The Apprentice 5 Corner Office and Mailroom Assignments, Episode 4

Does this week’s challenge even matter? Apparently not, because even though he didn’t contribute to Synergy’s loss, Brent was fired. Yes, he was annoying, inappropriate, and completely wrong for Trump’s companies. But he wasn’t the reason Synergy wound up in the boardroom. No, that person is, unfortunately, still around.

Gold Rush

In the first three episodes, Bryce never really struck me as being that interesting. Maybe we just didn’t see enough of him. I thought he was just a typical worker bee, doing what he was asked and trying to help his team. Last week was the first time he really stood out, when he fought with Lenny and tried to help rescue Gold Rush’s corporate retreat. This week, he had more of a standout position when he came up with his team’s cereal banner. However, it all went downhill from there.

Bryce’s idea for the banner was all right (I wasn’t very impressed with either team’s ideas), but as Charmaine pointed out, he wasn’t very loyal to it. After the team had already started working on the banner, he decided that it might not be such a good idea after all. Charmaine got frustrated because it seemed to her (and to me) that he wasn’t taking ownership for his own idea. If Gold Rush had lost, Charmaine most likely would have taken Bryce to the boardroom, and I’m sure he knew that he would be pointed out for coming up with the idea. Instead of making the idea work, Bryce wanted to scrap it and start over, even though that meant doing extra work. For not sticking with the plan and accepting responsibility for his idea, Bryce gets to toil in the mailroom.

Charmaine was very smart to volunteer to be the project manager after learning that Trump was upset with her performance last week. Instead of just talking about how great she was, she decided to show it instead, and she succeeded. Not only did her team pull out a win, but George was impressed with the way she ran a meeting with a number of strong-headed people. Gold Rush doesn’t look like an easy team to lead, but Charmaine did well. She stayed calm, was determined to make Bryce’s idea work, and didn’t second-guess her instincts. She’s rewarded with another turn in the corner office.

Synergy

If you’ve read anything I’ve written about The Apprentice this season, you know I don’t like Andrea. This week she went over the line. Insulting someone because he makes less money? Unacceptable. Andrea is banished to the mailroom, and I may never let her out.

In addition to her poor social skills, Andrea also created an unattractive banner, then tried to turn the attention away from herself and make Brent out to be the problem. Andrea figured out last week that the car was the focus of the task, but this week she didn’t seem to grasp that the cereal and the banner were the important aspects. How did she lose so much focus from one week to the next? Must have been Brent. Andrea is a typical Apprentice candidate, unable to take responsibility for her own actions and admit when she’s screwed up. She’d rather egg everyone else on to pick on someone weaker. Watching Andrea is like watching the Discovery channel. I hope she gets a ton of paper cuts in the mailroom.

No one in Synergy really shone this week, unfortunately. Roxanne (still my favorite candidate) was the first to get that Brent wasn’t responsible for the loss, and therefore she gets to return to the corner office. Roxanne hasn’t been the project manager yet, but she’s proven herself to be a hard worker who will do any task, big or small. Trump likes leaders, but sometimes leaders have to be followers. What matters is how cooperative and hard working you are even when you’re not in the limelight. Roxanne has demonstrated a lot of qualities that Trump is looking for, especially in the midst of her mess of a team. I hope she goes far, and I hope she enjoys the corner office this week.

Week Three Tally:

Now that Brent is gone, Synergy has no excuse not to pull themselves together and shape up. It will be interesting to see if they do better without him or if they’re still a disaster. I also wonder if they’ll start to see Andrea’s true colors and turn on her next. Gold Rush does better with a calm leader like Charmaine, so they would be wise to have Leslie, who seems equally calm, guide them next. At least under Charmaine’s direction, everyone seemed to know what he or she was doing.

Gold Rush

Corner office: Lee (1), Lenny (2), Leslie (2), Charmaine (2, 4), Tarek (3)

Mailroom: Tarek (1), Summer (1), Lee (2), Theresa (3), Bryce (4)

Synergy

Corner office: Allie (1), Roxanne (2, 4), Andrea (3)

Mailroom: Brent (1), Stacy (2), Andrea (4)

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’s so bitter that Andrea didn’t get fired that she couldn’t even enjoy Brent’s ousting.

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