The Apprentice on NBC : Week 10 - Romance in the Air

Allie confronted Sean on selling her out in the boardroom, and Sean defended himself by saying he was trying to save his own butt. In addition to Allie jumping Sean for selling her out, Roxanne tearfully stated how she thought Sean was shattering the groups' unity.

Before the teams found out what their next task would be, Mr. Trump pointed out that his hair was real and not a wig. Charmaine even volunteered to examine Mr. Trump's hair to make sure it was real, and she confirmed, after examination, that it was in fact Mr. Trump's real hair.

After pointing out that his hair was real, Mr. Trump gave the teams their task. Each team had to throw a grand opening event at Hair Cuttery Salons, and the team that made the most money at their brand-new franchise salon would win the task.

Tammy was project manager for Synergy. Sean knew he had a target on his back, and he knew if he screwed up they would slaughter him in the boardroom. To prevent getting slaughtered, Sean went right to work on creating promotional material for Synergy.

Because Charmaine knew a little bit about Salons, and because she said the three guys on her team didn't have a clue about Salons, she decided to take on the role of project manager for Gold Rush. However, Tarek caught Charmaine off guard when he asked her what their theme was going to be. Charmaine responded by saying, "what theme, it's a grand opening event?" Then she asked him what he had in mind for a theme, and he responded by saying he hadn't thought of it.

"I think we have a theme, and the theme is grand opening," Charmaine said.
The rest of Gold Rush still wanted to with Tarek's suggestion of having a theme, and Charmaine, since she kept claiming she didn't understand, told them if they could come up with a theme she would be all for it. And that's just what Gold Rush did; they came up with their theme - "Making You Happy."

Meanwhile a romance seemed to be brewing on Synergy's team. Sean and Tammy headed for the streets to hand out flyers in an effort to promote their grand opening. Later, Sean and Tammy decided to take a dinner break. During their dinner break it appeared that they were developing a romantic relationship as they flirted with each other and shared their pizza.
"Tammy's an adorable girl. Gorgeous, young, sexy…arrr…kinda businessy girl from Beverly Hills. Young, strapping chap from London; anything could happen. But I'm pretty sure we'll have lots and lots of babies once this is finished." Sean told the cameras as he referred to Tammy and himself.

Following Charmaine's instructions, Gold Rush began stocking their shelves with all the products, and pretty much setting up the shop. However, what Gold Rush failed to do was "get the word out" about their store's grand opening event. Charmaine instructed her team to focus more on setting up than she did on promotion. And when Lee pointed out that they needed to be focusing on promoting the grand opening event, Charmaine pretty much let Lee's advice go in "one ear and out the other."

Instead of taking Lee's advice, Charmaine continued to organize the products on the shelf to suit her. It was on the very day of the event when Charmaine decided it was time to "get the word out," and that's when she sent Lee and Tarek out to place flyers on every car in the parking lot, and in the area. In addition, she had herself and Michael stay at the store to sell to as many people as they could.

Charmaine worried when they didn't have any revenue coming in. Well, I wonder why. Maybe because Charmaine focused too much time on making sure the products on the selves were perfect, instead of "getting the word out."

Tarek "hit the nail on the head" when Lee asked him what he thought Charmaine and Michael were doing. Tarek told Lee Charmaine was probably getting her hair done, and that's just what she was doing. In addition, Lee and Tarek talked about what they were going to wear in the boardroom, because I think they knew they had already lost the task.

Because of Charmaine's poor leadership abilities, Gold Rush was failing their task. Synergy, on the other hand, was just the opposite. Allie worked hard to bring in revenue for Synergy by selling as many products as she could, and she did a fantastic job!

Synergy's hard work and Charmaine's poor leadership showed when the time came to announce this week's winners on The Apprentice. Synergy sold $363.00 worth of hair products, and all together Synergy earned $1,005.47. Gold Rush, on the other hand, only earned a grand total of $700.00. Synergy was the clear winner on this week's The Apprentice.

For their reward, Synergy met with songwriter Burt Bacharach. Not only did Synergy get to meet the legendary songwriter, but they also got to help him write the lyrics to a song. Burt Bacharach told Synergy they were going to work on a piece for his new album. The piece they worked on was titled "In Our Time."

Burt played the piece on the piano, and while he played he asked Synergy to think while he played. They immediately began writing their thoughts down. Even though Synergy didn't work too well together, they did manage to come up with beautiful lyrics together.

While in the boardroom, Charmaine was drilled hard by Mr. Trump. Mr. Trump started out by asking Charmaine if she thought she was a bad project manager, and she responded by saying she didn't think she was.
"Isn't it hard for you to say you weren't at fault," Mr. Trump continued.
"Ultimately, I don't think the whole entire downfall of the task was my fault," Charmaine told Mr. Trump.
Mr. Trump also confronted Charmaine about the stylist doing her hair when she should have been selling. Again, Charmaine had an answer for Mr. Trump, she told him, "I had to experience what made Hair Cuttery different from the other salons."

Caroline decided to jump in, and she asked Charmaine what her plan was. Charmaine told Caroline her plan was to do one-on-one interactions with everybody, and she also said her plan "never, ever was to liter the area with flyers on windshields."
What! That's exactly what she sent Lee and Tarek to do, and not only did she have them place flyers on windshields, but she had them doing it on the day of the grand opening event. This was the day when she should have had them in the shop selling products.

Taking the focus off of Charmaine for a little while, Mr. Trump asked Michael who he would fire, and Michael didn't really give a name, but he did say the following: "When you look at a team like this, of four people, and you're struggling for the same goal, everyone on the team should try and work together. People need to be able to be managed, then need to manage, and if you have one person that is causing mismanagement, because of the way their attitude is, or because of the way they act, you have to look at that person and say 'why.' And you have to look at the project manager and say, are they trying everything they can to manage that person correctly." It was clear from Michael's statement, that he was addressing it toward Tarek and Charmaine.

After Michael's statement, Mr. Trump complimented him by saying, "Michael, I have to say, that was very well stated." And Mr. Trump continued by asking Charmaine if her and Tarek were fighting a lot. Mr. Trump got an answer to his question, but the answer came through action more than it did through words, because Charmaine and Tarek both ended up in a shouting match. Mr. Trump finally put a stop to the shouting match by telling Charmaine he didn't think she is negative, but he did think a leader should be able to control the people their leading, and because Charmaine failed to do that she was fired. But, it didn't end there…because Tarek was also impossible to lead he too was fired, despite his request for another opportunity. However, Mr. Trump did tell Tarek he was "wonderful."

Six applicants are left, who will be the next to be fired? Watch The Apprentice on NBC next Monday at 7:00 p.m. Central time to find out.

This week's business tip: Beverley, editor of Quickstart newsletter, and also author of "Take Control of Your Time: 7 Straight Shooter Strategies for Success," offers the following leadership tip for business: "Be prepared to listen, learn and accept other people's views then be decisive." You can read more of Beverley's leadership tips for business success in her newsletter.