The Apprentice (American TV series) season 4

The Apprentice 4 is the fourth season of The Apprentice, with Donald Trump as the Executive Producer and Host. The show is aired on Thursday nights at 9 PM Eastern Time on NBC and started September 22, 2005.

The Apprentice 4 Candidates

The season goes back to the Battle of the Sexes format before corporate restructuring is required throughout the "Job Interview" (Donald went back to this format for good reason—Season 3 was Book Smarts against the Street Smarts, a concept that the Donald didn't like on the long run). The all-women team named their corporation Capital Edge while the all-men team named their corporation Excel. Capital Edge had 4 wins and 7 losses (and was the first corporation to be shut down by The Donald in the history of The Apprentice) while Excel had 7 wins and 4 losses. For the first time in Apprentice history, the Donald hand-picked 17 out of the 18 candidates.

Candidates

Name and Age	Hometown	Occupation	Team History	Employment History
Melissa Holovach (30)	Tampa, Florida	Real Estate Investor	Assigned to Capital Edge in Week 1	Fired in Week 1
Chris Valletta (27)	Dallas, Texas	Marketing Executive	Assigned to Excel in Week 1	Fired in Week 2	See candidate notes
Jennifer Wallen (31)	Anthem, Arizona	Realty Company Owner	Assigned to Capital Edge in Week 1	Fired in Week 3
Toral Mehta (29)	Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	RInvestment Banker	Assigned to Capital Edge in Week 1	Fired in Week 4
Kristi Caudell (24)	Gainesville, Georgia	Sales Executive	Assigned to Capital Edge in Week 1	Fired in Week 5
Jennifer Murphy (26)	Los Angeles, California	Ad Sales Manager	Assigned to Capital Edge in Week 1, Transferred to Excel in Week 6	Fired in Week 6	See candidate notes
Josh Shaw (30)	New York City, New York	Beauty Company Owner	Assigned to Excel in Week 1	Fired in Week 6
James Dillon (30)	Alexandria, Virginia	Sales Executive	Assigned to Excel in Week 1	Fired in Week 6
Mark Lamkin (35)	Louisville, Kentucky	Wealth Manager	Assigned to Capital Edge in Week 1	Fired in Week 6
Markus Garrison (41)	Sarasota, Florida	Inventor	Assigned to Excel in Week 1, Transferred to Capital Edge in Week 6	Fired in Week 7	See candidate notes
Marshawn Evans (26)	Atlanta, Georgia	Recent Law School Graduate	Assigned to Capital Edge in Week 1, Transferred to Excel in Week 6	Fired in Week 8	See candidate notes
Brian Mandelbaum (23)	New York City, New York	Print Company Executive	Assigned to Excel in Week 1	Fired in Week 8
Clay Lee (28)	College Station, Texas	Realtor	Assigned to Excel in Week 1, Transferred to Capital Edge in Week 6, Transferred back to Excel in Week 9	Fired in Week 9	See candidate notes
Adam Israelov (22)	Atlanta, Georgia	Risk Manager	Assigned to Excel in Week 1, Transferred to Capital Edge in Week 6	Fired in Week 10	See candidate notes
Felisha Mason (29)	Kansas City, Missouri	Real Estate Developer	Assigned to Capital Edge in Week 1	Fired in Week 11
Alla Wartenberg (31)	Las Vegas, Nevada	Salon & Spa Chain Owner	Assigned to Capital Edge in Week 1	Fired in Week 11	See candidate notes
Rebecca Jarvis (23)	Chicago, Illinois	Financial Journalist	Assigned to Capital Edge in Week 1, Transferred to Excel in Week 6	Not Hired on Television
Randal Pinkett (34)	Somerset, New Jersey	Consulting Firm Owner	Assigned to Excel in Week 1, Transferred to Capital Edge in Week 5, Transferred back to Excel in Week 7	Hired

Candidate Notes

• Chris Valletta, a marketing executive, was fired in the second week of the series, mostly because he brought a player he didn't like into the boardroom, instead of players who Trump felt more underperformed at their tasks. He also blamed the wrong person for the team's defeat at the challenge of the week, which was to make a television advertisement for Lamborghini automobiles. Valletta played offensive lineman for Texas A&M University football team from 1997 to 2000, including the 1998 Big 12 championship team and the 1999 squad that was best remembered by the bonfire tragedy of their fans. For his Apprentice biography, he boasted of having played in theNational Football League for the New Orleans Saints, Tennessee Titans and Tampa Bay Buccaneers. He was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Tennessee Titans in 2001. While he played in pre-season games, he never played in a regular season game for the team and was waived in August. The next year he hooked on with the New Orleans Saints, but he was also waived in late August of that year and again did not play in any regular season games. In September, he signed on with the Tampa Bay Buccanners practice squad. While he was waived two months later without ever making the official 53 man roster, Valletta does appear in the official team photograph. He then gave up on football to enter the business world, first as an advertising salesman for a Dallas radio station, and then with an investment company before being selected for The Apprentice.
• Markus Garrison is an 41 year old inventor from Florida and self proclaimed "big idea man". Considered by some to be one of the more memorable characters on the show, his personality and tendency to circumlocute caused problems with his teammates, and eventually led to his firing by Donald Trump. He has since released statements that the show was deliberately edited to make him seem stupid and ridiculous. Both Mr. Trump and producer Mark Burnett have denied that any editing of that nature took place. Mr. Trump is quoted as saying, "I dealt with him a lot during the course of the show, and you see a lot of difficulty with Markus from the standpoint of talking too much. He seems like a nice guy, but, boy, he just wouldn't stop." and "I don't do the editing.... [but] my opinion is that Markus was treated accurately." Mark Burnett issued a statement about Garrison saying, "Essentially Markus was fired for talking too much, and clearly he hasn't shut up yet. I have never commented on the editing of my shows, but having seen all the footage we have of Markus, it could have been a lot worse."
• Clay Lee is an open homosexual who criticized Adam Israelov, another candidate for his inexperience, especially in matters of sexuality. He was fired during the XM Radio task of week 9. He perhaps is most famous for his lines during a presentation in week 7 calling colleague and fellow Apprentice competitor Adam Israelov a "tight Jew." His remarks were considered offensive to the audience, although Israelov has maintained that he does not believe Lee to be anti-semetic. During that episode, George Ross, Donald Trump's vice-president and advisor, criticized Lee's performance. He was ultimately fired two weeks later for being difficult to manage and for his abrasive nature.
• Adam Israelov, the Project Manager for Capital Edge in Episode 8, was trounced by Excel's Randal Pinkett. Adam, a virgin, decided he would be a knowledgeable speaker on the subject of sex in the office. His teams fortunes were further diminished when questionable material came from a teammate while presenting, and later described Adam as "tight". Donald Trump later consoled Adam, telling him that he would one day lose his virginity.During the Shania Twain episode, Adam engaged in reckless budgeting by spending $6,000 USD of Capital Edge's allotted $10,000 seed money on horse carriages that looked bad, which ultimately got him fired.
• Alla Wartenberg is Jewish American and 31 years of age. She was born and raised in Kishinev, Moldova and is a self-made millionaire via the spa business in Las Vegas. Her record was (1-1) at the time she was fired, which was in Week 11 along with Felisha Mason for excessive insubordination (being too difficult to lead, being disobedient to superiors) and for her poor quality performance (producing an unairable ad). Felisha was fired for her lack of toughness and for her innability to lead Alla. Throughout the season, Alla was known as both tough and cruel, especially in her treatment of Felisha, who was purportedly a friend of hers. Upon being fired, Alla broke into tears. She and Felisha had to share a humiliating cab ride after leaving the boardroom. Alla had a chance to talk about the final two before Mr. Trump hired a fourth (apossibly the fifth) apprentice. Alla mirrored her harsh treatment of Felisha when she brow-beated Rebecca, something both the audience and Mr. Trump felt that was overly harsh. Randal then won and said that Mr. Trump shouldn't hire Rebecca.
• Candidates Jennifer Murphy and Marshawn Evans are both former beauty queens. Murphy was Miss Oregon USA 2004 and a finalist at Miss USA 2004 held in Hollywood, California. Evans was Miss District of Columbia 2001 and competed at Miss America 2000, held in Atlantic City, New Jersey. She won a talent competition preliminary award and placed 3rd runner-up.

Episodes

Week 1: Let's Get Physical

• Airdate: September 22, 2005
• Hosting Company: Bally Total Fitness
• Project: Teams had to design a workout class for Bally Total Fitness.
• Capital Edge Project Manager: Kristi
• Excel Project Manager: Markus
• Winning Team: Excel (Markus not exempted - only Adam and Randal supported an exemption; reason given by Chris was that no one player should be above the rest of the team)
  • Excel's Special Commendation: Friar's Club lunch with Donald Trump.
• Losing Team: Capital Edge
  • Sent to Boardroom: Kristi, Melissa
  • Fired: Melissa, for the following reasons:
    • Excessive negativity and conceitedness.
    • Inability to work with other women.
• Special Note:
  • The season began with a new "twist" in that all 18 players had to race to Trump's helicopter. The first person to get there would guarantee his team the use of the helicopter for the first task. Mark won for Team Excel.
  • Trump tells the candidates in the beginning that they are in a "13 week job interview," thus, perceptive viewers know how long this season runs.
  • Melissa is the first woman to be fired in the first episode.
  • Randal was interrupted this episode by news of his grandmother's death. When given an opportunity to leave the show, Randal declined, saying that it's his grandmother's wish for him to continue. He was given a special helicopter flight to attend his grandmother's funeral.

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

• Airdate: September 29, 2005
• Hosting Company: Lamborghini
• Project: Teams had to create a television advertisement for Lamborghini cars.
• Capital Edge Project Manager: Marshawn
• Excel Project Manager: Chris
• Winning Team: Capital Edge (Marshawn exempted)
  • Capital Edge's Special Commendation: Hockey with New York Islanders legends and prospects. (The NHLPA Lockout had not ended at the time of filming.)
• Losing Team: Excel
  • Sent to Boardroom: Chris, Markus
  • Fired: Chris, for blaming the wrong person for the team's defeat and not bringing Mark back to the boardroom.
• Special Notes:
  • Rebecca broke her ankle during the reward task while playing hockey, she had to use crutches because of this injury for the entire series (which was taped in approximately 45 days except for the live announcement). She refused a chance to go home.
  • Carolyn cited a fatal mistake when she saw Chris and Markus back for the final boardroom—Should Chris have brought back Mark, then Chris would've went further during this Job Interview.
  • Randal worked with Excel during the entire task, and broke only on the day of his grandmother's funeral, surprising the team when he returns to the game that afternoon, arriving at the advertising agency's office shortly before the presentation began.
  • The little "i" refers to a lower-case "i" which was used in Excel's presentation about Lamborghini's Italian roots. The tag line they proposed stated "Rebirth of Italian Intimidation", and the "i" in "Italian" was in lower-case, which led to a major discussion in the Boardroom.

Week 3: Something Old, Something New

• Airdate: October 6, 2005
• Hosting Company: Best Buy Geek Squad
• Project: Teams had to host a seminar on home electronics at a senior citizen's retirement home.
• Capital Edge Project Manager: Rebecca
• Excel Project Manager: Randal
• Winning Team: Excel (Randal exempted)
  • Excel's Special Commendation: Handing out toys to children at a hospital.
• Losing Team: Capital Edge
  • Reasons for loss: Jennifer W. was assigned with the decor and foods for the tech expo. The setup was bland and the food was lousy. A cake with the words "Technology Expo" was misspelled "Tethnology Expo". Toral was assigned with teaching seniors how to use a large set television, but she herself had difficulty using the television.
  • Sent to Boardroom: Rebecca, Jennifer M., Jennifer W.
  • Fired: Jennifer W., for mismanaging the entire event setup.
• Special Notes:
  • All members of Capital Edge (except Rebecca and Toral) felt Toral should be fired for her poor demonstration. Rebecca argued that she believed in Toral's abilities and could not bring her into the final boardroom. Trump, although disagreed with her decision, commended Rebecca on her fierce loyalty to Toral.
  • Should Rebecca have brought Toral back to the boardroom alongside with Jennifer W., then Toral would have been fired on Week 3 instead of Week 4.
  • After the final boardroom, Trump wondered to himself whether Rebecca would be great or a disaster in front of George and Carolyn.

Week 4: Ice Cream of Genie

• Airdate: October 13, 2005
• Hosting Company: 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 (Clay exempted)
  • The entire team before hearing their reward all voted for Clay to be exempt from firing in Week 5
  • Excel's Special Commendation: Playing Baseball with the New York Mets
• Losing Team: Capital Edge
  • Sent to Boardroom: No nominations—"On-the-spot" Firing
  • Fired: Toral (on the spot) for the following reasons:
    • Not accepting the role as Project Manager
    • Refusing to wear the promotional character costume by making ridiculous excuses
    • Lying about statements she and others made
    • Doing close-to-nothing on this task
• Special Note:
  • Toral was the third person fired on the spot without a final boardroom, the other two were Brian from Season 3 and Elizabeth from Season 2.

Week 5: Lost In Space

• Airdate: October 20, 2005
• Hosting Company: Sony Pictures
• Project: The teams had to design a parade float in order to advertise for the upcoming release of the film Zathura.
• Capital Edge Project Manager: Jennifer M.
• Excel Project Manager: Brian
• Winning Team: Excel (Brian exempted)
  • Excel's Special Commendation: A Recording Session with Wyclef Jean.
• Losing Team: Capital Edge
  • Sent to Boardroom: Jennifer M., Kristi
  • Fired: Kristi, for being controlling, a distraction and a nuisance.
• Special Note:
  • Before the task began, a corporate restructuring took place to even up the teams, since Capital Edge was down to 6 women (Excel had 8 men, a fatal disadvantage to the women).
    • Capital Edge chose Randal to join them, but Capital Edge lost in spite of having Randal in their ranks.
  • Capital Edge missed the point, that in order to win, they had to do what they could to make Zathura a household name. Team Excel had audio to go along with the float, so that audience members would hear the correct pronunciation. In contrast, Capital Edge's Jennifer M. pronounced Zathura as "Zenthura" several times during the presentation, which gave the executives a bad impression of Jennifer's team.
  • After the firing, Jennifer M. tried to apologized to Kristi for getting her fired, but Kristi was infuriated after the boardroom and quickly snapped back at her.
  • At the end of the broadcast, instead of the usual theme, the Excel team's recording of "Rubble Man" was broadcast as the show ended.

Week 6: Take Me Out to the Boardroom

• Airdate: October 27, 2005
• Hosting Company: Dick's Sporting Goods
• Project: The teams had to design a sporting theme that is designed to increases sales. Capital Edge chose golf and Excel chose baseball.
• Capital Edge Project Manager: Alla
• Excel Project Manager: Josh
• Winning Team: Capital Edge (Alla exempted)
  • Capital Edge's Special Commendation: Taking a Private Jet to Montauk for a fishing trip and seafood dinner on the beach
• Losing Team: Excel
  • Sent to Boardroom: Josh, Jennifer M., James, Mark
  • Fired: All four of them for being responsible for the worst boardroom loss ever in the history of The Apprentice plus the following reasons:
    • Josh for the following reason:
      • Ineffective leadership skills
      • Bad decision making
      • Mismanaging the project
    • Jennifer M. for the following reason:
      • failing to sell as much as she promised and letting The Donald down
    • James for the following reasons:
      • Used a batting cage that took up excessive space in the Dick's Sporting Goods store.
        • The batting cage also made it difficult to reach the products that were to be sold
      • Hurting sales with the Batting Cage alone
    • Mark for the following reasons:
      • Not following the task directions (admitted this flaw before Bill Rancic)
      • Sold nothing
• Special Notes:
  • This was the first time that Mr. Trump was not present to assign the teams their task; rather, Carolyn sat in Mr. 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 Season Two.
  • In a corporate shuffle Carolyn asked the teams to send three players they believe are weak to the other side; Jennifer M., Rebecca and Marshawn were sent to Excel. Adam, Markus and Clay were sent to Capital Edge.
  • This was the worst boardroom loss ever for a team on the history of The Apprentice
    • Capital Edge boosted sales by 74%
    • Excel's sales went down by 34%
    • The margin was 108%
    • These statistics irritated the Donald, even though he said that he needed to make some serious changes to "this team", referring to Capital Edge, since Capital Edge had a shoddy record-to-date (As of the conclusion of this task, Capital Edge is 2-4).
    • The Donald called Excel's 34% sales decrease "embarrassing".
  • This is the first time the project manager wasn't allowed to choose who they are taking to the final boardroom since the defeat has never been grievously bad prior to this task (with the exception of when Donald fired a candidate on the spot).
    • Mr. Trump allowed the following members of Excel to return back to the suite for the following reasons:
      • Brian, since he was the winning Project Manager from the previous week and he was exempt from firing for this task.
      • Rebecca for being the strongest salesperson for the team
      • Marshawn for doing well as a salesperson for the team
  • James, Mark, Josh, and Jennifer M. sold the least—Jennifer M., claiming to be the "queen of sales", let the Donald down because she didn't sell as much as she promised. James, Josh, and Mark didn't sell whatsoever and didn't follow task instructions closely.
    • Bill also told these four candidates that they easily took the easy way out, since they didn't follow task directions tightly.
  • This was also the first time that none of the candidates from the final boardroom returned to the suite, because all four of them were fired, hence it's the very first Boardroom-Cleaning Spree in the history of The Apprentice. Apparently, Trump wasn't happy about the disastrous loss margin and he found the losing four to be equally responsible for the loss which gave Trump enough evidence to order a mass exodus. [1]

Week 7: Back to School

• Airdate: November 3, 2005
• Hosting Company: The Learning Annex
• Project: The teams had to design a new class for the Learning Annex. Capital Edge chose Sex in the Workplace and Excel chose Making a Bold Statement.
• Capital Edge Project Manager: Adam
• Excel Project Manager: Randal (Excel took him back from Capital Edge)
• Winning Team: Excel (Randal exempted)
  • Excel's Special Commendation: A shopping spree at Michael Kors.
• Losing Team: Capital Edge
  • Sent to Boardroom: Adam, Clay, Markus
  • Fired: Markus, for doing next to nothing on the project and not being able to get his ideas across clearly.
• Special Notes:
  • Clay calls Adam a "shy, tight Jewish boy" during the sex presentation and was immediately chastised for it by Adam (Clay apologized) and later 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. Adam used this to try to get Clay fired, but he said he did not feel Clay was anti-Semetic.
  • Because Excel was grievously decimated after the previous boardroom, the team is given the opportunity to steal a Capital Edge member, and they take back Randal, who becomes the Project Manager.
  • At one point during the sex presentation, Markus can be seen playing with a yo-yo. He is later seen smoking a cigar before returning to the boardroom.
  • Donald 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.

Week 8: Store Wars

• Airdate: November 10, 2005
• Hosting Company: 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 & Star Wars: Battlefront II
• Capital Edge Project Manager: Clay
• Excel Project Manager: Brian
• Winning Team: Capital Edge (Clay not exempted—Reason: not functioning well as a leader and a team player, task imbalance according to Alla)
  • Capital Edge's Special Commendation: Spending time with Bill Rancic, and touring Trump Tower at City Place in White Plains—The Donald deduced the winning team needed more tutelage from a proven worker since Clay is not exempt.
• Losing Team: Excel
  • Sent to Boardroom: All members of Excel—No "Internal Review" by the execs since The Donald had enough evidence to fire 2 people
  • Fired for the following reasons:
    • Brian, for being late for the wrong reasons and missing the meeting with the clients (Randal took over and did the lecture himself)
    • Marshawn, for refusing to present (when Marshawn stepped down, Rebecca stepped up).
• Special 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.
  • One of the reasons why Excel's display didn't compare with Capital Edge was because according to the Donald, Darth Vader was omitted. In business, it's really important to include central characters when making a sales display for movies, television, or other entertainment that exists.

Week 9: One Hit Blunder

• Airdate: November 17, 2005
• Hosting Company: XM Radio
• Project: The teams had to choose an unsigned singer Artist Jide 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 Project Manager: Felisha
• Excel Project Manager: Rebecca
• Winning Team: Capital Edge (No exemptions issued)
  • Capital Edge's Special Commendation: A private helicopter tour of popular New York City buildings with Donald Trump.
• Losing Team: Excel
  • Sent to Boardroom: All members of Excel—No "Internal Review" by the execs as only three players remained.
  • Fired: Clay—All of Excel (especially Rebecca and Randal) performed poorly in this task. Based on past results, Donald Trump opted to fire Clay for excessive abrasiveness (being too difficult to work with) in both this task and in the past
• Special Notes:
  • Excel lost because the song created did not fit the market of the station.
  • Exemptions are no longer being offered—from this point on, everyone is at risk.
  • Rebecca's meltdown moment came by when Clay just jumped in interrupting Rebecca's speech to the XM executives.

Week 10: Shaniagans

• Airdate: November 24, 2005
• Hosting Company: Coty, Inc.
• Project: The teams had to wrap an object to promote Country Pop music star Shania Twain's new fragrance by Stetson
• Capital Edge Project Manager: Alla
• Excel Project Manager: Randal
• Winning Team: Excel
  • Excel's Special Commendation: A horseback ride through Central Park and dinner with Shania Twain.
• Losing Team: Capital Edge
  • Sent to Boardroom: Adam, Felisha
  • Fired: Adam, for his reckless budgeting and for using more than half of Capital Edge's $10,000 seed money for carriages that looked bad.
• Special Notes:
  • Alla is the first project manager not to face the board room, since Donald 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.
  • Randal, at his discretion, took the role as Excel's Project Manager for this task because he felt that he needed to prove himself that he can relent to any mistake that he did in the past, given that he was on a losing team for two weeks in a row.
  • With Excel's latest victory, Randal is now the only candidate who has never lost as Project Manager (3-0).
  • 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.
  • 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". Upon hearing this (from Alla), Donald Trump and Bill Rancic both approved of Excel's caper. This is one turning point of the task.
  • A main turning point on this task was Adam and Alla spending a majority of their budget on renting the horse and carriages. This forced Felisha to cut the number of temps they could hire.

Week 11: To Lead or Not to Lead

• Airdate: December 1, 2005
• Hosting Company: Microsoft
• Project: The teams had to design a commercial promoting Microsoft's Live Meeting program
• Capital Edge Project Manager: Felisha
• Excel Project Manager: Rebecca
• Winning Team: Excel
  • Excel's Special Commendation: 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.
    • The Donald chose the Private Sailboat Ride as the reward mainly because he believed that Excel needed to "relax".
• Losing Team: Capital Edge
  • Sent to Boardroom: Both Felisha and Alla, no internal review
  • Fired: Both of them for the following reasons:
    • Felisha, for her excessive incompetence (i.e. lack of toughness)
    • Alla, for excessive insubordination (i.e. being difficult to manage, disobeying supervisors, similar to Clay and to a certain extent, Kristi and Melissa), excessive incompetence and cruelty on this task, and for producing/directing/compiling an unairable commercial.
• Special 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 occured 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 (in a surprising twist) fires Alla as well.
  • After the boardroom, Donald Trump went to inform Randal and Rebecca that they were the Final Two.
  • As Alla and Felisha reflect their time in the job interviewing process inside the cab, the taxi can be seen running a red light.
  • 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 the Donald (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 2nd man vs. woman final, the other being Season 2 (Kelly Perdew vs. Jennifer Massey). Unlike Kelly vs. Jen Massey, both Randal and Rebecca got along pretty well, though both were in different sides of the coin.
    • This is also 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 postpone their hunt for the ultimate job, it was likely their family's wishes that both Randal and Rebecca continued to pursue. Verna was the first person to quit, unannounced, but Randal and Rebecca proved that proactiveness pays off.
  • Both commercials are available at Microsoft's official Live Meeting webpage

Week 12: The Final Showdown

• Airdate: December 8, 2005
• Hosting Company: 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
• Special 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 the Donald 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.
    • 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 the Donald fired Felisha and Alla, he went up to the suite and told Randal and Rebecca to meet George and Carolyn at a restaurant. The Donald 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.

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, the Donald 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 probably 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 brow-beat Rebecca for being the weakest link (mirroring Alla's blatant brow-beating of Felisha). Alla was jeered by the audience for giving overly harsh criticism of Rebecca. Alla said she saw nothing in Rebecca. Trump deduced Alla to be too abrasive and cut her off.
• Not Hired on Television: Rebecca mainly for her donation method.
  • Although it appeared that Randal was Trump's first choice, Rebecca seemed to be the second choice until Randal made a controversial move not to let Trump hire Rebecca. It may be possible that Rebecca might be hired by Mr. Trump privately when the need arises.
  • While it was announced on-air that she did not earn any money, it should be noted that according to a post-game interview by (TVGuide.com), the Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation received "thousands" of dollars in envelope donations over an extended period of time.
• Hired: Randal for raising $11,000 for Autism Speaks.
  • What is next for Randal: Renovation of the chain of the Trump Casinos at Atlantic City.
• Special 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 coronated. This may have been because finalists Rebecca Jarvis and Randal Pinkett were so closely tied for the job that Trump may have been considering hiring both of them. 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 and will commence)
    • Choice 2 was the Trump Tower project at Jersey City, New Jersey (Chosen by Rebecca, but won't begin)
  • A surprising twist (and an unprecedented move) at the end was that Trump asked Randal if he would also hire Rebecca into the Trump organization, an Apprentice first.
    • Although Mr. Trump said he could have been convinced that Rebecca should also be hired, Randal recommended that Mr. Trump rescind an Apprentice-first twist, citing that the premise of the "ultimate job interview" was to hire "only one candidate," citing that a multiple-hiring would prompt the show's name to be called "The Apprenti" instead. This elicited a shocked reaction from the audience. Thus the Donald, at Randal's recommendation, rescinded what could have been the first multiple-hiring and a US Apprentice first.
    • The episode ended with audible jeering towards Randal. Throughout the following week, many were critical of what seemed to be Randal's selfishness and large ego. However, in an interview with Larry King Randal defended his decision and said he had no objection to The Donald 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.

Week by Week Results

Candidate	Original Team	Episode 5 Team	Episode 6 Team	Episode 7 Team	Episode 9 Team	Finish
Melissa Holovach	Capital Edge					Fired; Week 1
Chris Valletta	Excel					Fired; Week 2
Jennifer Wallen	Capital Edge					Fired; Week 3
Toral Mehta	Capital Edge					Fired; Week 4
Kristi Caudell	Capital Edge	Capital Edge				Fired; Week 5
Jennifer Murphy	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Excel			Fired; Week 6
Josh Shaw	Excel	Excel	Excel			Fired; Week 6
Mark Lamkin	Excel	Excel	Excel			Fired; Week 6
James Dillon	Excel	Excel	Excel			Fired; Week 6
Markus Garrison	Excel	Excel	Capital Edge	Capital Edge		Fired; Week 7
Brian Mandelbaum	Excel	Excel	Excel	Excel		Fired; Week 8
Marshawn Evans	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Excel	Excel		Fired; Week 8
Clay Lee	Excel	Excel	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Excel	Fired; Week 9
Adam Israelov	Excel	Excel	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Fired; Week 10
Felisha Mason	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Fired; Week 11
Alla Wartenberg	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Fired; Week 11
Rebecca Jarvis	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Excel	Excel	Excel	Not Hired on Television
Randal Pinkett	Excel	Capital Edge	Capital Edge	Excel	Excel	Hired

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