Episode 14 – Down to the Wire

It's still so crazy to me that Troy got fired instead of Kwame. I never thought Troy was actually a loose cannon, as Donald's advisors have continued to purport throughout this whole series. I feel like all of the slightly negative things he has done have been blown completely out of proportion. Kwame seems like a good business man, but I don't know if he has what it takes to be a leader at one of Trump's companies.

Things here are “down to the wire.” The four remaining contestants go to the “Esquire Suite” at Trump World Tower. There are seven people in the room, waiting for them, including Mr. Trump. Trump tells the four that they should be proud of themselves, and he then introduces the people in the room. We know Carolyn and George. I was actually worried George was dead, because he's really old and hasn't been in an episode for a while. His presence is good news. In addition to the two of them we have Norma, Allen, Charlie, and Tom. These four all work for Trump. They will interview the four remaining candidates all day. They will then make their recommendations to Trump and Trump will fire two people, leaving two for the final episode.

This has the potential to be an extremely boring episode. But we shall see.

Nick says, “it all comes down to this, can you hang or bang with the top people in the Trump world,” which is an extremely weird sentence.

Kwame enters his first interview, with Allen. Allen starts off hot, telling Kwame he's heard he's a very low energy contestant, and Allen asks him to explain if that is true or not. Kwame says his style is different; not everybody shows their energy in the same way. Still, Kwame is sweating bullets.

Amy is in with Charlie. Charlie is grilling her over her management style.

Bill is speaking with Norma. She asks him for his biggest weakness and he says that he's never satisfied. Norma says that's not a weakness.

Nick is in with Tom, telling Tom how smart he is and how much charisma he has. Tom asks what else he has to offer.

These are some tough interviews. All four of Trump's advisors seem extremely aggravated that they have to do this. The show goes rapid fire through all of these interviews, back and forth, so I'm not going to give a complete play-by-play. Some highlights include Charlie telling Bill that he must be getting by on his instincts, because he “sure as hell isn't getting by on [his] education,” and Tom telling Nick he has no time to teach him anything and that he needs to learn “some damn things for himself.” After a few of these short interview clips play, the rapid-fire cuts become even more rapid until the screen cuts to black. The day of interviews is over.

Trump brings all of the interviewers into the boardroom to talk with them about the candidates and their impressions. He first asks Norma who she liked most. She says Bill. Charlie agrees that Bill was the best, and said he could “relate to him immediately” and  would require “very little supervision and training.” Alan, when asked about Kwame, says that he thinks that Kwame's response that energy isn't everything was worrisome. Trump seems to disagree, saying he sees high energy people all the time who just sit around wasting it.

They discuss Nick. They say he's a good presenter and a good salesman, but he seems to be a bit too slick for his own good. They don't think he has what it takes to be a head of one of Trump's companies.

Norma says that Amy got on her nerves after a while. Apparently she irritated Tom too. He said she had hunger and drive but no motivation. Charlie calls her a “Stepford wife” who just had meaningless conversation with her. I hate that kind of name-calling so much. Trump responds to all of them in a very loud overdubbed voice, “Wow, I didn't expect to hear that. But I trust you guys.” He thanks them and tells them to go back to work.

Trump sends everyone back in. The music has continued to get more dramatic and orchestral throughout the episode.

Trump asks Nick if he thinks Kwame is good. Nick sputters a bit in his answer, and George tries to step in to help him and Trump yells, telling George not to interrupt him. This is the first time I've seen Trump angry at his assistants all season.

Trump continues to just pit each of the candidates against each other with direct questions about what they each think of each other's leadership ability. He loves doing this. It's been in every single episode. I'm pretty bored of it to be honest.

Whoa, Amy says she would recommend firing Nick! Trump calls her a “cold hearted . . . person.” I guess the censors must have told him to refrain from using the b-word.

Trump focuses on Nick. He said that everyone in the room has described Nick as a great salesman but not a great leader.  He says it takes more than being able to sell yourself to run a company. He says you have to command the respect of everyone in the room. He fires Nick. Nick gets up and leaves the room, respectfully.

After Nick leaves, Trump continues to pit the contestants against each other. Bill's education comes up again. It comes up in the context of it being relative to Kwame's Harvard education, which is fair, but I still find it so odd that everyone keeps focusing on it. He went to Loyola. I don't understand why that is so miserable. And actually, Kwame says he agrees with Bill that education doesn't matter that much. Really, at this point, it's Amy driving the conversation. She seems scared. Trump brings us to this topic of “energy.” Trump calls Amy the highest energy person in the room. This sets Bill off. He says that everyone expresses their energy in different ways. He says Amy is the most vocal with her energy, telling everyone about it, but that doesn't mean she's actually the highest energy candidate.

Trump says he has been disappointed today with what he's heard from the interviews with Amy. He said the fact that they all felt Amy was an empty personality means that they will never respect her, and so he fires Amy.

Trump congratulates Bill and Kwame for performing well and impressing his executives.  He tells them to go back to the suite and prepare for their final task, which will be the “biggest one yet.” We cut to Bill and Kwame walking on the roof of Trump Tower. They pop a bottle of Moet and congratulate each other for getting this far.

Black Screen Moment. “Dog Does Not Eat Dog.” Yes, that is the title. “The greatest thing that can happen to a business man or woman is to surround yourself with talented people who also happen to be loyal. You never know what makes a loyal person, and guess what, if they're not loyal to you one time, don't give them a second chance because they won't be loyal to you the next time.” I'm not certain what this is referring to in this episode.

The next morning, Bill and Kwame enter the boardroom. For their final task, each of them will oversee a “huge event.” Bill will run the Chrysler Golf Tournament in Briarcliff Manor, which is Trump National, I think. Kwame will be in charge of the Jessica Simpson concert at the Taj Mahal in Atlantic City. Again, remember, this is 2004. Trump is going to bring in some people, and they will get to choose from said group to build their teams.

Big surprise alert! He brings back the last few people who were fired. He lets Bill pick first, and the teams for the final task are as follows. Bill's team is Amy, Katrina, and Nick. Kwame's team is Troy, Omarosa, and Heidi.

The teams will be driven to their destinations in a private limo. Trump tosses them bound manuals which are the rules for their contest, apparently. He tells them to get started.

Kwame gives everyone roles on his way in the limo. He establishes a plan before hand and will let his teammates do what they do best. However, I do note that he really doesn't ask anyone what they want to do and instead just picks for them. Bill takes a different approach. Once his team arrives at the country club, they meet with Leslie, Trump National's event planner. His team works together to figure out who will work best doing what tasks.

Kwame and his team are in the middle of a dinner, after a day of organizing, when Omarosa gets a call from someone named Diane. Apparently she is the Taj Mahal's event coordinator. This person tells her that, since Kwame has assigned her “logistics,” she has to coordinate Jessica Simpson's arrival at the airport with her band's arrival at the airport. In classic Omarosa style, she tells Diane that she is busy at dinner and asks if Diane can just do the work. Diane says no. The phone call ends.

When she arrives back at the table, Troy asks what the phone call was about. Omarosa says she refuses to talk about it. That's ridiculous. No one on the team seems to have any idea that Omarosa isn't doing her job.

The next morning, Kwame's whole team is in his suite, and there is a phone call. Omarosa answers it. It's from Diane. She wants to speak to Kwame, but Omarosa won't let her, so Diane reveals that the band is stuck at the airport with the wrong transportation information. Kwame gets on the phone and, in doing so, the team realizes that Omarosa got this phone call last night and basically ignored the problem. After Kwame is finished speaking to Diane, Omarosa rips the phone out of his hands and insists that she doesn't understand what the problem is. Diane tells her that she needs to coordinate when all the flights are arriving. Omarosa says she will call her right back and abruptly hangs up.

Kwame basically catches Omarosa in a lie here. Omarosa insists that the call at the restaurant was just a call telling her to call Diane later, which is a huge lie. Kwame is pissed. He calls it silly. But he doesn't really confront the issue, and he just sort of lets Omarosa slide.

Meanwhile, at the golf course, Bill's team is trying to figure out a place to store all of the incoming golf equipment. They fill the entire lobby with boxes of clubs and bags.

Kwame's team is at dinner with Jessica Simpson's dad, who is also her manager. Omarosa leaves to check on the band's arrival. Everything seems to be in order until she goes back to the office, when she gets yet another call from Diane. Apparently Jessica Simpson never arrived at the airport and there was no luggage there for her. The driver is just waiting there, confused. Omarosa calls Kwame at dinner to explain. Kwame just says “okay” and hangs up the phone. He says that she can deal with it and that he'll come up in a little while. He is very irritated at what Omarosa has done.

Kwame arrives at the office with Troy, and they try to figure out what exactly Omarosa needs. When they ask her this directly, she doesn't really tell them anything and just gives them a lot of attitude. Omarosa seems very upset that Kwame won't buy in to her drama. Kwame leaves, and Troy and Omarosa call the airport approximately one-hundred times trying to find Jessica.

And that's the episode! As far as I know Jessica Simpson is still alive, so I assume they find her somewhere.