The Apprentice 5 Corner Office and Mailroom Assignments, Episode 11

Sean jumped the Synergy ship for Gold Rush, mainly because he wanted to get away from Roxanne and Allie, who kept haranguing him. Too bad for Sean that the women are doing better than the men. The now-all-male Gold Rush lost once again and Michael was ousted for failing to sell on a sales task. You’d think the candidates would get by now that when Trump wants you to sell something and you don’t, you’re probably out.

Gold Rush

The first week of this season, I thought Michael had potential. Every week after that, I waited for him to do something mindblowingly awesome and stun Trump and everyone else. That never happened. Michael was average at best and unmemorable at worst. He didn’t really suck - he wasn’t around enough to. His under-the-radar status should have helped him observe what was going on with his fellow candidates, allowing him to learn from their mistakes. Instead, he made error after error, so many that they piled up and by the time he landed in the boardroom, he couldn’t crawl out from under them.

Part of Michael’s problem was that in the boardroom, he was facing off with Lee. (Sean was pretty much safe, as he wasn’t the project manager and he at least did some selling.) Lee has become a master in the boardroom; he knows exactly how to handle Trump and what to say to save himself. (He should know by now - he practically lives there.) But despite not being a great PM, Lee had something to show for himself. Yeah, he didn’t sell as well as the Synergy women, but he made more of an effort than Michael. When it came down to it, both Michael and Lee failed, but Lee’s attempts looked better than Michael’s non-attempts. Invisible Boy Michael kept doing what he’s been doing this whole season - nothing. For that, he was fired, and he can spend some time in the mailroom, practicing his speeches and not addressing envelopes.

I’m sure you all are getting sick of me not putting people from Gold Rush in the corner office, but I just can’t reward any of the three members this week. Sean was the best of the bunch, but even that’s not saying much. The guys just got too caught up in cheerleaders and eating contests and money pits rather than selling, which was the point of the whole task. It’s pretty pathetic that even with the advertising advantage over the women, they still lost. So once again, no one from Gold Rush gets the corner office. I can’t bring myself to give it to Sean, and Lee just sucks.

Synergy

Just like I can’t pick someone from Gold Rush to send to the corner office, this week I can’t think of anyone from Synergy to send to the mailroom. All three women did exceptional jobs, even while at a disadvantage (sans cheerleaders and the men’s marketing, for example). None of the women stood out to me, but in a good way - they all did so well that I can’t pick who was better. As Roxanne mentioned more than once, they worked together beautifully, helping each other and doing every job. I think this worked well for them in this particular task; if only two had been delivering food and the other had been in charge of something else, the imbalance might have caused a backup or led the two deliverers to accuse the third woman of not doing anything. This is one of the many reasons I like Roxanne - no job is too small for her. Just because she’s the project manager doesn’t mean she won’t do the “dirty” jobs that she could easily delegate to her underlings.

Even with their advertising disadvantage, Tammy, Allie, and Roxanne were optimistic about the task and focused on what needed to be done. They could have spent the entire day complaining about not having cheerleaders or trying to plot a way to get them back. Instead, they kept in mind that they needed to sell food and keep the customers coming, no matter what. I also appreciate that while they talked about “girl power,” they didn’t use sex to sell, Ivana. The guys were banking on people coming to see the cheerleaders, but the girls were banking on people being too lazy to stand in line. Never underestimate the power of laziness. As a reward, Roxanne, Tammy, and Allie get to be lazy themselves and spend some time lounging in the corner office.

Week 11 Tally:

Maybe now Sean and Lee will wise up and figure out what they need to do to stay in the game. I personally think Lee is very lucky to still be around. He pretty much sucks, but so far other people have sucked worse than him, so he hasn’t been fired. Sean does pretty well, so maybe he’ll rub off on Lee. Still, I think the Allie/Tammy/Roxanne trio is a force to be reckoned with. It’s going to take a huge mistake to knock them down. And even if they lose on the next task, whichever two women remain will still be a good pair. Lee and Sean are in trouble.

Gold Rush

Corner office:

Mailroom:

Synergy

Corner office:

Mailroom:

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.

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