The Apprentice 5, Episode 11 Extras: Much Ado About Steak

After that whole conversation, Trump says that there’s a difference between being fair and being stupid. Then he points out that Synergy won without cheerleaders or events; they just sold more. He asks the guys who they think the best woman is on Synergy. Lee and Sean both think it’s Tammy, though Sean thinks Allie is better at sales. Of course Sean would say Tammy, but I’m surprised Lee would. Trump is surprised, since he hasn’t seen her shine. That’s because she’s not really there, Trump. She’s an illusion. Michael agrees that Tammy is the best, and Trump is still shocked. After some discussion of Gold Rush’s prices and Synergy’s delivery service, Trump sends the guys out.

George thinks the guys had bad prices and were overconfident. Carolyn can’t get over Michael’s mistake with the cheerleaders. Lee, Sean, and Michael return. Everyone (except Michael, of course) agrees that Michael made a huge mistake by almost giving up cheerleaders. Trump would never give up cheerleaders. I love George and Carolyn, but I want Ivanka back; I don’t think Trump would talk like this with her around. Carolyn wonders if the guys offered the cheerleaders any incentive to go with them. Michael says they offered them some food. Yes, give steak and fried food to the women who have to watch their figures. That’s a brilliant plan. George and Carolyn think the guys should have done more to secure exclusivity. Trump says he’s not saying that’s the reason Gold Rush lost, but he hates Michael’s kind of thinking.

Michael tries one last time to save himself by saying that he was trying to make the cheerleaders and their coach comfortable, but it’s too little, too late. Trump says that for the cheerleader mistake and not selling, Michael is fired.

In the cab, Michael admits that he didn’t realize something seemingly so small could come back around to hurt him. He disagrees that it was that big of a deal. If he had to do it again, he wouldn’t have made the call. Blah blah, making the coach feel like her needs were being met, blah blah. He’s surprised the others thought his mistake was more important than actually losing the task. Michael thinks Lee and Sean just wanted to take pressure off of themselves and went into survival mode. Well… yeah. That’s the point.

Michael thinks the Gold Rush name is cursed and he wanted to change it. He wants Tammy to win and encourages her to play her cards right. He thinks it’s a good sign he made it this far in the process; it shows that he works well with other people and has certain talents that were recognized. Or that he hid in the shadows and just happened to not suck as much as other people. Either way. Michael says it’s just bad to make it this far and then get fired over something so small.

In his exit interview, Michael says that he thought he would win because of his adaptability and his experience. He went over to Gold Rush because he thought he could help them win, and because he might get the chance to do more. He was almost willing to give up the competitive edge on the last task; they would have still had a lot of cheerleaders, but Synergy’s one or two would have made them look pathetic. And… they still would have won because of their delivery service. Michael just wanted the coach to feel comfortable (okay, we get it already) and didn’t want to pressure her to work with them. The only reason he considered giving up exclusivity was because he wanted to play fair. Fair, schmair – if everyone on this show played fair, Randal and Rebecca would never have gotten any megaphones.

Michael admits that he should have sold more, but Lee wanted them to do too much. He announces that Lee didn’t sell either. Michael says that if he’s right, he can defend himself successfully. He was right when the others said that he should have sold more, so he could easily defend himself. He didn’t, but okay. Trump went after him, so it was Michael vs. Trump. Sean and Lee sided with Trump to save themselves, of course, since that’s the goal of the boardroom. However, Michael doesn’t look at it that way – the way to survive the boardroom is to perform well. Yeah, but if you don’t, you have to get yourself out of there somehow. Michael adds that if Trump sees a critical error, you can’t defend it.

Michael’s favorite people were Lee, Charmaine, Pepi (who? Oh, yeah), and Leslie. They were nice, fun, and smart. It’s better when you’re surrounded by good people. Michael is looking forward to going back to Chicago because he loves everything about it.

In a preview for the next episode, we see Michael get fired again, then watch Sean and Lee return to the suite. The women greet them and then they all eat together. Lee notes that going into the boardroom as a losing PM was a change for him. Allie thinks Trump likes Lee. Lee says he must, since he keeps dodging being fired. Roxanne leads a toast to the “fabulous final five.”

If you haven’t already, be sure to check out these other recent Apprentice 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. At her college, there was no tailgating, since they didn’t have a football team, and they had a dry campus, so there wasn’t much drinking. Plus, everyone’s money went towards tuition, so they wouldn’t have even wanted to pay $5 for a steak.