I have a coworker who claims to be a huge fan of The Apprentice. However, I seriously questioned the validity of her fandom after the conversation we had this week, when she expressed her frustration that “that little weasel” was still around. When I asked her to specify which little weasel she was referring to, because it my mind, there are several, she didn’t know the person’s name. Through a serious of questions about gender, age, and physical description, I was able to surmise that she was bitching about Lee. She ranted about how he didn’t deserve to stay in the game because of his absence on two tasks for religious holidays, which leads me to believe that my coworker has a huge crush on Lenny. Not that I asked her that, since she wouldn’t have even known who I was talking about. Huge fan, indeed.
Well, at any rate, I have to respectfully disagree with my colleague about Lee for several reasons. First of all, I thought that he did an excellent job as project manager on this week’s task of creating and selling tourist brochures about Ellis Island. And contrary to what sourpuss Charmaine said, I think Lee deserved every ounce of credit he got for the win. Although he handed the creative reins over to Tarek, which has historically been a mistake, the decision produced good results with the brochures that Tarek put together. Lee also did the right thing by putting Charmaine in charge of securing a bulk purchase of the brochures, even though it took her hundreds of phone calls to yield a sale. But Lee’s best maneuver was rousing his team at 5:00 AM and getting their butts down to Battery Park to actually sell the brochures to tourists. By the time Synergy got there, Gold Rush had already hit up most of the people who were willing to purchase a brochure, effectively cutting Synergy off at the knees.
Are these the actions of a little weasel who doesn’t deserve praise? I don’t think so. Gold Rush finally ended its losing streak, and Lee was the person the team needed to make that happen.
That doesn’t mean that I think Trump will hire him. The Donald has a long history of firing 22-year-olds. He doesn’t, however, have such a consistent track record when it comes to firing people that he calls stars.
Oh, Andrea. You really had me fooled there for a while. I honestly thought that you’d at least make it to the final four, but you screwed up. You were bossy when you should have been bossed, complained to Allie about what a shoddy job you thought she was doing, and over-tooted your own horn as a graphics and bulk sales expert. And by the way, constantly reminding people that you’re a millionaire can get really annoying. So go off and continue being a millionaire, Andrea.
Allie certainly won’t mind. Despite her loss as project manager this week, she is still my top pick for the winner this season. She was good at keeping her cool around Andrea and carried a determined yet dignified demeanor in the boardroom. The only time that her hackles really came out was when she was talking about images of blood on the boardroom walls with Roxanne and Tammy. I suppose she was just letting off steam, but geez, Allie, that was a tad melodramatic, no? And bloodshed really wasn’t necessary, anyway, since Allie and Roxanne made excellent points about the errors of Andrea’s ways. Tammy didn’t say a whole lot, but it was probably better that she didn’t. She strikes me as a bit under the radar.
But obviously not under Sean’s radar. So a potential romance is blossoming on Synergy? Interesting. I’m not getting my hopes up, though, since The Apprentice is second only to The Bachelor as an inept matchmaker. Initially, I would have guessed that Allie would hook up with Sean, given their kissy kissy interaction at the truffle reward dinner a few weeks back. However, after Sean told Trump that he should fire Allie rather than Andrea this week, I’m sure that all bets were off. I wonder if there will be any bad blood between Allie and Sean next week as a result.
At the beginning of the episode, I was totally impressed with Lee’s willingness to forgive Charmaine for telling the Donald that he should have fired him instead of Leslie the week before. Then again, if I’d come out of that boardroom alive, I probably would have been in an emotionally magnanimous mood, too. The thing with Lee is, he seems sincere in all of his interactions with the other contestants. When he told Charmaine that he wasn’t hung up on her comments, he was telling the truth in all likelihood. At this point, like I said before, Lee’s only really disadvantage is his age, but perhaps he’ll be able to overcome it.
So who’s next to go? Well, I hope it’s Charmaine. Although she works her tail off in the challenges, she’s way too negative and focused on what others are doing wrong. If she channeled all of that negative energy the tasks, she’d be a true star, given that she has the ability to be agreeable and logical when she wants to be. If Synergy loses again, I could foresee Tammy’s exit simply because she hasn’t shown anyone, least of all El Trumpo, what she’s made of. And I could imagine Roxanne and Allie turning against her if she does in fact end up sucking face with Sean. He would also be to blame for that distraction, but in business and in life, it seems like women pay for such behavior far more dearly than men do.
This season rules, and I can’t wait for the next show. Bring on the weasels!
