The Apprentice 4, Episode 5: The Rubble Man

Trump heads to Sony as Jon and Jeff discuss the floats and presentations. Jon says that this is about making a good first impression, and he knew which float he liked better as soon as he saw it. Everyone gathers and Jeff says that both teams were incredible. Excel did especially well with the goal of incorporating the title. Jon likes that the house looked like it was floating; he thinks it looked small and vulnerable. As for Capital Edge, they only had the title in two places on the float – one of which was the back. Jon says that they had some issues with the scale. Jeff notes that Jen kept mispronouncing the title of the movie. He tried to give the team the benefit of the doubt, since they were tired, but the men were tired, too. Since this was mainly a marketing task, Excel wins for the third week in a row.

Trump asks if Brian’s leadership warrants an exemption. The men vote unanimously to give him one. Yay for my boyfriend! Trump adds that in six weeks, the men’s float will appear in the Hollywood Holiday Parade. Since they did so well in this collaboration, Excel’s reward is to head to a recording studio and collaborate with singer/songwriter/rapper/former Fugee Wyclef Jean. Trump tells Brian that he’s a “little impressed.” Hey, is that a short joke? Look, our children will be short, but they’ll also be cute, so back off. The women will once again be back in the Boardroom.

In the suite, Kristi complains that she’s sick of losing. She doesn’t think that she has a negative attitude. Randal tells her that being on the women’s team was eye-opening. He notes that there were times when someone was talking and no one was listening. Kristi admits that she doesn’t always listen. Randal says that something is “broken” on the team and needs to be fixed. He adds that there’s a saying that people need to understand, then be understood. Well, not so much a saying as part of the Prayer of St. Francis of Assisi, but still a good point. Unless he makes a huge, unforgivable mistake, I think Randal will make it to the final four, if not the final two. Mark my words.

Now for my favorite sequence in the episode, and possibly in all four seasons of this show. The men head to Platinum Sound for their reward and meet Wyclef Jean. They discuss the track they want to record and Josh says something about the Rubble Man. He explains that his nickname for Brian is Rubble, after Barney Rubble, because he has no indent in the back of his head. Someone off-camera (Clay, I think) calls Brian the Rubble Rhyme Master and Brian says he’ll “rhyme it up.” Wyclef says they’ll call the track “The Rubble Man.”

Mark starts playing the drums. He interviews that they’ve been up for 36 hours and it’s hard to be excited about anything, but Wyclef is a “musical genius” and has them doing different lines and playing different instruments. Wyclef helps Brian play bongos, then gives Markus help with yelling, “You know who this is!” Adam sings a few lines of the song that I will now be playing on repeat for the next week: “Ladies, if you see us in the club, freakin’ / Join us, it’s the Rubble dance” (cue “ahhh”s from other guys).

In a montage, we hear more “ahhhh”ing. Brian raps, “I’m a medium pimp, got girls around the world / In the club, watchin’ girls twirl.” The guys suggest some more words. More rapping from Brian: “Music pump pumpin’ it, sound system thumpin’ it.” Wyclef is impressed. Mark plays drums again. Markus yells, “You know who this is!” again as Wyclef lip-synchs it. Brian (I think) spins on the floor. “Yeah,” Josh says in a low voice. Adam sings as Mark lip-synchs, “Ladies, [insert a woman moaning] if you see us in the club, dancin’ / Join us, it’s the Rubble Man.” Brian’s dancing. Markus: “You know who this is!” Josh lip-synchs to his own “yeah.”

Brian does his rap again. “Ain’t hard to find, if you got the mental power / You can find me in the street, at the Trump World Tower.” He and Clay both lip-synch to this. “Pop her attitude, you don’t have to be rude / Skinny supermodel, you put me in the mood. / Music pump pumpin’ it, sound system thumpin’ / Trump Trump Trumpin’ it.” Brian does a flip by the mixing board. Josh: “Yeah.” Adam: “Ladies [woman’s moan], if you see us in the club, freakin’ / join in, it’s the Rubble Man.” Markus: “You know who this is!” Josh: “Yeah.” Everyone’s tired and dancing anyway. It’s so awesome.

Josh explains that the task involved creativity and “building a layered flow,” which is parallel to what they did while piecing together the song. At the end of the song, someone plays the bass. My only question is, who was doing that woman’s moan?

Back at the suite, Jen tells James that Kristi is a pain and was rotten to her. She thinks that Kristi is trying to unnerve her. James says that the task was about the float, not the presentation. Jen says that Kristi couldn’t be managed (no, no, never say that). She’s bossy and needs to go. I thought those girls were BFF. James tells Jen that she needs to outsmart Kristi.

Boardroom time! Trump asks Kristi why the women lost. She says that they didn’t bring in the corporate branding. No, Kristi, that was last week’s reason. Jen immediately jumps in and says that Trump shouldn’t ask Kristi. She’s a liability and has a negative attitude. Alla speaks up that during the construction of the float, Jen had some good control over the group, but it was short-lived. Carolyn asks if the bad presentation contributed to the loss. Jen says that she was overwhelmed. Carolyn notes that they missed on all of the criteria they were given, especially the title and the scale of the float.