The Apprentice 5, Episode 4 Extras: The Melancholy Woes of Brent Michael Buckman

Gold Rush is back from the boardroom and not very happy about some things that were said. Allie is glad that she’s on Synergy because they don’t have these kinds of conflicts. Bryce and Lenny are bickering over what people said about Lenny in the boardroom. Leslie (who?) jumps in and says that people have trouble with Lenny because he doesn’t listen. He, coincidentally, isn’t really listening, so she tells him she’s done with the conversation. Lenny shoots back that she’s the one who isn’t listening.

After seeing some problems over at Synergy, hearing the Trump Lesson of the Week, and seeing more problems at Synergy, we see Gold Rush working. Tarek, Leslie, and Lee have just found their model and Tarek calls Bryce, Dan, and Lenny back in the war room. Bryce greets Tarek in a high voice and Tarek says he knows it’s either Dan or Bryce. How weird. Bryce says that they’ve come up with a baby theme, as if they’re welcoming the new cereal as the newest member of the Grape Nuts family. This explains the stroller at the presentation. Tarek, Lee, and Leslie are not in favor. Lee says that the presentation and billboard have to have the same theme. Charmaine interviews that if they want to say no to an idea, they can, but she can’t change it unless someone comes up with a new idea. Lenny, Dan, and Bryce are all okay with the baby idea.

At Gold Rush’s photo shoot, Tarek takes charge of directing the model. He’s concerned about whether they’re being creative enough. The model seems a little embarrassed, but Leslie, Lee, and Tarek like the photos.

At Synergy’s photo shoot, Allie is shouting like she’s having sex with the male model. Seriously, the way she keeps yelling, “Yeah!” is making me uncomfortable. I can see why they edited that down a little.

After some wishy-washy Brent, we see Synergy’s presentation. Tammy’s voice puts me to sleep. Sean should just stand there and look nice.

Gold Rush gets their reward with Jean George. Bryce says that he’s personable and got them involved. He’s inspired to do something that he loves. Charmaine says that before the task, everyone was fighting, so they really needed this win. Now they have the confidence to keep going.

In the suite, Andrea and Tammy talk about how much Brent sucks. The team goes to the boardroom, where Trump asks Tammy if Gold Rush’s billboard was better. Tammy doesn’t respond either way. Brent thinks Synergy’s was better because it looked like a cereal box. Andrea also liked Synergy’s better, which marks the first time those two have ever agreed on something. I’m surprised Brent didn’t say, “Actually, I changed my mind. Theirs was better.” Trump thinks that the father in the billboard looked like the female model’s boyfriend. Ivanka adds that the models had different coloring and didn’t look like they were related.

George says that there was too much text on the billboard and it looked cluttered. Tammy says that it was a team consensus. She states their long slogan and her voice puts me to sleep again. Ivanka says that they were trying to target too many people by saying that the cereal is for everyone. She adds that the male model isn’t eating the cereal (a big no-no in advertising) and there’s no allusion to the cereal being nutritious. George says that if they have to put all of their information in text, it loses its value.

George asks Brent what he did on the task. Brent says that he was assigned to take care of clothing. George notes that Brent always uses too many words and asks what he did, not what he was supposed to do. He then asks if Brent was forced into this position and whether he said anything about not wanting to do it. Brent confirms that he was assigned this job and told Tammy he wanted to do more. She said that he shouldn’t do the presentation. George points out that there are other jobs to do, like helping to put together the billboard and presentation. Brent says that he tried but Tammy only let Andrea do the graphics.

Trump asks Roxanne about Tammy as a PM; Roxanne likes Tammy more than Andrea. Poor little Andrea’s feelings are hurt. Roxanne adds that Andrea was so focused on the task when she was the project manager that she forgot she was working with humans. One of the main reasons I like Roxanne so much is that she has a way of just getting it. I think she has great insight and knows a lot about people just from observing them. Trump says that Andrea is tough and Roxanne agrees. Andrea tries to remind Roxanne that she praised her a lot on the task she led, so she’s surprised to hear this. Roxanne says that Tammy’s sincerity makes people want to go the extra mile. Michael agrees that Tammy is good. Why does everything he says sound rehearsed? Trump asks about the slideshow and bugs Sean about his bad presentation. Brent thinks he would have done better.

Brent talks about how Tammy sucked as the project manager. Why do I think that Brent would say the same about any project manager who wasn’t him? Trump assures Tammy that he doesn’t think she was that bad. Brent and Andrea bicker. Trump says that Andrea has been successful, so he’s obviously not going to fire her this time around.

Roxanne says that Brent is difficult, and instead of letting her keep going and eventually slam Andrea again, Brent interrupts. Brent and Tammy yell over each other. Brent thinks that the team would be 0-4 without him. Trump asks why he couldn’t be more moderate about people. George gets Brent to admit that Tammy was better for the presentation than he was. Trump asks why Brent doesn’t get along with the others on his team. Allie says that it wasn’t a group decision; everyone hates him individually. Tammy thinks that Brent should be fired. Brent isn’t surprised that she would say that.

Everyone hates Brent, so he’s fired.

In the cab, Brent, of course, disagrees with Trump’s decision, saying that he was the only true leader. I don’t remember him ever leading anything, so whatever. He thinks that Trump should have mixed up the teams and seen how he worked with Gold Rush. They would’ve hated him, too, only Lenny would have murdered him in his sleep with an ice pick. Brent thinks he was the smartest Apprentice candidate ever. Even smarter than Tarek? But he’s in Mensa!

Brent thinks that his team didn’t like him because he’s unique. He makes no apologies for who he is and hopes everyone else is fired. He whines that they wouldn’t let him be the project manager. I doubt that - wouldn’t they want him to screw everything up so he’d be fired? Brent says he likes working with people. He likes himself and wouldn’t change who he is. He wishes everyone health and happiness but doesn’t care who wins, since it should’ve been him.

In his exit interview, Brent says that he thought he could win because he’s energetic and creative. He lost because his team marginalized him because they felt he was a threat. They didn’t know how to deal with him and presented a united front to get rid of him. Brent says the others are all difficult people, even though he’s a people person. Tammy inferred that he was fat. He would have given a good presentation and made a better banner, mostly because he knows how to get people’s attention. There’s a difference between catching people’s attention so they’ll buy your product or whatever and getting people to stare at you and wonder what kind of freak you are.

When Synergy lost, Brent had to think about his strategy for the boardroom. He claims that he only attacked people in defense. He stands by what he said about Tammy. He thinks that underutilizing one’s employees is a weakness. Brent was shocked by his firing and doesn’t care what others think of him. He’s happy to get back home to his wife (who must be a saint to put up with him) and is honored to be the first Canadian candidate. He’s proud that he’s nice and doesn’t take crap from people.

In a preview that makes me very excited for the next episode, Andrea confronts Roxanne back in the suite about what she said in the boardroom. Roxanne says that Andrea wasn’t a bad PM, she just liked Tammy more. Andrea is surprised that Roxanne brought up what she did unnecessarily. Roxanne replies that she was asked what she thought. She interviews that it’s not that everyone doesn’t feel the same way, it’s just that she was the one who was willing to say it. She thinks Andrea treated the others poorly when she was PM. Andrea says that people shouldn’t have to be coddled. She interviews that Roxanne is young, inexperienced, and a strong follower but not a leader. If she can’t handle people being direct with her, she can’t work for Trump. Roxanne tells Andrea that she apologizes if she was harsh. Andrea says she was just surprised and it probably won’t be the last time. Let’s hope not.

Next week: Andrea gets lost at sea! Maybe. Please?

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. She hopes Andrea tones it down a little now that her nemesis is gone.

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