highest! That was clearly not realistic and Amy summed it up well by saying that Tammy consistently says things they wish they could erase.

But that’s not all! Next up was a meeting with Regis Philbin. Having learned absolutely nothing from her previous attempts at negotiation, she suggested that Regis donate a trip for four with his wife, the winners, and another couple to his favorite vacation spot. Regis had the same concerns as Carson Daly about taking a trip with somebody he’s never met. But Tammy had the answer to that – it will just be two days. Um. That really didn’t solve anything, did it? But once again, the rest of her team came to the rescue and managed to bring them back to Earth. They got a very nice package in spite of Tammy.

And just to emphasize how totally bizarre Tammy is, as they were leaving Regis’ dressing room, everybody touched a good luck sign above the door – except Tammy, who said she was too short. Too short to reach the top of a door? Short on rationality, maybe.