The Apprentice 5 Corner Office and Mailroom Assignments, Episode 5

Norwegian Cruise Lines got a shout-out this week as the teams were assigned to shoot commercials on ships. Gold Rush took Lenny’s castaway idea and ran with it, but it didn’t make sense in the context. Synergy contrasted Norwegian cruises with others, and despite the team’s lackluster attitude and Andrea’s attempts to take over, they won. Though Tarek took the brunt of Trump’s bashing in the boardroom, Dan was sent home for various reasons (including not bringing Lenny back).

Gold Rush

Dan never really appealed to me, and this week I wasn’t that surprised to see him do badly. He didn’t even start off well - from the beginning, he gave out orders without asking for any feedback and made it clear that he was in charge. It’s fine for project managers to assert themselves and take control; after all, they’re the heads of the tasks. But Dan seemed to alienate himself by acting the way he did. The dictatorial project managers tend to be the ones who run into trouble in the boardroom, and Dan was no exception.

Many people have expressed that Tarek should have been fired because of his failure to use voiceover in the commercial, but I think that Trump made the right decision in getting rid of Dan. Dan didn’t use his team members the way he should have, instead choosing to do most of the commercial by himself. He made what was probably his biggest mistake in the boardroom, not listening to Trump and bringing Lenny back. Perhaps he thought, like I did, that Lenny would team up with Tarek and try to get him fired. But it was par for the course for Dan, who didn’t listen to his team on the task and didn’t listen to Trump when his butt was on the line. Dan gets himself a trip to the mailroom, where he won’t have to listen to anything but the shuffling of papers.

Since Dan did most of the task this week, none of the other members of Gold Rush really stood out as a great worker. Because of that, I can’t really pick someone who deserves to be in the corner office. Better luck to them next week.

Synergy

I know I’m predictable. I’ve never pretended not to be. I’m sure it’s no surprise that I’m banishing Andrea to the mailroom again. I’m glad that at least other people are starting to realize what a disaster she is. She was so bad this week that had Synergy lost, Roxanne could have easily placed the blame on Andrea and saved herself. I’m sure Trump would have recognized how Andrea’s behavior contributed to the downfall of the task.

Where to begin? First, Andrea confronted Roxanne in the suite after they bickered in the boardroom last week. Not only did she take Roxanne’s comments too personally but she tried to make Roxanne look like she had attacked her for no reason. As Roxanne pointed out, she was simply giving her opinion because Trump and his viceroys asked for it. Then Andrea tried to take over the commercial shoot. I think she has a problem not being in control and couldn’t stand that Roxanne had stood up to her earlier. She wanted to prove herself but she couldn’t even get the point of the commercial. Andrea needs to learn to work with other people whether she likes them or not. Until she can do that, she gets to lick envelopes.

Remember in season 3 when Kendra did an entire brochure by herself and earned her team a win after Craig and Tana ditched her? Should Roxanne and Kendra ever meet, they’ll have a lot to talk about. Like Dan, Roxanne appeared to do most of her team’s commercial by herself, but this seemed to be more out of necessity than anything else. I don’t think the other members of Synergy were very helpful, and having Andrea around couldn’t have helped. Roxanne worked hard anyway and kept going with her idea, despite protestations. Because of her perseverance and her refusal to let the others get her down, Roxanne not only won, but she gets to relax in the corner office.

Week Five Tally:

Other than Roxanne, no one was exactly outstanding this week. We’ve seen tasks similar to this one before and various candidates did well with it, so I’m not sure what went wrong this time. Oh, wait, yes, I do - Dan and Andrea were involved. Dan is gone, but with Andrea still around, Synergy should step carefully and watch her closely. She could bring them down further next time.

Gold Rush

Corner office: Lee (1), Lenny (2), Leslie (2), Charmaine (2, 4), Tarek (3)

Mailroom: Tarek (1), Summer (1), Lee (2), Theresa (3), Bryce (4), Dan (5)

Synergy

Corner office: Allie (1), Roxanne (2, 4, 5), Andrea (3)

Mailroom: Brent (1), Stacy (2), Andrea (4, 5)

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other Apprentice Episode 5 articles:

Jenn Brasler is an Assistant Editor of Reality News Online and an aspiring writer from Falls Church, VA. You can e-mail her at luckyjenn@hotmail.com. Be warned: Andrea might wind up in the mailroom for the rest of the season.

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