The Apprentice 5, Episode 7 & 8 Extras: The Kids are All Right, but Gold Rush Isn’t

Gold Rush is upset about losing Bryce. I’m not! But you all knew that. Lenny is puzzling over what Trump said about him being on thin ice. He interviews that he’s stepped up to be the next project manager, even though he doesn’t know what the task will be. Leslie points out that she hasn’t been the project manager yet either, but Lenny isn’t giving up the spot. Leslie interviews that she’s interested to see what Lee will do. Lenny tells the others to forget about the ice. Um, okay.

I love this next scene. All of the candidates meet up with Trump at one of his buildings. Just as I’m recalling that Betsy always calls the hardhats they have to wear the “Omarosa Manigualt-Stallworth Commemorative Hardhats,” Trump tells the candidates to put the hats on or else one of them will be “the next Omarosa.” He notes that a tiny piece of plaster fell on her and it was like the end of her life. Trump doesn’t like Omarosa any more than the rest of us! That’s refreshing.

We see Gold Rush meeting with the executives, the TLOTW, and Sean calling Michael a wanker. Then we go to the Girls and Boys Club to see Gold Rush painting. Charmaine notes that they’ll probably only get the priming done tonight. Lenny tells her that they have plenty of time and she shouldn’t worry. She says, “Okay,” but she’s probably thinking, “It’s your funeral.” She has issues putting on her mask. She tells Lenny that they’ll need two coats, since the paint is red, and Lenny tells her he’ll handle it. Charmaine wonders if they can hire people to paint for them, but they don’t have enough money in their budget.

After Gold Rush’s bad presentation, Bill gets to sit in with the executives as they discuss the two teams’ rooms. They like both and are glad that the kids liked both, but in the end, they like Synergy’s room more.

Synergy gets their reward. Andrea interviews that she was really happy to be there. Dasheira gets to give an interview, which is cute. Trump shows up, which I think was really nice of him. Synergy is really sweet when they say goodbye to Dasheira at the end of the shopping spree. Dasheira interviews that all of her wishes came true. She thanks everyone, including the Make a Wish Foundation and “Mr. Donald.”

After Lee and Lenny prepare for the boardroom, we’re there. Charmaine says that Lenny was an ineffective leader and made bad decisions. Lenny thinks that Charmaine was hard to manage. They get into that whole thing, plus the horrible meeting with the executives. Lee says that Lenny is great, but Trump says that the team’s theme for the room wasn’t good. Charmaine admits that this was the first task she didn’t have a good feeling about. It’s mostly because she couldn’t figure out Lenny’s vision. Lenny says that the vision was music.

Bill speaks up that theme was narrow, and that stems back to the miniature meeting with the executive. Synergy found out from their meeting what the room needed and they thought through what they’d learned from the executives. Lenny says that he’s wasn’t trying to please the judges, he was trying to please the kids. Trump notes that the judges are the ones who told him who should win the task. Lee tries to interpret that Lenny means that if the judges had loved the room but the kids hadn’t, what would be the point? Trump replies that in that case, they would have lost. I get what Lenny’s saying, and I admire him for feeling that way, but in the end, the win is important, at least in this context.

Carolyn says that Synergy’s room gave a lot of options to the kids. Lenny keeps trying to interrupt and finally says that he talked to Synergy about their room. He doesn’t like their idea to put TVs in the room because the kids have TVs at home. Except some of them probably don’t. And the TVs were for video games, which are expensive. Trump asks if Lenny had a TV at home when he was a kid, but since Lenny grew up in Communist Russia, that’s probably not going to drive the point home. Lee sides with Lenny, who calls the TV idea “stupid.” Trump says that some kids don’t like music and Bill adds that the kids aren’t businesspeople, so they’re not making the final decision of who wins or loses.

Carolyn brings up the possibility of an instrument breaking. Lee doesn’t think the instruments were that expensive and asks if $99 is a lot for a keyboard. Carolyn replies that it is for those kids. Heck, it’s a lot for me. Bill notes that Lee is acting like Lenny’s attorney. Everyone discusses the bad presentation. Lenny says that he didn’t lose control of his team, but Charmaine says that if it weren’t for her, he wouldn’t even have met with the executives. Without her, Tarek, and Leslie the room wouldn’t have a floor. Lenny wishes Charmaine hadn’t been there at all. Ouch! Trump takes some pleasure in calling Lenny a red. Too far! He asks if Lenny is a good businessman. Charmaine is sure that he is, but he’s not a good leader and should be fired. For some reason, Trump gets into Leslie’s athletic credentials. She says that they made the kids happy, but not the executives. Like Charmaine, she had trouble envisioning the room. Trump asks if this is because Lenny didn’t explain it well. Leslie agrees with him that the theme was too limiting.

Leslie would fire Lee. Tarek thinks the theme was okay, but it was underdeveloped. He says that Charmaine and Leslie had better ideas. Trump asks if this means he disagrees with Lenny about Charmaine being a moron. Tarek says Charmaine is smart and very creative. There was a lot of talking going on, but he doesn’t think Lenny heard everything that was said. He adds that Leslie and Charmaine helped him lay down the floor, which took a lot of work. Tarek is doing an awful lot of defending of Charmaine for someone who was complaining about her voice earlier. He must really think she did well (or he thinks Lenny was too horrible to even get into it).