The Apprentice 4 Clip Show: Fired All Over Again

First of all, my apologies for the lateness of this recap. Thanksgiving turned into a very busy holiday for me, including watching my 11-month-old son eat his weight in pumpkin pie. Trump promises that this clip show will include candid moments, his personal thoughts on the fired candidates, and a preview of the final four. I promise you that I’ll hit the highlights, focusing in particular on the new material. Let’s do it!

The first task, as you’ll recall, is designing a class for Bally Total Fitness. From the start, Melissa clashes with her team. Trump says in a voiceover that Melissa was right about many things, including the possible advantage that her Hispanic heritage gave them in their Spanish Harlem location, but her point was “lost in all the chatter.” We see a montage of Melissa talking and complaining, and you can really see why her team was so irritated with her by the time the task was over. At one point, Felisha asks her to just stop talking. In an interview, Felisha says that Melissa is missing the filter between her brain and her mouth.

It’s during this task that Randal learns the sad news that his grandmother has passed away. He says that he has very mixed emotions. He wants to be with his family and is having a hard time being in the moment, but at the same time, this is an exciting opportunity for him.

The men win the task, and Excel opts not to give Markus an exemption. In the boardroom, Capital Edge makes it very clear that they can’t work with Melissa. Carolyn slams Melissa for her claim that she can’t work with women, and it is a beautiful thing. Melissa is fired, and Trump shares that sometimes, you have to “go along to get along,” and Melissa just couldn’t do it. Melissa says that it still makes her mad that she was fired so soon, but adds that if she was harsh, she apologizes.

The second task begins with Randal leaving for his grandmother’s funeral, feeling the full support of his team. The candidates are charged with creating a commercial for Lamborghini, and Excel project manager Chris relegates Markus to directing traffic, then eventually gives up on giving him any responsibility at all. As the men design their print ad, Markus says that they need a question mark in the headline “Green with Envy.” Trump says that Markus was right, but that the men disliked him so much that they wouldn’t listen.

Over at Capital Edge, they present a brochure with a distinctive oval shape. Felisha was in charge of designing the brochure, and the women had agreed ahead of time that when the executives asked why the brochure was oval, Felisha would answer them. My guess is that the answer is that Kendra designed a round brochure for Pontiac last season, but we never end up hearing Felisha’s reasoning. That’s because when the executives ask that question, Marshawn jumps in with an answer of her own. Something about how the brochure has a rough edge, like a tire, which doesn’t make a lot of sense unless Lamborghini is now using oval tires. After the task is over, Felisha is understandably angry and tells Marshawn that. She’s so upset that she cries, and Marshawn ends up crying as well. Toral watches the entire thing in absolute disgust. She thinks that Felisha and Marshawn’s behavior is childish and embarrassing. Marshawn and Felisha end up hugging, so all must have been forgiven.

As for Excel, the executives didn’t like their ads, and Trump didn’t like that Markus was disloyal and told the executives that he agreed with them. For the reward, the women of Capital Edge play hockey, a game they clearly don’t know much about. In the midst of all of the fun, Rebecca falls and breaks her ankle. In the boardroom, Chris makes the mistake of not bringing in Mark, even though Mark was responsible for the ads. As difficult as Markus might be, Trump says, he wasn’t the reason the men lost the task. For his bad judgment, Chris is fired. Trump adds that Chris should not have let his emotions cloud his judgment. In an interview, Chris says that he was thrilled to work with such talented people and has grown from his association with them.

In the third task, the candidates design a techno expo for senior citizens. Rebecca is the project manager for Capital Edge and puts Jennifer W. in charge of the event. Trump says that Jennifer W. didn’t do well, adding, “some party.” He is especially amazed that Jennifer, a successful executive, shrugged off a cake with the word “techno” spelled wrong. Meanwhile, Toral does a lousy job of demonstrating an HDTV. Better still, she spends a long time raving about the picture quality to a woman who turns out to be legally blind. Oops. After Capital Edge loses, Alla leads the women in agreeing that Rebecca should bring Toral to the boardroom and that all of them should gang up on her. But Rebecca has other plans. She believes in Toral and will not bring her in. Trump thinks Rebecca is “wrong, but loyal.” In the end, he decides that Rebecca has potential and that Jennifer W. made too many mistakes. He thinks she is too passive to head one of his companies. In an interview, Jennifer says that she spent a lot of time thinking about what she could have said in the boardroom, but ultimately, she’s moving on.

The women were expecting Toral to volunteer to be project manager for the fourth task, designing a mascot for Dairy Queen, but she refused. Felisha decides to do it instead and is amazed when Toral flat out refuses to wear the mascot costume. Excel has an early meeting, but Markus decides to sleep in. My boyfriend Josh (nice to see him again) is furious. Markus, on the other hand, thinks it’s ridiculous that the other men consider lack of food and sleep to be “a badge of honor.” Excel wins the task, and Trump says that Toral gave “a song and dance” about why she wouldn’t wear the costume. Even Rebecca admits to being disappointed with Toral’s performance. Trump fires Toral for not being a team player. In an interview, Toral says that she doesn’t care at all about being fired. She is the smartest, most qualified candidate, and refused to bring herself down by fighting with the morons she was working with. I want want Toral’s drinking.

Capital Edge is short staffed going into the fifth task, so they choose Randal to join their team. Project manager Jennifer leads a brainstorming session for their Zathura float, and Kristi is there to argue just about every point that’s made. In an interview, Marshawn says that Kristi is bossy and tends to talk over everyone. Later, Kristi and Jennifer argue about the layout of the float. When Jennifer gives the presentation to the judges, she repeatedly mispronounces the name of the movie. In an interview, Randal says it was “horrible,” and Trump agrees. Nonetheless, Trump decides to give Jennifer another chance and fires Kristi. He likes that she’s tough, but she is too hard to work with. Kristi says in an interview that she is honest, and the difference between her and most other people is that she’ll say what she thinks “to your face.” She adds that she has no time for fake people.

With the sixth task, it’s time for a corporate shake-up. Alla sends Jennnifer, Rebecca, and Marshawn to the other time, while my boyfriend Josh gets rid of Adam, Clay, and Markus. The task is to design a sales event for Dick’s Sporting Goods. Alla is project manager and asks Markus to find her four golf pros. Markus spends four hours on the task and accomplishes nothing. Alla tears him up for that, demanding to know what he did with his time. In an interview, Alla says Markus is the new Toral and is useless.

Excel chooses baseball as their sport based on James’s recommendation. Trump says that the event looked great, but that the team missed the point, which was to sell. After the event is over, the team goes out for dinner and Josh teases Brian about the fact that he has a crush on Jennifer. All eyes are on Brian as they pressure him to admit it to her, and it’s kind of mean. Brian is totally tongue-tied, and finally Marshawn speaks for him, and it’s pretty funny. That loosens up Brian, and he finally admits to Jennifer that he really likes her. He hopes she can “look below my height.” Of course, Brian didn’t have much more time to spend with Jennifer, as she is fired in the next boardroom, along with James, Mark, and my boyfriend Josh. Trump says he had no choice. Mark says that although he did the job Josh asked him to do, he didn’t sell. Josh thinks they chose the wrong sport, which might be true, but is still rather missing the point. James admits that he didn’t sell, and Jennifer says that she’s still thrilled she had the opportunity to be there.

The seventh task begins with Excel asking Randal to rejoin their team. It’s obvious that Randal really has the respect of his peers. Randal and Marshawn argue about which of them should be project manager of the task, which is to teach a Learning Annex class. Both of them are incredibly qualified – Marshawn does this for a living, and Randal has a PhD in the subject. Ultimately, Randal takes the helm.

Capital Edge once again has issues with Markus. Project manager Adam is frustrated at the lack of results he gets from him. The team opts to teach a class on sex in the workplace, much to Adam’s discomfort. They hire a public speaking coach, and one of the first things he does is to ask them to raise their hand if they’ve had sex. It’s pretty easy to notice that Adam does not have his hand in the air. The coach advises Adam to admit that he’s uncomfortable with the subject. Alla says that it was like a lightbulb went off over Adam’s head – he could just be himself. The advice was good, and Adam feels confident he can lead the team.

In the presentation itself, Felisha crowns Clay “the king of awkward moments.” The most awkward moment of all comes when he calls Adam “the shy, tight Jewish boy,” which Adam hears as “tight-assed Jew.” In the boardroom, George points out that sex is a provocative topic, so it was inevitable that they’d have provocative discussion. Thus Clay does not get fired for his many cringe-inducing moments. Instead, Markus finally gets the axe for contributing so little. Trump thinks Markus is “a decent guy,” so he’s surprised when Markus accuses him of “railroading” him out of the game. Still, Trump says “He’s a menace,” and talks too much and contributes too little. In his interview, Markus says that he was the most qualified candidate, and he thinks that people – including Donald Trump- are threatened by him. Looks like Markus is drinking whatever Toral’s drinking.

The eighth task is all about Star Wars, and Brian volunteers to lead even though he doesn’t know the movies, which still baffles me. He winds up missing a meeting with the executives, which is a huge setback for his team. Marshawn refuses to present, saying in an interview that she doesn’t want to be blamed if they lose. Rebecca volunteers to present and does a decent job, especially considering how little time she had to put it together. Trump fires both Brian and Marshawn. Brian, Trump feels, lacked a certain spark, whereas Marshawn shirked responsibility. Marshawn says that she regrets not giving the presentation. Brian says that he’s grown a lot from this experience, and I’m not going to make a short joke.

Clay joins Excel for the ninth task, which is to choose a musician and write a song for XM radio. Rebecca is concerned about Randal’s lack of creativity. In particular, the poster he designed has the world’s most boring picture of Jide on it. It’s practically a passport photo. Rebecca asks Clay to fix it, and he does a very good job. However, Clay is disruptive when Rebecca is practicing the presentation and has a tendency to argue with everyone. When Excel loses, Clay is fired. Trump says that he’s very creative, but hard to work with. Clay says that he’s proud of the fact that he is the first openly gay man to make it as far as the top six.

That leaves us with our top five. Randal says that he’s a businessman, and that makes him the ideal choice. Felisha says she’ll do anything to be successful. Rebecca claims that she never loses her cool, which certainly seems to be true. Adam tells us that he wants this job more than anyone. Finally, Alla says she doesn’t care if people think she’s a bitch.

See you all soon for my recap of Episode 10!

Betsy Wasser is the Associate Editor of Reality News Online. She doesn’t care if you think she’s a bitch either. She can be reached with any comments at betsywasser@gmail.com .

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