The Apprentice, Recap Episode: Business as Usual

Donald Trump reminds us that his search for a new apprentice to head one of his companies began with sixteen candidates from all walks of life. Ten have been fired so far, and only 6 remain. In this recap episode, he’ll share the highlights, some new footage, and give us a preview of the weeks leading up to the finale. In this recap article, I’ll mainly focus on the new stuff. If the episode inspires you to relive some of your favorite moments, might I suggest checking out my fabulous recaps? Good, let’s get to it.

We start at the very beginning as Trump introduces himself, George, and Carolyn to the sixteen candidates. What we didn’t see the first time around is that candidates then introduce themselves to Trump and to the rest of the group. Most of them pretty much give a short description of where they’re from and what they do, but a few stand out. Jason brags about the fact that he manages rental properties, and if one of his tenants is just one day behind on their rent, he’ll start the eviction process. If he is trying to impress Trump, he fails, because Trump says that you have to have a heart sometimes. Jessie uses her kindergarten voice to talk about how she didn’t go to college and just bought a farm and sounds like ten kinds of hick. And Sam begins his own introduction by saying, “Mr. Trump, I’ve read every book you’ve written. Twice.”

The first task is the lemonade challenge. Versacorp picks a location surrounded by smelly fish. David has really weird and ineffective selling techniques. And crazy Sam attempts to sell a single glass of lemonade for $1,000. Meanwhile, the women flirt with the customers and rake in the money, earning twice as much as the men. In the boardroom, Sam continues his craziness. He stands up and tells Trump, “I’m going to stand right in front of you and if you have to punch me in the stomach to get me to sit down and shut up, I’ll shut up.” So that’s how you get Sam to shut up! In the end, Trump fires David. David, in his post-firing interview, is philosophical. He thinks Trump had a good command of the details, and says that as far as he’s concerned, there’s no prize but first prize. “If I wasn’t going to win it, I might as well get cut early. Avoid all the hassle.” Right, David. Tell that to Troy, who is already fielding job offers.

In week two, the candidates are challenged to come up with an advertising campaign for Marquis Jet. Amy calls the client to set up a meeting, and Jason makes the infamous decision that such a meeting isn’t worth the time. We see Tammy’s famous jet plane as phallic symbol idea. Trump says in a voiceover, “Tammy’s crazy idea showed that she was willing to go all the way.” That comment, juxtaposed with the image of Tammy holding a penis ad, is hilarious. Kudos to the editor. Meanwhile, at Versacorp, Sam curls up into a fetal position on the floor and takes a nap.

Protégé wins the task, but there is tension between Ereka and Omarosa. In an argument, Ereka comments that something Omarosa says is like the pot calling the kettle black. Omarosa accuses her of making racist remarks, and Ereka is stunned. In my interview with Ereka, she made a point of saying that she is not a racist and was very hurt by Omarosa’s statements.

Back in the suite, Amy tries to mediate some peace between the two women. She tells Omarosa that her style of talking to people is confrontational and not productive. Omarosa scoffs and tells her that all of the women are catty, all of them talk about each other behind their backs, and yet she is the only one who is being called out for it. She then goes on to tell Amy that all of the other women talk about her all the time for her lack of organization and poor management skills. Then in an interview, Omarosa laughs and says that she was just playing “a fun mind game” with Amy. Wow, she is evil.

In the boardroom, Jason tries to blame Sam’s nap for Versacorp’s loss, but Trump isn’t having it. Jason’s decision to not meet with the client is his downfall. He’s fired. In his post boot interview, Jason says that he’s done a lot of thinking about what went wrong and, “In my eyes, I didn’t go wrong. When Sam was sleeping on my shift, what’s to say he isn’t going to be sleeping on someone else’s shift?” If you want to learn more about Jason’s experiences on the show, you can read about them right here in my interview with him.

In between tasks, the candidates have a day off. The men of Versacorp opt to get in touch with their feminine sides by taking a spa day. Troy is nervous about his first massage, wondering if it’s going to be “a rub and a tug.” He asks Sam if she should get naked, and Sam advises him to strip down to his boxers. Troy says in an interview that he was nervous about his massage, but when it was over, he loved it.