Trump is such a douchebag. It's okay to ask Lee about Yom Kippur being his "free pass", but if Bryce brings him back to the boardroom it's a slap to the face of the Jewish religion.

Bryce is a seething pile of rage.

I seriously could not believe how he acted in the boardroom, what a nutcase! If he believed so strongly in upholding principles, why would he penalize Lee for following his? I think his dismissiveness in dealing with decision-makers is apalling - completely disregarding the Arby's CEO when he questioned their tardiness??!!?? THAT's a new one!

Charmaine should have been fired, she did not give the team enough time to make the meeting, and her input on the task was really crap-tacular.

Lenny is the coolest. "Jingle, Schmingle... ". I LOVE the blimp-riding Russian.

Still HATE MANdrea. I think Sean could potentially be reality TV's first serial killer.

PS - Great recap B-Side, I totally cracked up when I got to the Bryce animation - creeeeepy...

Great recap! The photos and captions are hilarious, esp. Trump "cutting a rug" and Lenny's eyes bulging out after the annoucement. When Lenny did that, I thought he was being sarcastic, like, saying "big deal."

Maybe I missed this, but when Bryce, Lee, and Lenny were waiting outside the boardroom, why didn't we see the little discussion segment that Trump would have had with Bill and Carolyn regarding the person he should fire? That's usually pretty interesting, considering that Trump totally disregards their advice sometimes.

Does anyone believe that Donald Trump has ever once eaten at Arby's in his life ? These challenges suck ass. How does writing a jingle determine your ability to run one of Trump's companies ??

I may be the only one who feels this way but I think Bryce did a great job as PM where the team is concerned. Think about it. These people didn't bicker, fight, throw tantrums or behave like children. They behaved like professionals EVEN IN THE BOARDROOM. I also understand why Bryce took Lee and Lenny to the boardroom because they were the two people who contributed the least. Bryce said he didn't expect the Douche, I mean, the Donald, to fire Lee but he had to bring two people. I think Bryce hoped Lenny would be the one fired and I can understand that, as well. Lenny may be amusing but what has he ever contributed to this team? Lenny likes to shrug his shoulders and go on about how he's Russian and doesn't understand things. Come on- the man has been here for FOURTEEN YEARS!
Anyway, I think Bryce showed he could manage the team quite well even if he can't manage time or creepy Arby's execs. The fact that Bryce did what a PM is supposed to do and took responsibility makes him look like a decent guy instead of the Donald, I mean, the usual Apprentice morons.

I agree shoe-in. I say that all the time. These challenges have nothing to do with corporate America, or running a corporation. Its embarassing to all corporate America citizens, of which I am one. I am outraged.

I'm tired of Lee getting over too. Next, he'll change his religion so he can get out of the next task, or say he's black when its Martin Luther King day. I think he's just plain lazy.

Caroline also has a smug look on her face, a face you would love to punch in a conference room after a really bad meeting. Oh how I wish!

Charmaine and Lenny continue to get over too. Lenny uses a language barrier to exclude himself, and Charmaine just flirts. Two losers that should of been gone weeks ago. Bill did attempt to expose Lenny's BS, but alas, it did not work, sad.

KH
Lee = Lazy
Caroline = punch her face in!

There is no way bryce should have been fired. He stood up to Trump, and put Trump in his place (IMO).

He didn't bring Charmaine (FemBot) and Tarek into the boardroom because he didn't want them to be fired (which Trump probably would have done).

Bottom line. They all did their best, and it comes down to who contributed the least. That was Lee and Lenny.

Personally, I think Lee should have been fired. This task didn't really demand ANY work, it was just a matter of coming up with a few ideas.

I like Bryce, but it was just stupid to not bring in Tarek and Charmaine. In real life/business, of course you should take responsibility for your team's mistakes; on the Apprentice, just get through to the next round.

ALTHOUGH, if the prize is winning Bill Rancic's position, I'm beginning to think that I'd bow out too. He needs a T-shirt that says "I won the Apprentice and all I got was a lousy sidekick job on a fourth-rated network".

I love how they were raving about this restaurant for the reward, how it was sooo exclusive and expensive. And then they show a close-up of a candle being lit with a Bic! i dont know that was pretty random, but hilarious IMO.

Another ridiculous task, related more to cheesy product placement than to the qualifications required to be an apprentice. The last time I checked, Trumps core business holdings were related real estate…not fast food advertising. This episode’s winners are better qualified to work for Donny Douche (the advertising hack with a tremendously successful cable show), than the Donald Trump.

Why did Trump need to ask the Arbys executives to state their names? Was it that difficult to read their names off the damned teleprompter, while he recited the rest of his prepared shtick? That bug-eyed Arbys CEO gave me the creeps, and that annoying executrix kept obsessing over how “natural” the chicken was in their new sandwiches. As opposed to what, the “unnatural” chicken sold by their competitors. You know…the kind that was bred by bestiality aficionados.

Bill Rancid displayed his usual scowl of disapproval during his observations, as if he was forced to inhale the stench from a chunk of fetid cheese. And Carolyn, the golf course queen, was her usual snotty and sarcastic self. This chick has an ego bigger than Christopher Moltisanti’s nose.

Yeah Bryce, the samurai jingle man, fell on his sword and got fired, as he probably should have. But the most interesting part of the show for me was when the dog turned on his master. At some point, Bryce came to the realization that Trump and his lackeys were beneath him: Showbiz phonies. You could see this transition in the board room as he gradually developed contempt for his inquisitors. He even back-talked the Donald! By shows end, the guy in the “Yahoo:Jobs” taxi was confident, and completely at ease with himself.

Let’s face it, anyone who possesses the skill sets necessary to male it on to this show, would be taking a major pay cut if they actually won the competition. What, a lousy 100K per year? This Bryce dude will probably pay more than that in taxes next year! And don’t tell me that Bill Rancid is mister Mojo real estate developer in Chicago. I read a recent interview wherein he admitted that Trump’s son is the one actually heading up the Trump Tower project. Bill is probably responsible for restocking the coffee machine.

I'm very sad that you didnt include a video clip of Trump dancing!

Great post conrad5! Funny and true.

These tasks are retarded! I don't think it was as bad a loss as the Grape Nuts billboard or cruise ad, and I could imagine the Gold Rush jingle in a television ad, I mean it's Arby's, what do they want. I wonder what was said in the meeting about what they were looking for, we really didn't hear it for either team.

And OK, so they didn't get the line about "chicken naturals" only at Arby's bit, but wtf does that mean anyway. Every fast food chain has had grilled chicken and wraps on the menu for the past 5 years. Way to go Arby's. Curious as to what exactly they meant by all-natural chicken, I checked out their website, and it's basically a load of hearsay and otherwise crock. I can see how Gold Rush were a bit unclear on that. Asswipe execs act like the invented chicken.

Anyhoo, when the tasks involve skills that none of these people would reasonably be expected to have or need for a corporate job, I can understand Bryce's belief that the people who did contribute didn't deserve to be fired. Like he said, if they hadn't done what they had, they would've had nothing. I used to almost always agree with Trump's decisions but this season has been pissing me off, as the message seems to be do nothing and you will go far in the game.

That said, if he wanted to make an issue out of the lateness I could see it, but Trump seemed to be gunning for Charmaine and Tarek on the music. Plus, I thought the bait and switch he did with Lee was dodgy to say the least. It was obvious Bryce was gunning for Lenny anyway. Bryce may have made a few stupid remarks but I loved his boardroom. It was almost a suicide mission, but was nice to see someone taking a stand against the idiotic tasks and undeserved firings that they usually result in.

Oops, conrad5, just read your post over, and I've repeated many of your points. In short, I agree ;-)

I haven't liked Bryce since the Grapenuts task when he made the initial suggestions for the billboard and then later on tried to weasel out of it and criticize the billboard's layout. It looked like he was trying to position himself to avoid responsibility for a loss in the boardroom. So his diatribe last night about sticking up for his team struck a false note with me. Plus, Bryce wasn't savvy enough to bring Tarek and/or Charmaine back into the boardroom. If he wanted to go the scapegoat route, those two were better candidates than Lee, who he brought back only because Lee "wasn't there." Maybe Bryce was distracted by Trump's mild criticism of Lee, but Bryce should have remembered how Trump wanted to fire Charmaine after the first or second episode, and Trump has had a very obvious hard-on for Tarek's ouster for the last two weeks. Bryce's firing was justified not only because he wasted too much time on touchy-feely can't-we-all-just-get-along team dynamics, but he showed his corporate political cluelessness by bringing Lenny and Lee back into the boardroom with him.

That said, Lee's bailing on tasks because of his religious beliefs is getting as old as Trump's asking the name of the execs who have probably paid him tons of money for the product placement on his show. Did the producers not tell Lee when the show was taking place? I wonder if he made it clear that he would have to take time out to observe Rosh Hashannah and Yom Kippur. If the producers told him it's fine, no problem then I guess it's unfair to fault Lee for the appearance that he's ducking out of work. But given that The Apprentice is only 16 'weeks'long (or however many days elapse between tasks) and Lee would have to miss 2 of those 'weeks' for religious observances to the possible detriment of his team, it makes me wonder why he or the producers didn't put off his appearance for another season when it wouldn't conflict with his religion.

Did anyone see the Arby's commercial that aired right after they announced that Synergy won the task? It had an old Joan Rivers talking about being natural...but not once did they mention in the commercial that Arby's was the only fast food restaurant with all-natural chicken. So, Gold Rush lost the task for not mentioning a "very important point" that Arby's is the only fast food restaurant to serve all-natural chicken, and then they don't even mention that very point in their own commercials...stupid!

Damn, Synergy won again. It seems they really can concentrate better when they don't have to share the sandbox with the unpopular fat kid.

The boardroom portion is the only part where I think Martha was better at times. She had no problem on one task stating that the persons brought in with the project manager didn't deserve to be there. She "called up" to the contestant suite and ordered 2 others to be in the boardroom for possible firing. If I remember correctly, one of the persons she had brought back to the boardroom was fired in that episode. It would have been refreshing if "the Donald" had sent Lee and Lenny back to the Suite and had Tarek and Charmaine brought back down to "face the music".

amen, conrad5. the apprentice has always been a bit ridiculous with its tasks (unless there's some profound connection between dog-washing or hocking ice cream and corporate real-estate that i'm not aware of), but for the past two seasons, all of the tasks have revolved around product placement, making the show essentially a judgment of who would make the best event-planner and/or ad copy-writer.

favorite boardroom moment: carolyn asking bryce "why don't you just go ahead and say 'fire me'?"

'the apprentice' has jumped the proverbial shark into snooze-fest land. i only caught this ep. because it was slightly less boring than the UF-UCLA game.

do Donald, go Donald, it's your birthday, go Donald!

This episode just wasn't fun to watch. How many more holidays, huh? HOW MANY MORE?

I thought the Arby's commericial with Joan Rivers was really lousy ... and needrealitytv, you're right, it was never mentioned in that commercial that Arby's was the *only* fast food place you could get natural chicken. It's ironic that this professionally-done commercial was so bad.

It would have been interesting in this episode if Trump had not fired anyone, since Trump can make his own rules. I don't understand some of the things Bryce did as PM, but apparently he was able to pull his team together enough that they weren't constantly bickering, which was a vast improvement over previous weeeks.

Trump made a mistake firing Bryce. He was the only person on his team who managed to control the team and have everyone work together well. He would make a good leader in the real world. Now Trump is going to have to choose from all those catty people that are left.

I know Arby's isn't exactly Microsoft, but isn't it a little beneath the freakin' CEO to be involved in this idiocy? Didn't he have an Assistant V.P. of whatever he could have sent?

I loved that Lenny wanted bells in the jingle. I'm sure when he heard the word "jingle" all he could think of was the song "Jingle Bells" . . hilarious.

What was up with Carolyn in the Boardroom?? From the very beginning she had this absolutely huge grin on her face. It looked like she had raided Paula Abdul's medicine cabinet.

I wonder how much booze they had to give those tourists off the street to get them so riled up to mosh at chicken sandwich jingles.

This was another lame task, and yes there are always a few like this every season (lemonade stand, selling M'Amazing bars), it seems like there are more lame-o tasks this season . . . no imagination at all. What happened to renovating a house/apartment/motel room or starting a restaurant or other business?? I am getting very bored with this show as well. Luckily they moved to Monday where there is nothing else to watch.

By the way, for all you non-Jews out there, the two most sacred holidays of the year happen to occur in a one-week period usually falling in September and October depending on the year (on a lunar calendar basis). Asking Lee to work on Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur would have been the equivalent of expecting a Christian to work on Christmas and Easter.

That's September OR October. Sorry.

I like the show but the tasks are really getting stupid. Do you want an exec or a jingle writer?

I loved the fact that someone stood up to Trump but I could have done without all of the 'well, you know whats'.

The big flaw of the show is that is seems to be more about firing someone who makes a mistake rather than one who does nothing. Bryce's reasons were sound, especially in light of the fact that they didn't really do badly as much as not do as well as the other team.

Bryce was dead in the water when he was late for the meeting & wouldn't take responsibility. Like someone said, he's a douchbag.

JasonR-totally agree with you, no one can fault Lee for observing his faith. They don't film during Christmas. And if Bryce wanted to fire someone for the same reason in the real world he would have his ass sued off.

I never cared for Bryce and I thought he was kind of a dick earlier in the season. I won't miss him.

Lenny is alive for another week! Maybe he'll be project manager... riiiight!

And I get the impression that Allie from Synergy is real horny. First week, she made comments about Sean's British accent; a few weeks later she tried to pick men up in the street. Mostly hot young, tight pants-wearing guys, until her team told her to get someone older for the Grape Nuts billboard task. Then she was the one on TOP of Sean when she and Roxanne were in bed with him. And this week at that reward dinner, she was practically taking off her panties at the table, talking about Sean liking the ladies. Calm down, woman.

Sorry but Bryce was completely unprofessional when he was late for the meeting with the Arby's Execs and didn't immediately apologize but instead made excuses. That's inexcusable and he definitely should have been the one fired on that alone!

I am absolutely shocked that we have a pic of Trump getting jiggy with it, but no video!! That was the most bizarre/hilarious thing I have ever seen on this show. I loved how he was getting down to Synergy's jingle, but was struggling to get his dance on to Gold Rush's.

Bryce was a massive douschebag and needed to go. Yeah, he did get the team to come together, but he did it in a very self serving way. For instance, demanding everyone get everything out in 15 minutes, and then that stupid speech about his team that somehow centered it's way on him and how he was brought up. Oh, and his behavior with the execs AND in the boardroom was absolutely jaw droppingly bad. Honestly, I closed my eyes and cringed at least 3 times during his dumbass explanations which made no sense. Him talking smack to Trump was the crowning achievement of idiocy. This guy is a massive tool, and has been in every single episode beginning with how he 'saved Lenny's ASS!!' by calling for a generator. I'm glad he's gone as well as a good portion of the others who absolutely did not deserve to be here. Now, with the exception of a few cannon fodder contestants, things might get really interesting.

Lee should have considered his religious obligations before going on the show. Why should someone else get fired because Lee wasn't there to help?

Bryce had the worst defense strategy ever. Thank god he is not in charge of our homeland defense. He would nuke us all to avoid terrorist attacks.

These are the best 12 candidates the show producers could find from the thousands of applicants? Lord help us.

Just curious,what happened to the one week immunity for the winning project manager???????

Yota, they got rid of the immunity for winning PM this season to avoid having people coast or at least be accused of coasting as was common in seasons past.

Ok, thank you. My wife and I were just wondering why immunity was dropped.

A couple things, JasonR. I used to work for Disney and they DID make me work on Christmas Eve, Christmas, and Easter. God was still there the next day. God didn't go anywhere. God understands these things, foo. I think that Lee should have gotten the boot.

If I was Bryce, I would have quit. I would have been the first one to have quit on the show. Screw Trump!

And did anyone notice Sean and that Latin guy's hug when they won. Very strange....

Pax Gold Rush-a. Love it. Brilliant.

I think next week we may have the teams reshuffled.

Tarek, Lenny, Charmaine, and Lee (and that other girl who hasn't said a word all season) will be slaughtered otherwise.

i agree w/ whoever said tht Bryce shouldve been fired for failing to acknowledge the exec.'s query abt their tardiness---that was awful, made me cringe as well. Did he think they were idiots, that they would just ask & thn be brushed off that easily? i'm glad Bug Eyes CEO ripped him a new 1, politely, of course.

As for Lee, he certainly can't be faulted for choosing to observe his religious beliefs, that's only fair---i just wondered why he didn't consider ths whn signing up for the show. It really isn't fair to the rest of the cands, b/c essentially he does get a free pass.

Lenny's an idiot for not getting the jingle concept aftr a brief explanation---there is way 2 much media available in ths country 4 1 to miss ths simple concept! Hard to bel'v he's been for 15 yrs & not noticing it---that's like not noticing McDonald's.

Clarice, as much as I would like to believe Disney is that sinister of a company, I seriously doubt you were forced to work xmas, Easter, etc. I'm sure you were offered double or triple time to work that day and chose to do so, and that if you wanted to take the day you could have put in for it, if you were willing to give up a vacation day. Disney is media savvy enough to know that it would be a publicity disaster for them to force employees to work on major religious holidays.

JasonR, what is Walt Disney World famous for on Christmas and Easter that's televised? They don't give you a choice! They're proud of the fact that they amke people work. I'm actually laughing out loud as I write this. They don't you give up a day just because it's Christmas. You do get paid holiday pay, but there is no choice in the matter. Period. End of story. Thanksgiving, too.

Wow. I stand corrected. "Happiest place on Earth" my ass.

ClariceStarling #36-yes, people do work on Christmas & Christmas Eve, but you do notice that the show will never tape during that time of year because no one WANTS to work during that time. At least Lee is actually actively observing at synagogue, not just taking the free day off because he can. What about Good Friday, what is it like from 12-3 that a lot of business's like banks close, or a lot of places just have to let employess go to mass if they want to? I'm not a religious person & have never practiced a religion, but respect other people's right to do so. That's one problem with our society-you are looked down upon if you take time off of work for any reason and people who work 7 days a week, 10-15 hours a day are seen as the ideal employee, even though they have no life. I know, I know, it's just a show.

All I know is my pussy was dancing down Main Street USA dressed like a fool on the same day Christ was born, killed, and raised up. I still showed up for work, why can't Lee?

you're all missing the point. Lee didn't have to work in the fields, or do any kind of laborious activity. I'd hardly call what these candidates do "work"....especially this last task. All he had to do was come up with an idea, maybe a few words for a song...

Wow, Disney not only makes its employees work on xmas but also makes them dress up their vajayjays in foolish garb and parade around?

Firecat, those who are seriously religious, "work" is fairly broadly defined, including riding in a car or using electric appliances, including even pushing a button in an elevator. Yom Kippur is the biggest most solemn day of the year and if you're not fasting and praying in synagoge then you may as well turn in your J-Date membership. Bottom line is that Trump respected Lee's decision, although not necessarily "fair" to his teammates, and he's the boss.

Speaking of vajayjay's... I had a full blown TVGASM when Trump broke out his dance moves. I could picture him in a sombrero sporting marracas with those moves.

As for Lee-gate, I think it would have been cool if Trump had fired Lee, then Lee could have brought a discrimination suit against Trump and maybe we could have had Judge Judy preside. Martha Stuart could act as the color commentator (a pseudo Doug Llewellyn as it were).

You know something....why the heck is trump having the tasks on those days anyway? Sheesh...I mean, can't they be pushed back or forward one day?

I love the picture of the bug-eyed Arbys CEO. He looks as if he just discovered that Lenny added urine cake to the Arbys desert menu. It’s too bad Capital Edge didn’t win this competition. It would have been great to see Lenny advise that snooty French chef on how to properly season the truffle feast.

In one week we have to listen to both Donald Trump AND Tony Soprano pontificate aloud about how life is unfair. That’s like John Stamos complaining about how hard it is to get laid!

What? No comment about Robyn? She was lookin' hot! She even left the desk. When's Rhona gonna do something more than talk on the phone.

pupkin, you're so right about Robin. She was totally parading around this episode. They caught her in profile and, wow, great rack. Having a receptionist with great boobs is a THIRTY BILLION DOLLAR INDUSTRY!! I'm totally waiting for the Robin, Rhona and Carolyn spread in FHM or Stuff.

I agree with Firecat! Why IS Trump having tasks on those days?

My ex-boyfriend worked for NBC and he said that Rhona was a royal beyotch!

It'll be interesting to see how Lee handles the rest of his time on the show. According to Wikipedia, there are 3 more Jewish holidays coming up in the show, and he's not permitted to work.

casey (#22) -- I, too, thought it just might be possible Trump wouldn't fire anyone this week, until Bryce started acting like such a tool in the BR.

I mean, did anyone really deserve to be fired? The other gang came up with a better jingle, that's all. And it's true that Bryce got the group to work better together than anyone had before.

But you don't bring Lee into the boardroom bc he was observing religious holidays -- that's lunatic behaviour and sure to incur the wrath of the Donald, which indeed it did.

Well, I guess Charmain did deserve to get fired for making them late. Honestly, when the peeps say 'meeting in 25 mins', don't you take a sec to ask, 'well, we're at Trump Tower -- is that enough time for us to get over to you?'

And then you get your arses out the door *immediately*
Be early, pow-wow while you're waiting. Why stuff around for 15 further mins? Is she nuts?

conrad5(#51)-not only that, but in one week we get to see both Trump & Phil on TAR getting jiggy with it! Can't wait for that recap!

I don't care if Lenny has been in the US for 14 years. I was beyond amused with all the jingle confusion! He clearly didn't get it- I love the suggestion to use 5 chimes of (jingle) bells, which he sang "jing, jing, jing, jing, jing". Kind of like a dog saying "bark, bark, bark".

Also- the shot you have of him with his eyes bugging out looks exactly like T-Bag....

Conrad, agreed the tasks are stupid, the contestants lame, and Trump, God, please remember the execs' names! But, Bonnie Douche has a successful show? Please, the guy has a 0.1 share. Having a 0.1 share is, like, a 30 CENT INDUSTRY!

Anyway, I love Lenny and want to see him as PM!

Bryce lost because he committed a cardinal sin; he failed to ting the correct people into the boardroom. This rarely succeeds. Only Rebecca from last season has survived this unscathed. Unfortunately Tarek is no Toral!

Jay, you're right. Tarek couldn't pull off that "passion" thing if he tried, which is why he's so lost!

Jay (59): I was being sarcastic when I said that D squared had a successful cable show. You and I are probably are only two people on this blog that know who that jamoke is.