Looking ahead to after Passover

The next few weeks for The Apprentice:

April 10 -- Episodes 7 & 8 -- 9:00 - 11:00 (more info here)

April 17 -- No episode scheduled for this week. (Passover break!)

and this just in...

April 24 -- Episode 9 -- Assault On Battery -- 9:00 - 10:00

Donald Trump's children Ivanka and Donald Jr. watch as the candidates engage in an all-out street war while promoting one of New York City's biggest tourist attractions. One team goes for broke in an effort to end a horrible losing streak, while the other struggles with an insubordinate teammate. The winners hit the links with one of the world's best golfers, while the losers head to the boardroom where another candidate is fired.

What we know:

• The winning team plays golf with Vijay Singh at Trump's country club in Bedminster, NJ.
• Tarek Saab is one of the golfers on the winning team. His first time on the course, yet he drives like a pro.

Speculation:

• Gold Rush loses to Synergy in episodes 7 & 8, following their earlier losses in episodes 5 & 6.
• Unless Tarek switches sides (highly unlikely since a contestant from Synergy is expected to join Gold Rush in episode 8) or there's a complete reshuffle of the teams, Gold Rush will win the task in episode 9.
• The episode's title, "Assault On Battery," is likely a reference to Battery Park in Lower Manhattan. The tourist attraction could be the Statue of Liberty.

Lee now has to be better than everyone else

Earlier this week, Q104.3 radio show host Jim Kerr chatted on the air with Donald Trump. Much of their discussion focused on Lee Bienstock, who, in Trumps words, has "taken two shows off... gotten two passes because of a religious holiday... essentially he's had 23% of the show off."

As the remaining Orthodox Apprentice candidate, Lee has missed tasks on The Apprentice for Rosh HaShana and Yom Kippur.

Jim argued that "the real world is on Yom Kippur you're not going to be working if you're Jewish... employment discrimination based on religion violates Federal law... violating the Civil Rights Act of 1964." Trump joked that he'd get the electric chair for such violations.

Then Trump said, "That would have been very courageous to have fired Lee for taking religious holidays... There were many, many... contestants that felt I should do that."

When asked why a task was scheduled for Yom Kippur, Mr. Trump explained that a crew of 500 shoots every day for a period of six weeks, without taking a day off.

Jim's co-host Shelli Sonstein told Trump that she takes off for Yom Kippur and doesn't get fired for it.

Jim Kerr suggested that Lee needs to compensate in other ways for his absence. Similarly, Trump responded, "Maybe [Lee's] gonna have to work harder. Would you say that would be fair? If I set a standard where Lee now has to be better than everyone else."

Double Dose of The Apprentice

4/10 UPDATE:

More on tonight's first task...

During tonight's first episode of The Apprentice, the teams will be challenged to complete their own Ace Hardware "New Faces for Helpful Places" community renovation project. Vinnie and Mike Costello, owners of 12 Ace Hardware stores on Long Island, assisted with the production of the episode, providing help to the teams, as well as Ace products for the two projects. Each team bought approximately $5,000 in products from two Ace stores on Long Island, including paint, tools, hardware and more.

More on tonight's second task...

7-Eleven will unveil the new wedge shaped P'EatZZa Sandwich, which will be available April 18 at participating stores. As we suspected, the product is not being launched simultaneously with the episode since the air date was moved up.

The teams had access to two Manhattan 7-11 stores (82nd St & 3rd Ave and 23rd St & Park Ave) to perform the task. Team 7-Eleven race car driver Tony Kanaan makes a guest appearance between Indy Racing League races to assist each team. In the P'EatZZa Sandwich (pronounced Puh-Eat-Zuh), pizza slices substitute for sliced bread. Between the two slices of cheese and pepperoni pizza flatbread, the sandwiches are filled with deli meats, cheeses and spreads. Served cold, the triangular sandwiches will be available in two varieties -- turkey and pepperoni on pepperoni flatbread with parmesan ranch spread and romaine lettuce; and a ham and salami on cheddar mozzarella flatbread with banana and red peppers, oil and vinegar dressing and romaine lettuce. (NOT KOSHER!!!)



ORIGINAL POST:
In case you missed our announcement earlier today (in the comments to this post), back-to-back episodes of The Apprentice will air on Monday, April 10, starting at 9 PM ET/PT. Episode 8 was rescheduled to make way for a new reality series - Celebrity Cooking Showdown - which will air at 9:00 nightly during the week of April 17.


APPRENTICE SPOILERS BELOW



Episode 7 - 9:00
Ace Hardware is using this episode of The Apprentice to launch a national charitable campaign. The task is to create themed activity areas for a local Boys & Girls Club. Lenny Veltman volunteers to be project manager for Gold Rush, but he has trouble managing a negative teammate. Synergy's project manager, (Arinash) Michael Laungani, has a good concept but drives the team crazy because they can't make a decision. The winners help make a child's dream come true by partnering with the "Make A Wish Foundation". One candidate will be fired. It won't be Tarek Saab or Lee Bienstock (the remaining Orthodox Apprentice candidate).

At the end of this episode, we'll see Bill Rancic in an Ace Hardware commercial to launch a national charitable campaign to help local communities around the country.


Episode 8 - 10:00
The ten remaining candidates sell a new pizza sandwich for 7-11. Filmed on Thursday, October 20, 2005 (Chol HaMoed Sukkot), one team is stationed at 7-11's new store on Manhattan's Upper East Side (82nd Street at Third Avenue). A passerby reported that the sandwich was described as "two slices of pepperoni pizza on the outside – with sausage and pepperoni in between." Definitely not kosher!

Also in this episode of The Apprentice, a losing team gains an opposing teammate who volunteers to switch sides. The winners jet out of town for a meal with U.S. Senator Chuck Schumer. Tarek will not be fired.

This episode was originally scheduled to air on April 24 (before it was moved to the 17th and then to the 10th of April). 7-11's plan was to keep the new product a secret and then launch it in their stores the day after the show. Now that the episode has been moved up by two weeks, it will be interesting to see if 7-11 can accelerate their product launch. Let's hope they have a strong project manager working on it.


Moving to another topic...

christinaboo blogged about witnessing the filming of fired Apprentice candidates leaving Trump Tower on November 3, 2005. Based on her description of "a blond lady n a white guy," it appears to have been Pepi Diaz and Stacy Schneider.

There's always been speculation that each candidate is filmed walking out to the cab at the beginning of the season. When there's a multiple firing, however, the original footage can't be used so they need to stage the scene at a later date. This could explain why Pepi and Stacy would be filmed leaving Trump Tower in November. Or it could have been Allie or Leslie with Lenny, Tarek, Lee or Sean. We suspect it was Episode 2's double-firing.

Q&A with Dan Brody

Former Orthodox Apprentice candidate Dan Brody answered some questions for us this week. Read about who he wants at his Passover seder, Daniel's take on scheduling tasks over the holidays and his next "really big" project. Thanks again, Dan, for taking some time to share your insights with us. Our readers truly appreciate it!

After reading our questions and answers, Dan's TV Guide interview is a must-read too.


What lessons have you learned from competing on The Apprentice?
Relationships are far more valuable than I had ever realized. The greater your circle of friends the greater opportunity available to everyone. I have made many strong connections as a result of the show and look forward to working with some of them in the future.

If you could have one do-over on the show, what would you do differently?
There is not much I regret.

Do you have any regrets about going on the show?
None at all. It was a great experience and has been opening up doors for me in ways I never could have predicted.

What are your thoughts on the remaining candidates? Who can make it to the final two?
I think there are some great candidates left. Allie clearly is talented and bright, Charmaine despite the crying scenes is very competent and a good director, certainly Sean has proven to be a good leader with great empowerment skills and Tarek, despite the beating he has been taking is a good leader.

Leslie and Michael continue to fly under the radar. Creative editing or reality?
Reality. It's actually a good strategy, just not in my character.

Who's coming to your Passover seder? Lee or Lenny?
I'm holding out for Brent. All he'll have to do is substitute 3 bagels for 3 matzos.

Which of the candidates, if any, do you stay in touch with?
I intend on keeping in touch with everyone in the group.

After you got past the initial emotions of being fired, was there any sense of relief that you wouldn't need to explain Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret to your teammates?
Absolutely. I was the one who took the initiative to inform the team about Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur. It was difficult to get up in the morning and leave the team as I went to shul knowing that essentially I could not be there for them. I do not know if Lee makes it to or through Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret but if he does it will be very interesting to see how he handles it on his own. (Especially since we've seen that filming does not stop for the Holidays)

Do you think the producers intentionally scheduled tasks during the Jewish holidays to create a conflict, or was it something they couldn't work around?
I do not think anything was done "intentionally". You have to understand, the filming schedule is very tight and time is money. Try explaining to a network that Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur let alone Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret are off limits. First you might want to explain to them what Sukkot and Shemini Atzeret are.

What's next for Dan Brody?
I have several things that I am looking at right now.

One in particular is working with VENCOR INTL (VCOR.PK). It is a company that manufactures robes and accessories for resorts, spas and hotels across the country. High quality products like what you would expect at a Donald Trump Property. I will be working with several other Apprentice candidates in developing new strategies for Vencor Intl. to increase Market share. As Donald would say "It's Going To Be Big, Really Big."

Do you read the Orthodox Apprentice blog?
I do. And you can read more about me on my website: www.DanielBrody.com.

Coming up on The Apprentice

Episode 7 - April 10 - 9:00 Eastern
Ace Hardware will use the episode to launch a national charitable campaign to help local communities around the country. The task is to create themed activity areas for the national children's charity. It's not a marketing or selling task. One project manager nails the concept but drives everyone crazy because they can't make a decision. The other team watches as their project manager butts heads with a negative teammate. The winners help make a child's dream come true. One candidate will be fired.


Episode 8 - Date & Time TBA
(Originally scheduled for April 17 at 9:00, this episode is being rescheduled due to the series premiere of Celebrity Cooking Showdown.)
The ten remaining candidates launch a new pizza sandwich for 7-11. One candidate volunteers to switch sides to help out a losing team. The winners' reward is an out-of-town meal with a U.S. Senator.


Looking ahead: The season finale will be broadcast live from Los Angeles on June 5.


Spoilers below....
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Tarek will not be fired in episodes 7, 8 or 9.
Lee will not be fired in episode 7.


From a comment on another post:

Ruthie said...

"I read elsewhere on this site that at one task they are selling food and a girl on the street says she can't buy because its not kosher and the team members say "we have a person on our team who keeps kosher" and they bring out Lee so we know he at least makes it to some sort of food selling task."

*Raises hand* That was me you're talking about. This was the 7-11 task where they promoted a new pizza sandwich. The task took place on Thursday October 20th, which was chol hamoed succos.

4/04/2006 10:47 PM

Orthodox Apprentice: Episode 6

This episode served as another Kiddush HaShem. Daniel Brody was fired last week, but Lee Bienstock continued to make us proud as the remaining Orthodox Apprentice candidate.

• The episode opened with Lee and Tarek Saab returning from the boardroom on Erev Yom Kippur. Bryce Gahagan called a team meeting. First Tarek changed into casual clothing. Lee wore his business suit. It's not clear if the meeting was prior to, or after, Kol Nidre services.

• The next morning Lee leaves the team and walks to Park East Synagogue. We don't see any of the animosity from Lenny that we saw for Rosh HaShanah. Lenny wishes Lee well as he leaves the suite. Leslie supports Lee's decision. In an interview, Lee talks about the importance of his religion in general, and of Yom Kippur in particular.

• When Donald Trump introduces the task - writing an ad jingle for Arby's chicken naturals - there's no mention of Lee's absence. Earlier, when Lee and Dan missed a task for Rosh HaShana, Trump pointed it out to Synergy.
  

• Synergy won. Gold Rush neglected to include that chicken naturals are only available at Arby's and their music wasn't catchy.

• Back in the suite, Bryce had trouble placing the blame on anyone. He was proud of everyone's hard work and tried to keep the team united.

• Lenny Veltman said that Lee should not be blamed for the loss. During the team discussion, no one pointed a finger at Lee.
  

• In the boardroom, Charmaine was blamed for the lyrics and Tarek took a little heat for the music, but Bryce defended them both as hard workers. He told Trump the blame fell on Lenny for not contributing to the task. (Lenny felt that he couldn't contribute since he wasn't familiar with an ad jingle and he couldn't rhyme in English.)

• Mr. Trump asked Lee who should be fired. Lee delivered a very appropriate response, saying that he could not pass judgment since he wasn't present during the task. Trump then questioned Lee if it was fair that he gets two free passes for the holidays. Lee told Trump that his religion (and family) come first and he wasn't trying to get a free pass. Trump moved on to another topic, saying that Lee could not be fired for observing a Jewish holiday.

• In a shocking decision, Bryce (of Kansas City, Missouri) took Lenny and Lee back into the boardroom. He let Charmaine and Tarek walk free since they actively participated in the task. Lenny and Lee did not contribute to the team. Donald, Carolyn and Bill were all clearly shocked that Bryce would take Lee into the boardroom. Just minutes earlier, Trump had said that Lee couldn't be fired.
  

• This was the easiest firing of the season. The focus was completely on who was (and who wasn't) brought into the boardroom. Bryce tried to insinuate that Lee should be fired for skipping the task. He blamed the loss on a lack of creativity, which he said was the fault of Lee and Lenny for not contributing. Trump did not want to hear anything about Lenny or Lee. Donald strongly defended Lee and refused to fire him for observing a Jewish holiday. Clearly the only option was to fire Bryce.

• This was the second episode of the season with a heavy religious influence. Not during the task, but in the boardroom afterwards. Again, Lee Bienstock took a stand and made us proud as observant Jews.
  

• Donald Trump has proven to be a tremendous defender of religious observance. Lee is very fortunate to have Mr. Trump on his side. If we didn't know better, we'd think that Trump is Jewish too.

• The question is how does the general public react to this. Do people agree with Bryce that Lee should not get a "free pass" and he should be fired for his lack of contribution? Or do viewers agree with Donald that life is important, religion is important, life sucks, tough luck, etc?

Other random thoughts:

• When will Leslie contribute something?

• When will Michael contribute?

• Why is it acceptable for Sean to kiss all the women on his team? (except mAndrea)
  

• Wasn't this task more suitable for American Idol than The Apprentice?

• We've seen six rewards: one to clothe unemployed men; one to swim with the sharks; three meals; and one to take home diamonds. Does that seem balanced?

• How healthy is Arby's Chicken Fingers Combo with Curly Fries?