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Episode 5 - February 5

Just in case you wanted to know, this is the first time in a Burnett production that a team has started out a competition by having 4 straight members of their team eliminated. There have been many times where a team has lost 3 to start it off - and there have been times where a team has lost more than 4 people (including a very impressive 8 straight by Sook Jai in Survivor 5), but no one has lot more than 3 to start a show - until now. Hence, we now have 8 very happy women, and 4 dispirited guys who want to rip each other's throats out.

The feelings only intensify when Nick, the guy who everyone else claimed 'checked out' and who the men wanted to see gone - is back. He even says as much, and you can cut the tension with a knife. Not everything is all daggers and creme though, as Troy and Bill make up about their spat in the board game, AwwwwBarf.

Still, the Donald decides that he wants a change - and both teams have an hour to assign their new project managers and meet him in the Board Room. Nick, playing the role of Sam, is now the Project Manager for the men while Kristi takes over for the women. Also taking over is Bernie Diamond, who will be sitting in while George is out attending business. According to Donald, when things aren't working out, you reshuffle, and with that, he orders the Project Managers to create new teams. The guys, as can be expected, look happy, and the women, as expected, look like they've stepped on one of those wind grates which cause their dresses to lift up.

Here are the new teams - The New Versacorp has Nick, Amy, Bill, Katrina, Ereka and Tammy, while the new Protege has Kristi, Troy, Jessie, Kwame, Heidi and Omarosa. This on paper looks like a horrible mismatch. Kristi's team has all of the sociable people who get along, but all of the business savvy is on the other team and it's possible that Protege could spend the next 4 meetings in the Board Room.

Now for the weekly assignment - each team gets $1,000, and the teams need to go to a flea market, sell the wares that they have gotten for the $1,000, and try to make as much of a profit as they can. How do the teams prepare for this? Nick's team starts out with a plan immediately, as the women suggest to make t-shirts and jewelry and sell them for a much higher value. Tammy, who kept being the dissenter for the women's team, continues her role here. "It is not smart for Nick to defer so many of the project manager tasks to the women on the team because this is Nick's moment to shine. I think Nick will be back in the boardroom and I think he will get fired." Is there anything that Tammy has done besides not complain? Yet she has not gotten to the Board Room because every team that she has been on has won. Talk about someone who is riding on coattails... but at least her team has a plan - which Kristi's team doesn't. They finally decide to sell dirt with seeds and flecks of gold. Wha? That's going to sell in New York? I am just waiting until Kristi takes her first trip to the Board Room.

The Donald's lesson for the week? "Stand Up For Yourself." This is one of the rules that I know by heart - If you don't stand up for yourself, neither will anybody else. Let's see if that comes into play on this episode...

Protege goes to a flea market - and that's not the one that they want to sell at, since no one was buying anything. They decide to try their luck in Chinatown - and Troy suggests that they use a

Nick and Katrina find a clothes rack in the dumpster - and Nick wants to get it, because he knows that if his team doesn't win, he's gone. Katrina, who was with him, goes right into the dumpster to get the clothes rack. They wheel the rack in to Trump Towers as Katrina tells him how sexy he looks carting the rack. Really? Hmmmmm.....

While Versacorp is creating their product and finalizing it's production, Protege are in Chinatown getting hats and other fashion accessories - but they are not the items that they will be selling. Troy asks Kristi if they have gotten a product yet, and she hems and haws before saying that they have found some nice mini-umbrellas. Troy says that there will be a rainstorm tomorrow and it would be a great idea to sell that if they will actually be sturdy. Kristi says that it's a decent product, but there is no way that the paper umbrellas will be good in a real rainstorm and I don't even have to watch the rest of this episode to see what's going to happen here.

As they are leaving, Kristi tells Omarosa to make sure that no money falls out of her pants. Omarosa squeezes the money in before they leave. If the money was that important, why not put it in a purse instead of someone's back pocket? Kristi did do a smart thing, as they booked an indoor booth and they said that they sold a decent amount of profit. Nick's team is stuck outside, where there is a rainstorm - and people do not traditionally go to outdoor flea markets in rainstorms.

But inside, Kristi's team isn't doing much better, as Heidi suggests that they work outside. The rain clears up, and Heidi talks to Omarosa about convincing Kristi to make up her mind and to move outside. As the rain clears, Nick asks Katrina her opinions about what they should do, and Katrina says not to panic. Nick says that it's smart to get advice from the women - and why not, since they have won 4 challenges. Katrina responds that Nick is a great leader, because he doesn't take all of the credit or the blame. Nick's team manages to sell everything - including the table - and the rack that they got out of the dumpster.

The very impressive work means that Kristi's team can not make any mistakes in terms of selling. Omarosa, who is the expert in counting the money, finds a mistake - she finds $186 missing from the ledger. Everyone double-checked and they don't find the money. All of the suspicion goes to Kristi and her butt, while Kristi accuses Omarosa of setting her up. We see the return of the cat's claws...

Versacorp made a profit of over $600, and Donald tells them that Nick was impressive. Bernie, on the other hand, tells Donald that Kristi's team made a loss of $78. Nick's team wins, and as a reward, they get to see George Steinbrenner. Kristi's team gets to go to the Board Room, and Kwame and Troy will be making their fifth straight trip to see The Donald.

Kristi takes the full responsibility for the loss - and although the rest of the team tries to convince her that it wasn't all of her fault, she is convinced that she's gone and she takes the loss very hard, tearing and being miserable.

Heidi is convinced that she and Omarosa are going to join her in the Board Room, and she tells Omarosa this, because she will not be bringing or either of the guys with her. While Heidi is cursing up a storm and singing her own rendition of 'Bitch', Omarosa is being start and is creating her own plan on how to defend herself against Kristi.

The victors are sensing all of the tension, and they tell Nick how dirty it's going to be in the Donald's business, while Nick feels that Kristi is going to be safe. Who cares about that? They are going to meet George Steinbrenner at the Yankee Offices. They get a tour of Yankee Stadium - and they get to see George Steinbrenner's Box Seats. George and Donald exchange a love fest between themselves and the winning team, and Nick is a very happy puppy. "George guaranteed a victory when he bought the Yankees, I guaranteed a victory for my team. I'm feeling pretty good right now."

But not everything it good in Mudville, as we still have a losing team to deal with. Omarosa and Heidi are still yapping, and Omarosa points out that she is a sensitive manager. They still talk about their preparations to get rid of her, and we may be Omarosa's first alliance, which would be a huge jump for her.

Kristi talks to Jessie about getting a game plan going on - and she tells her to follow a plan and to talk about what she did wrong - and about what they did wrong,. She also tells her to not counter-react or gripe until the Donald talks to her. Her gut tells her to trust Jessie, who is telling her not to overreact and to say as little as possible in terms of counterattacking so she doesn't look too over demanding.

It's time to go to the boardroom - and Kristi gets taken down for a bad plan, a bad project - and the disappearing money. "The money disappeared between the hand and the ass." Omarosa talked about the money and that it disappeared when she gave it to Kristi and she never saw it again. Heidi takes the high road and says that she doesn't know where the money disappeared to, but everyone else points the finger right at Kristi - including, Jessie, who was asked about where the fault was laid at - and she says that it was the Project Manager's fault. Ouch. That probably blew Kristi out of the water at that point - and her mind was probably so dazed due to Jessie turning on her that you can stick a fork in her and she'd be done for the evening. When asked on who to bring with her to the Boardroom, she should have gone after Jessie, but instead, she selects the 2 tiger sharks Omarosa and Heidi to bring with her, and I think that Kristi is as good as gone.

Carolyn and Bernie both tell Donald that Kristi is a good follower - but not necessarily a good leader. Donald even tells her that she was a superstar - until now. "I saw Heidi fighting for her life, I saw Omarosa fighting for her life...you didn't fight for your life. You're fired." Kristi asks if she can talk, but Donald said that it wasn't going to matter, and that she's gone.

So why did Kristi get booted? Well, sure, some people say it was because Jessie backstabbed her, but I didn't see as much as that, because Jessie did give her a plan to list out what happened - and Kristi didn't follow it at all because she didn't say anything in terms of why anyone else was to blame - and Jessie did tell her to say that. She knew that she was to blame for a lot of it, and even without Jessie saying anything, she was going to play it wrong because she wasn't going to defend the hardest accusations against her. You can't really blame Jessie, because she was never in the board room, so she didn't really know what to expect either. In the words of Bernie, "She took the heat without any defense, which meant that it was all true."

Omarosa has learned a lot - so she is still in the game - what happens when the people who don't want her in the game find out? We'll see in 7 days...