SAM'S CLUB

Sky-High Aspirations

As if to demonstrate that the sky's the limit, Trump met his fresh crop of candidates on his own private airliner at New York's Republic Airport. Despite the hard road ahead, the 18 candidates buzzed confidently in anticipation of becoming the next Apprentice.

Trump anointed Allie and Tarek initial project managers out of respect for their credentials and cranial capacity: Allie as a Harvard MBA and Tarek as a member of Mensa. "Tarek has an IQ higher than anyone here, other than me," joked Mr. Trump. Perhaps influenced by the uber-mogul's seal of approval, Tarek's group followed their project manager's suggestion and named themselves "Gold Rush". Shooting down Brent's suggestion of "Killer Instinct", which Londoner Sean called "Horrible, absolutely horrible", Allie's squad decided to dub themselves "Synergy."

With both corporations named and ready to work, Trump set them this lofty task: To sell the greatest number of Sam's Club Plus memberships and upgrades using the Goodyear blimp as an advertising tool.

Cold Calling vs. Hot Massage

Gold Rush and Synergy both took the Goodyear icon as a starting point and pushed further in their efforts to drive customers to small-business superstore Sam's Club. Synergy learned that livewire Brent was an idea man, though most of his ideas were lousy. "He's full of it--full of energy," PM Allie declared with tongue in cheek. Brent's first idea, Karaoke in the parking lot, was a non-starter. But he kept the brainstorm ball rolling until Synergy hit on the idea of in-store massages and manicures.

Meanwhile, Gold Rush gave away free Sam's Club tote bags to the first 485 shoppers who followed the blimp to the front door. Tarek had hoped to get more local business owners into the sales event by having restaurant owner Summer cold-call local restaurateurs, but she felt uncomfortable making the calls. She talked to only one person and, noting her ineptitude, Tarek assigned her to blimp-navigation duty with Lenny.

Raising a Toast vs. Being Toast

Both corporations felt good about themselves when they entered the boardroom to hear the results. But when asked by Trump if anyone was less than supremely confident, Summer spoke up, saying, "There's things I would have changed." Her instincts proved true when the results were announced. Synergy had outsold Gold Rush 43 memberships to 40.

Synergy's well-earned reward was lunch with the Donald at the classy Wharton Club. Trump told the wine-sipping winners how he copes with stress, "What I do to get rid of pressure is to say it doesn't matter." That was easier said than done for Gold Rush, however, who would soon feel the pressure of Trump's firing squad.

Girl Interrupting

In the boardroom, Summer's meekness making cold calls for the sales event put her in the hot seat. But when Tarek brought blameless Lenny and Lee into the boardroom and asked by Trump if anyone was less than supremely confident, started blaming them the PM highlighted his own bad judgment. Though Summer was unable to answer Carolyn's point-blank question, "What did you contribute to this team," Trump seemed more troubled by the whiff of corporate disloyalty he smelled when Tarek turned on Lee.

Mensa member Tarek also faltered when he said blimp navigator Lenny didn't do anything. Lenny had maximized the blimp’s impact with his knowledge of the neighborhood. But just as things were closing in on the project manager, Summer interrupted Trump to defend Tarek. The mogul was incredulous: "I'm getting ready to almost fire this guy for being a horrible leader and you interrupt me? And you were no great shakes yourself... You know what Summer, you're fired." Tarek dodged the bullet, but Trump was left unimpressed. After the candidates cleared out, Trump opined to George and Carolyn, "Tarek is totally overrated."