Last week, Leslie was fired after Gold Rush’s fourth straight loss. Sadly, she didn’t even get to eat her birthday cake before she was shuttled off in the taxi. Lee returned to a rather lukewarm welcome in the suite where he promptly volunteered to be the next Project Manager because, as he put it, that seat in the boardroom has his a** imprinted on it. :lol:

The teams meet up with Trump to learn that for this task they’ll be working on behalf of Ameriquest and will be monitored by not just one Trump offspring, but two! Yes, both Ivanka and Donald, Jr. are joining us this week. The Donald channels Randal from last season in a very disturbing way by calling his children his “true apprentii.” :S: Just because Randall said it doesn’t make it an actual word, Donald! Trump plugs his hotel for a minute then tries to draw a parallel between Ameriquest and Ellis Island by linking Ameriquest to the American Dream. Finally, he stops all the malarkey and gets to explaining the task.

This week, teams will take photos of Ellis Island to create a souvenir program that they will then sell. The programs will be limited edition and the proceeds will benefit the Statue of Liberty Ellis Island Foundation. Teams will take pictures themselves but will work with graphic designers to produce the programs.

Team Gold Rush gets started quickly and everyone falls naturally into their roles. Lee, as PM, sends Michael and Tarek to Ellis Island. Michael claims experience with photography and Tarek volunteers to do the writing. Charmaine stays behind with Lee to strategize and to call area hotels to attempt to broker a bulk sale of their programs. She makes phone call after phone call, but seems to get nowhere.

At Synergy, Allie takes on the role of PM, saying that three of her four grandparents immigrated through Ellis Island. She takes her whole team to the island, where Tammy takes copious notes while on the tour. Andrea, of course, disagrees with every decision that Allie makes, causing Roxanne to declare that “Andrea’s goal in life is to make the PM’s life hell.” Somehow, they get the information they need and head to the ferry.

Unfortunately, once the team is aboard, Tammy discovers that she’s left her notebook with all of their information behind. She and Allie backtrack to find it and end up getting left behind.:O

Trump’s Tip of the Week
“All in the Family”
If you love your family, love your family! If you love your business, love your business! But you can love your family and your business! Look at sweet Ivanka is!

Team Gold Rush is now working with their graphic designer and Tarek has really taken the lead with the creative vision. Okay, he’s taken the lead completely. Charmaine notes that anyone walking into the room would think that Tarek was the PM and also that she pretty much doesn’t want to win because Lee would get credit for it.

Team Synergy is also with their graphic designer, but minus Allie and Tammy, who are still trying to catch a ferry. Andrea immediately takes advantage of Allie’s absence and starts calling the shots. When Allie arrives, though, the cover of the program seems to have a picture of Ellis Island with the Statue of Liberty floating in the air/water around it. Allie has to make changes, which frustrates Andrea. Andrea pretty much gives up and stomps off.

The day of program sales, Gold Rush gets up early to beat Synergy to the best location. It works perfectly because they set up shop in Battery Park where tourists gather to wait for a ferry to take them to Ellis Island. They have a captive audience of people ready to get a jump-start on their Ellis Island experience. Synergy arrives at Battery Park later, but can’t get started because of Gold Rush’s lead and their superior product. Synergy decides to go to the island and sell their programs at the museum, but they still don’t have much luck because everyone arriving already had the chance to buy Gold Rush’s program before they got on the ferry.

Gold Rush’s luck continues as they get a call from one of the hotels Charmaine had called the night before and they sell 100 programs at a cost of $85. It seems that they’re finally getting something right, which is emphasized when we see Andrea trying to sell her programs. Her stern demeanor just doesn’t translate into happy customers. As Synergy sinks into their final hour of sales, Andrea brings up the idea of bulk sales. Unfortunately, it’s way too late.

The teams meet up in the Boardroom where Trump asks Allie how their team did. She says that they’ve had better days, and immediately starts pointing the finger at Andrea. Trump is surprised, because he thought Andrea was a star, but Roxanne agrees with Allie. Gold Rush couldn’t be happier, until it’s confirmed that they won the task. Synergy made a total of $843.40, but Gold Rush almost doubles that at $1548.68.

For their reward, Gold Rush gets to play golf with both Trump and pro golfer VJ Singh. Sorry, golfers, if I spelled his name wrong! Additionally, they each get a set of golf clubs. Lee, always the politician, is on top of the world, claiming the victory as his. He wisely tells us that, “winning is the best remedy for feeling like crap.” Charmaine, however, finds the win bittersweet because it’s given Lee so much leverage.

The members of Synergy, minus Andrea, meet to strategize about how to best throw her under the bus. Allie, Roxanne, and Tammy are ready to draw blood What happened to sweet, smiley Allie? but Sean isn’t so sure. He just doesn’t want to get into a political battle and he really does respect Andrea, which he tells her after she announces that she overheard their whole conversation. Andrea’s confidant, though, and doesn’t think that she’ll really need help from Sean in the boardroom.

Boardroom
Allie wastes no time and gets straight to blaming Andrea. She manages to do it without looking too hostile, and Roxanne jumps in, saying that Andrea is not a team player. Andrea counters with the classic “they just hate me because I’m the best” defense, but it doesn’t seem to take her very far. Sean tries to temper the campaign against Andrea by saying that Allie should be fired for her ability to manager relationships. Unfortunately for Andrea, though, his argument works both ways. Tammy agrees with the majority, saying that Andrea is disruptive and ruins the chemistry that the rest of them have. The nail is put in the coffin when the topic of bulk sales came up – if Andrea is an expert at it, why didn’t she suggest it early in the task? The boardroom isn’t the bloodbath that Allie predicted, but the outcome is in her favor – Andrea is fired, and Allie doesn’t even have to bring her back. It’s all over for Andrea, but we do get one last warm fuzzy moment between Trump and his kids.:wub:

In the taxi, Andrea is teary-eyed, saying that there’s a reason why she works for herself. I’m just shocked to see that she actually cries.

Next week: is there a romance brewing?