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Eighteen men and women have been chosen by the most powerful man in real estate for a 15-week job interview, in which only one can be named president of one of his companies.

Who will Donald Trump choose as his next Apprentice?

Who's fired this week? Check the Apprentice 2 Portfolio!

Recaps by Gordon Pepper, GSNN


FACT FILE:
Host: Donald Trump
Assistants: George Ross and Carolyn Kepcher
Creator: Mark Burnett
EP: Mark Burnett, Donald Trump, Jay Bienstock
Packager: Mark Burnett Productions, Trump Productions.
Airs: Thursdays at 9:00pm ET on NBC


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No infringement of copyright is intended by these fan pages; production companies of shows this site covers retain all rights to the sounds, images, and information contained herein. No challenge to copyright is implied. 

Web design by Jason Elliott. Logo by Chico Alexander. 

"Sweet & Lowdown" - December 2

In America's Next Top Model, we saw how b!tchy the women would get to be in the Final Four. The stakes are a lot higher here - $150,000 more worth of salary and far more prestigious. What would they do to be in the Final Four?

We'll find that out in the next 60 minutes. In the next 10 seconds, we find out who was predicted to get the boot, as predicted by the people upstairs who aren't getting the boot. They think that Jen's the most annoying - but the most annoying one, as we know, still stays. Ivana sees this and telly the guys that Andy is gone. Ivana wants to know why - and Jen decides not to say anything about it as she and Sandy saunter off to the next room.

Jen and Sandy go into the next room for a heart-to-heart talk. She tells Sandy that with the numbers down, it's every person for themselves, and you can't afford to take sides against anyone. She also says that she is looking forward to them working together, and that appeases Sandy. Jen has that way of making everyone swoon for her, doesn't she?

The next morning, the crew comes down to Trump's International Tower for their next assignment. Trump talks about his hotel's success as the 5 remaining candidates arrive. When they arrive, Trump sends them to adjoining room as he finishes his talk about hotels. When that conversation is done, he talks to them about...quality. 'Quality Speaks for Itself.' He speaks about something that he loves - M&M Mars, the biggest chocolate company in the world with over 5 billion dollars worth of sales last year. Each team will be creating a new candy bar for M&M's called 'The M'Azing Bar', which is a bar of chocolate with tine M&M pieces in them. They have to work in the assembly bar as their inspectors will be going through their product. The team that makes the most profit by selling all of the bars that pass inspection will win the challenge.

Ivana is the captain of Apex, while Sandy is the captain of Mosaic. Donald reminds them that, like last year, once they get to the final four, they are on their own, so there will be no exemption carry-over for this task. Sorry, Ivana and Sandy. With that, Donald leaves and the teams hurry over to M&M Mars.

Donald's rule this week? 'Know Your Enemy' Donald says to never underestimate your opponent, as that's the worst thing you can do. IF you assume that your opponent is better than you and plan for it, it will lead you to victory.

At the assembly line, there are no Oompa Loompas or chocolate river (which Kevin realized when he walked in), but there were things to be learned as everyone takes the tour. They heat the chocolate, put the M&M's in there, then put another layer of chocolate in and then cool it off. Kevin takes charge, which is fine...if he was the project manager. He isn't, and Ivana is not happy about it.

On the other side, Sandy and Jen (who Sandy accuses of being a plastic mannequin - OUCH!), run the shop - and promptly makes a mess. As Carolyn looks on , the manager tells her that they are on a 10 bar an hour pace - which is not very good. Carolyn watches two unwatched candy bars fall right into the garbage bin. 'Genius' says Carolyn, while Sandy says that they want to take it slower - if they make bars of better quality.

How much quality is yet to be seen as the inspectors show up. They didn't think that Mosaic's quality was that bad, but they snap some bars and they only have 290 to sell - a number that has Jennifer worried. She has a right to worry, as Apex gets 323 bars to pass inspection.

Jen and Sandy realize that the other team have the better numbers - but they strategize and create the image of 'The M&M Sisters'. Jen created the idea of them wearing identical red on black outfits (with glitter in their...chest region), low cut black dresses and high heels. They get a marketing van - but they are going to try to sell candy...by the eye candy, according to Sandy. 'We're willing to do just about anything - within reason'. I have a feeling that we'll be looking back on this quote later on in the episode.

Apex doesn't have identical outfits - conversely, they are selling in casual clothes and Ivana has on a white undershirt, which is not very impressive when you want to sell something. They catch the Wall Street Crowd and sell them for 1 for $2.00, and 2 for $3.00. Well, Kelly and Ivana does, but Kevin sell them at 1 for 1 dollar. That comes without Ivana's say so, and her frustration at Kevin is heating up...

it would heat up even more if she knew what Sandy and Jen were doing. They go over to workers and sells each bar at $5.00 a pop. That's a lot of money to charge for a bar - but it works as they sell it to men, women - even children. None of them seem to be offended by the scantily worn clothing. 'We could have gone over the top - but we didn't' says Sandy - and she's right.

Ivana is selling the candy - and finds a consumer who already bought candy - from Jen and Sandy. Uh-oh. She finds out that they were charging $5 a pop - and getting people to buy it. That concerns Ivana, who realizes that she has to do something or they are going to be sunk. They decide to go over to where they are selling and undercut them by selling in their territory.

Ivana goes over to sell candy past Jen and Sandy, who just swat her away and call her an @$$. Ivana compares them to cheap strippers out in a Texas Saloon - and then decides to do some stripping of her own. 'I got too cheap hookers walking around for $5 a bar. For $20 a bar, I'll take off my skirt.' WHA? An obviously concerned-looking Carolyn watches as Ivana takes off her skirt and shows off her bikini shorts. She thinks that she needs to do this 3 or 4 more times to make the profit. ON my calculations, based on the fact that they lose $3-$4 per each 'normal' sale, she will have to do that another 50 more times - and for that, she may as well hire real ladies of the night to do her bidding and charge $100 for a bar and a creamy surprise.

Did the stripping work? as we go into the Board Room, we see that Apex made a profit of $560.75 (which isn't much stripping. Mosaic, at $5 a bar, made a profit of $1,023.11, which easily gives them the win. The Donald was impressed, as two women who hated each other makes off with the win.

For their reward, the winners get to go see Bill Rancic in Chicago and give them a tour. Even more importantly, they get to pick his brain about the final interviewing process. Bill shows them the 7 foot model of the new tower and takes them through the suite. After the tour, they strategize about what's next. Bill tells them that everything that they have done now goes out the window, as the interviewers don't care about that. He says that different paths can lead to the same situation. Bill tells them that now, it's not about why the other person isn't qualified - it's why you ARE qualified. That is very good advice, and they seem to drink it in like it was...well...hot chocolate.

Back in NYC, Sandy asks Kelly who he would fire. Kelly says that he isn't going to give an answer, but he will give it AFTER the Board Room, so he doesn't help or hurt anyone. He says that it's a travesty that Ivana or Kevin would be gone, since he thinks that either of them are stronger than either Jennifer or Sandy. Ivana and Kevin say that they will play as cleanly as possible, but they both realize that for them to win, one of them has to go home.

On to the Board Room we go. Donald asks why, and Kevin says that thy got outplayed, while Ivana says that it wasn't about pricing. Donald disagrees with them and Kelly says that they underestimated them. George takes Kelly to task, saying that it's a huge flaw. Kelly tells Ivana that she couldn't control Kevin when he sets the price. He says that he didn't set the price too low, but Kelly said that Kevin sold it at the lower price. When asked who she would fire however, he said that he would fire Ivana, because she was the project manager.

We go back to Ivana and her flashing for $20 for a candy bar. She says that it was a gimmick, which is all well and good, but then addresses both of them by starting with 'Look'..., which isn't all well and good and Carolyn calls her on it. She says that she shouldn't have done it, but she did it because she had to raise her price. Carolyn corrects her and says that she wasn't selling a candy bar, and Ivana can only nod in silence.

It's deliberation time, and George says that Ivana at least stepped up and tried something while the other two people did nothing but cut the price. Carolyn completely disagrees with what she did. 'This is someone who's going to run one of your companies, period.'

The group comes in, and Donald asks who she would have fired between Kevin and Kelly. She says Kelly, because she knew Kevin more. Kevin says that he would have fired Ivana, because she lost twice. Going into records, Ivana is 0-2, Kevin is 2-0 and Kelly is 3-0. That statistic is damning, and while Ivana wants to see Jen fired, as they have identical 0-2 records.

Donald gives her a chance to defend herself, and she says that she is smarter than Kevin - and that's not what Donald wanted to hear. Donald gives Ivana one more try, but instead of going after the fact that Kevin lost the task because of the pricing, she asks Donald to give her a chance. He says that he is not hiring a stripper, and that, combined with her many mistakes over the show and her 0-2 record, gets her fired. Donald does this, smacks the desk, and makes a shooting motion with his fingers. That was cold, Donald.

Donald said that he had no choice, as the records showed that Kelly and Kevin have yet to lose as project manager, and Ivana had yet to win. To make it even more damning, she could have gone after Kevin on his one vulnerable point - and didn't.

No ratings necessary from now on, as we get to the final four. So who do I think wins? I think that Kelly, who hasn't made a mistake yet (or one that the editors wanted us to see) is a shoe-in for the interview. I think that Kevin is going to once again sweat, and that will cost him. As for the women, I think the Jen-bot will use that charisma to get past Sandy, making a Jen/Kelly finals. Let's see in 7 days if I am right.

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