The Apprentice (U.S. season 4)

This article is about the U.S. season. For the UK season, see The Apprentice (UK series four).

The Apprentice 4
Winner	Randal Pinkett
Season run	September 22, 2005 – December 15, 2005
Filming Dates	April 2005 – May 2005
Number of episodes	13
Number of candidates	18
Teams	Excel and Capital Edge
Season chronology
Previous season	The Apprentice 3
Next season	The Apprentice 5

The Apprentice 4 is the fourth season of The Apprentice, with Donald Trump as the executive producer and host. The show was aired on Thursday nights at 9 p.m. on NBC and started September 22, 2005.

This was the first season of the show not to place in the Top 20 Nielsen Ratings; it averaged #38 with 11.01 million viewers.

Candidates

Unhappy with both the choice of candidates and the "street smarts" vs. "book smarts" premise from the preceding season, Trump went to the auditions and hand-picked 17 of the 18 candidates on Season 4.^[1] In addition to candidate handpicking, Trump decided to go back to the premise of men versus women (there was eventually corporate restructuring). The all-women team named their corporation Capital Edge while the all-men team named their corporation Excel.

The winning project manager, throughout the season, may be exempt from firing for the following week if the majority of the other members in their team believed he/she did a satisfactory job. In previous seasons, the winning project manager would be exempt from firing.

Team 1	Team 2
Capital Edge	Excel

Candidate	Age	Origin	Result
Randal Pinkett - Consulting Firm Owner	34	Somerset, New Jersey	Hired by Trump
Rebecca Jarvis - Financial Journalist	23	Chicago, Illinois	Fired in the Season Finale
Alla Wartenberg - Salon & Spa Chain Owner	31	Las Vegas, Nevada	Fired in week 11
Felisha Mason - Real Estate Developer	29	Kansas City, Missouri
Adam Israelov - Risk Manager	22	Atlanta, Georgia	Fired in week 10
Clay Lee - Realtor	28	College Station, Texas	Fired in week 9
Marshawn Evans - Recent Law School Graduate	26	Atlanta, Georgia	Fired in week 8
Brian Mandelbaum - Print Company Executive	23	New York, New York
Markus Garrison - Inventor	41	Sarasota, Florida	Fired in week 7
James Dillon - Sales Executive	27	Alexandria, Virginia	Fired in week 61
Mark Lamkin - Wealth Manager	35	Louisville, Kentucky
Jennifer Murphy - Ad Sales Manager	26	Los Angeles, California
Josh Shaw - Beauty Company Owner	30	New York, New York
Kristi Caudell - Sales Executive	24	Gainesville, Georgia	Fired in week 5
Toral Mehta - Investment Banker	29	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Fired in week 4
Jennifer Wallen - Realty Company Owner	31	Anthem, Arizona	Fired in week 3
Chris Valletta - Marketing Executive	27	Dallas, Texas	Fired in week 2
Melissa Holovach - Real Estate Investor	30	Tampa, Florida	Fired in week 1

^Note 1 : In an unannounced move, Trump fired four of the people on the losing team at the same time.

Weekly results

Candidate	Original team	Week 5 team	Week 6 team	Week 7 team	Week 9 team	Final task team	Application result	Record as project manager
Randal Pinkett	Excel	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Excel	Excel	Excel	Hired by Trump	3-0 (win in weeks 3, 7, & 10)
Rebecca Jarvis	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Excel	Excel	Excel	Capital Edge	Fired in the Season Finale	1-2 (win in week 11, loss in weeks 3 & 9)
Alla Wartenberg	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge		Fired in week 11	1-1 (win in week 6, loss in week 10)
Felisha Mason	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge		Fired in week 11	1-2 (win in week 9, loss in weeks 4 & 11)
Adam Israelov	Excel	Excel	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge		Fired in week 10	0-1 (loss in week 7)
Clay Lee	Excel	Excel	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Excel		Fired in week 9	2-0 (win in weeks 4 & 8)
Marshawn Evans	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Excel	Excel			Fired in week 8	1-0 (win in week 2)
Brian Mandelbaum	Excel	Excel	Excel	Excel			Fired in week 8	1-1 (win in week 5, loss in week 8)
Markus Garrison	Excel	Excel	Capital Edge	Capital Edge			Fired in week 7	1-0 (win in week 1)
James Dillon	Excel	Excel	Excel				Fired in week 6
Mark Lamkin	Excel	Excel	Excel				Fired in week 6
Jennifer Murphy	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Excel				Fired in week 6	0-1 (loss in week 5)
Josh Shaw	Excel	Excel	Excel				Fired in week 6	0-1 (loss in week 6)
Kristi Caudell	Capital Edge	Capital Edge					Fired in week 5	0-1 (loss in week 1)
Toral Mehta	Capital Edge						Fired in week 4
Jennifer Wallen	Capital Edge						Fired in week 3
Chris Valletta	Excel						Fired in week 2	0-1 (loss in week 2)
Melissa Holovach	Capital Edge						Fired in week 1

Elimination Chart
Candidate	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	13
Randal	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	HIRED
Rebecca	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	WIN	FIRED
Alla	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	FIRED
Felisha	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	BR	FIRED
Adam	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	LOSE	IN	IN	FIRED
Clay	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	BR	WIN	FIRED
Marshawn	IN	WIN	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Brian	IN	IN	IN	IN	WIN	IN	IN	FIRED
Markus	WIN	BR	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
James	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Mark	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Jennifer M.	IN	IN	BR	IN	LOSE	FIRED
Josh	IN	IN	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Kristi	LOSE	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Toral	IN	IN	IN	FIRED
Jennifer W.	IN	IN	FIRED
Chris	IN	FIRED
Melissa	FIRED

     The contestant was on the losing team.

     The contestant was on the losing team, but had been granted immunity in the previous task.

     The contestant was hired and won the competition.

     The contestant won as project manager on his/her team.

     The contestant lost as project manager on his/her team.

     The contestant was brought to the final boardroom.

     The contestant was fired.

     The contestant lost as project manager and was fired.

Episodes

Week 1: Let's Get Physical

• Air date: September 22, 2005
• Sponsor: Bally Total Fitness
• Project: Teams had to design and market a workout class for Bally Total Fitness.
• Capital Edge project manager: Kristi
• Excel project manager: Markus
• Winning team: Excel
  • Team's profit: $527
  • Reason for win: Despite a lack of leadership from Markus, Excel had a better location than Capital Edge and focused their efforts on Bally's existing customers, taking advantage of the captive audience.
  • Exemption: In a new twist, the winning team would have to vote if their project manager would be exempt from being fired. When Trump asked if Markus (the winning project manager) should be exempt, only Adam and Randal voted yes, which was not a majority vote and did not grant Markus immunity from the next firing.
  • Excel's reward: Friar's Club lunch with Donald Trump.
• Losing team: Capital Edge
  • Team's profit: $516
  • Reasons for loss: Even though they had lost by only $11, Kristi's idea for the marketing flyer was awful. The flyer that came out from the graphic designer had read "Triple XXX Threat", and alluded to pornography.
  • Initial boardroom: A majority of Capital Edge said that Melissa was very negative, dramatic, and obnoxious.^[2] Melissa acknowledged that she let Kristi get under her skin,^[2] but she reminded Trump that her insubordination was not why they lost the task, and that Kristi was mainly responsible, due to her shoddy leadership and that blatant-made marketing flyer.
  • Sent to boardroom: Kristi and Melissa
  • Fired: Melissa - for being an incredibly disruptive force, not getting along with the team, and for not being able to work with women.^[2]
• Notes:
  • After splitting the candidates into the two teams, Trump offered a reward to the first person to reach his helicopter, which was on the other side of the golf course. The winner's team would be granted the use of the helicopter for the duration of the task. Mark, from Excel, reached the helicopter first.^[3]
  • When the team voted not to grant Markus immunity for the following week, Josh said that the men did not intend to grant any winning project manager immunity during the course of the season, as they felt that no candidate could single-handedly be responsible for a team's victory. Ultimately however, every other victorious project manager this season (apart from Clay in Week 8) would be voted to receive immunity by their team-mates.
  • Kristi asks if she could bring only one person back into the boardroom. Trump complied, making it the first time in Apprentice history that only one candidate was brought back, when they had the option to bring back two. This would not be the only time, as future candidates would also only bring back one person to the boardroom in this season.
  • Melissa's firing marked the first time that a female competitor was the first person to be fired from the show. All previous seasons featured a man being the first one fired.
  • Kristi made a smug smirk after Trump fired Melissa, and Trump immediately chastised her for it, saying she had "nothing to be proud of".
  • Melissa virtually destroyed her chances of being hired by Trump and continuing on the show when she admitted (repeatedly) that she can not get along with women. She also added that women generally dislike her because they feel threatened or intimidated by her beauty and intelligence, which did not impress Trump or his advisors.
  • Melissa later appeared on a Dr. Phil episode where she continued to blame Kristi for her firing (though she didn't refer to Kristi by name) before conceding that she hadn't done a good job and needed to look more closely at herself for that.
  • During the filming of the first task, Randal was told that his grandmother had died. After announcing Excel's win, Trump gave Randal the opportunity to leave the show. Randal declined, saying he felt that his grandmother would have wanted him to stay on the show.^[4] During the filming of episode 2, Trump allowed Randal to borrow his helicopter and attend the funeral.
• Episode 1 Recap from NBC.com

Week 2: There's No Little "i" in Team

• Air date: September 29, 2005
• Sponsor: Lamborghini
• Project: Teams had to create an advertising campaign for Lamborghini cars.
• Capital Edge project manager: Marshawn
• Excel project manager: Chris
• Winning team: Capital Edge
  • Reasons for victory: Their campaign was very strong overall and had no significant weaknesses, and the Lamborghini executives particularly liked the fact that their campaign conveyed the message through images and emotion alone, without needing too much text. They also liked their advertisement, presentation, and the video.
  • Exemption: All of Capital Edge (with the exception of Kristi) voted to have Marshawn exempt from firing in Week 3.
  • Capital Edge's reward: Hockey with New York Islanders legends and prospects.
    • At the reward, Rebecca fell and broke her ankle.
• Losing team: Excel
  • Reasons for loss: Both teams' videos were phenomenal,^{[citation needed]} but there was a difference about presentations and the ad posters. And it falls down with Excel. Lamborghini judges felt Excel's presentation was too wordy. They were not sure about their concepts, they felt it was out of key. And frankly, grammatical errors spotted on the team's printed ad posters; one ad read "Green With Envy" whilst Markus tried to inform his team it should have read "Green With Envy?". And the second ad, the executives didn't like the fact that the Italian on "Rebrith of Italian Intimidation" had a lowercase "i" on their ad.^[5]
  • Sent to boardroom: Chris and Markus
    • Firing verdict: Prior to Chris choosing only Markus back to the boardroom, Trump made it clear that Chris should bring Mark into the boardroom, because Mark was responsible for the bad grammar on the ads. Chris took the blame for Mark's mistake, saying he believed in Mark and when Mark failed, he failed too.^[6]
  • Fired: Chris - for allowing his emotions to influence his decision-making after bringing in Markus back to the boardroom and for essentially being responsible for the loss after not bringing in Mark instead.
• Notes:
  • Chris was adamant about getting Markus fired (because he disrupted the team's unity) and even though several other members of Excel wanted Markus gone as well, Trump and his advisors reminded them that Markus was not responsible for losing the task, and he even had the correct idea for one of their ads.
  • Trump and his advisors saw potential in Chris, but they did not like the fact that he deliberately brought back Markus and not Mark, after Trump clearly stated not to do so otherwise. Chris had also brought back Markus alone, which did not statistically improve his chances of not being fired.
  • In his exit interview, Chris continued to bad-mouth Markus.
  • In the middle of the task, Randal left to attend his grandmother’s funeral. He arrived back at the agency as Excel was getting ready to present their advertising campaign to Lamborghini.^[7]
  • The little "i" in the episode’s title refers to the error in Excel’s advertising. Mark thought that using the small "i" in "Rebirth of Italian Intimidation" to match the small "i's" in Lamborghini would have looked better.^[8]
  • Because of the NHL lockout taking place during filming of this task, the reward only involved Islanders legends and prospects. Active players were not eligible to participate in the reward because of the lockout not having been settled at the time of taping.
• Episode 2 Recap from NBC.com

Week 3: Something Old, Something New

• Air date: October 6, 2005
• Sponsor: Best Buy Geek Squad
• Project: Excel and Capital Edge were both given space at the Cedar Crest Village Home in Pompton Plains, New Jersey to host a technology expo for the senior citizens. All the equipment was purchased at Best Buy using the allotted Best Buy gift cards.^[9]
• Capital Edge project manager: Rebecca
• Excel project manager: Randal
• Winning team: Excel
  • Reason for victory: The men created a lot of buzz around their expo, and focused on demonstrations that would be easy to follow and would allow the senior citizens to interact with the new technology.
  • Exemption: Excel voted unanimously to have Randal exempt from firing for Week 4.^[10]
  • Excel's reward: Handing out toys to children at a hospital.
• Losing team: Capital Edge
  • Reasons for loss: Although the technology demonstrations were generally okay (with the notable exception of Toral, who got completely lost while trying to demonstrate a TV), the team was let down badly by Jennifer W's poor organisation and decoration of the event, which looked bare and uninviting. Particular attention was drawn to the fact that some of the promotional material read "Tethno Expo" instead of "Techno Expo," but was still used anyway.
  • Sent to boardroom: Rebecca, Jennifer M., and Jennifer W., in spite of the team's criticisms and a strong suggestion by Trump for Toral to be brought back.^[11]
    • Boardroom Verdict: Trump disagreed with Rebecca’s decision to not bring Toral back, as well as her decision to bring in Jennifer M. for the boardroom; however, he felt that Rebecca had potential. Rebecca also strongly defended Toral to the point where Trump allowed Toral one last chance to prove herself.^[12] Carolyn found Capital Edge’s presentation boring,^[11] dull and drab^[11] and was also the one to point out to Jennifer W. that instead of the cake saying "Techno Expo", it read "Tethno Expo".^[13] Jennifer W. was exposed to be primarily liable for the refreshments and the decorations, prompting Trump to find Jennifer W. to ultimately be liable for the loss.^[11]
  • Fired: Jennifer W. - for being the most accountable to her team's failure due to very poor event planning.
• Notes:
  • Rebecca started out the episode on crutches after breaking her ankle during the reward from the previous task.^[14]
  • After the candidates had left the boardroom, referring to Rebecca, Trump told Carolyn and George, "This girl's either gonna be great or a disaster."^[11]
  • In her exit interview, Jennifer W. claimed she is a great event planner.
• Episode 3 Recap from NBC.com

Week 4: Ice Cream of Genie

• Airdate: October 13, 2005
• Sponsor: Dairy Queen
• Project: Teams had to create a new promotional character for the Dairy Queen Blizzard Treat.
• Capital Edge project manager: Felisha
• Excel project manager: Clay
• Winning team: Excel
  • Reasons for victory: The team incorporated both the Dairy Queen logo and ice cream into their character. The executives felt it should have had a little more in the way of Blizzard Treat-specific features, but the finished product was still far more suitable than Capital Edge's effort.
  • Exemption: All of Excel voted for Clay to be exempt from firing in week 5 before the reward was announced
  • Excel's reward: Playing baseball with the New York Mets
• Losing team: Capital Edge
  • Reasons for loss: Although both teams had phenomenal presentations,^{[citation needed]} the women team's character was overly cartoonish and did not advertise the Dairy Queen or Blizzard Treat brand at all. While Jennifer M. lobbied for the Dairy Queen logo to be placed on their mascot design, the entire team had vetoed it. The executives felt it wasn't about kids in creative, it was just about how the character needs to be teenaged and more mature.
  • Sent to boardroom: No final boardroom
  • Fired: Toral, for excessive procrastination, including but not limited to not stepping up and accepting the leadership role as Project Manager, and for getting caught lying about why she didn't participate more effectively on the task.
• Notes:
  • Rebecca reluctantly had to admit that she would fire Toral when Trump asked her, for the aforementioned critical error described.
  • Toral not only did nothing in this task, but also procrastinated during the costume presentation phase, including but not limited to not giving Felisha a hard reason why she can't wear the costume. She also disassociated herself from the result, saying the team deserved to lose, but Marshawn strongly pointed out that Toral didn't contribute to either wins or losses.
  • Although Alla and Kristi wasn't polite throughout the task, she alongside Kristi, Jennifer M., and Felisha asked Toral to wear the costume (though the request wasn't polite nonetheless), but Toral refused not only because the costume was poorly designed, but also for personal reasons (including but not limited to her religious beliefs), however not bringing up the hard reasons why she can't wear "silly-designed costumes" to her colleagues prior to both the presentation and before the boardroom.
  • Episode 4 Recap from NBC.com

Week 5: Lost In Space

• Airdate: October 20, 2005
• Sponsor: Sony Pictures
• Project: The teams had to design a parade float in order to advertise for the upcoming release of the film Zathura. The winning float would be chosen by the film's director, Jon Favreau, and a Sony Pictures executive.
  • Corporate restruction: Randal transferred to Capital Edge to even out the teams, since the women were down to 6 members
• Capital Edge project manager: Jennifer M.
• Excel project manager: Brian
• Winning team: Excel (Brian exempted)
  • Reason for victory: Despite Brian giving an awful presentation to Favreau and the Sony executive, their float was well-built and made strong use of the Zathura branding, even having an audio clip of the correct pronunciation to ensure that the film's name would be remembered by people who saw the float.
  • Excel's reward: A Recording Session with Wyclef Jean where the men recorded a song called "Rubble Man".
• Losing team: Capital Edge
  • Reason for loss: Capital Edge's float was built to a far lower quality than their rivals' effort, most notably suffering from totally inconsistent scaling and the film's logo being placed too high up. Jennifer M. mispronounced Zathura (calling it "Zenthura") several times during the presentation, which gave the executives a very bad impression of Jennifer's team.
  • Sent to boardroom: Jennifer M. & Kristi
  • Fired: Kristi, for being too controlling, a distraction and for being a nuisance to work with.
• Notes:
  • Brian also mispronounced the film's name (as "Zarutha") during his initial meeting with Favreau. On that occasion Favreau took the error in good humor, noting that he had mispronounced the name himself early in production, and Brian decided to incorporate the audio recording as a result of this.
  • Carolyn believed Jennifer M. had made too many mistakes and was visibly displeased when Kristi got axed.
  • After the firing, Jennifer tried to apologize to Kristi for getting her fired, but Kristi quickly snapped back at her.
  • Instead of the usual theme at the end of the broadcast, "Rubble Man" was broadcast as the show ended.
• Episode 5 Recap from NBC.com

Week 6: Take Me Out to the Boardroom

• Airdate: October 27, 2005
• Sponsor: Dick's Sporting Goods
• Project: The teams had to design a sporting theme that is designed to increase sales. Capital Edge chose golf and Excel chose baseball.
  • Corporate restructuring: Because Capital Edge lost 4 tasks (3 in a row), Carolyn asked each team's project manager to send three players they believed were weak to the other side. Alla sent Jennifer M., Rebecca, and Marshawn to Excel. Josh sent Clay, Adam, and Markus to Capital Edge.
• Capital Edge project manager: Alla
• Excel project manager: Josh
• Winning team: Capital Edge (Alla exempt)
  • Capital Edge's reward: Taking a private jet to Montauk for a fishing trip and seafood dinner on the beach.
• Losing team: Excel
  • Reasons for loss: Excel did not have any sales point. Josh, James, Mark, and Jennifer M. dropped the ball. They were doing nothing but marketing instead of selling the products. Plus, they had a batting cage that took up the entire space and it didn't have any room to see the products from the guests, as the idea of putting the batting cage came from James. The only sales management that was in leading was Brian, Rebecca, and Marshawn.
  • Apprentice first: Usually, Trump will allow the project leader to select 1-3 people to go back into the boardroom. But Josh was responsible for this worst failure in the history of The Apprentice, so Trump didn't give Josh the opportunity to do it. So what Trump is going to do is send Brian to the suite because of his exemption from the 5th task and followed the task properly, and also Rebecca and Marshawn since they followed the task properly.
  • Sent to boardroom: Josh, Jennifer M., James, Mark
    • Initial tension: Josh is criticized for allowing Mark and James to do the marketing, but Bill also questioned that Jennifer was losing respect of him, Trump, and Carolyn.
  • Fired: All four of them are fired for the largest loss ever in the history of The Apprentice, plus the following reasons:
    • Josh for having a poor quality of leadership, inability to control his team, and for making a numerous amount of horrible decisions.
    • Jennifer M. for not delivering her promises, losing her control, acting disrespectful towards Trump and his advisers, along with making too many excuses for her failures.
    • James for building a batting cage which forced merchandise away from the display, which defied their purpose of the event and caused sales to drop drastically.
    • Mark for not selling anything, in addition to generally failing to step up and positively contribute in the previous tasks.
• Notes:
  • See Trump's mass-firing quote
  • Rancic assured Trump that this was the only choice Trump had, since none of the four stepped up or hit the mark correctly post-firing.
  • This was the first time that Trump was not present to assign the teams their task. Carolyn sat in Trump's chair and assigned the corporate reform and the task.
  • This was only the second time where more than one person was fired in a single episode outside of the interviews. The first time was when both Wes & Maria were fired in the second season.
  • This was the worst boardroom loss ever for a team on the history of The Apprentice (to be surpassed by Season 7); Capital Edge boosted sales by 74%, and Excel's sales went down by 34%. The margin was 108% and this irritated Trump, as the margin of defeat was large beyond imagination, although viewers recall Trump stating that he had to do something to seriously change Capital Edge due to the bad team record (as of the conclusion of this task, Capital Edge is 2-4).
  • This was also the first time that none of the candidates from the final boardroom returned to the suite, because all final boardroom candidates of them were fired, another first in the history of The Apprentice. Trump wasn't happy about the disastrous loss margin, and Bill found the four boardroom candidates to be equally responsible for the loss which gave Trump enough information and reason to conduct a mass exodus.
  • Before the boardroom, Josh told Mark he would bring back Jennifer M., but that he didn't want to bring back James. Josh also thought that Brian, Rebecca, and Marshawn did an excellent job doing the sales.
  • Rancic thought Jennifer M. promised great things, but he didn't see her deliver on any of her promises.
  • After the boardroom, all four fired candidates loaded themselves and their luggage into one waiting taxicab. During the exit interview, all four just sat awkwardly and never looked at or spoke to each other.
• Episode 6 Recap from NBC.com
  • All four fired!

Week 7: Back to School

• Airdate: November 3, 2005
• Sponsor: The Learning Annex
  • Corporate restruction: Since Excel was grievously decimated after the previous boardroom, the team is given the opportunity to take a Capital Edge member, and in turn they take back Randal, who becomes the team's PM for the task.
• Project: The teams had to promote a new class for the Learning Annex. Capital Edge chose Sex in the Workplace and Excel chose Stand Out to Hit the Mark.
• Capital Edge project manager: Adam
• Excel project manager: Randal (Excel took him back from Capital Edge)
• Winning team: Excel (Randal exempted)
  • Excel's reward: A shopping spree at Michael Kors.
• Losing team: Capital Edge
  • Reasons for loss: According to the guests in the presentation, the team had a terrible presentation and Clay offended the guests from making offensive comments and it ruined the class. The team was criticized for having no agenda, no flow-ideas, poor presentation, and for being boring.
  • Sent to boardroom: Adam, Clay, Markus
  • Final Verdict: When Adam brought a critical statement when Clay made the offensive comments, he believed that Clay is not Anti-Semitic in a provocative way.
  • Fired: Markus, for not contributing anything, for not doing anything in the presentation, and for talking too much while not even having a point.
• Notes:
  • Clay calls Adam a "shy, tight Jewish boy" during the sex presentation and was immediately chastised for it by Adam and George. Clay said that Adam was discussing his not wanting to pay a lot of money on dates, and he was going with Adam's own idea. While Adam did not say that Clay was anti-Semitic, he did cite the comments as an example of Clay being obnoxious and stupid.
  • Markus is seen smoking a cigar before returning to the boardroom. Once doing the presentation, he was seen sitting in the back, playing with a yo-yo.
  • Trump asked Clay whether he was a homosexual and Adam whether he had any sexual experience. In a typical job interview, those questions should not be asked, but this is not a typical job interview.
• Episode 7 Recap from NBC.com

Week 8: Store Wars

• Airdate: November 10, 2005
• Prologue: After the elimination of Markus, Clay just slammed the door from coming out and he was upset from his team that he got thrown under the bus by Adam and Alla from the boardroom.
• Sponsor: Lucasfilm and Best Buy
• Project: The teams had to design an interactive display for the DVD release of Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith and the video game release of Star Wars: Battlefront II
• Capital Edge project manager: Clay
• Excel project manager: Brian
• Winning team: Capital Edge. The team voted that Clay should not be exempt, as they felt that Alla had done most of the key work on the project.
  • Capital Edge's reward: Spending time with Bill Rancic, and touring Trump Tower at City Place in White Plains—Trump deduced the winning team needed more tutelage from a proven worker since Clay is not exempt.
• Losing team: Excel
  • Reasons for loss: The executives from Lucasfilm and Best Buy were confused about why Darth Vader was omitted in Excel's display, as he was the key character in the film. This was attributed to the fact that the team missed their meeting with the executives, which Randal had arranged for 10:15AM, but which they didn't arrive at until just after 10:45AM due to Brian deciding to set out only fifteen minutes beforehand. Additionally, while Rebecca did a creditable job presenting, it was obvious that she was not fully prepared; Marshawn had initially been set to do the presentation, but backed out with less than half an hour to go.
  • Initial boardroom: Trump was dumbfounded that Brian could think that fifteen minutes was enough time to get across Manhattan, particularly since Brian is a resident of the Murray Hill area. Carolyn brought up the issue of why Marshawn didn't present, and Marshawn was extremely evasive upon questioning by Trump and his advisers, giving several different answers before finally admitting the truth and saying that she just didn't feel like giving the presentation. She tried to claim that the whole matter was irrelevant since Excel wouldn't have won anyway, but Bill accused her of abandoning her team and failing to demonstrate her primary skill of being a good public speaker.
  • Sent to boardroom: All members of Excel—No "Internal Review" by the execs since Trump had enough evidence to fire 2 people
  • Fired: Brian and Marshawn for the following reasons:
    • Brian, for his lack of leadership, poor time management, and for his generally very poor performances over the course of the interview process.
    • Marshawn, for abandoning her role as the team's presenter, and then lying to Trump about having done so. She initially claimed that Rebecca had usurped the presenter's position from her, then changed her story and said that she voluntarily stepped down because she thought Brian could do a better job (despite his self-confessed lack of presentation experience). While Trump did not feel that she was to blame for the loss, he decided that her dishonesty and abandonment of her team made it impossible for her to continue.
• Notes:
  • This is the third time that two or more people have been fired on the Apprentice. The first occurrence was in Season 2 (Maria & Wes) and the second in Season 4 Week 6 (Jennifer, Josh, James, Mark).
  • This is also the second time this season that more than one person has been fired, making the event an Apprentice first.
  • Trump's parting shot to Brian was "at least you'll be home in fifteen minutes," referencing Brian's unrealistic estimate that they could get to their appointment in that amount of time.
• Episode 8 Recap from NBC.com

Week 9: One Hit Blunder

• Airdate: November 17, 2005
• Sponsor: XM Radio
• Corporate shuffle: Clay asked Trump if he could move from Capital Edge to Excel because he didn't like the way Adam, Alla, and Felisha were treating him. Trump agreed, and Clay joined Randal and Rebecca.
• Task: The teams had to choose an unsigned singer and create a song for them to sing. The song would be aired on XM Radio Café channel and critiqued by listeners who called in. Capital Edge worked with Levi Kreis [1] and Excel worked with Jide [2].
• Capital Edge project manager: Felisha
• Excel project manager: Rebecca
• Winning team: Capital Edge
  • Capital Edge's reward: A private helicopter tour of popular New York City buildings with Trump.
• Losing team: Excel
  • Reasons for loss: Instead of alternative rock, which XM radio specializes in, Excel decided to change genre and created a song that was not popular with the XM radio listeners. In addition, their radio channel was wrong on their marketing material poster, which Randal was responsible for.
  • Sent to boardroom: No final boardroom
  • Fired: Clay, for his very poor attitude, being a disrespectful & disruptive force, and being too difficult to work with. Trump felt that all of the members of Excel were equally to blame for the loss, but ultimately fired Clay based on his history of not getting along with his project managers, along with his failure to improve in that regard on this task.
• Notes:
  • Exemptions are no longer issued.
  • Clay was unhappy with Capital Edge, so he volunteered moving to Excel. Trump accepted his offer, but Clay implicated himself when Capital Edge became very ecstatic after Clay left the team, saying they would never want to work with him ever again. In the boardroom, Rebecca said she would also never want to work with Clay again, to which Randall agreed.
  • Both Rebecca and Randal were in serious danger of being fired; Rebecca because this was her second loss as project manager, and Randal because Trump considered the error over the channel number to be such a basic mistake that it was grounds for instant dismissal. It was strongly implied that Randal's honesty over the error (compared to Clay's refusal to admit making any significant mistakes in the task) played a major part in his survival.
• Episode 9 Recap from NBC.com

Week 10: Shaniagans

• Airdate: November 24, 2005
• Sponsor: Coty, Inc.
• Project: The teams had to wrap an object to promote Country Pop music star Shania Twain's new fragrance by Stetson. The team with the most calls and votes wins.
• Capital Edge project manager: Alla
• Excel project manager: Randal
  • Reason for Randal being project manager: Randal felt that he needed to prove himself that he made a fatal mistake on the XM Radio task.
  • Megaphone heist: When Randal called Radio Shack to ask for megaphones, the assistant told him another group of people (Capital Edge) called in for megaphones. Randal and Rebecca engaged in a "Megaphone Heist". This is the turning point of the task. Randall and Rebecca pretended to be Capital Edge's "colleagues" and went into the store to pick them up "for them". Randall and Rebecca left with only 9 instead of 10 because the tenth megaphone was set up in a display window and Rebecca was nervous of Capital Edge coming in and spotting them. When Alla called to check on Capital Edge's megaphones, the receptionist told them they had already given them to Excel.
• Winning team: Excel
  • Excel's reward: A horseback ride through Central Park and dinner with Shania Twain.
• Losing team: Capital Edge
  • Reasons for loss: Adam spent half of their budget working with the horse and carriages. This forced Felisha to cut the number of temps they could hire. They lost by 5 short calls and ending up with 873 votes. While the other team had 878 votes.
  • Boardroom issues: When Alla brought up Excel's Megaphone Heist caper, Trump and Bill Rancic thought Excel was smart and approved of it.
  • Before Verdict: Trump sent Alla back to the suite since she's not liable to this loss and being in the boardroom for the final verdict.
  • Sent to boardroom: Adam and Felisha
    • Firing points: Trump asked both Bill and Carolyn who they should fire. Carolyn first said both of them was the weakest on this task, but she wanted Felisha to be fired from her lack of hiring more temps. And Bill said Adam for his lack of contribtuions over the last six weeks and this task.
  • Fired: Adam, for terrible decision-making and spending 70% of his team's budget on horse & carriages that looked awful and ineffective. Although Felisha made a serious error by not hiring enough temps, Trump fired Adam instead for not giving any compelling reasons as to why he's better than Felisha.
• Notes:
  • Alla is the first project manager not to face the boardroom, since Trump did not consider her responsible for the loss.
  • As this episode aired on Thanksgiving weekend, a one-hour highlight package of previously unaired footage and a summary was shown.
  • The Internal Review of the Execs was performed immediately after Alla was sent back to the suite; as in the final moments of Chris from The Apprentice 3, the candidates had to remain in the boardroom although it counted as an internal review.
  • As a result, Randal won the task with his third victory as Project Manager.
• Episode 10 Recap from NBC.com

Week 11: To Lead or Not to Lead

• Airdate: December 1, 2005
• Sponsor: Microsoft
• Project: The teams had to direct a commercial promoting Microsoft's Live Meeting program.
• Capital Edge project manager: Felisha
• Excel project manager: Rebecca
• Winning team: Excel
  • Excel's reward: A private sailboat ride around New York City
    • Throughout the private sailboat ride, Randal received a surprise visit by his wife Zahara, and Rebecca received a surprise visit by her boyfriend Matt.
    • Trump chose the Private Sailboat Ride as the reward mainly because he believed that Excel needed to "relax".
• Losing team: Capital Edge
  • Reasons for loss: Microsoft executives thought their commercial was very unorganized, and they thought that Capital Edge put too much text in their video.
  • Sent to boardroom: No internal review
  • Fired: Both of them were fired, specific reasons apply:
    • Felisha, for not being emotionally strong enough to handle the tough and cutthroat acumen of New York City, her lack of overall quality leadership, and for losing control of Alla.
    • Alla, for her insubordination and for producing/directing/compiling a horrid commercial, along with brutally attacking Felisha in the boardroom.
• Notes:
  • This is the third multiple-firing conducted this year.
  • Season 4 had the most multiple-firings in one season of The Apprentice ever (all multiple-firings were unannounced).
  • This is the first time the finalists have been decided by an unannounced multiple-firing alone before the one-on-one interviews with the four prominent executives.
  • This is the second time in the series that Trump fired every candidate in the boardroom at the time. The first time was in week 6.
  • Capital Edge is the first team ever to be completely closed for business before the one-on-one interviews, because there are no more Capital Edge members.
  • The turning point during this task was when Felisha and Alla butt heads during the acting part of the task, where Felisha failed to halt Alla's insubordination.
  • During the boardroom, Alla and Felisha, again, argue, causing Felisha to break into tears. This occurred despite their supposed friendship. Trump told Alla she was unmanageable, citing that Alla acts like a bully even though Felisha is nice to her. Obviously Felisha was the only one expected to be fired for mass incompetence, but when Alla attempts to leave, Trump tells her to sit back down and fires Alla as well.
  • After the boardroom, Trump went to inform Randal and Rebecca that they were the Final Two.
  • After the task, and before the Boardroom, Randal had a 7-4 record in the 11 tasks. The women were 4-7 a piece. Alla was 1-1 as Project Manager, Felisha and Rebecca were 1-2 each. Randal had the best record with 3-0.
  • Normally, when there's only three or four candidates remaining, there would be an interview process in which Trump (at the behest of the executives) determines whether or not a candidate would be eligible to participate in the final task. For this season, there won't be an interview week since the number of candidates went down from four straight to two.
  • This is the first time two candidates that were interrupted by reward-related injuries and family-related issues refused to quit, even though they were offered a chance to do so.
  • Both commercials are available at Microsoft's official Live Meeting webpage
• Episode 11 Recap from NBC.com

Week 12: The Final Showdown

• Airdate: December 8, 2005
• Sponsor: Yahoo! and Outback Steakhouse
• Finalists: Rebecca and Randal
• Task Dossier for Rebecca: Work with Yahoo! to host a comedy event raising money for the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation.
  • Rebecca's Recruits: Chris, James, and Toral
• Task Dossier for Randal: Work with Outback Steakhouse to host a celebrity softball tournament for Autism Speaks.
  • Randal's Recruits: Josh, Mark, and Marshawn
• Notes:
  • There are no more teams from this point on— Randal and Rebecca are on their own.
    • Corporation names were used in the final task for the first time in Apprentice history—previously no corporation names would be used on the Final Task
    • Capital Edge "re-opened for business under new ownership and management"—with Rebecca as the sole candidate of the corporation
    • Randal is now the sole candidate of Excel, even though in the last task team names would not be used
  • Because Trump fired Alla and Felisha at the end of Week 11, Season 4 is the first season that does not require one-on-one interviews with the prominent executives.
  • This is the first time that Donald visited the candidates' suite on camera in lieu of declaring both Randal and Rebecca The Final Two.
  • As opposed to Season 3 which recruits were assigned, Randal and Rebecca were allowed to choose their recruits. Randal had originally chosen Josh, James and Mark, while Rebecca chose Josh, James and Chris. Rebecca and Randal compromised that she could have James and he would get Josh. Randal then decided the wanted Chris as well, so they flipped a coin and Rebecca "won" Chris. Then Rebecca chose Toral and Randal chose Marshawn for their third recruit.
    • As recalled from Season 1 of The Apprentice, Bill Rancic and Kwame Jackson were allowed to choose their teams, but they were only allowed to choose among the last six fired candidates from that season (Amy, Katrina, and Nick for Bill and Heidi, Omarosa, and Troy for Kwame).
    • For this season, Randal and Rebecca could choose from any of the 16 already-fired candidates, regardless of what position they finished in.
  • As promised, the tasks were quite challenging, with obstacles that included executives threatening to pull out from the event planning project, acts of God (there was a thunderstorm and a very loud lightning flash shown at the end of the episode), and the need to entirely rejigger the venue.
    • After Trump fired Felisha and Alla, he went up to the suite and told Randal and Rebecca to meet George and Carolyn at a restaurant. Trump told both to enjoy themselves because he promised "the last task would be hell".
  • Both Randal and Rebecca reserved the right to re-fire any recruits should for any reason the recruits displease either of them.
• Episode 12 Recap from NBC.com

Week 13: Decision Time

• Airdate: December 15, 2005
• Preface: Aired live at the Alice Tully Hall within the Lincoln Center limits at New York City before a televised audience, with the remainder of the final task pre-recorded
• Project: Picks up from where the obstacles started to ensue from Week 12
  • Weather was a threat for Randal—Randal had no choice but to hold the event indoors, not just because of the rain, but because the cold weather as well.
  • Desertion was a threat for Rebecca—Rebecca was forced to utilize a Plan B.
• Outcome:
  • Rebecca hired a new comedian, but fails to raise money for the Elizabeth Glaser AIDS Foundation
  • Randal forced the charity event inside. He failed to check the weather and used cramped space, but raised money for Autism Speaks.
• Boardroom: Each of the six recruits get to discuss their bosses, then both Randal and Rebecca had to defend their performance in the final boardroom.
• Decision: Aired live before a televised audience
  • Toral defended Rebecca since Rebecca did the same for Toral, Trump replied that Toral better defend Rebecca since Rebecca worked really hard for Toral. Trump also stated he agreed with Toral for the first time (he fired Toral on the spot in week 4, see above).
  • Marshawn was the most impartial of the "opinion board"—she gave neutral reasons why Randal should be hired.
  • Jennifer M. also got a chance to speak. While Jen M. really liked Rebecca, Jen M. preferred Randal citing Randal's natural-born leader tendencies.
  • Alla got a chance to respond as well. Alla preferred Randal and accused Rebecca of being the weakest link. Alla said she saw nothing in Rebecca.
• Fired: Rebecca mainly for her donation method.
  • Although it appeared that Randal was Trump's first choice, Rebecca seemed to be a close second choice until Randal made a controversial comment that Trump should not hire Rebecca.
• Hired: Randal for raising $11,000 for Autism Speaks.
  • What is next for Randal: Renovation of the chain of Trump Casinos at Atlantic City.
• Notes:
  • As with Season 3 of the Apprentice, the two projects were described prior to Trump's decision; in Seasons 1 and 2, they were always presented to the hiree after he or she was crowned. Trump asked each finalist which project they would choose if they were hired.
    • Choice 1 was the Trump Casino renovation spree at Atlantic City (Chosen by Randal)
    • Choice 2 was the Trump Tower project at Jersey City, New Jersey (Chosen by Rebecca)
  • A twist at the end was that Trump asked Randal if he would also hire Rebecca into the Trump organization, an Apprentice first.
    • Although Trump said he could have been convinced that Rebecca should also be hired, Randal recommended that Trump rescind that idea, citing that the premise of the "ultimate job interview" was to hire "only one candidate," not two as Randal (in an accidental act of improper word usage) suggested that hiring Rebecca would prompt the show's name to be changed into "The Apprenti" (See proper plural usage). It is also possible that he meant "The Appren-tie", thus alluding to the fact that hiring Rebecca could be viewed as a statement that the final outcome was a "tie".

At Randal's recommendation, Trump rescinded what could have been the first multiple-hiring and a US Apprentice first.^[15] Throughout the following week, many were critical of Randal's decision. In an interview with Larry King, Randal defended his decision and said he had no objection to Trump hiring Rebecca at a later date.

• • Series web sponsor Yahoo!, to make up for discouraging Rebecca from requesting donations during the task (although Rebecca could have held other fundraising events, such as a silent auction), opted to raise money for the Elizabeth Glaser AIDS Foundation through their website. They also pledged $50,000 to both charities presented on the show.
  • On The Today Show after the finale, Rebecca received an offer from Wenda Millard (one of the Yahoo! associates who oversaw Rebecca's final task) to write for Yahoo! Finance. The show's official Web site is held at Yahoo!
  • Rebecca appeared at the final boardroom without crutches, as it was clearly evident the entire series had been taped in a span of 45 days, and she had completely recovered from the injury by the December live final.
• Episode 13 Recap from NBC.com

See also

• Season 1
• Season 2
• Season 3
• Season 5
• Season 6
• Season 7

References

1. ^ "Trump Redevelops His Own Series". http://tools.wikimedia.de/~magnus/makeref.php. Retrieved 2006-07-26. 
2. ^ ^{a b c} "Episode 1 - Boardroom". http://apprentice.tv.yahoo.com/trump/04/show/summary/week1_5boardroom.html. Retrieved 2006-07-27. 
3. ^ "Episode 1 - Assignment". http://apprentice.tv.yahoo.com/trump/04/show/summary/week1_2assignment.html. Retrieved 2006-07-27. 
4. ^ "Episode 1 - Results". http://apprentice.tv.yahoo.com/trump/04/show/summary/week1_4results.html. Retrieved 2006-07-27. 
5. ^ "Episode 2 - Boardroom". http://apprentice.tv.yahoo.com/trump/04/show/summary/week2_5boardroom.html. Retrieved 2006-07-29. 
6. ^ "Week 2". http://www.nbc.com/The_Apprentice_4/recaps/week2_p18.shtml. Retrieved 2006-07-29. 
7. ^ "Week 2". http://www.nbc.com/The_Apprentice_4/recaps/week2_p9.shtml. Retrieved 2006-07-29. 
8. ^ "Episode 2 - Task Report". http://apprentice.tv.yahoo.com/trump/04/show/summary/week2_3task.html. Retrieved 2006-07-29. 
9. ^ "Week 3 - Assignment". http://apprentice.tv.yahoo.com/trump/04/show/summary/week3_2assignment.html. Retrieved 2006-08-08. 
10. ^ "Week 3 Episode Recap". http://www.nbc.com/The_Apprentice_4/recaps/week3_p14.shtml. Retrieved 2006-08-08. 
11. ^ ^{a b c d e} "Week 3 - Boardroom". http://apprentice.tv.yahoo.com/trump/04/show/summary/week3_5boardroom.html. Retrieved 2006-08-08. 
12. ^ "Week 3 Episode Recap". http://www.nbc.com/The_Apprentice_4/recaps/week3_p21.shtml. Retrieved 2006-08-08. 
13. ^ "Week 3 Episode Recap". http://www.nbc.com/The_Apprentice_4/recaps/week3_p11.shtml. Retrieved 2006-08-08. 
14. ^ "Week 3 Episode Recap". http://www.nbc.com/The_Apprentice_4/recaps/week3_p2.shtml. Retrieved 2006-08-08. 
15. ^ "'Apprentice' winner refuses to share title". MSNBC. 2005-12-22. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10485160/page/2/. Retrieved 2008-03-01. 

External links

• NBC official site
• Yahoo!'s Apprentice 4 site
• The Apprentice Rules
• MSNBC.com - 'Apprentice' winner refuses to share title
• EW.com - "Famous Last Words"
• Transcript from Larry King Live on Apprentice controversy
• Realityblurred.com - Randal's choice
• "Josh Shaw: Fired. Exclusive interview with College Crier"

Candidate websites

• Marshawn Evans
• Markus Garrison
• Adam Israelov
• Mark Lamkin
• Clay Lee
• Brian Mandelbaum
• Felisha Mason
• Jennifer Murphy
• Randal Pinkett
• Josh Shaw
• Chris Valletta
• Jennifer Wallen
• Alla Wartenberg