'The Apprentice 5' - Ep. 8 -or- "P'eatzza Party'

All right, it's onto the second episode aired tonight. Or, last night by the time most will read this. (Grr.)

Trump had the candidates meet him at the fountain in Cherry Hill in Central Park. No, don't ask me. I know where a lot of things are in the park, but that's not one with which I'm familiar. It's a big park, y'know.

He came driving a fancy-schmancy souped up car with doors like the old Pantera or DeLorean cars. I'm thinking the term is gull-wing doors, but what do I know? Why they met there makes no sense to me other that he could drive up in the cool car. He made the offer for anyone from Synergy who thinks they can help Gold Rush win to make the switch. Michael was feeling very alienated by his team as they all told him that they won the last task in spite of his poor leadership. (Yes, I agree with them. He's a nice guy, but doesn't trust his own judgment.) So, he went over to Gold Rush.

The task this episode was to promote 7-11's new P'eatzza sandwich -- a combination of pizza and sandwich. Each team was assigned to a store and the goal was to increase sales through promotion of said sandwich. Eh. Andrea decided she wanted to be the Project Manager for Synergy and Leslie took the reins for Gold Rush. Andrea abruptly decided caps would be the promotional giveaway. "It is HATS." Um, okay, Ma'am.

The foreshadow quote was "Know Your Customer." Of course, Donald Trump gave a mini-lecture about it. So far this season, the phrase has indicated something wayward with the team which inevitably loses. This time, not so much. I think this time it referred to the final two in the Boardroom. But I'm getting ahead of myself here.

Synergy picked a decent price for their promo -- $4 for one or $6 for two. And, they had the caps. Over at Gold Rush, Lee kept saying he knew the area and he knew the customer as it was a college clientele. Leslie really didn't listen to him on the price. He kept saying it was too high. They were giving a rather neat six-pack cooler with the sandwich, but the price was $7.99 for one, $8.99 for two. Yikes! I know 7-11 prices. For eight bucks a sandwich, cooler or not, I want a table! Lee was right. Leslie also came up with odd trivia doings. I still don't see her reasoning on that one. She obviously doesn't know the 7-11 customer. Except for drunks in the wee hours, most people go to 7-11 planning to get in and out quickly with their purchase and trivia isn't going to attract them. Lee, meanwhile, asked the manager to pull all the sandwiches except the P'eatzza. That was a good move.

On the day of the event, the trivia failed and Lee vanished, irking Leslie even more at him. It turns out he was trying to make a deal to sell a thousand sandwiches to a corporate customer. He would be the hero or the goat. In the end, the deal fell through. But I was impressed with his actions with management and his deal attempt. He's not just political -- he tried to get it done.

When it came time for the Boardroom, both teams did better than I thought either would. Gold Rush increased sales by 608% at their location. Alas for them, Synergy increased by 997%. Unbelievable!

As a reward for Synergy, the team took a private jet plane to Washington, D.C. where they met New York Senator Chuck Schumer. After a nice time with him, it was off to the White House where Sean got all choked up. He only had his green card for six months and loves America. He thinks he's living the American Dream. Aw.

Back at the Boardroom, Michael feels that he fit in better on the losing team than the winning one, so he has no regrets. Leslie was intent on blaming Lee when the main mistake the team made was the high price point. That was her decision and he was very vocal more than a few times about it being too high. She chose to only bring Lee in the Boardroom with her. Of the two, in my opinion, Lee really tried harder and was innovative. Plus, he wanted the lower price.

"You're fired, Leslie. Oh. And, happy birthday!"

She really didn't give Trump much choice on this one. What was she thinking with that price? What do you think?

Dollar bills, y'all...