(S05E14) This is it! We are down to the final two candidates for this season's The Apprentice. It should have been three candidates, but the last two female candidates (Allie and Roxanne) were fired by Trump last week for, well, being bitchy to each other in the boardroom. We are now left with Lee and Sean, who had won two consecutive tasks together as Gold Rush. So, let's take a look at the candidates, shall we? (Information courtesy of NBC, except for the stuff I made up.) Twenty-two-year-old Lee is a recent graduate of Cornell University, where he graduated with a B.S. in policy analysis and management. He currently works as an analyst for one of the largest business/consulting firms in the world. Donald Trump has deemed Lee a politician for his extremely neutral stance about other Gold Rush team members during their frequent trips to the boardroom.
Recent United States citizen Sean (he obtained his Green Card in 1995) works as a director of business development for a recruitment consultancy firm, where he currently ranks as the top global salesperson. Born and raised in London, Sean loves to use the term wanker. In addition, as revealed in last week's episode, Sean has quite the crush on former Synergy team member Tammy.
Well, it looks like the stage is set, the lights are coming up, and the players are ready for the penultimate episode of The Apprentice.
We'll skip right past the scenes with Sean and Lee in the suite and the boardroom, and the reunion with fired teammates, and move right to the selection of teams for the final tasks. First, everyone reading this who has not scene the episode can breathe a sigh of relief; Brent was not chosen as a team member. However, Lenny, who I always thought ran a close second to Brent for non-business savvy, was picked by Lee as his right-hand man. Right off the bat I thought this was a bad idea as Lenny is the total opposite of Lee when it comes to dealing with other team members; Lee is was very neutral in his opinions of other team members while Lenny hated them all. After all of the interviews were completed Lee and Lenny picked twi former players who didn't offend them; Roxanne and Pepi.
Pepi? The attorney who was fired waaaayyy back in episode two of this cycle? Good Lord, neither Carolyn nor the Trumpster himself remembered this guy. There was actually a pretty good scene in the boardroom where Carolyn is cracking herself up because she couldn't remember the former Synergy player. The best line of the night was when Trump said 'Pepi, your fired! Did I say that?'
Enough about that. Back to our bloke Sean. There was definitely no surprise that Sean grabbed Tammy for his team. He rounded it out by choosing another former teammate from Synergy, Andrea, as well as former Gold Rusher, and current member of MENSA, Tarek. I thought this was a pretty good mix. Aside from Tammy's high-pitched whine festival when she was fired a few weeks ago I thought she was a fairly strong player. Andrea was also good but extremely arrogant. Traek is the wild card in this team as he is extremely talented and hard-working, but didn't do very well with his team. Yet, Gold Rush pretty much sucked as a team until the very end so it may not have been his fault.
Onto the tasks. Lee took on the responsibility of planning a charity, celebrity hockey tournament for The Leary Firefighters Foundation that would take place in Manhattan. Sean took on the task of planning a benefit concert at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City for the World Wildlife Foundation that would feature the band Barenaked Ladies. Sean lept right out of the starting gate by talking to every single person involved with the concert, all the way down to the Taj Mahal janitors. However, when it came down to speaking with the corporate sponsor for the event, he left it up to Adrea and Tarek while he chose pre-concert party menu's with Tammy (possibly as a dress rehearsal for their nuptials to her). It was at this point that the crush became less cute and more of a hindrance to the project.
Back on the isle of Manhattan, Lee and his team met with the corporate sponsors and the charity director, and underwhelmed them both. Lee and his team wanted to hold a silent auction to win dates with the firefighters until the director smacked that down by informing Gold Rush that this would be a family event. On the corporate end the team lost a great opportunity to have the sponsor match the final amount of donations made by patrons of the event. Instead they got them to agree to auction two of their products instead of one.
As the episode ended both teams ran into snags. At the hockey rink the Leary Firefighter Foundation director was still unimpressed with what Lee and his team had planned for the event. She pretty much demanded to have a walk-through of the whole thing a day before the event occurred. With no concrete ideas on the plate Gold Rush was struggling. In Atlantic City the situation was a bit more dire as Andrea needed to leave unexpectedly due to the fact that she was coughing up blood. According to WebMD this could simply be due to laryngitis or could even be a symptom of lung cancer. Either way, Synergy was down a team player during a critical moment of the tasks.
There you have it! Tune in to this very website next week as we find out how each team on their tasks and who will be crowned this year's winner of The Apprentice.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
5-30-2006 @ 1:49AM
Grant said...
I am really worried for Andrea. I am keeping her in my prayers and hope that the symptoms that we saw on Tonights episode are not serious.
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5-30-2006 @ 8:28AM
Jane said...
I, too, am worried for Andrea. Though I wonder how much sympathy she would have for another team member (say...Tammy), if one of them was to leave for the same reason.
It should get interesting next week. I think Lee is the more talented of the two candidates, but he sabotaged himself with such a WEAK team. Andrea or no Andrea, Sean's team could run circles around those misfits!
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5-30-2006 @ 8:45AM
Dennis said...
I think that Charisma Carpenter should be cast as Wonder Woman in the upcoming feature film and that Katharine McPhee should be cast as Wonder Woman on Smallville for the Wonder Woman/Diana Prince guest appearance. All they need are blue eye contacts.
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5-30-2006 @ 9:12AM
Jane said...
I couldn't believe Tammy's lack of empathy for Andrea. If someone told me they were coughing up blood, I'd drop everything to help get her to the doctor. Tammy barely looked up from her computer. Hmmm...a tv show competition vs. a person who may have a serious illness. I'd choose the person.
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5-30-2006 @ 9:37AM
e said...
That representative for the Leary firefighters foundation needs to lighten up a bit on Lee, there's no reason for her to act like a bitch. It's a charity event, she might try to suggest something instead of cutting him down.
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5-30-2006 @ 9:41AM
Cathy said...
I wanted Sean to win originally, Lee kind of bugged me.I thought Sean picked a good team (shocked w/ Andrea - too high maintenance) but a good team. But then, the choice of picking out the menu over the million dollar sponsors, he's using his wrong brain. I also see the team weakening with Tarek turning on Sean soooo quickly. I knew Andrea would pull something (yes I hope she is ok) but Tarek is now a threat. Also, Tammy did ignore Andrea, but she could've just taken the grocery list if everything turned out fine. If that were me, I would've called the Trumpster for a specialist. Good luck to all, except Lenny, he's just too mean and cold.
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5-30-2006 @ 10:16AM
Bev said...
Lee is very young and needs his team to come up and help him with some greater ideas.He should look back and research what already has been done. Sean is to overconfident and shouln't have picked his girlfriend. Even so, he should try and keep it professional.
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5-30-2006 @ 10:34AM
NIKKI said...
Andrea was scared and crying to Tammy who hardly acknowledged her when she was telling her her plight, I think Tammy is a very cold person and hope Sean gets a clue before it's to late.Hope Andrea is okay I felt so bad for her there all alone not knowing what to expect when she got to the Doctor.
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5-30-2006 @ 10:59AM
Lola said...
I think Lee picked the worst possible team. HOWEVER... he is a survivor and will rise to the occasion! This is my prediction: Lee will come up with a blockbuster idea at the very last minute. His event will raise more money than Sean's. (QUESTION: If the audience will be doing the voting, does this really matter whoe earns more?)
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5-30-2006 @ 11:22AM
MrsEldubya said...
I think the audience has input for Mr Trump but the Donald has the ultimate say, as always, on who will be The Apprentice. I vote for Sean because I like how he says Wanker all the time. Lee showed pour judgment in picking Lenny to help him and Sean showed pour judgment in picking Tammy too. But Tammy can do the job if Sean would stop kissing her on the head and calling her "baby" all the time. I did lose a little respect for Sean for this but Lee hasn't done anything to gain respect either.
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5-30-2006 @ 12:15PM
B. Chance said...
Pepe? I've no idea why Lee is choking now, when it's crucial that he shines. I thought he was a shoo-in, but unless he makes some decisions, and fast, he's lost. Of course, his first mistake was in not fighting for the internationally known WWF assignment, rather than the other, localized charity event (all-be-it most admiral)
If Sean doesn't alienate too many viewers with his sickeningly childish advances towards this Tammy vixen, and pays attention, it seems he'll be the next Apprentice.
I'm rootin' for Lee.
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5-30-2006 @ 1:35PM
James Kew said...
So it's just me, then, that wondered whether Andrea's illness was a setup -- given that until that point Sean seemed to be crusing through while Lee was floundering?
I've every sympathy if it's genuine, of course. But it did seem awfully convenient for the producers -- and it does seem the standard pattern that the final two suffer surprise setbacks during the last task...
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5-30-2006 @ 2:33PM
Rich Keller said...
James, I actually think that Andrea's issue is plausible in this case; she seems a bit too hysterical to be faking it. If it is something the producers have concocted then I'd be very upset.
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5-30-2006 @ 8:45PM
LC said...
Lee's team is horrible. He needed competant people. The only one who falls in that category was the choice he made against Lenny's wishes. Roxanne.
Sure loyalty is important, but choosing a smart team is more so. These people know they are going to be on national TV, there is no way they would purposely make their leader fail because they will make themselves look bad to potential employers that may watch the show. Unless, of course, they are mentally disturbed like Omorosa was.
While Seans pick of Tammy may have been tainted by his affection for her, she did make it to the final 5 so she has some talent. Also keep in mind that she was on a team with Andrea for many weeks and Andrea was, at times, melodramatic when she was not team leader so she may not have taken her entirely seriously when she first told her about coughing up blood.
I also think the show uses creative editing so that before the finale it makes both teams look like they are dealing with serious problems when in fact one may be doing quite well while the other is barely afloat.
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5-30-2006 @ 8:47PM
LC said...
BTW I do hope that the viewers voting is only used as a reference for Trump. After seeing that voters thought that Lee chose a better team than Sean I would have to say that they were smoking some bad coconut skin.
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5-31-2006 @ 10:15AM
scott mclendon said...
Maybe Lenny can put his contacts in the NYC Russian mob to good use for Lee.He'll need it.
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5-31-2006 @ 11:40AM
Pam Hubbaartt said...
Sean...you were the one until you went to see the caterer...it was still The Apprentice NOT your nuptials with Tammy!!! Use your brain...the one in your head!!!
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5-31-2006 @ 1:46PM
E.T. said...
Well Andrea must be ok, if it was serious then the producers wouldn't have shown it that way,if she was truly sick we wouldn't have even seen it, they would would sub andrea for another player and re-shoot anll scences with andrea.
Remember this is a tv show things are stop and re-shot all the time.
They would never exploite someones illness for tv rating.
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6-05-2006 @ 11:18PM
Pebbles said...
I missed the first half of the show. Did they ever mention what was wrong with Andrea? She looked horrible and I noticed her dressed very casually and unprofessional, rendering to the fact that she was obviously still not well.
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6-06-2006 @ 4:16PM
Steve said...
I missed last night. What happened to Andrea?
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