Episode 13 – The Price Is Height

Amy is the only female left in this contest. Other than her, we have Nick, Bill, Kwame, and Troy. I do notice that when I put the fourth and final disc into my DVD player, there are only three episodes left including this one. Shouldn't there be four, logically? How will four more people be fired in only three episodes? A friend of mine told me that a lot of reality shows will have a final episode which is a showdown of the remaining three contestants, so that could be what is coming. Or perhaps multiple people will be fired in the same episode. We will have to see.

Nick is a little upset over the words Amy used against him in the boardroom. Remember, she called Bill her toughest competition, when she had previously lead Nick to believe that person was him. He can't figure out if she's intentionally trying to set him off and weaken him. Regardless of whether or not it is intentional, it seems to be working.

Probably in reference to that tense boardroom moment, Troy calls Kwame his biggest competition. I still think Kwame is the weak link here. But having this conversation on screen makes me think a little bit. When I look at the final five people, I notice that we have the Troy-Kwame friendship and the Nick-Amy complicated relationship. That leaves Bill, who is basically on the outside looking in. That could really play to his advantage. He doesn't have to make anyone happy. He can just be himself without worrying about impacting personal relationships.

The teams proceed to meet Mr. Trump at the ninetieth floor penthouse of “Trump World Tower.” I was actually very confused when I first heard where they were going. I know from the news that Trump has lied many times about the heights of his towers, and I thought to myself, this tower can't actually be ninety stories, right? Well, I learned from an internet search that Trump Tower and Trump World Tower are actually two distinct buildings, and they are currently in the latter, which is an all-residential building. Trump Tower is fifty-eight stories, and it is the building I was thinking of which he lied about many times. He calls it sixty-eight stories, because he believes that the lobby occupies ten normal building stories. You can't make this stuff up. Trump World Tower is actually taller. It clocks in at seventy-two stories and is eight hundred and sixty-one feet high, roughly two hundred feet taller than Trump Tower. It's still not ninety though, so someone is lying, and I don't think it's Wikipedia.

They proceed to the empty luxury penthouse condominium. He calls it “Trump Luxury.” It is completely insane. The views out the window are out of control. He says he only rents it out for special events. The teams are to take this penthouse and rent it out for an evening for a minimum of twenty-thousand dollars. The team that rents it out for the most money wins. The winning team will take the Trump jet to Mar-A-Lago. I have been waiting for this show to mention our nation's finest vacation resort. Trump says it is a beautiful estate and then says that the winners will have lunch there. He emphasizes that it will be a romantic lunch and looks at Nick and Amy. He makes them both giggle. Tee-hee.

The teams proceed down to the lobby of Trump Tower and make some phone calls. They plan some meetings with event planners. Protege meet with a Trump Tower employee to ask her about past rentals.

VersaCorp bring some potential renters up to the penthouse to show them the space. Right off the bat, Amy is getting frustrated with Nick's sales style. Nick is very direct with the potential renters, pointing out where the band should go or where the snacks should go, basically creating a narrative for their evening. Amy thinks that since they are all event planners he should just leave the planning to them.

Black screen moment. Passion. “You cannot be successful without passion. If you don't love what you're doing; if you don't have passion for it, forget it. Do something else. You'll be much more successful. And you'll lead a much happier life.” What a yawner. Boring! Also maybe you should have been more passionate about politics before you decided to run for president, idiot.

Protege go out for lunch and discuss sales tactics. We then see their sales tactics in action. Bill shows potential renters the apartment. Troy negotiates prices after Bill hooks them. I'm not sure where Kwame is in all of this.

Amy and Nick continue to try to sell the rental. They are having trouble with the pricing. Every time they propose a price or hint that other people would pay forty-thousand dollars for the space, the clients balk. Amy says the highest price they've heard is ten-thousand, which doesn't cut it based on the rules of the contest. They come close to a deal with someone who wants a New Year's Eve party. The problem is, as they find out in the deal's closing moments, the lease agreement says the lessee has to vacate the premises by midnight. That particular loss of a deal was a heartbreaker for them.

Meanwhile, Troy is working this couple hard in the negotiation room. He has them committing to thirty-five thousand dollars. Suddenly, Kwame walks in, pulls Troy aside, and says that there are people taking a tour of the penthouse who want to outbid them. Kwame sits down and schmoozes this couple who were in the middle of a negotiation while Troy goes upstairs to talk to the other group of people. He creates a sense of false urgency and gets the other group too worried. They walk away. So then the team has to run back downstairs and close the deal with the thirty-five thousand people. He does it and the deal is closed at thirty-five thousand and one dollars, just in case the other team gets to thirty-five.

Bill sees Nick and Amy in the lobby and says they look gassed and exasperated. They sure are. We find out that there is only fifteen minutes left. No one has signed a lease for them yet. They seem to have no plan. All of a sudden this woman Kate walks in. She had previously looked at the apartment, apparently. She says she wants to sign a lease. Nick walks over and gets her to sign for an undisclosed amount.

In the boardroom, after the contest is over, Trump jokes to Nick, “You think Amy and you might live in a place like that together, someday?” Stupid.

We recap the final sales figures. Bernie says Protege got a lease for thirty-five thousand and one dollars, which the viewers already know. Carolyn says VersaCorp got a lease for forty thousand eight hundred dollars! Holy cow! This is a huge reveal.

Poor Protege. They were so confident with their lease amount. Even if they got the thirty-eight thousand five hundred dollars from the other couple, they would not have won. Nick and Amy really know what they are doing.

Hopefully they will have a beautiful private trip to Mar-A-Lago full of plowing. Sorry.

There are so, so many jokes about Nick and Amy going on in the suite. Bill, for some reason, is really pushing it hard. Nick just sits on the couch, drinking a Sam Adams by himself, while this all goes on.

Trump actually seems to be very supportive of Nick and Amy having a relationship, which surprises me. He says he hopes they have a good time together and have a fun trip. I would expect more of a protective father figure kind of mentality from him, although to be honest I'm certain he is a terrible father.

Trump's jet is ridiculous. It has like forty-five seats and several beds. Trump's pilot steps out to greet Nick and Amy and he tells them that there will be “additional guests” on the flight. Is this a trick?

Amy's sister and Nick's dad get on the flight! It's easy to forget how long these contestants have been away from home. They are so happy to see their families. It's really sweet. And so oddly sweet of Trump to do this.

The most important part of all of this is that we learn Nick's father is named Moose. Moose says Nick has a bad history with women. He seems to want to make sure Amy knows this. He brings up some west coast girl, making Nick blush, and it seems to make Amy a little sad. However, that quickly fades once they arrive at Mar-A-Lago.

They are greeted by the “historian” who gives them a tour of the property. How the fuck is this person a historian? The pampering that goes on here is insane. It's no wonder Trump goes here every weekend. Everywhere they turn, a servant is there to give them food, or a drink, or to seat them.

Meanwhile, everyone on Protege is anxious. Since Troy is the project manager, it will be interesting to see his strategy. He loves Kwame. But is Kwame really a better performer than Bill? Bill did way more on this task to close their thirty-five thousand dollar deal.

In the boardroom, Kwame says he would rather have Troy on his side than Bill. Then Bill says that Troy has been in this boardroom too many times to count. Bernie asks Bill if he would hire Troy as a CFO. He says no. Kwame also says no, which I think really upsets Troy.

Trump asks Troy why he wants to work for him. He's a real estate developer, does he really want to go and work for Trump as an executive? Troy then tells Trump that in his high school yearbook, he supposedly wrote “Trump I'm coming” under his picture. He also pulls out a letter which he says he mailed to Trump fifteen years ago. He says he has no college education, and his only education is the “art of the deal.” I find it very bizarre that we haven't heard any of this until now. I guess Troy is scared of being fired, because this really seems desperate.

Troy says that Bill can go back up to the suite. He is going to bring Kwame back in. He is actually picking based on skill and not based on friendships. I'm a little surprised.

In their private meeting, Carolyn says that Kwame is too by-the-book. Bernie says that Troy has great instincts but is too often a loose cannon.

Back in the boardroom, Troy says he picked Kwame because Kwame has been working hard but still hasn't proven himself. He hasn't really been a true leader.

Donald goes off onto this bizarre overdubbed monologue, even more obviously overdubbed than normal, with his back to the camera. He describes each person's pros and cons. Trump calls it “the toughest choice I've had to make.” In the end, he says that being a loose cannon is too risky with his high profile clients. He fires Troy.