The Apprentice, Episode 14: You’re Hired!

With that, the walls of the boardroom split open to reveal a live studio audience. There are handshakes and hugs all around, and Bill looks jubilant. Trump stops the music and applause and says they still have business to attend to. Bill must choose which company he’d like to run. Will it be the building of the new Trump International Tower in Chicago, or will it be the new Trump National golf course in Los Angeles? Bill has the commercial break to decide.

The fired candidates file into the studio. I notice that Omarosa immediately maneuvers herself to be next to Trump, but he shakes her hand and quickly moves away. Excellent. Bill says that although the weather is great in California, he wants to work in his hometown of Chicago. Trump says that he’ll still have plenty of supervision. Bill jokes, “I guess I won’t be able to rename it, then.” Trump then notices that Bill is sitting amongst the people he fired, and directs him to sit on the other side of the conference table. Bill grins from ear to ear as he pulls up a chair next to Carolyn.

Trump tells Kwame that he was an excellent candidate and a fine person. He says that he was undecided up to the end.

Trump then focuses on the “controversial” Omarosa. He says that she was caught in a lie and asks her to explain herself. Omarosa tries to deflect it by making a joke, but Trump interrupts her and cuts her off, saying he’s tired of her excuses. Omarosa clearly has no defense. Heidi chimes in that maybe she and Omarosa should take a two-hour lunch to discuss it. Good one, Heidi.

Trump says that Ereka has suffered a lot due to Omarosa’s charges of racism. Ereka says that if she’d had the chance, she would have fired Omarosa and loved it. She says, “She’s a liar and I’ve known that for a long time.” Trump repeats that she’s suffered, but is confident she’ll turn out just fine.

Next, Trump directs his attention to Nick and Amy and calls their romance “pathetic.” He says there was no heat between the two of them at all. They say that they’re not together anymore. Trump asks point blank who broke up with whom. Can I just say, I absolutely love that Trump is the one asking the questions? He’s blunt, to the point, and asks really interesting questions. Go, Donald! Nick says that maybe Amy should tell who broke up with whom, and Amy diplomatically says that it was mutual. I think we can all read between the lines and see that Amy led that “mutual” breakup. Nick says that they’re just good friends. Trump says that he’s had some good friends, too, “And it’s cost me a lot of money.” Ha!

Trump says that everybody loved Troy. Troy says it was a great opportunity, and he’s proud to have met and worked with Trump. He adds, “And I’m coming back!”

Trump next recognizes George and Carolyn. He says that they did a great job, and that he thinks they’re tough, smart people, but they have good hearts. My only hope for the second season of The Apprentice is that we see more of George and Carolyn, because I think they both had very interesting observations about the candidates.

Trump tells Bill that while he’s feeling good, he’s about to feel better. He gets a brand new Chrysler Crossfire! I can’t help but wonder if he actually gets the car, or if it’s just a weekend rental like Amy’s lame casino prize.

Trump next checks in with Sam. Sam says he has a proposition for Trump. Trump is about to pay Bill $250,000 to work for him for a year. Sam offers to pay Trump $250,000 for the opportunity to work for him for a year. Oh, and he has a briefcase with him with the cash inside. Trump says that it’s an intriguing offer, and he’ll consider it – and he has Sam bring the cash over. Wow, can you imagine actually getting a quarter of a million dollars in cash, then buying a briefcase to hold it all? Not to mention paying someone for the opportunity to work for him. If this actually works out, it will be the very finest of all of Sam’s crazy ideas.

Trump quickly talks to a few other candidates. Heidi says that her mom is doing fine, and the camera shows her in the audience. Tammy and her husband are expecting a baby. Jason says that since being on the show, he has doubled his real estate empire. Trump notes that all of the candidates have received interesting job offers since appearing on the show and wishes them all well.

Trump congratulates Bill again and tells him that he’ll start work for him very soon. In fact, Trump hands him the keys to his new car, suggests that he take a 15 minute drive, and then report to work.

We get a sneak preview of the next season of The Apprentice, which will start in the fall. Trump says that the competition will be tougher, the challenges will be harder, and the candidates will work with an array of Fortune 500 companies.

Trump wishes the candidates luck, and a grinning Bill goes off in his new car. And that’s it!

I think that Trump absolutely made the right decision in hiring Bill. I think that Kwame is great, and I would have been fine with it if he’d won. But Bill edged him out in the end. In the final challenge, the differences between their two styles really came to the fore. I love that Kwame doesn’t believe in micromanaging, and that he trusts his staff to do a good job. Unfortunately, that plan only works if the people working for you do a fantastic job all the time. In Kwame’s case in this challenge, that definitely didn’t work. Bill, on the other hand, made sure he was on top of every detail so that nothing could slide. I don’t think that he was frazzled, but I do think that he showed an appropriate level of stress for such a difficult and important task. When something went wrong, he didn’t just calmly hope it would work out. He took action and made sure the people around him new how important it was to solve the problem. Bill will do a great job working for Trump.

I absolutely loved this show. The candidates were smart, resourceful, and interesting. George and Carolyn were insightful, and I only wish we’d seen more of them. And Donald Trump did a spectacular job at making smart decisions in the boardroom week after week until he narrowed the field to two excellent candidates. Thanks to everyone who emailed me – I love hearing what you readers think about the show. Starting on Monday, April 19th, I’ll be recapping Mark Burnett’s other hit NBC show, The Restaurant. The Italian food and drama will more than tide me over until it’s time for The Apprentice 2. See you then!

Betsy is the Associate Editor of RealityNewsOnline and can be reached with any comments at betsyw42@hotmail.com.

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