The Apprentice 3, Episode 2 Extras: Under Pressure

I’m actually enjoying this extra footage more than I did last season. It’s giving a lot of interesting insight into the contestants.

We start in the middle of the episode, with Brian and John’s discussion on the veranda. There isn’t much additional footage here, but John says that Brian is insecure. Brian says that he is good at reading people and wants John to be honest with him. John replies that he’s being honest by calling Brian’s behavior “silly.” Brian accuses John of acting the way he is because it’s part of the game. John denies this, saying that he wants to win. I’m not entirely clear on what Brian’s trying to say. I think he’s in denial and doesn’t want to be blamed for his horrible leadership skills.

Next we see Magna fixing up their hotel. Erin says that Verna hasn’t done anything all day; she’s only worked on customer service. Hey, Erin, where’s your pink bath mat? I wanted to laugh at it again. Michael says that Verna started working at 2 p.m. and it’s now 4 a.m., but she’s not finished with everything she was supposed to do. Verna goes to help Bren paint; he says that he’ll show her how, but she needs to put her purse down. Verna declines, saying that the purse has a lot of money in it. I think Verna’s seen the past two seasons of this show.

Michael says that Verna wanted to be the accountant because it’s another job that doesn’t require physical work. Verna complains about something and Michael, who’s standing at the door to the room, tells her to be quiet since she had an easy job all day. Verna tries to talk to him about customer satisfaction, but he just wants her to paint. Verna interviews that she’s not getting the support from Michael that she needs. She asks why Michael is making her paint when he’s just standing outside the door, making wisecracks. I thought the same exact thing. She thinks that Michael is setting her up to be a scapegoat in case the team loses.

In an unaired scene, Bren tells us that Kendra found a place where Magna could get everything they need for all of the rooms. In fact, they can get $13,000 worth of furniture for $7,000. I’d love to know how Kendra found out about that. Bren says that the place won’t deliver, but this point becomes blurry later, so I won’t dwell on it. Anyway, Bren and Danny are sent to pick everything up in a U-Haul. Unfortunately, this place is two hours away and neither of these guys has ever driven in New Jersey before. Oh, dear. You don’t want to drive in New Jersey if you’re not from New Jersey. It’s a really bad idea, for you and the other people on the road.

Danny and Bren’s first problem is that they can’t find the right highway. There are a billion highways around that area, but not the one they need. Bren says that there’s nothing he’d rather do on The Apprentice than try to find a furniture place in New Jersey. He adds that the “Yankees” are crazy for the way they design their roads. Danny halfheartedly agrees with this, probably not wanting to mention that he’s one of those Yankees.

Bren and Danny arrive at the furniture store after two and a half hours of driving. That’s not too bad. However, it’s 1 p.m., and the guests will start arriving at the hotel at 5 p.m. Danny thinks that Net Worth is going to win, since he and Bren have to load up the furniture, drive back to the hotel, and unload everything in just four hours. In the U-Haul on the way back, Bren blames Michael for not letting them pay extra to have the furniture delivered. Danny points out that if Magna manages to win, Michael will wind up with immunity. Bren says that if they win, it will be in spite of Michael, not because of him. They’ve probably already lost, and now they just have to figure out who to blame.

In the middle of the night, Verna has her little breakdown. She says that she’s overcome by the pressure of being perfect and her fear of failing. In the morning, Bren learns that Verna has quit, but instead of trying to talk to her, he decides that he needs to take care of the customers. Verna leaves, and Bren says that no matter how well they performed the night before, the guests are going to receive bad service now and they won’t give them a good review.

Carolyn arrives at Magna’s hotel and Erin offers her breakfast. Danny announces that Verna left and Erin is surprised. Carolyn asks where the pressure on Verna came from, since Magna said that they were getting along so well. Danny carefully says that Verna was alienated from some of the members of the team. I’m far from liking Danny, but I have to give him points for not pointing fingers and naming Michael as the main problem. He says that he feels bad for Verna.

Carolyn tracks Verna down and is very sympathetic. She drives Verna back to the hotel as Verna voices over that you can’t succeed if you’re stubborn. She stopped being stubborn when she got in the car and learned that she can’t do everything. (This is the lesson she told Carolyn she learned.) Erin complains that Verna had the easiest job and couldn’t handle it. I can’t wait for the Pink Bath Mat Princess to get hers. She’s almost as annoying as Kristen. Bren says that it’s not difficult to imagine Verna cracking under the pressure.

Alex, however, says that there’s no excuse for the way Verna reacted. Her actions hurt her and the rest of the team. Erin denies that Michael is out to get Verna. Verna talks to Michael and apologizes; he assures her that they’ll win. Danny is impressed by Verna’s return, but Erin is still upset.

And now it’s time for my favorite moment from the episode – the Audrey/Angie Tag-Team Kristen Smackdown. Unfortunately, there’s no new footage. But I could sit and listen to Audrey yell at Kristen all day.

Magna meets up with Steve Forbes for their reward after they win the hotel task. Erin is happy that their horrible day ended with a trip on a yacht. Danny calls the yacht a “palatial palace on water.” Thank goodness he wasn’t an English major; I’d have to be embarrassed for my kind. Bren notes that the yacht is bigger than his house. Mine, too. Steve Forbes talks about success and paying attention to people. Then there’s the whole Statue of Liberty thing, which Forbes says symbolizes striving to do better. Erin is proud to be an American and to be here. Because in America, you can buy pink bath mats. Forbes flies off in his helicopter and Bren says that he’d like to live like Forbes someday.

Magna may be partying, but Net Worth is due in the Boardroom. Brian says that Net Worth didn’t function as a team. He blames himself for their failure and agrees that Trump should fire him. I think it would have been hilarious if Trump had just fired him then and there. But, no, we have to go through the rest of this. Trump is never unpredictable when you want him to be.

Kristen, of course, agrees that Brian should be fired. She says that he wasn’t organized, didn’t delegate, and didn’t discuss the budget. Trump asks Angie if Kristen gave Brian a hard time. Angie says that she did, and she made a big deal out of a five-minute argument. Trump asks if Kristen was worse than Brian. Angie agrees that she was bad for the team, but not worse than Brian on the task. Trump asks Kristen if she’s a difficult person; Kristen says she’s not. *cough*Liar!*cough* She says that she didn’t think it would be so difficult to deal with the money with someone who wanted to spend so much of it.

The question of the budget comes up. Brian denies that Kristen wanted to discuss the budget, saying that she headed out to shop instead. Brian says that he didn’t have time to make a line-item budget. George asks about Brian’s timeline. Brian says that it was screwed up. George asks if there was in fact a timeline. Brian says that there wasn’t. George asks, rightfully so, how it could have gotten messed up if it doesn’t exist. Oh, I have complete confidence that Brian could mess something up that didn’t exist. George says that Brian was delusional if he thought that Net Worth could finish on time, since he didn’t have a timeframe.

Trump asks Audrey if she would fire Kristen or Brian. Audrey says that Brian should have handled Kristen better. This leads to the swearing discussion. Trump asks John the same question. John says that Brian was abrasive and gives an example. When they were in the boardroom earlier, to find out which team had won the task, Magna mentioned that the members of Net Worth looked tired. Magna got less sleep, but they had a better time. John thinks that that’s why they won. Brian denies that anyone else could have done a better job than he did. Brian? My cat could have done a better job.

Trump says that Net Worth was a complete disaster. They left the price tags on the lamps and the plastic on the mattresses. Kristen blames Angie, since she was the designer. See? Kristen really can’t be quiet for five minutes. Trump says that the college graduates are laughing at Net Worth. Yes, but last week, Net Worth was laughing at the college graduates. Brian says that he’s great. Trump counters that he’s abrasive and made dumb decisions.

Chris speaks up that the team wasn’t organized, and Brian was supposed to be in charge of that. He says that they had a bad plan of attack. Angie says that Chris told everyone he had experience with renovation. Chris freaks out and starts yelling for no reason. That was really weird. I actually started to think at that point that Trump might see him as too much of a loose cannon and would fire him instead of Brian.

Trump wonders what he’s doing there, then fires Brian. He tells Net Worth that they need to “get it together.” After everyone leaves, Trump says that Brian was lacking in judgment.

In the cab, Brian thanks Trump for the opportunity. He says that having dinner with Trump the previous week was the best night of his life, second to the births of his children. He thinks that Trump lost a good negotiator, but they’ll cross paths again. He says that Net Worth is in for a challenge, and the next project manager is going to have a tough time. However, he also wishes his team luck and hopes that one of them will become the apprentice.

Next week, there will be two fewer names for me to have to remember.

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Jenn Brasler is an aspiring writer from Falls Church, VA. You can e-mail her at luckyjenn@hotmail.com. She’s trying to decide whether to use her powers for good… or evil.

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