The Apprentice on NBC : Week 9 - Victory for Gold Rush

When Lee returned from the boardroom he announced that he would love to be project manager. Lee felt vulnerable because he had been taken to the boardroom so many times, and he thought if he could lead his team to victory he could prove himself to Mr. Trump.

When the teams met with Mr. Trump for their next task, Mr. Trump told Lee he had barely escaped last night, and that he didn't even know how close he had come to being fired.

After Mr. Trump warned Lee that he was pretty much on thin ice, Mr. Trump gave the teams their next task. He told them they would be taking a boat to Ellis Island where they would take photographs to help them create a Souvenir Tourist Program sponsored by Ameriquest. The team that generated the most sales won the task, and all proceeds from the task went to benefit the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation.

Lee got his wish; he was project manager for Gold Rush. Lee sent Michael and Tarek to Ellis Island to take pictures, and he and Charmaine got on the ball by trying to solicit leads to their tourist program. Their idea for soliciting leads was through cold calling, but they weren't having any success, and Lee began to worry about another loss for Gold Rush.

Allie was project manager for Synergy, and she already got off to a bad start when Tammy lost the notebook they had everything written down in. Allie and Tammy both got off the boat to retrieve the notebook, and they returned to the dock just in time to see the boat leaving without them.

After returning from Ellis Island, Gold Rush got busy on their Ellis Island Tour program. While they were working with the graphic designer on the program, Ivanka, Mr. Trump's daughter, stopped by to observe their work. While they worked, Charmaine expressed to the cameras how she didn't want to win the task under Lee's leadership. I'm not sure if Charmaine was jealous of Lee, or if she was just being childish. Of course it could be both - jealous and childish.

Andrea decided to take on leadership for Synergy since Allie and Tammy were stuck on Ellis Island. Andrea took on leadership of the graphic design because of her background in the area, but when Allie and Tammy arrived, Allie expressed how unhappy she was with Andrea's graphic skills. She stated that with Andrea's expertise she had expected much better results than what Andrea produced.

Gold Rush left at 5:00 a.m. the next morning to search for a location. Lee decided Battery Park would be the best location, because it was where the most tourists came. There, at Battery Park, Gold Rush immediately began selling their brochures.

Synergy ran into problems again while trying to sell their brochures. Not only did Tammy discover that Gold Rush's brochures were nicer than theirs, but they also discovered that Gold Rush had already sold to the people they were approaching.

Gold Rush's sales got even better when Charmaine sold 100 brochures for $85.00 to a representative from Coldwell Banker - a customer she had called the day before.

Both teams worked hard, however, there could only be one winning team. Mr. Trump's son, Donald Trump, Jr. announced that Synergy raised a total of $843.40, and Ivanka said Gold Rush raised a total of $1,548.00. Lee done it, he proved himself to Mr. Trump by leading his team to a victory! In addition, because Ameriquest was impressed with both teams they donated $10,000 to the Statue of Liberty/Ellis Island Foundation.

For Gold Rush's reward, they joined Mr. Trump and golf legend, Vijay Singh at the Trump National Gold Club for a round of golf. But the reward didn't end there; each member of Gold Rush also received a set of golf clubs.

After a round of golf, Mr. Trump met Synergy in the boardroom to determine who was going home next. While they were in the boardroom, Allie immediately threw the blame onto Andrea for losing the task, and this surprised Mr. Trump, because he thought Andrea was a "star." The rest of the team backed Allie up, and when Mr. Trump asked Sean if he agreed with the team "wholeheartedly," Sean answered by saying he didn't agree with them. Then Mr. Trump asked Sean who he would fire, and Sean told him that he would fire Allie for not being able to manage Andrea. In the end, Mr. Trump disagreed with Sean, and as a result Andrea was fired.

Who will be fired next week? Tune in to The Apprentice on NBC to find out.

This week's business tip: No matter what you're selling, or how you're selling it, always tell your potential customer the benefits of the product not the features. Why? Because, the consumer is more interested in how he/she can benefit from the product.