The Apprentice (U.S. season 2)..

Week 9: Bringing Down the House

• Airdate: November 4


• Project Managers: Raj (Apex) and Sandy (Mosaic)


• Task: With a $20,000 budget (and the help of 2 previously fired candidates), each team would renovate a home in the suburbs of Long Island. The team who has increased the value of their home by the highest percentage would win. Rob and Jennifer C. joined Mosaic and Stacie J. and Bradford were assigned to Apex.


• Trump Monologue: Control Your Contractor - Trump talks about contractors and he states that although they may not have gone to Harvard, they aren't inferior. They are tough, smart and can pick your pocket without you knowing it.


• Result: Apex opted to make the house three bedrooms instead of four. Kevin found a contractor through his contacts that didn't finish before time was up. Mosaic's contractors descended upon the house in waves, many of them related to the main contractor, making the task far easier than it otherwise would have been. Apex was unable to completely finish the renovation project before the task's time limit expired.


• Winner: Mosaic wins in the appraisal battle by more than 3%.


• Loser: Apex


• Trump thoughts: Trump was very impressed with Rob's work and enthusiasm even though he was previously fired. He questioned the wisdom of making a four bedroom house into three bedrooms, pointing out that this may have cost them the win. He didn't like Ivana's cattiness toward Stacie J., although it seemed Ivana's anger was aimed mostly at Jennifer M. for politicking on Stacie J.'s behalf.


• Dramatic tension: Stacie J. went on the offensive, attacking Ivana and the other women for labeling her crazy weeks ago. Raj is forced to accept the uncompleted work of a contractor who went on break. Jennifer M. and Raj decide to target Ivana in the boardroom, but their efforts misfire when Trump says that Ivana didn't belong in the final boardroom.


• Sent to boardroom: Raj, Ivana, Kevin


• Who gets fired: Raj, for choosing three bedrooms over four, not finishing the task, targeting Ivana instead of Kevin in the initial boardroom, and for not bringing Chris into the final boardroom. Trump cited that Raj made too many mistakes, a detriment to The Trump Organization.


• Notes:
  
  
  
  • Matthew Calamari is the sub judge for George Ross.
  
  
  • When Trump released Chris and Jennifer M. from the initial boardroom, Chris turned to Trump and said that he didn't think Apex had any chance of winning another task due to the poor atmosphere within the team. Trump was outraged by this act of disloyalty and very nearly fired Chris on the spot, but allowed him to stay after he volunteered to lead Apex and restore the team's harmony in the following task.
  
  
  • After Raj is eliminated, he asked Robin Himmler for her phone number; while she didn't give him the number at the time, she later revealed she and Raj did go out for coffee after the show was over.