The Apprentice 5, Episode 10 Extras: Tarek and Charmaine, Sitting in a Tree

I’m surprised they didn’t leave this first scene in to attract more male viewers. Roxanne is in bed at the suite when Allie comes in and tells her that she’s still in the game. Roxanne tells her she’s happy as Allie climbs into bed with her. They’re totally spooning. Allie says that “Seany-poo” tried to sell her up the river. She told him she forgave him, but she won’t forget. Allie is happy that Roxanne thinks so highly of her; she trusts Roxanne with her body. No, she really said that. Maybe Sean and Tammy aren’t the only secret couple on this show.

After that are a bunch of scenes we saw - the whole thing with Trump’s hair, the Trump Lesson of the Week, Gold Rush planning their task at the Hair Cuttery, Lee and Tarek running errands while Charmaine gets her hair done, Allie doing well selling, and Synergy’s reward with Burt Bacharach. There’s barely anything new.

In the suite, Lee starts his machinations. Tarek thinks Lee will be on his side. Lee tells Michael that Charmaine isn’t one of the top eight, despite the fact that she’s still in the game. Lee says it’s time to protect himself.

Boardroom time! Charmaine doesn’t think she did badly as project manager. Carolyn wonders if she’s not going to accept any of the fault for the loss. She thinks Charmaine’s strategy of passing out fliers and balloons was really bad. Also, one of the signs tipped over, and all it said was “grand opening” without indicating exactly what was opening. Bill agrees with Carolyn, who wants to know what Charmaine’s plan was. Charmaine wanted to have one-on-one interactions with customers because she knows that a flier won’t sell a haircut. I guess we might have seen more of that if they’d actually had any customers.

Bill brings up Charmaine getting her hair done and they talk about that for a while. Trump asks who the best salesperson is, noting that nowadays, you have to say “salesperson” instead of “salesman.” You know why, Trump? Because women can work in business, too! They can vote and drive cars and wear pants and even serve in the government! Seriously, with Trump and Lee’s sexism this week, it’s like we’re back in the ‘20s. Anyway, Charmaine says Michael did well. Tarek speaks up that Michael was the only person Charmaine saw selling, but he and Lee did well. Charmaine was just an average PM, and she’s average in many ways. Tarek says she did better than the last time she was PM, but there are still some areas where she needs improvement.

Lee says there were some areas they missed. He thinks it’s a close call as to who’s responsible and Trump notes that this means he’s partly to blame as well. Bill asks if Lee is difficult to manage and Tarek says he’s a politician. Charmaine thinks Tarek was more difficult. Michael gives some rehearsed speech and Carolyn looks amused. Trump asks if Charmaine and Tarek fight a lot. They do, but I think they need to just kiss already. My theory is that they both have huge crushes on each other and just don’t know how to approach each other. Come on, they’re both pretty. It’s possible. Anyway, the two of them fight, but do not rip each other’s clothes off and go at it on the table. Trump disapproves of Charmaine’s crying. Also, if she wants everyone to love each other, Trump thinks Tarek should hit that.

Tarek definitely wants Charmaine gone. Does he? Or does he really want to take her back up the suite and make out with her? Seriously, they fight like teenagers who have crushes on each other and don’t want to admit it. Charmaine calls Tarek “obscene” and says that even Dan said he couldn’t handle Tarek. Tarek basically says, “Whatever, I rock.” Charmaine adds that they never go with Tarek’s ideas. They throw past tasks in each other’s faces; according to Tarek, they had to coach Charmaine for two hours before her presentation on the Grape Nuts task. Charmaine accuses Tarek of lying in the boardroom and says she questions his integrity.

So Charmaine is positive and hot, but exhibits poor leadership, so she’s gone. But wait! There’s more! Tarek is smart but impossible to lead. He’s inconsistent and doesn’t like to follow. He’s fired, too. I wonder if they made out in the elevator on the way down to their shared cab.

We don’t get an extended cab confessional, so I guess they really didn’t say anything to each other. We see both of their exit interviews interspersed, the better to highlight exactly how they feel about each other. Charmaine says that she doesn’t know how to fail. She thought her education and work experience would help her win. Tarek thought he would win because he’s multidimensional. Charmaine says that she was Tarek’s biggest fan after the first task and thought that he would be a good team member, but he never really gave up the role of PM. Tarek says it was difficult because he’s a natural-born leader, but a lot of people on his team didn’t know how to lead.

Charmaine continues that it all went downhill after that. She didn’t like the way Tarek worked and thinks he stifled the team’s creativity. Tarek says the problem is that he’s confident and Charmaine isn’t. Charmaine admits that she was always nervous going into the boardroom because she was never sure she wouldn’t be fired. This last time, the boardroom got out of hand. Tarek says that things got a little personal. Charmaine says that when she did cry, she didn’t sob and it was never about the task or about business. Tarek says that his bringing up her crying didn’t sit well with Trump. He’s so proud of himself. Charmaine says that if crying makes her a bad person and is the reason she was fired, then fine, but she won’t change. She has feelings and she cares about people. Go, Charmaine!

Tarek says that he and Charmaine only wanted to work on separate teams, but, ironically, they were fired at the same time and had to share a cab. Charmaine says that she doesn’t think it was her time to go, but she achieved her goal of taking Tarek down, even if it meant going down with him. (Double entendre alert!) Tarek’s favorite part of the process was doing jobs he would never ordinarily do and learning what he’s capable of. Charmaine liked Leslie a lot. Tarek is happy to go back to work and is thinking of starting his own business. He’s not unmanageable, but he’d rather lead. Charmaine wants to see her dogs and work on her web-based business. She thinks now she has more knowledge and confidence.

In a preview for next week, Tarek e-mails Lee to tell him that he and Charmaine eloped. Just kidding! In the suite, Roxanne tells Tammy that Sean never apologized to Allie for the way he treated her (in the boardroom, I guess). Sean is in the next room, trying to sleep, and can hear everything the women are saying. He interviews that he’s had a rough week and he’s “adrift in a sea of estrogen” (only he pronounces it “eeestrogen,” so it took me a minute to understand what he was saying). Roxanne starts to say something about Sean being her friend, but he yells over that he’d rather talk about this tomorrow. Roxanne calls back that she’s not talking to him, and he replies that he can hear everything. Roxanne tells him to worry about Allie, not her. Allie chimes in and they bug him for a minute while he leaves the room and get some earplugs. The next thing we hear is Allie saying, “Sean? Sean?” as Sean appears to be falling asleep in bed. Heh.

Next week: Girls against boys! Boys have cooties! Pull the girls’ hair! Trump thinks girls are pretty, especially cheerleaders! Girls can’t run businesses, they’re not boys! I’m taking my doll and going home! Waaah! I’m telling!

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. Wouldn’t Tarek and Charmaine have cute kids?

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